Raw Essence - Recipes and Review - Sweetly RawSweetly Raw

Raw Essence – Recipes and Review

April 24, 2013 By sweet_raw In Savoury 0 Comments

Recently a delightful new recipe book landed on my doorstep to review. Raw Essence is the compilation of 180 genius raw vegan recipes and information by chefs David Cote and Mathieu Gallant who also own Crudessence restaurant in Montreal. I've heard wonderful things about their restaurant and would absolutely love to eat there one day, but for those of us who don't have the luxury of popping over to Montreal, we can at least make some of their delicious recipes in our own homes.

For me, one thing that really makes a recipe book is colorful photos, and lots of them. Raw Essence is packed with big beautiful pictures, in fact there is an image for every single recipe in the book. It's a feast for the eyes and inspiration for the soul. You will WANT to run to the kitchen and start making food - or at least that's how I felt upon reading through it.

I chose three recipes to try right away: Meatless Meatballs, Tortilla Chips, and Gazpacho - and I have many more bookmarked for later like Greek Salad, Hot Chocolate, Lasagna, Cheese Roll, Curry Sushi, Ice Cream Sundae, and Creamy Spinach Pistachio Soup, just to name a few.

The good news is that the publisher has allowed me to share three recipes from the book with you!

I normally wouldn't go for "meatballs" as a first choice but somehow this recipe caught my eye and when I did a savory dehydrator blitz recently I knew these were going to be on the menu. Their versatility also appealed to me. In the book the balls are served several ways: as an appetizer with a dip, bathed in a sweet teryaki sauce along with veggies to make brochettes, and in a the 'supreme tacos'. I was also thinking they would be great with zucchini noodles and sundried tomato sauce.

I've been eating these every single day for lunch since I made them. I start by mashing avocado onto a dehydrated veggie wrap then top it with romaine lettuce, sliced tomato, red pepper, five small "meatballs", arugula, and marinated mushrooms. I finish it off with a generous drizzle of spicy chipotle tomato sauce and wrap it all up! Super satisfying.

Meatless Meatballs, page 138*

Makes 22 balls

Soaking: 8 hours

Preparation: 30 minutes

Dehydration: about 12 hours

Equipment: food processor, dehydrator

11⁄4 cups sunflower seeds 300 mL

2 tbsp sunflower oil 30 mL

2 tbsp apple cider vinegar 30 mL

1 tsp wheat-free tamari sauce 5 mL

1⁄3 cup grated carrot 75 mL

1⁄3 cup diced celery (1 to 2 stalks) 75 mL

1 clove garlic 1

1⁄3 cup finely chopped onion 75 mL

1⁄4 cup chopped parsley 60 mL

3 tbsp chopped dried chives 45 mL

3 tbsp nutritional yeast 45 mL

1 tbsp chili powder 15 mL

1⁄2 tsp sea salt 2 mL

1⁄2 tsp ground black pepper 2 mL

6 tbsp ground sunflower seeds 90 mL

1. Soaking: In a bowl, soak 11⁄4 cups (300 mL) sunflower seeds

in water to cover for 8 hours. Rinse thoroughly and discard soaking water.

2. In food processor, combine sunflower seeds, oil, vinegar and

wheat-free tamari sauce and blend into butter. Set aside.

3. In a salad bowl, combine carrot and celery with sunflower

butter and remaining ingredients. Blend by hand to form a paste of

even consistency.

4. In palm of hand, scoop 11⁄2 tbsp (22 mL) of dough and form into

small balls. Oil hands, if necessary.

5. Place balls on dehydrator trays and dehydrate at 105°F (41°C)

for 12 hours. The balls should be firm on the outside, but still tender on

the inside.

Heathy's Spicy Chipotle Sauce

Drizzle this over the meatballs! I can only handle this in small amounts because Im sensitive to spicy things, but it really kicks up a dish! I'm big on sauces and this is one I've made several times and like to keep on hand in the fridge.

