Champagne Favours

I love champagne -what girl doesn't, right? It is always the right drink to have when in good company, even if there is nothing specific to celebrate.
In my opinion, extra brut champagne (or cava, for that matter) calls for some off the beaten track food paring, besides the obvious, cliched (and not very accessable) caviar.
Here are a few ideas to get you started. More to come.


French Fines de Claires Oysters

Open and serve  on a plate of crushed ice, lemon slices on the side. Have North American guests? Keep Tabasco® handy! Most of the time, they will enjoy a splash.
Many of you might get turned off by the thought of having to open oysters, but it is not that difficult, really. Just give it a try! This video will teach you how. Although you will need the oyster knife (usually not that expensive and quite easy to find), you can skip the purchase of a pricey (usually metal and not very comfortable) oyster glove. Instead, use any heavy-duty kind that will protect your hand.
First prepare your platter with crushed ice. Then start opening the oysters one by one, carefully placing them on the serving platter, making sure you first loosen them up from the shell.

Dates Wrapped in Organic Bacon

I bet you just had an 'aha' moment! How easy can it be, right?

You wrap a small piece of bacon (half a slice) around a date and hold it in place with a tooth pick.

It will take about 10-15 min in 410°F/210°C oven for the bacon to loose the fat and the dates to get warm. Never tried it before and the combination sounds weird? Believe you me, you are going to love it!

Make sure to buy pitted dates (far less jaw breaking and safer for everybody) and wet the tooth picks before use. That way they will not burn in the oven!

Iberic Figs Au Naturel

Why Portuguese or Spanish? The more common ones are Turkish. Delicious as they might be for certain occasions, they are huge and extremely sweet.

The Iberian kind have the perfect mouth size and are far more delicate (less sweet) taste. They will compliment your bubbly just perfect!

Serve them plane, just like that! Anything you do to them to pimp them up, will just ruin them.

Tropical Physalis in Tuxedo

Putting these guys into a tuxedo takes a bit of genious...and patience. But as you go along, you get better and faster at it. This trick will work just as well with small strawberries.

•wash your fruit and let it dry on a cloth

•part and melt some +70% organic chocolate in a small bowl in the microwave (600W for aprox. 4 min)

•open the physalis, gently push the leaves backwards and dip the orange ball in the chocolate

•let the chocolate harden in the freezer (it will take about 2 min.)

I used approx. 25 g of chocolate to cover 16 physalis. I put one chocolate covered physalis in the freezer, then proceeded to prepare and dip the following one. By the time I placed no. 2 in the freezer, no. 1 was ready to come out.

Sauted Brussels Sprouts

Even if you do not like Brussels sprouts, I promise you will like this version of it! It is also quick to prepare and brings color to your plate. Oh yes, and do not forget to check out its amazing health benefits.

What you need
•non-stick wok

Ingredients (side dish for 6)
•1,5 kg of (small) Brussels sprouts, washed and ends trimmed
•2 tbs of good quality virgin olive oil
•12 medium sized cloves of garlic, peeled
•2 tbs of agave nectar
•2 tbs of apple cider vinegar
•salt and pepper

What you do
•steam Brussels sprouts 'al dente' and let them cool down
(you could do this up to 2 days ahead and keep them in the fridge)
•heat the oil in a non-stick wok (low heat)
•add the garlic and cook for 1-2 minutes (do not let them get brown; you just want the garlic to release some of its flavor)
•increase the heat to medium and now add the sprouts
•pour the agave over the sprouts and cook the sprouts for about 5 minutes or until browned, shaking them around all the time
•add salt and pepper to taste
•just before serving, add the vinegar and shake your wok one last time

Butternut Squash Soup

There is butternut squash soup and ... there is this finger lickin' one!
Quite some years ago, I had this amazing butternut squash soup with my friend David P. at Le Garage restaurant in Amsterdam. We both agreed it was one of the best ones ever. Except maybe for his mom's, he said at the time.
I asked him to get me his mom's butternut squash soup recipe like 15 years ago ... still waiting!
Aries is very impatient, so a while ago I started experimenting, adding ingredients and omitting others, till I found what I think is the perfect balance.

Ingredients (for approx. 5,5 l)
•4 butternut squash (approx. 1 kg each)
•4 medium onions, chopped
•2 big (or 4 small) garlic cloves, pressed
•3 l of vegetable stock
•1 1/2 tbs of (medium hot) curry powder
•1 big can (400 ml) of coconut milk
•2 tbs of (coconut) oil
•salt and pepper

What to do
•cuarter the butternut squash and steam it till the meat is soft (approx. 40 min.). In my rather small basket, it was able to steam one squash at a time
•sauté the onions and the garlic in a deep pan for approx. 5 min. (till they are clear and tender)
•add the flesh of the butternut squash (remove skin and seeds), mix and cook for another 5 min.
•add 3 l of vegetable stock and the curry
•bring everything to a boil and add the coconut milk
•turn down the heat and let it simmer for 10 minutes
•turn the fire off and let it rest for another 10 minutes
•pour the mixture into your Vitamix® (or similar blending machine) and blend till smooth
•add salt and pepper if needed

Remarks
Making good soup takes a lot of love and time. So I like to make tons of it at a time and then freeze it...

