My Blog Has Moved

um……..is anyone still out there?

I’m sorry to have pulled a vanishing act on you.  Truth is, I need to change the scope of my blog to better suit my needs.  First, my cooking has grown up since last year and many of the recipes below need to be simplified or thrown out.  Second, I’m developing a cooking DVD – like a cooking class, including between 15 and 25 recipes, plus a short ‘Yoga for Good Digestion’ routine as an extra feature…so I’m saving the better recipes for the DVD.  Third, I want to write more about health, and my experience as someone who lives her work as an Ayurvedic therapist, yoga teacher and organic vegetarian chef.  I want the blog to communicate exactly what it is that I mean by nebulous words like ‘healthy’, ‘organic’, ‘natural’….especially because I currently live and work in a part of the world where Ayurveda is just a strange word that no one can pronounce (Ayurveda is holistic medicine, developed in India thousands of years ago – it’s related to Yoga).

So please roll over to my new blog!  I promise to continue inspiring with recipes, but from now on I will give cooking tips and ideas for good spice combinations, rather than specific, nailed-down food formulae.  Please stay tuned: in 3 days, we leave for a whole week in Paris.  I will have lots of time on my own until the evenings, so hopefully I’ll return with recommendations of where to find amazing green or healthy food in the city of lights.  I’m thinking Turkish restaurants will be a good start.  But I won’t forget the macaroons.

Last but definitely not least, I’m currently teaching a yoga class every Wednesday night in Leamington Spa, Warwickshire, UK.  It’s from 6:15 – 7:30, please see my website (link on the right) for more details.  Also, as usual, I teach cooking classes and offer Ayurvedic health consultations at The Creative Health Centre.  Again, please see my website.

Lots of love and joy to all of you.  Thanks for reading.

Rosemary Lemon Honey Polenta: anti-soggy

Please forgive my ‘Missing In Action’-ness.  I firmly believe that sometimes we all need a break, and that’s what I took.  I want to show you something…

Otter Crest, Oregon

That there is my home.  Not literally, but it was taken in Oregon, my home state, where I went for nearly a month over Christmas.  Here’s another one…

Strawberry Hill

This was also taken on the Oregon Coast.  I love how a little photo-shopping can make it look like there was blue sky….

And here’s what you might see if you went skiing at Willamette Pass Ski Area in the Willamette National Forest…

Odell Lake from the top of Willamette Pass

That’s the view on an exceptionally clear day, right after three days of fresh snowfall.  I don’t know what compels me to slide down a frozen mountain on little waxed sticks – is that not the craziest thing you ever thought of doing? – but I love it, and nothing could ever make hot chocolate taste better than a day of skiing.

As much as I love Oregon, it might have been better to pick a place like Spain or the Sahara to visit for Christmas – somewhere I could get a break from grey skies and rain and cool to cold weather.  That’s what I’ve had, 99% of the time for the past 15 months.  It can wear on you after a while, except when there’s snow.

I want to talk about sogginess.  I never had problems with my lungs, congestion, colds and such but since I moved to England just over a year ago, I’ve had three chest colds.  I have to say, I think it’s because of the weather; and also perhaps because there’s 60 million people on this little island and most of them have at least one car, which means a lot of motorways and fumes and other fun things.

The lungs are one of the sites of Kapha dosha, which is primarily dominated by water and earth.  The lungs, being prone to mucus and the seat of emotions like grief (tears), reflect typical Kapha characteristics, as do the sinunes and throat.  Then of course there’s Vata dosha, ruled by the elements of space and air, which is easily aggravated by cold temperatures, change, movement, ungroundedness.  It’s definitely chilly here, unlike New Mexico, and I’d say that moving across the Atlantic and adjusting to a new culture is plenty of change.

Enter foods like Rosemary, Polenta, Honey, Chickpeas, Ginger, Black Pepper and so on.  All of these are either warming, drying or both and my body has had a remarkable tolerance for them that it didn’t always have in the hot, dry desert of New Mexico at 7,500 feet of elevation.

I should also tell you that I have exciting news: I’m going to be in a DVD about Ayurvedic/Vegetarian cooking, titled after this blog!  I really have a new respect for the idea of ‘going with the flow’ lately because that’s exactly how I came to this opportunity.  This means that in the next month or so, I have to test and perfect 20 – 25 recipes that will be featured.  Luckily, some of them are already on this blog and I don’t have to do any more sorting.  Some like this one are still being worked out – I don’t usually measure, I just chop off the amount that looks right, dice it up and toss it in.  But I love coming up with little flavour symphonies, things that just sing when they’re put together, and finding the best combination does take a little tweaking.  Anyway, what I’m saying is that for recipes like this that will be on the dvd, I’ll give an ingredients list and instructions on how to prepare, but I won’t be doing exact measurements.  I have to give you a reason to get my dvd!

Polenta prep

Polenta with Rosemary, Lemon and Honey

Polenta (about 5-6 cups worth)
butter & olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
1 minced clove garlic, optional
lemon zest
chopped fresh rosemary
sage (dried is fine)
pine nuts, lightly toasted in the oven beforehand
cheese such as Fontina or Mozzarella or Gruyère
honey

Note: According to Ayurveda, cooked honey is indigestible and therefore a toxin, because if ingested it won’t be processed/digested well and will stay in the body as a contaminant, so I drizzle it on at the end even though ideally for flavour, it would be stirred into the polenta before going into the oven.

Make the Polenta with boiling water, salt and cornmeal, stirring constantly with a whisk as you pour the cornmeal into the boiling water to avoid forming clumps.  Then switch to a wooden spoon and stir almost constantly for 30 – 45 minutes.

