Sirloin Stroganoff with Herbed Potatoes

Sirloin Stroganoff with Herbed Potatoes

Our take on this old favourite is to add it to french fried potatoes which are wonderful in the rich gravy. 

Health Properties

Beef is thermally warming and essential for Canadian winters.  I eat mostly vegetarian, but not in wintertime.  Beef strengthens spleen-pancreas and builds blood, sinew and bones.  Potatoes also strengthen the splean-pancreas, and help neutralize body acids which reduces arthritis and rheumatism.  With the skins left on, potatoes are high in potassium.  Garlic and onions are high in sulfur and help remove toxins from the body while at the same time facilitating protein metabolism. With black pepper to stimulate digestion, strognoff is a great meal.  Mushrooms decrease the fat level in the blood and help reduce the heat-toxins from the rich western diet.  Thyme and rosemary are carminatives and help settle digestion.

Ingredients

500g sirloin steak

1 medium onion

2 tablespoons sunflower oil

3 cloves fresh garlic minced

½ teaspoon each fresh ground rosemary, thyme, rock salt and black pepper.

8 to 10 large mushrooms

½ green pepper deseeded

½ yellow pepper deseeded

250 ml fresh water

250 g sour cream

2 tablespoons flour

1 cup white wine

5 large potatoes

Instructions

1.     Slice beef into thin strips and brown in a heavy pan over medium heat.   Add the onions to the browned beef and sauté three or four minutes.  Grind thyme, rosemary, salt, and pepper in spice mill.  Mince garlic.  Add spices to the onion and beef and stir.

2.     Wash and slice mushrooms, and peppers.  Add to pan and sauté for a few minutes more.

3.     Sprinkle flour over ingredients in pan and stir so that it binds with the oils in the pan.  Add water and bring to a boil.  Immediately turn down heat and let simmer until the beef is cooked (about 20 minutes).

4.     Let the ingredients cool before adding sour cream to avoid curdling.  Add white wine and bring to serving temperature.

5.      Slice potatoes into sticks (leave the skins on) and soak in cold salted water.  Drain the potatoes pat dry with paper towel.  Coat with olive oil (4 tablespoons or so.)  Sprinkle with ground herbs (thyme, oregano, basil, etc).  Bake in a 400 degree oven for 45 minutes, turning once.

6.     Serve stroganoff on or beside the potatoes and pour yourself a nice glass of wine.

Brocolli Fennel Soup

Brocolli Fennel Soup

This soup is wonderful.  The crisp, licorice-like flavour of the fennel is a nice addition to the earthiness of the brocolli.  And it’s quick - I make it a couple of times a week for a nutritious lunch. 

Health Properties

Fennel, bay leaves and black pepper (all three) are carminative herbs which promote digestion.   Fennel is an antispasmodic and calms the digestive system, while  bay leaves and black pepper help clear the gastrointestinal tract.  Brocolli is part of the cabbage family and is considered a bitter – one of the least used flavours in North America, and the most important for digestion.  It has more vitamin C than grapefruit and is abundant in chlorophyll -  which helps renew the liver.  Onion lowers blood pressure and lowers holesterol.

Ingredients

2 teaspoons Fennel seeds

1 teaspoon black peppercorns

1 teaspoon rock salt

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 medium onion

1 head of brocolli

fresh water

plain yoghurt

Instructions

1.     Dice onion and sauté in olive oil on moderate heat until it is translucent, but not brown.  Grind fennel, pepper and rock salt in a spice grinder.  Add to onion during the last minute of cooking. Sauté with the onion for one minute.

2.     Cut brocolli into small florettes.  Remove the thick skin of the stalks and dice those too.  Add brocolli to onion and spice mixture.  Sauté until bright green (about minute).

3.     Pour in fresh water to just barely cover the brocolli florets.  Bring to a boil and then reduce heat.  Simmer for ten minutes.  Remove from heat and blend with a hand blender or run through a food processor.

4.     Serve with a dollop of fresh yoghurt.

Devil's Pudding

Devil’s Pudding

This pudding is great for a cold winter day. You get home after school or work chilled to the bone and you need a snack before dinner or a great dessert for afterwards -  whip up this 20 minute creation and feel its warm embrace.

Health Properties

Chilies are both a circulatory and digestive stimulant and so, 'warm you up.'  Rosemary is a carminative herb which means it helps relieve intestinal gas, settles digestion and increases absorption in the small intestine. Both chili and rosemary are diaphoretic - they induce perspiration and are excellent for the initial stages of a cold or flu.  And you thought chicken soup was your only option?  Chocolate is just plain wonderful.  It is second only to seaweed in magnesium (a mineral underrepresented in the western diet, by and large.)  And it contains flavonoids and antioxidants that reduce cellular damage to the body.  Buy good chocolate without added sugars and hydrogenated fats.  The health benefits are worth the extra price.

