The Adventures of a Raw Antipodean Epicurean

Tenth Day @ 105 Degrees

2010-09-15T22:18:00.000-07:00

Today we continued our week by making a sprouted sesame wrap. We soaked and sprouted the sesame seeds first. They were then combined with zucchini, capsicum, tomato, basil cayenne pepper, nutritional yeast and flax meal.

Sprouted sesame wrap dehydrated

The shitake mushrooms were tossed in olive oil, salt and pepper and nama shoyu, and they dehydrated.

Marinated shitake mushrooms

We then washed irish moss which was packaged dry. This will later be blended up to make a paste for adding to recipes.

Cleaning and soaking irish moss

Irish moss

For lunch we assembled the sprouted sesame wraps. First a smoked red pepper tahini sauce was made with tahini, lemon juice, smoked salt, capsicum and cayenne.

Sprouted sesame wrap and ingredients

Then the rest of the ingredients were built up. Baby spinach, enoki mushrooms, julienned carrot, beetroot and cucumber, avocado and sprouts.

The sprouted sesame wrap ready to be rolled

Sprouted sesame wrap, shitake, avocado, sprouts, smoked red pepper tahini

Ninth Day @ 105 Degrees

2010-09-12T23:24:00.000-07:00

The ninth day was a busy day and the week's theme is wraps and breads. First, we took our dried almond pulp out of the dehydrator and ground it into flour which will be used in a recipe later in the week.

Almond flour

Our lunch today will be Tacos with Refried Beans, Guacomole and Sour Cream. After a night of dehydrating, the tortillas are ready and pliable.

Tortillas after dehydrating

The first part of the recipe is the tomato sauce. Using sun-dried tomatoes, fresh tomatoes,onion, lime juice, olive oil and garlic, we processed this mixture together and added it to the refried bean mix that had been dehydrated from the day before.

The tomato sauce

The guacamole is made as well as the salsa. Also a sour cream is prepared.

Assembling the tortillas

First the tomato sauce with spicy bean mixture

Then the guacamole

Next comes the tomato and mango salsa

Topped with baby spinach

Lastly sour cream

Tacos with Refried Beans Guacomole and Sour Cream

After lunch we made pizza crust. We were allowed to experiment with a base recipe. Flax meal is the binder in the recipe and a cashew cheese is spread around a hollow in the crust.

Pizza crust with macademia cheese

The cheese is covered with another layer of crust, and I included some porcini powder for added flavour.

Topped with a porcini crust

The pizzas are then put into the dehydrator for about 48 hours. Meanwhile, tomorrow we make a sprouted sesame wrap ...

Eighth Day @ 105 Degrees

2010-09-09T22:45:00.000-07:00

Today, we finish making the kimchee dumplings with sesame ginger foam. The ravioli wrappers that are used to make the kimchee dumplings had been dehydrated and ready to use.

Ravioli wrappers after dehydrating

The wrappers are thin and pliable. We cut the wrappers into squares.

Ravioli wrappers cut into squares

Next, we made the kimchee filling. This comprised of cashews, nama shoyu, sesame oil, tahini, agave and pre-made kimchee.

Kimchee filling

The filling was then placed onto the wrapper and the moisture from the filling enabled the wrapper to stick when folded.

Step-by-step folding kimchee dumplings

Lastly, the sesame ginger foam was prepared using ginger juice, sesame oil, agave and lecithin. This mixture was whipped with a stick blender and only the foam was used as condiment.

Kimchee dumplings with sesame ginger foam

After a filling snack, we then started on Tacos with refried beans, guacamole and sour cream. For the tortillas we processed zucchini, red capsicum, flax meal, lime juice, chilli powder, garlic, salt and cumin. This mixture was spread out on paraflex sheets and placed in the dehydrator.

Tortillas ready to be dehydrated

Next, the spicy "beans" were mixed. This mixture included sunflower seeds, sun-dried tomatoes, dark miso, cumin, chilli powder, coriander, olive oil, dates, garlic powder, spring onions and fresh coriander.