Meanwhile, if you’re a good multi-tasker, heat a bit of butter & olive oil together in a small pan and add the onion.  Cook on medium/high until it’s caramelizing, then add the garlic and herbs with a few squeezes of lemon juice to deglaze the pan, and season with salt and pepper.  When you’re happy with the onion, remove it from the heat.

toasty as a yule log

Just before the polenta is done, add the toasted pine nuts, lemon zest, onion mix and about half of the cheese (grated) and stir until well incorporated.  Pour all of this into a baking pan or some similar dish so that the polenta is about 1 inch deep or a bit less.  Sprinkle the rest of the cheese over the top.  Bake in the oven at 400F, 180C for around 25 minutes or until the cheese is browning.  Remove and drizzle with honey.

This would go really well over a bed of sauteed greens such as beet greens or chard, or with a spicey watercress/rocket salad.  It’s another cold, grey, wet day in Warwickshire and I’ve just had a slice of this, heated up in a pan, while my cat and I bake ourselves next to the gas ‘fireplace’ – an excellent source of dry heat.

The Elephant in the Room

natural beauty

I recently watched the latest DVD on my rental list: Blue Planet by the BBC.  It moved me to shivers many times over, but the whole time I watched, I was waiting for them to mention climate, destructive fishing practices and habitat loss.  The third disc contained a section called ‘Deep Trouble’ that covered fishing industry practices that pollute, destroy, and deplete large sections of the ocean and the life within it.  A British marine biologist and diver walked around the largest fish market in the world in Japan, where endangered blue fin tuna were fetching £12,000 – £100,000 per fish.  She also appeared in the mangrove forests of Indonesia that have been heavily destroyed for commercial prawn farms.  The section began with some footage of her swimming in tropical waters with a dolphin: a magnificent creature very dependent, obviously, on the health of the rest of the oceans.  She swam around gnarls of coral teeming with the most colourful fish and plants on earth, describing the practice of stunning fish with cyanide so they can be caught for food and aquariums, although the cyanide causes them to die within a few weeks and completely destroys the reef they came from.  The feature explored alternatives to supplying humans with fish food such as farmed fish, but pointed out that there were plenty of downsides to this alternative, making it seem as ridiculous as the destructive fishing itself.  All the while, I sat there waiting for them to say it: “eat less fish!”  Or, while we’re at it, “eat less meat!”  Being publicly funded, however, the BBC probably won’t risk such provocative statements on their programs.  And of course, the goal was probably not to tell viewers what to do, but merely to show the consequences of life as we (particularly westerners) know it.  But really, it makes me sad every time I’m reminded about how much resistance their is to reducing the amount of meat that we put in our mouths.

natural beauty

I don’t think that we all should stop eating all animal products.  Some people are allergic to gluten, different fruits, nuts, dairy, etcetera and for them, meat might be necessary so that they have the option to participate in normal life which includes restaurants and grocery stores.  But for those of us who are robust and healthy, I think it’s a little selfish, or at best a little ignorant, to continue consuming animals the way we have been.

I care very much about animal rights: it’s one more way in which we separate ourselves from the rest of the world, denying the fact that the damage we do to the earth and other living creatures isn’t equally harmful to ourselves.  It’s another form of violence that I don’t want to be a part of.  But for me, the big motivator is health and sustainability.  What if we all decided to eat only ethically produced meat no more than 3 times per week?  The thinner of us, who need heavier foods like meat, could do 3 times, and the rest of us could do 0 – 2.  There are foods like eggs, cheese and nuts which contain plenty of protein, but don’t take nearly as many resources to produce or land to grow.  Cheese isn’t particularly easy to digest or low in cholesterol, but for someone who tends to be very thin with a fast metabolism, then fresh cheese is a nice source of protein.  For many people, beans, legumes, whole grains like quinoa and seeds offer plenty of protein.  A nutritionist once told me that an average adult only needs 4 ounces per day – the size of a deck of cards (not an entire Caribou, Sarah Palin).  What if we tried this for just three months?  That’s enough time for the body and taste buds to adjust; for people to realize that less meat doesn’t mean less energy (for me it meant far more energy), ill health or piles of boring salad.  The proof is here in this blog.

natural beauty

I’m trying to avoid preechiness, so let me tell you some of the health reasons for eating less meat:

-the fat in meat is much harder for the body to process and higher in cholesterol, meaning that if you want to lose weight or reduce your risk of heart disease, then eat less meat
-there are studies indicating that a vegetarian diet low in gluten dramatically reduced rheumatoid arthritis (no big drug companies benefit from studies like this, so they aren’t very well publicized and tend to be conducted in places like Switzerland, not in the US).
-meat is hard to digest and tends to stay in the digestive tract longer – it can putrefy while still in the body or leave more undigested particles in the system (intestinal plaque or toxins) than fresh-cooked vegetables, grains, beans or fruits will.
-if you think about it, when you eat meat, that stuff is really dead.  If you go to the farmer’s market or green grocer and pick up some produce, it’s still alive; you put it in water and it will sprout, go roots, or drink.  From an Ayurvedic perspective, the amount of ‘life’ (prana) in your food is very important, and meat is at the bottom of that scale, as are microwaved/processed/old foods.
-There are few things in meat that you can’t get from the plant world.  Many people say B vitamins, but there’s plenty of that in marmite, a yeast extract that’s nice on toast or as a soup flavouring.  I take a B vit supplement to make sure I get B12.  If you’re eating loads of fish for the healthy fats, that’s great, but you can also eat flax seeds, avocadoes, olive oil, hemp seed oil, walnuts, almonds, pumpkin/sesame/sunflower seeds…
-There’s no need to go ‘cold turkey’ (ha) or be a fanatic.  Ayurveda says that fanatacism results from being trapped in the world of desire and doesn’t promote personal growth.  If you and your family have been eating meat for years and generations, take it slow.  You can stop eating meat, but make sure you eat a balanced diet of whole grains (not white flour), beans, legumes, fresh veg, fruit, nuts, seeds, spices and oils.  If you start to feel spacey or have strong cravings for meat after cutting it from your diet, your system might be in shock from the change, so have a meal with chicken, turkey or fish.
-If you’re skeptical about the health of a vegetarian diet, do some research.  I’m sure you’ll find plenty of evidence that vegetarianism, or at least lower meat intake, has noticeable health benefits.  Check out the link under ‘Chef Education’ on the right to ‘NYTimes Food Article’ to start.
-Here’s what cutting out almost all meat has done for me: weight loss, more energy, clearer skin, improved digestion, improved mental clarity, better elimination of wastes and toxins, lower food bills, more enjoyment of food and taste as I explore all the amazing spices, herbs and vegetables there are out there.  With the cost of food rising and the resources we use to raise food lessening, this is a great time to make these changes.  You’ll spend less, eat more interesting stuff (if you make sure to try new things and get variety) and probably feel better.