Ingredients

3^1/2 Tablespoons all purpose flour

3^1/2 tablespoons cocoa powder

¾ cup sugar

large pinch of salt

1^1/2 cups milk

2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

1 large egg

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

white chocolate garnish (optional)

½ hot Red chilli  pepper, seeds removed

1 teaspoon rosemary

Instructions

1.     In a medium sized bowl, whisk the flour, cocoa, sugar and salt together to remove lumps. Put into a medium saucepan and whisk in the milk.

2.     On medium heat, stir the cocoa/sugar mixture continuously until thickened (2 ½ minutes).   Scrape the sides as the mixutre thickens.  Grind  chilli pepper and rosmary in a spice grinder until fine.  Fry ground spices in melted butter for 30 seconds to release their flavours.  Add the spice butter to the chocolate mixture. 

3.     In a separate bowl whisk the egg.   Mix part of the chocolate mixture into the egg and then return the egg chocolate mixture into the rest of the pudding. Continue to heat, add in the vanilla extract and cook for 2-3 more minutes. Pour the pudding into your pudding cups and dust with grated white chocolate.  Serve warm or at room temperature.

Jonah

Winter Rejuvenation - Quinoa Salad

Quinoa Salad

This is a great winter salad.  I make it fresh every few days and keep it in the fridge.  It can be a quick and nourishing snack, or a meal on its own.  Quinoa is high in protein.

Health Properties

Quinoa, black sesame seeds and asparagus all warm the body and are excellent for the rejuvenation of the kidneys, which is our body’s job in winter.   Apple cider vinegar nourishes the liver, stimulates the production of digestive enzymes in the pancreas and is especially helpful for people who are prone to weight gain during the cold winter months.

Ingredients

1 cup quinoa (soaked overnight, soak water discarded)

3 tbsp Black Sesame Seeds

A handful of Asparagus

½ small Purple Onion

Dressing

Apple Cider Vinegar

Tamari

Sesame Oil

Drain your soak water and rinse the quinoa. Soaking begins the sprouting process.  The nutritional density in grains at the point of sprouting is significantly higher than the nutritional density prior to sprouting. Draining and rinsing removes the acids in the hull of the grain and makes them alkaline.  Our diet in the west is far too acidic and everything we can do to make it more alkaline is a good thing.  Rinse the quinoa and place in a pot with four cups fresh water and bring to a boil.  Boil for 10 minutes.  Drain and rinse again in cold water.  While the quinoa is boiling, rinse your asparagus and place in a bamboo steamer or a pan with a lid and steam for six minutes.  Drain and rinse in cold water so the asparagus does not over-cook.  Toast the sesame seeds on medium high heat for a minute or so.  Remove from heat.  Dice the onion very fine.  Mix all ingredients together in a large, beautiful bowl.  It is ready to dress and eat.  If you are going to store your salad in the fridge, don’t dress.  It will remain fresher.  But always let refridgerated foods come to room temperature before you eat them.  Cold food is too hard on the digestion.  If you’re in a hurry, toss some salad in a small skillet with a tablespoon of water and warm for a minute or two on the stove, then dress and eat.

Dressing

Pour ¼ c. non-distilled, non-bleached, non-roasted sesame oil into a cruet. You can get it at your health food store. Expect to pay top dollar, but it’s worth it (all non-refined organic oils have micronutrients essential to our diet.)  To the oil add  ½ c. organic apple cider vinegar and 4 tbsp. organic tamari.   That’s it.  

Mike

Surprise - You Need to Bring a Japanese Cake!

So my uncle was having a New Year celebration and, seeing as how I love to cook, asked me to bring a dessert. The one thing he failed to mention was that since they were hosting a Japanese exchange student, it was going to be a Japanese style meal. The cake was already made and there was no time to make another dessert so I adapted (a great skill all aspiring chefs should master.) My dad (being the genius that he is) quickly googled the word "cake" in Japanese, we whipped up some icing and wrote 'cake' on the cake. Still it was missing something so I grabbed a pair of chopsticks washed some fresh raspberries and arranged them on the masterpiece. We even had five minutes to spare!




Here's the recipe:


8 eggs
1 cup of white sugar
24 ounces unsweetened chocolate
2 cups unsalted butter
As much brandy as you want (I use about 4 tablespoons)


Preheat oven to 350 degrees, butter a 9" springform pan and get out a roasting pan. Then double boil the chocolate and butter, and stir until the mixture is smooth, and let cool. Whip eggs and butter until light and fluffy (around 6 minutes) slowly mix in the chocolate and brandy stirring the entire time, continue for about 3 minutes until the mixture is homogeneous, and pour the batter into the pan. Boil some water and after immersing the springform pan in the roasting pan carefully pour the water into the roasting pan making sure not to get the water in the cake mix. The water in the roasting pan should come half way up the baking pan.  Cook for 30 minutes (check regularly) I usually undercook my cakes because they will continue to cook in the pan after they are removed from the overn. Garnish as you see fit. I used fresh raspberries and white chocolate.


Jonah