Kale Pesto

When I found out about the the Food Matters Project I put my hand up straight away to be involved. The subject, Mark Bittman's The Food Matters Cookbook. The mission, to cook our way through the book with a new recipe each week, each participant putting their own spin on the recipe. The concept of the cookbook is to eat more wholefoods and less processed foods - simple but sound advice.

This week was Roasted Red Pepper (Capsicum) and Walnut "Pesto". I love pesto. I love roasted capsicums, but alas my local had no capsicums today. I did however have half a bunch of kale, and so it was decided - kale pesto!

 

Kale is an absolute POWERHOUSE! Just look at it! Packed full of chlorophyll, it is an ancient member of the cabbage family that has been traditionally used to ease lung congestion and benefit the stomach. It also contains a wonderful amount of antioxidants, calcium, iron, vitamin C, manganese and vitamin K1.

Making pesto from Kale is a fabulous way to reap it's benefits as you are eating it raw and together with other nourishing ingredients to increase the absorption of the nutrients. Nifty eh! And oh so easy!! 

You will need:

2 1/2 cups (tightly packed) kale, washed and torn from the stem

1/3 cup of cashews

1 large clove of garlic, chopped

130-150ml olive oil

1 teaspoon miso paste

2 tablespoons (or more) of parmesan (optional)

Combine all ingredients and 1/2 the oil. Whiz it all up in a food processor or in a bowl with a stick blender, gradually adding the rest of the oil.

That's it! Makes about 1 1/4 cups.

This is a really gutsy pesto that packs a punch. I have used this over pasta, bean mixes, dolloped onto soups, on poached eggs and as a dip. Delish!

Check out how the Food Matters Project members interpreted the original Roasted Capsicum and Walnut Pesto.

Kale can be a little frightening for some people, I can understand, but I just think it is so beautiful! Try adding a little to your next stir fry and see how you go. Now you have me thinking about kale chips.....

Quinoa-tastic Tabbouleh

How fabulous is quinoa? Its versatility, nutrient profile and deliciousness have made it almost a household name, and I see it appearing more and more in cafes, restaurants and several print publications. Just in case you may have missed the news, here is a recap.

Quinoa (pronounced keen-wah) is a fabulous nutrient-packed food that you should try to sneak into your diet wherever you can! And here’s why:

• It has an amazing nutrient profile; high in protein, B vitamins (in particular B1, B2, B6 and folate), iron, potassium, zinc, calcium, magnesium and vitamin E.

• It’s gluten free and lovely and easy to digest.

• It is quick and easy to prepare.

• It comes in red, black and white varieties to add colour and excitement to your meals!

• It’s slightly nutty, slightly chewy, slightly fluffy and completely delicious!

• It is a wonderful first food for babies mixed with vegetable or fruit purees. Note: pre-soaking the quinoa in water with a teaspoon of lemon juice for at least 6 hours will optimise digestion. Blend after cooking for young babies.

Quinoa flower

Cooking quinoa is similar to cooking rice. I prefer the absorption method.

Combine 1/3 cup of uncooked quinoa with 2/3 cup of water (or stock), bring to the boil. Cover, reduce heat to a simmer and cook for around 15 minutes. It will be translucent and plump when cooked. This will give you about a cup of cooked quinoa.

Go forth and add to soups, salads, breakfasts, desserts, and as a replacement to rice or combined with rice for added nutritional benefit. There are literally thousands of ways to use quinoa! Here is another fabulous idea - double broccoli quinoa from Heidi Swanson.

So, back to the tabbouleh. Traditionally made with bulgur, I substituted quinoa and added fresh parsley, mint, basil, toasted pumpkin seeds and a few cherry tomatoes (I really wanted to use pomegranate seeds instead of cherry tomatoes as I'm not crazy about tomatoes, but unfortunately the season in Australia is only just starting so I will have to be patient.....).

Next is the dressing. You could keep it very simple and use a mixture of olive oil, lemon juice, salt and maybe some garlic. I love a particular dressing that Jude Blereau does in Coming Home to Eat with a roasted vegetable and quinoa salad, so I adapted it to my tabbouleh!

60ml extra virgin olive oil

2 teaspoons balsamic vinegar

3 teaspoons lemon juice

1 teaspoon tamari

1-2 teaspoon honey or maple syrup

2 garlic cloves, crushed

1 – 1 ¼ teaspoons grated fresh ginger

At this point you can if you like add some spices, for example 

¼ - ½ teaspoon ground coriander and ½ - 1 teaspoon ground cumin,
or 1/2 tsp or so of harissa.
This dressing is fabulous for all sorts of purposes. I like to marinate chickpeas in it before I add them to salads and other dishes - yummo!

