seedy salad rolls

These are so simple to make, and are a nice take on the traditional shrimp + noodle salad rolls. You can make them a little ahead of time so long as you keep them, wrapped up tightly in wax paper or film. I serve these with a simple asian dipping sauce (sweet chili sauce and soy with a dash of malt vinegar)

In a large bowl combine:

 2 carrots grated

1/4 cucumber sliced razor thin

the stocks of 4 chards sliced razor thin

2 huge handfuls of micro greens or shoots (yes again I have used buckwheat shoots)

2 toes of garlic minced

1″ section of ginger minced

two handfuls of hemp seeds

one handful of black seasame seeds

two chives diced thin

drown the lot in equal parts:

rice wine vinegar

seasame oil

braggs

and add a dash of sugar and a pinch of sea salt and a squeeze of lemon juice

soak rice wrappers in hot water for 2 minutes each and gently roll a handful of formed filling into each one… if you get on a good roll you can be soaking one sheet while rolling another.

enjoy!

rainbow chard qunioa pilaff with turkey sausage

meat night! meat dance! happy time!

Meat is an occasion unto itself in my house. Something embraced and respected and anticipated above all. I never hear the end of the “were’s the meat” blues.. but I think it’s all a little dramatic. 85% of the time we eat vegetarian, often vegan, always wheat free, and mostly gluten free…. but a few times a month momma busts out the brown paper packs.. and everyone at the homefront is ecstatic! My girlfriend and I made a trip today to pick up a summer supply of meat from my favorite local butchers. which meant we both had meat dancing families to come home too! My freezer is packed and my family is dreaming of the lovely rosemary turkey sausage they had for dinner…

I would call this a hash… only a healthy lean protein machine version.. hearty yet still pretty light and chocked full of green veggie goodness.

I cooked 2 cups of quinoa in 4 cups of water, seasoned with a handful of fresh parsley, 2 tbsp garlic powder, 1 tbsp lemon peel, a pinch of the  new garlic chili sea salt blend I made, and some veggie stock powder (an expensive organic variety… I am setting out to recreate at home and in mass)

While the qunioa is cooking away start browning about 1lb of sausage meat casing removed (I used a local turkey sausage packed with rosemary) to which I added 1 white onion chopped and a few cloves of garlic finely diced, and the stocks from 5 rainbow chards. Let everything brown up and season with S+P, fresh parsley, 1 tbsp paprika, and a good glug of nice balsamic vinegar. Once these things are nice and brown add the chard greens chopped fine along with a good squeeze of lemon juice and pepper. Remove from heat and serve over seasoned qunioa. Finish with some toasted spicy pumpkin seeds.. oh and buckwheat shoots if you have polyculture pounds to eat!

enjoy

nori story

I continue to be diligent in my nori / dulce / miso / kelp mission to support thyroid function in my family and whenever I can wrap something up in nori I do!

This meal was a great combination of flavor and texture and colour especially… unexpectently when I threw in some purple orak slivers into my seasame noodles they all turned bright charming pink! how delightful, especially wrapped up in deep sea emeral nori sheets.

Here is a quick and easy 15 minute meal, and essentially you can eat the noodles 3 ways: straight up as a hot noodle bowl, cold as a salad, or rolled up in nori.. we did all three over 2 days and the simple dipping sauce I made, ensured the nori rolls were the hands down hit of the three.

I made a batch of my go to sesame rice noodles recipe here and added a huge handfull of purple orak finely riboned for the last 3 minutes of the satay. I then removed them from the heat and add a few handfuls of buckwheat shoots and cucumber sticks to the noodles and wrapped them up in nori. I mixed equal parts sweet chili sauce (cock brand from an asian market) and braggs for a garlicly sweet salty dip. When I served these purple noodles as a salad I finshed them with ribbons of nori and an extra sprinkle of sesame seeds and chives.

