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Sweet Potato Confetti Toast

A colourful, simple lunch or side that takes under 20 minutes to make. This serves 2 people.

Ingredients

1 large sweet potato, peeled
1/4 each red, yellow, and orange bell pepper (or just use 3/4 of one colour of your choice if you prefer), finely diced
1/2 red onion, finely diced
1 avocado
1/2 tsp each garlic powder and onion granules
1 tsp lime juice
1 pinch red chilli flakes
salt and pepper, to taste

Method

Cut the potato into four long, 1/2-cm thick slices. To stop the potato rolling around as you try to cut it, take a thin slice from one side, and use this flattened side as the base to stabilize the potato.

Place the potato in a preheated health grill for 15 minutes, turning once. Alternatively, run it through the toaster for two rounds.

Meanwhile, mash the avocado with the garlic powder, onion granules, lime juice, chilli flakes, and salt and pepper.

Top the toasted sweet potato with the avocado, and sprinkle on the bell peppers and onion.

Fresh, handmade brown rice fettuccine with kale, red peppers, and raisins

A simple, gluten free pasta with good body and chew tossed in a light oil and garlic sauce with sauteed vegetables. This makes a reasonably sized serving for one; the recipe easily doubles.

Ingredients

For the noodles
1/2 cup scant brown rice flour
1/2 cup scant tapioca flour
2T masa harina (corn flour)
1/4t coarse sea salt
1/2 cup boiling water
2T nutritional yeast
2 liters water with 1T coarse sea salt

For the sauce
1T olive oil
1/4t coarse sea salt
1 scallion (2″ green reserved for garnish)
1/2t dried basil, rubbed
1/2t dried oregano, rubbed
1/4t dried thyme, rubbed
1T fresh garlic, minced
1 cup green kale, stemmed and chopped
1/2 cup diced red pepper (about half a small red pepper)
1T sun-dried tomatoes, chopped (the dehydrated kind, not the kind packed in oil)
1T raisins
1/2T lenon juice
Sea salt and black pepper to taste

For the garnish
2 heirloom grape tomatoes, thinly sliced
Scallion green as above, sliced on an angle

Directions

Mix the flours for the pasta with the course sea salt. Whisking as you pour, add the boiling water. Be careful; it will be quite hot, but keep mixing. This will result in a crumbly dough. That’s fine — it will continue to absorb flour.

Turn the dough out onto a cutting board, and as soon as its cool enough for you to do so, knead as you would a regular dough until all the flour is absorbed and you have a smooth, pliable dough. Let rest 2 minutes. Roll out on a floured board to 1/8″ thick, trying to make the dough rectangular as possible (about 12″ long).

In a large pot, bring the 2 liters water to a light simmer with the 1T coarse sea salt. Trim the ends of the dough and slice the noodles in 1/4″ wide, long rectangular strips. Use a pasta/pastry cutter for best effect.

When the noodles are cut, add them to the simmering water and cook lightly for about 2 minutes or until they start to float. Don’t overcook and don’t boil. Drain the pasta and rinse with cold water. Let stand 15 minutes to cool and dry. Rinse with a little cold water every few minutes to avoid sticking while you make the sauce.

In a frying pan, bring the oil to heat with the sea salt on medium high. Add the scallion and herbs and saute for 2 minutes. Add the garlic and saute for another minute. Add the kale, peppers, raisins and sun-dried tomatoes and saute for 5-7 minutes (until the kale has softened). When the pan starts to brown, deglaze with the lemon juice and remove from heat. Season to taste.

When the sauce is ready, rinse the pasta with hot water to warm and drain. Toss the pasta with 2T nutritional yeast. Plate and add the sauce. Toss the pasta gently with the sauce, add the sliced heirloom tomatoes and scallions. Season to taste and serve.

Hand-rolled, gluten free (oat) gemelli pasta in a roasted red pepper sauce

The combination of oat and tapioca make for a nice, chewy pasta, and the gemelli provide a lot of ridging to hold onto the rich sauce. The cremini mushrooms, artichokes, and spinach add flavour, colour and nutrition. The recipe easily doubles.

