The Oft Neglected Beet

Jessica Rosen visited us recently, and brought with her the idea for a fabulous sandwich combination—beets and avocado.

One of my favorite sandwich combinations is tomato/avocado/sprouts. Beets and avocado had never occured to me. I think beets are perhaps a vegetable often neglected, avoided or in many cases, even untried. An old-fashioned vegetable in the same category as turnips, parsnips and rutabagas. Something ones grandmother or great-grandmother might have cooked. No beets in sight at the fast food drive in windows, that's for sure.

On the last day of Jess's visit, I joined her and her mother, Helen, for a marvelous impromptu lunch combining it all: tomatoes, avocado, sliced beets, and mixed sprouts served on fat slices of Helen's freshly baked whole wheat, crunchy crusted baguette, drizzled with drops of extra virgin olive oil. This was a big hit and a fun project to eat. Best done family style with the individual components plated separately allowing each diner to stack her own baguette slice. Messy? Oh, yes. But worth every drip and each swipe of the napkin. If you try this, I'd advise using paper napkins. The beet juice is a real stainer.

The memory of that taste treat begged for an encore. With freshly baked whole wheat pita on hand, it was a snap to split one open and layer in juicy slices of red, ripe tomato, a couple of slices of cold, roasted beets, slivers of sliced Haas avocado, all topped with a big handful of freshly grown mixed sprouts. This messy sandwich made a fabulous supper treat.

Either bread choice makes a good sandwich, whether you choose open faced or closed. And the rich flavor combination of beets, avocado and tomato, tossed with a big bowl of dark leafy greens, dressed in a light vinaigrette, would make a super salad for a gluten free feast.

Live it up! Add beets for a new taste treat.

Broccoli in Hoisini Sauce

adapted from Russell James

http://www.therawchef.com/

I suspect most raw foodies are familiar with the creative genius of Russell James,the raw chef who develops some of the most interesting gourmet raw food recipes. On the whole, gourmet raw foods are probably best kept for special treats or when entertaining guests as they do require a bit of planning and a lot of prepping and often, hours and hours of dehydrating.

However, I've found that by adapting a few of the steps, sauces, or other fancier preparations into everyday meals, I can add a whole new dimension to simple raw foods.

Russell James has several fabulous raw food prep books and he sends out great blog posts with FREE recipes like this broccoli hoisini. Check out his website and sign up for the blog/newsletter. I guarantee it will give you some great new ideas to expand your raw food repertoire. This broccoli dish is a great example. I've adapted it to serve me for lunch, but I can't wait to follow the complete directions for the original dish. Russell's dish includes instruction for making parsnip "rice" to round out the dish and his broccoli is dehydrated a bit before adding the sauce. That will be a weekend endeavor. Meanwhile, I enjoyed a whole new take on broccoli salad. Thanks Russell, you're a creative recipe genius.

I marinated the broccoli along with sliced button mushrooms and sliced Vidalia onion for a couple of hours at room temperature and then whisked up the sauce to dress it, turning it into a variation on broccoli salad but with a completely different take on the flavorings.

For the original recipe, which is a simple preparation for a great, gourmet raw dish, check out Russell's newsletter. Meanwhile, here's my adaptation.

Ingredients: One head of broccoli, florets only, 8 oz sliced button mushrooms (or mushrooms of choice); half a large Vidalia onion, sliced into half moons. Marinade: 2 TBS lemon juice;3 TBS olive oil; 1 TBS tamari.

Mix all ingredients together in a large bowl. Let sit covered at room temperature for an hour or two. Or refrigerate until ready to serve.

Sauce: 1/4 cup tahini; 1 tsp lemon juice; 1 tsp agave; 1 tsp apple cider vinegar; 3 tsp tamari; 1 minced clove garlic; 1 small chili without seeds; 1TBS chopped fresh ginger. Blend in high speed blender or whisk thoroughly by hand. Thin with a bit of filtered water until the right consistency.

Mix with broccoli when ready to serve.

Pseudo Samosas

It may be stretching it to call these roll-ups samosas. Where are the potatoes? Where is the crunchy deep fried crust? Where is the zingy green sauce?


A raw foodie will go that extra imaginative mile to call a dish by its favorite cooked food name, I guess. This was a first attempt at capturing the spicy memory of a favorite street food — the simple samosa. Encouraged by similar combinations I've been reading about, particularly in Matthew Kenney's book, Raw Food, Real World, and with a head of cauliflower beckoning to be used, I tossed together this spicy melange of cauliflower, peas, cashews and spices.


Instead of potatoes, peas and a spice mix cradled in a tender whole wheat flour crust, then baked or deep fried, here's a fresh mix of cauliflower and peas processed with a clove of garlic into small bits, then dressed in a sauce evoking the flavor memory of samosas using a tablespoon of garam masala, another of freshly minced ginger, and a generous helping (about 2 tsp) of Penzey's blend of hot curry powder, all puréed together in the blender with 1/2 cup cashews and one cup of filtered water.

