Welcome to my crazy world of real food cooking ...

Eat Food. Not too much. Mostly Plants. -- Michael Pollan

I wish I could take credit for that because I think it sums up how we should eat. Simply -- eat stuff that really is food, instead of stuff that is food like substance. The supermarket is almost entirely food-like-substances, and, my friends, you should probably never ever eat them.

Fortunately, there is a world of deliciousness out there, and it can all be had in a way that not only doesn't harm your health, but in a way that benefits you hugely.

I think it's important to eat stuff that satisfies you, that keeps your blood sugar stable, and that gives you stuff your body really needs to run optimally.

But baby, it's gotta taste good.

I really like getting experimental in the kitchen. I love cooking, I love layering flavours, and I love coming up with really super yummy food. I have very strong opinions about what constitutes food, and there are a lot of things I won't touch in the kitchen. Bottom line? Pretty much everything I make is ridiculously good for you even if it tastes decadent. Although there are occasional big fat cheats ... but even those stick to real food, my friends.

For food that is usual gluten free, usually free of cane sugar, usually super low on the glycemic index, full of protein, fiber, flavour, and excellent energy, join me and Alice down the rabbit hole.

Every recipe on this blog is my own original effort and idea, so please pass 'em on, giving credit where credit is due.

Many thanks, and come back often. I'm really glad you are here!

:)

Thursday 10 March 2011

Green Sesame Noodles with Bok Choy Saute

green sesame noodles with bok choy saute

We received another organic bin this week, and in it was baby bok choy. Really lovely fresh baby bok choy. I thought green noodles would make a wholesome backdrop to a saute of baby bok choy, perhaps sauced with something in the miso honey and ginger family ...

I wanted to see what would happen if I added chia seeds to my standard green noodle recipe. And then tossed them with coconut oil and toasted sesame seeds after cooking. Here's the amended noodle recipe, and the saute recipe follows.


green sesame chia noodles:

ingredients:

150 g frozen organic spinach, defrosted
1 organic egg (xl or l)
1/2 cup almond flour
1 tsp sea salt
1/4 chia seeds
1 1/2 cups  kamut flour

directions:

1. in a food processor, puree the defrosted spinach. If you are using fresh spinach, let me know how it turns out.
2. add the egg and combine
3. add the sea salt, chia seeds, and almond meal, and combine
4. add 1 1/2 cups kamut flour, and pulse to combine.
5. gather the dough into a ball, flatten, wrap, and set aside to 'rest'.
6. divide the dough into 4 parts
7. roll each part on a mat sprinkled with kamut flour, using a rolling pin sprinkled with kamut flour.
8. if the dough is too sticky, add more kamut flour
9. roll the dough out until it is nice and thin
10. make sure the surface is well sprinkled with kamut flour, and roll it up 
11. set the roll aside and repeat with the other portions of dough
12. once all the portions of dough have been rolled up, cut them into spirals using a sharp chef's knife or bread knife (I prefer a bread knife because the serrated blade makes this task easier)
13. uncoil the spirals and lay them out
14. put the noodles in boiling water spiked with a little oil, and cook for 2 minutes.
15. drain the noodles, and toss with coconut oil and a couple of table spoons of toasted sesame seeds


Ready to roll
Green noodle dough with chia seeds. What country does this look like?


A spiral
Three rolled up portions of dough

Cutting them efficiently with a serrated blade

Spirals before they are unrolled

the noodle spirals, after cutting, before unravelling
unravelling the noodle spirals
boiled for 2 minutes, and tossed with coconut oil, a pinch of sea salt, and toasted sesame seeds


bok choy saute:

ingredients:

2 lbs baby bok  choy, cleaned and cut into bite sized pieces
2 cups carrots, cut into medallions then sticks
1 celery rib, cut on the diagonal, then into strips
1 cup raw almonds
2 tbsp extra virgin coconut oil
1 or 2 tbsp finely minced fresh ginger

up to 1 tsp sea salt

2 tbsp miso paste
1 tbsp honey
1 or 2 tbsp lemon juice


directions:

1. heat the coconut oil in a large saute pan, and add the almonds, carrots, celery, and ginger, with a little sea salt. Cook until happy.
2. add the baby bok choy and a little sea salt, and stir
3. mix the miso, honey, lemon juice in a small bowl
4. add the miso paste to the vegetables, and combine well
5. serve on a bed of sesame tossed green noodles


Now, if you want to orchestrate the making of this meal in a way that fits into your busy life, you can do it in stages:

1. make the dough, and wrap it and put it in the fridge. The dough can easily be made a day ahead.
2. at your leisure, roll out the dough in 4 parts, roll up the dough, and slice. Put in an airtight container, and put it back in fridge
3. at your leisure, clean and cut the carrots and celery, and store in an airtight container.
4. Before cooking, measure out your ingredients into 'junbi' bowls. 'Junbi' is the Japanese word for 'preparation'. A student of mine who was an amateur gourmet cook used to say to me 'Ryori wa junbi desu', which means 'Cooking is all in the preparation'.
5. You can actually saute up your almonds, carrots, celery, and ginger earlier, and leave 'em in the pan on the stove.
6. Bring water to a boil at the same time as the carrots and almonds are done cooking, and hot.
7. Add the bok choy and do your thing with it, and then toss in the sauce. When that is all ready, set it aside, and cook your noodles. They only need 2 minutes. When the noodles are done, drain 'em, and toss  'em with a little coconut oil and sesame seeds. Put a little bed of noodles in a bowl, and top with the vege stir-fry. Easy-peasy!













ready to top the noodles


ta-da!


:)

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

well how interesting. I never knew that what i often do to spread out prep over the day, just as you suggest, is to do jumbi bowls...!! you learn something every day...
M

Anonymous said...

i KNEW i had another comment.. for those of us sans food processors.. any way of making those noodles??
m

stacey said...

If you have some means of pureeing the spinach (perhaps the spinach and egg together in the blender, or with a hand blender?), then you can just mix everything else in by hand. The food processor just makes it fast.