Ingredients

For the sauce
1 large red pepper
1 scallion, minced (reserve 2″ green for garnish)
1/2T fresh garlic, minced
1/2t dried oregano, rubbed
1/4t dried thyme, rubbed
4 medium cremini mushrooms (about 50g), coarsely sliced (about 1/4″)
1/2 cup artichoke hearts
1T sun-dried tomatoes, chopped (the dehydrated kind, not the kind packed in oil)
1T nutritional yeast
1/2 cup spinach, coarsely chopped (reserve a few tablespoons for garnish)
Sea salt and black pepper to taste

For the noodles
1/2 cup scant gluten free oat flour*
1/2 cup scant tapioca flour
1T masa harina (corn flour)
1/4t coarse sea salt
1/2 cup boiling water

Instructions

Start the sauce, then the make pasta. Preheat the oven to 450F (or use the traditional charring method if you have a gas stove). Lightly oil and roast the red pepper and roast until the skin is nicely charred. Remove from the oven and let cool. While the red pepper roast,

start the pasta. Mix the flours for the pasta with the course sea salt. Whisking as you pour, add the boiling water. Be careful; it will be quite hot, but keep mixing. This will result in a crumbly dough. That’s fine — it will continue to absorb flour.

Turn the dough out onto a cutting board, and as soon as its cool enough for you to do so, knead as you would a regular dough until all the flour is absorbed and you have a smooth, pliable dough. Let rest 2 minutes. Roll out on a floured board until in a rectangle until the dough is 1/8″. Slice width-wise in 1/4″ lines. These can be a little larger and thicker than wheat gemelli. They won’t plump as much while cooking.

Roll the pasta on the board (or between your palms), loop in half (end to end), close the ends with a pinch, and then twist by rolling the folded pasta away from you with the right hand and toward you with the left. Be careful, oat flour makes for a more delicate dough. Repeat until all the dough has been rolled. Keep your dough under a warm we cloth while you work if you find it starts to dry out. Once the noodles are rolled, let them stand about 10 minutes to dry.

In a large pan, bring the water and sea salt to a light simmer. Then slice the strands in 1 1/2″ slices to make the gemelli. Add the gemelli to the water and stir lightly.
Simmer the pasta for 2-3 minutes or until the gemelli are floating. Don’t boil and don’t overcook. Drain the pasta and rinse with cold water. Let stand 20 minutes to cool and dry. Rinse with a little cold water every few minutes to avoid sticking while you make the sauce.

In a frying pan with a lid, bring the oil to heat with the sea salt on medium high. Add the scallion and herbs and saute for 2 minutes. Add the garlic and saute for another minute. Add the mushrooms and artichoke hearts. Saute for 5-7 minutes until the pan starts to brown. While the mushrooms saute, peel, core, seed, and chop the red pepper. Puree it with the sun-dried tomato. When the pan starts to brown, add the pureed red pepper and deglaze the pan. Cover, reduce heat to medium low and simmer about 10 minutes.

When the sauce is ready, rinse the pasta with warm water to warm and drain. Add the pasta to the sauce. Add the nutritional yeast and chopped spinach, reserving a few tablespoons for garnish. Stir gently to coat the pasta in the sauce. Remove from heat. Let stand 5 minutes to let the spinach wilt. Season to taste. Plate and garnish with spinach and scallion greens sliced on a diagonal, and serve.

*Oats are naturally gluten free, but there can be issues of cross-contamination during production with flours that contain gluten.

Chick pea and nori gnocchi with smokey, heirloom carrot ribbons, sun-dried tomatoes, walnuts, and spring mix

The chick pea flour gives this gluten free version of this dish a lovely, soft chew that’s similar to potato and wheat flour. If you don’t have a spiralizer or a mandoline, you can shred the carrots using a box grater. The texture will be slightly different, but the flavor will be consistent.

Ingredients

For the gnocchi
1 cup tapioca flour
1 1/2 cups chick pea flour, 1/4 cup reserved
1 cup boiling water
1T green nori flakes
1/4t coarse sea salt
2 liters water with 2t coarse sea salt
1T olive oil
2T nutritional yeast
Sea salt and black pepper to taste

For the carrots
4 medium purple heirloom carrots (about 1 packed cup when cut)
1T cooking oil
1/4t coarse sea salt
1/2t red Thai chili paste (or similar or to taste)
2t tamari (use gluten free)
2t coconut sugar (maple syrup makes a good substitution)
A dash liquid smoke
Sea salt and black pepper to taste

For the spring mix
1T olive oil
2t balsamic vinegar
1 scallion, minced (4″ green reserve for garnish)
2t fresh garlic, minced
1/4t coarse sea salt
2 cups packed spring mix
Sea salt and black pepper to taste

For the garnish
2T sun-dried tomatoes, finely chopped (use dehydrated, not jarred)
2T walnuts, chopped
Scallion green sliced on a diagonal as above

Instructions

Make the dressing, start the gnocchi and then carrots. Whisk together the olive oil, vinegar, scallion, garlic, and the coarse sea salt in a small dish until well combined. Set aside for the flavors to mix and start the pasta.

