Dulse magic!
Dulse is a luscious maroon coloured, fabulously versatile seaweed that is bound to steal your heart.
On top of the health and nutritional benefits mentioned previously, dulse is exceptionally high in iodine and manganese, and has been used as a remedy for sea sickness, herpes and scurvy - what more could you ask for?! It's salty flavour makes it a great salt substitute, but you may like to start slowly and build up as your body adjusts to the flavour which can be overpowering if you overdo it!
You can buy dulse as larger pieces, or in flakes as pictured. The flakes really are next level awesome as you can add them to almost anything (I haven't tried with sweet things, but why not throw some into a carrot cake mix?). They are a vitamin and mineral injection to any meal you add them to, and because they are so conveniently flaky you can feel free to sprinkle into soups, stews, pasta sauces, meat dishes, salads, onto vegetables, you name it - you dulse it!
The larger dulse pieces can be used as spinach or other leafy veg, or sauteed and eaten as a snack or a side. I crisped some up on a really low heat in the oven to eat - they are intense this way, but would be a fun and healthful addition to your normal array condiments!
Today I have used the flakes in this week's Food Matters Project recipe - Roasted Asparagus and White Bean Soup, chosen and hosted by Adrienne. Asparagus is not in season here at the moment, so I have made a different version of the soup using cauliflower and kale, loosely inspired by Heidi Swanson's Cauliflower Soup. I have kept the recipe dairy free, but it would be amazing with some aged cheddar grated into the mix a la Heidi Swanson if you fancy.
Here's what I did.
You will need:
Kale Croutons
A bunch of kale or cavalo nero
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
A pinch of sea salt
Cauliflower soup
1-2 tablespoons olive oil, ghee or butter
2 leeks, sliced
1 large potato, unpeeled and chopped into very small cubes
3 garlic cloves, smashed and chopped
3 1/3 cups vegetable stock
350g cauliflower, chopped
1/4 teaspoon dulse flakes (plus extra to taste)
Preheat oven to the lowest setting - around 100 degrees Celsius or so.
Wash and de-bone the kale and smother it in the combined oil, mustard and salt.
Arrange on a baking tray and pop into the oven for about 20-25 minutes, or just until the kale is crispy.
Meanwhile, warm the oil in a large, heavy based pot and add the leek and a pinch of salt. Cook for a couple of minutes until the leeks soften up a bit and add the potato. Cover and cook for about 5 minutes or until the potato is softening up a bit. Stir in the garlic, followed by the stock. Bring to the boil and check if the potato is cooked. Once it is, add the cauliflower and dulse flakes and cook for a few minutes, until the cauliflower tender.
Remove pot from the heat and puree the soup with a stick blender. Adjust with salt or more stock if needed.
Serve and arrange some kale 'croutons' on top with a little drizzle of olive oil to finish.
These kale chips are delicious to eat on their own if you have any leftovers! There are endless options for seasoning, here are five suggestions for you. I'm a fan of a simple drizzle of tamari, olive oil and sprinkling of sesame seeds. They are delicious, addictive and fabulous! You can read more about benefits of kale here.
You can also see what other renditions of the soup the Food Matters Project members came up with here.
Sprouting is the greatest thing! It's so lovely to see the food that you eat growing before your eyes. Not only growing, but becoming richer in nutrients and more digestible. The starch is converted to simple sugars, protein to amino acids, and the fat into individual fatty acids1. How fabulous! This helps to explain why those with allergies or intolerances to certain grains can tolerate them if they are sprouted. Sprouts represent the moment of greatest vitality in the life cycle of a plant, are a specific remedy for stagnant liver qi 1, or a 'sluggish' liver.
You can sprout pretty much any whole grain or seed. however they do take varying amounts of time to sprout.
Here's what to do.
1. Use 1 part seed/grain to at least 3 parts water. Place grain/seeds in a jar or bowl, cover with muslin/cheesecloth and an elastic band (or use a sprouting jar if you have one) and soak for 12 hours.
2. Drain and rinse. Leave the drained seeds in a room temperature, dark place (or cover with a cloth) and rinse twice a day, morning and night until sprouted. It doesn't have to be super warm but the cold and light will inhibit the sprouting a little and encourage the seeds to mould instead of sprouting.