natural beauty

If all that didn’t convince you, then how about this: Try it for one week.  If that’s not so bad, then try two.  Then maybe a month.  Now just check in and see how you feel.  Listen to your body’s real needs instead of what your mind wants.  If it’s not for you, that’s okay.  But you might feel great.  Thanks for listening.

White Beans with Tomatoes, Greens and Pesto

Warning: slight grumpiness ahead.

I have pulled the wool leggings, fleece wraps and long, thick scarves out of the boiler closet and am planning on replacing them with my frilly summer whites this weekend.  This isn’t the kind of September I’m used to.  Last September in New Mexico, I’m sure it was still 80 F and sunny (and that’s at 7,500 feet altitude!).  In New York, it’s currently sunny and in the 70’s with off and on T-storms…and I’m devastated to see that tomorrow in my home town, the forecast is 81 and totally…sunny.  Humbug.

I don’t believe in complaining about the weather, especially when one moans about it being too cold until it’s hot, and then moans about the heat.  Complaining is great if you’re doing it to change something for the better – but unless we’re talking carbon cutting to curb global warming, you can’t change the weather!  Saying yes to the weather is a wonderful way to practice acceptance of all the other things in life that aren’t always perfect.  But it hasn’t been a good summer, even by British standards.  I’m verging on serious discontent, and beginning to understand why some people develop Seasonal Affective Disorder (aptly abbreviated ‘SAD’) in CERTAIN parts of the world (grumble).

So, when I went to my favorite food co-op today to buy produce, I looked around thinking, what has sun in it?  I picked some plump tomatoes and eggplants from Holland, pears from France and nearly overripe peaches from Spain.  Anything that had ripened above ground on a sun-loving plant, in places where summer begins and ends when it should, damn it.

I took them home and looked around.  A leek and some shallots were staring at me from the cupboard, needing to be used; garlic is heating, which I didn’t object to, given the state of my toes and fingers; there was peppery watercress from a local farm in the fridge; and so I cleaned out my vegetable reserves, Italian-style, with some white beans mixed in.

Red: a warm colour

It came out delicious, so I thought I’d share it with you.  I know many of you live in a part of the world where your farmer’s markets are at their peak, where you’re starting to actually look forward to the idea of a cool breeze and a cloud over the hot sun.  But if at some point you have a hard time waving a friendly hello to autumn, this dish might cheer you a bit.  As for me, I’ll just have to keep my chin up and my raincoat on.  I know where I live.

White Beans with Tomatoes, Greens and Pesto

Health notes: I’ve found that tomatoes aggrivate some stomachs, and Ayurveda doesn’t favour them, saying that they agravate all doshas due to their nightshade membership and highly acidic nature.  I do notice that if I’ve bitten my lip or have any cut in my mouth, they’re not pleasant to eat.  That being said, I think they’re better tolerated when not canned and cooked instead of raw.  I eat them this way on occasion without disturbance.  The leeks and shallots are stimulating, as is the pungent watercress, but I cook it to make it easier to digest and warm, instead of having it as a cold salad, which would do nothing for my circulation.  I used a favourite pesto recipe from “The Modern Vegetarian Kitchen” by Peter Berley: it’s vegan, using blanched ground almonds and lemon instead of cheese.  It’s totally delicious and fresh, and I don’t miss the parmesan a bit, but any pesto will do.

1 cup white beans (cannellini) (you can certainly use pasta instead if you prefer)
1/8 tsp asafoetida
2 Tbs olive oil
1/4 tsp cumin seeds
1 small leek, white and part of the greens, washed for sand and sliced thinly
2 small shallots, diced
1 large garlic clove, chopped
1/2 tsp dried sage
dash of white wine or vinegar such as balsamic
3 medium tomatoes, cut in eighths
1 tsp salt
freshly ground black pepper
2 big Tbs of your favourite pesto
1 small bunch watercress (or rocket, arugula, spinach), chopped
5-10 fresh basil leaves if you have them, chopped fine
small handful of pine nuts, toasted in a pan or in the oven at about 350 F or 160 C for 5 – 10 minutes
optional parmesan cheese for garnish

not fancy, but very tasty and filling

Wash the beans and soak them overnight.  Put the beans and the asafoetida in a pressure cooker and cook until soft, 20 – 30 minutes.  Drain.

Meanwhile, heat the oil in a medium skillet.  Add the cumin seeds and when they are fragrant, add the leek and shallots.  Stir to coat evenly in the oil and cook until tender, then add the dried sage and garlic.  As the pan gets a bit dry and a bit of flavourful brown coating begins to appear in the centre (I forget what this is called), add your white wine or vinegar to deglaze.  Add the tomatoes and stir well.  Cook them for about 5 minutes, until the skin is peeling away and they’re nice and soft.  Add the rest of the ingredients and stir well so that all flavours incorporate.  Add the beans and mix well again.  Garnish with pine nuts and cheese if you like.

p.s. Since the beginning of this post, I have been outside and the sun came out along with a nice warm breeze.  I was totally overdressed and ended up taking off my coat and scarf.  Irony noted!

