King Oyster Mushroom "Calamari"

I have been intrigued by Sarma's recipe for King Oyster Mushroom "Calamari" since I first saw it on page 155 of Living Raw Food.

Have I mentioned that this book is one of my favorite raw recipe books...ever?

Since I may never get to experience dining at Sarma's famous restaurant, Pure Food and Wine, this is the next best thing! Thank you Sarma, for putting your recipes in this lovely book for us:)

The hardest part about this recipe may be finding the king oyster mushroom. If you have an Asian market in your neighborhood, this might be the place to go. Around here, it is the only place I have seen them. If you don't know what they look like, here is a picture of mine.

I almost forgot they were in the fridge, and the cap of one got a bit frozen, but you don't use the cap for this recipe. And yes, they do sorta remind me of...

a peeled eggplant ;) As a matter of fact, Heathy used eggplant when she made this:)

This is what I consider a fun recipe. I get to play with things like cookie cutters. It is easy to make, and is really pretty quick. It is unique, and it tastes awesome! As usual, I scaled the recipe way down since it is just for moi:)

The first thing to do is slice the mushroom stems, and cut them into rings. I have a set of circle cutters of all different sizes that made the job very easy. If you don't have a circle cutter, the tops of small and large spice jars might work, and they are exactly the size of the two cutters I used. My blogging friend, Bitt, used an apple corer:)

I was able to get two or three rings from each slice.

There was a smaller cutter, but I thought it would be nice to make some "scallops" with the solid middle of each slice.

Sarma mentioned in the book that they make scallops at the restaurant. I just marinated mine in lemon, oil, dulse flakes, and some spices. They were delish!

The calamari is marinated for about a half hour, then coated with seasoned flax seed crumbs. After several hours in the dehydrator, they were perfect!

To accompany the calamari, there are two yummy condiments. A tartar sauce, and a cocktail sauce. I made both in a smaller batch (to my own tastes) and they are incredible! I could not decide which one I liked better, so I enjoyed a little of both and a squeeze of lemon on each tender calamari ring:)

A BIG HUGE THANKS to Sarma for sharing this delicious recipe!

Again, a word to my blogging friends...

Google reader is still cranky :(

I am having some issues commenting on almost everyone's blog this week! I can not even leave a comment on my own blog...lol! If you have blog comments powered by "disqus", it will not load for me at all. The problems are most likely on my end, and I hope to resolve them soon.

In the meantime, I am loving all your posts, and really wish I could comment...maybe someone is trying to keep me quiet??..LOL!

Raw Valentine Ravioli

One plate, two forks...

...A girl can dream, can't she? Ha hahha:)

Well, at least I know there are some raw foodies out there that have someone special in their life that would just love to share a beautiful plate of raw ravioli:)

Click here for this lovely recipe from raw chef Sarma Melngailis, featured at G Living.

I reduced the recipe to about about 1/3, so many of the ingredient amounts were estimated:)

Today I used both red and golden beets. The golden beets have a slightly milder flavor than the red, but I think they both worked well in the recipe. Of course, I cut them into little heart shapes for Valentines Day:)

I used an orange bell pepper for the delicious sauce, and subbed cashews for the pine nuts called for.

This fabulous meal came together very quickly and easily, and I thought it was awesome! Such a beautiful blend of flavors:)

If you haven't had beet ravioli before, this would be an awesome recipe to try!



Thank you to Sarma for sharing this recipe online for us all to enjoy!

Hope you all have a wonderful day!!!

Sarma's Beet Ravioli

Another winner from the pages of Living Raw Food by the lovely Sarma Melngailis.

Pages 201-2 feature this amazing entree.

