New Website Woooohoooo!

I finally got my own domain where I will post my food experiments from now on! I’m super excited! I am still working on the look of the website but come on over there and see what’s cooking! This cutie is my new website. I’m very proud of it.
Thanks for visiting!

Two Layered Pound Cake with Cherries

I am not a master baker. Maybe because I’m not that much into sweets. I prefer salty and spicy treats instead. However, once in a while I love making something sweet and share it with friends and family over tea. Or by myself on an afternoon, while reading something enjoyable. Like this book that my friend Laura suggested me to read and I am going to plunge into it as soon as I’m done with the summer semester.

Two Layered Pound Cake with Cherries

Bottom Chocolate Layer:

1/3 cup whole wheat flour
1/3 cup quinoa flour
1/2 cup vegan dark chocolate
1 Tbsp coconut oil
1/2 cup almond mylk
4 Tbsp honey
1 pinch salt
1 Tbsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp baking powder

Melt the coconut oil in a pot on medium heat, add the dark chocolate, honey, almond mylk and vanilla extract. Blend the quinoa and the whole wheat flour with the baking powder and the salt thoroughly. Add the flour gradually to the liquid ingredients, stirring continuously. Stir until it is blended thoroughly but do not over-stir. Spread the batter in a lightly oiled and flour-dusted 8×8 pan.

Top Layer:

2/3 cup whole wheat flour
2/3 cup quinoa flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 pinch salt
5 Tbsp honey
2/3 almond mylk
1 Tbsp ground flax seed
2 Tbsp vanilla extract
2 Tbsp coconut oil
1 big pinch of good quality saffron

Blend the whole wheat flour, quinoa flour, salt, and baking powder thoroughly. In a pot, on medium heat, heat the almond mylk, honey, vanilla extract, coconut oil and saffron. Blend well until the liquid is a pretty orange-yellow and the oil is incorporated. Slowly add the flour mixture to the liquid ingredients stirring continuously until blended. Add this batter on top of the chocolate batter.

The Cherry Topping:

Wash, pit and half the cherries. Add them on top of the batter, pressing them lightly into it. The cherries should not be submersed into the batter. Most of the cherry should be on top.

Bake the cake for about 40 minutes on 300F or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.

The quinoa flour may taste a little strange for some. You can prepare the same recipe as above using only whole wheat flour (just replace the quinoa flour with whole wheat or white flour – although I don’t recommend the latter). As I used only honey and not a lot of it, this cake is not very sweet. This is my preference but you can add more honey to make it sweeter. I dusted the cake with a little powdered sugar for added prettiness but it isn’t needed as the cherries make it pretty enough.

Enjoy with a nice cup of hot tea!

Ancient Greek Fast Food

I’m eating as I write because this recipe is too delicious to wait!

I spent several hours in the library this week researching ancient cuisine. I found some really interesting books about eating and drinking habits in the Mediterranean ancient world but no actual recipes…When I was just about to give up, I found a book called simply “Food in Antiquity“. This book is a compilation of essays by different authors on a wide variety of subjects like: “Bread Baking in Ancient Italy”, “The Apician Sauce”, “Ancient Vegetarianism”, “Problems in Greek Gastronomic Poetry” and many others. In this book I found a few references which finally pointed me to the original ancient sources I was looking for. I discovered a book called “Deipnosophistae” or “The Learned Banqueters” by a Greek writer living in Egypt in the 3rd century AD, Athenaeus. Deipnosophistae has several ancient recipes. I will be deciphering the recipes in this book and the Apicius book for a while. Hopefully, by the time I am done with them, I would have found several other sources of ancient recipes. When I would have cooked out all antiquity in the Mediterranean basin, I will proceed to cook the Middle Ages. If I don’t learn Sanskrit by then, which would open up a whole new treasure full with ancient recipes. But that is in the future and I am a grounded-in-the-present kind of girl. So for now my plan is to cook one ancient recipe per week. All the recipes will be vegetarian. In between ancient experiments, I will cook whatever I fancy.