Mix the flours for the pasta with the course sea salt and nori. Whisking as you pour, add the boiling water. Be careful; it will be quite hot, but keep mixing. This will result in a dry and crumbly dough. That’s fine — it will continue to absorb flour, soften and become moist. Turn the dough out onto a cutting board. As soon as its cool enough for you to do so, knead as you would a regular dough until all the flour is absorbed and you have a smooth, pliable dough. Add additional chick pea flour 1 tablespoon at a time as you knead. Let rest 2 minutes.

When the dough is ready, roll out on a well-floured board in a rectangle until the dough is about 1/4″ thick. Tear or cut 2t pieces of dough. Roll each piece into a firm, smooth ball, then roll the dough gently into a slightly oblong shape. Ridge each gnocchi with a fork by gently but firmly pressing the back of the tines into the gnocchi. Repeat until you’ve used all of your dough. Let rest about 10 minutes and start the carrots.

Preheat the oven to 450F. Whisk the dressing for the carrots, and toss together until the carrots are well-coated. Add the carrots in a shallow layer to a roasting pan. Roast on the middle rack of the oven for about 10 minutes — until the carrots are lightly browned and chewy.

While the carrots roast, cook the pasta. In a large pot, bring the 2L water and sea salt to a simmer for the pasta. Add the gnocchi and simmer until they begin to float, about 3-5 minutes. Don’t boil and don’t overcook. Add 1T pasta water to the spring mix dressing. Drain the gnocchi, rinse thoroughly in cool water, toss in the 1T olive oil and nutritional yeast until well-coated, and season to taste.

In a large bowl, dress the spring mix, add the gnocchi, toss very gently to combine, and set aside until the carrots are ready. Once the carrots are ready, remove from the oven and season to taste. Then, plate the dish. Add the gnocchi and spring mix first, then add the carrot on top. Sprinkle with the sun-dried tomato, chopped walnuts, and scallions, and then serve.

Flourfree chocolate torte with lemon vanilla chai icing, swirled with dark chai ginger caramel

No flour, no baking, no gluten, simple, but rich and flavourful, the cake part of this torte is lovely all by itself. This makes 4 larger portions or up to 8 small slices.

Ingredients

For the cake
1/2 cup whole grain, brown teff
2 cups water
50g bittersweet chocolate (I use an organic, fairly traded bar)
1/4 cup coconut sugar
A pinch coarse sea salt

For the icing
1T plant-only shortening
1T plant-only margarine
6T powdered sugar (I use an organic brand) (1) (2)
1t lemon juice
1 chai tea bag and 1T reduced tea (explained in the directions)
1/4 cup boiling water

For the caramel
1T reduced chai tea (as noted)
1T coconut sugar (2)
1/2t plant only margarine
1T unsweetened soy milk
1/4t fresh ginger, minced

Directions

First make the cake part of the torte, then the icing and caramel.

In a small sauce pan with a lid, toast the teff for 2 – 3 minutes. Add the water and bring to a simmer. Cover, reduce heat to low, and simmer 20 – 25 minutes or until the teff is thick, the water has been absorbed and the teff pulls away from the sides when stirred. Stir periodically until the last 5 minutes or so, and then stir frequently to avoid sticking.

When the teff is ready, add the coconut sugar and sea salt and stir to combine. Simmer on the lowest possible heat for 3 minutes, stirring continuously. Add the chocolate and stir continuously until melted.

If you haven’t worked with chocolate much, this is the most delicate step in the recipe. Don’t add water, don’t change the temperature or do anything that may cause the chocolate to seize. Just keep stirring. When the chocolate has melted, pour the resulting batter into a 3″x9″ loaf pan. Refrigerate 20 minutes uncovered. Cover loosely and let cool 1 hour to setup.

When the cake has setup, make the icing and the caramel. Bring 1/4 cup water to boil, and steep the tea for 5 minutes. The tea makes a big difference to the taste. Use a tea with good, strong flavours that you like. Start the icing while the tea steeps. Add the margarine and shortening to a bowl to warm up a a little.

When the tea has steeped,remove the bag and give it a good squeeze. in a small sauce pan, reduce the tea by about half. Pour 1T or so of the tea into a small cup to cool. Add the coconut sugar, margarine, ginger and soy milk to the tea left in the pan. On medium heat, bring to a simmer and reduce to about 1 1/2 – 2T caramelized syrup over medium low heat.

The mixture will bubble and take on a noticeable shine as it caramelizes. Reduce heat to low once the process starts and stir constantly to avoid scorching the caramel. Once you have a dark,melted caramel texture, remove from heat let cool while you make the icing.

