Chocolate date balls

I decided to make chocolate date balls as part of my recent/ongoing feasting. The half batch I made was such a hit (with myself and My Charming Companion), that we are now going to make another batch to bring on next week's cabin excursion. This next batch is going to get a little extra glam with some experimental cointreau liqueur added to the batch. ! (Cointreau is gluten free, btw.) These tasty little things are pretty over the top delicious. They are like fudge, but not so sweet and way better (which having had a square or two of fudge this past week, I WAY prefer these date balls). And they are easy to make.

Chocolate Date Balls
1 c whole pecans (walnuts would work too)
1 1/3 cups pitted dates (I used medjool)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 tablespoons quality cocoa powder
good pinch of nice sea salt

Garnish with: Maldon (or other) sea salt, toasted shredded coconut, toasted pistachios...?

1. Place ingredients in a food processor and process on high until the mixture becomes paste-like. 
2. Wet your hands with water (so the dough won't stick to them) and roll the “dough” into 1-inch balls. Set on a baking sheet or plate.
3. Garnish!
Sea salt: Put a few tablespoons of sea salt on a plate and dip the top of the fudge bombs into the salt.
Coconut: Toast coconut on a dry cast iron skillet for 3-5 minutes on medium heat until lightly browned. Stir often! Put a few tablespoons of shredded coconut on a plate and roll the date ball in the coconut, pressing it into the sides of the ball with your hands.
Pistachios: Toast whole pistachios on a dry cast iron skillet for 5-6 minutes, stirring often. Remove from heat and chop finely. Role the date ball in the pistachios, pressing them into the sides of the ball.
5. Set date balls in fridge for 30-60 minutes to firm up, then eat.Yum!

Gravlax with paleo crackers

I brought homemade gravlax to My Charming Companion's family Christmas, and it was a big success: meltingly tender and the right amount of salty with really nice accents of dill and caraway. It inspired some commentary and questions about the difference between gravlax and lox: gravlax is cured in salt AND sugar for 1-3 days and includes dill, whereas lox is cured in salt only for several weeks and is often confused with cold smoked salmon. We did all agree that all are delicious, and proceeded to eat it all up. Gravlax is just sort of sparkly and lovely to bring somewhere - it's novel and special and it's cured salmon! yum.

Cured salmon filet before slicing and pressing with dill

There are numerous recipes for gravlax and I ended up searching through lots of them. The recipes vary in the amount of salt and sugar, in the ratio of the two, there is a variety of spices and flavors, and some use alcohol and others don't. What it seems from this wide range of recipes is that there are many ways to make good gravlax, so go with a recipe that appeals to you! I found myself drawn to two: one from Saveur and one from the NY Times (in an article with 3 other recipes) because they used less sugar and salt overall and the spicing seemed most interesting. The recipe I ultimately used was most based on the one in the NY Times by chef Tom Valenti, and needs to cure for about 48 hours. Below is my adaptation.

Gravlax
1 2 pound fillet of salmon, pin bones removed
2 tablespoons vodka or tequila
1/2 cup salt
1/4 cup sugar
2 bay leaves, chopped
2 bunches dill, stems and all, minced
1/2 onion, sliced thinly
1 tablespoon cracked black pepper
1 tablespoon caraway seeds, lightly toasted
1 tablespoon minced tarragon

Salmon on plastic wrap with salt and sugar

1. Place salmon, skin side down, on a large sheet of plastic wrap, and sprinkle it with the alcohol. Mix together the salt and sugar, then sprinkle onto the flesh side of the salmon. Mix together the bay leaves, dill, pepper, caraway seeds, and tarragon. Cover the flesh side of the salmon with the onions and this mixture, making sure to coat it completely (see photo below).
2. Wrap the fish well (as in several layers of plastic wrap), and refrigerate for about 48 hours. The salmon will release a lot of liquid, so be careful to have the whole plastic wrapped package in a tupperware or deep dish of some kind to catch all that liquid.
3. After 48 hours, unwrap the salmon and rinse off the cure.* Dry and filet the skin off as carefully as possible. I chopped up another 1/4 cup of fresh dill and pressed it to the underside of the gravlox so that there was dill in each slice. To serve, slice gravlax thinly with a sharp knife. I had mine with homemade crackers (see below) and it was excellent.

Pre-wrapping it up with all the herbs

*If you are not serving right away, do still rinse off the cure after 48 hours. Not rinsing the cure will make the gravlax more dry and overly salty. Store the gravlax in tupperware or wrapped up until ready to serve. I read that the gravlax keep in this state anywhere from 3 days to 2 weeks, but have not tested the longer length!