Quinoa is a quick sprouter. I had these beautiful babies in 24 hours, but some other grains/seeds/legumes such as alfalfa, mung beans, aduki, chickpeas and lentils take 3 - 5 days. Buckwheat is another great sprouter!
What to do with your new little friends? Salads are an obvious choice. Try mixing them through with any of your grain dishes, or as a garnish for soups or stews.
The sudden cold snap in Melbourne today was perfect for the sprouted quinoa baguettes I made. This was another great food matters project choice (original recipe was Mostly Wholewheat Baguettes and can be found here and other fabulous renditions here).
As an ode to ancient grains, I have used spelt flour, amaranth flour and sprouted quinoa in mine just for fun.
Here's what I did.
2 1/2 cups unbleached spelt flour
1 cup amaranth flour (or brown rice/quinoa/extra spelt flour)
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp brown sugar
1 1/2 tsp yeast
1/2 cup sprouted quinoa
A sprinkling of black sesame seeds (optional, or use white sesame seeds/poppy seeds)
Combine the flours, salt, sugar, yeast and add about 1 1/2 cups water. Mix until the dough forms a ball that is fairly wet but well defined (adjust with extra flour or water if needs be).
Place dough in a large bowl and let it rise at room temperature for at least an hour.
Fold the sprouted quinoa into the mix. Lightly knead the dough on a floured surface and split into two larger or 4 smaller pieces, depending on how large you would like your baguettes. Roll out to a baguette-ish shape, place on baking paper, cover with a towel and let rise until loaves are about double the size (around half an hour).
Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius at this point.
Cut slashes with a knife into the baguette to look pretty if you like, brush a little water on top and decorate with the sesame seeds.
Pop the loaves into the oven for 20-25 minutes, until they are a nice golden colour and they sound hollow when tapped on the bottom.
Delish! You can see the little quinoa sprouts through the bread, next time I will try adding more I think. To taste test I whacked on a smear of coconut oil, some unpasteurised miso paste, and garnished with some extra sprouts. Yum. A sturdy but light bread with a lovely flavour and packed full of goodness to boot!
A quick note on Miso. Miso is a wonderful salt and seasoning substitute and can be substituted into any recipe. Unpasteurised miso is bursting with live cultures that assist digestion, assimilation and gut health. It is also alkalising in nature and is traditionally said to promote long life, good health, prevent radiation sickness and to help neutralise the effects of pollution and smoking1. Unpasteurised miso is a great 'vegemite/marmite' substitute, giving you the salty flavour but with the bonus added extras. Heat destroys the microorganisms, so it's best to add to your cooking after removing it from the heat to avoid this.
To use up the rest of my quinoa sprouts, I fashioned a quick breakfast salad from some beetroot leaves, avocado, toasted pumpkin seeds, coriander, grated raw beetroot, eggs and a dressing based on the one I used for the quinoa tabbouleh but a quick olive oil and lemon juice number with a sprinkle of sea salt, harissa or some chili/pepper combo would be great too.
1 Pitchford, P., 2002, Healing With Whole Foods, North Atlantic Books, California.
I have gone a little pizza crazy this week. It's the food matters project's fault really for laying on such as fabulously broad topic this week - Mostly Whole Wheat Pizza (check out the full recipe here).
I wanted to make a gluten-free option, but I didn't want to use the normal array of gluten-free flours and tapioca blends. I was planning on using a blend of quinoa and spelt flours, until I found a recipe using brown rice and decided I had to make it with cooked quinoa! I have touted the wonders of quinoa before, don't get me started again, SO GOOD!
For the topping, I have been lusting after a particular eggplant and pomegranate dip from Ottolenghi's book for a couple of weeks now, but since pizzas were on the menu and I am currently pomegranate obsessed, why not fashion it into a pizza topping?