How to make nut milk

Not to be all how to this, how to that, but this is a how to really worth knowing!
We have a need for non-dairy milks in our house, and use a combination of coconut milk, rice milk, oat milk and almond milk as replacements (yes it's a hectic bottom fridge door shelf!).
The problem with most commercial brands of non-dairy milks is that they are watered down, and usually contain sunflower oil and other additives, which is a bit annoying.


Why not make your own? Can't be bothered? You will once you know how EASY it is to make delicious, additive free nut milk in 5 easy steps!


Step one - get yourself some good nuts! If you're in Melbourne, I love Friends of the Earth in Fitzroy for buying bulk good quality nuts (plus grains and other goodies). I have made used 1/2 almonds and 1/2 brazil nuts here, but you can be as creative as you like! Cashews  are another great choice, or you might want to experiment with hazelnuts, walnuts or pumpkin and sesame seeds.

Step two - soak nuts for 8 hours or overnight.
Why? Nuts (and grains, legumes, beans & seeds) contain phytic acid which bind with minerals making it difficult for us to absorb the goods. Soaking deactivates phytates and enzyme inhibitors - sprouting and souring has the same effect.


After they have finished soaking, give the nuts a really good rinse.


Step three - Add the nuts (1 cup) and 4 cups of water to a blender and blend until smooth(ish). At this point you can also add any sweetener that you you may like. I didn't  bother this time, but if you like a sweeter tasting milk, soak a couple of dates and add them to the blender. Some scraped vanilla pod seeds is another fabulous addition.


Step four - Strain the nut milk through some muslin (cheesecloth) or a nut milk bag if you have one. Squeeze the pulp until you get all the milk out.


You will be left with a lovely little ball of nut pulp - don't throw it out. 

Step five - Transfer the milk to a litre sized jar. The nut milk will keep for about 4 days.
How fantastic! Beautiful, nutritious nut milk! Feel free to use it in replacement for dairy milk in any situation. I can definitely recommend the almond/brazil combination - delicious!!

What do I do with the nut pulp?
Well, you will be thrilled to know that there is a website devoted to this. Breads, cakes, crackers, dips, smoothies, or just as a replacement for almond meal in any of your recipes.
I have my eye on the almond coconut protein pulp crackers!
Enjoy!

The Mighty Dandelion

Disguised as a humble weed, dandelion has a long usage in both herbal medicine and in cooking.

SUPER-POWERS

Dandelion has been used traditionally as a liver tonic by increasing the secretion of bile via its slightly bitter taste, improving processing and clearance of toxins by the liver and kidney, and from the blood.

It has also been used for treating diabetes, rheumatic conditions, heartburn, bruises, hives, eczema and digestive complaints such as dyspepsia, lack of appetite and constipation.

The dandelion has a large tap root which is a powerhouse of blood purifying, liver cleansing, skin clearing action. It is also chock full of nutrients such as B vitamins, vitamin A & C, silicon, zinc, potassium, calcium, and iron.

Dandelion has also been shown to stimulate the growth of beneficial bacteria in the gut, and has antiviral and antifungal properties.

The leaves are best recognised for their diuretic properties, helping with fluid retention and urinary output, however the root also has these qualities. Leaves can be sautéd, steamed, or added to salads and soups – give them a go!

Trying to cut down on coffee? Great! Dandelion root can make a decent substitute. Put ground dandelion root in your coffee machine, add it to your percolator, teapot, or use a teabag to create a gutsy herbal tea that you can add milk to (and honey/sugar if you like) and know that your liver, kidneys, spleen and pancreas are shouting THANK-YOU!

Vary the amount you use depending on how strong you like it, but a good starting point might be a tablespoon for a cup and infuse for 5 minutes. To harness the full power, place in a small saucepan, cover with water and simmer on low for 10 minutes.

Another take on this tea tonic is to make a dandelion chai – how fabulous!

Try this recipe:

1/4 cup Roasted Dandelion root

1 1/2 tablespoons of Fennel or Anise seed

9 green pods of Cardamom

18 Cloves

2 sticks of Cinnamon

1/2 tablespoons of dried Ginger root

1/2 teaspoon of black peppercorns

3 Bay leaves

Traditionally Chai is simmered over low heat in soy milk for at least 5 minutes - add honey to taste.

Harvest your own dandelion root? Why not?!

Be sure to harvest your dandelion away from road pollution and from pesticide free areas.

Look for ones with thick clumps of leaves as they usually have roots that are nice and fat.

Wash the roots, dry and crush or slice up thinly.

