This recipe is from Leslie Cerier’s wonderful new cookbook “Gluten-Free Recipes for the Conscious Cook”. This book is packed with whole food, nutrient dense and delicious recipes. Leslie has been kind enough to share one of her original recipes with us this month. Try it and check out this great cookbook. This recipe feature shitake mushrooms which are one of the best vegetarian sources of vitamin D.
Cashew butter makes this soup rich and creamy without a drop of dairy, and the shitakes are very healthful. In China, they’ve been used for their immune-boosting properties for thousands of years. What a delicious way to ward off colds and flus! When cooking with any type of fresh mushrooms, sauté them first to seal in the flavor or they will give it all to the broth.
Serves 6-8
3 Tablespoons of sunflower oil
3 Cups grated yams
3 Cups sliced onions in half moons.
6 Cups stemmed and coarsely chopped shitake mushrooms
1 Cup cashew butter
7 Cups hot water
1 ½ Cups diced red bell pepper
8 cloves of garlic pressed
1 Tablespoon sea salt
Heat the oil in a large soup pot over medium heat. Add the yams and sauté for about ten minutes, stirring frequently to prevent the yams from sticking.( if they do stick just add a bit of water.) When yams begin to soften and take on a brighter orange hew, add the onions and sauté for about 30 minutes, until the yams are tender. Add the shiitakes and sauté for about 5 minutes, until the mushrooms begin to soften.
Use a handheld blender to blend the cashew butter and hot water until smooth, then add the mixture to the soup. If you only have a standard blender, put ½ cup of the cashew butter in the blender, add 3 ½ cups of the hot water, then blend until smooth. The hot liquid can cause the blender lid to pop off, so put the lid on loosely (so the steam can escape) and cover it with a kitchen towel. Add the mixture to the soup and repeat with the remaining cashew butter and water.
Bring the soup to a boil; then lower the heat to a simmer for 5 minutes to blend the flavors. Stir in the bell pepper, garlic and salt.
Here’s a delicious, easy to make, vegetarian and gluten-free recipe of this traditional Middle Eastern dish. Serve on a bed a salad or stuffed into pita pockets with a tahini dressing for a great lunch or dinner. Makes a great appetizer, too. Feel free to fry these patties in ghee, olive oil, or a combination of ghee and olive oil. Enjoy!
Makes 1 dozen falafel patties; Serves 4
2 cups garbanzo bean flour
1 cup coarsely chopped cilantro
1/2 cup onions, coarsely chopped
3 cloves garlic, coarsely chopped or minced
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
1 teaspoon Celtic Sea Salt
3 tablespoons ghee or extra virgin olive oil
Place all the ingredients, except the ghee or oil in a mixing bowl, and mix well. Shape the batter into walnut sized balls. Heat a 9 inch skillet. Add ghee or oil. Add falafel balls when oil is hot and flatten with a spatula. Fry on both sizes until golden brown. Serve on top of salad or stuffed into pita.
Variation: Swap 1 teaspoon coriander for cilantro.
Mocha Rice Pudding Garnished with Fresh Strawberries
The seasons change and with them the availability of fresh, local produce. Crisp fall apples, tart cranberries, juicy summer strawberries, fresh figs — would they be so special if we could eat them all year round?
Reinventing a recipe keeps it fresh and enjoyable. For example, you can make Apple Blackberry Pie in fall, Pumpkin Pecan Pie in winter, Lemon Tart in spring, and Blueberry Crumb Pie in summer. For variation, use the same pie crust and change the filling. Create a new variation to the pumpkin pie filling by adding sweet potatoes, or substituting butternut, or kuri squash. Use more cinnamon or cloves. Change the pie crust, too by switching the flour, oil, or sweetener.
Likewise, keep your basic minestrone new and inspiring all through the winter by swapping vegetables. Use butternut squash instead of carrots, leeks for onions for example. Other times change the beans from pinto to kidney to other beans. Cook the beans from scratch with a sea vegetable, like kelp. Another time, switch the sea vegetable to dulse, or skip the seaweed, and just use spices. And of course, you can vary the herbs, too. Finally, flavored oils can take the place of some herbs and spices.
My enthusiasm for creating new recipes and menus comes from the local harvest. For instance, in June the markets near my western Massachusetts home yield strawberries, spinach, baby red kale, arugula, radishes, lettuce, mustard greens, and mizuna (an Asian green leafy vegetable that you can eat like spinach). Perennial herbs like chives, oregano, garlic chives, sage, and sorrel abound. Simultaneously harvested, they become the natural choices to mix and match into savory salads, dressings, quiche, scrambled tofu, sushi rice rolls, and pasta dishes. During summer, crunchy fresh string beans, cherry tomatoes, and sweet baby carrots are wonderful in salads dressed with aromatic basil. The first zucchini and eggplant inspires me to fire up the grill. Come fall, collards, red peppers, and cilantro, revitalize the tofu scramble. The vibrant cool weather leafy kale, moist to the touch seduces me in winter when spinach is out of season. Kale becomes the green to use in quiche, soups and stews. When we take our cues from Mother Nature, she gives us plenty of guidance.
The weather affects our cooking methods, too. In hot weather, you may want to stay away from the stove. Quick grilled vegetables and tofu, refreshing smoothies, marinated salads with corn, berries, and chevre cool you off. To beat the heat, cook beans, pasta, or grains in the early morning or the night before when the house is cool. Cold winter days are ideal for long simmering soups, garlicky roasted vegetables and spicy stews made with the vegetables of the season: potatoes, carrots, winter squash, and yams. An attractive garnish can enliven any dish. For example, decorate summer pasta salads with yellow calendula flowers and bright red bee balm for a splash of color. Toasted nuts and seeds on top of green salads add a contrasting texture. Chopped herbs on cooked rice give a delicate fragrance. These simple pleasures charm the heart.