Quinoa Crust
(Makes enough for 1 small pizza)
1 cup of cooked quinoa
1 egg
1/2 tsp dried herbs (I used oregano)
1 tbs nutritional yeast (or 2 tbs parmesan)
Topping
1/2 eggplant
1/2 tabs lemon juice
2 tbs tahini
1/2 clove garlic
1/2 tsp pomegranate molasses
big pinch of sea salt
drizzle of olive oil
a little water
fresh thyme leaves
Chop the eggplant into chunks and drizzle with a little olive oil. Bake in a moderate oven for about 20 minutes or until eggplant is tender.
While this is cooking away, combine all other ingredients and adjust with the water, oil, salt and pomegranate molasses to get a fabulously sweet/sour/salty taste explosion.
For the base, combine ingredients and spread onto a lined baking tray, shaping into the pizza shape of your choice. Press it out to be around 1/2 centimetre thick, or as thin as you can make it without any gaps in the mixture.
Pop it into the oven at 200 degrees Celsius for about 20 minutes, or until the base has started to brown and crisp up.
Take the base out of the oven, spread on the tahini spread, top with the eggplant and tomato if using, and transfer it to a pizza tray/stone if you have one. Give it another 7 - 10 minutes in the oven to finish crisping. The crispier the better in my opinion.
Sprinkle with the thyme leaves and add a final drizzle of olive oil to finish. Delish! This would also be amazing with the spelt base.
I made one with a more traditional veg topping which was delicious too.
Also, you could substitute any cooked grain for the quinoa. Such a versatile base that you could keep 'crisping' to turn into little crisps for dips, or make into mini versions and add some sweeter flavours for a take on pikelets. Love it!
The second 'way' is the Spelt pizza base.
Why use spelt? Spelt is an ancient relative of wheat, only it has not been hybridised, processed and manipulated like wheat often is. Those with wheat sensitivities and intolerances can often tolerate spelt. This is due to a number of reasons. The gluten in spelt is broken down far easier than the gluten in wheat. The grain grows with a thick husk to protect it from insects and other pollutants, and so it is therefore often not treated with pesticides and other chemicals. It also has a highly water soluble fibre that is easily and efficiently assimilated by the body, cool!
Spelt wins in the nutrient profile stakes, being higher in protein, fibre, magnesium and B vitamins, hooray! You can substitute spelt into any recipe calling for wheat, and it is available in white and wholemeal varieties.
So, for my spelt pizza base, I was extremely lucky to have the use of my Dad's home-made pizza oven. How fabulous is it! We also cooked some pumpkin in there which was just divine!! It's so lovely to have that connection with your food, and to cook it in such a communal way. Especially when research is showing those that live the longest and healthiest lives are those that eat meals sitting down in the company of others. Sounds simple, but it's something that a lot of people don't do. I'm not saying that I never eat standing up, in the car, in a rush - it's hard to avoid sometimes. But it's a wonderful goal to have, and your digestion, body and mind will thank you for it!
Spelt Pizza Base
(makes one pizza base)
1 cup spelt flour
3/4 tsp yeast
1/2 tsp baking powder
3/4 tablespoons oil
1 tsp honey or maple syrup
1/3 cup warm water (plus a little extra if needed)
Combine the flour, yeast and baking powder. Add remaining ingredients and mix until it becomes a dough - add a little extra water or flour at this point if the dough is too sticky or too dry).
Place in a bowl and cover with a tea towel. Leave the dough in a warm place for 45 minutes - 1 hour, or until the dough has doubled in size.
Knead the dough a little more and roll out to your desired size and thickness.
Load on your toppings (I used home-made tomato sauce with chunky veg, capsicum, mushrooms, caramelised leeks, spinach leaves and cheese).
Bake in the oven - on a pizza stone if you have one - until base is crisp to your liking. Yummo!
The third 'way' is a grain-free faux pizza, using a field mushroom as the base. This was so delicious! Into a handful of fresh ricotta mix 1 clove of chopped garlic, 1/2 chopped tomato, a large handful of basil, sea salt and black pepper to taste, and into the oven at 180 degrees Celsius for about 20 minutes.
Top with some roughly chopped walnuts and pumpkin seeds and you have a little gluten-free garlicky delight!
P.S. Here is a cheeky fourth 'way', little sweet potato mini pizzas. Just slice and roast the sweet potato brushed in a little oil until tender, dress accordingly and bake or grill until fabulous!