At first glance, you might think such a beautiful meal would have lots of ingredients and take forever to make. I was pleasantly surprised that this was not the case :)

To start, prepare the pine nut "goat cheese" filling for the tender ravioli. Simply process* the perfect mix of pine nuts, oil, shallot, lemon zest and juice, nutritional yeast, s&p...see how easy:)

*One tiny little 'oopsie' here, I let it go a bit too long in the processor, and it got a little oily, but still tasted incredible:)

The delectable Rosemary-Cream Sauce includes half of the goat cheese with the addition of lemon juice, garlic, rosemary, water, s&p. I added slightly less water to create a very thick sauce. Again, so easy...

The last step involves slicing beets thinly, and cutting shapes as desired. Since it is how the ravioli is presented in the book, and it is getting close to Valentine's Day, I thought hearts would be nice. Next step is giving them a little soak in oil, lemon juice, and salt.

While they are soaking, you may want to give your fingers and cutting board a nice little scrub, since they will most likely be a lovely shade of pink by now:)

To finish, I drained the beets on a paper towel(don't yell at me, my fellow green peeps) and filled them with a little cheese mixture. Lay them on a plate with some fabulous Rosemary-Cream Sauce, a few drops of balsamic, a sprig of rosemary(or micro greens) and you are done!

This is absolutely one of the tastiest beet ravioli I have ever had. The fact that it is so easy to make is a huge plus. I especially adore the lemony flavors in it.

Sincere thanks to Sarma for sharing this fantastic recipe.

Raw Thanksgiving Dinner

From the pages of Sarma Melngailis' book, Living Raw Food. This is a feast for the eyes, and the palate. This raw, vegan, Thanksgiving dinner has it all!

This feast is also available as take-away from One Lucky Duck if you are in the NYC area.

ETA~recipes now found online!

http://ducknews.oneluckyduck.com/2012/11/09/raw-vegan-thanksgiving-to-go-or-at-home/

 http://www.afterellen.com/good-taste-thanksgiving-a-turkey-could-love/11/2011/

Marinated Mushrooms, Mashed Root Vegetables, Brussels Sprouts, Stuffing, and Cranberry Sauce. The recipes begin on page 219 and continue to page 222. I reduced all recipes except for the cranberry sauce for about 2 servings. I made a few changes to the recipes, as far as the ingredients, and the method used to make them, but it still came out unbelievable!

Thank you to Sarma for sharing her awesome recipes:)

Here are some of my changes:
The original recipe calls for both portobello and king oyster mushrooms marinated in a blend of vinegar, oil, fresh herbs, onion, and s&p.
For the mushrooms, I used large white button in place of king oyster, and chives instead of onion.

For the Mashed root veggies:
This is a creamy blend of pine nuts, water, celeriac, jicama, parsnip, oil, nutritional yeast, lemon juice, truffle oil, scallion, and s&p.
I put all ingredients in the food processor at the same time. I 'eyeballed' the ingredients to my own tastes. I omitted the water at first, and streamed some in at the end for a creamy consistency. I used a small slice of black truffle in place of the truffle oil, and subbed chives for scallion.

For the Brussels sprouts:
This was a pleasant surprise, as I never tried raw Brussels sprouts before:) I used macadamia oil in place of the pistachio oil, and eyeballed the rest of the ingredients, which included olive oil, maple syrup, s&p.

For the stuffing:
I threw all the ingredients in the processor to taste. The original recipe included cauliflower, oil, pecans, carrots, celery, onion, truffle oil, fresh herbs, and s&p. I replaced the onion with chives, a slice of truffle for the truffle oil, and used a little jicama instead of cauliflower. I processed everything all at once, and added a little fresh sage:)

The cranberry sauce:
I made this with agar-agar powder in place of the Irish moss. I dissolved the powder(1/2 tsp.) in boiled water, and let it cool a bit before adding it to fresh cranberries, agave, orange zest, lemon juice, and salt in the blender. I molded it in a couple of push-up pops to get the round shape.


With my short-cut methods, I was able to make everything in about 1 hour, and let the mushrooms and stuffing warm in the dehydrator while the cranberry sauce chilled. By the time I cleaned the kitchen and took a shower, my feast was ready.

