From Issue 8 of News From The kitchen

Click ‘more’ for recipes and pictures

Makes 2 napoleons

For the Napoleon Crackers

1c tomatoes
1T Italian seasoning
3 sun-dried tomato halves
15 basil leaves
1/2t salt
1T lemon juice
1T agave
1/2c pumpkin seed meal*
1/2c flax meal*

*Pumpkin seed and flax seeds meal is simply the seed turned into powder in a high-speed blender or coffee grinder

- Blend all ingredients in a high-speed blender until smooth.

- Spread in 6 even ’rounds’ on a dehydrator sheet, and dehydrate for a few hours until they can be removed from the sheet. Dehydrate for a further 6 - 8 hours at 115 degrees F, or overnight until fully dried.

For the sour creamed cashews

1c cashews
1/2t salt
2t lemon juice
1t apple cider vinegar
3t minced lemon thyme, minced (or regular thyme)

- Blend all ingredients, except the thyme, in a high-speed blender until smooth.

- Add thyme and pulse until fully mixed in.

For the pepper sauces

The following is for red pepper sauce, if you want yellow pepper sauce as well then you should repeat with yellow peppers

2 red peppers, chopped
2T olive oil
1t salt

- Mix all ingredients in a bowl and dehydrate ofr 6 - 8 hours at 115 degrees F

- Once removed from the dehydrator, place in a high-speed blender with 1t olive oil, 3t water and 1t lemon juice, and blend until smooth. You may have to add more water, depending on how dry your peppers got during dehydrating.

For the assembly

- Prepare 300g spinach by mixing in a large bowl with 2t salt and 2T olive oil. Massage the spinach until it wilts and takes on a lightly cooked appearance.

- Cut open 2 small avocados and, using a spoon, remove the flesh from each half in whole pieces. Cut each piece into a ‘fan’ by slicing them several times, 4/5ths down the length, leaving them connected at the top. You should then be able to fan them out.

- Assemble by starting with a napoleon cracker then adding a layer of spinach, one of the sliced avocado halves, and finally some of the creamed cashews. Repeat this for a second time and garnish with the pepper sauces.

Did you like this recipe? You can sign-up for my eZine here to be put on the list for more great recipes like this, plus tips and all sorts of advice to help you become a raw food culinary artist!

You can also sign-up for updates from this site here, so when I post you’ll automatically recieve an email…it’s so easy to stay ‘in the loop’!

PD is a raw and living foods magazine, and although only 4 issues old is already looking like it promises to be around for a while.

Other articles in this issue (winter 2008) include: ‘Getting Your Kids Excited about Raw Food’ by Brigitte Mars; ‘Keeping Warm with Living Foods’ by Dr Ritamarie Loscalzo; and ‘Alkalize & Green Up Your Life’ by Elaina Love, plus many others and loads of recipes, inclduing a couple of mine!

You can still order a copy and subscribe at purelydelicious.net

An innovative chef, with an uncommon flair for raw food.

So I want to build on that and ask you 3 very simple questions that will allow you to get the best of me, to serve you better. If you’ll give me 2 minutes of your time by clicking here, I’ll not only be able to do just that, I’ll also, as a very special thank you, give you PDFs of the first 3 recipes from News From The Kitchen, with photos! You’ll then be able to print them out on nice paper and put them in a folder in your kitchen.

Just to remind you of the recipes: Issue 1 was the chocolate and orange tavoletta; issue 2 was fennel and cherry tomato tart; issue 3 was the chocolate and raspberry cake with chocolate ginger mousse.

After you’ve answered the 3 questions, you’ll be directed to a secret page to download your recipes.

What could be easier? Check out the questions here!

Click ‘more’ for the recipe…

Pomegranate Cheesecake with Clementine Gelato

For the base

1c cashews
2T agave
1/4c coconut oil
2t vanilla extract
¼t salt
2t lemon juice

• First process cashews to flour.

• Add remaining ingredients and process again.

• Press into the bottom of 9” springform pan and place in fridge whilst working on filling.

For the filling

3c cashews, soaked
1c coconut oil
1/2c lemon juice
2T vanilla extract
1/2t salt
3/4c agave
1 1/2c pomegranate juice
1/2c beetroot juice (optional, just for colour)

• Blend all ingredients in a high speed blender under smooth.

• Pour on top of the base.

