Coconut Kanten w/Berry Compote

19 Mar

Coconut kanten might be an acquired taste… my husband doesn’t care for it, but I love it!  I turn to this dessert confection when I get a sweet craving.

Kanten, also known as agar agar, is extracted from seaweed.  Often used as a gelling agent in Japanese and other Asian desserts, I grew up with kanten in such desserts as anmitsu.  Low in calories and high in fiber, agar agar is a healthy gelling agent — and I recently started using agar agar with coconut milk to make coconut jelly cubes.

Agar agar often can be found in long strips.  I found agar agar flakes instead, which I think are easier to use.  The texture of this coconut kanten is harder than your typically jelly.  While I love the texture, David finds it a little weird.  (More for me, then!)

It’s super easy to make coconut kanten.  I also make a simple berry compote sweetened with Stevia, which goes nicely on top.  I can eat coconut kanten cubes just as they are — they have become my go-to snacks.

Here’s how I make it: Continue reading →

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I ♥: Little Food Chopper

16 Mar

This little food chopper is one of my favorite everyday kitchen gadgets.  Although I have a fancy Cuisinart food processor, this little chopper of 1 1/2 cup capacity is perfect for everyday mincing of garlic, carrots, onions, and other vegetables.  This gadget is especially useful when I make meatballs that requite a lot of minced veg, for instance.  Prepping chopped/minced veg is so easy!  And the clean-up is simple, too, since the chopper is so little.  I was given this food chopper, and although David was dubious of its use since we already have a giant food processor, this food chopper has carved out its own important niche in my kitchen.  The chopper is NOT a food processor.  It’s a chopper.  And it’s perfect for when you have to chop or mince a lot of things but can’t be bothered to bring out and clean up a big food processor.  I highly recommend it.

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Kelp Noodle Stir-fry w/Jalapeño+(Gluten-free) Soy Sauce

15 Mar

Having seen a few kelp noodle recipes on paleo food sites, I decided to try them out myself.  The best price I found were on iHerb.com, where kelp noodle packs are sold by the dozen.  You can find the noodles HERE and you can even get a $5 discount on your first order when you enter the coupon code BAJ231

Kelp noodles are easy to make.  Gluten-free, fat-free, low in carbs and calories, they are great for salads, side-dishes, or as pasta/noodle substitute.  On their own, kelp noodles have no taste, so cooking the noodles in a way that infuses flavor is important.  What I like about he noodles is their crunchy texture.  I have a couple of ideas on how to use kelp noodles (attempts forthcoming), but a very simple, basic way to cook the noodles is in a little bit of broth/liquid.  Last week, I made “stir-fry” using minced garlic and jalapeño, chicken broth, gluten-free soy sauce, topped off with scallions.

Here’s how I made the noodles.

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(Fitness) Cost of Travel + Eating More Fish

15 Mar

Traveling for work is great, especially since David and I are able to do so together most of the time.  But the occasional downside of life-on-the-move, or life-away-from-home, is maintaining our fitness.  Being away in Germany, then Stockholm, we have had no access to a gym for the better part of the last 6 months.  After weeks of super-late nights in Stockholm due to work (finishing work at midnight, going home and eating, then finally hitting bed at 4am to wake up at 11am, etc.) capped off with a lot of wine, perhaps a little too much dark chocolate here and there, David and I returned home not in the same shapes as we left it.  I gained about 5 lbs!  Not a disaster, but disheartening nonetheless.  I blame our late nights and wine, since we have been eating well for the most part…

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Wild Rock Shrimp Salad

7 Mar

Fresh Direct recently had fresh, wild rock shrimps on sale, so, naturally, I bought a pound of it.  Inspired by Maine lobster rolls, I used the rock shrimps to make a simple salad last weekend — the result was a delicious, lovely salad lunch!

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Simple Dishes: Coconut Flour Pan-fried Cod

3 Mar

Fresh, wild cod is delicious, and even better when they are local catch.  My favorite new way to cook cod is to season the filets, lightly dust them with coconut flour, and pan-frying them.  So simple!  The coconut flour gives the cod a lovely light, crispy coat, and also adds a hint of sweetness.  Served with a lemon wedge and perhaps a mixed salad, this cod preparation makes for an easy and light fish dinner.

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Egg in a Spinach/Bacon (Ramekin) Cup

2 Mar

Here’s a lovely way to change up your bacon and eggs, and eat your spinach, too!

I recently hoarded bunches of organic spinach, which were on sale… which resulted in finding interesting ways of using all that spinach.  We had some eggs, we had some bacon, so I took out my rarely used ramekins and made these adorable-looking breakfast in a cup (ramekin).  David loved it, and can’t wait for me to make it again.  I can see more vegetable variations coming up….

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GO: Esperanto (Stockholm, Sweden)

29 Feb

On our final night in Stockholm, David and I treated ourselves to a romantic dinner at Esperanto.  Housed inside a former theater, Esperanto has a Michelin star and recently shared the title for Stockholm’s best restaurant in the much-respected White Guide.  Having read many positive reviews and after checking out the menu of the website — which seemed fairly paleo-friendly — I was keen to go before leaving Sweden.

And boy, did it not disappoint!

Esperanto only offers tasting menus — 5 or 8 courses.  David and I went for the full 8-course experience.  I would describe the food approach as modern “Scandinavian kaiseki” with wonderful, whimsical theatrical flair.  There is great emphasis on seasonal produce and their presentation, and each course has a “title.”   Inspired by the season — winter at the moment — each dish seems to bring forth a winter scene.  There is a great amount of Japanese influence, whilst using many Swedish/Scandinavian ingredients.