So there you have a few takes on the mighty pizza. Check out what the other wonderful food matters project members have done too.
Today is shaping up to be a beautiful Autumn day, cool but with just enough sun to keep your back warm. The change of seasons has brought an exciting new posse of foods to enjoy at their peak. In Australia these foods include pumpkin, pomegranates, apples, onions, broccoli, mushrooms, sage, thyme, figs and nuts. Yummo!! And because they are in season, they will be at their peak in terms of flavour and nutritional content. Awesome.
To celebrate, why not make this wonderful Autumn Tart, bursting with the goodness of these seasonal beauties!
I'll deal with just a few here. Firstly pumpkin. Jam packed with beta-carotene, (a pre-cursor to vitamin A) it helps to nourish and protect your skin, prevent oxidation, assist immune function, and also has some groovy anti-carcinogenic activity. Pumpkin is also generously endowed with Vitamin C, E, folate, calcium and magnesium.
Broccoli has a nutrient profile very similar to pumpkin, containing an even higher amount of beta-carotene. Along with the Vitamin C, E, folate, calcium and magnesium, it is also naturally high in sulphur, iron, B-vitamins and chlorophyll - try to keep the cooking to a minimum to retain as much of these qualities as you can.
And finally, walnuts! Loaded with omega-3s these little brain-shaped beauties are just fabulous. Hosting a plethora of goodies including protein, manganese, selenium, zinc, magnesium and iron, walnuts nourish the adrenal glands, kidneys and brain, and enrich sperm - fab!
So onto some cooking. Pastry is something that is often thrown straight into the too hard basket - but it is actually super easy to make, and SO worth it!
I have used spelt flour here for added nutrients and ease of digestion, but feel free to use whole wheat if you prefer. This amount makes about 12 little tarts.
You will need:
3/4 cup plain wholemeal spelt flour
3/4 cup plain white spelt flour
100g chilled, chopped butter
Ice cold water
Suggested filling ingredients:
Pumpkin
Broccoli or kale or silverbeet
Onions
Garlic
Mushrooms
Walnuts
Sage
Goats cheese
Eggs
Combine the flours and then rub in the butter using your fingertips until the mixture looks like breadcrumbs (or pulse in a food processor). Gradually fold a little (20-30ml) cold water into the mix and keep adding a little more until the mix comes together into a ball and looks evenly moist. Wrap up in a bag/plastic wrap and chill for 20 mins in the fridge.
Roll out your pastry, cut and place into greased or lined individual tins (or you could make one large tart if you prefer). Chill for another 10 minutes in the freezer.
Now add your filling! Saute off some onions in a little oil with chopped garlic and mushrooms over medium heat until nicely caramelised. Pop this into the tarts as the base, and then build your creation from there. I roasted some pumpkin tossed in minced garlic, coconut oil and poppy seeds (a technique I picked up from Sarah and My New Roots!) and added this along with some broccoli, chopped walnuts, fresh sage and goat's cheese chunks. Whisk your eggs with a pinch of sea salt (about one egg for every two tarts - just enough to hold everything together) and gently spoon into the crevices of your tarts. Pop into a moderate oven and bake for around 15-20 minutes, or until the egg is set.
I couldn't help myself so I sprinkled on some pomegranate seeds for colour and a little tarty flavour surprise, and threw a few chives around.
If you prefer a gluten-free option, you could make little frittatas by forgetting the pastry and adding extra egg.
Now I'm off to eat an apple and a fig. x
I had to do a post on chocolate with Easter around the corner! And what a wonderful thing it is! A little time off to spend reconnecting, enjoying and eating with family and friends. I'm particularly excited this year as it's the first Easter that my daughter is old enough to enjoy the Easter Bunny - so I get to make footprints on the floor and host egg hunts - all very exciting!
So, to the chocolate. There is a lot of politics surrounding chocolate, or more specifically cocoa and the way that it is collected. West Africa is home to at least 40% of the world's cocoa production, where there have been ongoing issues with child labour and exploitation.
