Lamb’s quarters is one of those pesky plants farmers have been trying to eradicate since the beginning of industrial farming.  Probably used as a potted plant in the Victorian era, the edible plant commonly sprints in sidewalks and gardens.  It was only a few years ago that I started seeing it sold at farmers markets.  Up to that point it was used as a tender spinach-like vegetable in traditional foods around the world by herbalists, wild-crafters and foragers.

My first  encounter with lamb’s quarters was in 1971 during a trip to Crete where my aunt was using it in place of spinach in Spanikoptia and in her delicious horta (boiled greens).  I immediately fell in love with the buttery texture of the leaves and looked for it in markets for years afterward.  The next time it was on my plate, a banana leaf plate at that, was in rural India at my friends Pranava and Vanamali’s home.  She had made an unforgettable spinach-style dish using it.  Eventually, I began seeing it in farm stalls at local markets and began using it extensively in rice, sags, shaks, palaks, savories, raitas, breads and dahls.

Two types of Lamb’s quarters are usually sold at the farmers markets; the first is a green variety which farmers routinely treat as weeds and the second is Magenta Spreen, originally from India and often found in heirloom seed catalogs.  They can be found at the markets near the amaranth, red orach and kale.  I have been buying it in San Diego from Suzies Farm, mostly at the Hillcrest Farmers Market and the Little Italy Mercato.  It is best to purchase certified organic because the lamb’s quarters the normally very positive nutrient absorption in this plant makes it a repository for chemicals and toxins leached from the soil.

 

Last week, I was inspired to create an Indian-style dinner with my Hillcrest Farmers Market bounty of vegetables and grains.  The menu included the  Bolivian Red Quinoa I had purchased from Michelle at Conscious Cookery,  Lamb’s Quarters and Coconut Subji and Asparagus, Carrot and Red Onion Curry–there were no left-overs!

Bolivian Red Quinoa

2 cups water
1 teaspoon coconut oil
1 bay leaf
¼ teaspoon turmeric
1 two-inch cinnamon stick
1 teaspoon sea salt
1 cup Bolivian red quinoa, rinsed

In a 2 quart sauce pan on medium-high heat, cook water, oil, bay leaf, turmeric, cinnamon and sea salt until the water boils. Add the quinoa, bring to a boil, then turn down to a low simmer and cover.  Cook for 15 minutes, turn off the heat and reserve until ready to serve.

I wash the lambsquarters, carefully removing the larger stems.  Then peel the white spring onions assemble the remaining ingredients. One of the secrets for preparing Indian food is to assemble all the ingredients in little bowls and plates in order to cook with proper timing and technique. This subji has a buttery texture which is accentuated with the delicate crunch of cashew nuts.  Its enchanting mild flavor and texture wonderfully compliments the red quinoa.

Lamb’s Quarters and Coconut Subji

2 teaspoons coconut oil
½  teaspoon black mustard seeds
½ teaspoon cumin seeds
1 tablespoon ginger root, minced
1 teaspoon green chile, minced
1 cup spring onions, chopped
1 cup raw whole cashews
4 cups lamb’s quarters, stemmed
1 ½ tablespoons lime juice
½ teaspoon sea salt
½ cup organic coconut milk

Heat oil in saute pan on medium-high heat.   Add mustard and cumin seeds and cook until the mustard seeds start to pop.  Stir in ginger root and chile, then add the onions and cover.  After 30 seconds, stir in the cashews and cook for 30 seconds.  Add the lamb’s quarters, lime juice and salt, cover and turn heat to low.  Cook until the lambs quarters are tender then add the coconut milk and cook for another minute.  Serve hot.

This week, Sage Mountain Farm had beautiful fresh asparagus, heirloom multi-colored carrots and sweet spring onions. Asparagus is another springtime super food.  With so many micro-nutrient infused foods available at this time of year, it is a boost Mother Nature gives us to re-energize the body after the winter dormancy.  This dish is full of color and beautifully enhanced by the energizing spices. Served with the Red Quinoa and Lamb’s quarters and Coconut Subji, it adds color and flavor to the meal.  Both dishes have onions, but they are different, stimulating and very mild this time of year.