• Place in the freezer to set. Once it’s set, the cheesecake can be moved to, and stored in, the fridge until ready to eat.

For the Clementine Gelato

2c cashews
½c coconut butter/oil
¼c agave nectar
1t vanilla extract
1c almond milk*
1c clementine juice
2t clementine zest
Pinch salt

• Blend all ingredients in a high-speed blender until smooth.

• Pour mixture into a rectangular container and place in the freezer to set.

*Almond milk is made by blending 1c of almonds with 3c of water, and straining through a nut milk bag or sieve.

Did you like this recipe? You can sign-up for my eZine here to be put on the list for more great recipes like this, plus tips and all sorts of advice to help you become a raw food culinary artist!

You can also sign-up for updates from this site here, so when I post you’ll automatically recieve an email…it’s so easy to stay ‘in the loop’!

Note to US readers: think of Smarties as a kind of European M&M (even though we have those too).

The solution for a substitute for blue food colouring?…Spirulina!

The question that instantly comes to mind is, “shouldn’t that make them green?”. Well, I don’t know the science behind it but it seems like a move in the right direction, at least.

from pa.press.net…

Blue Smarties are making a comeback - made with a colouring extracted from seaweed. They were dropped nearly two years ago as part of a drive to rid the sweets of artificial colours.

Manufacturer Nestle said the new blue colouring comes from a seaweed called spirulina.
It means blue Smarties will now reappear in packs along with the seven other colours.

Nestle dropped the blue Smarties in 2006 in light of consumer concerns about additives in children’s foods.

Smarties brand manager Michelle Roberts said: “We are now delighted to have found a solution that allows us to bring back blue Smarties with no artificial colours and flavours, just like the rest of the Smarties range.”

The original vibrant blue Smarties were first introduced in 1989.

Obviously I’m not going to start eating Smarties for their ‘health benefits’, but I think it shows an interesting sway, by mainstream consumers, towards exactly what they consider to qualify as food.

Maybe one day we’ll see dairy-free raw chocolate spirulina smarities.

What’s the experience? You can read all about it in this post for the first class I did back in November. The only difference is that the location is my house in Bognor Regis, so you’ll get to see how my kitchen is set-up for raw success.

Here’s what people were saying after my class last time…

“I feel confident I could put on a raw dinner party”

“The course was really well done”

“(I got most value from) the opportunity to meet like-minded friends”

“There’s a lot more to raw food!”

“The starter put cooked starters to shame”

“Had a great day, well done Russell”

The dates are (all Saturdays): 24th May; 28th June; 26th July; 23rd August; 27th September; 25th October; 15th November; and the 13th December, which will be a special Christmas recipe class.

Apart from the venue, the other difference from the original class is that it will run from 10am to 6pm - that’s 30 minutes longer, to allow you more time around the table at the end to socialise, as many said this was so enjoyable.

As before, I will contact you with confirmation and venue details after booking, and I can also still provide you with details of B&Bs, should you fancy a weekend by the seaside!

I hope to see you there!

Click here to book

Have you been wondering where yours is?

The reason is that I was having technical issues with the old service provider (the people that send it out) so I have decided to change providers. What does this mean for you? It means that as from tomorrow (Thursday) News From The Kitchen will be delivered to again, and will continue in a slightly revised format, until it is re-designed to match my new upcoming website.

But all you really need to know is that you’ll start to receive the recipes you love, every other Thursday, as from tomorrow.

If you’re not signed up, just click on the eZine cover here, and you’ll be in time for tomorrow’s Pomegranate Cheesecake & Clementine Gelato recipe.

Thanks for your patience and support.

I used to love pancakes - lots of lemon and sugar, and occasionally some jam. But I don’t miss them now (I think it’s a shame I’m so good at making them but my talent doesn’t get used - I could even double-toss!). I’ve been asked if I have a recipe for raw pancakes, but I have to say that’s where I draw the line…

There has to be a point where raw food relies less on mocking cooked food, and is celebrated and recognised as a dining experience in it’s own right. That time is now.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m first in line for the raw pizza when it’s made for me, and I know we have to make a distinction between dairy cheese and nut cheeze, or “cheese” (depending on your preference of distinction). But I’ve had it with spelling nut mylk that way. I’ve had it with eating inside inverted commas. I’ll put my hands up at this point - I’m guilty as charged; have you seen my raw lasagne, complete with nut “cheese”?

