August 30, 2010

Living Finger Sandwiches

First and foremost: I received a great opportunity from CSN Stores to do a review of a product from one of their many great websites. Look out for the review in the next few weeks, but in the meantime, check out some of the beautiful dinnerware over at Corelle. Thank you CSN Stores!

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I love to cook, I really do. I get excited when I make a hot soup or a pot of my perfect marinara and when I manage not to mess them up, I love a well made batch of pancakes. However, nothing makes me as excited as preparing raw foods. Even though I lack a dehydrator, I think I work well with what I do have and I'm always left amazed at how fresh and good raw food tastes. My dinner tonight is no exception; it was super fun to make and even better to eat.


Living Finger Sandwiches
Ingredients

- 2 pieces raw carrot bread (recipe to follow)
- 2 tbsp sundried tomato almond pate (recipe to follow)
- Assorted vegetables
- Pink sea salt and fresh cracked pepper

Instructions
- It's really a no brainer! Just make a sandwich like you would any sandwich. The magic here lies in the bread and pate.


Raw carrot bread
Ingredients

- 1 cup carrot juice pulp
- 3/4 cup ground flax
- 1/4 cup whole flaxseed
- 1 tsp coconut or flax oil
- 1/3 cup water, reserved
- Pink sea salt, to taste

Instructions

- Preheat oven to the lowest possible setting (ideally around 120-130).
- Combine ingredients other than water. Mix with your hands and add water as necessary to create a dough. Mixture should be fairly wet but still be able to form a ball.
- Lay a piece of plastic wrap on the counter and dump dough onto it. Lay another piece of plastic wrap on top of the dough and roll out until it the dough reaches your desired thickness. Cut into uniform pieces.
- Place onto a baking sheet and leave in an open oven for an hour. After an hour, flip bread slices and leave in the oven for another hour, or until bread reaches your desired texture. I like mine chewy and pliable, so 2 hours was perfect.

Mine made 6 pieces, but serving size varies depending on desired size and thickness.


Sundried tomato almond pate
Ingredients

- 1/2 cup almonds, soaked
- 6 sundried tomatoes, soaked
- Reserved soaking liquid
- 1 tsp lemon juice
- 1 garlic clove
- 6-8 basil leaves
- S&P, to taste

Instructions
- Soak almonds and sundried tomatoes together for 6 hours to overnight. Reserve soaking liquid.
- Gently rub the almonds between your fingers to remove skin. You could leave them on, but I didn't want the pate to have a brownish hue.
- Place peeled almonds in a food processor with tomatoes, garlic, lemon juice, basil and seasoning. Process until smooth, adding reserved soaking liquid as needed.
- You could just put it into a bowl and serve, or roll it in a piece of plastic wrap to create a log.

This pate was an excellent condiment for the sandwiches and would also make a good dip for crudite. I ended up dipping the remaining cucumber slices into it when I finished dinner and it was bueno! The star, though, was the bread. It was chewy and dense and very filling. I also liked that it was pretty neutrally seasoned; it could be used as either a sweet or savory bread. I see a raw PB&J in my future.


On the side I had asparagus and summer squash marinated in 2 tbsp olive oil, 1 tbsp coconut vinegar and pink sea salt. Let it do its thing for at least an hour.


Perfection.

4 comments:

  1. I've not really done any raw "cooking" yet. I've made nut pates/spreads, but I don't have a dehydrator either and have never tried any crackers or breads. What would you suggest as a replacement for pulp? No juicer either...

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  2. If you have a food processor, just process veggies until they have a pulp-like consistency and it should be perfectly fine. :)

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  3. never in my life would i have dreamed up something like carrot bread! how cool is that!?

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  4. Thanks! When you juice as much as I do lately you need to find ways to use the pulp!

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