NEW WEBSITE UPGRADE!

Thank you to everyone who joined me at the beginning of my web presence, and now...

I HAVE MY OWN WEBSITE!!

so please come on over to martinerousset.com  where you'll find every post so far and many more to come including:

• Raw Food Classes 
• New developments, experiments and inpirations
• delicious photos and ideas
• and more!

also I'd love to know what you're interested in so send me a message - thanks!  Martine

P.S. I THINK I've got this worked out so that if you've already subscribed to this blog you'll be automatically updated from the website martinerousset.com  if you feel like checking and letting me know how it goes I'd love to know.

Thank you all for your patience while I smooth out the bumps and for your support so far - there's even better stuff to come!

Workshops starting in July

Want to get ahead of the spring thing? Get all the basics, what to do and how to do it with delicious plant-based cuisine.  Here's just the thing:

Raw Food Foundation Classes

Class 1 – Raw Feast Sunday July 10 1.30- 4.30pm

A sampler of delicious foods and a guide to eating amazing, healthy and fresh plant-based cuisine.You’ll learn how to make foundation dishes such as dips, pastas, green smoothies, nut milks, supreme salads and more.
Class 2 – Sumptuously Sweet and Sinless -just goodness in here! Sunday July 17 1.30- 4.30pm

• Apple pie three ways
• Rich chocolate and berry tart.
• Pear and ginger bavarois with organic lime pears
• Vanilla and Rose cashew cremes and more!

You’ll learn how to make large and individual cakes, lots of tips and info, including how and why it’s often necessary to have cake for breakfast.

Class 3 - Easy Breakfasts, lunches and snacks Sunday July 24 1.30- 4.30pm

• Spring rolls
• Sushi
• Kelp noodles
• Miso Soup
• Vanilla almond chia pudding
• Easy granola
• practical savoury breakfast ideas
• Super simple sauces

Tips on planning ahead and making your lunch work at work.

Class 4 – Masterful Mains Sunday July 31 1.30- 4.30pm

• Marinated mushroom tarts
• Lasagne
• Cannelloni
• Sensational Seasonal Salads (these change)
• Nut cheese and fruit platter with raw crackers

Classes are just $125 each - or bring a friend for half price

Book all 4 classes and get $100 off.

contact Martine with any special dietary needs  / requests by email classes@martinerousset.com

or phone 0433 600 655

Chocolate Ganache Recipe

So easy and silky smooth – a dairy free delight.

Whether you need a quick choc fix or an impressive chocolate sauce, here it is.

Equipment:  Big bowl and a whisk

Ingredients:

10 Tbs Cacao Powder

6 Tbs Agave Syrup

1 teaspoon coconut oil, sesame oil, or other light unflavoured oil on hand

1/2 vanilla bean (optional)

fine sea salt to taste

Add the first 3 ingredients to the bowl and begin mixing with the whisk – cut the vanilla bean in half lengthways and scrape out the seeds inside, add them to the choc mix, keep mixing. Taste this as you go along, it’s pretty good – now here’s the magic – add just a little salt and taste again to see how the flavour changes – the salt really balances and grounds the sweet sweetness of the agave – you just have to experience this, so go do it!

Use the ganache as a filling, a topping, an icing, a drizzle, chocmilk base, slather it on anything!

Khorasan and the Purple Cheese Monkey

- a story of bread and cheese

Purple Cheese Monkey Pondering

I  remember when I started out on this raw venture I had some pretty serious cravings, and they were so very often for cheese.  At times I'd either fight it, feed it, regret it, indulge and enjoy it, select the best quality and have it as a treat, but I still didn't really want to be eating dairy food.  It didn't feel right but it really had me in its thrall. After a while I decided I'd "binge consciously" - or at least try to be aware of what I was doing and what had triggered it.  