Recipes are not etched in stone in my kitchen, nor should they be in yours. The more you cook, the easier it becomes to improvise. Calm and confident, you can focus; choose ingredients, rinse and chop, mix and taste. Your inner wisdom will tell you when to follow pure intuition and when to stop and think it out.
3 cups spelt flour
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 cup canola oil or melted extra virgin coconut oil
1/2 cup molasses
1/4 cup honey
2 tablespoons grated fresh ginger
1. Preheat oven to 375°F. Lightly oil a cookie sheet and set aside.
2. Combine the flour, cinnamon, and salt in a large mixing bowl
and set aside.
3. Place the oil, molasses, honey, and ginger in a blender. (If the
ginger is too fibrous, gather it in your hands, squeeze the juice
into the blender, and then discard the grated fibers.) Add to the
flour mixture and stir to form a moist dough.
4. Knead the dough for a minute, then shape into walnut-sized
balls. Place on the cookie sheet about 3/4-inch apart. Flatten gently with a fork.
5. Bake 15 minutes, or until lightly browned. Remove from the oven, and cool at least
10 minutes before serving.
In this colorful dish, a vegetable medley is roasted in a delicious Mediterranean-style lemon and caper sauce.
Yield: 4 to 6 servings
2 cups cubed beets
2 cups Brussels sprouts, cut in half
2 cups yams, cut in chunks
2 cups leeks, cut into
2-inch diagonals
1/2 cup chopped parsley
1/3 cup lemon juice
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons capers (rinse if packed in salt)
1. Preheat the oven to 400°F. Place all the ingredients in a large bowl and mix well. Transfer to a large covered baking dish.
2.Bake for 1 hour, or until the beets are tender. Adjust the sea-sonings, if desired.
Lasagna with Chèvre, Arugula and Crimini Mushrooms
Lasagna is very versatile. In this version, chèvre stands in for the more commonly used ricotta cheese, and goat cheddar subs for mozzarella.
Other cheeses that melt well, such as goat Gouda, French petite Basque or Spanish Manchego, are good choices, too.
2.Spread 1/2cup of the tomato sauce in the bottom of an 8-inch square baking dish. (You can use one of the lasagna noodles to do
the spreading.) Lay 3 of the noodles over the sauce.
3.Spread the chèvre on top of the noodles, top with another 3 noodles, and cover with mushrooms and arugula.
4.Place the last 3 noodles over the mushrooms and arugula, and press gently. Top with the remaining sauce and grated cheese.
5.Cover with foil or a cookie sheet and bake for 45 minutes, or until the noodles are soft and the lasagna is hot and bubbly.
6.Remove from the oven and let sit about 10 minutes to set. Cut into squares and serve.
For a Change . . .
•Instead of crimini mushrooms and arugula, try a combination of marinated sun-dried tomatoes, fresh or roasted bell peppers, chopped radicchio, sautéed shiitake mush-
rooms, and kale.
•Replace the layer of vegetables with another layer of grated cheese.
•Vary the type of lasagna noodles; use rice, whole wheat, spelt, spinach, or artichoke soy. Even penne or macaroni pasta works well.
•For a Mexican-style version, use jalapeño jack soy cheese instead of chèvre, and salsa in place of tomato sauce.
A pinch of saffron deepens the flavor of this mildly spicy lentil soup.
Beautiful Daughter, Michelle eating Moroccan Lentil Soup from Leslie Cerier's Going Wild in the Kitchen
Serves 4 to 6
1 cup lentils, rinsed
6 cups water
3-inch-piece dulse (optional)
Pinch of saffron
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
2 cups bite-sized cauliflower florets
1/2 cup coarsely chopped carrots
1/2 cup coarsely chopped celery
4 garlic cloves, thickly sliced
1/2 tablespoon grated ginger
1 teaspoon ground cumin
3 pinches cayenne
1/4 teaspoon turmeric
1 3/4 cup coarsely chopped plum tomatoes
1/4 cup coarsely chopped cilantro
1/2 teaspoon sea salt or to taste
1. Place the lentils, water, dulse (if using), and saffron in a 6-quart stockpot. Bring the ingredients to a boil, then reduce the heat to medium-low. Simmer covered, 15 to 20 minutes, or until the lentils soften.
2. While the lentils are cooking, place the oil in a 10-inch skillet, and warm over medium heat. Add the cauliflower, carrots, celery, garlic, ginger, cumin, and cayenne. Sauté vegetables for about 5 minutes, or until they become brightly colored, and the cauliflower begins to soften.
3. Add the sautéed vegetables and turmeric to the lentils. Simmer covered till the lentils are soft, about 10 more minutes.
4. Stir in the tomatoes; simmer covered for about 5 minutes to blend the flavors.
OR start from scratch with 2 cups dried navy beans, presoaked, rinsed and simmered in 6 cups water for 1 1/2 hours
3 scallions, sliced
6 cloves garlic, peeled
1 lemon, juiced, 1/3 cup lemon juice
1 teaspoon sea salt
2/3 cup walnuts
2 tablespoons chopped fresh dill, plus several sprigs for garnish
1- 5 ounce jar of olives such as garlic-stuffed olives for a garnish
Place cooked beans, scallions, garlic, lemon juice, salt, walnuts and dill in work bowl of food processor. Puree until smooth. Taste and adjust seasonings. Scrape dip into serving bowl, and garnish with olives and dill.