Asparagus, Carrot and Red Onion Curry

1 teaspoon coconut oil
½ teaspoon cumin seeds
¼ teaspoon crushed red pepper
1 tablespoon ginger root, minced
¼ teaspoon turmeric powder
1 ½ cups red spring onions, diced
2 cups carrots, sliced into ¼ inch thick rounds
1 teaspoon curry powder
½ cup water
1 tablespoon lemon juice
2 cups asparagus cut into 2 inch sections
½ teaspoon sea salt
½ cup cilantro leaves, coarsely chopped 

In a 12 inch skillet on medium high heat, cook the oil and cumin seeds until they start to brown.  Add the red pepper, ginger root, turmeric, onions, carrots and curry then turn down to low heat and cover.  After 30 seconds, add the water.  Cook for 5 minutes until the water is cooked out.  Add the lemon, asparagus and sea salt then cover and cook for another 5 minutes until the asparagus is tender.   Add cilantro and serve right away.

 

 

My first experience with a pesto-style dish was in my Greek grandmother’s house.  Yia Yia prepared every family member’s favorite dish and my father’s was skordalia, the traditional Greek garlic sauce.  As a child in Crete, where almonds are plentiful and full of flavor, her mother taught her the art of the dish; she learned to prepare the skordalia by pounding garlic, almonds and olive oil with a mortar and pestle.  We always knew when we walked into her home that she had prepared the skordalia because of the heavy garlic smell in the air. It seemed to stay in our mouths for days and even crept out of our pores as garlic-tinged sweat.  Over the years, my dad was the only one adventurous enough to indulge, which he would do on a Friday so he could return to work on Monday with minimal effect.

The Italian word pesto is often used to describe a combination of ground garlic, basil and pine nuts, although the preparation method of grinding ingredients into a paste is universal and cross-cultural.  Ever since man discovered how to grind and pound food products with stone and wood, this method has been employed in traditional cuisines around the world to create sauces, condiments, bases and pastes which enhance flavor profiles. Every culture put their stamp on the method with the common denominator being a mortar and pestle or grinding stone and it is a superb way to add a savory and flavorful edge to a dish without frying or grilling.

A Sicilian version is pesto rosso which substitutes almonds for pine nuts and adds tomatoes with less basil.  In Mediterranean France, a cold sauce made from garlic, basil and olive oil is the base for the much-acclaimed pistou soup in Provence.

In India, I watched cooks deftly handle a flat grindstone with a rectangular pestle to create intensely flavored mint chutneys, robust masala pastes and pesto-like fillings for a variety of breads and savories.  The grinding stones would absorb the right amount of moisture and unique flavors would be developed by the grinding action.  I was so enamored by the amazing quality of these preparations that I carried two of these heavy stones home on a flight.

Central and South American cuisines have a long history of grinding spices, pastes and mole bases using a metate or mealing stone. Chimichurri sauce is one of the well known sauces to use this method.  One can imagine my pesto recipe being made on a metate grindstone in an adobe kitchen a hundred years ago.  Nutty toasted pepitas with crushed garlic, freshly squeezed lime juice, brightly flavored cilantro and smokey fire-roasted poblano chiles provocatively meld together to create an explosion of flavor in any dish that it is served with.  I particularly like it as a foil to corn dishes and often pair it with Quinoa-Corn Arepas and Chocolate Cherry Salsa from my cookbook Vegetarian Traditions.  The bright flavor of the pesto is the perfect companion to the natural sweetness of the corn and deep, dark anti-oxidant-rich salsa.

Today, I often make pesto with a food processor, which is a compromise for the sake of modern efficiency.  However, if you have a metate, or mortar & pestle and a little extra time, I encourage you to use it–not just for the earthly connection and romance of hand-working one’s food, but also for the flavor.

This easy-to-prepare recipe works well in sandwiches, as a mezzes-style dip, a quesadilla filling or a layer in a tortilla casserole.

Pepita & Fire Roasted Poblano Pesto

1/2 cup pepitas, toasted
1 cup cilantro leaves, chopped
1 1/2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
2 teaspoons olive oil
1/2 teaspoon garlic, minced
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
1 poblano chile, fire roasted, stemmed and seeded

In a food processor, grind pepitas to a meal, add all pesto ingredients and pulse to a coarse consistency.  Store in an air-tight container and keep refrigerated.

A Lifestyle of Romance

This is the time of year to shake off the dust of distraction, polish our manners and look for creative ways to express ourselves romantically.   Often the centerpieces of these endeavors are built around sensual foods and, when wooing our loved ones on Valentines Day, chocolate rules supreme.

