A little of this. A little of that

Do you ever go to a restaurant, voracious appetite in hand, and while perusing the menu, almost everything looks good and you want to order everything. That's what I love about sampler platters: it's a little of this, a little of that, and a lot of different flavours. The feature today combined some raw foods and cooked foods, each with it's own uniqueness.

Raw turnip "ravioli" with herbed macadamia nut "cheese"

Olive duo with pits

Gigante beans in garlic-champagne vinaigrette

Crostini toasts

Turnips, with the skin on to highlight the colours, were shaved thin on a slicer and filled with a herbed mac nut cheese made with raw macadamia nuts, fresh basil, Italian parsley, lemon zest and juice, and a touch of filtered water and extra-virgin olive oil in a food processor. The "ravioli" was dolloped with a sun-dried tomato sauce which included a blend of fresh Roma tomatoes, tarragon, raw almonds, filtered water, and lemon juice. The olives you see are piccholine and nicoise olives. YUM! They still have the pits in them which I think improve the flavor. The less processed, the better. The gigante beans? I see these at the Whole Foods olive bar all the time and just had to make a simple version of it. After the beans were finished cooking, they were tossed with red onions, red bell peppers, Italian parsley, champagne vinegar, and extra-virgin olive oil. Be sure to use a bit more vinaigrette as these large beans have the ability to just suck up the liquid. If I had to do the beans again, I would probably make them the day prior to serving.