I made some special paleo crackers to eat my gravlax with - caraway dill almond ones, following my previously posted recipe but swapping out some herbs. They turned out great.

Almond Caraway Dill Crackers
1 3/4 c almond flour
1/2 t sea salt
1 T dried dill
1 T caraway seeds
1 tsp freshly ground pepper
1 T olive oil
1 egg

1. Mix dry ingredients together - make sure almond flour is nut clumped up.
2. Whisk oil and egg in a small bowl, then add to almond flour mix and stir until combined. The mixture will be wet and quite thick.
3. Roll the dough into a ball and press it between two sheets of parchment paper about 1/8" thick.
4. Remove top parchment layer and cut crackers with a pizza roller or knife into desired size. Transfer the bottom piece of parchment (with cracker dough) to a baking sheet, and bake 12-15 minutes at 350. Let cool for about 30 minutes before serving.

(Paleo) Chicken Bastila

Fresh out of the oven!

My personal tradition of these days we call Christmas and Christmas Eve revolve around making some good food. This year I spent several weeks considering what to make, including some rumination of different seafood options. But then I read Melissa's (Clothes Makes the Girl) recipe for Paleo Chicken Bastila, and decided to give it a go. I found the lengthy cooking time and celebratory nature of the dish fitting. Traditionally this is served as an appetizer on special occasions, and is a pie of chicken, cinnamon & sugar, and almonds all in layered pastry dough with a dusting of confectioners sugar on top. Here is a nice article and recipe about traditional Bastila with photos.

My Charming Companion has particularly strong memories of Bastila from eating at Marrakesh, a Moroccan restaurant in Philadelphia. He ate there about 3 times over 20 years ago, but has thought of the sweet chicken pie ever since. (He told me last night while eating dinner that he had become inordinately excited at the prospect of my making a paleo bastila, but was playing it cool.) It was great that he had eaten it before because there could be some comparison between his memory of bastila and the one on the plate before us. We ate it as they served it in the restaurant: in the dark and with our hands.

It was delicious. When I make this again, I will do the filling prep the day before. It will save time because you don't need to wait out the cooling, and will make assembly much easier. I also would love to actually serve this as an appetizer to a main meal of something less sweet. We ate it as the entree here, but the sweetness of it lends to a more secondary dish than a main one. Not thinking about the sweetness, I made a carrot and beet salad to serve with the bastila, but that was too many sweet things. Bastila would be better with a tart, olive-y salad with tomatoes and cucumber, or lemony greens or something. It wants a companion that is salty and tart.

Sprinkling the "almond dust" over the egg layer

2nd chicken layer

Final "almond dust" layer topping

Yum!

My thoughts for the recipe (which was lovely):

• I will use one additional egg next time in the egg custard part (plus a little more liquid to cook down from the chicken) to add to overall moistness.
• I want to pour some ghee over the chicken layers to get more of the buttery pastry taste. 
• Sprinkle cinnamon directly on top of the whole thing to really up the initial cinnamon sensory flavor.
• I'll simplify the bottom pastry crust to food process all ingredients and press them into the pie pan. I've made crusts this way before (with cold or melted ghee/coconut oil) and had them turn out great. This will save a little fussiness.

So - there was the holiday dinner. I did get my fancy seafood in last weekend by making scallops and shrimp on pea puree, and I made gravlox to bring to a family dinner today. I tasted it last night and it turned out amazing! I'll be posting both of those recipes later this week!

Roasted Beets with Honey Balsamic Sauce

Just about the only place I go out to eat these days is the Seward hot bar. Last weekend My Chmaring Companion and I sat at the window seats for 2 hours chattering away over some tasty food and coffee. And then I do my shopping and it all makes for a cozy, convenient, "I know exactly what is in my food" kind of experience. They have been serving these roasted balsamic beets in there for the last couple of months, and I really love them. In part because of the honey and sweetness, I am sure. But I finally got around to making these at home because the local beets are big and gorgeous and why not just have a big batch?!

These were super simple: just roast the beets, and cook down some balsamic vinegar and honey. That is about it. Roasting beets just takes awhile - you want them to get tender, so give them a long time. Mine were really big and I cooked them for almost 2 hours.

