Finding my Mojo in the Canary Islands

Well, our trip was unbelievable. Almost everything about Gran Canaria is totally surprising; the varied, awe-inspiring landscape, the freakishly perfect weather, the many “clothing optional” opportunities. The only thing I could really complain about is the food – horrendous. Not a fresh vegetable or lentil in sight - a serious nightmare for anyone who cares even remotely about their diet, let alone flavour – don’t even get me started on the Spanish omelette made with fake eggs and frozen french fries. I kid you not. Horrendous.



Luckily I had packed dried chickpeas, red lentils, brown rice, and quinoa, which I lived off of for the week, with some additional fresh produce from the grocery store tossed in. But I seriously wonder how the locals survive on red meat, fried everything and bread so white it literally dissolves in one’s mouth.

The one thing I actually did enjoy (seriously, the only one), was a condiment called mojo sauce (pronounced mo-ho), a welcome accompaniment to most local dishes, often boiled potatoes and fish. But once to my delight in a quiet café up in the mountains, the mojo came to our table by way of olives from a nearby tree, smothered in its flavour-city gorgeousness. I was smitten. And I couldn’t wait to get home to make my own version!

Mojo sauce is much like other regional delights in that there is no real “recipe” for it, as every family has their own version. The backbone ingredients include fresh red bell peppers, garlic, olive oil, vinegar, herbs, spices and stale bread – with variations and additions according to the creator. My version kicks things up a notch by roasting the red peppers, adding some lemon juice and a little agave nectar for sweetness. And instead of stale bread, I thought almonds would do the trick, keeping this saucy sauce gluten-free.

Canary Island-Inspired Mojo Sauce
Ingredients:
2 sweet red peppers, roasted
1 clove garlic
¼ cup almonds (preferably soaked)
1 small bunch cilantro
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
juice of one lemon
splash of vinegar (your choice of type)
1 tsp. agave nectar (or honey)
a couple pinches of sea salt
½ tsp. toasted cumin seeds
1/8 tsp. crushed chili flakes

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 400F/200C
2. Wash peppers, slice them in half and place cut-side down on a baking sheet. Brush with olive oil and place in preheated oven on the top rack. Roast for 30-45 minutes until the skins are blackened.
3. Toast cumin seeds in a dry skillet until fragrant, remove from heat.
4. If you soaked your almonds overnight (learn why it’s a good idea here), peel them now, and place in food processor along with the other ingredients and pulse until chunky.
5. Once the peppers are roasted, remove form oven and let cool. Peel skins and place in food processor. Pulse to incorporate. Blend until desired consistency is reached (I think chunky is best).
6. Serve. Refrigerate leftovers.

Tip: So far I’ve discovered that this sauce is delicious as a spread on toast with avocado (ugh, to die for!), a dressing in a salad of wheat berries, chickpeas, red onion, shredded sweet potato and olives, and a great accompaniment to raw veggies. But be creative – try this with anything and everything and I’m sure you’ll find your mojo too…

a little break.

Hello Everyone!

I am heading down to the Canary Islands for the next week to shake off the winter chill. Lots of pictures when I return, and hopefully some delicious inspiration to share...

In health, Sarah B.

Baby Step Buns

*Note: this recipe has been updated! See here.

I don’t have to try to convince you that home baked bread is better than anything you can buy. It’s a bit of an obsession of mine, in fact – but I am referring to other people’s homemade bread. You see, I have bread-baking fear. Not sure when this started exactly, as I’ve never had a great baking disaster that totally traumatized me. You’d think someone so into bread would have learned how to make it themselves long ago, but no. This is one of those culinary challenges that I have simply avoided, and now the molehill seems like a mountain. Deep breath. Baby steps.

The bones of this recipe came to me by way of a good friend who, over a cup of tea, boasted that she made fresh bread every morning. Ha! I said. Thanks for making me feel so incredibly inadequate. She assured me however, that if you have time to brush your teeth before bed (which I sure hope you do), then you have time to make bread. She then jotted down some ingredients sans measurements I might add, on a scrap piece of paper and the next night, there I was making dough before I hit the sack. It took all of three minutes (seriously!) and there was no kneading involved and not even a bowl to clean.

Freaky Bread
I don’t know how you feel about the bread in the supermarket these days, but I think it’s getting pretty freaky. Have you read the ingredient list on a bag of sliced bread lately? I realize that by compromising taste, texture, and nutrition, you get an extra couple hours during your week, but seriously, is it worth it?! I pulled this ingredient list from a standard bagged bread loaf found in a large chain supermarket:
Enriched wheat flour, water, sugar/glucose-fructose, yeast, dehydrated potato flakes (potatoes, monoglycerides, sodium acid pyrophosphate), vegetable oil (canola or soybean), salt, potato starch, wheat gluten, vinegar, calcium propionate, sodium stearoyl-2-lactylate, monoglycerides, acetylated tartaric acid esters of mono and diglycerides, sorbic acid.

Um, yeah. Without going into too much detail here, we can see that the first ingredient uses a tricky adjective to make nutritionally-void white flour sound healthy, and after water comes sugar. Sugar. I am not even going to tackle the rest – you get it. So stop eating it.