Lifefood

Last month a friend told me about Lifefood products. She has recently 'converted' to a paleo diet and needed a 'crutch' to wean off the bread and crackers.
I am usually very suspicious of processed food, no matter how 'healthy' they appear to be at first sight. But knowing how thorough my friend M. can be, I just knew I needed to check it out.

I ordered their crackers and got a few 'energy bars' for free, to try out.

I inspected the products and I could not find anything not healthy about them:

•they are 100% raw
•they have no (added) sugar
•they contain no grains
•they have no dairy

The taste of the energy bar and of the crackers is amazing.

There are a couple of drawbacks:

•the products are German and so far, the only 'local' distributors are within the European Community. So shipping costs and possible import taxes for you living outside Europe, will add up
•the products themselves are not particularly cheep either. A box of crackers (85 g) will set you back approx. Euro. 4,25

My advise: wean off the bread as quickly as you can and don't use crutches. Treat yourself to Lifefood products on a special occasion!

Cranberry Upside-Down Cake

This year I celebrated my first Thanksgiving ever in the USA. It was a wonderful 'no pressure' event.  No kids spinning their wheels because of Santa Claus, no stress about wrapping presents. It was all about spending time together, catching up with family we had not seen for a while.  The kitchen is where we all hanged out, drinking, talking and cooking for the grand finale at the table.

Thanksgiving is pretty much the 'un-official' kick-off of the cranberry season.

I came home with a few recipes that I tried out, changed, 'paleorized' and voilá.  Here is a cake that doesn't kill the benefits of cranberries (by adding tons of sugar), is beautiful,  and tastes amazing!

You need

•blender (or hand mixer)

•minipimer
•2,5 l loaf pan (13,5 in. long x 5 in. wide x 3,4 in. tall)

Ingredients (for approx. 8 servings)

•coconut oil for greasing

•680 g of fresh cranberries, washed and drained

•2,5 cups (250 g) almond meal

•6 eggs

•1 tsp baking soda

•1/2 cup (120 ml) + 4 tbs of agave nectar

Baking the cake

•preheat the oven to 356F (180C)

•in a small saucepan, cook the cranberries and 4 tbs of agave nectar over medium heat, stirring, while cranberries pop (about 5 to 6 minutes)

•grease the pan

•pour the cranberries into the pan and spread evenly

•whisk the eggs and once they are fluffy, start pouring the agave into the mix, while you keep the blender running

•add the baking soda to the almond meal

•add the dry mixture to the wet mixture and blend well

•pour the batter over the cranberries into the pan

•bake for approximately 30 min (or until you insert a toothpick in the middle and it comes out clean)

•take it out of the oven and allow it to cool down for about 15 min. 

•let cool slightly, then run a spatula (or knife) along the edges of the pan
•invert the cake into a wire rack (if you find that some of the cranberry ends up sticking to the pan, don't panic! Just scrape it off the pan onto the cake. It will all settle nicely once it has cooled down completely

Tips & remarks

•I bake in an electric oven where the heat spreads very evenly. I have baked in a gas oven before and notice that for some reason, there is some 'heat loss'. So I have had to increase the heat in a gas oven by 5C/41F
•have a close look at the cranberries when you wash them; there are always a few that are 'off'. You don't want those in your cake!
•after you invert the cake, out of the pan and let it rest, you will notice the cranberry juices will start to soak the cake. Don't worry...that's the idea!

American Pancakes

One of the things I just have to have once in a while, is a good helping of American pancakes with my Sunday breakfast.
I experimented with different recipes -even the one in the Primal Blueprint Cookbook. They all either disappointed me or turned into a big disaster.
Finally, a pancake recipe worth tasting. After trying these delicious and fluffy coconut flour pancakes with some Canadian (or Midwestern) true maple syrup, there is no way you will even consider going back to Aunt Jemima nor Krusteaz pancake mix; not even if they paid you!

Ingredients for batter (makes about 10 medium pancakes)
•4 eggs room temperature
•1 cup of almond milk
•2 tsp vanilla extract
•1 tbs of honey
•1/2 cup of coconut flour
•1 tsp baking soda
•1/2 tsp crushed sea salt
•coconut oil for frying

Ingredients for topping
•coconut oil/cream
•maple syrup
•fresh fruit (berries, strawberries and/or bananas will work best)

What you do
•Preheat a frying pan over medium-low heat
•beat the eggs until frothy
•add the almond milk, vanilla and honey
•in a different bowl, combine the dry ingredients: coconut flour, baking soda and sea salt and mix
•add the wet mixture into the dry until well incorporated
•grease pan with coconut oil and ladle some batter into the pan for each pancake; immediately afterwards spread the mixture slightly with the back of a spoon
•cook each side (approx. 2-3 minutes) until dry

Remarks
I like my pancakes medium sized, thick and golden brown (to each its own) and stacked (at least 2), then topped with some coconut cream, swimming in maple syrup and occasionally, with fresh fruit on top!