Roasted Beets!
2 lbs beets
1/2 c balsamic vinegar
1-2 tsp honey
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon

1. Preheat the oven to 450. Cut off the end/greens from your beets, and rub olive oil on the skin. Wrap the beets (together or separately) in tin foil so that they don't dry out. Because my beets were so large, I wrapped them each individually, but if yours are small, create a bit of a package of them all in there. Be sure to put the foil wrapped package on a baking sheet or pan because it is likely to drip a bit of beet juice. Roast for 1 1/2 to 2 hours, until a fork pierced into the beet goes in easily. Set aside to cool.
2. In a small saucepan heat vinegar and honey on low until reduced by about half. Stir in cinnamon and salt.
3. Once beets have cooled, peel off skin and chop into whatever size pieces you like (I like some large bites). Pour balsamic reduction over the top, and sprinkle any additional salt or pepper to taste. It's delicious warm, but nice cold too.

Pumpkin Custard

I've been eating a lot of orange vegetables lately: carrots, squash, and sweet potatoes. The first two are still from the garden, and the latter is just what I want this time of year. And even though greens sound good, I can't quite bring myself to buy any at the store. It seems silly after spending the past numerous months picking whole armfuls in the backyard. (Incidentally I was able to keep picking it basically up until this last snowstorm. The kale was frozen out there and snapped off the plant when I "picked" it, but cooked up just fine). So - it's me and lots of orange veggies. My feet and hands have not turned orange yet, but I keep checking them to see.

Amidst the orange is this lovely pumpkin custard. I remember a few years ago when my sister was visiting and staying with my dad for several weeks - they seemed to have an epiphany/burst of enthusiasm for pumpkin pie. "It's really just eating vegetables!" they would exclaim gleefully, and were baking several a week to eat alongside breakfast, lunch, or dinner. I'm having my own version of their glee - pumpkin custard?! Eggs, squash/pumpkin, and a little sweetener. Yum! I've made this a few times in the last month or so.

I tend to like a thicker custard, and that seems best accomplished by reducing the amount of coconut milk in the recipe. I also like lots of the pumpkin and some strong spices. The recipe is pretty forgiving though - I mean, whats to go wrong?! In terms of sweetener: You can use 1/2 c honey if you want to go full out, but I usually do a mix of stevia and honey. My version is pretty modestly sweet (I prefer only 16 drops of stevia, but I'm a light weight on the stevia usage). One time I added in a Tablespoon of molasses, which gave it a really rich flavor. I'm listing the stevia/honey blend here, but use whatever you like.

Pumpkin Custard (modified from this "Against All Grain" recipe)
Makes 4-6 servings

1 can pumpkin puree*
3 eggs
2 T honey
16-24 drops liquid stevia
1/4 c coconut milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp cloves
1/4 tsp cardamom
1/2 tsp lemon zest (opt)
pinch of sea salt

*or 2 cups of your own: I've found that kabocha squash makes a really nice, dense "pumpkin"

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Whisk all of the ingredients in a bowl until a smooth consistency. Pour the filling into ramekins or oven proof bowls, filling not quite full. (I only have 4 ramekins, and so I use a muffin tin for the overflow last cup or so. Not as picturesque, but very practical!)
3. Set ramekins in a cake pan or on a baking sheet, and set carefully in the oven to bake for 20-35 minutes (depending on the size of your ramekins/bowls). They are done when they are "set" - meaning the center is just a bit jiggly, but not sloshy when you shake them. Those are very technical terms.
4. Let cool (really they are better after they cool) and refrigerate for an hour or so.  Serve with a little coconut cream or just as is. 

Note: I did fill this left over (from my quiche crust) mini-crust with some of the pumpkin custard and oh my. It was very delicious, especially with some coconut cream all over the top. I didn't even whip the cream, it was just the thicker stuff that was at the bottom of the coconut milk can. It was very good if you want to go all out for the whole pumpkin pie thing.

Venison Barbacoa

I have had this Hunter, Angler, Gardener, Cook recipe for Venison Barbacoa bookmarked for awhile now, and earlier this fall I had My Charming Companion keep 3 lbs of a deer's front quarter whole specifically for this recipe. (Usually the front quarters get used for burger and sausage - so this made the butchering go faster!) I made the barbacoa this weekend, and it turned out super delicious. It's a really interesting recipe that uses a lot of cloves. Cloves?! I don't know if I've ever put more than 1/8 or 1/4 tsp of cloves in anything, and this recipe, which is decidedly not sweet (like most clove inclusive recipes) called for a full teaspoon?! And for whatever reason, it seems that the cloves are sort of what make this dish. It's really good, and I would never in a million years have guessed the spices in it.