Our Kind of Feast: citrus vinaigrette, sundried tomato risotto, chai creme brulee

Our Favorite Party People

I’ll be honest: We hadn’t exactly intended to get married. We were content to live together, doing our hiking/traveling/cooking thing until we were old and gray. But then when we had the offer to move to England, the combined bureaucracies of two of the world’s most powerful countries combined to convince us otherwise. In other words, after looking at many websites about Visas for me, we just decided it was easier. That, and, well, we’re as well matched as peanut butter and strawberry jam, or lemon and honey, or chocolate and hazelnuts, or champagne and raspberries, or…or…or…

I promise to give you recipes, but I want to give a little bit of background first. Colm and I have always loved eating and cooking amazing food together. We aren’t territorial about our kitchens. When we met, I was still eating tofu dogs with organic ketchup – oy. He was very pleased that I’d be so easy to impress with home-cooked meals like his tasty Thai curries and sambals, Guinness pie, home-made Irish soda bread, tomato sauces and more. Soon after we met, cooking became a huge part of my life and health, and he was introduced to the tasty world of Ayurvedic and vegetarian cuisine.

We wanted our ‘wedding,’ ‘commitment ceremony,’ ’super duper big fat true love fiesta time’ (whatever you want to call it) to really be ours, even if the marriage itself was rushed for a border crossing. We knew the food would be an important expression of us. In the end we kept the main dinner party simple and in the family: my lovely new mother-in-law presented us with a gorgeous home-made wedding cake

Irish Fruitcake with Marzipan-Brandy Frosting

driven all the way from Ireland, a true labour of love. My brother, a classically trained and very talented young chef, was in charge of the main meal, assisted by his happy ‘minions’ (my father and closest friends) while Colm and I took an afternoon hike through the heather in the Lake District. We had considered things like a pyramid of mini-crème brûlées and chocolate terrines, or a toast done with Triphala tea instead of champagne. In the end we came up with something for the gluten-frees, the meat eaters and the vegetarians: a gorgeous mixed green salad with peppery leaves, purple beet sprouts and a citrus vinaigrette; sun-dried tomato risotto; grilled salmon with a Riesling reduction sauce; chai-flavoured crème brûlée; and the Irish fruit cake with marzipan-brandy frosting.

The salad was just the way it should be: tangy dressing and peppery leaves, it had me reaching into the bottom of the bowl for more while I helped Mike fire the brûlées. Everyone but me asked for seconds of the risotto. I decided to live up to the name of this blog and have more salad. The salmon was simple and gorgeous. I’ve never made a wine reduction sauce before, and it blew my mind that two bottles of Gewürztraminer could simmer down to what looked like 2/3 cup. We got the most satisfying look when we walked up to the fish counter of the small grocery store and said, “We’d like sixteen pieces of the organic salmon, please.” The young man fluttered his lids and said “sixteen pieces??” We had fun imitating him for the rest of the day. I miss the deep pink colours of Pacific Northwest salmon, but this was pretty tasty stuff for what’s available in the UK.

The following recipes are courtesy of my brother. If you’re interested in his culinary services, please leave a comment and I shall put you in touch! He currently is a pastry chef at a very fancy hotel in Portland, Oregon, USA.

Mike and the Risotto

Peppery Salad with Citrus Vinagrette

Serves a large group (we had 15)

For the dressing:
1 grapefruit, zested and segmented
juice of 1/2 lime
1 Tbs vinegar
Cracked pepper and salt to taste
Oil, such as sunflower: enough so you can add twice the amount of all the other ingredients

For the salad:
1 box (or 2 cups home-grown) radish sprouts (these are a lovely purple and have a nice spice to them)
1 large bowl or 2 salad bags of watercress or other peppery greens such as rocket, spinach, arugula
optional: a toss of some fresh herb such as thyme

In a bowl, combine the grapefruit zest with the lime juice. Squeeze all the extra juice you can out of the grapefruit pith and leftovers from segmenting. Add the Tbs vinegar. A bit of cracked pepper, and a few pinches of salt. Then add twice the amount of what’s there of low-flavor oil (like sunflower), and whisk like crazy. It won’t emulsify or anything, but if you whisk right before serving it’ll hold long enough to work right on the salad.

After washing and drying the leaves and sprouts, toss them together in a big bowl with an extra bit of salt and pepper on the greens. Dress them sparingly, adding bit by bit so as not to overdress and create a soggy salad.

Risotto with Sun-dried Tomatoes

Serves 4

Full Plate

1.5 cups Arborio rice
2 Tbs garlic, minced
1/4 cup shallots, minced
1/2 – 2/3 cup sundried tomatoes, chopped
1/2 cup shredded parmesan-style cheese
splash of white wine
several cups of hot water, and a cup or so of vegetable stock
salt to taste, maybe 1 Tbs

Important note: You can’t really walk away from making this dish. If left for more than a minute it will probably start to stick or burn. You must also use a wooden spoon to help release more of the starch from the rice, giving a creamier stickier risotto.

Toast the rice with a little oil or butter in a medium saucepan (2 qt or bigger) on 6 or 7 (medium-high heat) so the grains turn whiter. Next add the shallots, then shortly after the garlic and keep stirring it all till the shallots are clear. Throw in a splash of white wine, which will probably evaporate right away. Then add the stock bit by bit, about 1/3 cup at a time, and stir until all the liquid is incorporated before adding the next bit of stock. Once the stock is gone switch to the hot water, adding it in the same manner. It will take longer and longer to incorporate the water each time. If you feel it is absorbing too fast, turn the heat down a bit more to 4 or 5. Once the rice is cooked to a point where it almost doesn’t have a bite to it add the sundried tomatoes and stir them in. You wait this long so the color and flavor of the tomatoes doesn’t get everywhere and homogenize the dish. It should only take a few more minutes of cooking and a little bit more water until the rice is fully cooked. You may not need all the water, or you may need more depending on the cooking temp and your rice. Finish with the shredded cheese and add salt to taste. Maybe a tablespoon or so? Starches can take a lot of salt, but the cheese has some in it too, so be careful there.

Making it Crunchy!