The tasting course is preceded by wonderful amuse bouche — 4 lovely, playful treats.  The service was excellent, very personal and attentive.  All the service staff are trained sommeliers, and our wine suggestions were perfect for our taste as well as the dishes.

Although it was a kind of “cheat day” for us — wherein we eat some things that are not paleo — it wasn’t too bad a stray and it was definitely worth the experience!  We had a great time throughout the meal.  What we loved was the playful, humorous, entertaining aspect of the dishes and the quirky flavor-combinations — as well as the commitment to using offal in interesting ways — offset by very restrained, skillful and beautiful presentations as well as tastes.  If you get a chance to go, I highly recommend it!  (Just make sure to book in advance, and leave a lot of time for eating.)

Here are a few snapshots of our meal there:

As you arrive to your table, you find not a bread basket but fried cod skin and meringue dip. I am already in love with the restaurant.

Moss...? Onion fritters that appear to be moss. Part of the amuse bouche.

Steamed egg custard with seaweed and oyster, inspired by the Japanese chawan-mushi. Also part of the amuse bouche.

1st course: Grilled frozen cream of oysters and parsley root, trout roe, cucumber and oyster juice.

2nd course: "Winter concerning cauliflower and garden mushrooms."

3rd course: Flaky Norwegian cod and dry cured cod roe, dashi-infused egg yolk and wasabi (grated table-side).

4th course: "Obscure chicken from Ockelbo, beans from Tuscany and preserved black trumpets" (grilled chicken heart and liver, chicken skin on top)

I think my favorite dish was below: the lightly boiled langoustine served with bone marrow and caramelized hazelnuts.  It was amazing!  The langoustine is just barely cooked — beautifully creamy on the inside.  Eaten together with a bit of marrow and some hazelnuts… it’s the most incredible version of surf and turf your mouth has ever tasted!

5th course: Lightly broiled langoustine served with bone marrow and caramelized hazelnuts.

(Bone marrow that accompanies the langoustine, above.)

The 6th course — Pommes de terres avec truffles, along with the moss fritter amuse, was one of the funniest, charming dishes.  It looks like dirt, so it’s literally “pommes de terres” (apples of the land).  Beneath the black “dirt” (which are essentially made of onions and black truffles), lies creamy mashed potatoes.  And as if to signal the approach of spring, out of the dirt sprouts some fresh greens and sprigs made of fried potatoes!  It does feel like you’re eating dirt (not taste, but texture), which feels ridiculously silly in such a refined environment.  It felt like a mood shift — a little comic relief.

6th course: "Pommes de terres avec truffles."

7th course: A study of Swedish reindeer calf with blackened salsify.

8th course: "Pumpkin festival with Butternut squash, Hokkaido pumpkin and sea buckthorn" -- beautiful dessert, much of the sweetness comes from the pumpkins themselves, and the frozen yogurt was wonderful.

The meal took about 3 hours — which was ballsy (or potentially stupid) for us to do, as we needed to pack up our apartment to leave early the next morning.  But the experience was so worth it, so wonderful, I am so glad we went.  The service was fantastic and the food so lovely, it turned out to be the most fabulous and glamorous “3 hour break” from our packing frenzy.  (We continued packing late into the night after we returned home, newly refreshed by the gorgeous dining experience.)

Braised Spicy-Spiced Grass-fed Short-ribs

28 Feb

I recently came up with this simple, flavorful way to braise short-ribs — I wanted to give the short-ribs somewhat of an “Asian” flavor profile, involving soy sauce and ginger.  I ended up experimenting with various spices I had on-hand at home, and we were very happy with the results!  The broth cooks down to make a wonderful “sauce”; the carrots were delicious, and David has asked me to make sure to use more carrots next time.  The dish packs a lot of flavor — some heat, lots of spices, and even some sweetness from the cooked-down onions as well as cinnamon and cloves.  A great hearty dish, perfect for winter.  Next time, I’d like to add some star anise into the mix.

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Garnet Yams+Japanese Sweet Potatoes Cooked in Duck Fat

23 Feb

Duck-fat-fried anything is delicious.  Rich, yes.  Probably not ideal for your waistline, yes.  But occasionally?  Fabulous.  Often, when I sear duck breasts, I strain out the fat and keep it refrigerated in a glass jar.  Recently, I came across organic garnet yams AND organic Japanese sweet potatoes on Fresh Direct.  David had wanted to have more sweet potatoes available for snacking purposes, and so I thought this was a good time to try…yams and sweet potatoes cooked in duck fat.

Here’s how I went about cooking the gorgeous yams and sweet potatoes in duck fat:

Preheat the oven to 400F.

Peel the yams and sweet potatoes — I used 2 yams and 3 sweet potatoes.  Chop them into pieces, about 1 inch cubes.  Finely chop one onion.

In a skillet on medium-high heat, heat about 2 tablespoons of duck fat.  Once it melts, stir in the potatoes, making sure to coat them in the fat.  Salt and pepper.  After a few minutes, add the onions.  Stirring frequently, cook the potatoes until the sides begin to sear and turn brown.

Put the skillet in the oven to finish cooking.  (Note: I discovered that the Japanese sweet potatoes cook faster than the yams, which I didn’t expect.)  Stirring occasionally, cook until the yams are cooked and a fork goes easily through it.  You might want put it under broil it for a few minutes to brown the potatoes a little more.  Adjust the seasoning if needed.

The result was more like a chunky hash than “fried” potato pieces — which suits us fine.  The caramelized onions go nicely with the sweet potatoes.  The duck fat definitely adds the flavor, but the potatoes do not come out greasy at all.  Savory and sweet at the same time, this yam/sweet potato concoction turned out delicious!

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