Wow! Drizzle a little extra virgin olive oil with this sweet vinegar, and you have a super dressing for garden green salads. Add some pine nuts and feta cheese or chèvre for a quick-and-easy main-course meal. When the vinegar is ready, instead of discarding the strawberries, which will keep for months in your kitchen cabinet, you can add them to salads, or purée them with a little olive oil and pinch of sea salt for a delicious salad dressing.
1. Place a 1/2-inch layer of strawberries in a quart jar. Sprinkle on a few pieces of vanilla bean. Continue alternating the remaining strawberries and vanilla, then add enough vinegar to cover.
2. Put the cap on the jar, and add a label that includes the jar’s contents, date prepared, and approximate date the vinegar will be ready (5 or 6 weeks from the preparation date). Store in a kitchen cabinet or another cool, dark place.
3. Give the jar a daily shake for the first few days. If needed, add more vinegar to keep the strawberries covered.
4. After 5 or 6 weeks, taste the vinegar. If a stronger flavor is desired, let it steep another week.
5. When the vinegar is ready, pour it through a fine mesh strainer or cheesecloth into a bowl, wide-mouth jar, or measuring cup. Before discarding the strawberries (or saving for later use), squeeze them through the cheesecloth or press them against the strainer with the back of a spoon to get every last drop of vinegar.*
6. Transfer the vinegar to a clear bottle or jar, and label it with the type of vinegar and date. Store in a cool, dark place, where it will keep for at least a year.
Recipe excerpted from Going Wild in the Kitchen by Leslie Cerier, (c) 2005, Square One Publishers, Inc. Used by permission.
And you can also use Strawberries to make a quick and easy Strawberry Sauce, perfect for waffles and pancakes
Organic Strawberry Sauce on Teff Waffles
Strawberry Pancakes
Serves 4 to 6
Full of strawberries, these pancakes are yummy just on their own. Or for a change of pace, try topping them with yogurt. And there’s no reason not to enjoy them like strawberry shortcake, topped with fresh whipped cream and perhaps a few more sliced strawberries.
4 eggs
1 cup apple juice
1/2 cup honey or maple syrup
4 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups teff flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
2 cups sliced strawberries
Extra-virgin coconut oil, for frying
Whisk the eggs in a large bowl. Stir in the juice, honey, and vanilla. Add the flour, baking powder, and salt and stir until well combined. Gently fold in the strawberries.
Heat some coconut oil in a heavy skillet or griddle over medium heat and brush it over the surface when it melts. Ladle the batter onto the hot pan to make pancakes of whatever size you like. Cook for about 1 1/2 minutes, until the tops are bubbly and the edges are dry. Turn the pancakes over and cook for about 1 more minute, until the bottoms are golden brown. Serve immediately.
Reprinted with permission by New Harbinger Publications, Inc. Gluten-Free Recipes for the Conscious Cook by Leslie Cerier www.lesliecerier.com
These waffles are delicious with or without a topping. There’s enough maple syrup in the batter that I never feel a need to pour more on top.
Teff Waffles from Leslie Cerier's cookbook, Gluten-Free Recipes for the Conscious Cook
4 eggs
3/4 cup apple juice or cider
3 Tbsp extra-virgin coconut oil or butter
3 Tbsp maple syrup
1 Tbsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups teff flour
1 Tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp sea salt
1. Preheat the waffle iron
2. Whisk the eggs in a large bowl. Stir in the juice, oil, maple syrup and vanilla. Add the flour, baking powder, and salt and stir until well combined.
3. Brush both the top and bottom surface of the waffle iron with oil, then ladle in enough batter to cover the bottom surface of the iron. Cook until the steaming stops or the waffle is golden brown.
4. Serve immediately, or keep the cooked waffles in a warm oven until you’re ready to serve.
This recipe will also be included when I teach Great Grains in the Morning, Festive Holiday Brunches : Pancakes, Waffles, Fruit Sauces and Porridges at the Open Center in New York City on Dec 17th. Please come and participate in this fun and delicious Hands-on Vegetarian Cooking Class. For more information on my cooking classes and to register: please go to http://lesliecerier.com/blog/class-schedule/
Delicious, quick and easy gluten-free blueberry pancakes!
