Macadamia Rosemary Pesto

Sigh. So I'm going back and forth. I can't decide about the pasta. I'm just not sure the consistency is right. I may still attempt to make the gnocchi after all.

I digress.

I made the Macadamia Rosemary Pesto tonight which I decided to make more like a sauce (by decide I mean accidentally). It will work really nicely with the pumpkin pear pureé...I hope.

Macadamia Rosemary Pesto:

1/2 c. macadamia nuts
3 stems of rosemary - removed from stem
1 clove garlic
1/4 tsp. salt
3 tbsp. walnut oil

Place all ingredients in food processor or vita mix and blend till creamy. If you want more of a real pesto - add the dry ingredients first and pulse until it's crumbly then add the oil slowly and quickly to incorporate.

On Friday

So on Friday I realized that I didn't have a proper salad on the menu. So I started to think of something simple that I could throw together. I remembered that I have a ton of walnuts, and I saw a great walnut paté in my Real Food Cookbook. So I figured I could do that, maybe add a few mushrooms - make it really savory. I'd press the pate into some chocolate modls that I have. So what now to go with it? And how exactly do we make this a salad? Hmm. I started thinking about what I had on hand. I just bought some mint plants. What goes well with mint? Cucumber! The classic companion. And then it struck me - cucumber caviar! So I went searching for a tutorial to see if it was possible. And oh it is...

So I bought all of my supplies and am eagerly awaiting them in the mail. I found Elderflower syrup on the website and I'm planning on using it instead of the orange blossom water in the glaze I'll be putting over the cakes. I also got beat powder. I think I'll use it to dust over my paté. I dunno - maybe not.

Ok so the new entry to the Menu is :

Walnut beet and portabello mushroom pate, lemon mint cream, crouton, aged balsamic, olives, and cucumber caviar and vodka mini shot

Pumpkin Gnocchi...errr Pasta?

So I made "gnocchi" Saturday afternoon. This was my first time making gnocchi - so I didn't really know what consistency I was looking for. I had taken a recipe that was originally meant for sweet potatoes and used pumpkin pureé from a can - which was probably my first mistake. I thought it was too wet - so I kept adding flour...until I had basically made a pumpkin pasta. So being the optimist that I am I tried a few different iterations of this pasta. I rolled it out flat to see if it could be a conventional pasta...but I couldn't get it to be thin enough. I tried it thicker to see if it could be more like a mochi consistency - but then it was too tough and gummy. So I put it in the fridge and left it there for 2 days. Today I had a thought - what if I made them in to tiny balls? Not only could that solve the problem of too thick or too thin - but it's a fun shape to plate with.

So I tried it out. I rolled a few pieces of dough in to small balls. I decided to try it two ways - one just boiling them, the second boiling first then sautéing them in olive oil and butter.



I liked the consistency of the fried ones better than the boiled. So we'll go with that. I also tried them with walnut oil, rosemary, and macadamias. To my surprise they all tasted good together. So I guess we'll save learning how to make gnocchi for next time. This time around it'll be fried pumpkin pasta with a walnut, macadamia nut and rosemary pesto.

Fried Pumpkin Pasta
*Meat-free, Dairy-free, Egg-free, Wheat-free, Soy-free

8 oz Pupkin Pureé
8 oz white potato
1 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
2 tsp maple syrup
1/2 tsp table salt
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp cumin
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp orange zest

Peel and cube up potato and simmer in salted water until soft. Strain and mash well, adding seasonings and syrup. Slowly incorporate most of the flour. Pinch of small pieces of the dough and roll in to small balls. Drop into boiling water and boil for about 5 minutes. Meanwhile, warm a sauté pan with olive oil. After the balls have risen to the top (of the boiling water) drain and transfer to the warming sauté pan. Add a couple tablespoons of vegan butter to the pan and saute for about a minute or two.

Raw Coconut and Olive Oil Gelato

I found the base recipe of this gelato at the The Raw Chef Blog. I tweaked the recipe quite a bit, and I loved the results. Sorry no pictures for this one - but I assure you there will be good ones when i serve it. I'm doing a second dinner with the same menu on October 5th which the lovely Laurel Dailey has agreed to shoot.