Today we have ancient Greek “pizza”! Or something like it, anyway. It is a very quick and simple recipe from “The Learned Banqueters”. It goes like this:

“σταιτίτας πλακοῦς ποιὸς ἐκ σταιτὸς καὶ μέλιτος, μνημονεύει Ἐπίχαρμος ἐν Ἥβας Γάμῳ. σταῖς δ᾽ ἐστὶν ὑγρὸν εἰς τήγανον ἐπιχεόμενον, μέλιτος ἐπιβαλλομένου καὶ σησάμης καὶ τυροῦ, ὡς Ἰατροκλῆς φησίν.”(Deipnosophistae, 14.646B, source: Perseus)

My translation:

“Staititas: a kind of flat cake made of spelt dough and honey, Epicharmus mentions it in The Wedding of Hebe. Moist spelt dough was dropped into the frying pan, while honey, sesame and cheese is thrown on top, as Iatrocles says.”

I dont know who Epicharmus and Iatrocles are but that’s enough information for my delicious experiment.

Ancient Greek Fast “Pizza”:

I followed the recipe just as it is in the quote above but I added 1tsp oregano for a little extra aroma and some extra virgin olive oil so it won’t stick to the pan. I did not use any yeast. I was quite happy with the result. This is the recipe with the measurements:

2 cups organic whole spelt flour
aprox 3/4 cup water
pinch sea salt
1 tsp dried oregano
1 Tbsp olive oil

Blend the spelt and dried oregano and knead, adding the water, salt and olive oil gradually until it is a uniform, elastic mass. If it sticks, add a little more flour. Knead for 5 minutes, then cover with a wet cloth and let it sit for about 10, 15 minutes. Afterwards, roll out with a rolling pin in a circle as wide as your pan.
In a pan (I used an iron skillet as I do not own non stick pans), drizzle some extra virgin olive oil. Turn the heat on medium, place the pan on the heat and let it heat for about 30 seconds. “Drop” the dough in the pan and fry on each side for about 2 minutes. The dough will bubble when it is frying – it’s very much like making pita bread.
When the dough is golden-brown on each side, place on a serving plate, drizzle with runny honey (2 Tbsp honey and 1 Tbsp warm water), sesame seeds (about 1 Tbsp), goat feta cheese (aprox. one cup) and a little bit on sea salt, just for enhancing the taste. I added some shredded basil, sundried tomatoes and capers. Best served with olives on the side, arugula salad, organic red wine and other aromatic fare.

The taste is soooo good! I think I will finish the whole thing by myself. I love the blend of goat feta, honey and sesame. And spelt has such an earthy aroma which filled my whole house. This is really great as a summer lunch or as an appetizer at any time of the year.

Now please excuse me while I get myself a fifth piece of staititas!

PS: I wanted to say a big “thank you” to all those who responded so positively to my little ancient food experimentation project. I’m so happy that other people (other than me and my other 2,3 oddball Classics colleagues) are interested in ancient cuisine! I hope that you will feel inspired by what our ancestors were eating. They had quite refined tastes, I can tell you that much!

χαίρετε!

Idyllic Garden

I am researching some more ancient recipes today but meanwhile you can hang out in our garden and relax.

Breakfast of Superheroines

For the last 3 years of my undergrad I’ve been trying to find out how to handle stressful exam periods without adding the extra stress. Meaning: if I could just do the work that I do without stressing out, life would be so much easier. Meditation, yoga and good nutrition help a lot but I still have to remind myself actively every 10 minutes: “don’t freak out”. After a while this doesn’t work. I have to watch Seinfeld or something…

Well, today I have an exam and the fact that I’m writing this means I’m at least a little less stressed than usual. Is it because I finished studying? Noooooo. Is it because I don’t care? Unfortunately not, I wish I didn’t care about my grades, it would make life so much easier. Well, maybe it’s because I had this for breakfast:

Superpower Supersmoothie for Superheroines writing Superexams

Almond mylk
Watermelon
Organic Blueberies
Vanilla extract
Kivi
Herbs (mint, thyme, oregano)
Spirulina
Bee polen
Aloe vera – fresh

This is the image from the top – spirulina & bee polen.

Armed with this, I am back to Thomas Hobbes (who has some very strange political ideas based on fear).

Raw Tart with Matcha and Raspberries

Matcha and Raspberries make a wonderful pair! Why didn’t I figure this out earlier?

I love spending time in my parents’ garden. It’s magical at this time of the year! We have lots of herbs, raspberries, tomatoes of all kinds and pretty flowers. We also have fruit trees of all kinds and a big walnut tree which does not make walnuts (or if it does, the mean squirrels eat them right away). The raspberries above are from our garden.

