March 18th, 2012
This post is also available in: French
One of the things I miss the most about the home country is dacha. I can only describe it as the most comforting place on Earth. Dacha is a country home, which always comes with a growing garden. Ours was located on the edge of a rich forest, which would come alive vibrantly in the spring. We had a ritual of walking to the nature spring, in the depth of the said forest, to stock up on some refreshing and pure water. The walk was breathtaking – first along winding, unpaved streets, overlooking the neighbors’ gardens, then diving into the shady forest and descending to the very bottom of the ravine to reach the spring. After a long winter, the vegetation was abundant and gorgeous, and the birds – festive and loud.
We had a few dozen black currant bushes at our dacha, and that’s where you would find me during harvesting time, no doubt. I write about black currants a whole lot here, simply because I can never get enough of their entirely unique tart and sweet flavour, and incredible wealth in vitamins. In Russia, the most common way to preserve and consume these berries is to grind them with sugar, which makes for a serious delicacy. The berry also works wonders when combined with mild, milky flavours.
That’s where the panna cotta comes in. When I got my hands on a bag of frozen currants, I wondered how to prepare them. I decided that the silky flavour of this panna cotta should work beautifully with the berries. Paloma must have inherited my deep affection for black currants. She gulped down three panna cottas in a row and could have kept going.
Black Currant Panna Cotta
2 cups almond milk
1/2 cup meat of young Thai coconut
1/2 cup Irish moss – thoroughly rinsed and soaked in hot water for at least 10 minutes
1/4 packed cup dates – pitted and chopped
1/3 cup raw agave syrup or another sweetener of choice
seeds from 2 vanilla beans or 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/8 teaspoons salt
2 tablespoons sunflower lecithin (optional)
1/2 cup coconut oil
frozen black currants or any other frozen/fresh berries of choice
If using frozen berries, put out to thaw. In a high-speed blender, combine all the ingredients with exception of coconut oil and berries until very smooth. Add the coconut oil with the blender still running and continue to blend to emulsify.
Cover your molds (we used silicone cupcake molds) with a thin layer of agave or maple syrup. Place some some of the mixture into the bottom of the mold, followed by berries, and covered with more of the mixture. Refrigerate for 6-8 hours. When removing, the panna cotta should slide right out.
Serve with more berries, and/or on a bed of berry puree lightly sweetened with the sweetener of your choice.
You can also serve this as a mousse in a glass, flavouring it with chocolate instead of berries…sounds like a lovely idea.
Tags: black currant, dessert, panna cotta, raw, recipe, vegan
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March 11th, 2012
This post is also available in: French
I can never pass by a vegetable or fruit that I’ve never seen before. The way most people are with clothes, I am with food. These lemon plums looked so intriguing at the produce stand, I had to try them. These curious fruit also turned out to be honey-sweet and delicious.
The lemon plums ended up where most produce ends up in our house these days – a salad. When local greens are in season, we cannot get enough of their fresh, green energy and want to prepare them in the most simple way possible.
Add delicious candied walnuts and yummy dressing, and your are in for a real treat.
The poppy seed dressing is my attempt at eliminating or at least minimizing the amount of oil in a dish. One of the guests at our 3D tango event was Amanda, who is a Green Mission specialist at Whole Foods. She teaches a nutritional program based on these four pillars. One of them is eating healthy fats by reducing the amount of extracted oils in your diet. This philosophy makes complete sense – it is much better to eat a whole unit, like an olive, rather than just a part of it, like the extracted olive oil. Nature provides us with the most perfect balance in a most effortless way.
Lemon Plum Salad
Poppy seed dressing
3 tablespoons raw sesame tahini
1 tablespoon raw honey
1 tablespoon poppy seeds, or more to taste
Juice of 1/2 lime
1 ripe lemon plum – pitted
4 tablespoons fresh coconut water or purified water
sea salt to taste
1 tablespoon macadamia nut oil (optional)
Blend all the ingredients with the exception of macadamia nut oil in a high-speed blender. Add the oil in at the end of the process, with the blender still running. Store in the refrigerator until needed.
