2012 April

Romancing the Sea Vegetable Part Deux – a Cauliflower Soup

April 30, 2012 By Meg With 5 comments

Dulse magic!
Dulse is a luscious maroon coloured, fabulously versatile seaweed that is bound to steal your heart.

On top of the health and nutritional benefits mentioned previously, dulse is exceptionally high in iodine and manganese, and has been used as a remedy for sea sickness, herpes and scurvy – what more could you ask for?! It’s salty flavour makes it a great salt substitute, but you may like to start slowly and build up as your body adjusts to the flavour which can be overpowering if you overdo it!

You can buy dulse as larger pieces, or in flakes as pictured. The flakes really are next level awesome as you can add them to almost anything (I haven’t tried with sweet things, but why not throw some into a carrot cake mix?). They are a vitamin and mineral injection to any meal you add them to, and because they are so conveniently flaky you can feel free to sprinkle into soups, stews, pasta sauces, meat dishes, salads, onto vegetables, you name it – you dulse it!

The larger dulse pieces can be used as spinach or other leafy veg, or sauteed and eaten as a snack or a side. I crisped some up on a really low heat in the oven to eat – they are intense this way, but would be a fun and healthful addition to your normal array condiments!

Today I have used the flakes in this week’s Food Matters Project recipe – Roasted Asparagus and White Bean Soup, chosen and hosted by Adrienne. Asparagus is not in season here at the moment, so I have made a different version of the soup using cauliflower and kale, loosely inspired by Heidi Swanson’s Cauliflower Soup. I have kept the recipe dairy free, but it would …

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Sprouting Quinoa, Sprouted Ancient Grain Baguettes and a sneaky Breakfast Salad

April 25, 2012 By Meg With 9 comments

Sprouting is the greatest thing! It’s so lovely to see the food that you eat growing before your eyes. Not only growing, but becoming richer in nutrients and more digestible. The starch is converted to simple sugars, protein to amino acids, and the fat into individual fatty acids1. How fabulous! This helps to explain why those with allergies or intolerances to certain grains can tolerate them if they are sprouted. Sprouts represent the moment of greatest vitality in the life cycle of a plant, are a specific remedy for stagnant liver qi 1, or a ‘sluggish’ liver.

You can sprout pretty much any whole grain or seed. however they do take varying amounts of time to sprout.

Here’s what to do.

1. Use 1 part seed/grain to at least 3 parts water. Place grain/seeds in a jar or bowl, cover with muslin/cheesecloth and an elastic band (or use a sprouting jar if you have one) and soak for 12 hours.

2. Drain and rinse. Leave the drained seeds in a room temperature, dark place (or cover with a cloth) and rinse twice a day, morning and night until sprouted. It doesn’t have to be super warm but the cold and light will inhibit the sprouting a little and encourage the seeds to mould instead of sprouting.

Quinoa is a quick sprouter. I had these beautiful babies in 24 hours, but some other grains/seeds/legumes such as alfalfa, mung beans, aduki, chickpeas and lentils take 3 – 5 days. Buckwheat is another great sprouter!

What to do with your new little friends? Salads are an obvious choice. Try mixing them through with any of your grain dishes, or as a garnish for soups or stews.

The sudden cold snap in Melbourne today was perfect for the sprouted quinoa baguettes I made. This …

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Wholefood Pizza Three Ways: Quinoa with Roasted Eggplant and Pomegranate, Spelt Traditional and Mushroom Faux Pizza

April 17, 2012 By Meg With 15 comments

I have gone a little pizza crazy this week. It’s the food matters project‘s fault really for laying on such as fabulously broad topic this week – Mostly Whole Wheat Pizza (check out the full recipe here).

I wanted to make a gluten-free option, but I didn’t want to use the normal array of gluten-free flours and tapioca blends. I was planning on using a blend of quinoa and spelt flours, until I found a recipe using brown rice and decided I had to make it with cooked quinoa! I have touted the wonders of quinoa before, don’t get me started again, SO GOOD!

For the topping, I have been lusting after a particular eggplant and pomegranate dip from Ottolenghi’s book for a couple of weeks now, but since pizzas were on the menu and I am currently pomegranate obsessed, why not fashion it into a pizza topping?

Quinoa Crust
(Makes enough for 1 small pizza)
1 cup of cooked quinoa
1 egg
1/2 tsp dried herbs (I used oregano)
1 tbs nutritional yeast (or 2 tbs parmesan)

Topping
1/2 eggplant
1/2 tabs lemon juice
2 tbs tahini
1/2 clove garlic
1/2 tsp pomegranate molasses
big pinch of sea salt
drizzle of olive oil
a little water
fresh thyme leaves

Chop the eggplant into chunks and drizzle with a little olive oil. Bake in a moderate oven for about 20 minutes or until eggplant is tender.

While this is cooking away, combine all other ingredients and adjust with the water, oil, salt and pomegranate molasses to get a fabulously sweet/sour/salty taste explosion.

For the base, combine ingredients and spread onto a lined baking tray, shaping into the pizza shape of your choice. Press it out to be around 1/2 centimetre thick, or as thin as you can make

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Amazing Autumn Tart

April 11, 2012 By Meg With 1 comment

Today is shaping up to be a beautiful Autumn day, cool but with just enough sun to keep your back warm. The change of seasons has brought an exciting new posse of foods to enjoy at their peak. In Australia these foods include pumpkin, pomegranates, apples, onions, broccoli, mushrooms, sage, thyme, figs and nuts. Yummo!! And because they are in season, they will be at their peak in terms of flavour and nutritional content. Awesome.

To celebrate, why not make this wonderful Autumn Tart, bursting with the goodness of these seasonal beauties!

I’ll deal with just a few here. Firstly pumpkin. Jam packed with beta-carotene, (a pre-cursor to vitamin A) it helps to nourish and protect your skin, prevent oxidation, assist immune function, and also has some groovy anti-carcinogenic activity. Pumpkin is also generously endowed with Vitamin C, E, folate, calcium and magnesium.

Broccoli has a nutrient profile very similar to pumpkin, containing an even higher amount of beta-carotene. Along with the Vitamin C, E, folate, calcium and magnesium, it is also naturally high in sulphur, iron, B-vitamins and chlorophyll – try to keep the cooking to a minimum to retain as much of these qualities as you can.

And finally, walnuts! Loaded with omega-3s these little brain-shaped beauties are just fabulous. Hosting a plethora of goodies including protein, manganese, selenium, zinc, magnesium and iron, walnuts nourish the adrenal glands, kidneys and brain, and enrich sperm – fab!

So onto some cooking. Pastry is something that is often thrown straight into the too hard basket – but it is actually super easy to make, and SO worth it!

I have used spelt flour here for added nutrients and ease of digestion, but feel free to use whole wheat if you prefer. This amount makes about 12 little tarts.

You will

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