If you don't have some venison front quarter hanging out in your freezer, 3 lbs of any tougher beef will also do (I found a list of all the larger, chewier cuts that get really tender in stew):
• Chuck, Chuck Shoulder, Chuck Roast, Chuck-Eye Roast, Top Chuck
• Bottom Round Roast, Bottom Eye Roast, Rump Roast, Eye Round Roast, Top Round, Round Tip Roast
• English Roast, Pot Roast, Stew Meat

I ended up cooking this recipe in the oven in a roasting pan covered in foil, which worked just fine. A crock pot or a big dutch oven would be ideal though. I also found that I had PLENTY of left over liquid (which got saved for a future chili), so I think you could go a little lighter on the broth. I have not tried it yet though.

This is the recipe exactly as written by Hunter, Angler, Gardener, Cook because for real, it was just so good (especially with avocado and some thinly sliced red cabbage)! I did keep out the garlic and was out of lime juice, so alter it as needed (but do use the cloves):

Serves 4-6
2 to 3 pounds venison, from the shoulder or legs
2 to 4 canned chipotles in adobo sauce 
1 red onion, chopped
5 garlic cloves, chopped
2 bay leaves
1 teaspoon smoked paprika (optional)
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground cloves
1 tablespoon kosher salt
½ cup lime juice
½ cup cider vinegar
1 quart beef or venison stock
1/4 cup lard
Smoked salt (optional)

1. Put everything in a slow cooker or Dutch oven and cook, covered, until the meat falls off the bone (if yours is on the bone!), which will be between 2 hours (for many domestic meats and young deer) and 6 hours if you have a very old animal. If you use a slow cooker, set it to “high.” If you use a regular pot, put it into the oven set to 300°F.
2. Pull all the meat from the bones and shred with forks or your fingers (this is the most laborious part of the whole thing) - I did this in another pan. Stir in the lard and as much smoked salt as you want. You want the lard or oil to coat the shreds of meat. Pour over some of the juices from the pot. Serve with whatever your version of tacos is (wrapped in lettuce or cabbage?) or as is.

Paleo Quiche

Sometimes I get in the mood to try something a little novel in the grain-free eating realm. This weekend it was quiche, using a coconut flour crust. I find that baking things with coconut flour usually works out well, it just has a slight dryness/density that feels specific to coconut flour (more so than almond flour). Sometimes I get in the mindset that I don't want to have as many nuts because of the omega 6s, so often coconut flour baking is more appealing than nut flour baking. In any case - the quiche turned out well - there was a solid crust that worked perfectly. I think I might prefer an egg bake to paleo quiche because I find the dryness of the crust less appealing. My Charming Companion was loving the crust however, so, if you want crust - this is a good one.

*Incidentally I had a little leftover crust mix and used it to make a mini-ramekin sized pie crust. It looks beautiful! I have not yet had a chance to make a filling for it - but pumpkin custard, chia seed pudding, or apples would be pretty awesome I think.

I followed this recipe for the crust and as a guide for the filling. The ingredients I used were a little more dry (kale, sausage and onions) - and like I said - I want a more moist quiche. So I recommend filling your quiche with oven roasted tomatoes, a green like spinach or arugula, mushrooms &/or red peppers - maybe bacon too. No matter what you use, it will still be good.

Crust (for a 9" pie plate):
1/2 cup coconut oil or ghee, melted
2 eggs, beaten
3/4 cup coconut flour
1/2 tsp. sea salt

Preheat oven to 350. Combine eggs and coconut oil until well-blended. Stir in coconut flour and salt and mix until a dough forms. Press dough into the bottom and up the sides, into an even layer. (I used coconut oil and because it was cold in the kitchen, it started to firm up on me. It will still spread, you just have to work the dough a bit more!) Prick dough all over with a fork. Bake for 10 minutes and set aside.

For the filling:
5 eggs
1/2 c coconut milk
salt and pepper
1 t mustard/mustard powder
1-2 cups veggies/sausage/bacon (pre-cooked)

1. Saute your quiche filling in a large skillet. Be sure to cook and sausage or bacon thoroughly. Anything would be good in here: broccoli, olives and bacon; mushrooms, spinach and tomatoes; greens and onions with sausage, etc.
2. While the veggies cook, mix together the rest of the ingredients.
3. When veggies/meat are cooked, put them into the crust. Pour the egg mixture over it. Bake the whole thing for about 25 minutes, or until firm in the center. Let it cool for 5-10 minutes so that the eggs "set" and serve!

