Raw Food

Carrot Top Salad aka The Perfect Packed Lunch

Posted on September 25, 2012 by leroy watson

Carrot Top Salad

So what does a mostly raw food dude take to work for lunch? A carrot top salad of course! The most complete salad we can muster.

This Carrot Top Salad is a good example of my daily packed lunch, nice and quick to prepare and bursting with good textures and flavours. Its one of my favs. You may have noticed the distinct slow down in Beach House posting recently, I’ve been working like a donkey. I need all the energy I can get and this salad is a serious hit of nutrition, flavour and vitality. I feel fully charged after lunch and light as a feather. Non of those post lunch slumps with this salad.

To make this you need carrot tops. To find those you need to go get some real food, most supermarkets won’t sell carrots with the tops on and if they do, god knows where they’ve been and what the poor green things have been exposed to along the way. Go local and find some earth loving types, normally living in peace and happiness somewhere in the middle of a field and ask them which way to the carrots. It should’t take long.

Carrot tops are delicious and full of nutrients, especially chlorophyll. They can be a little bitter, thats the potassium, so at least you know its some good stuff. They make great juice and can even be crushed and used as a mouthwash. They contain a lot of vitamins etc not present in the carrot (like ‘K’ for example). They can be hard going and a little chewy on their own, thats why they are best in this salad. They’re not as sweet as the ‘root’, thats where all the sugar and water goes. So much food is thrown away nowadays and much of these we can re-use or munch on. Please, give these little green beauts a chance!

Glorious local toms

To the salad….I basically combined the fruits, veg and seeds available into a massive salad, stick it in a container and have a jam jar full of dressing (that lasts a few days). I make enough salad for at least two days (excluding the apple, normally added in the morning) and hey presto! LUNCH.

This is a huge salad by general standards, alot goes into it and it’s designed to be a hearty meal. The Carrot Top definitely cannot be termed as a ‘side salad’, this is the main attraction. A word of warning, this takes quite a bit of munching. You need to build up some decent jaw muscles to attempt such a salad.

There are constants in my salad world; dark green leaves make up the majority of it, lots of hard vegetables cubed (for crunch), seeds (lots)and the occasional dried fruit makes an appearance and also a nice easy, tangy dressing. Then that’s me off, for another day in the office/ kitchen/ restaurant/ field/ bridge tunnel or wherever else the money lies!

We have decided to head off to Spain for a few months over the winter months and all the pennies are needed for time in the beautiful Mediterranean sun. Expect some real bright beach posts soon, until that time comes in mid October, its work and salad time for me.

Just for your information, I also scoff two pieces of fruit and a bowlful of nuts and seeds all washed down with a cup of green tea and lots of water. You’ll be glowing afterwards, safe in the knowledge that this lunch time you were very kind to your body.

The only reason we can eat like this is due to Jane and I’s passion for healthy foods. We have buckets of fine pulses and seeds filling up our kitchen. We buy all this stuff in bulk normally and have it to hand. We are lucky. If we are not at home, travelling around etc, it can be tough to get anything like the real ‘Carrot Top’ together.

Kale takes a bath

This makes two large pots of salad, good for two lunches at least.

The Bits

Salad – 1 apple (or pear), 2 carrot, 1/2 cucumber (pickled or not, I like either), 1 courgette, 1 beetroot (all cubed), 2 handfuls of carrot tops (finely chopped), 2 big handfuls of beetroot leaves or green cabbage or kale (chopped), 1/2 handful of raisins, 1/2 handful of pumpkin seeds, 1/2 handful of sunflower seeds, 1 handful of mung bean sprouts, 1/2 handful of chopped mint leaves, 1/2 handful of chives, 2 teas barley powder/spirulina (optional, specialist things from health food shops that are full of zing), handful of cherry tomatoes (whole)

Beetroots on the board

Dressing – Juice and zest of half a lemon, 1/3 cup good olive oil, 1 teas honey, 1 clove garlic (minced), sea salt, cracked pepper. Or just make a whole jam jar full and shake it up when you need it. I normally carry it around in my bag. If you friends laugh at you for carrying dressing around with you, they obviously don’t understand the importance of salad.

Do It

Gather all you ingredients in your largest salad bowl and get you hands in there, give it all a good mix up. Separate into your containers and pop the lids on and into the fridge. You are now well lunch’d up and ready to go.

Packed up and ready to go.

Serve

After a good mornings graft, eat with a large spoon and be happy in your munching.

We Love It!

Turning something that many would deem as waste into a tasty dish is just grand. We love the crunch and texture of these salads, each mouthful is different.

Foodie Fact

Carrot tops can also be made into a brilliant tea, great for purifying the blood and kidneys. They also used to be used as a fashion accessory:

“In the reign of James I, (1603) it became the fashion for ladies to use flowers, fruit, feathers and the like to decorate their clothes. Picture showing carrot leaves in a hat This was amusingly extended to the use of Wild Carrot flowers and its feathery leaves and stalks to decorate their hair, hats, sleeves, dresses and coats. The lacy green foliage was especially fashionable during the autumn months when the leaves took on a reddish coloration.”

For more carrot facts like this, visit The World Carrot Museum

Categories: Healthy Eating, Raw Food, Recipes, Salads, Vegan | Tags: carrot top, cherry tomato, food, kale, packed, packed lunch, raw, recipe, salad, superfood, vegetarian | 6 Comments

Raw Power Balls

Posted on September 23, 2012 by leroy watson

Apricot Sesame and Tahini – Raw Power Balls

These are real super fuels, if you need power and energy, look no further. These Raw Power Balls are like duracell batteries for the body.

We love a good raw bar. Nutty or seedy. Carob or crunch. Nak’d and Nine Bar are just a couple on sale in the UK which are perfect when you fancy a treat but don’t want to eat a load of junk. Making them yourself however is a lot more fun and allows your creative side to get busy.

These little balls pack a serious punch, tasty and like rocket fuel, your energy levels and vitality will leap when you try them. We experiment with this recipe all the time and they are the perfect snack for a long day walking up steep hills (and then down again). I eat them at work and they keep me rocking all day. The measurements are rough here, they don’t need to be exact, handfuls are accurate enough. This is a simple, quick snack that serves as a tasty last minute treat.

Packed with nuts and date, you need to take it easy with this type of snack. They are very filling and packed full of sugar, hence the power. Too many and you’ll negate any benefit gained from all that raw goodness (by getting fat!).

They don’t need any preparation, but the dates and nuts will be better for a soak. They swell up and even taste better. They become softer and easier to blend. Soaking will also release many of the useful enzymes and nutrients that are otherwise closed off to the body. If you do decide to soak your bits, keep the juice, date juice is lovely and sweet and the nut juice is packed with nutrients. We add it to juices, stews or soups.

You may also like to make these into a truffle. Heat up some chocolate (in a bowl above a pan of steaming water) and roll you power balls in them until well coated. Place on a tray, covered with baking parchment and stick them in the fridge. Once the chocolate has hardened, they are ready to be enjoyed. That’s surely a treat worthy of a special birthday walk or even a dessert in its own right (just make the balls slightly bigger).

On a wander, seeing some flowers.

Here are a few of our favourite Power Ball flavour combos:

The Bits

Makes six decent power balls

Basic recipe:

1 handful of good dates (we like medjool, soaked for 2 hours), 1 handful of almonds (soaked overnight), 1/2 handful of cashews (soaked overnight)

Dark Chocolate Orange

2 heaped teas cacao powder, 3 teas orange blossom water or 2 teas orange zest, 1/2 handful of raisin (soaked)

Apricot, Sesame and Tahini

3 teas sesame seeds, 2 teas tahini, 1/2 handful of dried apricots (soaked and chopped)

Walnut Apple Pie

1 handful dried apples (soaked), 1 handful of walnuts (replace almonds), 1/2 teas cinnamon

Lemon Cardamom

2 teas lemon zest, 2 teas crushed cardamom seeds

Coco Choco Mint

1/2 handful of fresh coconut (blend first), 2 teas cacao powder, 2 teas finely chopped mint leaves

Vanilla Cashew

1 teas vanilla extract, use only cashew nuts

Very Berry

1 handful of dried cranberry, 1/2 handful of dried blueberry, 1/2 handful dried cherries, 1 teas vanilla extract

Seedy Wonder

1/2 handful sunflower seeds, 1/2 handful pumpkin seeds, 1/4 handful sesame seeds, 1/4 handful poppy seeds

Ginger Bread

1/2 teas all spice, 1/2 teas dried ginger, 1 handful of pecans (replace almonds)

Maple Fig and Lavender (CAUTION – very sweet!)

1 teas maple syrup, 1/2 teas dried lavender, 1/2 handful dried figs (soaked and chopped)

Peanut Butter

2 teas peanut butter, 1 handful of raw peanuts

The list goes on…………..like kids in a sweet shop……

Do It

The technique is always the same. Put it all into a food processor, blitz until smooth (or chunky, you decide). Get your hands in there and roll out a decent sized ball between your palms. That’s it!

Place in the fridge for a while to make them firmer and a little less sticky. They last for a long time in a sealed container in the fridge and can even be frozen and munched at a later date.

Chocolate Orange – Raw Power Balls

Serve

Preferably on top of a peak or in a forest somewhere far away from anywhere.

We Love Them!

Better than a biscuit and full of only raw goodness.

Foodie Fact

Dates give you a hefty dose of protein and fibre. They are also high in calories, essential when wandering around the countryside (or city for that matter). They are also a good source of Vitamin B and you’ll even get a splash of C thrown in as well.