Chai Crème Brûlée

Serves 15 (!!!); cut amounts in half for fewer people

For the spice blend:
1 cinnamon stick
3/4 inch ginger root, minced
10 black peppercorns
1/3 tsp fennel seeds
1/3 tsp cardamom seeds (out of the pod)
5 cloves

Custard:
18 egg yolks
8 cups of heavy cream (that’s what we call it in the states, I think in the UK it’s just cream, but it’s about 38% fat, so liquid still but very thick.)
1.25 cups of sugar
1/2 tsp salt
2.5 tsp vanilla

Toast the chai spices lightly in a pan, med heat. If powdered, add at the very end after you take the pan off the heat, because they will burn in a couple seconds on a hot pan. As soon as the smell is coming out of the spices, add everything but the eggs and very slowly bring it up to a steaming point, not a boil. The longer you take to bring it up to a steaming temperature the more chai flavor gets in to the finished brulee. When it’s done, strain the spices out. If you can get them to stay in a tea egg or something, that’s fine too.

Be extremely careful at this point.

Seriously.

Very very slowly whisk the cream INTO the egg yolks. Start with literally just a spoonful at a time, not quite doubling the amount each time you add more cream. The idea is to very slowly warm the egg yolks up to the cream’s temperature so they don’t cook. Once the egg bowl is hot to the touch you can start to just slowly pour the cream in as you whisk. Pour this stuff into ramekins (Michelle’s note: we used coffee mugs, but this makes the firing of the sugar-tops a bit more difficult) and put them into a 2″ deep pan with a wet towel in the bottom of it. Put them into an oven at 350 F (160 C) and {{{unless your oven only heats from the top down,}}} pour some hot water into this pan about halfway up the custard level in the ramekins, so they cook a bit slower and more evenly, plus the steam helps to keep the top from burning. You can also lay a sheet of foil over the top to help protect it more, but it’s really not necessary. It should take about 35-45 minutes, but check by sticking a knife in and see if it comes out clean. It’s important to be thorough here.

Don’t open the door much, but if you open it more than twice, turn the pan around so there isn’t a cold spot by the door.

Now, assuming you do this before the dinner, you can leave the creme to cool and go enjoy yourself for a while. When it’s time for desert (give yourself 15 – 20 minutes to fire them, or more if you’re new to it), head back to fire them up. On top of each pot of creme, toss enough sugar to cover, but not so much that it cakes on; this will depend on the size of your pots or ramekins. We used coffee mugs, and I’d say I put on a scant tablespoon of sugar for each pot.

Yes, now Mike has left the blow-torching part for me to explain, so I shall do my best! Get your little blowtorch fired up by opening the gas valve and holding it near a flame: a lit gas stove is particularly useful for this, because if the torch goes out, you can just hold it next to the stove’s flame to light it again. Once it’s going, carefully/lightly swipe the flame, perhaps in circles or whatever works for you, over the sugary top of each pot until a medium brown (not black, not too light brown) crust has formed. You might have to work at it to develop your technique, but believe me, it’s very fun to try!! Serve as is, or with a small dollop of whipped cream if you must, but we preferred it on its own. The complex chai spice flavours do enough talking by themselves.

TO everyone who made that week so special, a BIG THANK YOU, and a BIG HUG!

Blackberry Muffins

I miss Oregon. There is nothing new about this. You’ll know if you ask me where I’m from and then want to know more about it: I launch into an enthusiastic monologue that makes me sound like a spy working for the Oregon Tourism Industry. One of my favourite things about Oregon is the food: October through May or June is cool and rain-soaked. The summer usually brings 2 – 3 months of hot, dry, sunny weather. I occurs to me now that this is Oregon’s secret for amazing berries, grapes and other summer fruits. It’s easy to see this when one lives in England, where summer is elusive at best. Yesterday was sunny. The two weeks before that were very overcast, threatening rain but never following through, and warmish. The first week in May was paradise, followed by three weeks of chilly monsoons. Two years ago when we visited for a couple weeks, I would have believed you if you told me I’d landed in Spain. Last summer, as we all know, there were severe floods. Very confusing. So I was skeptical that a climate lacking in hot, dry and sunny could produce any good berries. Well, I stand corrected.

Sunday Afternoon

They’re not quite Oregon berries, but I liked that there were no wasps contending with me for the sweetest pickings. I did get stung by quite a few nettles, but that’s no big deal; just some tingly fingers for the rest of the day. The berries are juicy and sweet, and as I type, the cooling blackberry muffins and simmering blackberry jam are perfuming our kitchen. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: England, you’re alright!

I wouldn’t say this recipe is Ayurvedic: it doesn’t follow food combining rules, the only spice is a little cinnamon, but they are delicious and collecting the berries will get you out for a walk and some fresh air, which will stimulate your digestive fire (‘agni’). I modified the muffin recipe I found to make it lower in fat and wheat free, which is definitely worth something. Not to mention the concept of eating food that’s wild, didn’t take any fossil fuels to produce or transport, ‘organic’, local and fresh. Could anything be more natural and better for you?

Blackberry Muffins
Adapted from this recipe by Elise Bauer. For me, this made 12 muffins.

1 cup white spelt flour
1/2 cup whole grain spelt flour
1/2 cup buckwheat flour
1 Tbsp baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
1 cup natural yoghurt
1 teaspoon milk
2/3 cup unrefined sugar
8 Tbsp warm melted butter (1 stick)
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 heaping teaspoon cinnamon powder
11 oz of fresh-picked blackberries

Position rack in center of oven. Preheat oven to 400°F. Grease a standard 12 muffin pan or line with paper muffin cups.
Whisk together the flours, baking powder and salt in a large bowl.
In a separate bowl, whisk together eggs, yoghurt, milk, sugar, butter and vanilla.
Add the wet mixture to the dry mixture and mix together with a few light strokes, just until the dry ingredients are moistened. Add the berries. Do not overmix! Overmixing will cause the muffins to be dense, not fluffy. The batter should not be smooth.
Divide the batter evenly among the muffin cups. Bake until a toothpick inserted into the middle of 1 or 2 of the muffins comes out clean, 17-20 minutes (or longer). Let cool for 2 to 3 minutes before removing from the pan. If not serving hot, let cool on a rack.

