Naphtali Visser

When I was in LA, I ate at M Cafe, a “Contemporary Macrobiotic Cuisine” Restaurant. One of my favorite dishes there was Kale with Spicy Peanut Sauce. I found the recipe online, but modified it in a few ways to make it even more tasty and healthful:

• I steam the kale instead of blanching it, so as to not lose any vitamins from the precious kale.
• I use cashews instead of peanuts. I use only raw (not roasted), unsalted cashews.
• Reduced the amount of sweetener (honey) to save on calories, and use raw honey (which is less processed)
• Reduced the amount of soy sauce to reduce the amount of sodium
• Increased garlic because garlic rocks
• Added dried figs for a bit more fiber and to add some unrefined sweetness

2 large bunches kale
 (or [2] 10 oz. bags from Trader Joes — not as tasty or fresh, but it works)

3/4 cup raw, unsalted cashews
1 T honey

1 T low sodium soy sauce
2 T red wine vinegar

1 tsp. garlic, minced
1/2 tsp. tsp. ginger powder

1/4 crushed red pepper (or 1/8 tsp. cayenne pepper
)
1/4 c. hot water

Steam the kale.
Blend everything else in a food processor or blender until it’s thin, but not runny.
Drizzle over kale.
Mix it up. Eat it. Yum.

Saves very well! Yummy for lunch the next day. Warm it to room temperature before eating. No microwave!

It was the first time I cooked Thanksgiving, so I thought I’d write down the menu.

Lots of thanks to Karla, Osnat and Brooke for help prepping, cleaning and presenting!

• Roasted Kale Chips
• Farro, Oven Roasted Grapes, Rainbow Chard and Kale salad
• Parsnip and Apple Puree
• Apple Sauce
• Broccoli Rabe with Almonds
• Cranberry, ginger and dried fruit chutney
• Roasted Red and Yellow beets on top of Turnip Puree
• Balsamic Glazed Pearl Onions
• Cornbread
• Crescent Rolls (thanks to my roommate Brooke!)
• Cornbread, leek, pecan stuffing
• Turkey!
• Apple Cake
• Chocolate Bread Pudding

A twist on a margarita.

1 oz. Del Maguey Vida Mezcal (or any other from Del Maguey or Ilegal
2 oz. fresh lime juice (optionally tinted pink, see below)
1 oz. simple syrup

Shake over ice in a martini shaker, pour into a martini glass.

To color lime juice, use a tiny piece of a cooked beet, and blend it into the lime juice. Filter through a very fine strainer or paper towel.

I had a dish similar to this at a restaurant, and wanted to recreate it.

It’s great for breakfast or a snack.

1 c. Farro (available at some Italian specialty shops, select Whole Foods, or from Amazon)
3-4 c. Unsweetened Almond Milk (Hemp Milk also works well)
1 T. agave nectar or honey (or to taste)

Bring the Farro and Almond Milk to a boil
Reduce the heat to very low, and let cook, stirring occasionally, for about 50-60 minutes
Stir in agave nectar

It can be easily reheated, adding a bit of almond milk or water in the process

After living in NYC for about a month and eating out all the time, I was craving some high nutrient food. After eating one serving of this salad, I had tons of energy and felt great!

3 Bunches chopped Green Flowering Kale/Black Tuscan Kale

1 cup julienned reconstituted Sundried Tomatoes, strained
1 cup crumbled or cubed Feta Cheese (and/or a firm blue cheese)
1 cup of julienned dried unsulphered dried figs (or dried apricots)
1 cup slivered almonds (or chopped walnuts)
1/2 c. raisins (optional)
1 c. raspberries (optional)
2T High Quality Olive Oil

1/2 cup fresh lemon juice, about 3-4 lemons (or 1/2 c. red wine or raspberry vinegar)
1 tsp of kosher Salt

Wash kale very well (using water and vinegar) and dry. In a large mixing bowl add kale, salt, and lemon juice, toss well (kale will turn dark green).
Add all other ingredients and mix well.

Can be served immediately or refrigerate until time of serving. Can be prepared in advance and held for three days.

Yield: about 8- 4oz Portions

I was in the mood for a little lemon in my water today. I made my way to the kitchen, but when I got there, simply adding lemon seemed like a waste.

Here’s what I came up with instead.  The proportions are guesses — I’ll do it again and change the recipe here.