Sun on flowers, taken on a walk in the woods

Categories: Desserts, Raw Food, Recipes, Snacks and Inbetweens | Tags: balls, dates, energy, flowers, food, hiking, nuts, photography, raw, snack, vegan | 4 Comments

Avocado, Coconut & Lime Cheesecake

Posted on September 18, 2012 by leroy watson

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This is just one of those recipes that comes along, out of the great blue yonder, that catches the eye and demands to be made. This floated by via a recommendation from Yolanda at the wonderful Byzantine Flowers blog. There are millions of recipes hovering around out there, but only a small minority grab me and really get my creative juices flowing. I like something a little bit different, something challenging and new. When I saw that this cheesecake had either kale, beetroot leaves or spinach in it, I knew I’d discovered a new dessert for me to play with. I’m strange like that!!

MERCI CHEF!

We are in veggie heaven at the moment after helping chef strim his garden. To be honest it was more of a wild field than a garden and due to our combined efforts in helping tame his jungle, chef gifted us a serious glut of amazing vegetables from his pristine veg garden (you can see where his priorities lie!).

Chef lives way up in the hills and has a fantastic garden that he and his Zimbabwean wife, Estele, take magnificent care of. Estele is a natural with the good earth and can grow things that just shouldn’t grow in these temperate parts. Chef is a proud frenchman and quite handy with a strimmer and mandolin. Thanks to them we are now the proud owners of literally bin bags full of incredibly sweet spinach, fiery mint, intense chives, vibrant cabbage and some of the most vivid carrots. You may be seeing more of these ingredients soon (maybe in desserts?!) I have never tasted spinach this sweet (see below), the seeds came from chefs sister in the Loire Valley in France. Ideal dessert spinach I’d say.

Raw desserts normally have a lot of components, but they are easy to get together and require a lot less messing around than normal baking (its not going to sink, burn, crumble, split……etc), it just sits there on the plate looking sexy. I’ve never used pumpkin seeds in a base before and I think they taste even better than nuts. Less fat, more flavour. Seed bases are a winner. The filling is rich and bright green (the spinach doing its thing) and you won’t believe that cream cheese wasn’t added. It’s so smooth and creamy.

Who needs flowers

In the bright, green future, we’ll all be eating these!

Here’s the recipe with a few Beach House additions. I stuck with handfuls, rather than exact measuring, here because its so straightforward and we love getting our mitts involved in cooking!!!

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Avocado, Coconut & Lime Cheesecake (raw, gluten-free, vegan, yum!)

Avocado, Coconut & Lime Cheesecake

The Bits – 6 little cheesecakes or one large one

Crust

4 big handfuls pumpkin seeds

2 big handfuls dates (pitted and soaked in warm water for an hour)

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

2 teas tahini

Pinch sea salt

Filling

2 avocadoes (peeled and stoned)

3 big handfuls spinach leaves (washed)

2 handfuls dates (pitted and soaked n warm water an hour)

125ml (1/2 cup) water/ water from date soaking

3 tbs lime juice

2 tbs coconut flakes/ desiccated

1 tbs coconut oil (melted)

1 tbs maple syrup

1 tsp lime zest

Pinch of sea salt

The pumpkin seed bases

Do It

Using a food processor, pulse the pumpkin seeds, dates, vanilla, tahini and salt together until they start to clump into a ball. Place in the fridge for an hour to firm up.

On a chopping board, using your hands, press the ball down into a flattish sheet (approx 1.5cm thick). Then take a cake/cookie cutter and cut circles. Roll up the leftovers and make another smaller sheet, repeat this until most of the base mix is used (eat the rest. Yum!)

In the mix

Get all of your filling ingredients in your food processor/ blender and blitz up until nice and smooth. Place you cake/ cookie cutter over your bases and spoon in a good layer of mix, using the spoon, even out the mix and make sure it meets the edges (giving you a nice looking, clean edge). Gently pull off the cutter, your cheesecake should look splendid. If not, be more careful with the next one! Repeat until your mix runs out.

As I mentioned, the base can be rolled up into little balls and snacked on at a later date, so no waste here.

Please feel free to play with sizes and shapes. We used this cutter as it makes for a decent dessert size and was handy. The original recipe was more of a cupcake size.

Serve

They don’t last long, for many reasons, the avocado doesn’t help (so creamy!) Serve them immediately with thin slices of lime, bits of coconut or as we did, a sprinkle of coconut flakes and a few pumpkin seeds.

We Love It!

People look quite disgusted when we tell them we’ve been making desserts with spinach in. Hopefully they’ll read this post and have their minds changed, even better, they’ll actually try it for themselves. Vegan desserts are the future, next week, garlic beer! (joking)

Foodie Fact

Coconut oil is an excellent substitute to cooking oils and especially butter. It has been heralded as a ‘superfood’ and it certainly is. The benefits of coco oil are many, for example, it can even be rubbed into your hair and skin giving amazing nutrition to both. Coconut oil is high in saturated fats, but they are mainly lauric acid, which actually helps repair the heart and arteries. These fats also contain micro-biological qualities that fight bad bacteria and fungi in your guts, they also help you absorb many vitamins and minerals. I could go on here……..I’m sure you get the idea. Eat more cocos!

Categories: Desserts, Raw Food, Recipes, Vegan | Tags: cheesecake, coconut, dairy/ lactose free, dessert, food, gluten-free, lime, raw, recipe, vegan | 9 Comments

Black Prince Tomato & Coriander Soup (Raw)

Posted on September 11, 2012 by leroy watson

Something like a Black Prince Tomato

These little toms are mind-blowingly tasty and light up this fabulous raw soup recipe. We believe they are called Black Princes, but cannot be sure. If they are Black Princes, they originated in Siberia but we picked them up from the wonderful John and Pippa in the small village of Bethel (a couple of valleys away). They are stunning tomatoes to look at, purple and dark green inside and mottled with emerald patches on the outside. The most surprising thing about these tomatoes is that they have been grown organically in Wales (the land of the shy sun). How is this possible? I put it down to great expertise and poly tunnels, 20 years of growing experience also helps! We are so very grateful to the brilliant Pippa and John for eeking out the best of the conditions of this, the wettest and worst summer on this grey island for over 100 years. Can you imagine what they’d do in Spain! Jane and I are almost addicted to these little gems, even scoffing them like popcorn whilst watching a samurai movie recently.

So whats all this about a Black Prince anyway?

Well, the Black Prince (apart from just having the most epic name of any tomato we have encountered) is one of the most popular black tomatoes in the world (more dark green than black to be honest). These toms are classed as an heirloom variety in the U.S. (see the foodie fact below) and have a wonderful deep, rich and fruity flavour. The Black Prince is known as a ‘true Siberian tomato’, which makes it perfect for growing in cooler climates like our little grey island.

They say an Indian summer is coming to these parts, having experienced a couple of these myself in India, I am not sure that this is an accurate description of the potential weather situation. We can however hope for some late summer sun which makes for a perfect raw soup climate. But raw soups are not just for the summertime.

One of the things we both struggled to imagine prior to our month of raw food eating in June, was sitting down in front of our fire in mid-December, all wrapped up warm with thermals on and tucking into a cold soup with a salad. We now know that this would work out just fine. Although the temperature outside is chilly, the effect this kind of soup has on body and mind is seriously rejuvenating and they are absolutely jam packed full with the vitamins etc. that your body needs come the darker months.

This soup really does the black prince toms justice, it’s refreshing and not shy of a few flavours. Whether you feel like sparkling some more, or are getting over a good old-fashioned beer garden adventure, this soup will get you zinging in all the right places.

Recipe Notes

The juice in the recipe replaces a traditional stock. We have been experimenting with this juicy method and have had some brilliant results in mainly raw soups and stews. No stock can live up to the vibrancy and freshness of a raw juice, especially for a chilled soup like this one. We picked only the freshest flavours here and the combination of the tomatoes, peppers, oranges, chilli, coriander and ginger……well you can imagine! With all those colours in a bowl, expect fireworks!

We like to use a little of the orange zest, it gives it even more pizzazz. The dates are essential to balance the saltiness of the miso. You could use agave syrup or the like if you fancied, but there is something wonderful about adding dates to savoury food. Avocado is perfect in soups, but does mean that it must be eaten within a day. The avos add creaminess without the cream and are a great little raw food trick.

If you don’t own a juicer, just buy some fresh carrot juice instead. You could also use the same quantity of water, but it would be slightly lacking. You may also omit the sprouted mung beans and still produce a wonderful bowl of happiness, we just had a glut of them to hand.

Black Prince Tomatoes

This recipe is enough for two big bowlfuls with ample seconds.

The Bits

10 ripe black cherry tomatoes (or the best cherry tomatoes you can get your hands on)

3 ripe tomatoes (the bigger variety)

1 avocado

1 big handful mung bean sprouts

250ml carrot and celery juice (that’s roughly 4 large carrots and 1 stick celery)

1 big handful chopped coriander

1 yellow pepper (chopped)

1 tbsp flax oil (or good olive oil)

2 tsp miso paste

2 cm cube ginger (finely chopped)

1 clove garlic (mashed)

1/2 red chilli (or 1/2 teas chilli flakes)

Juice of 1 orange (with half the zest)

3 finely chopped dates

Do It

Make your juice first and then placed all ingredients in a food processor. Blitz and add the juice gradually. We think a minute or so is enough, maintain a few chunks, a longer blitz means a smoother soup.

Pre-blitz

Serve

Just not quite chilled and with a good handful of freshly chopped coriander (cilantro) as a topping and a scattering of sprouted mung beans.

We Love It!

Our favourite raw soup yet!!