Cooling

These are delicious when eaten soon after baking.

White, Yellow and Sweet

White Chocolate Lemon Coconut Bars

I meant to come here either with a post about our big party and what we ate in the Lake District, or a post about how to recover from a party like that without depriving yourself: Kitchari, the main healing food of Ayurveda. But right now, I’m really excited about something that’s not exactly a ‘detox’ food. Excited enough to be writing about it first thing on a Saturday. I don’t normally blog at 7:49 in the morning, but I just tasted my lemony yellow experiment after waiting through a night of sleep. It was extremely character-building for me to wait until now, especially after a grueling yoga class last night. But they needed to cool and the topping needed to set, so I kept my dignity, but let me tell you, it was hard to wait.

See, I’ve been wanting to make these for a while. Then I received a package of chocolate goodies from the lovely people at Divine Chocolate – a nice side effect from having a food blog that I had not anticipated. That meant that there was a stack of chocolate bars staring me in the face every time I opened the cupboard for some rice, beans, olive oil, whispering “use me…”.

I discovered food blogs in April, and one of my first three favourites was Heidi Swanson’s 101 Cookbooks, particularly because she seemed to be a girl after my own heart in her choices of whole foods, whole grains, and alternative flours. Back then, she had just posted a recipe for ‘Amazing Black Bean Brownies’ from a cookbook by Ania Catalano. When I heard that title, it was like a mini revolution happened in my head. “Beans!! Beans instead of flour!! Brilliant!!” For someone like moi who doesn’t handle gluten so well and who teaches cookery to many others who don’t, this was a little like finding…well, the Rosetta Stone might be a bit of an exaggeration, but I did feel like a new little world had opened up: treats made with beans and my favourite sweetener ever, Agave nectar.

Please believe me when I say: beans do NOT ruin the flavour of your favourite brownies! I’ve been baking the dark-chocolate version since May for various functions and people have always raved, saying how much they melt in your mouth, they’re incredible, and so on. No one has said, “hmm, they taste really ‘beany’…” and given me a sideways look. The only way to know is to try them for yourself, so as we say in the US, get crackin’!

Health/Ayurvedic notes: the beans do help balance this for Kapha, because of their astringent, drying nature and their higher fiber/protein content as opposed to wheat flour, which is quite heavy in its qualities. Not that a Kapha person should have these all the time: they do have coconut, sweetener, lemon, butter, white chocolate…they’re much better had in the winter, by a Vata, or when you’re very active. Obviously. The agave nectar is glycemic index neutral, so these shouldn’t give you nearly as much of that sugar crash feeling as other sweets, although of course there is sugar in the white chocolate and a bit in the crust and topping, which is optional. Personally, because they don’t have dark chocolate, I know I can be trusted to only have one, which in my book is a good thing!

This week, morning has looked a little like this...

White Chocolate Lemon Coconut Bars with White Beans

1 cup soft-cooked white (navy) beans
1 100 gram bar of white chocolate
1/2 cup (scant) butter (I used home-made ghee due to no butter in the fridge, and it was fine)
1/4 cup fresh-squeezed lemon juice
3/4 Tbs finely grated lemon zest
2 large eggs
1/2 cup (scant) agave nectar

For the topping:
1/2 cup shredded unsweetened coconut
1 tsp agave nectar
1 tsp demerara sugar

For the crust:
1/2 cup almond flour (finely ground almonds)
1 TBS melted butter or sunflower oil
1 tsp agave nectar
1 tsp demerara sugar (optional – gives a nice little crunch)

Preheat your oven to 350 F, 160 C. Butter or oil an 8 by 8 baking pan. Mix the crust ingredients and press into the bottom of the pan.

In a double boiler, melt the butter with the white chocolate until smooth. Put the beans, butter/white chocolate mixture, lemon zest and juice into a food processor and puree for a minute or two, until smooth and thick. Set aside.

In a medium bowl, beat the eggs until light and airy. Add the agave nectar and beat well again. Pour in the bean/chocolate/butter/lemon mixture and fold them together with a spatula until combined. Pour the batter into the pan, smooth the top, and bake for about 35 minutes, until a nice, thin, bubbly brown crust forms on the top. Remove and let cool.

In the meantime, put the ingredients for the topping into a small frying pan and mix over medium heat. Continue to stir frequently as the coconut begins to toast: be careful, once it gets hot, coconut will burn easily. Turn the heat down if necessary. Sprinkle this evenly over the bars once they’re out of the oven. Let cool for about 45 minutes, then put them in the fridge and chill a bit: they’re a bit more firm when chilled, but if you don’t mind mooshiness, then feel free to eat them at room temp or warm.

I also created this recipe to make a half batch: only about 16 bars, but if there are more of you in your house, then you might want to double up – they’ve been going very fast around here.

Ginger: remedial root

After the chocolate chip cookie post, and before I do a post about the amazing meal that my brother prepared for our recent ‘wedding’ dinner feast, I think it would be appropriate to introduce all of you to something that can help process all this rich food. The first time I took a ginger shot, it was like I’d stepped for a brief moment into a flame bath: a wave of heat swept me from heat to toe and made me squeek “whoo!” Sometimes in this modern world of pill-popping, we don’t realize (through sheer lack of experience) how powerful a simple, natural remedy can be.

ginger & lemon for Vata

Ginger is one that will get your attention and make you think twice about natural medicine, if you’re a skeptic or just new to holistic living. You really know there must be something…LOTS…to it, once you taste it straight. I met someone yesterday who said that sadly, in all his life, he’d never tasted ginger before (at least not straight; I’m sure he’d had it in Chinese or British Indian restaurants, though the dishes might have been too heavily spiced to discern subtleties). He couldn’t wait to buy some on the way home.

