I’m back after a loooong blogging break. My excuse is the one we all make: I’ve been busy.
Busy with what? Well, I’ve moved out of my design studio space. I’d been there for five years, so it was emotional moving on, even though in the grand scheme of things it was the right thing to do.
I’ve been in touch with the lovely Annette from Pure Glow Cleanse about her guest posting some recipes. Pure Glow Cleanse are Perth’s first cold-pressed juice cleanse delivery and I can’t wait to try it out when they launch. More on them soon.
I’ve also been contracting making online stuff at Naked Specs and Stonebarn, as well as continuing with some of my freelance work, so it’s been late nights and a lot of green juice in between, but I’m feeling more and more in balance as the warmer weather approaches.
And with the warmer weather comes summery fruit – my favourites! This salad features sweet strawberries paired with spicy ginger and bitter raddichio leaves to balance out the flavours.
STRAWBERRY GINGER SALAD
3 CUPS SHREDDED RADICCHIO LEAVES 10 STRAWBERRIES, HULLED AND SLICED 1/2 AVOCADO, CHOPPED HANDFUL OF FRESH MINT LEAVES
15 PECAN NUTS, CHOPPED ROUGHLY
DRESSING
1 TEASPOON FRESH GRATED GINGER 1 TABLESPOON OLIVE OIL 1 DESSERTSPOON FRESH LEMON JUICE 1 TEASPOON AGAVE NECTAR OR HONEY
1/2 TEASPOON SEA SALT
To make the dressing, shake all ingredients together in a jar until well combined. Set aside. Mix all salad ingredients together in a separate bowl, and stir through the dressing just before serving.
Salt flakes + chocolate = :¦:-•:*’””*:•.- SPECTACULAR -.•:*’””*:•.-:¦:
And that is all I have to say about that.
You don’t need a lot salt to accomplish the goal, which is to make the chocolate more chocolate-y. The rosemary is to give a deeper complexity to the flavour. I’m not going to lie, the taste of the avocado isn’t completely obliterated – you do get a very slight aftertaste, but it’s barely noticeable.
CHOCOLATE MOUSSE WITH ROSEMARY & SEA SALT
1 HASS AVOCADO, PEELED & DICED 3/4 CUP MAPLE SYRUP OR DARK AGAVE NECTAR 3/4 CUP DUTCH PROCESS COCOA OR UNSWEETENED COCOA POWDER 1 TEASPOON FRESH ROSEMARY, FINELY CHOPPED
1/2 VANILLA BEAN, SEEDS SCRAPED OUT
FOR THE TOP
1/2 TEASPOON FLAKED SEA SALT ROSEMARY SPRIGS
ROSEMARY FLOWERS
Put all the mousse ingredients into a food processor and blend until very smooth. Spoon into small containers (I made four) and top with a sprinkle of salt flakes, fresh rosemary sprigs and flowers.
Is a raw soup really a soup, or is a juice with some salt and herbs sprinkled on top and put into a bowl? I don’t know, but I’m calling it a soup because that’s how I eat it.
This recipe is like locking sunshine in a bowl – the carrot juice is good for eyesight, bones and teeth, liver and nails, skin and hair as well as betacarotene and vitamin A, there’s the obvious vitamin C from the oranges and the ginger, well, it seems ginger is good for you for pretty much everything.
CARROT ORANGE & GINGER SOUP
2 CUPS FRESH CARROT JUICE 2CM FRESH GINGER ROOT, JUICED WITH THE CARROTS
2 CUPS FRESHLY SQUEEZED ORANGE JUICE
1/2 TEASPOON SALT FLAKES
FLAT LEAF PARSLEY, CORIANDER, BASIL OR CHIVES/CHIVE FLOWERS
Juice the ginger with the carrots til you have two cups worth of juice. Then juice the oranges until you have two cups of orange juice. Mix together in a jug, sprinkle in the salt and pour into two bowls. Top with fresh herbs (I used chive flowers and flat leaf parsley because my coriander was dead. I really wanted to use fresh coriander, but oh well).
For a more substantial soup, blend the soup with 1/4 of an avocado.
For a warm soup, gently heat it in a double saucepan over a low flame until it is warm.