Black Prince Cherry Tomato and Coriander Soup

Foodie Fact

In America ‘heirloom’ veggies are all the rage. The Black Prince is an ‘heirloom’ fruit, which basically means that they are pure seeds and have not been touched by any GM crops. At local markets in Britain, it is great to see people growing our indigenous varieties again, all mis-shapen and knobbly, with real flavours and textures. Many people are single handedly keeping these varieties in existence and passing on these heirlooms to future generations.

Categories: Local food, Raw Food, Recipes, Soups, Summer, Vegan | Tags: black prince, heirloom, raw, recipes, soup, tomato | 13 Comments

Salad Shirazi

Posted on August 20, 2012 by leroy watson

Farm fresh veggies from our friends at Trigonos, bring on the salads!

Salad Shirazi is one of my favourite Persian salads and very easy to get together and prepare. This salad seems to be ubiquitous from Delhi to Tangiers, hard vegetables chopped up small with onion and some lemon juice, herbs if you are lucky or decadent or both.

We used some lovely veggies from the farm and added a little courgette because it is that time of year. The mint came from the herb garden and our little taste of Persia was complete.

This salad adds the ideal fresh crunch to rich cuisine and went perfectly with our Persian Aubergine Stew, but is perfect as a salad in its own right. The fresher the produce, the better the salad.

The Bits
3 medium sized cucumbers, 3 small firm tomatoes, 1 courgette, 2 small sweet onions, 3 tablespoons good olive oil, juice of 1 lemon or lime, 1 handful of fresh mint (chopped, dried mint will do), sea salt and cracked pepper to taste

Do It

Cut tomatoes, cucumbers, courgette and onion into small cube-ish pieces and place them in a salad bowl and gently mix. Add salt, pepper, mint, olive oil and lemon juice, mix well.

Salad Shirazi

Serve

Slightly chilled with smiles.

We Love It!

CRUNCH!

Foodie Fact

Salad is good for you.

Categories: Raw Food, Recipes, Salads, Vegan | Tags: cucumber, food, iranian, mint, persian, recipe, salad, shirazi, tomato, vegan, vegetarian | 2 Comments

Raw Strawberry Tartlets

Posted on August 13, 2012 by leroy watson

Raw Strawberry Tartlets

This is a variation on our Raw Summer Berry Cheesecake that was SOOOOO GOOD we thought we would do it again… only adding some different ingredients to make it tastier and a little more interesting (and smaller!). One for the sweet tooth and can be eaten on a raw food diet too. Try it, it’s amazing!

It was a beautiful sunny day so I put on my shorts, went in the garden, felt super-summery, and then decided to surprise Lee with a beautiful treat for when he got home from work. The strawberries were farm-fresh, juicy, and looked oh so irresistible in the fridge, and the result was a delightful delicate mix of this rich nutty sticky base with it’s thick creamy sweet fruity topping. Such sunny decadence!!!

I just love raw food preparation and cooking. It’s quick, there is very little mess or washing up, and I really feel like I am learning so much about how to combine the ingredients and flavours. It’s so incredible how tasty these blends of foods can be and how versatile these ingredients are – the topping in this recipe is unbelievable! Tahini never tasted so good.

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Raw Strawberry Tartlets

The Bits

Base

200g dates

200g soaked almonds

Large handful sultanas

Large handful cashew nuts

A shake of cinnamon

A shake of ground (or chopped ginger)

The delicious creamy topping

1 large banana

Juice of one lemon

3 tablespoons tahini

8 dates

Topping

Chopped strawberries

Do It

So here’s how it’s done!

Base – Blend the ingredients for the base in a food processor. Make little balls with the mixture and squash flat to make little round mini-bases. This took the longest out of everything because the mixture gets so sticky. Make as many bases as you want, any size or shape you want! Worth persevering with your sticky fingers for the end result 🙂

Topping – Blend everything together and smooth the lovely thick mixture on to your bases. Throw on some chopped strawberries, or any other fruit you may have that looks beautiful; and serve straight away.

You can keep the base and topping separate in the fridge and they will keep well for a few days.

Only add the fruit just before serving for the freshest taste imaginable!

Serve

We like it all left out of the fridge, at room temperature. Served in the garden and eaten with teaspoons (to prolong the happiness). Normally with a nice cup of Rooi-al (Rooibos tea with almond milk) or Rooi-soy (with soya milk). The perfect little summer treat.

We Love It!

This is so simple. The most delicious dessert and minimal effort…leaving more time for eating!!!

Foodie Fact

Strawberries are actually native to Europe, and technically a ‘creeper’. Nothing evokes summertime in Britain more than the coming of the strawberry. Strawberries are very high in vitamin C, our anti-oxidant friend and vitamin B. They also contain plenty of vitamin B and E and have good levels of mineral content. They are also full of phyto-nutrients that are brilliant for the body, they fight diseases and other nasty things. Oh, and they are low in calories.

Enjoy!!

Jane x

Categories: Desserts, Raw Food, Recipes, Summer, Vegan | Tags: dessert, raw, recipe, strawberry, summer, tahini, tarlets, tart, vegan, vegetarian | 13 Comments

Beetroot and Apple Raita

Posted on July 22, 2012 by leroy watson

Beetroot and Apple Raita

The perfect accompaniment to the ‘Hippy Daal’. This sweet, crunchy, fruity raita salad is the ideal side dish to spicy rich food, also great as a salad in its own right.

This is a really nice twist on your normal raita recipe. Absolutely nothing wrong with the original recipe, but when you have amazing beetroots and apples in the bowl, you just have to play with flavours!

Of course we love beetroot at the BHK, for the most part, we live on the stuff. We juice it, chop it, grate it……our table is incomplete without a little purple plate or two.

I like using the apples here, because I would normally sweeten my raita, but with these apples it doesn’t need it.

Jane and I on the beach today, enjoying the a little bit of sun (too rare).

The raita will look great if you try and chop all components in an even way. Squares work well! Circles more difficult, but very impressive!

Make sure your yoghurt isn’t too thick, water it down if needed. Otherwise you could have a sticky mess on your hands. The fresh mint makes this dish, so do try and get some together. It is really easy to grow and we have found it saves alot of hassle (and money) to have some planted outside or on a window ledge. If given space, it will spread like wildfire and you’ll never have a fresh mint crisis again (you’ll also have an endless supply of amazing mint tea).

The Bits

1 medium sized beetroot (peeled or scrubbed and chopped), 1 sweet organic apple (chopped), 1/2 cucumber (chopped), 1 small courgette (chopped), 1/2 teas ground cumin, 1 clove of crushed garlic, 1 handful of chopped fresh mint (chopped), 150 ml of yoghurt (we use soya, greek/turkish would be amazing)

Do It

Add all ingredients to a bowl and give it a good stir.

Beetroot and Apple Raita (Raw)

Serve

Leave for at least an hour before serving, let the flavour’s gather. Serve as you like, traditionally with a stonking curry or as we like, as a main course salad with some green leaves. Add nuts (hazelnuts, walnuts) to make it more of a meal of it.

We Love It!

Creamy, spicy, fruity and what a crunch! Difficult to find anything wrong with a raita.

Foodie Fact

Mint is high in fibre and magnesium. It is very high in vitamin A and folates and also packs some serious vitamin C. It also helps with all sorts of stomach issues.

Categories: Raw Food, Recipes, Salads, Vegan | Tags: apple, beetroot, food, raita, raw, recipes, salad, vegan, vegetarian | 7 Comments

Rich Tomato and Basil Soup (Raw)

Posted on July 20, 2012 by leroy watson

Tomato and Basil

Here’s one for when you are in a little bit of a hurry and you need something quick and tasty. Cold soup is a funny one for most people, it can be difficult to get your head around. Cold soups are served all over the world and I can think of many delicious recipes from Spain. It is very much a cultural thing, in Britain we have diabolical weather, which means we normally need a little warmth in our bellies. Soup is so sustaining and comforting, I don’t see why cold soup cannot have the same effect.

We managed to get our hands on a decent amount of lovely tomatoes, rare in these parts and this soup really did them justice. The tomatoes really make this dish and without gorgeous tomatoes, you will struggle to get much flavour. It’s all about tomato here!

Raw food is nutrient dense, which means alot of ingredients. It is not your average soup, which normally relies heavily on a decent stock, its really just one big savoury smoothie!

This is a recipe that has the added richness of an avocado. I love the way that raw food uses things like avocado to add creaminess to dishes, surely better than a blob of clotted cream (no!?). But I must admit, clotted cream is definitely better on a scone.

We added on green chilli here, to add a little mexican style zing to proceedings. It is optional of course. If you’d like it richer, add more avocado, you can never get enough!

So dust off the blender and give this one a whirl. The perfect summer soup, refreshing and filling. You can heat this if you like, it will be nearly as nice!

Makes two big bowlfuls:

The Bits

8 tomatoes (medium size, chopped into 1/4’s), 1/2 sweet red pepper, 8 sun dried tomatoes (finely chopped/ mashed), 2 cloves garlic (minced, crushed etc), 1/2 medium sweet onion (Spanish are good, finely chopped), 1 big handful of chopped basil leaves, 1 avocado, pinch of good quality sea salt, 1 green chilli (very optional), olive oil for a drizzle

Tomato and Basil Soup (Raw)

Do It

All in a blender and pulse until a nice chunky texture is formed, add water if needed to thin out slightly.

Serve

We topped ours with sprouts (no surprises there then!) and a couple of basil leaves, a drizzle of olive oil maybe?

We Love It!

Nice and rich and refreshing, a great way to use glorious toms!

Foodie Fact

Basil is regarded as the ‘king of herbs’ and is a holy plant in many cultures. Basil originated in Iran and India. Basil has many anti-inflammatory, anti-bacterial and anti-oxidant properties, it contains exceptionally high levels of beta carotene, vitamin A, iron and a whole host of other good stuff.