I say all this with my tongue wedged firmly in my cheek, I know there’s always going to a reference to cooked food, but I do have a serious point here (stay with me, it’s worth the payoff!)…

There are so many creative and talented raw chefs out there, doing amazing things, bringing raw to the masses and inspiring people, that we don’t have to pretend to be something else so much anymore.

It’s time raw for raw food to break out of those inverted commas that have been its prison for so many years, and step forward into the limelight, proud and beautiful, like the people who enjoy it.

I’m off to finish the recipe for the pomegranate cheesecake for this week’s eZine, hmmm, this might be harder than I thought! But no “pancakes”, okay?

Click ‘more’ for the recipe…

Makes 4, 11cm quiche

This recipe will require you to make the bases ahead of time.

For the base

1c cashew
1/4c macadamia nuts
2T flax meal (ground flax seed)
1 clove crushed garlic
1T nutritional yeast
2t olive oil
1/4t salt
3T water
1T lemon juice

• Grind all ingredients in a food processor until thoroughly mixed, leaving some texture to the nuts.
• Press into plastic film lined individual tart cases *so you have a thin crust. You will find that regularly dipping your fingers in a bowl of water helps with this.
• Place bases onto a mesh dehydrator sheet and dehydrate at 115 degrees F for 2 hours. They should now be firm enough to remove from the tart cases so you can continue to dehydrate them for a further 6 hours.

*Tart cases should be approx 11cm wide and no than about 1cm high, to allow the mixture (details to follow) to dehydrate inside.

For the filling

2c wild mushrooms (or substitute for any type of available mushroom)
1/2t salt
1T lemon juice

• Wash and roughly chop the mushrooms, then marinate them in the salt and lemon juice and set aside.

2c courgettes (zucchini)
1/4c water
1 1/2c cashews
1/4c white miso
2t lemon juice
1/2 medium white onion
3T nutritional yeast
1/2t salt

• Blend all ingredients in a high-powered blender until smooth.

2c tightly-packed spinach
2T olive oil
1/4t salt

• Pulse spinach, olive oil and salt in a food processor for 10 to 20 seconds until broken down.
• Drain the mushrooms from earlier and transfer them to a large bowl, along with the blended courgette (zucchini) mixture, and spinach. Then also mix in the following ingredients:

1/4c finely sliced spring onions
1c diced tomatoes
1T minced basil

• Once thoroughly mixed, pour this mixture into the bases. You’ll need to slightly overfill the bases as the filling will reduce slightly in the dehydrator.
• Dehydrate overnight and during the day, for anything up to 24 hours.
• Remove from the dehydrator and decorate with slices of tomato and fresh basil sprigs. It’s also a good idea to brush the top of the quiche with a small amount of olive oil, to make them more appealing in their appearance.

I been inundated with requests, from people who can’t be there, who have been asking if they can get the recipes or DVD/CD of the event. I seem to be getting a lot of emails from my eZine readers in the US, who desperately want to eat my Christmas Feast meal…I really must plan to come and do a class out there very soon! :-)

So…I’m very grateful to everyone who has expressed an interest, even if you can’t make it. But where does that leave everyone in the UK who still wants my Christmas Feast? Well, I was having a conversation with Karenthe other night, on this very subject, and she suggested that we put on a Raw Food Christmas Feast at her house!

So that’s what we’re going to do…

On Saturday 22nd December we inviting you to come to Karen’s house, in the beautiful, rural surrounding of Ely, Cambs.

You’ll be treated to a raw Christmas dinner to remember, amongst a group of like-minded people, making new friends and taking home all the recipes you’ve tasted during the evening.

Here’s the menu for the evening:

***Kilted Sausages***Sage & Apple stuffing***Cranberry & Pomegranate Sauce***Mushroom Gravy***Herb-Infused Mashed Sweet Potatoes***Crumbed Portabella Meatloaf***Mince Tart with Cashew Cream & Spiced Eggnog Sauce

I’m particularly proud of the dessert!

If this sounds like something you’d like to experience, please book up as soon as you can! Without sounding like some limited-time-special-offer-marketing-thing, we really do only have a very limited amount of space in Karen’s house.

Remember, you’ll be getting recipes for all the food you tasted during the evening, which will even leave you time to shop for and create some or all of the meal for your family on Christmas day.

Click here to book your place.