You will enjoy making and eating “Blueberry Pancakes” made with quinoa and corn flour; a delicious gluten-free recipe from my cookbook, Gluten-Free Recipes for the Conscious Cook
Loved by vegans and non-vegans alike, this rich chocolate cake is the one I usually make for birthdays. Serve it plain, drizzled with Hot Fudge, or frosted with Vegan Chocolate Mousse.
Yield: 8 servings
1 3/4 cups whole wheat pastry flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
2 1/2 tablespoons flaxseeds
1/2 cup apple juice
1/4 cup canola oil
1/2 cup maple syrup
1/2 tablespoon vanilla
1 1/2 cups dark chocolate chips* or 5.3-ounce dark chocolate (70 or 72%) broken into 1-inch pieces (1 ½ cups)
3/4 cup vanilla soymilk
* Fair Traded chocolate is strongly suggested.
1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Lightly oil a 9-inch cake or loaf pan and set aside.
2. Combine the flour, baking powder, and salt in a large mixing bowl and set aside.
3. Place the flaxseeds in a blender and grind to a powder. Add the juice, oil, maple syrup, and vanilla, and blend well.
4. Heat the chocolate chips and soymilk in a 1-quart saucepan over low heat. Stir constantly about 3 minutes, or until the chocolate melts.
5. Add the melted chocolate and flaxseed mixture to the flour mixture and stir well to form a smooth batter.
6. Pour the batter into the cake pan and bake 40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
7. Let the cake cool 30 minutes before removing from the pan. Serve plain or frosted.
For a Change…
Omit the soymilk and use 1 ¼ cups juice. Melt the chocolate in a double boiler or in a skillet over low flame stirring constantly.
Also, you can substitute other flours. If you like, use all spelt flour and substract 25% liquid from the recipe above. Or if you want to add more calcium and iron and use some teff flour, you may substitute up to 25% teff flour for the whole wheat pastry flour. Either way, this cake will please everyone.
VANILLA-SCENTED BULGUR WITH DRIED CHERRIES AND TOASTED WALNUTS
Four servings
2 cup water
1/3 cup dried pitted cherries
2 to 3-inch vanilla bean split lengthwise or 1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup bulgur wheat
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 cup walnuts
2 cups plain yogurt
Optional: honey for drizzling
To prepare:
In a medium saucepan over moderate heat, add the water and cherries with vanilla bean. Cover and bring to a boil. Add the bulgur and salt reduce the heat to low and simmer until the water is absorbed; the bulgur is tender, about ten minutes. Remove the vanilla bean
While the bulgur cooks, in a small dry skillet over moderate heat, add the walnuts and toast, stirring often, until they are aromatic, become dark, about five to six minutes.
Spoon the bulgur into heated soup bowls, add one-half cup yogurt per person and top with walnuts. Drizzle a little honey or maple syrup over the whole affair for extra sweetness if desired.
You’ll flip for these delicious pancakes, made with naturally sweet teff and bananas. Although my family enjoys them plain or topped with applesauce, they also like dipping them in yogurt and Strawberry Sauce.
Yield: About 25 pancakes (3 inches)
2 tablespoons flaxseeds
2 ripe bananas
1 1/2 cups vanilla soymilk or apple juice
1 tablespoon vanilla
1 tablespoon honey
1 1/2 teaspoon safflower, almond, or canola oil
1 1/2 cups teff flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
Optional: 2 eggs
1. Place the flaxseeds in a blender and grind until powdery. Add the bananas, soymilk, vanilla, honey, oil, and eggs if using. Blend well.
2. Combine the flour, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon in a large mixing bowl. Add the banana mixture and stir until well combined.
3. Heat a griddle, cast iron skillet, or large frying pan over medium heat. If it does not have a nonstick surface, brush it with oil.
4. Drop heaping tablespoons of batter onto the hot griddle and cook 1 1/2 minutes, or until the tops are bubbly and the edges are dry. Using a spatula, turn the pancakes over and cook another minute, or until the bottoms are brown.
5. Serve immediately with your favorite topping.
