Herbs, herbs, and more herbs

Fresh herbs added to any dish, salad, and even beverages make such a huge impact on the taste and depth. Some herbs are more grounding such as rosemary, thyme, and sage, while others, such as mint and cilantro, give a certain lift to foods. Three different herbs were featured today: rosemary, sage, and dill. Play around with different herbs and different applications.

Herb stew with seitan and root vegetables

Dill beer bread

Seitan is a high-protein fake meat product (yeah... I'm not really sure what that means either), that is commonly used in vegetarian cooking to simulate the taste and texture of meat. You can make it yourself, but if time is a precious commodity, pre-made seitan can be purchased. The stew was a slow and steady simmer of garlic, yellow onions, red wine, rosemary, sage, tomato paste, carrots, celery, seitan, roasted rutabagas, steamed Japanese purple yams, tomatoes, Bloomsdale spinach, Braggs amino acids, and vegetable stock. It turned out to be a very herby and hearty dish. It's accompaniment was a dill beer bread baked with fresh dill and Harps beer.

Bread, chocolate, and all that jazz

Bread and chocolate. Yum.... I've always loved the combination of bread and chocolate. There is a well-run cafe in Puerto Viejo Costa Rica and it was called Bread and Chocolate, and with a name like that, I had to visit and was happy that I did, even though I ate neither bread nor chocolate there. I had fruit and granola and a fresh papaya shake with water. It's funny, when I'm traveling, I eat very basic and when I'm back at "home", I'm devouring almost everything in sight. And today was no exception. Although I know I am moderately gluten intolerant, the mind got the better of me and I ate with abandon slices of bread topped with the warm chocolate espresso spread I made with Maldon sea salt flakes. What would you have done?

Raw vegan spinach manicotti with herbed tomato sauce

Savory chocolate and sea salt crostini

Raw zucchini slices were filled and rolled with a seed "cheese" made of soaked sunflower and pumpkin seeds, Italian parsley, baby spinach, filtered water, extra-virgin olive oil, and a touch of lemon juice. To make the herbed tomato sauce, fresh Roma tomatoes, sun-dried tomatoes, fresh basil and oregano, fennel, filtered water, extra-virgin olive oil, and lemon juice were thrown in the blender and blended until somewhat chunky, yet smooth. The sage aioli from yesterday's menu made a guest appearance today as the drizzle in the sauce. And lastly, the manicotti was sprinkled with hemp seeds. And as for the savory chocolate crostini, need I say more?

Moroccan stew and Manaquis bilzatar

What and what? Today's lunch was a trip to the regions of Morocco and Lebanon. A stew accompanied with a Lebanese-style z'atar seasoned flat bread. It was my first attempt at making the bread and as with any challenge, it was fun, and on the bonus side, it turned out amazing.

Moroccan spiced pumpkin, barley, chickpea, and mushroom stew

Manaquis bilzatar

The stew was started with a simmer of extra virgin olive oil, yellow onions, garlic, ginger, spices (Spanish paprika, cumin, coriander, cinnamon, allspice, and red chili flakes). Next came the mushrooms. Be sure to cook these well so that the flavors of the mushroom can seep out. The delicata squah was stirred in along with some vegetable stock. Pre-cooked barley and chickpeas then joined the party along with some additional vegetable stock. Add only so much stock so that it honors the stew aspect of the dish. And note that the longer the stew sits, the more the barley will soak up the liquid. At the end, add some fresh lemon juice and voila! You got yourself a very savory and balanced stew. The garnish of grated granny smith apples, parsley, and lemon juice provided a light contrast to the depth of the stew. And that beautiful, deep purple garnish: bulls blood from beets! I found the recipe for the flat bread here. One of my co-workers suggested rather than cooking the bread on a pan, the pizza oven would be a good option, and boy was he right!