1/4 cup packed sun dried tomatoes
2 dry chipotle peppers
1/4 teaspoon himalayan salt
1 tablespoon chopped green onion
or 1/4 teaspoon onion powder
5 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar, or more

Soak the chipotle peppers in 1/4 cup water for 4-6 hours.
Soak the dried tomatoes in a separate bowl of water for 1 hour.
Blend all ingredients, MINUS the tomato soak water but include the chipotle soak water in a high speed blender until smooth.

Tortilla chips with a base of sundried tomatoes and flax seed was next on my agenda. I chose them because the "corn free" tortilla chip concept was refreshing to me! I'm not a fan of corn. Most of it has been genetically modified and I just don't think it's an ideal food. Rosemary transformed these into a taste of heaven and they smelled divine while dehydrating.

While they taste incredible, the texture is a flop. They just don't get crunchy the way a chip should be. Twice I've stuck them back into the dehydrator to crisp up but that lasts about half an hour - and I dehydrated these for 16 hours. So I'm not sure what the secret is - I used 1 cup of batter per teflex sheet and I spread them very thin as you can see in the photos. But they won't go to taste as I'll find a way to enjoy them (I'm thinking some kind of filling and sandwich them together so they become like a ravioli).

Gazpacho is a soup that I really love, especially during the summer months. I can eat bowls and bowls of it in the hot weather. I wanted to make one of the soups in the book and had all the ingredients for this one, so quickly and easily I was sitting down a bowl of this along with crackers. Lovely light meal. My photos look different from the image in the book but wow, this was absolutely delicious and I'd definitely make it again.

Check out these Spinach Ricotta Portobello Mushrooms - they look like a perfect party food!

And Island Lime Pie is another one that stood out to me. I'll have to make this in the future too!

Island Lime Pie, page 193

Makes 12 portions

Preparation: 15 minutes

Equipment: blender, food processor, pastry bag

1 recipe Coco-Macadamia Crust (see below) 1

Avocado Mousse

Flesh of 2 to 3 avocados

3⁄4 cup freshly squeezed 175 mL

lime or lemon juice

1⁄2 cup coconut butter 125 mL

1⁄2 cup agave nectar 125 mL

1⁄2 tsp alcohol-free vanilla essence 2 mL

Frosting

1⁄4 cup water 60 mL

1 tbsp freshly squeezed lime or lemon juice 15 mL

1⁄2 cup macadamia nuts 125 mL

2 tsp agave nectar 10 mL

1⁄4 tsp alcohol-free vanilla essence 1 mL

1⁄8 tsp sea salt 0.5 mL

1 tbsp coconut oil, melted 15 mL

1. Line the bottom and sides of a 9-inch (23 cm) pie

plate with crust.

2. Avocado Mousse: In food processor, combine all

ingredients and blend to a smooth cream of even consistency.

Pour into crust. Keep at room temperature while preparing frosting.

3. Frosting: In blender, combine all ingredients except

melted coconut oil and blend to a smooth cream of even

consistency. This can take several minutes. If needed, add

1 to 2 tbsp (15 to 30 mL) more water. While blender is running,

incorporate melted coconut oil.

4. Place mixture in a pastry bag with a narrow nozzle.

5. Trace a spiral of frosting on the pie from the center

to the rim of the pie plate. With a chopstick, trace a dozen

lines in the frosting at regular intervals from the center to the

rim to resemble a spider web.

Coco-Macadamia Crust

1⁄2 cup macadamia nuts 125 mL

1 cup shredded coconut 250 mL

3 chopped seedless  dates 3

1⁄2 tsp alcohol-free vanilla 2 mL  essence

1⁄4 tsp sea salt 1 mL

1. In food processor, chop macadamia nuts to small pieces.

2. Add remaining ingredients and blend to obtain  an evenly

consistent crust that can be formed into a ball.

I hope you're inspired to order your own copy of Raw Essence!

Note: Excerpted from RawEssence by David Côté and
Mathieu Gallant © 2013 Robert Rose Inc. www.robertrose.ca
May not be reprinted without publisher permission.

Shared at Wellness Weekend, Healthy Vegan Fridays

Raw Essence - Recipes and Review

Raw Essence – Recipes and Review

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