Spicy "beans" mix

After processing, the spicy "bean" mix was placed on paraflex sheets and placed in the dehydrator.

Spicy "beans" ready for dehydrating

We will continue this recipe tomorrow ....

Seventh Day @ 105 Degrees

2010-09-08T22:31:00.000-07:00

Today was a field trip and we travelled out to a local spring to collect spring water. It was raining and armed with plastic and glass bottles we filled up while Russell, our instructor, showed us an instrument called a TDS (total dissolved solids) meter for measuring the purity of water.

We returned to the academy, wet and hungry and proceeded to make a seaweed salad. First arame seaweed is soaked in water for 20 minutes. Meanwhile, we julienned the beet, cucumber and apple. A thinly sliced piece of watermelon radish was also softened in sesame oil and salt. We then peeled an orange and cut into segments. In culinary terms, these are called citrus "supremes". A dressing was also made with a juice of an orange, tahini, nama shoyu, sesame oil, agave, apple cider vinegar and olive oil.

Preparing for seaweed salad

A handful of salad greens are mixed with the other ingredients.

Salad ingredients mixed together

Some of the dressing is mixed in as well as the orange segments. The dressing is my favourite so far. It consists of the juice of an orange, tahini, nama shoyu, sesame oil, agave, apple cider vinegar and olive oil.

Salad dressing and oranges segments added

A steel ring mould (or form) is placed in the middle of the plate (no photo) and the ingredients are placed inside. The mould is removed and the salad is formed. The remaining dressing is poured around the salad and black sesame seeds are sprinkled on top.

Finished seaweed salad

The kale chips are dehydrated and ready to eat.

Kale chips dehydrated

Sixth Day @ 105 Degrees

2010-09-07T23:16:00.000-07:00

Today we started making the wrappers for the Kimchee Dumplings with Sesame Ginger Foam. These are served in the restaurant and was the first dish we tasted when we arrived at 105. We will be using some of our kimchee we made last week.

The first step is to chop the coconut meat we had left over from our coconut opening day. This is blended in the Vitamix with beet juice and also spinach juice.

Colouring coconut mixture

The coconut mixture is spread over the paraflex sheets with a metal spatula. They are then dehydrated for 4-5 hours.

Beetroot coloured kimchee wrapper ready to dehydrate

Spinach coloured kimchee wrapper ready to dehydrate

The next dish was Kale Chips. We tore the kale into small pieces and then made a sour cream base recipe using cashews, lemon juice, apple cider vinegar, water and salt. To this we decided what ingredients we wished to add to make our own special kale chip flavour.

I chose a Thai theme and added tamarind paste, basil, red onion garlic, smoked salt, tomatoes, sun dried tomatoes, ginger, nama shoyu, thai chilli, red dried chillies and black pepper.

These kale chips were then put into the dehydrator for 3-4 hours.

Sour cream mixture rubbed into kale

Kale spread on mat ready for dehydrating

Lastly, we made Sushi Rolls for lunch. We prepared the elements that are used in the dish (this is called mis en place).

Mis en place

First, we marinated a few shitake mushrooms in olive oil and nama shoyu.

Shitake mushrooms marinating

Then, we cut a cup of jicama and chopped in a mini food processor until the consistency of rice. The jicama was then placed in a nut bag and the water was strained out.

Jicama ready to use

Then, we learned how to place ingredients onto the nori sheet (the sheet should actually be close to the front edge of the mat). Jicama rice, black sesame seed and avocado (with the edges hanging over ends) were placed first.

Sushi development

Then, cucumber strips, red bell pepper, sunflower greens, spring onions and shitake mushrooms are added.

Ready to roll sushi

The sushi is rolled and end sealed with water.

Sushi roll complete

Two dipping sauces complete the dish. Nama shoyu and an orange, nama shoyu and tahini dipping sauce.