Candied Walnuts
(adapted from Raw Food/Real World)
2 cups walnuts – soaked for 1 hour
1/4 cup maple syrup powder
1/4 cup raw honey or agave syrup
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon sea salt
Toss all the ingredients in a bowl. Spread on Teflex-lined dehydrator trays and dehydrate at 115F for about 12 hours or until crisp.
Assembly
Arrange the fresh salad greens on a plate, followed by slices of ripe lemon plums and a couple of scoops of cashew cheese (optional). Top with the dressing and candied walnuts, sprinkle with poppy seeds. Enjoy.
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March 4th, 2012
This post is also available in: French
Recently, we attended a birthday party that left me incredibly impressed and full of hope for the future. In fact, it was the first children’s party, where I didn’t need to bring special treats for Paloma and worry about what she might grab from the table.
Our birthday boy, Stuart, is lovingly called blue bird by his parents. Accordingly, the theme of the party was just that – a blue bird.
Stuart’s mom, Laura, took care of every single detail. There were two birthday cakes, bird shaped of course, one was for Stuart to play with and the other – for everyone else to enjoy. Laura used an organic flour mixture and substituted regular milk with the coconut kind.
Everything from fresh and yummy Mediterranean wraps to the birthday cake, was carefully thought out, nutritious, and beautiful.
Blue and white stamped paper bags looked so inviting filled with homemade sweet potato fries and kale chips. Kids discovered the kale chips and munched on them enthusiastically even after the cake was served.
The ice tea and chia-banana-chocolate pudding tasted amazing. And in addition to the feast, we were delighted with the live music performed by an accordion player from Serbia.
The party favours were incredible – Laura’s special cookies. The combination of texture, spices, and freshness of flavours was the perfect example of taste and health in one gingersnap.
Natalie and I brought some 3D flavour to the party. Natalie’s twitter board, a reference to the blue bird, gave guests an opportunity to “tweet” their wishes to Stuart.
I made fruit tarts using seasonal Florida strawberries and blueberries, as well as blackberries, raspberries, sour cherries, and blackcurrants. Kiwi and oranges joined the team too. I tried to make the tarts as festive and colourful as possible, calling for a rainbow of fruits as a welcome sign of spring.
Happy Birthday, Sweet Stuart!
Special thanks to Anastasia for the photo contribution.
Fruit Tarts
Tart shells
(makes about six 3.5″ tarts)
1 cup raw almonds
1/2 cup unsweetened coconut flakes
1/2 cup golden raisins, or pitted dates
1/4 cup golden flax seeds
In a high-speed blender, mix all the ingredients until well combined and until the mixture sticks together when pressed with fingers. You can do it in a food processor as well, but pre-grind your flax seeds in this case. Do not blend the ingredients too much to avoid them becoming too oily.
Place a generous 1/3 cup of the mixture in each tart shell with a removable bottom and press evenly against the bottom and sides of the shell. Place your tarts in the freezer for about an hour before serving, this will make the removing process much smoother. The shells can also be dehydrated if you want them to be stronger. In this case, soak almonds overnight and rinse well. Mix all the ingredients in a food processor, making sure to use ground flax seeds. Dehydrate the shells overnight at 115F. Remove from the forms and dehydrate until dry throughout.
Vanilla Cream
1 cup meat of fresh young Thai coconut
1 cup cashews – soaked for 4 hours
1/2 cup raw light agave syrup
1/2 cup purified water
seeds of 1-2 vanilla beans or 2 1/2 tablespoons vanilla extract
pinch of salt (optional)
squeeze of fresh lemon (optional)
1/2 cup coconut oil – liquified
Combine all of the ingredients in a high speed blender until very smooth, adding coconut oil at the end with the motor still running.
Assembly
Fill 1/3 of each tart shell with the vanilla cream and top with fruit or berries. Optionally, sprinkle with ground pistachios.
I used a variety of berries – fresh raspberries, strawberries, blueberries ,and blackberries, as well as frozen sour cherries and black currants. I love the last two especially in all kinds of desserts for their truly unique flavour and color. If using frozen berries, thaw in a colander over a large bowl. Optionally drizzle with the sweetener of choice and dehydrate for an hour or two.
Tags: dessert, raw, raw food, recipe
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