Category: Condiment

Poke-Inspired Beet Bowl

March 10, 2017 45 Comments

Poke seems to be everywhere these days, from fine restaurant menus, to fast-casual and even food trucks. Chefs are coming up with clever combos and creative reinterpretations – even fish-free versions for the veg set. I knew had to take a stab at it. Or at least a poke. Sorry.

For those of you hearing about poke for the first time, this fresh and tasty dish (pronounced POH-kay), hails from Hawaii. In its most unadulterated form, poke is raw fish, originally combined with sea salt, candlenut and seaweed. It evolved over the years as ingredient availability increased, and the salt was replaced with soy sauce, the seaweed with spring onion, the candlenut with sesame and so on. Once it hit mainland America a few years ago, poke mania ensued and the dish evolved to become more of a meal – not just a snack. Now it is often served atop rice and garnished with all manner of innovative ingredients. Fully-focused poke restaurants have established themselves in major cities across North America. Many of these eateries allow their patrons to customize their bowls with veggies, sea weed, pickles, beans, nuts, and alt-grains, tapping into the to the fact that fast, fresh, healthy meals are becoming mainstream. Which totally rocks.

I had most of the elements for my own poke-inspired version in my head…except for the fish (the most important part?). I racked my brain to come up with something that looked just like tuna or salmon, but didn’t want to use fruit, like watermelon or papaya, since I didn’t want the dish to be sweet. It wasn’t until I was trying to fall asleep one night, that it came to me…chiogga beets! Chiogga, or candy-striped beets are gorgeously two-toned when they are raw. Sliced thin horizontally, they reveal rings of deep pink pigment and creamy white, resembling something that your grandmother keeps on her coffee table in a crystal dish. But for anyone who has ever roasted these stunning creatures will know that the magic doesn’t last; the magenta bleeds into the white during cooking, resulting in an almost homogenous pale pink, with slight variegation. WHICH LOOKS EXACTLY LIKE TUNA. I almost couldn’t sleep. Too excited.

The next day I gathered up all the things I’d like in a poke bowl: short grain brown rice (not long grain – an important distinction), spring onion for bite, carrot for crunch, edamame for pop and protein, and avo for creaminess. I took this last one a step farther and blended it with lemon and wasabi for the most boss sauce ever. This alone would be delish on most things…please try it. And for the fishy component, I thought back to the raw vegan “tuna” I made for my first cookbook, and how effective adding a sprinkle of nori was to boost that fresh-from-the-sea flavour. This is not a deal breaker for the overall dish, but it definitely made it taste complete. If you can’t find nori flakes, just crunch up a couple sheets of the stuff that you’d use to make sushi. Easy fix!

I like to use wasabi powder in the avo cream since the pre-made stuff in a tube is questionable. Have you ever read the ingredient list on one of those packages? It can be scary stuff. In a pinch, use it, but tracking down the powder is worth it from a nutrition standpoint, and also a flavour one. The real stuff tastes infinitely better! What a shocker.

Wasabi is Japanese horseradish, and like its western counterpart, it belongs to the Brassica family, like cabbage, broccoli and mustard. The root is dried and then pulverized, which gives us the powder that we can blend with water to create wasabi paste. It is a difficult crop to grow, which explains the high price for the genuine product. Most wasabi powders don’t contain any wasabi at all, but are instead a mix of mustard powder and regular horseradish mixed with green food dye. A high-quality wasabi powder should be organic and contain only horseradish and wasabi. The colour should be pale green – not disco neon. Most health food stores carry wasabi powder. This is a good brand.

Everything unfolded just as I’d hoped it would. The beets came out perfectly pink with those thin white stripes that look just like fat striation. The marinade that I tossed them around in was acidic and ginger-y and just plain yum. Building the meal up with the rice, the beans, the veggies, a dollop of cream, a sprinkle of nori and roasted sesame, was ever so satisfying and fun. This healthy, fresh meal is calling you. No need to poke about, just make it. Again, sorry.