I made the plate shown and had enough leftover for my very own raw Thanksgiving feast for Thursday!

I may have to hide it though:)

Halloween3

Another trick for creating a festive Halloween party is to use a raw recipe that you already love and dress it up for the party.

I love Sarma's Congo Bars featured in her book Living Raw Food. Don't worry if you don't have the book yet, this recipe can be found online! Thank you Sarma for sharing this wonderful recipe:)

I had to make some slight ingredient changes, but they still came out fantastic!
You can cut these into desired shapes, or play around a little like I did:)

The little squares are made in a silicone brownie bite mold. The cupcakes are the chocolate base mixture rolled into balls, topped with the coconut mixture, and placed in mini cupcake papers made for Halloween. These were very easy to make. I processed the base mixture a bit more so they could be easily molded.

All the special treat molds, wrappers and picks are available at larger craft and department store.

I also molded some of the Congo Bars in cookie molds. This was a metal pan, so to release the chilled treats, rub the outside of the pan with a clean cloth rinsed and rung out in very hot water.

A few creepy props like the novelty mice, treat bags, and Halloween picks make them perfect for your guests.

These work especially well because of the black and white color combination. Of course you may use your favorite brownie and white icing the same way. This party idea is geared toward older children and adults.

I am adding this post to Healthy Raw Halloween Recipes for convenience.

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Here are some of my favorite pics from yesterday:) We went to the Oktoberfest at Whiteface Mountain. I always love going to the high peaks area. It is about 20 minutes from where we live, so we go several times a year, but fall is my favorite:)

A lovely waterfall on the way

Going into the ski area

The Ausable River as we were walking in

On the gondola going to the top of little Whiteface...waving to Joyce in the Green Mountains of Vermont in the background:)

Looking down at Lake Placid

The top of Little Whiteface

My S&M Salad Recipe

Cool salads are perfect on a warm summer day! I have been having this salad a lot lately. I created the creamy dressing as an alternate for Sarma Melngailis' popular S&M Salad.The salad is simply mixed baby lettuce with avocado cubes, a sprinkle of hemp seeds, and some torn dulse. Sarma has her recipe for the famous S&M salad posted in this interview. It is also in her most recent book, 'Living Raw Food'.

Creamy Macadamia-Lime Hemp Dressing

Ingredients:
1 cup macadamia nuts
1/2 cup fresh lime juice*
1/4 cup fresh water
1/4 cup hemp seeds
1 tablespoon agave, more or less, to taste
additional 1/4 cup fresh water or more if needed

1. In blender, combine nuts, lime juice, 1/4 cup water, and agave until creamy.

2. With blender running, add additional water until desired thickness is reached.

3. Mix in hemp seeds by hand.

Makes enough for 2 or 3 good sized salads. Keep in fridge 2-3 days in glass jar.
This is awesome as a dressing in a plain avocado half.

*to get the most juice out of your lime, have them at room temperature, press down on them and roll back and forth several times on the counter before cutting and reaming.



Raw Rosemary Crackers

Ingredients:
2 cups almonds, soaked 8 hours, rinsed and drained
1/2 cup whole golden flax seed, ground after measure
1 cup fresh water
1/4 to 1/2 cup nutritional yeast
1-2 tablespoons fresh rosemary
1/2-1 teaspoon salt
Additional rosemary for top of crackers, optional

1. In food processor fitted with "S" blade, process almonds until coarsely ground.

2. Add nutritional yeast, flax, rosemary, and salt, and process until combined. Adjust seasonings as desired.

3. With machine running, pour in water to form dough. Let mixture stand a few minutes to thicken if it seems too wet

4. Divide mixture in half and roll out onto 2 teflex sheets, sprinkle with additional rosemary if desired, and score into crackers. These are scored into 1" and 1/4" crackers. Check my post about making breads and crackers for some helpful tips:)

5. Dehydrate at 112 degrees for about 8 hours, flipping about halfway through. Drying time depends on thickness of crackers.

