Raw+Simple

I have the fortune of reviewing two of Matthew Kenney’s books, Everyday Raw and Entertaining in the Raw

Today’s review is of Everyday Raw, recipes that you can build your home raw cuisine from while Entertaining in the Raw is filled with more elaborate recipes that you might wish to save for special occasions or at least allot some time for building a deeper raw food pantry (will be reviewing that book in another post).

Kenney has a writing style that projects a vibrant abundance and passion for food in general and for the clarity of raw food specifically. In his voice and his recipes, you pick up on his deep experience with raw food recipe development and production in both the home and restaurant settings.

I am looking forward to exploring many of these recipes and sharing them with my family, we are all at varying levels of transition or experimentation. My only restriction with this cookbook is the use of nuts. We have severe nut allergies so we have a zero tolerance of any sort of nut product. I certainly can not fault Kenney and other chefs who create delicious foods with nuts, nuts have a great many virtues. I just have to find a way to engineer my way around them in these recipes.

For today’s review I chose to make Eggplant Bacon, from a wide range of interesting recipes. I pulled out a few recipes from each chapter below to show the diversity of these delicious offerings.

I loved the way the eggplant bacon recipe turned out, interesting flavor and texture. Eggplant bacon is healthy and interesting garnish to add to your raw pantry!

Everyday Raw by Matthew Kenney

Contents:

everyday handbook

• tools
• key products
• skills

blended & squeezed

• mango raspberry
• raspberry-agave lemonade
• the muscle

snacks

• citrus maple granola
• chocolate-ginger macaroons
• super goji-cacao-maca bars

unbaked

• herb crackers
• golden tortilla chips

starters

• eggplant bacon
• cucumber-white grape gazapcho
• savory crepes

spreads, dips & sauces

• red chile-pineapple dipping sauce
• mango guacamole

salads

• creamy sesame dressing
• blood orange-crispy fennel salad

larger dishes

• portobello fajitas
• baked macaroni and cheese

desserts

• agave caramel
• frozen goji berry souffle

ice cream

• almond gelato
• mint cacao chip

As I mentioned, I tried out the Eggplant Bacon recipe, featured below.

Eggplant Bacon (page 58)

Ingredients:

• 1 large eggplant, thinly sliced
• 1 tablespoon sea salt
• 1/2 dried chipotle chile, soaked at least 2 hours
• 1/2 cup soaking water from the chipotle peppers
• 2 tablespoons maple syrup
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 tablespoons nama shoyu
• 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
• 1 teaspoon chili powder
• 1/2 teaspoon paprika
• 1/2 teaspoon cumin
• pinch black pepper
• pinch cayenne

Directions:

To make the thin sheets of eggplant I used a horizontal peeler.

It worked like a dream!

Once you have sliced your eggplant, sprinkle it with the sea salt and allow to sit for 1-2 hours.

In the mean time, blend the other ingredients in the liquid container of your Vita-Mix.

Layer your eggplant sheets between paper or cloth tea towels and press out excess moisture.

Submerge the squeezed eggplant in the marinade. I put them in a baggie and purged as much air as possible (as I would with any marinade). Marinate 30-45 minutes.

Carefully lay out the eggplant sheets onto your dehydrator trays and dehydrate until crispy (24 – 48 hours).

Yields 15 – 20 bacon pieces.

Here are some shots of how I used this eggplant bacon with zucchini and some raw sprouted hummus that I will blog about another time.

Product Details

• Everyday Raw by Matthew Kenney
• Paperback: 160 pages
• Publisher: Gibbs Smith (March 28, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1423602072
• ISBN-13: 978-1423602071
• Product Dimensions: 9.6 x 7.3 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds