Strawberry Carpaccio

With the warmer weather and the arrival of fresh local fruit, carpaccioed strawberries are the perfect, light treat. Yes, I know a carpaccio is really made from meat and this is some hippy-vegan arrangement.  I'm ok with that :-)

First, thinly slice a few strawberries.  I used about five berries - the largest slices, not the edge slices.  Consistent size it fairly important.  Then, arrange, in a radiating pattern, the strawberry slices.

To create a bright flavour, I added mint and sweet basil.  Remove the leaves from the stem and add a bit of agave syrup.  Then, muddle the leaves and syrup to release the fragrant oils.

Drizzle the syrup on the berries and arrange the bruised leaves.  Garnish with sprigs of whole basil and mint.  Enjoy!

Roasted Stacked Potatoes

I saw something similar and decided to try this.  They turned out alright, but it was a lot of work.

First, I used a cutter to create small cylinders of potato and then I ran them through the food processor to slice them thinly.

Then, I coated the slices with olive oil and a sprinkle of sea salt.  Stacking them in a cupcake tin, I baked them at 350˚F until they were tender.

Allow the potatoes to cool slightly and pile a few into a stack; garnishing with tomatoes, basil and thyme.

Chickpea Curry Burger on Turmeric Rolls

A (fairly) quick and easy vegan burger: Curried chickpea on a turmeric biscuit.

Using the ratio 3:1:2 (flour:coconut oil:almond milk), portion out the ingredients.  Add a bit of flax seed, nutritional yeast, onion powder and turmeric.  If you're not using self raising flour, be sure to add a bit of salt and baking powder.

Cut the chilled coconut oil into the flour - a food processor makes it easy.  Mix the seasoning ingredients into the milk and add it to the flour.  Gently work the flax seed, seasoning and milk into the flour.  Be careful to not over mix or it will make the biscuits tough.  Shape into rolls and top with sesame seeds.  Bake at 350˚F until light brown ~25 minutes.

Start with chickpeas, pecans and almond meal, oatmeal and flax seed.  Season with tamari sauce, curry powder, onion powder, garlic powder, smoky and salt.  Add all the ingredients to a food processor.  Blend until smooth, adding a bit of water if needed to make it smooth.

Shape into patties and fry.

Build the burger.  I used lettuce, avocado, tarragon, basil, savoury soy youghurt, tomatoes and red onion.

Gazpacho

Gazpacho has the reputation of being an awkward dish.  It's not always well received - after all, it's cold soup.  The first time I tried it, I was in Paris and decided, "I'm never coming back to this place!  They can't even heat up soup properly."Thankfully I got over my Parisian aversion and I learned to actually like gazpacho!

I started with tomatoes, red onions, bell peppers, chili pepper and basil - all harvested from the garden. First, peel, half and remove the seeds from a medium cucumber.  Then coarsely dice the cucumber, tomato, onions and pepper.  Be sure to very finely mince the chili pepper - any remove the seeds unless you're really a fan of spice. Pile it all in a food processor with the basil, a bit of salt, olive oil and balsamic vinegar.  Blitz it up until it's soupy, but not a fine puree.  There should be a bit of texture.

I find it's best to serve chilled, but not ice cold.

Roasted Red Pepper Alfredo

This was a surprising delight.  I found a red pepper recipe from Minimalist Baker (amazing blog).  I had red peppers in the garden.  I was inspired.

First, break down the red peppers and coat with olive oil.  Then, broil, roast or grill until the skin is charred.  This should help it slide off easily.  Mix the peeled red peppers with a few cashews, tamari sauce, onion powder, garlic powder, nutritional yeast and a bit of salt.  Cover the mixture with water and puree in a high speed blender.

Prepare a portion of brown rice pasta to just-before-al-dente.

Add the blender mixture to a hot frying pan with a shot of olive oil.  Allow to bubble and reduce until slightly thickened.  Then, add a scoop of the starchy pasta water and the noodles.  Continue to simmer until the pasta is finished cooking.

It's a very rich and savoury-sweet dish.  I love it!

Laminated Potato Crisps

These are some of my favourite!  I saw Julia Child make something like this years ago and decided to give it a try.

Start by peeling and thinly slicing potatoes.  I mean really thinly sliced - so thin you can read through it.

Carefully layer one slice of of potato, an herb, a bit of oil and top with another slice of potato.  It helps to roll the herbs (basil, thyme, chives, or green onions) so they're flat and the chips don't warp in the oven.  Bake at 350F until they're golden brown.  Then remove from the oven and sprinkle with sea salt.  Transfer to paper towels to cool and drain any excess oil.

Bon appetit!

Spinach-Spelt pasta Ravioli with Vegan Filling

Happy St. Patrick's Day!  This verdant pasta is coloured with fresh-from-the-garden spinach.

I started out by chopping the spinach and olive oil in the food processor.  Not really sure how the recipe would turn out, I added egg-white to the mixture and kneaded the dough with the food processor.  It turned out better than expected.  An eggless, vegan pasta dough should hold up perfectly. Cover and let it rest for 15 minutes. Divide in to two equal portions and roll it out.

The filling's made from: pine nuts, tofu, pumpkin seeds, pistachios, garlic, onion, basil, olive oil, salt, tamari and a squeeze of lemon. Simply add the ingredients to the food processor and blitz. Spoon it or pipe it on to the rolled pasta dough - rice flour keeps the dough from sticking to the counter. Brush water around the dollops of filling to make sealing the pasta easier.  Place the top pasta layer over the bottom.  Press out the air and cut into individual pieces.  I used a handy pasta cutter, but a knife works, too.

Drop into boiling water for ~3 minutes.  Serve hot with olive oil, pine nuts and fresh basil.

Sweet Potato Gnocchi

Sauteed sweet potato gnocchi served with spinach, basil, tomatoes and balsamic "caviar."  Here's the link to how to make the "caviar"

Boil and rice the yams:

Add flour, salt and mix:

Roll, cut and boil the dumplings.  Then pan-fry.

Chopped Salad with Carrot Ribbons

Red bell pepper, carrots, tomatoes, cauliflower and basil. Dressed with balsamic vinegar, olive oil and salt.

I used these peelers to make the carrot ribbon:

Balsamic Baby Carrots

Blanched baby carrots in a sauce of balsamic vinegar, macadamia oil and fresh basil.  Served with fresh beet leaves.

Grilled Portabella Burger

Served on a made-from-scratch wheat bun with seared baby corn.

Seasoned with apple-wood smoked salt and olive oil.

Pasta Fresca

I just got to try my new pasta attachments.

Make the dough and let it rest:

This is a buckwheat and semolina dough.

Then roll it to the desired thickness:

Then cut as desired - this is a fettuccine:

Start the water boiling and lay the pasta aside - boil when ready.  Then drain, rinse and keep warm (for no more than 10 minutes):

Prepare the fresh veg:

• basil
• parsley
• onions
• cayenne
• oregano
• tomatoes

Mince the herbs and pepper:

Marinate with Italian salad dressing:

Sweat the herbs and onion in olive oil with a dash of salt.  Add toasted pine nuts to the mix:

Turn off the heat and add the tomatoes.  You don't want to cook them, just allow them to soften slightly:

Add ripe green olives (not the pickled variety) and julienned green peppers:

Pasta Fresca, served with sauteed green beans and (veggie) sausage.

Filled Cherry Tomato hors d'oeuvres

With an abundance of cherry tomatoes, I decided to find a proper dish for them.

First, remove a slice from the top or the bottom.  Scoop out the guts and fill with the following:

• greek youghurt and dill
• corn
• parsley
• basil
• slices of bell pepper