6. Store in glass jars for several weeks.

This is a very forgiving cracker recipe. It will work with more or less flax seed, rosemary, yeast and salt according to your personal preference:) These are also excellent using different herb blends, especially Italian mixed herbs, za'atar, or Herbes de Provence.

I could not resist making my own "Rosemary Quackers"...hehe, sorry:)

Check your dulse carefully!!!!!

I buy the large whole dulse in the bulk bins, and they usually contain a shell or two. This little critter was hiding!

A word about raw almonds...

As you probably know, all almonds purchased in the U.S. are now pasteurized. I still soak my almonds at least 8 hours before using them. They plump up and are very easy to peel at this point if desired. They pop right out of the skin if you pinch them after soaking.
The almonds in the picture show unsoaked (top right), soaked (bottom right), peeled(bottom left), and the empty skins (top left). Notice the soaked almonds get a white point that sticks out at the tip. The soaked almonds are smooth and plump, and quite a bit larger than unsoaked. The soaked almonds can be dehydrated and ground for almond flour, or just a crunchy snack.

Parsnip Pasta with Sage-Lemon Cream

This is another recipe from 'Living Raw Food' by Sarma Melngailis. Just reading the ingredient list told me this would be wonderful! I also liked it because it did not require very much effort to create.

The parsnip pasta only needs a few hours to soften in a little wine and salt. I also sprialized a turnip (pictured) at the same time to try the recipe using that as the pasta. They looked identical, but there was a difference in taste between the two. I liked the parsnip just a tiny bit more than the turnip:)

After making the noodles I soaked the pine nuts for the sauce, as they only need about an hour or so. I used my bullet to blend the pine nuts, wine, shallot, sage, (lemon)thyme, lemon juice and zest, oil, nutmeg, and salt. This made a lovely, unique cream sauce.

I served it with a salad of mixed baby lettuce, oil, lemon juice, pinch of salt and pepper, and thinly sliced dried apricot. Sarma paired the pasta with this salad using arugula for the greens. I let the apricots plump in the dressing for about a half hour before mixing it with the salad. I did not have the optional black truffle that looks so pretty in Sarma's picture, so I used my lemon peel rosebud with a sage leaf and a sprinkle of thyme leaves.

Thanks to Sarma for another great recipe! This was a very refreshing lunch on a warm Adirondack day!

Raw Summer BBQ!

Here is another great recipe from the pages of 'Living Raw Food' by Sarma Melngailis.
It is created by former 'Pure Food and Wine' chef Amanda Cohen.

Skewered veggies with a wonderful BBQ sauce, Coleslaw dressed with Dill "Mayonnaise", and Vegetable Chips.

Last night, I sliced the veggies needed for the chips. I used my electric food slicer, as it makes an entire dehydrator full of chips in about 15 minutes, including cleaning the machine :) I used carrot, red beet, sweet potato, and yucca. The recipe calls for taro root and golden beets which were not available, so I just used what I had. I did have the parsnips called for, but they would not fit in the dehydrator after slicing the other veggies. After dehydrating, they are sprinkled with oil and salt. I did try it this way, but usually prefer to add oil and salt before dehydrating. I like to use an oil mister to lightly coat the chips with oil before sprinkling with pink salt.

The Chips

In the morning, I soaked the mac nuts needed for the mayo.

I also soaked the sun-dried tomatoes for the BBQ Sauce.

It was also the time to "brew" the Lapsang Souchong tea needed to impart the smokey flavor in the sauce. I have used it before in other dishes, and found it very strong, so I reduced the amount I used.

The BBQ Sauce is made by simply blending the tea with soaked tomatoes, shallot, nama shoyu, vinegar, maple syrup, oil and salt. It is then used to marinate the veggies which consist of zucchini, peppers, cherry tomatoes, mushrooms, and fennel. I also threw in some yellow summer squash:) After marinating a few hours, the veggies are skewered and dehydrated for 3 hours.