I hope you try these favourites of mine out one day soon.. they are super good for you and ridiculously yummy!

my sunny solstice feast

This simple celebration meal was enjoyed outside overlooking our stunning green mountain valley in honor of the first day of summer; and it was the perfect way to satisfy a just worked up appetite after a forest forage for artsy sticks. mmm a harmony of all the seasons on one plate … winter root potatoes, and fall onions, the first of the early sweet and juicy corn from far south of here, topped with a bedding of crisp spring microgreen shoots, and razor thin shavings of summers first heirloom easter egg radishes. All dusted with a handful of fresh herbs. Humble enough ingredients, but each one perfectly accented with spice and sweet.

Start by thinly slicing russet potatoes about 4 of them, and in a deep cast iron pan brown them slowly over medium heat using both butter and olive oil. Season them heavily with S+P, garlic granules, and cayanne pepper. Let both sides brown and add some white wine to deglaze the pan a bit, quickly cover and remove from heat to steam through for about 5 minutes.

Meanwhile in a separate pan brown 1/4” rings from one large white onion, along with 5 toes of crushed garlic, let these slowly and lightly brown, before adding a good glug of maple syrup and sea salt, remove from pan and turn up the heat. For this celebration I pulled out the good stuff and added to the searing hot cast iron pan a tbsp of bacon drippings (saving for just such corn occasions).

Rapidly flash blacken the kernals from 1 big cob of organic corn, and as they are popping and charring in the pan add a dash of pepper and a hit of chili peppers. Layer the potatoes, with the maple fried onion and garlic, then the bacon seared corn and finish the lot with a heavy two handfuls of microgreens (of course I am still eating buckwheat shoots as they are over abundant still), a generous amount of fresh chives, flat leaf parsley, dill, chive flowers and finally radish slivers add the perfect crunch and finish.

bon appetit

buckwheat shoot micro green salad

I am flush with lovely crunchy buckwheat shoots, so we are grazing on them constantly on lazy garden days. I made a little micro greens salad the other night and the colours were enchanting! The deep dark purple of  the orak, the tender light green of the buckwheat, the vibrant purple heads of the garlic chive flowers, along with baby spinach, tiny collard greens, chives, fresh dill and flat leaf parsley bits. I covered these luscious greens with some garlic toasted baguette croutons, some lovely goat feta my girlfriend (a new milk maid), made which turned out wonderful. This salad was perfectly finished with 10 minute boiled eggs contributed by my feathered flock.

Finally we are starting to eat out of the garden! What exciting times. More good greens each day.

boston bruin bustin burgers with supreme stanley cup palyoff fixins’

Hockey night in chilliwak and I am staying with my wonderful sister in law this week just outside of vancouver and we are enjoying the local organic abundance of the fraiser valley… but also enjoying the canuk’s run for the cup, and their big win tonight!  Friday night hockey night meant we needed to feed the crew a serious stanley cup worthy meaty man meal. The burgers I threw together were among the best I have ever had and I think I heard that repeated by a number of full mouths…

In a large bowl mix by hand all of the following:

2 lbs local organic ground beef

1 small onion grated fine

5 toes of garlic minced finely

2 eggs

3 slices of toasted bread (I used sprouted wheat bread) ground fine in a processor

S+P

a small handful each of fresh chopped oregano & parsley

2 tsp tequila sunrise chili blend

a generous squeeze of each: ketchup and grainy mustard

a splash of soy sauce

mix and form the above into 8 massive burger patties. Grill each side for about 5 minutes on the BBQ or until desired doneness

we made these burgers and served them with a buffet of fixings including;

maple caramelized onions (fried with butter, parsley, garlic, S+P and finished with maple syrup)

pan fried mushrooms (cooked in butter, with a splash of soy sauce and kiss of fresh ginger)

local organic arugula (nice and peppery)

jalepono havarti

oven baked local thick cut organic bacon,

sliced tomatoes, homemade pickles, and some other local CSA lettuce mix

So once all these topping were piled onto a massive toasted bun, it was really difficult to get my mouth around the bun, but certainly enjoyed the challenge of eating it… to the point of excess.

roasted eggplant and veggie masala

You are only 25 minutes away from a divine roasted indian kissed veggie dinner, that you won’t soon forget. And if you think you hate eggplant maybe you just haven’t had it drown and browned in oilve oil and garam masala.