Mediterranean Cucumber Cups

This is another recipe by television foodie Rachael Ray. It only needed a tiny bit of tweaking to make it raw:) Here is Rachael's recipe. I simply replaced the feta cheese with pine nuts, and included the cucumber removed from the cups in the filling. My recipe is also scaled down for one lunch serving:)

Mediterranean Cucumber Cups

For cups:
1 English cucumber

For filling:
1 slice red onion, diced
1/4 orange bell pepper, 1/4 inch dice
2 campari tomatoes, 1/4 inch dice
8 kalamata olives, 1/4 inch dice
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 tablespoon fresh parsley, minced
juice of 1/2 a lemon
zest from whole lemon, use less if not a lemon fan like me:)
1 tablespoon olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

Garnish:
1 tablespoon pine nuts
extra sprinkle of parsley or oregano

1. Peel cucumber so it has 4 or 5 stripes lengthwise. Trim both ends off cucumber, and cut into about twelve 3/4 inch slices. Carefully scoop out center of each slice, leaving the bottom intact.

2. Dice the removed center of cucumber and combine with onion, pepper, tomato, olives, oregano, parsley, lemon juice, zest, and oil. I used my vidalia chop wizard to dice all veggies. Add salt and pepper to taste, I just add pepper because the olives are salty enough for me.

3. Fill hollowed cucumber cups with filling. Garnish with pine nuts and desired herbs.

This has been a fast and easy lunch favorite of mine for a while now, but it is a great appetizer for a party. Once in a while I just make the filling part and top a mixed baby green salad with it...so good!

Thanks to Rachael Ray for the yummy recipe and inspiration:)

I had Rachael Ray on my mind today because I saw her at the market yesterday with her hubby John Cusimano, lawyer and front man for The Cringe. I actually spotted John first, and knew Rachael wouldn't be far away:) They are the cutest couple in person!

I wonder if I could get her to rawify some more recipes:)

Caponata Tartlets

A weekly staple for me is raw eggplant caponata. It is a very versatile recipe as it can be used on top of salad, to stuff mini tomatoes or peppers, or just "as is":)

Today I filled some mini-tart shells with the caponata. I made the shells a week or so ago and kept them in a glass jar. They held up perfectly! Just as crisp as when they were made. I used my Crisp Italian Herb Cracker recipe for them, but any of my almond cracker recipes work well for tart shells. The Italian herb blend matched those in the caponata today.

I have my caponata recipe in my very first post here, but will copy it for convenience:

Raw Eggplant Caponata

Servings:
makes about 6 cups

Ingredients:
1 medium eggplant,peeled, 1/4"dice approx 4 cups
1 cup tomato, 1/4" dice
1 sweet bell pepper,I used orange, 1/4" dice
1 celery stalk, 1/4" dice
¼ cup red onion,or more to taste, 1/4" dice
¼ cup olives of choice,I used a mix of green and black, 1/4" dice
2 tablespoon capers,optional, not raw
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Dressing:
½ cup sundried tomato, soaked...or use 1/4 cup fresh tomato and 1/4 cup dried
½ cup olive oil
¼ cup apple cider vinegar
2 tablespoons agave, or 2 soaked medjool dates
1 tablespoon dried basil
1 tablespoon dried parsley
1 tablespoon dried oregano
1 clove garlic, or more to taste
all organic if possible

Preparation:
1. Prepare dressing ingredients in magic bullet or blender.

2. Combine first 7 ingredients in a bowl and mix well with dressing.

I love to use my vidalia chop wizard for cutting all the veggies quickly and uniformly:)

If you would like to reduce the amount of oil, replace with equal amount of tomato soak liquid:) .

Good right away or can be marinated several days in fridge. This keeps very well and almost gets better as it sits. I love it served at room temperature or warmed in the dehydrator:)

The liquid that forms after marinating may be mixed back in, or carefully poured off.

Tarts should be assembled as close to serving as possible, but will stay crisp for an hour or so after.

Of course the caponata recipe is posted on my favorite raw recipe site, gone raw, along with my Caponata Crisps.

