Perfect Pesto

Pesto is a staple in my diet, and I crave it all year round.  But during the winter I hesitate to use the out-of-season basil, with it's purple spots and shriveled leaves.  So sometimes I'll substitute arugula or spinach.  But now finally it is spring and basil is in season again!  I found the most lusciously green and shiny basil at Rainbow and I knew I had to make some pesto.  I love the sharp garlic flavors, the sweet basil, the creamy nuts, and the way it makes everything turn bright green.  And it is so easy to make w/s/d free!  I use miso paste instead of parmesan, because it is salty and creamy.  I love to coat chicken breasts in pesto, scramble it into my eggs, put it on my pizzas and grilled cheeses, or even just saute my veggies in it.  It's a boldly flavorful and healthy thing to have on hand.  Here is my recipe for the perfect w/s/d free pesto!

Perfect Pesto

Ingredients:

• 1 bunch of fresh organic basil (or experiment with arugula or spinach....)
• 1/2 cup or so of organic pine nuts.
• 2-3 cloves of garlic (if raw garlic is too much, mince by hand and saute it in oil for a minute before putting in food processor.)
• 1 tablespoon of miso paste
• olive oil...about 1/4 of a cup.
• salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

•  Peel garlic and toss into the food processor.  Pulse a few times (scrape the chunks down the sides if needed.)
• Add pine nuts into food processor, pulsing first then blending.
• Scrape down the sides, add the miso, and blend some more.
• Wash and dry basil, then pull of leaves from stems.  Throw basil leaves into food processor a little at a time.
• Add olive oil into processor, blending until you get the consistency you desire. 
• Coat pasta (or whatever dish) in pesto and store extra in an airtight container in the fridge for a week.  

Wasabi Salmon Cakes

I'm the kind of person who stands over the pan with a fork, scraping off the crispy salmon skin and shoving fork-fulls of it into my mouth.  At the sushi bar I'll order 4 pieces of salmon nigiri, 2 salmon/avocado rolls, and grab the salmon pieces off my rainbow roll first.  I love the rich, buttery flavor of salmon and those fatty acids are so good for your health.  Salmon cakes are fun and relatively easy to make.  Recently I tried using wasabi mayonnaise to give the cakes some kick.  Now if you don't eat eggs you could use Veganaise (which I really like) and add some wasabi paste to the mix.  Sometimes I fry these cakes in a pan of oil, but this time I decided to bake it- which was actually easier since I made a bunch.  I steamed a bunch of teeny-tiny-baby-bok choy, whipped up some mint/wasabi mayo dip and voila- the perfect salmon-lover's meal!  Enjoy!

Wasabi Salmon Cakes

Ingredients

• 1 can of cooked salmon (wild Alaskan is healthiest)
• 2-3 carrots, or 1 small/medium sized sweet potato
• 2 tablespoons of wasabi mayonnaise
• 1 garlic clove finely minced
• Chives finely cut (about 6 stems worth)
• 3/4 cups of gluten free flour (I used corn and rice flour)
• Salt, pepper and oil

Directions

1. Peel and chop the carrots or sweet potato into small chunks.
2. Boil in water or steam carrots/sweet potato chunks until they are very soft.
3. Drain the carrots/sweet potatoes into a bowl and mash till they are smooth (unless you like the chunks.)
4. Add the salmon and wasabi mayo.
5. Stir in the flour, (you may need more or less flour, just put in enough so the cake batter sticks together but is not too wet.)
6. Add the garlic and chives, salt and pepper to taste.
7. Form small patties and place on a lined baking sheet.
8. Bake in the oven for 20 minutes at 425 degrees F.
9. Remove from the oven and flip over patties, making sure the bottom got nice and golden.
10. Return to oven and bake for 15 minutes until golden and crispy.
11. Serve with baby bok choy and *mayo sauce*.

***For any fish dish I always make a mayo dipping sauce of some variation.  Sometimes I'll just do lemon juice and mayo, sometimes I add dill, or Dijon mustard.  For this dish I used half wasabi mayo and half regular mayo and added some lime juice and freshly chopped mint.****

Waffle Dreams

 

Sunday night I saw the most soul-squeezing new musical, Girlfriend, at Berkeley Rep.  It's an adorably awkward love story of  two gay teens.  The songs, taken from the 90's rock album, Girlfriend, by Matthew Sweet, were sung by two talented young actors and backed up by an all female rock band.  The show was hilarious and tender, making the closing-night-audience crack up and squeal with "awwws" after almost every line.  One line in particular stood out to me.  After the cute (and secretly gay) athlete asks the other dorkier teen out, the dorkier teen says, "When did my life become like my dreams?"  

I know that feeling, when life suddenly turns out the way you want, even for a moment.  Lately the world has been handing me exactly the things I've been wishing for.  It started one day when I noticed a lonely looking waffle iron sitting on top of one of my kitchen cabinets.  It's not mine, and my roommates claim they didn't buy it.  So I guess it was just sent to us from the kitchen fairy? (If so, tell the fairy I want a Kitchen Aid mixer, too!) And what's so fabulous about this waffle iron is that it makes heart-shaped waffles!  I heart it!  I remember my parents had a waffle iron when I was a kid, and I loved the satisfaction of pressing the iron shut, watching the steam billow out, and then a few minutes later opening it up to see a perfectly pressed geometric waffle.