Categories: Raw Food, Recipes, Soups, Vegan | Tags: avocado, basil, food, healthy eating, raw, recipe, soup, summer, tomato, vegetarian | 12 Comments

Coconut Pad Thai Salad with Almond Dressing

Posted on July 18, 2012 by leroy watson

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‘Tis a grey day in Wales and the streets of Bangkok seem a million miles away. There’s a man we know, who moonlights as a pole dancer (it is Bangkok) who makes the best Pad Thai, just off the chaotic Kaosan Road. He whips it up in seconds, with his vivid painted blue nails and long fake eyelashes. It normally contains little dried shrimps and eggs, which we don’t add, but the rest of the ingredients are so simple and classically Thai.

This type of Pad Thai recipe has been in my mind for a while and Jane just kick started me into getting it done. I knew I wanted coconut in there somewhere, to make up for the flavours of shrimp, fish sauce and egg, but it needed something else. I sought inspiration on the interweb and found a great recipe at the taste space food blog. Just add almonds!

This is a taste sensation, as you would imagine from anything faintly Thai. Thai’s food knows no mediocrity, over cooked veggies or insipid stews. Its all fresh and POW! over there.

Pad Thai Vendor

For the salad itself, you will need a sharp knife and a French peeler. Really, no cooks drawers are complete without one, so it’s a wise purchase. You will save years of your life peeling things, they are so easy to use and in this recipe, double as an ace veg noodle maker. Yes, no noodles here, just veggies. Making it super healthy and crunchy.

KELP NOODLES?

You can use some kelp noodles as a base if you are in a rush, this salad does take while to get together. Kelp noodles are really interesting and taste fantastic, not disimilar to a noodle. They are also completely raw (aka good for the belly and body). They are widely available and well worth an experiment.

The salad base will be good with other things like carrots, cauliflower and apples for instance. We have gone for something a little closer to home i.e. whats in the fridge.

The kitchen is still full of the aroma of this intense dressing and the salad not only tastes wonderful, but is a rather sexy little number to boot! It’s a looker.

This is the perfect summer salad to impress your friends (if they need any further impressing) and to treat your nearest and dearest to a taste of Thailand with a twist. It is ideal served as a main course, but could also make a super side dish or starter. Basically, you need to try this, however its served!

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Coconut Pad Thai Salad with Almond and Orange Dressing

Coconut Pad Thai Salad with Almond & Orange Dressing

The Bits – One Big Bowlful

I know this looks like a hefty amount of ingredients, but don’t fret, its easy peasy really….

Salad/ Noodles

1 large courgette (ribboned)

1 head chicory (very thinly sliced whole)

1 red pepper (very thinly sliced)

2 spring onions (finely chopped)

1 stick celery (ribboned)

2 handfuls finely grated white cabbage

1 big handful sprouted mung beans (we used sprouting aduki beans also)

1 orange (peeled and chopped small)

1/2 small coconut (chopped into small chunks)

1/2 cup peanuts – roasted is nice if you’re not a raw one (crushed)

1 tbs sesame seeeds

1 lime (wedges for serving)

Dressing

3 tbs tamari (or g.f. soya sauce)

2 teas sweetener (agave, brown rice syrup etc)

2 cloves garlic (minced/ crushed)

1 inch ginger (finely chopped)

1 chilli (finely diced)

1 big lime (juice)

4 dates (soaked until soft)

1/2 cup of almond butter (we make our own using soaked almonds and a lot of blending, plus a little water. You may use peanut butter here)

Sea salt (if you like)

We love Thailand! Would be the perfect backdrop for this Pad Thai

Do It

Ribbon and chop all your salad bits and get them into a lovely big bowl. To ribbon easily, keep your fingers out of the way and bring the peeler down in smooth, firm motions. Flip the veg regularly to ensure it is evenly peeled and by the end, you should be left with only a little slither, which can be sliced and tossed in also. Reserve a few of the peanuts, sesame seeds and coconut for serving later.

In a blender, add all of your dressing ingredients and whizz up for a few minutes until a smooth texture has formed. Taste it and adjust accordingly, normally the decision will be, sweeter or not? It may need a little more lime, use the lime reserved for serving.

Mix the dressing into the salad, gently does it, some of those ribbons are quite fragile and look great when served whole.

Dish up with a big smile and be prepared for some yummmmmssss!

Serve

Sprinkle a few peanuts, coconuts and sesame seeds and finish with a little twist of lime juice.

We Love It!

WOW. A really stunning salad. Jane said it was “more than lovely, INCREDIBLE! This salad is genius…..”

Foodie Fact

Pad Thai is one of Thailand’s national dishes. It has been served in Siam (Thailand’s old name) for thousands of years, but was made popular by president Luang Phibunsongkhram in the 1930’s. He wanted to lower the consumption of rice in Thailand, which was making good money being exported, and therefore promoted Pad Thai as being proudly Thai and virtuous. He set about educating the nation in making rice noodles, especially the under privileged, training them to sell Pad Thai dishes, selling them in small cafes or from street carts. This may have something to do with the amazing array of Thai street food in modern day Thailand.

Now for a blast of Thai blues from my favourite bar in Bangkok, the legendary ‘Adhere Blues’ bar. They don’t serve Pad Thai, but they do serve up some serious blues chops…

Categories: Healthy Eating, Raw Food, Recipes, Vegan | Tags: food, gluten-free, healthy eating, pad thai, raw food, recipe, salad, thailand, vegan, vegetarian | 20 Comments

Summer Chili (Raw)

Posted on July 17, 2012 by leroy watson

“The aroma of good chili should generate rapture akin to a lover’s kiss.”
Motto of the Chili Appreciation Society International

It is chilly here! But not in the good way, we thought we’d flip that and add a spicy chili to get some heat back into our sleepy Welsh village. I know I keep on going on about the weather, but it is a bit of an issue. We need the sun!

Chili is the epitome of soul food and I love the heated variety in all its forms, it was probably one of the first things I became passionate about cooking.

Chili is a dish that originated in the south of America, probably Texas and they are mighty proud of their dish down there. I wonder what they would think of this, beef-less/chilled version. I think I’d probably have to leave the state.

Chili originated, like most good soul food, in poorer homes and was made by scraping together ingredients that were available. This raw chili was made with a similar sentiment, but we just happen to have loads of veggies and raw food bits. The principal is the same. Make do and make very tasty.

There are so many options to play with here if you are not raw. I would definitely like to see some sweetcorn in here somewhere, but it needs cooking.

This raw food is addictive, in the sense that when you eat cooked food, you feel quite rubbish. Your belly complains (swollen and windy) and your energy levels are low. You become very sensitive to foods and this isn’t a bad thing, but it can be a challenge when travelling and socialising. You can come across as some kind of nutter! It has certainly made us more aware about what we are putting into our bodies and who our real friends are!

This sauce can be warmed up and poured over roasted veggies, which sounds delicious! The beauty of these raw things, are their simplicity. Whack it all in a blender and you’re off, leave it in the fridge and heat it later. A very easy dinner and something a little different. If you heat it to just over warm (seems to be a decent enough gauge) you will not kill all the good stuff either.

The inspiration for this recipe comes from the raw cookbook, ‘Live Raw by Mimi Kirk’ and a mighty vibrant read it is.

The Bits

Sauce – 1 cup of sun dried tomatoes (soaked for two hours to make tender), 2 cups of tomatoes (chopped and organic), 1/2 cup of carrots (chopped), 1 sweet yellow pepper, 1 small chilli (check the heat there), 2 cloves garlic (crushed), 2 tbs tamari (or g.f. soya sauce for non-rawers), 1 tbs of each evoo (e.v. olive oil), apple cider vinegar (white wine vinegar will do), agave syrup (or sugar) and chilli powder, then 1 teas cumin, oregano, smoked paprika, fresh cracked pepper, 1 handful of chopped coriander leaves.

Chunky Bits – 1 cup sprouts (mung beans, aduki beans, or green lentils something nice and fat, we mixed them up a little), 1/2 cup celery, 1/2 sweet potato, 1 courgette, 1 sweet red pepper, handful of chopped mushrooms

Do It

Chop all of your chunky bits into funky shapes, set aside in a big bowl.

Add all sauce ingredients to a blender and whizz away until smooth.

Pour sauce over base (we were a little stingy with ours, it should look more like a stew really) and mix together. Ideally, leave in the fridge for a while to let the flavours get together.

Serve

We would normally have an avocado on this, but had none. Next time. This would be great with some corn bread or tortillas (if you have a dehydrator handy) and would also be amazing with sour cream (raw cashew cream is very good indeed) and of course, loads of cheese and coriander.

We Love It!

Just the spice and fuel we needed in our lives this windy, wet summer.

Foodie Fact

It’s a fruit! A gift from the Mayans and Aztecs, native to Central America and then shipped around the world by those dodgy conquistador types. Tomatoes are low in fat and cholesterol and are full of good things. They contain lycopene, that is a super antioxidant that protects your cells and also your skin (from the sun). They are also rich in vitamin A and C and have great levels of potassium. When picking tomatoes to eat, the redder the better.

Categories: Dinner, Raw Food, Recipes, Vegan | Tags: chili, food, gluten-free, health, healthy living, raw, recipes, salad, vegan, vegetarian | 5 Comments

Cashew Hummus (Raw)

Posted on July 17, 2012 by leroy watson

Raw Cashew Hummus

Here’s a quick little pot of goodness, so rich and so healthy. I love making hummus, mainly because it is so easy and tastes so much better homemade than out of a plastic tubs from a plastic shops. You can get to play around with the flavours and really tailor your hummus to your taste. And as we all know, hummus is important!