I’m a bit sensitive to ginger. Recently, on a week-long holiday in the Lake District, I was taking a thin slice of ginger before lunch and dinner. The slices gradually increased in size as the week went on, accompanied by honey (one of the very few sweet substances that is heating and aggravates Pitta). Sure enough, a week later, any bit of ginger sent me hiccoughing through the roof. I’m very predominantly Pitta, with moderate Vata and low Kapha. For someone like me, ginger really isn’t necessary on a regular basis, unless you were indulging the way I was in Cumbria: much more cheese, wheat, peanut butter, cake, etc. than usual. By the time we got back, I didn’t need extreme eating coupled with powerful remedies, I needed the soft gray happy-medium of soothing kitchari (posting on this to come soon). What I’m saying is, you might be this way too, so listen to your body, its needs and reactions. You also might really need ginger, so give it a go.

Dry ginger is best for Kapha (damp, heavy, cool, mucousey qualities and characteristics, and climates). I sprinkle dry ginger on tapioca, yoghurt, and other slimy cool substances. That creates balance and helps digest things that might otherwise weigh you down. Fresh ginger is wonderful for Vata because of the wetness- it’s less stimulating than the dry powder, which is subtle and penetrating in comparison. Fresh is also best for Pitta in small quantities, especially if it’s cooked with other foods to take the edge off.

In this Kapha-laden place called England, ginger has become a very good friend. I simmer slices in water on the stove and sip it as a tea in the autumn, winter and spring when my Vata goes up and my circulation goes down (ginger is known to increase circulation). I stick my head over the pot and inhale the steam to get some in my lungs. I toss in other spices to make a delicious chai tea. I drink it with lemon and add honey after cooling a bit when I have a cold.

In looking through my Ayurvedic notes, here are some things that ginger has been recommended for: Colds, flus, headache, lung phlegm, joint and muscle pain, improves appetite, enhances joy and creativity (love that last one). You can make a paste with aloe gel (equal parts; use a mortar and pestle to pound and grind the ginger to a paste) and apply to the head for headaches or face for toothaches. Ginger helps to burn toxins in the body; what this means is that any undigested foodstuff that remains in the intestines and colon (and other tissues for that matter) due to improper food combining, nervousness while eating, quick eating without chewing or various other habits, can be reduced by incorporating fresh and cooked ginger to your diet.

Pickled Ginger for Digestion

2 inches fresh ginger root (peeling is optional)
enough fresh-squeezed lime juice to cover: 1 or 2 limes
two pinches of rock salt

If you are a Vata or don’t like the idea of eating ginger peel, then take a metal spoon and gently scrape the peel off the ginger. Using the edge of a spoon is a great way to peel ginger: you don’t lose any of the meat, it’s fast, easy and more effective than the sharpness of a knife, and the rounded end of the spoon lets you get into the nooks and crannies. Slice the ginger in pieces that are about the size of a US quarter or a UK 10p piece. Put them in a small glass jar with the rock salt (sea salt is okay). Take the lime and roll it on the cutting board firmly to soften the juice pods inside. Place it with one end facing you and the other pointing away; slice, not down the middle, but just to one side of the points; slicing the citrus down the side like this is the best way to access more juice. Continue slicing and squeezing lime juice into the ginger jar until pieces are coated and covered. Cover with a lid; you can store this in your refrigerator for a long time. The lime juice preserves naturally.

Eat one slice of ginger 20 minutes before lunch or dinner, depending on your needs, or before eating things like ice cream, creme brulee, cheese, improper food combinations (if you have some special decadent occasion coming up), or if you’ll be eating desert at the end of your meal (thereby putting something sweet and heavy on top of the rest of your meal in your stomach; imagine dumping water on your digestive fire…that explains the heavy feeling after this kind of meal!).

For Vata, add a bit more salt or honey to your ginger
For Pitta, add agave nectar, maple syrup or other unrefined sugar
For Kapha, add honey

Happy digesting!

Chocolate Chip Cookies

black-tie cookie

I think it’s really important to relax a little sometimes. Is that a good enough excuse for such a healthy girl to make such decadent, luscious, amazingly deliciously sinful cookies? Oh, I also thought it would be the perfect way to try the rose salt that I bought in France, since these cookies call for a sprinkling of salt on top. I have to admit, the pink salt crystals were very cute. If I owned a bakery, or any restaurant, I would have these on the menu as a slightly healthier version of the classic. But of course, let’s not fool ourselves, they are chocolate chip cookies, and they do have about twice the amount of chocolate that I’m used to seeing in their counterparts, which is of course partly why they’re so good.

When I saw this recipe, and that gorgeous photo, in the New York Times Dining section about a month ago, I knew I would have to try it, even though I haven’t baked chocolate chip cookies in about…eight years! So I devised a way to make them a bit more blood-sugar friendly and a little easier to digest.

I’m willing to sacrifice perfection on texture and consistency unless it’s a super special occasion, especially if it means that I get to enjoy the flavour of a dish without indigestion or major blood-sugar spikes. If you disagree, please feel free to use regular flour, but I’ve substituted a combination of flours that many people may find more agreeable in their tummies. The west is pretty saturated with wheat, and in my practice, it’s extremely common to see clients with an intolerance to wheat and/or gluten, probably due to an overload of the stuff in their gut (along with white sugar), or due to having been fed wheat as a baby before the body was ready to digest it. I think we could use a change. Hence the spelt and rice flours.

I have also included my technique for a powdered sugar that isn’t white sugar: simply measure out your demerara or date sugar or sucanut or whatever you use, and grind it in a clean coffee grinder until powdered. It will incorporate unlike the larger crystals, but hasn’t gone through any nutrient-stripping processes. I do this for almost all my baked goods unless using agave or maple syrup.