1T Trader Joe’s creamed honey
2T lemon juice (all i had was bottled; i’ll remedy that next time)
1/8t cayenne pepper
14oz. water

mix the honey, lemon juice, and cayenne, and heat just enough to liquefy the honey
add it to the water, over ice

the mixture was pretty spicy. my lips were burning for quite a while. but it was so tasty.

Incidentally, i’ve had great luck curing hangovers with nothing but water and cayenne, so i bet this would work pretty well too.

Of all the desserts I make, this one seems to be the biggest hit. Several friends have referred to these as “Crack Brownies”. I’ve made these dozens of times, making small adjustments each time.

2/3 cup all-purpose flour  [scoop and cut method]
1/2 teaspoon table salt or fine-grain sea salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
4 ounces bittersweet (70%) chocolate
2 ounces unsweetened chocolate
10 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 1/4 cups sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 large eggs (cage free are best)
1 cup coarsely chopped nuts
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 325°F. (See notes.)
2. Grease (with butter or vegetable spray) an 8″ square metal pan (not glass).  Then, cut or fold a piece of aluminum foil to 8″ wide by 16″ long, and put that into the pan, so you can easily remove the brownies when they are done.  Nothing worse than digging brownies out of a pan! (If you must use a glass pan, line it both ways with foil.)
3. Whisk the flour, salt and baking powder together in a small bowl.  Set aside.
4. Melt the chocolate and butter in a double boiler or in a bowl of water above some simmering water.  Make sure that the bowl does not touch the water below it and also make sure to not get any water into the chocolate!
5. Once the chocolate is melted, remove from heat, let cool about 10 minutes.  Pour the chocolate into the bowl of a kitchen mixer (e.g. KitchenAid) then, using the whisk (not paddle), whisk in the sugar and vanilla.  Whisk in the eggs, one at a time.  Make sure that each egg is completely incorporated before mixing the next one in. Whisk until glossy.  You’ll want to go swimming in it at this point.
6. Add the dry ingredients and whisk until JUST incorporated. Do not over-mix!
7. Add the nuts and chocolate chips, and incorporate by hand, using a spatula (or your hands). You can add them just before all the flour is incorporated so that you don’t risk over-mixing the flour.
8. Pour the batter into the pan and smooth the top using a spatula.  Bake until a toothpick comes out with wet crumbs, about 35-45 minutes.  Do not over-bake!!!
9. Let cool for about 10-15 minutes. Engorge.

Tips for Success

1. I usually buy chocolate in blocks, and use a very sharp kitchen knife or cleaver to shave off pieces, and weigh them in a kitchen scale.  The small shavings melt very quickly and evenly. If you don’t have a scale, then buy chocolate in bars so that you can determine the weight based on the scoring lines in the chocolate.
2. Do not over mix when you put the dry ingredients in.
3. Get a good oven thermometer and make sure your oven is actually at 325°F before putting the brownies in. My oven at home is actually 425°F when I set the dial at 325°F.
4. As much as I hate to open the oven once I’ve put something in, I check the brownies at 30 minutes to see how they are doing.  Try to not hit a chocolate chip when you put the toothpick in.  The toothpick should come out with wet crumbs. How wet?  Well, that depends how gooey you like your brownies.

Ingredient Suggestions

1. Chocolate:
   • Unsweet: Callebaut Unsweetened, Scharffen Berger 99% or Ghiradelli Unsweetened. Please, don’t use Baker’s brand.
   • Bittersweet: El Rey 73% (my favorite baking/pastry making chocolate), Valrhona 70%, Callebaut 70%, Scharffen Berger 70% or Ghiradelli 70% in a pinch. If you want sweeter brownies (careful, they are already pretty sweet), you can use a chocolate of similar quality with lower cacao content, but I would not go below 55%.
2. Chocolate Chips: I like Ghiradelli Semi-Sweet
3. Salt: Resist the urge to use kosher salt or other large-grained sea salt. Your brownies will be salty, and not in a good way.
4. Sugar: I use regular granulated white sugar. I like the taste of “Sugar in the Raw” (pure cane sugar), but I find that that sugar doesn’t dissolve as well as regular granulated sugar, so the brownies aren’t as smooth as they could be.
5. Eggs: Large. Organic, if possible. I like Pete & Gerry’s brand.
6. Butter: Unsalted, but salted works just fine too. Organic, if possible.
7. Flour: This matters more than you might think. I prefer King Arthur Organic All Purpose.