This hummus requires a little preparation, you do need to soak the chickpeas and cashews overnight, but its well worth it. It’s healthy hummus. Most hummus has alot of fat, due to the large amounts of oil used, this hummus uses a little oil (possibly none) and loads of raw cashews and chickpeas that are jam packed full of good things.

The chickpeas just need to be plump (and well rinsed) to use. They don’t need to sprout, if they do, that’s a bonus!

You can make this with just cashew nuts (just double the quantity of nuts) but I like it with the chickpeas. It’s slightly more traditional and after a night in the fridge, it takes on a lovely ‘cheesy’ quality. ‘Cheesy’ is the best way I can describe it, basically, it matures nicely and gets more flavoursome.

Cashew are a real gift from nature, one nut grows on the end of a fruit (called a cashew apple, see below) and they’re really difficult to harvest. The tree gives off toxins, it doesn’t want to let go of its precious nuts!

Cashew apples growing in Wat Suan Mok Monastery, Thailand

This will make a decent tubful:

The Bits

1 cup cashews (soaked in filtered water, they will swell a little overnight, rinsed), 1 cup chickpeas (soaked overnight in filtered water, rinsed), juice of 1 lemon, 3 nice tablespoons of tahini (unroasted is milder, roasted is full on), 2 cloves garlic, 1/2 teas cumin, 1/2 teas paprika, pinch of rock salt, a little water/ oil to form a nice paste.

Do It

Place all ingredients in a sturdy blender, blend until smooth, adding water/ oil if needed. You may need to stop a couple of times and scrape the mixture back into the centre.

Serve

As you like your hummus, we had ours on chicory leaves, which make a great little ‘boat’ for dips and the like. They also look cool. In a warm wrap is something quite special! We suggest topping it with a little more oil, especially if it’s been in the fridge for a while.

We Love It!

This hummus has added lovely richness to our raw salad meals. Always a brilliant addition to add a different texture to the plate.

Foodie Fact

Although high in fat, cashews boast mono-unsaturated fats, meaning in moderation they’re good for you. Cashews are packed with soluble dietary fiber, vitamins, minerals and numerous health-promoting phyto-chemicals that help protect from diseases and the big ‘C’.

Categories: Raw Food, Recipes, Vegan | Tags: cashew, chickpea, food, hummus, nut, nutrition, raw, recipe, vegan, vegetarian | 4 Comments

Kiwi ‘Slaw with Orange and Mint Dressing

Posted on July 16, 2012 by leroy watson

Kiwi ‘Slaw Base

We realise that we may be at risk of becoming a salad blog. Not so much a kitchen as a place for leaf munching. We are happy enough with this.

Eating salads up here, in the cold hills, is a little like eating a roast turkey dinner on a tropical beach; slightly incongrous, considering the rain is lashing down outside and we’ve been living in a cloud for the summer (what summer?!). Still, these colourful bowls of goodness bring the sunshine to our table and some much needed colour and vitality to our lives.

The flavours here work wonderfully. ‘Slaw is so underrated, just because its grated, doesn’t mean it can’t actually be an amazing salad that takes centre stage for a while. I love the way that slaw absorbs all of the dressing and marinades so well. It is also the idea stuffer and stacker, due to the grated part. It is easy to handle and won’t topple a sandwich, or stick out all over the place.

The thinking behind this recipe was maximum POW! flavours and colours. It’s a crunchy slaw with a tangy, creamy dress and if you can’t locate a kiwi, stick some pineapple in instead. Swede is a revelation in salads and must be liberated from it’s ‘granny’ vegetable bracket. It has a lovely, mellow and sweet flavour when eaten raw and goes great in salads. It’s also cheap, which is never a bad thing.

The dressing here is quite special and is actually more of a sauce. The lovely flavours of orange and mint really come through. It has a rich texture and flavour and coats the slaw beautifully.

This is all put together using the magic of a food processor (they really are magic! Even if they have a terrible name….process….food….it’s a bit robotic!?) If you don’t have one, you will have to chop all the dressing bits up very finely and mix together and hand grate the salad. A little bit more effort, but wow, how you will enjoy the spoils of your toils!

This is enough for one big bowl, you may have some dressing left over, it goes well on most things, even as a dip.

Kiwi ‘Slaw with Orange and Mint Dressing

The Bits

The dressing/sauce – 1/2 cucumber, 1 plump clove of garlic, 1/3 cup evoo (extra virgin olive oil), 1 kiwi (peel and chopped), juice 1/2 lemon, 2 oranges (peeled and chopped, minimal bitter white bits), handful of mint leaves, handful of parsley, 1 teas caraway seeds, 2 teas smoked paprika

Salad – 1/2 swede, 3 carrots, 1 courgette, 1/2 cucumber, 1 kiwi (peeled and chopped into little chunks), 1 big handful sunflower seeds (roasted taste better, but of course aren’t raw), smaller handful of flax seeds

Do It

Make dressing. Add all ingredients to a food processor and whizz up for a minute of so. Remove any stringy orange pieces, if we were being very restauranty, you could even strain the dressing. But we like chunks.

Give the FP a rinse out and put your grating blade on. Grate the swede, carrot and courgette and then chop up your kiwi and cucumber finely.

Mix all nicely together in a big salad bowl and that’s it!

Serve

Top with a few thin slices of whole kiwi as a nice touch and maybe a sprinkle of seeds and ‘erbs.

We Love It!

It’s the kind of salad that your makes your taste buds and body sing. The kind of food we like to eat, real ‘soul’ food. You can feel it doing you some good and its a real looker too.

Foodie Fact

Kiwis are your vitamin C friend. Just one of these emerald delights has 120% of your daily ‘C’ requirement. Scientist cannot figure it out, but kiwis protect our DNA, making us less likely to develop illness. If that wasn’t enough goodness, these little beauties are also full of dietary fibre. They also look very cool.

Categories: Raw Food, Recipes, Salads, Vegan | Tags: food, health, raw, recipe, salad, slaw, vegan, vegetarian. kiwi | 6 Comments

Roast Corn and Avocado Salad

Posted on July 9, 2012 by leroy watson

Roast Corn and Avocado Salad

Roast! You did read this correctly, I cooked something. Hooray! I think roasting a corn on the cob is a pretty decent way to announce your re-entry to the cooked world, especially when its incorporated in a beautiful salad like this.

This salad has the richness of the avocado with plenty of crunch, the citrus dressing lifts the whole dish. The smoky corn is the real star though, such a different range of flavour’s when you begin heating food again.

It’s great to have corn back in our diet, raw corn is inedible due to the cellulose that our bodies cannot break down. Cooked corn looses alot of its minerals and vitamin C, but frozen cooked corn retains most of them. No idea why!?

I’ve a quite important meal to cook next week and I thought I needed to get my dusty pots and pans out again and give the heated world another bash. Get my roasted eye in!

It’s Sunday and we felt like trying something different, using the ingredients we have strooned around the kitchen. This Roast Corn and Avocado Salad went perfectly with the fruity Kiwi and Orange Slaw that I rustled up. Sweet and creamy meeting zesty and crunchy in a mouthful of pure happiness.

I’ve eaten roasted corn on the streets of most countries I’ve visited around the world, it is a ubiquitous source of sweetness and satisfaction to most of the globe. The smell of roasting corn wafting off a little charcoal brazier is such an evocative smell for me.

Corn is such a versatile plant, I am particularly fond of maize tortillas and polenta in all forms is always a wonder to feast on. It is such an interesting veg to eat, all those little rows of sweet kernels attached to a funny looking stick. Like natures answer to a lollipop in bright yellow.

Beauty Basil – What a gift!

We’ve been eating a little muesli and yesterday I scoffed a macaroon (which was amazing). We’re getting back into a little baked/ cooked foods, but still want to keep the majority raw. I should also mention that a couple of dark chocolate bars have gone missing from the cupboard, chief suspect, Miss Jane.

We have tried out some raw chocolate and it is absolutely delicious, it does lack the ‘bite’ of a good dark chocolate, but has bags and bags of cacoa goodness. Very deep flavours and would be perfectly acceptable as a substitute, if it wasn’t so darn expensive. One truffle is the equivalent to one bar of decent dark chocolate.

Here’s a step back into the cooked world for us, fair enough only a baby step. But as my Dad says “life is a compromise….”

The Bits

Salad – 2 corns on the cob, 1 avocado, 2 stalks of celery (finely chopped), 4 big handfuls of spinach, 2 handfuls of fresh broad beans (de-podded), 1/2 handful of freshly roasted pumpkin seeds, 1/2 handful of ripped basil leaves.

Dressing – Juice of half a lemon, 1/3 cup of amazing olive oil (we actually used good quality Welsh rapeseed oil), 1 tbs white wine vinegar, salt and pepper.

Do It

Add all dressing ingredients to a bowl and whisk until combined. That’s it!

In a frying pan, heat some oil to just smoking and add your corn on the cobs, roast for five minutes, turning regularly, giving them an even colouring. A little charring is definitely not a bad thing. Place a lid on and continue to turn regularly until well coloured (5 minutes more should do), add your pumpkin seeds at this stage to get a little roast. Take pan off heat and leave to cool with lid on.

Line your finest salad bowl with spinach leaves, the chopped celery and broad beans.

Get your cobs out, stand them upright on a chopping board and with a sharp knife, cut down the cob (starting at the base of the first row of kernels). You’ll need to keep it slow and steady to ensure your running the knife along the base of each kernel. If your knife is not super sharp, use a gentle sawing action as you go (watch your fingers!) Move the cob around and start on the next few rows. It will take a few cuts to get all the kernels off. If you like, cut onto a tray or shallow bowl to ensure the kernels don’t go flying off.