I spread the wet mix onto a large dinner plate and placed it in the dehydrator at 115° for about 4 hours. This softened up the cauliflower a bit and also dried out the mixture. The finished dish was moist but not runny.

When dinner time rolled around, I washed three large dark green outer leaves from a head of romaine, sliced out the crunchy stem (don't waste it, nibble on it while proceeding) then sliced each leaf in two along the stem line.

Place a heaping tablespoon of filling on a leaf piece, wrap the skinny tail up over the filling then continue wrapping, much like a burrito fold. I used the peanut dressing I've posted before to accompany the rolls. It was a bit difficult to actually dip the rolls. Using a teaspoon to drizzle the sauce onto the rolls as I ate was much less messy. However you do it, it's fun and pretty tasty!

More Veggie Sushi

I'm forever learning new tricks which keeps eating fresh and fun. I recently read about spreading a little wasabi paste directly on the sheet of nori before adding ingredients. That really works well. Here is a quick pre-lunch snack I made this morning.


Making a quick roll up is fast and easy after you've done it a few times. The bamboo rolling mat makes a pro out of any novice willing to give it a go. Practice makes perfect. Watching a couple of YouTube video demonstrations certainly helped as well.

I mixed a generous teaspoon of wasabi powder with a little water to a smooth, spreadable consistency. Spread that over the bottom half of the sheet of nori and then topped it with a layer of nut/seed pâté, slivered cucumber, red pepper, avocado and mixed sprouts. A quick roll up, then slice into segments and sprinkle with sesame seeds. No dipping sauce needed.

A few odds and ends become a tasty snack in minutes.

Ready To Roll

A quick easy lunch or snack. . . another application of that versatile nut/seed pâté posted earlier.

Here it is packed onto a sheet of nori, topped with slivers of red bell pepper, cucumber and mixed sprouts. Any thinly sliced crisp veggie would work well.

Faster than spreading peanut butter and jelly on Wonder bread. Yikes, do people still do that?

Rolling is easy with the aid of a bamboo mat — do it a few times and you'll be a pro. Dampen the edge of the nori with a little water on your finger to seal the roll and voila!



I didn't use a dipping sauce or sesame seeds with this version. But you certainly could.

A Light Lunch

A trip to the produce market produced some lovely little deep red and yellow tomatoes. The true color of the red ones, was more of a maroon, not captured by the camera. I longed for some green zebra striped tomatoes but was happy to find these as well as some little orange ones, which I devoured standing over the sink, the tomato in one hand, the salt shaker in the other. Shhh.

I had a bit of nut/seed pâté left in the fridge. It made a nice filling for a big, crisp lettuce leaf along with some mixed sprouts. I included a little sliced avocado with the tomato—one of my favorite combinations.



I chose to lightly drizzle a few drops of extra virgin olive oil and a few drops of balsamic vinegar onto the plate as I wanted the fresh flavors of the produce to shine through. I thought a heavier dressing might overpower the delicate, sweet taste of the tomato. I used a generous sprinkle of sea vegetables for the mineral content as well as the aesthetics.



Taking the extra minute or two to plate food attractively adds to the enjoyment and puts a little extra emphasis on each delicious component. Composed salads are a nice change from the ubiquitous tossed salads.

Take another look at this fun plate of food!

Raw Chili Rellanos

With temperatures already in the 90's in Central Florida, what better time to make a transition to raw, whole foods? Tasty, tempting, quick and easy — fruit and vegetables starring at every meal can be as simple as eating a bowl of fruit or a big green salad or as fancy as preparing some gourmet raw recipes.

I chose to make a nut & seed pâté with a Mexican flavor*, then stuffed it into Poblano pepper halves. The stuffed peppers make a great appetizer or a quick fix for lunch or supper, accompanied by a big salad of dark leafy greens, crunchy cabbage and sweet onions.

Or you can expand your raw food kitchen skills and take those Chili Rellanos a step further.

Here they are with a puddle of raw marinara sauce and a scattering of mock cheese. They spent an hour or so in the dehydrator, which softened the raw pepper a bit and warmed up the pâté and sauce. A nice little gourmet touch for guests or as a special treat for ones self.

* following the basic nut and seed pâté recipe in the last post, I added a dried chipotle to soak with the sun-dried tomatoes. Added a half cup of chopped fresh cilantro and a generous pinch of Mexican oregano to the mix for a little change of flavor.

Raw Marinara Sauce

Combine in a blender or food processor: 4-5 plum tomatoes, 2-3 soaked sun-dried tomatoes, a large clove of garlic, a generous helping of fresh parsley and basil (or use 1 TBS dried Italian herbs), a pinch of sea salt, and a teaspoon of agave nectar (optional) to offset any bitterness from the tomatoes. Add enough filtered water to achieve a thick purée. Taste for seasonings, adding more if necessary. Letting the sauce sit for 2 - 4 hours, if time permits, allows the flavors to marry. Or it can be made ahead and refrigerated in a covered container.