These little tarts are my treat for my brother’s birthday. They are raw and they are topped with matcha (which he likes) and the garden raspberries for added visual yumminess.

They are also really healthy because he’s health conscious and very active. The tarts are actually raw and have no added sweetener.

Raw Tarts with Matcha and Raspberries (makes about 6 little tarts)

2 cups steel-cut oats soaked in water overnight
2 cups walnuts soaked overnight
6 medjool dates soaked in water for 1/2 hour
2 Tbsp raisins soaked for 1/2 hour
2 Tbsp vanilla extract
2 Tbsp liquid coconut oil (at room temperature)
1 Tbsp coconut flakes (optional)
2 Tbsp ground chia seeds

Blend all the ingredients other than the ground chia seeds in a food processor or using a powerful blender. After the ingredients are well blended, add the chia seeds (for a thicker consistency) and blend using a spoon. Form the little round tarts, sprinkle with matcha powder (with the help of a sieve) and place the raspberries on top. Other small fresh fruits are fine too (like blueberries, strawberries or currants).

Enjoy the feast and the natural sweetness!

Ancient Roman Apricot Starter

I wanted to do this for a long time – try some ancient Mediterranean recipes (Greek and Roman). Since I am a Classics major and I have access to the original texts, I thought it would be a pity to not take advantage of this. Actually, it is one of the main reasons I started this blog and called it “La Spelonca Vegetariana”. “Spelonca” means “cave” in Latin and the point was that I was going to inspire people to eat more like our ancestors did (but with a vegetarian twist). However, ancient recipes are hard to find. There aren’t a lot of sources and I have to spend days in the library looking for the mention of some recipe in a book which is otherwise generally historical. The first collection of recipes, “De Re Coquinaria” (loosely translated as “The Art of Cooking”), only appeared sometime in the 4th or 5th century AD and it contains exotic and mostly meat-heavy recipes. However, there is a vegetable and a fruit section with some interesting vegetarian recipes. The recipes are attributed to Marcus Gavius Apicius, a first century epicure. You can read more about this collection here.
The recipe I wanted to try first is an apricot starter because it sounds simple enough and weird at the same time. And also because apricots are in season.
So here is the original recipe in Latin taken from the original book:

“GUSTUM DE PRAECOQUIS.

Duracina primotica pusilla. Praecoquia purgas, enucleas, in frigidam mittis, in patina componis. Teres piper, mentam siccam, suffundis liquamen, adicies mel, passum, vinum et acetum. Refundis in patina super praecoquia, olei modicum mittis et lento igni ferveat. Cum ferbuerit amulo obligas aspargis et inferes.” (De Re Coquinaria, book 4)

And this is my own very literal translation. I wanted to keep it mot-a-mot so you can feel the flavour of the language and culture a little bit:

“Starter with Apricots:

Hard first small fruits (I think he means – choose the hard small fruits). Throw the apricots in, take out the seeds, place them in cold water and collect them in a pan. (Add) round pepper, dry mint, pour liquamen (a kind of salty fermented fish sauce – ew!), throw in honey, passum (raisin wine, a kind of ice wine), wine and vinegar. Pour back in the pan on top of the apricots, add a little oil and boil them gently on fire. When it would boil, bind together with starch, set aside and serve.”

So what do you make of this?? Well, I followed the recipe as close as I could but I had to change some things. I couldn’t use the fermented fish sauce, of course, and I didn’t have passum. This is what I did:

Starter with Apricots (Spelonca version):

12 ripe but hard apricots, seeds discarded
2 Tbsp black pepper
1 Tbsp dry mint
1 Tbsp fresh mint
3 Tbsp honey
2 cups white wine (I used Gewürztraminer)
2 Tbsp vinegar
1 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 pinch persian saffron
1 pinch salt
1 pinch cumin
1 Tbsp flax seed (for thickening consistency)

I boiled the apricots in the wine sauce for about 5 minutes and I served it warm. The sauce by itself has a strange taste but together with the apricots is really good! I was impressed! The peppers, the mint, the wine and the apricots go together really well! I think it is a very nice appetizer or just something to enjoy together with wine. More wine. Oh by the way, as you can notice, the stars were not aligned properly and my detox and liver flush fell through. I will write a longer post in the future about my experience and opinions regarding detoxification, diets, food deprivation and food extremism in general. Until then – salvete (be well)!