Cut avocados in half, take out the seed and spoon out the lovely green flesh. Try and get the avocado to look like fat shavings, or anyway that you think looks good. A teaspoon is the best implement for this.

Arrange the avocado and corn on top of the salad and finish off with the basil and spoon on your dressing.

Roast Corn and Avocado Salad

Serve

This is good enough as a main course, it’s a very flavourful and satisfying salad. The ideal summer lunch. I don’t know why, but I think this would go nicely with a quiche.

We Love It!

Those roasted pumpkins seeds enhance anything they touch.

Foodie Fact

Corn (or maize) has been grown for thousands of years by the people of the Americas. Corn is low in saturated fats and cholesterol, it contains good levels of thaimin and folate and plenty of dietary fibre (for your old friend the colon).

Categories: Healthy Eating, Raw Food, Recipes, Salads, Side Dish, Vegan | Tags: avocado, avocado salad, broad beans, corn on the cob, food, health, healthy eating, lemon dressing, raw chocolate, recipe, roast corn, roasted corn, salad, vegan, vegetarian | 1 Comment

Beetroot & Sprouts Salad with Strawberry Dressing

Posted on July 8, 2012 by leroy watson

Hello Beauty Strawbs….we are going to eat you…..

This is a vibrant looking thing. Beetroots, Radish and Strawberry coming together for a colour-fest!

The beetroots we are getting at the moment are amazing, we are buying them from the farm by the bunch; quite small roots, but huge leaves. They are proving excellent value as the leaves are lasting for a few days salad-wise. The leaves are actually more nutritious than the roots. Its great to be able to eat the whole thing, no waste at all.

Beetroot, as we all know, is a vivid customer. Mainly due to the lasting impression it makes on your hands and nails when handling it. My advice, rubber gloves. I have no problems donning the marigolds in the kitchen, you do lose the ‘feel’ of cooking, but you gain a fantastic stain proof layer!

We are also getting a good supply of strawberries with actual flavour, always a challenge at this time of year. It seems that most people just want to cash in on this highly prized crop and do naughty things to grow them. Whatever they are up to, it completely saps their flavour. Anyway, our strawbs are ace!

I liked the sound of strawberry and beetroot, I liked the way it looked in my mind and it soon ended up in a bowl. I’ve used beetroot for desserts in the past (stuck some in a chocolate cake to great effect) and thought I’d give the strawberries a similar reverse treatment. They make for a really tart dressing and something I would highly recommend with any sweet-ish salad base.

Food processors are a choppers best friend. They do the hard work, while you stand there holding the button, wondering how much longer you can handle such a mental noise! Ours rattles like a badly oil cement mixer on overdrive. We used the contraption for the beetroots here and for the radish, it saved valuable minutes of our precious lives.

Radishes are funny little things, my Grandad loved to grow them in his allotment, but never seemed to know how to eat them. I think this was a general trend. This salad does them justice and I’m sure Bobby would have been proud, if a little confused by the pink dressing. I love a radish for its crunch and it just so happens that the colour goes very well with beetroot.

This is quite a sweet salad and very pretty, but we had to give it a dose of sprouts. They are so tasty and chock-ful of good things. Ideally served with some cashew cream cheese.

Beetroot and Radish Salad with Strawberry Dressing

The Bits

Salad

3 whole beetroots (leaves and all)

Around 8 radishes (thinly sliced)

1 big handful of sprouting green lentils (or a sprout of your choice)

2 handfuls of spinach

Dressing (makes 1 small tub full)

2 handfuls of strawberries (washed and stemmed)

1/3 cup great olive oil

Sprinkle of good sea salt

Good few turns of cracked black pepper

2 tbs white wine vinegar

1 tbs purified water

1 teas of sweetener i.e. agave syrup (if needed).

Do It

Make your dressing, add all bits to a food processor and blitz for a minute. Taste and add sweetener if your strawberries are a little tart. Set aside, will keep nicely overnight, so you can make in advance if your that organised.

Take your beetroots of the stems and scrub them well. Cut off an unsightlies. Take the stems and cut into cubes, then cut up a few leaves, finely shred, to be used as a base. Mix with the spinach and place in a nice big salad bowl. Place a few of the whole beetroot leaves over the edge of the bowl, covering the whole circumference to make a nice looking bowl.

Add the slicing blade to your FP and slice your radishes, then take your shredding tool-thing and shred all of your beetroots. Put them in a bowl and mix in a few tbs of the dressing, until well coated. Then take that mixture and place it in the salad bowl. Finish with a good sprinkling of sprouts (not essential).

Serve

Non rawers, sprinkle a roasted pumpkin seeds, rawers (you brave and wonderful few!) tuck in from your favourite bowl and let the flavours dance in your mouth!

Beetroot and Radish Salad with Strawberry Dressing

We Love It!

This turned out a treat, a little unusual, and we’ll be making strawberry dressing again.

Foodie Fact

Radish is one of the most nutritious root vegetables. Apparently you can get a black Spanish radish, but I’ve never encountered such a thing. You can also buy watermelon radishes that have a sweet flavour and look like watermelons when you cut into them. What amazing things you learn writing a blog!

The Chinese have a saying:

“Eating pungent radish and drinking hot tea, let the starved doctors beg on their knees”. Poor doctors.

As with most veggies, they are packed full of only good things for the body. They are a very good source of anti-oxidants, minerals, vitamins and dietary fiber. High in vitamin C especially.

Categories: Raw Food, Recipes, Salads, Vegan, Welsh produce | Tags: beetroot, dressing, food, raw, recipe, salad, strawberry, vegan, vegetarian, wales | 11 Comments

Raw Vegetable & Coconut Curry

Posted on July 5, 2012 by leroy watson

One bright day in June (the bright day in June), our picnic spot, above Beddgelert

So the raw food lifestyle is continuing in the Beach House, this is a good sign. We have been feeling good and loving experimenting with raw foods, so we are rolling on raw well into July.

Our aim is to eat a lot of raw food, but soon start cooking again. I cook alot at work, but its not the food that excites me, it seems a strange idea getting the pots and pans out again at home. The oven, instead of the food processor. I’m sure it will happen gradually and at the right time. I still haven’t drank a coffee or any wine, again, it just seems like a strange thing to get back into now. Those of you who have been on a raw diet will know how I feel.

It has been an atrocious June for weather, we’ve had a fire on most nights and the rain and wind has lashed down on our poor little seedlings. Even with this wintery weather, Jane and I have been perfectly happy with salads and cold food. I think a full raw food diet (ps – when I say diet here, its not like a weight loss diet, just what we are eating) in winter is a possibility, whereas before I would have not considered it. No hot soups!

One spoonful of this curry and we both exclaimed “This is the best yet!” Which is always a nice thing to hear about something. This coconut curry has a lovely sweetness, the smooth richness of the creamed coconut and the gentle warming hint of garam masala.

We have not been eating a great deal of spice of late, the raw diet it not overtly anything really (bar amazingly healthy food). This dish added so much needed spice back to our lives.

I think this curry is a real winner this summertime. Raw food is, of course, perfect for a sunny day (which are rare in these parts, but hopefully on their way). Summer is the ideal time to dabble with raw food and this Coco Curry would make an interesting salad to serve as a side dish at a barbecue or take for a picnic to a beauty spot. It keeps well and is nice and quick to get together.

If you’re not a raw one, this will go very nicely with something like a cold rice salad. You can even heat it up! The flavours will still be amazing. It can be thinned down for a lovely soup (just add a little stock or water) and used as it is for a dipping and spreading.

The original inspiration comes from the brilliant British raw food book “Eat Smart, Eat Raw’ by Kate Hill, but I have dabbled with the recipe to bring it more into line with our taste. That means more spice, more garlic, more ginger……..we like a big and bold flavour in the BHK.

Cauliflower can be used as a substitute for rice in the raw food world. You just need to chop it up very finely, or stick it in a food processor, and it resembles rice but without the stodge factor.

The serving here is enough for four strapping individuals. Jane and I saved some for lunch the next day.

The salad base, as you can see, we like ours chunky!

The Bits

Sauce

1/2 tin of organic coconut milk

1 avocado

4 dates (pitted)

4 tomatoes

1 carrot

1 medium onion

2 tbsp tamari (or soya sauce)

1 tbsp garam masala

1 tbsp turmeric

1/2 red chilli

1 inch cube ginger

2 cloves garlic

150ml water

Salad/ Filling

3 tbsp raisins

2 handfuls green lentil/ mung bean sprouts

1/2 handful of chopped coriander (with a little saved for topping)

2 handfuls of spinach

2 sticks celery (finely chopped)

1 carrots (finely chopped)

1/2 cauliflower (finely chopped)

1 handful of mangetout

1/2 butternut squash (chopped into little cubes)

The Coco curry pre-mix

Do It

Salad – We use a food processor, because it is so easy. You lose the individuality of hand chopping, but it saves alot of time, especially when you’re eating raw foods and most of your days could be spent peeling and chopping veggies. Most of these contraptions have a chopping and grating blade as standard that can come in very handy. However on this occasion we hand chopped, just to be awkward!

So, put carrots, celery and cauliflower in food processor. Chop up your butternut squash and avocado into small chunks and mix all of these with the other ingredients in nice big bowl.

Sauce – Chop all vegetables into manageable chunks for your food processor. Ginger, garlic and chilli should be finely chopped. Put it all into the food processor and give it a whirl. Make sure you hold the lid down firmly to begin with, if its a small one like ours, it tends to jump around a little.

Indo Coco Curry (Raw)

Serve

Sprinkle on left over coriander, raisins and grated coconut (dessicated coconut is fine). We ran out of coriander and forgot the coconut! It would look grand though, you’ll just have to use your imagination.