Nori roll cut and presented

After lunch I ordered a Mango Creamsicle.

Weekend Ramblings in Oklahoma

2010-09-05T22:08:00.000-07:00

Today I wanted to share my raw foods travel bag items with you all and some cool items I have come across since arriving in the US. A great shop I recently visited was Teavana and I bought the TeaMaker. It is light and made of polycarbonate that is BPA free. You simply add loose tea and water and after brewing, the pot is placed on top of a cup and the drain mechanism will strain the tea into the cup while keeping the leaves in the pot. Teavana also sell high quality, fair-trade loose teas with a minimum of 2oz. I tried the white ayurvedic chai tea that was wonderful. At 20 USD for a one cup TeaMaker I thought it was a bargain. Also comes in a two cup version.

Perfect TeaMaker

This is how it works

White Ayurvedic Chai

I needed a blender for my morning Sunwarrior vanilla powder, coconut water and Mila smoothies. I found this Hamilton Beach blender in Target for 15 USD. The container and lid doubles as a drink container on the go. It's also lightweight.

Travel Blender

I loved these glass straws when drinking the smoothies at 105 degrees. They come in two sizes and shapes and the straight glass straw is wider. Also comes with a small brush for cleaning (especially when the cacao nibs get caught inside!) They also make a lovely present.

Glass straws

I bought this great shower filter at Hippocrates in Florida. It is a lovely design and has a few spray settings. The filter inside lasts for 6 months. When I got to the Extended Stay America here in Oklahoma, I asked the staff if they would install the shower filter. It is well-known that you ingest more chlorine from showering than you do from drinking as the pores are open to absorb more.

Shower filter

It is Labour Day tomorrow in the US, so I won't be training. I have more items to share with you tomorrow and a few recipes, so stay tuned .....

Fifth Day @ 105 Degrees

2010-09-03T23:33:00.000-07:00

Our last day of the week started with making Kimchee. We had earlier in the week stacked the salted napa cabbage leaves in a large container. Now we had to chop them and add them to the carrots, capsicum and onions that we had cut in our knife skills practice. We also added a shallot, garlic, ginger, red chilli flakes and agave.

Kimchee ingredients

We placed this mixture into a glass jar, pressing the mixture down and it will now sit at room temperature for 2-3 days. After this time, it will be ready to eat. The jar will then need to be refrigerated and continue to ferment slowly.

Kimchee fermenting

We then took a field trip to the regional food bank of Oklahoma. We had a tour of the organic farm and we all put in an hour of weeding for them.

Entrance to the Food Bank

When we returned to 105 we made a Kale Caesar for lunch. The kale was wilted with olive oil, salt and lemon juice and then a caesar dressing was blended and mixed into the kale. Delicious.

Kale Caesar

After lunch I had a wonderful 105 Degrees smoothie called Oaxaca, made with dark chocolate, almond milk, bananas and chillies.

Oaxaca blended smoothie

Tonight, the other students and myself got together for a potluck. It was a wonderful raw spread and a great way to finish the first week.

Potluck

(from left) Connor, Tatiana, Daneen, Teri, Mer and me

Fourth Day @ 105 Degrees

2010-09-02T22:35:00.000-07:00

The day started with the obligatory knife skills, using a couple of carrots and a red bell pepper (or capsicum as we say in Oz). This was added to the other vegetables that will be added to make Kimchee tomorrow.

Batons, julienne, dice and brunoise

Next, we learned how to open young coconuts with a cleaver. I had always just hacked at coconuts to open them so this was a great skill to learn. You use the bottom corner of the cleaver, near the handle, in a strong downward motion to break open the soft part of the coconut.

Making cuts with cleaver

We emptied to coconut water into a container which will be used for making coconut kefir.

Opening coconuts

The coconuts are then cut in half and the coconut meat was removed and cleaned, to be added to dishes we will be making in the next few days. We also used some of the coconut meat in the next dish, which is ice-cream. To remove the coconut meat, the best method is to use the back of a spoon.