PS: This starter goes really well with organic spelt Lavash crackers (which are vegan too!). Spelt is an ancient grain and was widely used in Roman cuisine.

Raw Spicy Coconut Avocado Soup in Bell Pepper Bowls

Most of my thinking time is filled with being nostalgic. I’ve always been like this, even as a kid. These days I am nostalgic about my country (ok, this is nothing new, I’ve been a nostalgic immigrant for the past ten years, it has become a part of my character). Even when I was a kid I was nostalgic about things I read in books (like the Greek legends I knew by heart). For the past few days, though, a new memory has surfaced and it does not leave me alone. It is of this cartoon I used to watch as a kid, after the fall of the Eastern Block, called “Perrine Monogatari”, a Japanese cartoon. The story does not matter but what does matter is that the main character in that cartoon, a poor and plain teenage girl (no pretty dresses, no magical sparkly powers), was living in the forest for some time in a wild and “organic” environment. She had several animals as friends, whom she refrained from eating, of course. She even carved her own fork and spoon out of forest wood and she was using leaves as plates. I remember marvelling at all this and wishing I could live like that someday. For the whole time the show lasted, my favourite game was “Perrine” – pretending I was living in the forest like a hippie. Fast forward some 20 years…those images are still with me and…yeah, I still play “Perrine”. So today, following that impulse, I made a raw soup and I carved my own bowls, out of bell peppers. Beside “Perrine Monogatari”, I was also inspired by a cooking challenge over at Lisa’s Kitchen entitled No Croutons Required. The challenge for this month is to prepare a vegetarian soup or salad using hot peppers (I used cayenne and green jalapeños). It works great for me because I’m also detoxing while doing a liver flush (my first ever!) and I am eating mostly raw this week, so lots of raw soups and salads. So here is my entry for the challenge and for kindling my nostalgia of the forest-living-hippie cartoon character.

Raw Spicy Coconut Avocado Soup in Bell Pepper Bowls:

4 large bell peppers, preferably of different colours (when you buy them, choose the ones that can stand on their own on a flat surface)
3 cups raw organic coconut milk
2 ripe avocados (there should be no born spots on the green flesh)
2 Tbps chopped basil
lemon juice from a lemon
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
2 Tbps extra virgin olive oil
1 clove garlic (optional)
1/2 jalapeño pepper (I used half of a bigger one, you can use a whole pepper if it is small)
1 tsp ginger
salt to taste
1 tsp curry
1 or 2 thinly sliced mushrooms for garnish
1 Tbps chives, for garnish
more basil for garnish

After you carefully cut the top of the bell peppers and discard the seeds inside, place the pepper bowls on a plate, in wait of the soup. For the soup – you put all the ingredients other than the chives, thinly sliced mushrooms and the basil for garnish in the blender. You blend for about 1 minute or until you have a light green thick soup. This soup can be served at room temperature, chilled (which I prefer) or slightly warmed (only slightly though, otherwise some nutrients will die and it won’t go well with the edible bowls). You pour the soup into the bowls, garnish each of them with the mushrooms, chives and basil, and serve them for lunch. After you are done with the soup, you can enjoy the delicious bowl (has a lot of vitamin C!). This recipe makes enough to fill 4 large bell pepper bowls.

Now in all seriousness – I think that nature can provide us with everything that we need to live happy, fulfilling lives. Yes, I would not be sharing this with you right now if I lived in the forest and I didn’t have technology and all but perhaps I would invite you over for lunch instead. I’m an idealist.

H. D. Thoreau, whom I very much admire, wrote this book about his experiment of living in the woods for two years. I enjoyed reading it and you might find it interesting if you are even slightly the wood-living type.