The ramekin mini-pie crust!

Root Veggie Latkes

I've been tinkering with this recipe to find the right combo, and I think I finally got it. The recipe for "Root Veggie Cakes" comes from the Paleo Comfort Foods blog, but I found it not quite right - at least using the coconut flour I had. So I've changed it up a bit to be less cakey and more latke-y, which seems especially fitting as we approach the end of Hanuukah. These are pretty with all the bright colors, and would be great as a platform for eggs benedict. I found them tasty with a sauce of mayo mixed with horseradish. AND these are my garden beets and carrots!?! 

Root Veggie Latkes (makes 4-5 latkes)
1 cup shredded carrots
1 cup shredded parsnips
1/2 cup shredded beets
1 small onion
1 T prepared horseradish (opt)
1 egg
2 T coconut flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp black pepper
coconut oil/lard/fat

1. Combine shredded carrots, parsnips and beets in a bowl and set aside.
2. In a food processor, pulse chopped onion until minced. Add egg, horseradish and salt and pulse again to combine. Add coconut flour and pulse to mix until mixture becomes a thick batter. Add batter to shredded root veggies and mix together. The mixture should be slightly wet and able to stick together. Because brands of coconut flour vary so widely, if your mixture is really wet (or soupy) add another Tablespoon of coconut flour.
3. Heat 1-2 T of fat in a skillet. Form about 1/4 c of mixture into a ball, and place in hot oil for each latke. Press flat with your hands or spatula and cook on medium heat for 4-5 minutes on each side. You want the veggies to cook and the outside to become crisp.
4. Serve immediately (or keep warm in the oven).

Sweet Potatoes with Spiced butter and Pomegranate seeds

My feasting on Thursday was grandiose - everything was super delicious. My uncle smoked a turkey that was free from any gluten contact, and there were two grain free pies and lots of delicious sides. I made these sweet potatoes that turned out really delicious (I was a little nervous about the spicing).

The original recipe was in Bon Appetit using squash, but I tried it with sweet potatoes. It's a Persian spiced butter with cinnamon, coriander, lime zest and cardamom. The flavor was perfect: enough to be interesting, but not too overpowering to make it difficult to eat with other foods, and the pomegranate seeds were festive. I was making a double batch (7-8 lbs of sweet potatoes) and it all was pretty easy. I did not get any finished photos, alas. I meant to take one right before serving (with the pomegranate seeds), but of course was too swept up in the forthcoming eating to remember to take a picture. Imagine a blend of these two photos:

 Because this was Thanksgiving, I made a little extra effort and peeled the sweet potatoes. I cut them into a large dice - a little over an inch cubed. Originally I roasted them in olive oil and than poured the spiced butter glaze over the top, but were I to make them again I would just roast them in the butter glaze.

Spiced Butter

My double batch! Lots of sweet potatoes!

8 T butter/ghee
1 tsp fresh grated lime zest
1 T fresh lime juice
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp coriander
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp cumin
1/4 tsp cardamom
1/4 tsp pepper
salt

Additional ingredients: Sweet potatoes (3-4 lbs) and pomegranate seeds.

1. Make the spiced butter: Either in a bowl by hand or in a food processor, mix all ingredients except salt until combined. Salt to taste (I used about 1 tsp.) Use within a week, or roll up in parchment paper and refrigerate up to 2 weeks, or freeze for 3 months.
2. When ready to make sweet potatoes: Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Bring about 1/2 cup of water to a boil in a small saucepan. Whisk in spiced butter, 1 T at a time, until all butter is incorporated to form a rich, glossy sauce. 
3. Peel and cut sweet potatoes into large chunks. In a large bowl, toss sweet potato pieces with 1/2+ of butter sauce. Stir to coat on all sides and use extra butter sauce if needed.
4. Layer sweet potatoes in single layers on sheet pans (with an edge) and lightly salt with a nice sea salt (I like Maldon). Roast for 20 minutes, flipping sweet potatoes midway through. Sweet potato pieces should be soft and browned.
5. To serve, pour remaining butter sauce over sweet potatoes and toss with pomegranate seeds.
YUM!

*Note: I learned an easy way to get pomegranate seeds from this youtube video. You basically score the pomegranate around the middle and pull it apart, then wack each half with a wooden spoon to knock out the seeds. I thought it worked great.