Zesty & Spicy

If you like food, we'll get along *^_^*

Hot Chocolate mix, gluten free brownies

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The end texture of the mixed almond flour and chickpea flour is INCREDIBLE.

Soft, almost melt in your mouth but still a bit chewy and cakey at the same time.  The idea was to make a worthy chocolate afternoon binge while using a minimum amount of ressources as we all know what’s happening in the world today.  Since this new reality, my cooking has switched a bit and is focussing even more on managing waste and using limited produce to create delicious meals and snacks.  Follow me on Instagram, if you’re not already, to see what I come out with almost every day.

When coming up with this recipe, I remember looking at the thin choice of chocolate snacks in the pantry.  Truth to be told, I try not to have chocolate in the house because I’m too immature for that and ALWAYS end up eating almost all in one sitting.  People that are close to be know that I still prefer a fruit tart over a chocolate cake but it’s hard to say no when it comes to brownies.

Also because eating too much high in gluten ingredients hurt my stomach a little, it’s been fun to experiment with gluten free baking.  This recipe is a great success, hope you get to try it.

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Oranges & tahini breakfast bowl

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My new obsession is those fancy breakfast bowls we can all admire on instagram.  It’s not something new, I’m just late to the party.

Hours and hours “wasted” or “invested” looking at those edible art pieces until finally finding the motivation to make one.  This is a savoury version with a creamy and garlic infused polenta dressed with green onions, Italian parsley, a sunny side up egg, grilled shiitake mushrooms & plantains.  To complete the look, you top it with an oranges & tahini dressing that has a hint of harissa, soy sauce and honey.

The black sesame seeds are optional but they look pretty sooo… the choice is yours.  Enjoy!

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Soy milk

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A great bonus from making your own soy milk is the okara (aka: soy bean pulp) left after draining.  It’s a resource most factories will either discard or feed to farm animals but, this protein packed ingredient can be added to baked goods, use to make vegetarian/vegan sausages (yup… that’s going to be for a future recipe) or dried up and reduced in powder to add to almost everything.  It is versatile, delicious and using the okara is leaving you with no kitchen waste.  Something to think about…

As you will see, the process for making soy milk is very simple.  If you wanted to make soy cream, bring back the drained milk on the stove top and let it simmer down to half of it’s original quantity.  As the water will evaporate, the mixture will thicken and become a nice and silky cream.  A thickening agent can be used to make the process faster, I would recommend tapioca starch for it’s light taste.

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Mango & Persimmon Smoothie

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I bought a pack of rock hard fuyu persimmons, a few days ago, thinking it would take at least a month before they start to softened.  Surprisingly enough, they only took a few days leaving me with 10 ripen juicy and custardy persimmons to bake with.  One of Max favourite way to start the day is with a fresh smoothie that is both sweet and filling so here we go!

The mango really balance the extreme sweetness of the persimmon while adding a little “zing” to it.  The softened oats are there to add a silky texture and give you enough consistence to make it a perfectly filling way to start your day.

Hope you get to try it *^_^*

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Vegetable soup with ginger & lemongrass

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The inspiration comes from a vegetable soup my grand mother used to make.  She used to cut all the vegetables in super small pieces and I always enjoyed the aesthetic of her presentation.  You could probably chop everything finely by hand but, if you’re in the lazy club (like me), a hand blender or a food processor work wonders.

This recipe isn’t the soup she used to make but, I would like to think it is as good or at least pretty close.

 Delicate, slightly sweet and made with our homemade vegetable broth.  The fennel leaves used as garnish but also as a component in the soup really shine with the star anise in the broth.  The ginger giving it a nice kick and the lemongrass as the last taste hitting your palate.  When it comes time to buy fennel, I always try to get the complete plant with the long rods and a lot of bright green leaves.  Back home, I’ll cut it up in “parts” and keep the leaves in a separate container to use them like any other fresh herbs.  Next time, I’ll probably add a little extra lemongrass because the taste could have been more pungent and, I would encourage you to do the same if you’re a big fan of lemongrass.

Makes three big portions or four smaller ones. Bon appétit!

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Vegetable Broth

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I keep a lot of food scraps in my freezer.

Most of them are vegetables, fresh herbs and egg shells because there’s so much you can do with those and it’s almost a blasphemy to throw them out when you spent your hard earned money buying them.  It also goes with my “no waste” and “everything should be make from scratch” mentality because it’s very rewarding to create basic staple foods instead of buying them at the grocery.  This vegetable broth is a great example of “food recycling” and I really hope you’ll get the chance to try it and make it your own.

Plus, who doesn’t like to know that every pennies spent on veggies will go that much further and you’ll end up having a delicious and personalized broth ready to use in your future creations.

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Egg Parmesan “Pasta” Breakfast

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I felt a little wild after watching all those cooking shows on Netflix and this is where this dish comes from.  You often see big chefs trying to re-invent dishes in order to enhance their guest’s experience through confusion and technique so my mind went… why not making a breakfast that looks like dinner!?

….right?? 🙃 Why not.

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Wild Rice, Black Olives & Sun Dried Tomato Salad

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Simple salad made with whole ingredients for lunch today because simple is often best.  For as long as I can remember, I’ve always been a fan of wild rice and guess what??!!  It’s super healthy for you!

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Sweet Sesame, Potato & Chickpea Curry on Black Japanese Rice

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This is clearly not a traditional curry but it is inspired from what I know about the culture.

 The idea started from the seasoning attached to this recipe.  Pre-made spice blends save my life when I’m uninspired after a long day working and, this seasoning was inspired from the episode of Chef’s Table (…on netflix, you HAVE to watch it) where they featured the progressive restaurant Gaggan in Bankok.  The way Gaggan Anand described the perfect flavour balance of his dish made my head spin and this is what I was able to come up with.  Some red chili powder would be interesting  to give it a spicier twist but, I sadly didn’t have any on hands.  Instead, I choose to top the curry with a little bit of Kochukaru (Korean red pepper flakes, used in kimchi) and it gave it the little spiciness I didn’t add in the seasoning.

I hope you’ll enjoy this potato & chickpea curry recipe and new spice blend attached to it.  Make sure to have a small container for the remaining seasoning because you’ll have extra to be creative with.

 Happy Cooking!  *^_^*

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