The next dream that came true for me, was discovering this amazing gluten free waffle mix at Trader Joe's.  What is so unique about TJ's waffle mix is that it has no sugar or dairy in it- which is very rare to find in gluten free baking mixes.  As much as I love cooking and creating recipes, it is such a luxury to be able to buy something pre-made, in a regular store that is totally Jasmin-friendly!  I almost couldn't believe it at first, having to re-read the ingredients several times over to make sure.  But this mix is for real.  The waffles turned out light and a little crispy, reminding me of the days when I ate Eggo waffles: "Leggo my (wheat/sugar/dairy free) Eggo!"  

People, dreams can come true. 

 

(FYI:  Trader Joe's  is really stepping it up with lot's of gluten free products in their store, including brown rice tortillas and breads, etc.)

Coconut "Oreos" and the 80's

For my birthday this year, my siblings helped me make a sophisticated coconut cake with a passion fruit custard.  It was a team effort: I made the cake, my sister made the custard, and my brother made the coconut frosting!  After my party, I had a lot of leftover frosting, and was trying to think of what to do with all of it.  Then I thought it would be perfect to make cookie sandwiches!  So I baked up some chocolate cookies, smeared some coconut frosting in between and-voila! They are like a mix between an Oreo and a chocolate Mounds bar.  These coconut "oreos" brought me right back to my childhood, to the 80's, that is.  You know, side-ponytails and turquoise stripped leggings, Saved by the Bell and the Cosby Show, Whitney Houston and New Kids on the Block...those were the days!  But now I am all grown up and so old that the kids I teach in San Francisco look at me blankly when I explain to them that Alamo Square Park is where they shot the opening scene for Full House...oh well!  I hope these "oreo" cookies make you feel like a kid again!  (Try experimenting with the flavors of the frosting by omitting the shredded coconut and adding peppermint or almond extract instead!) 

Coconut "Oreos"

Chocolate Cookies

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup Earthbalance
• 1 tbs of Spectrum vegan Shortening
• 1 and 1/2 cups of wheat free flour blend (I used buckwheat/rice/sorghum flour)
• 1/2 cup of 100% dark cocoa powder
• 1/4 cup of agave nectar
• 1/4 cup of apple sauce
• 1/2 tsp of xanthan gum
• 1/2 tsp of baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon of salt
• extra rice flour for dusting

Directions

1. Mix all dry ingredients together in one bowl.
2. Mix together all wet ingredients in another bowl.
3. Combine wet and dry ingredients together, use your hands to really blend them!
4. Roll dough into a ball, cover with a dusting of flour, wrap the ball and refridgerate for at least a half an hour or more.
5. When dough is cold enough to work with, go ahead and preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
6. Roll dough out onto a well floured surface with a rolling pin.
7. Cut cookies with a round cookie cuter or a drinking glass (just make sure to keep flouring the edge so the dough doesn't stick to the cutter.)
8. Place cookies on a pan lined with parchament paper.
9. Bake for 20 minutes.
10. While the cookies are baking, start the frosting! *
11. Let cookies cool before making the oreos.

*Coconut Frosting

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup of palm oil (Spectrum vegan shortening is the same)
• 1/2 cup of coconut oil
• 1/2 cup of agave nectar
• 1 tsp of vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup of shredded coconut

Directions

1. Let oils come to room temperature so they are soft like butter, but not liquidy.
2. Mix together oils, slowly adding the agave and vanilla.  If you have an electric mixer it will work better, but my brother did it by hand with a spoon!
3. Add shredded coconut and mix well together.
4. If it's too soft, put in fridge for a bit, if it's too hard, let it sit out for a bit.

Once you have the cookies and frosting, spread the frosting in between the cookies and make your little oreo sandwiches!

Spring Vegetable Quinoa

Spring is in the air- "achoooo!"  But besides pollen and allergies, with springtime comes some of my favorite fruits and vegetables.  I bought a bunch of beautiful locally grown organic asparagus at the market along with the cutest little carrots I've ever seen.  The carrots were dirty and fresh looking, and super sweet and crunchy. I had been wanting to make up some quinoa and the carrots and asparagus added just the color and freshness I desired. Quinoa is a seed/grain that is gluten free and very high in protein and vitamins.  Make sure to rinse the quinoa well of the natural soapins coating the seeds before cooking.  I love cooking up a pot of quinoa with whatever vegetables are in season because it's so easy to make and clean up! 

Spring Vegetable Quinoa

Ingredients

• 1 cup of quinoa
• 2 cups of water
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 1 cup of brown mushrooms
• 1 bunch of fresh asparagus
• 6 baby carrots, or 2-3 regular sized carrots
• 2 spring onions
• 1/2 a lemon
• olive oil, salt and pepper

Directions

1.  Soak quinoa in a bowl of water for at least 15 minutes, and then rinse several times in a sieve to wash away the soapins.
2.  Chop up the mushrooms and garlic and saute in olive oil in a pot until golden brown.
3.  Slice the spring onions and throw in the white parts first into the pot, and leave the green slices for later.
4.  Add the rinsed quinoa and the 2 cups of water to the pot and bring to a boil.  Then reduce heat to medium, cover and let quinoa steam for about 15 minutes. 
5.  Wash and cut carrots and asparagus into pretty bite sized pieces.
6.  Add carrots first, then the asparagus to the pot.  Cover and let veggies steam with the quinoa for about 10 or 15 minutes more. 
7.  When quinoa is fully cooked (the little tails will pop out) and the veggies are just tender and brightly colored, mix in salt and pepper and squeeze some lemon juice and mix altogether.
8.  Garnish with green spring onions slices and enjoy!