Poke-Inspired Beet Bowl
Serves 3-4

Ingredients:
1 cup / 200g short grain brown rice, soaked overnight if possible
¾ tsp. fine sea salt
2 cups / 250g edamame beans, fresh or frozen
2 tsp. cold-pressed olive oil
a couple pinches flaky sea salt

Beets & Marinade
3 medium Chiogga (candy striped) beets
2 Tbsp. freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 Tbsp. olive oil
1 tsp. finely grated ginger
pinch fine sea salt

Avocado Wasabi Cream
2 medium ripe avocados
2 tsp. freshly squeezed lemon juice
1-2 tsp. wasabi powder, to taste
pinch fine sea, to taste

2 spring onions, sliced lengthwise into ribbons
2 medium carrots, julienned
2 Tbsp. sesame seeds
3 Tbsp. nori flakes

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 400°F / 200°C. Wrap beets in aluminum foil and place on a baking sheet in the oven. Roast until tender, about 45 minutes (to check doneness, peel back the foil of one beet and insert the tip of a sharp knife. If there is little resistance, it’s ready). Peel back foil from each beet and let cool slightly.

2. While the beets are roasting, make the rice. Drain and rinse well. Place in a pot with 2 cups / 500ml of fresh water and salt. Cover, bring to a boil and reduce to simmer. Cook until tender (add more during cooking if necessary), about 45 minutes.

3. While the rice is cooking, make the Avocado Wasabi Cream. Scoop out the flesh from both avocados and add to a food processor. Blend on high, then add the lemon juice, wasabi powder and salt. Taste and adjust seasoning as needed.

4. In a medium bowl, whisk together the lemon juice, olive oil, ginger and salt. Slip the skins off the cooled beets. Cut the beets into cubes and toss in the marinade. Let sit for at least 20 minutes.

5. While the beets are marinating, bring a medium pot of water to the boil. Add a few pinches of salt and the edamame. Simmer for a couple minutes until bright green and tender (do not overcook!). Drain and rinse under cold water to halt cooking. Toss with a little olive oil and sprinkle with flaky salt.

6. In a dry skillet over medium heat, toast sesame seeds, stirring often until fragrant, about 2-3 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside.

7. Julienne the carrots.

8. To assemble, divide the rice among the bowls. Add the marinated beets, edamame, carrots and a dollop of Avocado Wasabi Cream. Sprinkle with nori flakes, the toasted sesame seeds and top with the spring onions. Enjoy!

~~I’m on my last few days of~~ I just ended the North American cookbook tour. Honestly, it’s been just magical and I am so grateful to all of you who came out to show some love and connect with the healthy community around them!

All love and smiles,
Sarah B

Show me your bowls on Instagram! #mnrpokebowl

Sarah B’s Balinese Gado Gado

February 6, 2017 65 Comments

First of all, hello you. It’s been a while. I can hardly believe that the holidays are behind us and even the whole of January. What happened?!

Well, before I launch into the recipe, I just wanted to update you all on a couple things.

I need to start by saying that the Wild Heart High Spirit Bali Retreat was, without a doubt, one of the coolest projects I’ve ever had the pleasure to work on. Mikkala Marilyn Kissi and I welcomed and held space for 16 women to totally transform, and come out on the other side of seven days, new humans. We all landed back into our physical bodies, rediscovering the euphoria of movement and breath, the taste of real food, the feeling of laughter in our cells, sun on our skin, smiles in our hearts. I could go on forever about how deeply moved I feel about the whole thing, but I will just say thank you to everyone who came, and that we are going to do another one very, very soon. There are a few photos from the retreat at the bottom of this post – I hope you enjoy, and join us next time.

Also. Cookbook tour. It’s happening. Naturally Nourished officially lands in North America February 14^th and I am close behind. I’ll be visiting New York, Toronto, Vancouver, Seattle, Portland, San Francisco and Los Angeles. There are more details at the bottom of this post and on my Events page, so please have a look. For all other countries, please stay tuned!

Now, it’s recipe time.