We rarely have time for presentation touches as we are such scoffers! In the bowl, quick pic then get stuck in! Tends to be the order of eating affairs in the Beach House.

You could try it with some cauliflower rice (see above), it makes for an interesting change.

Foodie Fact

You may have heard that coconut is full of fat, well it is, but they are great fats! Avocado, nuts, seeds etc do contain a high proportion of fats, but they do not harm your body like the fats in processed foods or donuts!

The fat in coconut does not raise your cholesterol levels like saturated fats in animal products. It is actually the most health-giving oil available, you can buy coconut oil for cooking. The make up of the fats is similar to mothers milk, the lauric acid (a fatty acid in mother’s milk) has antibacterial qualities.

Categories: Dinner, gluten-free, Healthy Eating, Raw Food, Recipes, Salads, Side Dish, Vegan | Tags: coconut, curry, dairy free, dinner, food, food lifestyle, gluten-free, good fats, healthy eating, raw food, raw food diet, raw food vegan, recipe, salad, spices, summer, vegan, vegetables, vegetarian, weight loss diet | 7 Comments

Sweet Pepper and Pomegranate Antipasto (Raw)

Posted on July 2, 2012 by leroy watson

Raw Sweet Pepper and Pomegranate Antipasto

We felt like a little starter, something to nibble on. Nibbles seem to be the new thing, judging by the snack section in our local supermarket. We seem to becoming a nation of rampant nibblers (dipped in hummus of course).

Italians are the kings of the nibble, tied with the Spanish, but they tend to make it more of main meal, a la tapas. Antipasto (translated as ‘before the meal’) is always the perfect accompaniment to nice glass of chilled something and good conversation as the sun is beginning to settle down.

This raw June (just passed) we have been mainly having large salads for dinner. We didn’t manage to arrange a dehydrator for the month, which would have meant many dried, crisp goodies. Instead we have normally opted for large bowls of salad, normally a green leaf based salad, a dip/ hummus/ raw cheese (something with a creamy texture), olives/nuts/pomegranate etc and one salad that is made of primarily harder fruit and veg (like this antipasto). All this served with a lovely dressing. The combination of these salads is tantalising! We cannot get enough of them and have decided to extend raw June in the future……………our rawness may never cease!?

This is a clean and citrus antipasto dish that boasts fresh, fresh flavours. The ideal pre-dinner plate to get the palate zinging. The combination of sweet pepper, tomato and pomegranate is a taste explosion that is difficult to match. If this little plate doesn’t liven up a dinner party, your friends may be comatosed!

The asparagus here was the last of the season from our local farm shop and very much relished. It is not essential to the dish, but a real treat non-the-less. The subtle flavour and crunch of raw asparagus will be missed until it re-emerges next year.

You can serve this with other antipasto favourites to make a platter, olives, artichoke hearts, chunks of cheese, marinated mushrooms etcetc.

Organic peppers and tomatoes will make all of the difference to this dish and your salads in general. The organic veg flavour is infinitely better.

Thanks to Mimi Kirk and the brilliant ‘Live Raw‘ book for inspiration here. If you live on a drab island like ours (where June resembles November) it is wonderful to leaf through the pages of this book and see the Holywood lifestyle and sunshine! How I miss the sun.

Sweet, sweet tomatoes

The Bits

Antipasto 1 red pepper (sliced thinly), 1 yellow pepper (sliced thinly), 1 bunch of asparagus (cut into batons), 1 small pomegranate (seeds (or arils as they are called) only, no pith), 1 big handful of the sweetest plum tomatoes (we used red and yellow ones here)

Marinade – 4 tbs good olive oil, handful of fresh basil leaves, 1-2 cloves of garlic (crushed), a pinch of marjoram, oregano, thyme, basil, juice of 1 small lemon, 2 teas capers, pinch of sea salt and cracked pepper.

Do It

Whisk your marinade then combine all ingredients in a tupperware and mix together gently, don’t break up the asparagus and tomatoes. Make sure all is coated with the marinade. Leave in a fridge overnight or for at least a couple of hours to infuse.

Sweet Pepper and Asparagus Antipasto – So colourful, its worth a second look

Serve

On a nice big serving platter with whatever accompaniments you prefer. You may like to add a little torn basil leaf as a topping and of course, some nice toasted ciabatta drizzled with olive oil if it takes your fancy.

We Love It!

It is so full of crunchy flavour and pomegranate in a salad is a revelation. I’m not sure if my Italian friend would agree with such an addition, not proper antipasto they would say, but they only know what mama taught them!!!! (Sorry guys)

Foodie fact

Most of us are aware that pomegranate is good for us. You can buy it in juice form all over Britain, it is most definitely a super fruit of note, packed full of the antioxidant punicalagin which scavenges free radicals from our bodies. Hooray! One of my favourite pomegranate products is the pomegranate concentrate, it adds an incredibly intense flavour to anything it touches.

The worlds finest pomegranates are grown in southern Afghanistan, although I heard that Iraq had some tasty arils also!

Categories: gluten-free, Healthy Eating, Local food, Lunch, Organic, Raw Food, Recipes, Salads, Side Dish, Vegan | Tags: antipasto, asparagus, dairy free, food, gluten-free, health, healthy eating, peppers, photography, pomegranate, raw, raw diet, raw food, raw vegan, recipes, salad, summer salad, tapas, vegan, vegetarian | 14 Comments

Nourishing Banana Smoothie

Posted on June 28, 2012 by leroy watson

Banana Smoothie

Eat your greens. Now they are real words of wisdom.

A clean and fresh smoothie that feels so good on the way down. A green smoothie a day is a huge step in the right direction for a zinging, healthy approach to living, especially in the morning time when our body needs some real t.l.c.

This was a part of my little detox spell which went incredibly well. It always amazed me, when we inhibit or restrict our diet in anyway the cravings or desire for that food just slips away. That’s me anyway, I think I’m a lucky one! When I make a clear decision to give up something that is blatantly not doing me any good (we all know what they are……booze, coffee, lots of fatty, processed foods) my body respects that decision and responds in a very positive way. It is such a reassuring step in the right direction.

Smoothies do most of the breaking down that our bodies would normally do, making nutrients readily accessible to be snapped up by our bodies and make us shine. This is why they’re such a wonderful thing early in the day.

This smoothie is so simple and effective for a morning super boost. You can play around with the fruit and veg, just keep the quantities the same and don’t add and citrus fruit (remember the Raw No No’s!).

I always try and pack as much spinach into the blender as possible, I normally add the spinach last as it does not blend well. As a rule, add your juicy bits first to the blender.

This smoothie recipe is taken from the raw food book ‘Live Raw’ by Mimi Kirk which I can recommend highly. Mimi is a real foodie and some of the dishes would grace any fine dining restaurant (not that they have anything to do with real food).

GOOD MORNING to you all……….

The Bits

2 bananas, 4 stalks of celery, 1 apple (quartered), 3 handfuls of spinach, 1/2 cucumber (cut in half), 1 1/2 cups of filtered water (add to your liking, ice will be nice in hot places)

Do It

Add all to a blender and blitz until nicely smooth.

Serve

In your finest glassware, add a slice of fruit of vegetable to give it that special finish, you can use it to scrape out the leftovers in the glass.

Foodie Fact

A good tip with fruits is, freeze them. If you have a glut of something, get it in the freezer and use it whenever you like. Great in smoothies as it gives them that lovely chilled touch.

Categories: Breakfast, Detox, Healthy Eating, Raw Food, Recipes, Smoothies, Vegan | Tags: banana, breakfast, detox, food, green smoothie, healthy eating, nutrition, raw, raw food, raw vegan, recipes, smoothie, spinach, vegetarian | 3 Comments

Vibrant Gigglebean Stew (Raw)

Posted on June 27, 2012 by leroy watson

Raw Vibrant Chickpea Stew

This may be the healthiest dish we have ever eaten. I can only see stew this doing wonderful things for us and it tastes amazing (always a bonus).

I love the name ‘gigglebeans’, it’s is what Jane’s friend Alex calls chickpeas (or garbanzos, they have so many names!) What ever we choose to call them, they are fine legume and a welcome addition to raw June at the Beach House.

We had tried previously to soak and sprout chickpeas. I don’t think we have the heat here. It has been a very strange season this year, our plants are not sure whether its winter or summer. I know the feeling! This may have affected the chickpea sprouts, as they don’t seem to like sprouting, they just swell up. After soaking the chicks for 12 hours, we have discovered that they are delicious, even without a sprout. It has been a revelation. Nothing adds bite and vitality to a salad like a crunchy chickpea, jam packed full of nutrition and protein, they are a real gift from nature. They are just like nuts, without the fats.

I am always compelled to add the flavours of India or North Africa/Middle East to a chickpea. It just seems correct. I have restrained myself this time as I am having a few days detox before raw June ends. I feel quite amazing! I have never been a fan of the word detox, but I’m really enjoying it. I’ve dropped nuts and oils (fats in general) from what I eat and my energy levels have gone through the roof. You wouldn’t imagine that, but it is true. I went for a jog last night and I felt positively turbo charged. I’m not sure if it is wise as a long term diet, but who knows. I feel magic now.

This raw stew came together from the idea for a dressing. It is definitely more of a stew, mainly due to the lack of leaves and the quantity of dressing. The dressing itself can be used on most vegetables and you can add some olive oil and salt, if you are not having fun experimenting with the raw things.

In future I may add some fresh herbs to the dressing, a handful of mint of basil would be delicious. But as I said, I’m trying to restrain myself at the moment and keep things relatively simple for the palate.

The combination of texture and colours here are a real feast for the senses, the flavours are light and understated, with the odd kick of chilli to liven things up. Using apple cider vinegar here adds a nice tang to the dish. Overall a salad fit for any table and certainly fit for any body.