The roots of St Valentines Day lay in Rome with February marking the beginning of Spring on the Roman Calendar.  At that time, every household was swept out and  sprinkled with salt and spelt berries. The fertility festival, Lupercalia, began on the Ides of February (15th) and was celebrated throughout Rome by pairing unmarried youths until the following February, often resulted in marriages.

Roman culture had a great appreciation for earth’s beauty and those who inhabited it.  They celebrated the gifts of the land and the power of attraction which is intimately intertwined like a grape vine in an arbor. One could reason this had something to do with the word romance being derived from Roman.

In 485 A.D., the Catholic church sought to Christianize the Lupercalia festival by celebrating Saint Valentine, thought to be a martyred priest from two centuries prior.  As a result, the romantic aspect of the celebration does not appear again until the Middle Ages.  It was the mid 19th century when it began to resemble the phenomena it is today.

On Valentine’s Day, when the meal is emotionally charged, there is one ingredient that is a “must” on the menu–chocolate.  Chocolate has long been known as an all around sensual ingredient.  The Aztecs called it “Nourishment of the Gods.”  Not only does it enchant us with its dark seductive flavor, but it contains compounds which have an immediate sensual effect as well as long lasting health benefits.

This dessert, Hazelnut Love Bites, is a combination of three luscious flavors and textures–hazelnut, raspberry and chocolate–all making for a passionate dessert experience.

Love Bites

Makes 24 Love Bites

Bites

1/3 cup ground hazelnuts
1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon unbleached wheat flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 cup evaporated cane juice (organic sugar)
1 1/2 teaspoons arrowroot powder
2/3 cups plain soy milk
1/4 block (3 ounces) firm silken-style tofu
1/8 cup raw cashew nuts, ground to a meal
2 tablespoons canola oil
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350º F. Using a 24 cup mini cupcake pan, line each cup with unbleached baking cups. Put hazelnuts, flour, baking powder, evaporated cane juice and arrowroot into a large bowl and whisk together with a French whip. In a blender, puree soy milk, tofu and cashews to a smooth consistency. Transfer to another large bowl and stir in canola oil and vanilla. Combine the two mixtures and stir vigorously for one minute to develop the gluten in the flour. Fill each cup to just below the rim and bake for 25 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean(a little sticky is Ok).  Allow to cool.

Raspberry Sauce

1 cup fresh or frozen raspberries
2 tablespoons maple syrup
1 tablespoon evaporated cane juice
1/8 teaspoon vanilla extract

Heat a saucepan on medium heat. Add all ingredients and simmer for 5 minutes. Then strain by pushing through a fine wire strainer with a rubber spatula until only the seeds are left–really work it. Discard seeds. Return strained raspberries to pan and simmer for another 5 minutes. Reserve.

Chocolate Ganache

3 ounces unsweetened chocolate
1/4 cup evaporated cane juice
1/2 cup plain soy milk
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

In a double boiler on medium heat, add all chocolate ganache ingredients. Stir periodically and cook for about 30 minutes until chocolate is melted and smooth. Test a drop on a cold plate, it should set up to a frosting consistency.  Allow to cool and reserve.

Assembly

When the cupcakes are cool, use a small pointed-tip knife to create a crater in the center of each cake, then pour in a small amount of raspberry sauce.  To frost, either use a flat knife to frost each cupcake or put frosting into a pastry bag and pipe.
Ready to serve.

Note:

I only use organic and unadulterated ingredients

Through personal example, my father inspired me to respect beauty and romance on a daily basis–one never knows when they will be encountered, often by chance.   He often expressed his inspirations through poetry.

Beauty

With the kindness of its weather,

San Diego has developed multiple forms of beauty.

(My words of enthusiasm are difficult to restrain.)

The soil harbors and embraces plants which give birth

to hundreds of varieties of flowers.

Their creative method of procreation is:

they make their flowers so fragrant and colorful

that the bees and other pertinent species

are attracted to visit,

To collect their nectar, and thereby leave tracks

from gathering visits to neighboring flowers.

The plants then “eat”, and become happily pregnant.

This is the intelligence of beauty!

Now the plants we call ‘trees’ reach high for the sky

and its sunshine.

Each family has its own leaf formation, and height,

their arms lissome to the winds,

as their hair of leaves is tousled.

And we humans too enjoy our views of them.