Raw Coconut and Olive Oil Gelato
*Meat-free, Dairy-free, Egg-free, Wheat-free, Soy-free

2c cashews

½c coconut butter/oil

1/3 c honey

2c almond milk

1/2c + 2 Tbsp olive oil
 (first cold pressing is best...the stronger the flavor the better)
Pinch salt

Soak Cashews in water for 4-6 hours
Blend all ingredients in Vita-Mix until smooth. Taste for sweetness, you may need to add extra honey if your clementines weren’t that sweet.
Pour the mixture (unfrozen) into an ice-cream maker.

Pear and Tamarind Vinegar Caramel

This quick recipe was a bit of a mistake - but I liked the results.
* vegan, wheat-free, soy-free, soy-free


I started out by reducing 1 1/2 cups of a fruit infused vinegar I got when I was part of the Global Gardens Club. Normally when you reduce vinegar you reduce it by only half, but I was looking for something more syrupy. I let the vinegar reduce all the way down to about a 1/4 of what it was. It started to turn a golden amber color. I added about 3 tablespoons of organic sugar to the vinegar and stirred it until it dissolved. I let it simmer awhile longer until the sugar just begins to brown. Then I stirred in about two tablespoons of vegan butter and immediately removed it from the heat. Once it cooled it was a nice sweet and sour caramel.

Sweet Corn Cake

I found the base recipe for this on Health. Happy. Life. I made a few tweaks and modifications to make it more of a cake. I originally wanted to make a polenta cake - but I couldn't find a recipe without flour.

Sweet Corn Cake
*meat-free, dairy-free, egg-free, wheat-free, soy-free

I halfed this recipe and it made about 6 small bundts. I assume a full recipe would be around 12.

3 large ears of corn, kernels removed
1 1/4 cups masa harina
2/3 cup corn meal
5 Tbsp vegan buttery spread
3 Tbsp vegan mayo
1/4 cup natural dry sugar
1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup coconut milk
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 serrano pepper, finely chopped
1 tsp salt
2 tsp lemon zest
2 Tbsp lemon juice
1/2 vanilla bean

Directions:
Pulse the corn kernals with 5 Tbsp of buttery spread in a food processor.
Pour pulsed corn mixture into a large mixing bowl.
Gradually add the masa harina, corn meal, salt, lemon zest, baking powder and soda, and dry sugar.
Mix well with fork.
Add in the coconut milk, mayo, honey, the insides of the vanilla bean and lemon.
Mix well until all flour and clumps are dissolved.
Pour into individual cake pans.
Bake in at 350 degrees for 35 minutes.
Allow to cool.
Slice the bottoms off so they lie flat and package up in a freezer safe container and store until one day before the dinner.

2 Week Dinners - Tyler's Birthday

So I had this idea about a month ago to start something called 2 Week Dinners. The basic premise is that I'd have 2 weeks to prepare a meal that not only challenges me as a cook - but also challenges my guests and their palates. For each 2 Week Dinner I'll be giving myself a set of rules or challenges to stimulate creativity and ingenuity.

The first 2 Week Dinner that I'm in the process of putting together is in honor of Tyler's birthday. I've given myself some interesting perimeters with this one. Every dish needs to be 2 of the following: Wheat-free, Soy-free, Sugar-free, Meat-free or Dairy & Egg-free. Pretty tall order I realize. Plus - things gotta taste good. So here we go.

The menu, as it stands:

Sweet Potato crème brulée in fig jackets with pear and tamarind vinegar carmel, ginger sand

Roasted Fennel, and potato crisps in savory pistachio cream with soft boiled quail eggs

Chocolate rubbed filet mignon, pumpkin gnocchi fried pasta, walnut macadamia and rosemary pesto, pears with a port coffee cherry sauce, fig seeds and pine bud extract, pumpkin and pear pureé

Walnut beet and portabello mushroom pate, lemon mint cream, crouton, aged balsamic, olives, and cucumber caviar and vodka mini shot

orange blossom Elderflower sweet corn cake, deep fried rose petals, olive oil and coconut raw gelato, black olive brittle