Recipes

Zucchini Cake

Why eat bread when you can eat cake?

Ingredients:

5 eggs

8 oz light brown sugar

1 Tbsp vanilla extract

1 cup melted butter

1 lb grated zucchini

8 oz ground hazelnuts

2 ½ cups of all purpose flour

1 Tbsp cinnamon

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

1 Tbsp cocoa powder

jam slightly heated

chocolate ganache (3.5 oz chocolate and 2.5 oz heavy cream)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 320°F.

Grease and flour round cake pan.

Beat eggs in a large bowl adding sugar, continue beating until sugar dissolves eggs look frothy.  Slowly add the butter while beating eggs.

Sift flour, cinnamon, baking soda, baking powder, and cocoa together into a bowl.

Add grated zucchini and ground hazelnuts to the eggs using a rubber spatula or a wooden spoon.

Add flour mixture to all other ingredients and incorporate until all is mixed in.

Pour batter into the prepared cake pan.

Bake at 320°F for about 45 min. Test cake with a toothpick to ensure doneness.

Set cake to cool. Once cooled, place cake on a platter and spread a thin layer of jam over the top.

Make the Ganache and pour over the top of the cake, smooth it out with a spatula. Wait for Ganache to set before you cut into it. 

 

Amber Jelly Roll Mushroom Salad

Amber Jelly Roll or Exicida recisa can be found year-round on fallen branches from hardwood trees. This salad is inspired by a Chinese Wood Ear Salad.

Ingredients:

2 handfuls of fresh Amber Jelly Roll cleaned

fresh spicy pepper like Pequin, Thai or whatever you have on hand, diced finely

1 teaspoon of grated Garlic

1 tablespoon of Soy Sauce or Tamari

1 teaspoon of Black Vinegar or Balsamic

1/2 teaspoon of Sugar

1/4 teaspoon of Szechuan Pepper Salt, or just salt

1 tablespoon of a tasty oil, I used Hempseed oil

some lettuce leaves, I used Boston Bibb

a few sprigs of Cilantro

Boil a cup of water, add the mushrooms and boil for 3 minutes (mushrooms should never be eaten raw – hard to digest otherwise) then strain

Put everything else but the cilantro and salad in a mortar to make the dressing. Muddle the ingredients until the flavors are brought together

Stir mushrooms into the dressing

Plate salad leaves, top with dressed mushrooms and sprinkle with cilantro leaves

 

Celery Kvass

A salty-sour, lightly fermented drink, inspired by Russian Kvass. It takes at least three days to ferment, it is not alcoholic. It makes use of leftover pulp from a juicer, that would otherwise go in the compost. You also need a 1/4 cup of whey, which is used quite often in fermentation. It helps get the right bacteria a head start in the fermentation. You can make whey by straining a cup of plain yogurt through a cloth. The yogurt is like Greek yogurt after that and can still be used. The salt also suppresses unwanted mold or bacteria, so you should not use less.

Ingredients

1/2 gallon Glass Jar

a little less than 1/2 gallon Spring Water

Pulp from two bunches of organic celery

1/4 cup whey

1 tbsp sea salt or ancient sea salt

Stir all ingredients together in the glass jar, leaving some headspace. Close jar with lid and set the jar out of direct sunlight on your counter somewhere. Stir drink daily and start tasting it after the third day, if it taste kind of bland let it ferment for a day or two more. Strain the Kvass into another glass bottle or jar and refrigerate. It has a taste reminiscent of Martini.

Celery is a great source of antioxidants and the Kvass has many good probiotic bacteria. Since conventionally grown celery has one of the highest loads of pesticide residues, I strongly recommend organic celery.  Use spring water or filtered water, not municipal tap water since it contains Chlorine, which inhibits fermentation.

 

Cheers!