~Spyros Vutetakis 2007

Happy Valentines Day!

Join Chef George on his website tour

Watch the tour video

Vegetarian Traditions Video

In 1981, I visited a 300 acre organic farm in Southern Michigan which housed the Creative Health Institute.  It was there that I was exposed to the early years of Live Foods as directed by the late matriarch of the movement, Ann Wigmore.  The farm grew the grains which became the sprouts in the food; full of life-enhancing enzymes, it was both energizing and healing.  The Creative Health Institute was, and continues to be, a remarkable healing center where life-giving practices are embraced.

Raw or live foods are rooted in traditions which date back to our human origins.  Before refrigeration, fermentation and enzymatic growth in food was widespread in the cuisines of world, including Roman garum sauce, Chinese soy products, Japanese pickles, Korean kimtchie, Indian dosas, Thai fish sauces and Indonesian tempeh. Sometimes cooked, sometimes raw, these foods contributed significantly to the diets of the cultures they came from. The modern raw food diet originally drew inspiration from the proto-Christian Essenes most commonly known as the sect of John the Baptist, a desert-dwelling Judaic group who used the sun to dry their sprouted manna bread.

Raw living foods help stimulate the immune system and facilitate the flow of chi energy throughout the body.  There are countless people who claim it clears the mind, balances the body and heals many illnesses.

The most common endorsement I hear is that the raw foods increases energy in daily living.  Whether one embraces the diet entirely or includes a percentage of raw food, the benefits are real.

There are probably more raw-foodies per capita in Southern California than any other part of the country.  No doubt the weather and year round availability of local fresh foods plays a significant roll.  The sensual pleasures of the palate are plentiful with thoughtfully prepared raw cuisine.  I have seen many raw food chefs to be very good with presentation and flavor.

The farmer’s markets in San Diego feature a number of live food vendors.

Here are some of them:

GreenFix Smoothie Company

Peace Pies

Koral’s Tropical Fruit Farm

Macadamia-Sunflower Hummus is a versatile recipe suitable to serve with any cuisine.  Serve it as a dip or use it as a spread in a sandwich or on a cracker.  The Basil Leaf Rolls are just one of many dishes I have used the hummus with.

Macadamia-Sunflower Hummus

1 cup raw macadamia nuts

1/2 cup raw sunflower seeds

2 cups water for soaking

1 teaspoon fresh garlic, minced

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

1 teaspoon sea salt

3 tablespoons lemon juice

1/2 cup water

Place the nuts, seeds and soaking water in a container for 2 to 8 hours. Puree all ingredients in a food processor until smooth.  Serve cold or room temperature.

Basil Leaf Rolls

10 large lettuce-leaf basil leaves
5 tablespoons Macadamia-Sunflower Hummus
1 San Marzano Roma tomato sliced into thin 1/4 inch wide strips

Rinse basil leaves and spin-dry in a salad spinner or pat dry with a clean cloth.  Spread 1/2 tablespoon hummus evenly on each leaf.  Place a tomato slice on one end of the leaf and roll it “roulade-style.”  Repeat with each leaf. Slice into 1/2 inch wide rolls.  Serve right away.

Alu Methi Tikki

I’ve known Cousin Don Hobson since he began selling at the Royal Oak Farmers Market.  For the last 10 years Cousin Don, the founder of the Birmingham Farmers Market, has been the market master.  He invited me into his booth to sign, sell and discuss the book with shoppers.  The last Sunday of our tour, I rejoined him to pass out samples of Blue Water Farm organic strawberries with my organic vegan hot fudge sauce on top.  Needless to say, the chocolate added a bit of evxcited frenzy to the event.

Oh, be still my heart: Vegetable Almond Quesadilla, Portabella Romescu, Benares Rice Pudding and the cherry on top–Hazelnut Torte with Hot Fudge Sauce–and all recipes are dairy-free! If there is a heaven, it is inside the covers of this gorgeous, easy-to-follow cookbook of legendary recipes–Vegetarian Traditions. Or perhaps even more heavenly, a kitchen full of cooks preparing these delicious dishes for you and your guests, so that all you have to do is think dreamy thoughts and treat your palate to a party. Vegetarian Traditions makes a gorgeous present that will be enjoyed for a lifetime. I was mightily impressed and felt immediate food cravings!

~Ingrid Newkirk, PETA president and co-founder