KarmaFree Cooking

Pesto 101

This is my recipe for pesto… my mom loves pesto and every time I have too much basil that might go bad, I do a batch. It’s great on it’s own with pasta, as a condiment, as an ingredient for a salad dressing or to add to a recipe where you would like some fresh basil flavor.

PESTO

2 tablespoons pine nuts or almonds

3 garlic cloves

3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

3 cups basil leaves, strip away the stems

1/2 cup Parmesan cheese

1/4 teaspoon salt

Mix everything in a food processor.
Add more olive oil if the mixture seems a bit dry.

Store in a jar in the fridge or you can freeze it in an ice tray for individual servings .

Tags: basil, olive oil, parmesan, pesto, pine nuts

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Categories basics

Sofrito 101

25 Dec

Sofrito is the foundation of many Latin dishes… it’s a mixture of garlic, peppers and onions. Very similar to the “trinity” from the South, where the foundation of many dishes is garlic, carrots and celery or even carrots, onions and celery… I guess every culture has their own combination… this is ours.

SOFRITO

1 head of garlic

2 large onions

4 cubanelle peppers – we call them around here cooking peppers or “pimientos de cocinar”

Chop everything in a food processor.
Store in the refrigerator. It will keep for a long time… you can even freeze it if you feel it’s too much amount to use in a few months time.

I use this as a foundation for many dishes… to start off any stewed dish, to give added flavor to a rice, to season a white “bechamel-type” sauce… you name it. I wanted to share this basic recipe, because you’ll start to see it as an ingredient in many upcoming recipes. And, instead of having to chop onions, peppers and garlic every time, sometimes you can shortcut by adding a few tablespoons of sofrito.

Tags: garlic, onion, pepper

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Categories basics

Carob Granola

23 Dec

This is a take on Nigella Lawson’s Chocolate and Peanut Granola. I gave the recipe to my mom this year and she gave them away as presents to her friends at the yoga center. She wanted to make something that was good, but easy to do as well.

It turned out really good. And because she does not eat chocolate anymore, she added carob powder instead of the cocoa powder.

CAROB GRANOLA

1/4 cup carob powder
4 1/2 cups rolled oats
1 cup sunflower seeds, shelled
3/4 cup sesame seeds
3/4 cup applesauce
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/3 cup brown rice syrup
1/4 cup honey
3/4 cup light brown sugar
2 cups raw peanuts or raw almonds
1 teaspoon kosher salt
2 tablespoons canola oil

Preheat oven to 310 degrees F.
Mix everything together very well in a large mixing bowl.
Spread the mixture evenly in 2 baking pans and bake for about 1 hour, turning over half-way through baking. Allow to cool and store in an airtight container.

Tags: brown rice syrup, carob, honey, nuts, oats

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Categories snacks, Xmas

Strawberry Kanten

23 Dec

This is a recipe I learned from Diane Carlson while at a cooking retreat called the Conscious Gourmet back in April of this year. I made some wonderful friends and learned some awesome recipes, this being one of them. Among the wonderful friends, my friend Kathleen from Kathleen’s Vegetarian Kitchen.

I learned this is called KANTEN because that’s another name of the agar-agar in the recipe. It’s an easy recipe, but you need time to make it… you’ll see why…

STRAWBERRY KANTEN

4 cups apple juice – Knudsen’s organic brand is highly recommended

1/4 cup agar flakes

1 tablespoon roasted almond butter

dash of lemon juice

pinch of sea salt

2 cups strawberries

1 tablespoons maple syrup or to taste

Place apple juice and agar flakes in a medium saucepan. Set aside for 15 minutes so the agar flakes start to dissolve a bit in the juice. Bring liquid to a boil, lower heat and gently simmer for 5 minutes or until agar is completely dissolved.
Pour the hot kanten into a metal bowl or metal baking dish and place in freezer until very firmly set.
Slice 1/2 cup of strawberries for garnish. Puree the remaining strawberries in a blender with maple syrup and salt. Strain the strawberries through a fine sieve to remove as many seeds as possible.
When the kanten is fully solidified, break it up into a food processor. Add the almond butter, lemon juice and salt and puree until smooth. Layer kanten and strawberry sauce in parfait glasses. Garnish with remaining strawberries.

It’s important to use the metal bowl to help the kanten solidify faster. Depending on how cold your freezer is, this part will take at least 2 hours.

The color of the apple juice you use will definitely affect the color of your kanten. The Conscious Gourmet version was made with Knudsen’s apple juice. The version I did on my own was made with Mott’s Natural apple juice, therefore, this latter version was beiger, while the Knudsen version is pinkier.

Tags: agar agar, apple juice, maple syrup, strawberry

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Categories desserts

Garlic Parsley Breadsticks

22 Dec

This is a great appetizer or accompaniment to any Italian dinner.

GARLIC PARSLEY BREADSTICKS

1/2 package of refrigerated whole-wheat bread-stick dough mix

1/4 cup of parsley, finely chopped

3-4 garlic cloves, minced

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

salt and pepper to taste

Mix in a small bowl the parsley, garlic, salt, pepper and olive oil.
Let it sit on top of the counter to marinate for about 20 minutes.
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Take the bread-sticks dough and spread the garlic parsley mixture on one side.
Twist the individual bread-sticks and place next to each other in a baking sheet.
Bake for about 10-12 minutes or until the bread-sticks are golden brown.
Serve warm.

You can definitely use this same garlic parsley mixture to make regular garlic bread… just spread it on a cut baguette and bake in the oven until crunchy.

My apologies… the bread-sticks smelled so good, I forgot to take a photo of them.