Consider baking these either for a special occasion or party where there will be lots of people around to share them with, or if you have plenty of neighbors, friends and co-workers to take them to. You might want to eat half the batch on your own (Colm and I both agreed this was a possible outcome as we stared at the lot after eating one each; then with great difficulty we managed to seal them up and put them away), but obviously they’re more enjoyable if you don’t. I have given you a the recipe below with everything cut in half, which is how I made it, and really, it was plenty (for now). I’ve decided that these would be the perfect snack for a day of hard-core mountain biking (having tried said crazy outdoor activity last week), mountain climbing, or marathon running. Do you get the idea? ‘Nough said.

sel du rose and dough

Chocolate Chip Cookies
Adapted from NYTimes Dining, July 9th 2008, which was adapted from Jacques Torres…

Flour:
2 ounces brown rice flour + 3 1/2 ounces white spelt flour + 3 ounces whole spelt flour
2/3 teaspoons baking soda
3/4 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoons coarse salt
1 1/4 sticks (1/2 + 1/8 cups, about 160 grams) unsalted butter
1 cup plus 3 tablespoons (9 ounces) demerara or other unrefined sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon natural vanilla extract
10 ounces bittersweet chocolate: I used Divine fair-trade 70% dairy free bars (please see the link above to the original recipe regarding their recommendations for chocolate)
Sea salt (or pink rose salt if you have it!)

1. Sift flours, baking soda, baking powder and salt into a bowl. Set aside.

2. Measure out your sugar and place into a small blender or clean coffee grinder. Grind for about 30 seconds, or until most of the sugar is powdered. Tap on the counter to settle the sugar before opening.

2. Chop the chocolate bars into 1 centimeter-size chunks, cutting lengthwise then widthwise with a large knife. Skip this step if you’re using chips or discs.

3. Using a mixer fitted with paddle attachment, (or a sturdy spatula, followed by electric beaters) cream butter and sugars together until very light, about 5 minutes. Add the egg, mixing well. Stir in the vanilla. Reduce speed to low, add dry ingredients and mix until just combined, 5 to 10 seconds. (At this point, I turned off the beaters, added the dry ingredients and stirred the whole thing a bit so that when I turned the beaters on again, a cloud of flour would not erupt in my face). Drop chocolate pieces in and incorporate them without breaking them. Press plastic wrap against dough and refrigerate for 24 to 36 hours. Dough may be used in batches, and can be refrigerated for up to 72 hours.

3. When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350 degrees (160 C). Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or use a nonstick baking mat. Set aside.

4. Scoop 6 2 1/2-ounce mounds of dough (the size of small golf balls) onto baking sheet, making sure to turn horizontally any chocolate pieces that are poking up; it will make for a more attractive cookie. Sprinkle lightly with sea/rose salt and bake until golden brown but still soft. For me, this was only 10 – 12 minutes, although the original recipe says 18 – 20. Transfer sheet to a wire rack for 10 minutes, then slip cookies onto another rack to cool a bit more (I cooled them on a plate; it was fine). Repeat with remaining dough, or reserve dough, refrigerated, for baking remaining batches the next day. Eat warm, with a big napkin.

Yield: 1 1/2 dozen 3-inch cookies.

Apricot Lentil Stew with Allspice and Coriander

Just to make my feelings about this stew perfectly clear from the get-go, it’s a delicious, sensuous middle eastern dish with a lovely balance of flavours and makes a great leftover, so I heartily encourage you to cook it soon. With a side of spiced rice and topped with some chopped greens, it makes a very healthy and satisfying evening meal.

One Saturday in February, Colm and I were tired of the Midlands and took the train to London for some urban stimulation. It was a very lucky day. We got a refund for the too-expensive train tickets we bought, happened upon an incredible knitting store which doubles as a bar at night, and found a sweet little Persian restaurant on the edge of the Covent Garden area which wouldn’t have been able to take us a minute sooner or later. That was the inspiration for this recipe – the vegetarian section of the menu at Simurgh had an ‘apricots and spinach’ dish that caught our attention. I ordered it, took notes in my diary and started the experimenting back at home. We went back in May and I ordered it again for a bit more research. I think the chef had gone vinegar-happy that night, so I’ve adjusted the amount here for my tastes.

Apricot Lentil Stew with Allspice and Coriander
Adapted from ‘Apricots and Spinach’ at Simurgh in Covent Garden, London

1 cup brown lentils, washed, then soaked for several hours in warm water
1 pinch asafoetida
2 TBS olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped in quarters, then thinly sliced into arc-shapes
2 large cloves of garlic, minced
1 generous tsp ground allspice
1 scant tsp ground cumin
1 scant tsp ground coriander
8-9 apricots, sliced into quarters
handful sultanas
handful chopped cilantro
2.5 TBS balsamic vinegar
½ cube vegetable stock
4 cups water
1/2 – 1 tsp salt
fresh ground pepper
optional garnish: chopped spinach leaves

In a soup pot, dissolve the 1/2 cube of vegetable stock in 4 cups of water. Add the lentils and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low, cover and simmer. Meanwhile, heat the oil in a soup pot on medium heat. You will know it’s hot enough when it shimmers in the pan a bit, but don’t let it overheat. Add the onion, give it a stir and cook until it’s translucent and sweet. Add the garlic and stir; cook for a minute, long enough to take the edge off. Add the allspice, cumin and coriander powder; stir and cook a few minutes, until fragrant. Now add your dried fruits and the vinegar; stir so that the fruit soak up the vinegar and are covered in the spices. Toss in the coriander leaves (cilantro); stir again, then add this mixture to the lentils, along with the salt. Let simmer another half hour or so, until the lentils and fruits are nice and soft. Taste for pepper and salt.

If you need more greens in your diet, and many of us do, toss some into your bowl before you pour the soup on: watercress, baby spinach or arugula/rocket would be very nice. Adding the greens to the bowl instead of the soup pot will keep your stew leftovers free of soggy, darkened greens the next day, and pouring the hot stew over them in the bowl still wilts them enough to stir in with the soup without overcooking them.