This will make a big bowl of salad, leftovers will get better in the fridge when left for a little marinate.

The Bits

We use the food processor for the grating

Stew – 1 cup grated swede, 1/2 cup chopped mangetout, 1 sweet potato (chopped), 2 cups sprouted (swollen) chickpeas, 1 cup grated courgette.

Dressing – 2 cloves garlic (one more if you are a garlic fiend), 1 inch of grated root ginger, 2 tbs apple cider vinegar, 1 apple, flesh of 1 orange, 1/2 cucumber, 1 red chilli (of your choice, be careful with the heat!), 2 tbs olive oil (optional), pinch of sea salt (optional)

Do It

Cover the chickpeas well with water, they will swell up to more than double their original size. Leave for 12 hours then drain. You can eat them now if you like, if you would prefer them softer, add more water and leave for a further 12 hours.

Dressing – Add all dressing ingredients to a food processor and blitz up well. Stew – Arrange/mix the salad and dressing in a big bowl.

Serve

For the final, super healthy boost, top with a generous handful of sprouts (mung bean or green lentil would be great).

We Love It!

After eating this salad, we felt our bellies sing! Such a vibrant thing and full of only goodness. The chickpeas really fill you up and you are left with a deeply sated feeling after this, no need for dessert or nibbles between meals.

Foodie Fact

Chillis are originally from Central America and are such a mainstay of Mexican food. I remember eating raw chillis with my ‘Huevos Rancheros’ most mornings there. My body seemed to get used to their potent effects.

Spanish and Portugese explorers (conquistadors) were originally responsible for making the chilli a hit on the world stage. Chillis are well reknowned for their medicinal and health benefits.

Chillis contain an impressive number of plant based compounds that help to prevent disease and promote health. The spice in chilli, a compound named capsaicin, is a powerful anti-bacterial, anti-diabetic and lowers cholesterol levels. Chillis are also rich in vitamin C, A and Beta-carotene, these help us counter the effects of free radicals created when the body is under stress or disease.

Chilli heat is measured by ‘Scotville Heat Units’. Your average sweet pepper will get a 0, tabasco sauce rates at 2,ooo-5,000, a mexican habanero weighs in at 200,000-500,00, but the hottest chilli in the world is the Naga Bhut Jolokia (or Ghost Pepper) rating at a whopping 1,041,427. Not surprisingly, the NBJ has been used in manufacturing weapons, being placed in hand grenades and pepper spray!

Categories: Detox, Dinner, Dressings, gluten-free, Healthy Eating, Healthy Living, Lunch, Raw Food, Recipes, Salads, Side Dish | Tags: apple cider vinegar, chickpeas, chilli nutrients, chillis, cooking, dairy free, detox, detox salad, diet, food, garbanzos, garlic, gluten-free, health food, healthy eating, high nutrients, light, low fat, mangetout, naga bhut jolokia, raw food, raw stew, raw vegan, recipes, salad, scotsville heat unit, sprouts, stew, summer, vegan, vegetables, vegetarian, vibrant, worlds hottest chilli | Leave a comment

Raw Cream Cheese

Posted on June 25, 2012 by leroy watson

Raw Cream Cheese

This is as good as cream cheese gets, raw wise. I have to say that calling it a cheese is a little off the mark. But it’s as good as the plant world can do and does have the gentle sweetness of the cashew nut. It certainly boasts more health benefits than your average mozzarella.

We have found this buttery cashew cheese to be a very versatile little number, great to add richness to dressings and as a base for many different dips (the cashew hummus being a real star, watch this space for recipe)

By adding paprika here, you may be able to recreate something of the taste of cheddar cheese. We have not tried this method out, but it sounds interesting. You can also have a go with some probiotic powder and nutritional yeast flakes, but this seemed like a longer process. Time is of the essence this busy summer time. We have a garden to tend and a lazy cat to stroke!

This will make good sized bowl of lovely raw cheese to enjoy.

The Bits

2 cup of cashew nuts (soaked overnight), juice of a lemon, 1/2 teas good sea salt, 1 tbs good quality olive oil.

Do It

Place all ingredients (not olive oil) in a food processor and blend until smooth, trickle in the olive oil gradually, it should take around 5 minutes. You will need to stop and scape the mixture from the sides and start again, this ensures all is blended nicely. This will keep well in the fridge.

Serve

As you would with any cheese. We have just used it to make a raw caesar dressing. It is dense and packed full of richness. We have also mixed some honey into this cheese and served it spread on fruits.

We Love It!

This is another recipe that we will keep making, it as great base for greater adventures in the raw cooking world.

Cashew Nut Tree

Foodie Fact

The cashew nut tree is native to the Amazon rainforest and was spread all over the world by Portugese explorers. The cashew nut hangs of what are called ‘cashew apples’ or the fruit of the cashew tree.

Cashews are high in calories and packed with vitamins, minerals and anti oxidants. They also contain high levels of dietary fibre which will keep you ticking over…..(for our American readers, this is how we Brits spell ‘fibre’, you may notice other spelling changes during the course of this blog. We call an Ax and Axe for example).

Categories: gluten-free, Healthy Eating, Raw Food, Recipes, Side Dish, Snacks and Inbetweens, Vegan | Tags: amazon rainforest, buttery, cashew, cashew cheese, cashew nut, cashew nut tree, cooking, cream cheese, dairy free, dietary fibre, digestive system, easy, food, gluten-free, health, healthy eating, low fat, nutrition, nutritional yeast flakes, quality olive oil, raw cheese, raw food, raw vegan, recipes, vegan, vegan cheese, vegetarian, wheat free | 14 Comments

Black Olive Tapenade with Beetroot and Red Onion Salad

Posted on June 25, 2012 by leroy watson

Beetroot and Red Onion Salad with Black Olive Tapenade

Tapenade is one of those things that we don’t eat enough of. Everytime we have it, we say the same thing, “Why are we not eating more tapenade!” It is delicious and is one of those classic summer dishes that reminds me of holidays in Greece and France.

I ate alot of tapenade at break times whilst picking grapes in Beaujolais. We’d have it spread over warm baguettes, with local cheese and lashings of whatever wine was in the bucket (purely medicinal, it helped to dull the back pain you see). I believe that the intense satisfaction I got from munching the tapenade pulled me through those back breaking times. The wine was certainly nothing to get excited about, unfortunately.

This is a wonderful concoction of flavours that I’ve had a little play with (of course) and omitted the use of capers due to a forgetful moment at the shops. The unique caper-ness has been replaced by the gorgeous sun-dried tomato. Not a bad substitute! I have also added raisins to add a little sweetness, the black olives can be a little bitter in these parts, Wales not being high on the olive producing charts. The rest is fairly classic tapenade, forming a delectable black paste that can be spread or dipped as you choose. I love this type of food, which is greater than the sum of its bits.

I normally think of Tapenade as being a Greek dish, but it actually hales from Provencal in France. Traditionally this puree contains caper, anchovies, black olives and olive oil. The French would normally serve it as an hors d’oeurve or stuff it into a steak.

Tapenade is alot like pesto (see our ‘Hazelnut Pesto‘ post) in that it is a joy to behold sitting in the fridge door. It just hangs around and marinates, getting better and better. It goes well in so many things and mixed with some oil, makes for an instant wonder dressing. The best part is that it has a gourmet flavour with very little needed in way of preparation.

The way you chop up your veg has a major effect on the presentation and texture of a salad. Have a little think before you begin to chop about what type of effect you’d like to create.

If you spend a little more on good quality olives here, it is well worth it. The black variety are normally a little cheaper and in their own way, just as good as some of their greener brothers and sisters.

The Bits

Tapenade – 1 cup black olive, 6 sun dried tomatoes, 2 cloves crunched garlic, 1/2 red onion, 1/4 cup raisins, juice of 1 lemon, handful of chopped parsley, sprig of rosemary, pinch of thyme and oregano, glug of olive oil, cracked black pepper and sea salt (to taste), glug of olive oil (if needed)

Salad – 1 nice red onion (thinly sliced), 4 small beetroots (cut into eighth’s), 2 cups of spinach (chopped), 3 carrots (grated), 2 stalks celery (chopped), 1 cupful of sprouts (we used green lentil sprouts)

Black Olive Tapenade in the mix…..

Do It

Tapenade – Add all ingredients to a food processor and begin to whizz. As it becomes sticky, trickle in some remaining olive oil to create a beautiful, shiny puree. Keep in a sealed container in the fridge overnight for maximum marination (new word for you there!).

Salad – We put the red onion and carrot into a food processor and grated, then chopped the celery, spinach and beetroot separately.

Serve

Thin out some tapenade by adding the same quantity of good olive oil and whisking well. You can lower the amount of tapenade if you’d prefer a lighter dressing. Pour the dressing over the salad and give a good mix in.

Place in your favourite salad bowl and top with a handful of green lentil sprouts (see our ‘sprout‘ post for how to sprout your own, its quite simple). Then spoon on some tapenade.

We have also used it to flavour soups and stews and of course in post June days we’d have it lathered on some warm oat bread.

We Love It!

This tapenade has a great balance of bitter and sweet, with the beautiful silky texture of pureed olives.

Foodie Fact

Olives are one of the oldest foods known, dating back 7,000 years. Black Olives are left to ripen for longer on the trees, green ones are picked earlier, they generally have a milder flavour. Olives are a good source of iron (which helps to carry oxegen in our blood) and are low in calories with plenty of good fats. They do however contain a decent amount of sodium and should be eaten in moderation if you’re keeping an eye on salt intake.

Twelve black olives provide 1.8mg of iron. Interestingly women need 18mg of iron per day and men only 8mg.