If you’re a vegetarian traveling through Indonesia, gado gado will save your life. It’s the dish that is on every single menu, a veggie-loaded, protein-rich salad drenched in the most flavourful, luscious peanut sauce that you’ve ever tasted. Combining raw and slightly steamed or blanched vegetables and bean sprouts, it is typically served with fried tofu or boiled eggs and prawn crackers, but so easily made vegan. The first time I traveled to this part of the world, I ate gado gado so often, that I almost grew tired of it. Almost.

What was my initial meal to celebrate the return to the magical island of Bali this time? Naturally, gado gado, and it did not disappoint. There is something incredibly satisfying about the dish, something that grabs a hold and makes you coming back for more – I believe it is the exquisite balancing act of flavours and textures. The veggies are light and tender (never mushy!), the sprouts are crunchy and fresh, but the true magic lies da sauce. It hits all the notes with its creamy, rich, salty, sweet, acidic, toasty and spiciness. While eating it you’re coming up with ways to justify pouring it on everything (Rice? Yes! Spring rolls? Obviously! Roasted veggies? Of course! Bean salad? Why not?!). Of all the dishes I taught during my retreat cooking classes in Bali, this is the one that the ladies really went wild for. Because sauce.

I will mention that I am taking major liberties with the traditional recipe, keeping my version vegan and soy-free, and switching out the peanuts for more health-supportive almonds. I realize that this is akin to making pasta out of vegetables (i.e. not at all pasta), but we often and readily make allowances for the promise of something healthier, so just roll with me on this one, okay? Thanks.

But Sarah, what’s wrong with peanuts?
You may recall me tackling this subject before, but for those of you who are hearing just learning that peanuts and the things made with it are less-than-awesome, let’s recap! Although there are a lot worse things you could be eating, there are also plenty of healthier choices than peanuts, and here’s why.

First of all, peanuts are a bit of an odd duck plant. Not a true nut, but a bean in fact, peanuts grow underground in their thin-skinned pods, which come into direct contact with the surrounding soil. Because this soil is often moist and warm, it presents the ideal environment for fungus to proliferate. Now, it’s not the fungus that is the issue in this case, but the poison it releases, called alflatoxin, which is a cancer-causing agent that attacks the liver. What is the most shocking news, is that the highest levels of alflatoxin aren’t found in big brand peanut butters, but in the peanut butter ground fresh in health food stores.

Second of all, conventionally-grown peanuts are sprayed with very high levels of pesticides and are one of the most contaminated crops in the North America. They are also often genetically modified.

Thirdly, peanuts contain very high levels of Omega-6 fatty acids, an essential fat that we consume too much of in general. Ideally, Omega-6 and Omega-3 fats should be consumed in a 3:1 ratio (like the ratio found in hemp seeds!), otherwise inflammation erupts in the body.

If you’re a serious peanut and peanut butter lover, there are a few things you can do. For starters, find a brand of peanuts that have been grown organically in a dry environment (New Mexico for instance). Dry environments mean drier soils, which means less fungus. Make sure the nuts you are buying are very fresh and raw, since the word “roasted” cruelly translates to “deep fried”. Dry-roasted are okay since they don’t use oil in the cooking process, but these nuts are typically old.

But the best alternative of all? Other nuts! Like almonds. Almonds are high in vitamin E, a potent antioxidant that makes our skin look radiant, and helps protect again heart disease. Almonds have been proven to help lower cholesterol, the risk of weight gain and diabetes. They have about half the amount of Omega-6 fats that peanuts do, along with fewer calories. I snack on almonds and almond butter whenever I can, and have successfully replaced peanuts with this healthier option. I hope you’re inspired to do the same!

The cool thing about this dish is that you can make it any time of year with seasonal veggies and prepare them the way that suits you and the outdoor temperature, while keeping the sauce exactly the same. I like to eat veggies almost entirely raw in the summer, and include things like cucumber, green beans, radish, and lettuces. In the winter however, gado gado is truly the prefect cold-weather salad since everything can be slightly cooked and enjoyed warm. For this version, I chose two kinds of cabbage, kale, carrots, sweet potato, and freshly sprouted mung beans. An improvement I’ve made since teaching this recipe at the retreat was tossing the still-warm vegetables in virgin coconut oil – best decision. This adds a whole other layer of flavour and creaminess, plus adds even more richness, which need this time of year. Did I mention there’s also sauce?!