This is a charged post so I will end it with a deep quote by H. D. Thoreau:

“I know of no more encouraging fact than the unquestionable ability of man to elevate his life by a conscious endeavor. It is something to be able to paint a particular picture, or to carve a statue, and so to make a few objects beautiful; but it is far more glorious to carve and paint the very atmosphere and medium through which we look, which morally we can do. To affect the quality of the day, that is the highest of arts.” (Walden, Chapter 2)

Cocktail-Dressed Radishes

When I was a kid, I used to eat radishes from my grandparents’ garden until I got a stomach ache. I haven’t changed all that much, although my grandparents’ garden is in a different country. I bought a lot of organic radishes a few days ago from the market because I just couldn’t resist their bright red colour. I usually eat a whole bunch of them (20 or so) just raw, by themselves. But this time I wanted to do something nice with them, while keeping them raw, with all the nutrients untouched (and there are lots of them in one little red pack!). So, as today was steamy hot outside (tropical heat, just the way I love it) and we needed something to cool off, I decided to make a refreshing recipe to accompany afternoon cocktails. And what is more refreshing than radishes with a dill-cucumber-tofu topping? You can use this recipe as an appetizer, you can have it on a hot afternoon accompanied by cocktails (as we did) or you can just have it as a healthy snack while relaxing and reading a nice book. The topping itself can be used as a dip for pita bread and vegetables.

Radishes with Dill-Cucumber-Tofu Topping for a Hot Summer Afternoon

For the topping (will make enough for 30-40 radishes and can be used as a dip also):

1 cup medium firm tofu
2 Tbsp fresh dill
1 Tbsp fresh parsley
1 Tbsp lemon juice
1/2 Persian cucumber (or any kind that has a soft skin; you can also use another kind, but it should be skinned; use about 2 Tbsp diced cucumber)
1 tsp extra virgin olive oil
1 tsp apple vinegar
1 pinch cumin
1 pinch salt

Put all the ingredients in a bender and blend on low until the consistency is smooth. However, you have to still distinguish the herbs (especially the dill). If everything becomes a paste, the flavours blend with each other and the recipe loses a part of it’s personality. We don’t want that, recipes should have their own strong and free personalities since I am convinced they have a life of their own!

After the topping completely emerged with its very own self, top the radishes (which have been washed and both ends cut) with it using a piping bag (used usually for icing cakes) and a plain round tip (or whatever kind you choose).

Just a word of advice: the tofu already has water in it. Blending the tofu as it is worked for me just fine but if you want the topping to have a more firm consistency, you should press the water out of the tofu. For this, you put the tofu on a deep plate or bowl and place another plate on top of the tofu piece with something heavier on top of the plate (a third plate for example). You leave the tofu like this and come back in half an hour. Discard the water that accumulated around the tofu and proceed with the recipe. Also, you can use less cucumber for a more firm consistency, as cucumbers are 95% made of water.

This recipe is perfect with mojitos! (which reminds me how incredibly much I miss Cuba!)

Enjoy!

Vegetable Tempeh Stack

I’m loving life these days. I love what I study in school, I’m enjoying every long summer day and I am surrounded by inspiring people. It’s true, I should meditate more, I should really finish that stack of books I have on my desk and other minor things that make life not perfect and even more charming. Talking about stacks – I discovered that I love eating things placed on top of each other. This is what we had for lunch today on our sunny balcony:

Vegetable and Tempeh Stack (makes one stack but it’s quite consistent, one full meal for one person but two people can share it for a snack):

1 slice of whole wheat bread (mine is home-made with herbs and cumin)
4-5 thin heirloom eggplant rounds
6-7 zucchini rounds
2-3 tomato rounds
1 Tbsp pesto
3/4 cup tempeh
dried basil
dried oregano
salt to taste
1 Tbsp coconut oil
2 sun dried tomato halves
5 leaves fresh basil

On medium heat, heat the coconut oil in a cast iron skillet add the eggplant rounds, add a little salt, sprinkle some basil and oregano on top and fry for one minute on each side. Remove and add on top of the slice of bread. DO the same with the zucchini and add the pesto on top of the zucchini (directly on the stack). Do the same thing with the tomatoes and the tempeh, adding some fresh basil in between them. Add the sun dried tomatoes on top of the whole stack and some fresh basil for garnish.

For the summer salad:

cubes of red and yellow tomatoes
one cucumber, cubed
3/4 cup watermelon, cubed
diced chives

On a bed of fresh basil leaves, arrange the cubed fruits (they are all fruits!), sprinkle with chives and drizzle balsamic vinegar and olive oil on top.

Enjoy with a bottle of cider or rosé wine. I love this hard cider from Sunnybrook winery in Niagara-on-the-Lake.