Whip the margarine and shortening until smooth (I use a fork). Add the icing sugar, and whip. Add the 1T cold tea you set aside from the caramel and lemon juice, and whip. Keep whipping until smooth peaks form in the icing (this should only take a couple of minutes). Add more powdered sugar 1t at a time if it’s too thin.

Turn out the cake carefully, ice the top, and drizzle with the caramel in a lattice if you like, or drip caramel onto the icing and swirl. Let stand for a few minutes to settle. Eat immediately for the richest flavour or refrigerate, very loosely covered.

  1. Some white sugars are still bleached with animal bone charcoal. Organic sugars typically are not.

  2. I find this type of icing very sweet. If you want to reduce cane sugar, you can replace the icing here with my walnut date fudge frosting or something similar. Since it’s a single layer torte, the frosting should be fine, but it won’t have the magical staying power that saturated fat, sugar and corn starch do. You can also replace the caramel with my chai date caramel recipe (although you’ll have leftovers).

For the fudge
3T warm water
1/4 cup dried,soft dates, pitted and chopped
1/4 cup chopped walnuts
1t lemon juice
1/2t vanilla extract
1/4t coarse sea salt

Soak the dates and walnuts in the warm water for 5 minutes. Add the remaining ingredients except for the seal salt. Blend until smooth and creamy. Add 1T warm water if too thick, or an extra date and some walnuts if too thin. Add the sea salt and let stand 10 minutes to setup.

For the data caramel
1/4 cup boiling water
1 chai tea bag
1/4 cup dried, soft dates, pitted and chopped
1/4t fresh ginger

Steep the tea as above and the dates and ginger in the warm water. Remove the bag. Blend the chai with the dates until smooth. Add 1t frosting. Stir to combine and refrigerate for 5-10 minutes to thicken.

Noodles and cabbage sauteed with oyster mushrooms, onions, and garlic

A simple, syncretic dish, haluški is typically made with a potato pasta (similar to gnocchi) in central and eastern European cuisines. This is a North American version made with soft (gluten free) noodles and cabbage.

Ingredients

For the noodles
1/2 cup brown rice flour
1/2 cup masa harina
1 cup tapioca flour
2T egg replacer
A pinch sea salt
A pinch turmeric (I use 1/4t)
1 cup boiling water
2 liters water for cooking the noodles with 2t coarse sea salt

For the cabbage
2T plant-only margarine
2T pasta water
4 scallions, minced, 3″ – 4″ green reserved for garnish
1T fresh garlic, minced
1/4t black pepper, freshly cracked
1 cup oyster mushrooms, coarsely chopped
4 cups shredded green cabbage (I use coleslaw mix)
1/4 cup nutritional yeast
Coarse sea salt and black pepper to taste

Optional: Replace the black pepper with dried red chili for a spicier dish. Use a tablespoon coconut oil and a little sea salt in place of the margarine if you prefer. A dash of liquid smoke will add some additional flavor to this dish. Scallions add colour to the dish, but vidalia onion will also work (adjust the saute accordingly).

Method

Make the noodles first, then the cabbage. Mix the flours, masa, sea salt and turmeric. Stirring briskly with a fork, slowly pour in the boiling water to mix into a dough. As the dough cool, knead by hand until a smooth elastic dough forms. Roll out on a lightly (tapioca) floured board into a large rectangle about 1/8″ thick or between sheets of plastic wrap.

With a pastry cutter or a knife, cut into 2″ x 3/4″ noodles (or the size you prefer). Traditionally, haluški is scraped off the board with a knife into boiling water, but the noodles in this version are a little sturdier.

In a large pan, bring the water to a boil with the sea salt. Add the noodles and simmer for 3 – 5 minutes, or until the noodles float. Drain carefully, reserving 2 tablespoons pasta water. Rinse gently with cold water. Spread them in thin even layer on a dry, clean cutting board or other surface while you make the cabbage.

While the noodles dry a little, start the cabbage. Bring a large frying pan to heat on medium. Melt the margarine and add the scallions and garlic. Saute for 2 minutes. Add the oyster mushrooms and black pepper. Saute for 3 minutes. Add the cabbage and increase heat to medium high. Stir fry the cabbage for 5-8 minutes, until the cabbage is nicely wilted (reduced by about half) but not mushy.

When the cabbage is ready, add the noodles and reserved pasta water. Stir to combine. Cook another 30 seconds or so. Remove from heat. Add the nutritional yeast and stir to combine. Season to taste. Spoon out, garnish with scallion sliced on an angle, and serve.