Spread out on a baking tray (or you can use a dehydrator if you have one) and bake at 120° or as low as your oven will go. Bake for around 2 hours with the door slightly ajar, checking and ‘fluffing’ them occasionally to make sure they all dry out.

Once cool, store in a glass jar.

You might like to grind it up ready for use in your coffee machine, or leave it coarse and use it like tea.

Thank you dandelion for offering up your talents so accessibly. I salute you!

How to make jam

Making jam may not seem like the most nutritionally dense activity, but as a new jam lover I felt that it was an appropriate first post! I'm usually much more of a tahini and honey or nut spread kinda girl, but after making a batch of mouthwatering strawberry and blueberry jam for christmas presents, I am still enjoying the fruits of my labour - ha! Home-made jam on some sort of dense sourdough with butter has served as a delightful change - it makes me feel all grown up and lady-like!

Preserving is such a wonderful way to use ripe fruit, changing its form into something you  can enjoy for months. Traditionally we have used this process of slowing the decay of food so that it was available even when the fruit was out of season. Supermarkets and the like have severed this connection with seasonal eating by making anything available year-round, leading us to pay more and sacrifice taste and quality. Reconnecting with seasonal eating is so important not only for taste and quality, but it costs less. For more info on which fruits and vegetables are in season, click here.

Home-made jam is unbelievably delicious, and inexpensive to make.  

There are loads of recipes around, but I love Jude Blereau's universal jam recipe from Coming Home to Eat. It is a low sugar jam recipe that gives such an amazing result, my mouth is watering as I write this!

Most jam recipes use equal quantities of sugar and fruit by weight. You really don't need this much sugar, but by reducing the sugar content you will get a jam that is less firm, or has a softer 'set' than commercial types. I like this though.

Also note that if you are making jam with low pectin and low acid fruits (raspberries, blueberries, strawberries, rhubarb, pears, peaches or apricots) adding lemon or including some unripe fruit in your mix will help boost acidity and acid, and will help to set your jam.

Pots

Jude says take a minute to choose a wide, shallow pot as it encourages evaporation and reduction, and cooks the jam more quickly. I used my cast iron fry pan and it worked perfectly. Your pot should not be more than two thirds full of fruit.

Also, sterilise your jars before you fill them. You can do this by boiling them in water for 10 minutes, along with tongs, a ladel and a funnel. Be very careful getting them out. Use the tongs and transfer the jars to an oven tray to keep on low heat in the oven as adding hot jam to cold jars will cause them to crack.

Universal jam recipe

(Gluten free / dairy free / vegan)

4kg of fruit will yield about 3.5kg or 12 cups of jam

Make sure you have enough jars for your jam before you start!

Ingredients:

4kg fruit (I used about 800 grams as it was what I had and just adjusted the measurements of sugar and lemon to match. I chose strawberries and blueberries - yum!)

1.2kg raw sugar

1 medium sized lemon, skin on, cut into 8 bits

Sterilize jars and place on a baking tray to keep warm in the oven.

Wash fruit (no need to dry) and cut into smaller portions - blueberries and small strawbs can be left whole.

Put the fruit into the pot together with sugar and lemon. Gently stir the sugar though.

Allow the sugar to dissolve over very low heat - this takes about 15 minutes or longer depending on the size of your pot.

Once the sugar is visibly staring to dissolve, increase the heat slightly until you see a gently bubbling. Stir frequently. Continue to cook for 15 minutes (or longer if using a deeper pot)- the juices will have weeped out from the fruit therefore increasing the amount of liquid in the pos. Enjoy the delicious smell of your cooking fruit!

Increase the heat to a high boil until 'set' is achieved. Stir frequently to check the feel of the jam, and to make sure it is not sticking to the bottom of the pot. As the jam reduces, it will thicken. This stage should take about 30 minutes, but the deeper your pot, the longer it will take as there is less surface area for the jam to reduce. If you are making a smaller amount of jam, it should take less time.

'Set' for low sugar jams can be tested by the appearance and feel of your jam, cook until it is fairly thick. You can take a small amount and chill on a saucer to check the consistency. When cool, run your fingers through the middle  - you want to see a clean line of plate underneath. Any juices that flow into the line should look like lovely liquid jam and not all watery, it should have some 'body'.

As soon as the jam is ready, ladle the warm jam through the funnel, into the warm jars. Seal the lids tightly, then leave to sit until totally cool. There should be a dent in the middle of the lid - if not, store the jam in the fridge and use straight away.

Note: I thought I wouldn't need the funnel, not a great idea...

So there you have a fabulous, super delicious jam to use as you wish or give as delightful gifts.

How cute is that!