The Veggies

Next, I made the yummy Coleslaw. The dressing is made with the soaked mac nuts, water, lemon juice, oil, shallot, salt and dill. I used the larger shredding blade on the food processor to quickly shred the red and green cabbages, carrot, and daikon. The scallion was sliced thinly by hand. This was so good, I actually had some for breakfast since I hadn't eaten yet:)

The Coleslaw

I enjoyed everything very much. It was very festive and colorful. The flavor of the BBQ sauce concentrated while dehydrating and really tasted grilled! If you are going to a 'SAD' barbecue, this would be a wonderful raw option:).

Thanks again to the lovely Sarma Melngailis for sharing this recipe, and to Amanda Cohen for creating it.
I am looking forward to trying more recipes from this book!

Sarma's Chanterelle and Kalamata Olive Ravioli

Sometimes you can just look at a recipe, or read the name, and know you will love it:)

Chanterelle and Kalamata Olive Ravioli, Macadamia Cream, Herb Sauce, and Pistachio-Parsley Salad.
See what I mean!


Sarma Melngailis' latest book, Living Raw Food, features this lovely recipe. The ravioli was created by chef Amanda Cohen. The book jacket said it is the most beloved entrée at Pure Food and Wine, Sarma's famous restaurant. After making it, I know why:)

The pasta is made with young coconut meat, and a small amount of flaxseed, zucchini, shallot, and salt. It whips up quickly in the blender. My coconut had very thick, firm meat, so I needed a splash of water to blend. The creamy mixture was dehydrated for a few hours and created a surprisingly sturdy pasta. The directions say to dry for two hours before flipping, but mine needed about three. One hour after flipping, the pasta was done.

An hour or so after the dough had been drying, I chopped the mushrooms for the filling, and mixed them with a little oil and salt. These needed to dehydrate for about 2 hours. This was also the time I started to soak the macadamia and pistachio nuts needed later in the recipe.

The dried dough cut very nicely into squares. I used a serrated ravioli wheel to cut the dough, but it also worked well with a standard ravioli cutter if you happen to have one;) I find another great way to cut tender dough is with a pizza cutter. I wrapped my trusty metal ruler with cling film, and used it as a guide to cut along.



The next step was to make the Macadamia Cream, since you need the solids from making it in the filling. Soaked macadamia nuts are puréed with water, a little garlic, and nutritional yeast. The blended cream is then strained. I pushed it through a mesh strainer with the back of a large spoon, which worked well. The remaining solids are added to the filling.

The strained cream is placed back in the blender with a little soaked pistachio. I needed a bit more water to the final sauce to make it blend, and it was still a little thick, but I like it that way:)

The flavorful filling is made with the dehydrated mushrooms,the reserved solids from the cream, olives, shallot, nutritional yeast, oil, salt and lemon zest. I omitted the salt since the olives had enough salt for my taste:)

The last component needed for the ravioli is the Herb Sauce. This is an amazing blend of basil, parsley, tarragon, thyme, scallion, rosemary, lemon zest and juice, oil and salt. It is prepared quickly in the food processor.

I also whipped up a little Pistachio-Parsley Salad. This is a beautiful mix of parsley, lemon juice and zest, oils, nuts, salt and pepper. I chopped the pistachios in the food processor in the same bowl after the herb sauce was poured out, so they had an extra touch of flavor.

Time to assemble!
I used my tiny ice cream scoop to place a little of the filling onto half of the pasta squares. Top with another square and squish together a little. I laid them on the cutting board and brushed them with the herb sauce.

Place a little cream sauce on the plate, and arrange the ravioli around it.

I added a bit of the Pistachio-Parsley salad, and my signature "rosebud" garnish, made with lemon peel:)

Thank you to Amanda Cohen for this amazing recipe, and of course to Sarma for sharing it in her lovely book.