There are a couple ways of making my version of gado gado sauce. The best method, for sure, is roasting your own almonds and making your own fresh nut butter. The flavour will truly blow your mind if you go in this direction. But! If you are pressed for time and / or don’t feel like going through the rigmarole, you can totally use store-bought almond butter. Just make sure that it is unsweetened and made from roasted almonds, not raw. We want the full depth of flavour here – raw almond butter is too mild and will be overwhelmed by the other sauce ingredients.

Sarah B’s Balinese Gado Gado
Serves 6-8

Ingredients:
2 Tbsp. cold-pressed coconut oil
½ small head savoy cabbage, shredded
½ small head red cabbage, shredded
6-7 lacinato kale leaves, ribbed and sliced into ribbons
2 medium sweet potato
4 carrots, julienned or spiralized
2 cups packed / 180g mung bean sprouts (or any sprouts!)
2 shallots, sliced into rings
1 small bunch cilantro, roughly chopped
a few pinches flaky sea salt
limes for serving, optional

Almond Gado Gado Sauce
350g almonds = 1 cup / 250ml almond butter
1 small chili, to taste (use as much or as little as you like)
1 clove garlic
2 Tbsp. tamari
juice of ½ lime
2 Tbsp. coconut sugar
1/3 cup / 85ml full-fat coconut milk
1/3 cup / 85ml water, to thin as needed

Directions:
1. Make the almond gado gado: preheat oven to 350°F / 175°C. Spread almonds out evenly on a cookie sheet and roast until fragrant and golden, about 10-15 minutes. Check often – they burn quickly! Remove from oven and let cool.

2. Place the almonds in a food processor and pulse to chop them up, then remove a good handful for garnish. Blend the remaining almonds on high, scraping down the sides every so often, until the mixture becomes smooth and liquid. Depending on your food processor, this may take up to 10 minutes – be patient, it will work!

3. Roughly chop the chili and garlic, add them to a food processor, along with the tamari, lime juice, coconut sugar and coconut milk. Blend on high and add water to achieve the correct the consistency: the sauce should be thin enough to pour, but not water-y. Taste and adjust seasoning as needed. Store in a glass jar with an airtight lid (keep leftovers in the fridge).

4. Wash and prepare the vegetables: cut the sweet potato into wedges, spiralize or julienne the carrots, shred the cabbage and kale. Set a steamer over boiling water and place the sweet potato inside first, cover, and set a timer for 6 minutes. If the sweet potatoes are tender at this point, remove them from the steamer and set aside and toss with a little of the coconut oil, then cover to keep warm (if they are still raw, continue to steam until tender). Next place the carrots and cabbage in the steamer and cook for 2-4 minutes until tender-crisp, then toss with remaining coconut oil. In a large bowl combine all the steamed veggies with sprouts, shallots and cilantro. Sprinkle with salt and toss.

5. To serve, spoon a generous portion of sauce onto each plate. Lay the salad on top (or arrange it neatly as I have), sprinkle with chopped, toasted almonds, more cilantro and shallots, as desired. Top with more sauce, if desired. Dig in.

Here are some shots I took during the retreat in Bali. It was beyond magical.
If you’d like to stay updated about the next one, please sign up for our newsletter and be the first to know once we announce!

And now for the book tour! I am so insanely excited to get on the road with my latest cookbook, Naturally Nourished, which you can preorder here. I’ll be in New York City and Toronto first, and tickets for the events in those cities are now available. Check the Events page, Instagram and Facebook for the remaining cities, Vancouver, Seattle, Portland, San Francisco and Los Angeles. See you soon!

February 20th
My New Roots x The Aerie Collective: WisdomShare
“Turning Your Creativity Into a Career”
Spend an evening with Sarah for an inspiring presentation about how she has grown her food blogging passion into a thriving career.
Her book is available for purchase & signing.