By baking bread yourself, you control the ingredients and actually end up with a health-supporting food. On a higher level, you can become one step closer to the food you’re eating, and re-connect to the beautiful process that feeds you and your family with so much more than calories.

Baby Step Buns
Ingredients:
3 cups whole grain flour (I use spelt)
1 cup grain mix*
2 cups lukewarm warm water (test on your wrist)
20 g. fresh yeast OR ¾ tsp. dry active yeast
½ Tbsp. sea salt, plus more for garnish
2 tsp. olive oil
nuts and seeds for garnish (optional)

* You can purchase grain mixes specifically for baking at natural food stores and good grocers, but making your own is easy. You can blend any of your favorite grains, nuts, and seeds together - I like ground flax, rolled oats, sunflower seeds, sesame, rye kernels…you get the idea.

Directions:
1. If using fresh yeast, dissolve it in some slightly warm water (not too hot, or you will kill the yeast).
2. Combine dry ingredients well, then add the water and oil.
3. Mix with a wooden spoon until well combined - the dough will be very wet, that is how it is supposed to be. Cover with a tea towel and let sit someplace warm overnight (beside a radiator is a good spot).
4. In the morning, preheat oven to 400F, line a couple baking trays with parchment paper, and spoon dough onto them. You can make these as large or small as you like, mine were about the size of my palm. Sprinkle with nuts and/or seeds and sea salt.
5. Bake for 30 minutes, or until a tap on the bottom of the buns makes a hollow sound.

Now, for a little bun taste and texture review: My favorite aspect of these buns is how crispy they are! The crust is delightfully crunchy, but they also manage to maintain a soft center. I think the sesame seeds on top were a very good idea, as they add even more crunch and nutty flavour. They taste really good too. I suppose my only criticism is that they are a little too flat, and once sliced the two halves are just not as substantial as I would like them to be. BUT because I have no idea about bread chemistry I am not sure how to remedy this. Anyone know?

An Evolution
I don’t often post recipe “experiments” in the sense that they are still in the experimental stage, but I will admit that these buns are just that. I have NO idea what I am doing, and although winging it seems like a rad idea, I know for a fact that there is lots of room for improvement here. I am excited to see where it goes, and what I will learn along the way. I bet I will look back on these funny little buns someday and laugh at my sweet, baking innocence. But hey, baby steps my friend.

Better Butter

This post is lovingly dedicated to stepfather, who seems to have a real love affair with butter. I have seen him on several occasions eat it sliced on crackers like cheese – it’s amazing. Don’t get me wrong, butter is totally a delicious indulgence for me once in a while, but we all need to be aware that it is one of the most concentrated forms of animal fat that makes us, well, fat too.

Since the last post, which included butter beans, I experimented with the ones left over from the salad recipe. Pondering over their creamy texture and rich flavour, I came up with this simple alternative spread to butter! Now obviously beans will never be butter, nor can you cook with them like butter, or bake with them like butter, but you can whir them up with a few other ingredients to make something worthy of your most discriminating cracker.

Better Beans
Butter beans, also referred to as lima beans, are a total super food. They are loaded with protein (much like other legumes), and when eaten in combination with whole grains and whole grain products they provide the protein comparable to that found in meat or dairy foods without the high calorie content or saturated fat. And when you eat butter beans instead of animal products, you also experience the health benefits of dietary fiber, which lowers cholesterol, stabilizes blood sugar, prevents constipation, but also helps prevent digestive disorders like irritable bowel syndrome and diverticulosis. Just one cup of lima beans will give you 65.8% of the daily value for fiber.

This recipe is incredibly versatile, so I have just laid out a basic version for you to experiment with. Because this is essentially a bean dip, you can add as many flavours as you like – try roasted garlic, fresh herbs, spices, chilies, steamed vegetables, other oils (flax, for example would be a great choice!)…the list goes on as far as your imagination.
I chose to put in a few pinches of turmeric because it turns the dip a slightly yellow colour, just for kicks! It does not add any flavour, but as a bonus turmeric’s anti-bacterial properties help to retard food spoilage, for a longer life in the fridge. Pretty neat, eh?
You can use canned butter beans if it's all you have available, but the flavour is far superior when you cook them yourself.

Better Butter
Ingredients:
1 cup dried butter beans
3-4 Tbsp. cold-pressed, extra virgin olive oil
1 small clove garlic
sea salt to taste
a couple pinches of turmeric (optional)

Directions:
1. Soak beans for 8 hours (or overnight) in pure water. Drain, rinse well and place in pot with enough water to cover them by a few inches.
2. Bring to a boil, lower to simmer and cook for 45 minutes, or until tender.
3. Drain and rinse. Allow to cool.
4. Place cooled beans and other ingredients in a food processor and blend until smooth and creamy. Done!
5. Refrigerate leftovers. Keeps for about a week.

And I couldn’t help but include this picture. The other day as I was rinsing off my beans after cooking, I noticed the veins running though them so closely resembled lungs! Wow! Just when I think food has amazed and inspired me to very the limit, it pulls out one more jaw-dropping detail that brings me to my knees.