Using back of spoon to remove coconut meat

To make ice-cream we used soaked almonds that were blended and the almond milk strained through a nut bag or chinoise (fine sieve). The pulp will be dehydrated to make almond flour for a dish later on. Coconut meat, agave, maca, vanilla, cacao, coconut butter and mint were added to my signature flavour as well as cashews and pistachios. This mix was then put into the ice-cream maker and then freezer. We will be having this ice-cream tomorrow afternoon - I can't wait to try it and I'm sure we will all be sampling each others flavours.

Ice-cream mix before putting into ice-cream maker

The last dish we made was a Pad Thai made with yellow squash put through a Spirooli.

Yellow squash angel hair pasta

A bok choy and enoki mix was wilted down with salt, sesame oil, sesame seeds and nama shoyu.

Bok choy and enoki mushrooms mix

Finally, a colourful combination of finely sliced vegetables were mixed with a pad thai sauce.

Pad Thai components ready to assemble

Pad Thai sauce goes on plate first

Yellow squash pasta layer

Final layers topped with Thai chilli glazed cashews

Third Day @ 105 Degrees

2010-09-01T21:29:00.000-07:00

The third day started with some more knife skills on carrots and an onion to add to the Kimchee mix. We were also introduced to an expensive machine called the 'turning slicer', which turns a daikon radish (or other hard vegetables) into paper thin sheets. These sheets were to be incorporated into the Spicy Tuber Handrolls we were making today. We also julienned beet, carrot and cucumber on the mandoline and prepared a tray of dehydrated curried cauliflower florets. A piquant almond and chilli dipping sauce was made and finally a nori sheet was rolled to fill with the vegetables. A fresh and tasty lunch dish.

Preparing ingredients for the Spicy Tuber Handroll

The finished handrolls

We also prepared the cabbage to be made into Kimchee tomorrow. I tried some Kimchee that was bottled in March this year and it was a lot tastier than sauerkraut.

Our final dish of the day was Heirloom Lasagne with macadamia ricotta, pistachio pesto and red pepper marinara. The zucchini pasta was marinated in olive oil and pepper first.

Macadamia ricotta layer

Red pepper marinara and wilted spinach layers

First stack assembled

The final lasagne!

The class lasagnes!

Second Day @ 105 Degrees

2010-08-31T20:52:00.000-07:00

As the napa cabbage had not arrived for our Kimchee recipe, today we made a Beet Ravioli with Pistachio Pesto, Macadamia Ricotta and Thyme Cream, topped with microgreens. We also prepared enough ingredients to be used in tomorrow's recipe - stay tuned! The beetroot was finely sliced on the mandoline, placed on parchment paper and lightly salted and oiled to soften. After preparing the pesto and macadamia ricotta, the beets were trimmed to squares for assembly. The creative process in making these was wonderful and confirms that this is the sort of raw food I would like to make. Fresh, seasonal, modern cuisine.

Salting and oiling the beets

Assembling the Ravioli

The finished dish! It was delicious.

IN TRAINING : First Day @ 105 Degrees

2010-08-30T21:24:00.000-07:00

The Level 1, Fundamentals of Raw Cuisine started today at the 105 Degrees Academy in Oklahoma City. There are seven of us that have come here to train under the tutelage of Russell James who hails from the UK.

The first week's title is called "Plant". We were given our trusty Misono Japanese chef knife and paring knife and started on knife skills. Using carrots and yellow capsicum, we cut the vegetables into batons, julienne, brunoise and chiffonade. With the vegetable pieces we cut, tomorrow we will be starting on making Kimchee.

Kimchee Dumplings with Sesame Foam

At lunchtime we all ate on the deck of the 105 Degrees restaurant and I shared a couple of dishes with one of my classmates. An entree of Kimchee Dumplings with Sesame Foam and Portobello Mushroom on bread with Coleslaw and Kale Chips.

Portobello Mushroom on bread with Coleslaw & Kale Chips