Click here for tickets and more details

February 21st
My New Roots + Food52 Livestream
Tune in to Food52’s Facebook at 3pm EST, for a live broadcast of Sarah Britton demonstrating two of her favourite recipes from her new cookbook Naturally Nourished.

Live event link: www.facebook.com/food52

February 21st
My New Roots + Jessica Murnane + Julia Turshen
A very special night of inspiring conversation + a celebration + great women in food! Join us for the launch party of two beautiful & brilliant new cookbooks: Sarah Britton’s Naturally Nourished and Jessica Murnane’s One Part Plant With the conversation led by the highly acclaimed author & chef, Julia Turshen. Come for the bites, drinks, and book signings by all three women – stay for the good times & (selfies)!

Click here for tickets and more details

February 22nd
My New Roots + Amy Chaplin + The Finch: Plant-based Dinner Celebration
We’re thrilled to invite you to a very special dinner collaboration at Michelin-starred restaurant The Finch, celebrating two fantastic women in food. Join us for this inspired & intimate gathering.

Click here for tickets and more details

TORONTO

February 24th
My New Roots x The Aerie Collective: WisdomShare
“Turning Your Creativity Into a Career”
Spend an evening with Sarah for an inspiring presentation about how she has grown her food blogging passion into a thriving career.
Her book is available for purchase & signing.

Click here for tickets and more details

February 25th
Naturally Nourished Book Launch at Appetito!
We’re very happy to welcome you to join us for an excting interview with Sarah, Q&A, recipe tasting from the cookbook, book purchasing & signing.

Click here for tickets and more details

February 26th
My New Roots + The First Mess: Cookbook Celebration Gathering
Together with Sarah, Laura and an incredible community we would love to invite you to meet, feast & celebrate in their cookbook launch!

Click here for tickets and more details

Whole-Roasted Cauliflower with Skhug

December 21, 2016 72 Comments

If you’ve been reading My New Roots for a while, you’ll be familiar with my obsession with Middle Eastern cuisine. Ingredients like tahini, lemon, pomegranate, sumac, za’atar, cardamom, thyme, and sesame have big, bold flavours, and act as strong backbones for plant-based recipes, so I enjoy them on a regular basis and rely on them heavily in my recipe development. And if I am out and about in the world, I seek out restaurants serving this style of food, knowing that they’ll have a solid selection of vegetarian options with satisfying flavours.

Speaking of which, whenever I am back home in Toronto, I love going to a restaurant called Fat Pasha. It’s an Israeli place that serves the most decadent, delicious, over-the-top versions of all my favourites: falafel, hummus, fattoush, pickles, salatim, shakshuka…but the menu show-stopper is their whole roasted cauliflower. Brought to the table like a holiday roast, a giant knife sticking out of the top, ready to be carved, I love the ceremony of the entire thing, and the myriad of flavours and textures that it delivers. Slathered in tahini sauce, topped with glistening pomegranate jewels and golden toasted pine nuts, it is savoury, salty, sweet, herby, spicy, crunchy, creamy, nutty, BAM. Stunningly beautiful and deliciously satisfying.

At Fat Pasha, they also serve the whole roasted cauliflower with an incredibly spicy, tasty concoction called skhug. Skhug is a Yemeni hot sauce made from chilies, spices and fresh herbs, mainly cilantro. It ranges from wicked hot to warmly herbaceous, with cumin, coriander, cloves, and black pepper providing added depth and complexity. I friggin’ love this stuff (*pours skhug over entire life*). It’s delicious with hummus and pita, but also yummy folded into a grain salad, stirred into soups and stews, and drizzled over roast veggies, and to whisked into dressings and sauces.

Skhug comes in two varieties, red (skhug adom) and green (skhug yarok). Both are delicious, but I chose green for my version since it tends to me more common, and I was trying to get into the festive spirit and looking for a contrast to the pommies, which were so assertively red. Use the kinds of chilies you can get your hands on, and add them to suit your taste. I (embarrassingly) only used one green Thai chili for my sauce, but I also wanted to enjoy the other flavours coming through (and also because I am a wuss). It was still very spicy, but not so much so that I couldn’t generously dollop it on my cauliflower.