Caponata Crisps

makes 3 excalibur dehydrator trays
Ingredients:

½ cup sundried tomato, soaked
1 small peeled eggplant, approx 2cups
1 sweet bell pepper, red,yellow,or orange
1 stalk celery
¼ cup red onion
1 clove garlic, or more to taste
2 tablespoon dried oregano
2 tablespoon dried parsley
2 tablespoon dried basil
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
1 tablespoon agave
2 tablespoon olives, raw, black and green
2 tablespoon capers.optional, not raw
3 cup golden flax meal
all organic if possible
Preparation:

1. Process everything,except flax meal, in bowl of food processor until fine.

2. Add flax and mix well.

3. Roll,(covered with food wrap) 1/8” thick on parchment on mesh, or teflex sheets.

4. Pre-cut,and decorate with sliced olives and capers if desired.

5. Dry at 115 degrees approx 18 hours or till crisp.

Most crisps had a gentle curve to them, perfect for scooping caponata

One Thing Leads to Another....

In yesterday's post, I made a tasty little Salsa Verde. I mentioned that I might make it with olives in place of the capers called for. Well, of course today I had to try it!

This is another very quick and easy recipe. Another plus is the fact that you don't need any fancy equipment, just a knife and cutting board!

You could say this is a cross between a tapenade and a salsa verde. It is fantastic on sliced tomato, or as a salad dressing. Also great as a dip for essene bread.

Kalamata Karma Dressing

1 handful flat leaf parsley
1 handful basil
3 tablespoons kalamata olives
3 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 small shallot
juice of 1 lemon
few grinds of black pepper

1. Finely chop parsley, basil, shallot, and olives.

2. Transfer to a small bowl and add the olive oil, lemon juice, and pepper.

I topped my rosemary crackers(cut into leaf shapes) with slices of red, orange and yellow tomato. Add a small spoonful of the olive mixture, and a small sprig of fresh rosemary. I love balsamic, so I drizzled a little on too:) It is amazing how much flavor is in each bite!

Here it is as a topping for beautiful organic heirloom tomato slices, with a sprinkle of capers, and some pine nut Parmesan. A sprinkle of pine nuts will be fine if you don't have the parm:)


Here are some links for buying raw olives. You may also be able to find them at co-ops like I do, in containers in the fridge:)

Adams' Olive Ranch

Sunfood Nutrition

Raw Guru

Basil Salsa Verde

Many times I find a lovely mostly raw recipe in a 'regular' magazine. This is a quick and easy recipe found in First magazine by Aida Mollenkamp of The Food Network. This recipe is also found online.

Thanks to Aida Mollenkamp for this wonderful, flavorful recipe!

Here is the recipe as it appeared in the magazine:

I just grabbed a handful of basil and flat leaf parsley and chopped them up with 1/2 a shallot. I added 3 tablespoons of capers to a small bowl, and added about 3 tablespoons of my favorite olive oil and the juice of 1 lemon. I did not use the salt, as the capers have enough salt for my taste:) Just a few grinds of pepper, and the salsa verde was done! The capers are considered 'not raw' in this recipe, but I love them so much I often include them in small amounts. I thought of using raw olives next time for all, or part of the capers.Update: Here it is using olives:)

I can think of quite a few things I would like to try this simple recipe on, but for today, I made a quick lunch by topping some crisp crackers with juicy slices of tomato and the salsa verde. A tiny basil leaf and few pine nuts for garnish made these little canapés burst with flavor in my mouth! If you don't have crackers made, this makes a great topping for thick tomato slices. I also added a drizzle of balsamic before devouring them:)

The crackers were a variation of my rosemary crackers using Herbes de Provence in place of rosemary. The mini-breadstix were quite tasty dipped in the salsa too.


Crisp Herb 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 Herbes de Provence*
1/2- 1 teaspoon salt
Additional herbs for top of crackers, optional

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

2. Add nutritional yeast, flax, herbs, 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 herbs if desired, and score into crackers. I also rolled some mini-breadstix:)

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.

*Here is a recipe for the Herbes de Provence, but you can buy this already blended.

Herbes de Provence
Ingredients:
1 tablespoon thyme
1 tablespoon chervil
1 tablespoon rosemary
1 tablespoon summer savory
1 teaspoon lavender
1 teaspoon tarragon
1 teaspoon marjoram
1/2 teaspoon oregano
1/2 teaspoon mint
2 chopped bay leaves

Mix together all of the ingredients and store in a tightly sealed container.
Makes about 1/3 cup herb mix