Fair Trade International is a global organisation that requires companies to pay sustainable prices to the farmers, and this therefore improves their working conditions and local sustainability. The organisation also prohibits child and forced labor.
For more information on which chocolate is fairtrade, have a look here or here.
Unfortunately, just because chocolate is fairly traded, doesn't necessarily mean that it's of wonderful quality. Get into the habit of reading labels, and choosing varieties with less sugar, and without artificial sweeteners, flavourings and other sorts of numbers and names that you don't recognise.
Conscious Chocolate is a lovely thing! It uses cacao sourced from Bolivia and certified by the "Hand in Hand" programme which supports sustainable farming practices and gives back to the farmers via education, health and environmental programmes, and ensures fair pay.
It's dairy free, gluten free, soy free, low GI and vegan - whoa. Usually this might also equal taste free....but not here - yay!! Check out their website for more information on the ingredients and how it's made.
Another option is to make your own! I researched this a little, and found that you need some special equipment to have a proper go at this, so I will have to put that project off for a while. There are a number of versions floating around on the internet to try with combinations of cocoa butter, cocoa, sweetener of some kind and milk, but I couldn't find one that I liked that I was able to do at home.
I did however find an awesome raw brownie recipe from the wonderful Sarah at 'My New Roots' which uses:
2 cups walnuts
2 1/2 cups Medjool dates, pitted
1 cup raw cacao
1 cup raw unsalted almonds roughly chopped
1/4 tsp sea salt
Whiz up the walnuts in a food processor, add cacao and salt and pulse, then add the dates one at a time until the mix is like breadcrumbs and sticks together if pressed (if not add more dates). Press into a lined dish and chill until you're ready to experience the excitement of a sugar, dairy and gluten free delight that is sure to rock your world!
We had a pre-Easter brunch last weekend and I decided to make an amazing pumpkin cheesecake as part of the spread that was inspired by a recipe I found at 20 something cupcake's blog, I just made it a bit more wholefood-y.
Here's what I did:
For the cust
1 cup almond meal
1 cup plain unbleached flour or white spelt flour
150g butter, chopped into cubes
1 tbs rapadura sugar
1/2 tsp ground ginger
(Apologies here - these are not exact quantities for the base as the excitement of making this cheesecake lead to a random throwing together of ingredients until it looked right.....I think it's about right - but I will take it upon myself to make another one - how will I ever cope - and include the exact quantities next time)
For the filling
500g (or 2 packets) cream cheese at room temperature
200g plain yoghurt
1 cup rapadura sugar
3 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
425-450g cooked pumpkin, well mashed
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
Preheat oven to 180 degrees celcius (350F)
To make the crust, combine the almond meal and flour, sugar and ginger in a bowl. Add the cubed butter and rub and squash the dry ingredients into the butter with your fingertips until the mix looks like breadcrumbs. Press into a lined springform pan and bake until slightly browned (5-10 minutes). Set aside.
To make the filling, beat the cream cheese in a mixer using a paddle attachment on med-high speed until fluffy - about 1 minute. Add the yoghurt and mix to combine. Add the sugar and beat until smooth (about 1 minute). Add the eggs one at a time, beating on med-high for about 20 seconds after each one. Add the pumpkin, vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger and mix until combined well.
Pour this delightful mix over the crust and bake on the centre rack of the oven for about 1 hour, until the filling has set and golden brown on top.
Cool on a wire rack for about half an hour and then chill for several hours or overnight.
Remove from the pan and transfer to a serving plate.
I topped the cake with a home-made granola style muesli that I had made out of a mix of oats, almonds, brazil nuts, pumpkin seeds, coconut flakes, coconut oil and a bit of maple syrup and then toasted in the oven for 10 -15 minutes, stirring regularly.
Big hit!! I wish everyone a fabulous Easter break full of happiness, fun and deliciousness.
On top of the health and nutritional benefits mentioned previously, dulse is exceptionally high in iodine and manganese, and has been used as a remedy for sea sickness, herpes and scurvy - what more could you ask for?! It's salty flavour makes it a great salt substitute, but you may like to start slowly and build up as your body adjusts to the flavour which can be overpowering if you overdo it!