Trying to recreate the whole roasted cauliflower dish at home is all too easy and the results are extraordinary. First, the cauliflower is doused in a spice-infused coconut oil before being roasted to golden perfection (this on its own is waaaay delish). But taking it to the next level is easy with a simple tahini sauce and the skhug, followed by a generous topping of toasted pine nuts and pomegranate seeds. This thing becomes unreasonably beautiful, just a warning, and if you’re looking for something truly special to serve at a holiday meal this year – whether you’re vegetarian or not – this recipe will impress the pants off anyone.

Whole Roasted Cauliflower with Skhug
Serves 4

Ingredients:
1 large head cauliflower
1 ½ Tbsp. coconut oil
½ tsp. ground cumin
½ tsp. ground paprika
¼ tsp. ground turmeric
¼ tsp. fine grain sea salt
¼ cup / 30g pine nuts
1 small pomegranate, seeds removed

Skhug:
2 bunches cilantro (about 3 cups chopped)
1 clove garlic, minced
1-2 green chilies, minced (add more to taste)
½ tsp. cumin
¼ tsp. ground cardamom
Pinch ground cloves
a couple grinds black pepper
¼ – ½ tsp. fine grain sea salt, to taste
1 Tbsp. freshly squeezed lemon juice
2 Tbsp. cold-pressed olive oil
2 Tbsp. water, or more as needed

Simple Tahini Sauce:
¼ cup / 60ml tahini
1 Tbsp. lemon juice
1 small clove garlic, minced
pinch salt
1 tsp. honey or other liquid sweetener
4-6 Tbsp. water, as needed

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 400°F/200°C.

2. In a small saucepan over low-medium heat, melt coconut oil and add spices and salt. Stir to combine and remove from heat.

3. Remove any outer leaves from the cauliflower and wash it well. Pat dry with a clean towel, then pour the coconut oil and spice mixture over the top and rub it in to all the nooks and crannies, making sure to coat the bottom as well. Place on a baking sheet and in the oven to roast for about 45 minutes. If it is getting too much colour before it is cooked, place a piece of foil over the top to prevent it from burning. The cauliflower is finished when it is tender.

4. While the cauliflower is roasting, make the sauces. Start by washing the cilantro well and spinning it dry. In a food processor or blender, add all the skhug ingredients and blend on high to make a smooth sauce, or pulse to make a chunkier one. Taste and adjust seasoning as necessary. (Store any leftovers in the fridge for up to one week.)

5. To make the tahini sauce, combine all ingredients together in a blender and blend on high until smooth. Taste and adjust seasoning as necessary. (Store any leftovers in the fridge for up to one week.)

6. In a dry skillet over medium heat, toast the pine nuts, stirring often, until they are slightly golden. Remove immediately from the heat and set aside.

7. When the cauliflower is cooked through, remove it from the oven and place on a serving plate. Top with the various sauces, and sprinkle with the pine nuts and pomegranate seeds. Serve immediately and enjoy.

This will be my last post before 2017, so I want to wish all of you out there a warm, happy, healthy holiday and an abundant new year! Thank you for all for your love and support with all of my projects this year: the M y New Roots app, Naturally Nourished, the Gourmet Print Shop and the blog too. You will never know how much you all mean to me! For real.

In health and happiness,
Sarah B.

* * * * * *

Exciting announcement! The Gourmet Print Shop is officially open! My vision of creating affordable and beautiful art for your walls is now a reality. After so many of you have requested high-res images of my food photography to print, I’ve answered the call with larger-than-life photo files that you can download and print yourself. It’s a fast, easy, and inexpensive solution to fill that blank space above the sofa, add some colour to the desk at your office, and keep you inspired in the kitchen. Did I mention it makes the most perfect holiday or hostess gift? Obviously. Check out the Gourmet Print Shop today and get printing!