Raw+Simple

Being a foodie and a gardener, eating raw food is both a challenge and a delight. While I can easily eat an entire meal out in the garden, nibbling on raw green beans, chard, zucchini, herbs, all fresh from the plant, there are times when my mouth screams out for the umami (savory) that cooked meats seem to have cornered the market on.

This is when consulting a cookbook on recipes for raw food that have some umami kick really pays off.

I have only begun to explore the great many recipes in The Complete Book of Raw Food, Second Edition: Healthy, Delicious Vegetarian Cuisine Made with Living Foods * Includes More Than 400 Recipes from the World’s Top Raw Food Chefs, edited by Julie Rodwell and written with the input of a great many cooks, chefs, and people just like me and you who have developed so many delicious recipes.

complete-raw

This book is a fantastic resource for both the novice and the experienced “un-cook” and raw foodist. It touches on the critical importance of quality ingredients, covers the more esoteric ingredients that raw food cuisine has inherited from decades of vegan cuisine.

It covers the various tools and methods one may or may not need to turn out some of the recipes, juicer machines and various ways of usng your juicer.

It has a great section on sprouting as well as what they call “greening” – the growing of greens in a substrate, plants like wheat grass.

It also covered the basics of dehydrating and the various machines to choose from.

The recipes fall into these categories:

Salads & Dressings
Soups
Snacks & Sides
Smoothies, Shakes & Juices
Bread, Crackers & Chips
Raw Milk & Cheese Substitutes
Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner Entrees
Spreads, Sauces & Dips
Cookies & Other Sweets
Pies & Cakes
Ice Cream & Puddings

The Japanese figured out a very long time ago where to turn for vegetarian umami- mushrooms are exploding with it.

I turned to a delightful recipe for marinated portobello mushroom on page 130. It is quite simple, I know, but there is something about this marinade that made the mushroom palatable even chilled. I had to modify the stuffing because we have lethal nut allergies in our home.

As you may have picked up from my about page, we practice raw food from a non-vegan perspective. We have our own dairy goats and we drink their milk raw and I make various raw cheeses. I used raw chevre for the stuffing in this recipe. Technically its all raw and 100% nut free! Just not vegan.

Portobello Mushroom – Marinated and Stuffed

Ingredients

24 portobello mushrooms, washed and stemmed

For the Marinade:
1 pint olive oil
1 small onion
2 – 4 garlic cloves
1 – 2 tablespoons lemon juice
2 tablespoons chopped dill
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
1 teaspoon mustard seed
1 1/2 teaspoon celtic sea salt

For the Stuffing:
seed spread or nut cheese
sliced tomatoes
lettuce
sprouts
onion

Directions
Wash and stem the mushrooms, put them topside down in a dish (or baggie like I did), poke holes in caps.

Blend or just mix marinade ingredients then pour over the mushrooms. Allow to marinate several hours (I use the fridge – best to inhibit nasties).

Serve as desired. I stuffed/topped it with raw chevre (goat cheese) and dill, sprinkling of salt.

You can warm it up a bit in a dehydrator if you want it to be a bit less chilly.

My entire family LOVED this and they are not accustomed to eating these sorts of foods. I kid you not when I say that my 2.5 year old toddler begged for more, smacking his lips!

Give this book a try, definitely worth the price of $19.80 or so.

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