My whole approach to a high raw diet is one of abundance and the idea that has kept me going the most has been that "I can have anything I want, whenever I want it" so there's no taboo.  I hold onto that philosophy and shy away from labelling myself as it usually ends up being another box I get forced into. 

but anyway - the cheese thing

Wow was I asking a lot from cheese - it had to soothe me, be there for me, nourish and comfort me and be squishy, gooey, sharp and tasty all at once - at it was all those things, until the act was over and I wasn't sure it respected me anymore. (the guilt, bloaty indigestion and blech feeling)

Now to my astonishment, I can walk down the cheese aisle of the gourmet deli, muse and ponder and walk on by.  I never thought I'd be that way BUT I still love aspects of cheese - social, tasty, indulgent, fun...

 

so now, I'M MAKING CHEESE!

totally plant based and dairy free.

It's a grand experiment using nuts (currently almonds, more to come)  Some are fermenting with time, others with probiotic powder or lemon juice and miso.  Some are draining, another's pressed and another's just sitting in its own juices doing its thing.   

the whey station

pressing the cheese

Purple Monkey's view looking down - I found a 3 tiered removable basket trolley on wheels and knew it would be handy! He's watching from the top basket.

 I'll eat it with Khorasan bread - huh? What's that? Well it took me by surprise too - Would you believe that Pure Life have repackaged their sprouted breads?  I love their totally anachronistic look - it's new! it's old!

and it is both - sprouted grain bread, sumerian bread, essene bread - I enjoy it from time to time with none of the side effects of baked wheat bread - although it's not gluten free nor wholly raw it is pretty good.

Turns out that 'KAMUT' which I always knew as an ancient form of non-hybridised wheat, is a brand name for the grain which is actually called Khorasan.  So there's a new mouthful.

I'd best pop back and get some yellow cake - used to be their "Essene Supreme with Dates and Walnuts" but it too has a new old look - yellow cake and cheese - yes please!

CHANGE OF DATES for Chocolate Classes

It seems I neglected to take note of the June long weekend!

So I've changed the dates to work around this 

White chocolate skulls with walnut and mango jam brains.
(the one in the bottom right corner didn't take a long weekend break and got eaten first.)

1. Make and temper your own dark, ‘milk’ and white organic, raw chocolate

 NOW Sunday 12th June 1.30 - 4pm

2. Use and create flavours, fillings and textures, mould and dip your chocolate creations  

NOW Sunday 19th June 1.30 - 4pm

3. Create delicious desserts, tarts, ‘cheezecakes’,  chocolate sauces and how to make your own creations  

 NOW Sunday 3rd July 1.30 - 4pm.

TAKE HOME GOODIES FROM EACH CLASS -

 Class 1 you'll have 3 types of organic raw chocolate to eat or use as  tempering seed for the next batch you make.  

Class 2 gives you a box of amazing organic gourmet chocolates (and the ability to recreate them).  

In class 3 you'll take home whatever you couldn't eat - bring takeaway containers!

Dark chocolate with watermelon candy - amazing!

ALSO

RAW FOOD FOUNDATION CLASS

(because it's beyond beginner's and a great starting point)

proposed date

SATURDAY JUNE 25TH 1.00 - 4pm

(bring takeaway containers)

EXTRAORDINARY RAW CHOCOLATE - next classes

gianduja

cointreau goji hearts

Hey everyone!  I haven't quite got the knack of the newsletter/blog subscription yet... 
but I do know when the next classes are!

coconut bounteousness

Be your own chocolatier!

take home gourmet box  - session 2 - you can make all of these and more!

A three part course that will reveal the secrets to:

1. Make and temper your own dark, ‘milk’ and white organic, raw chocolate Sunday June 5th 1.30 - 4pm

2. Use and create flavours, fillings and textures, mould and dip your chocolate creations  Sunday June 12th 1.30 - 4pm

3. Create delicious desserts, tarts, ‘cheezecakes’,  chocolate sauces and how to make your own creations  

 Sunday June 19th 1.30 - 4pm

pear and ginger cheezecakes with choc biscuit base

choc ganache apricot tarts - nut free bases

Each 2.5 hour class is $125  - enrol in all three for only $300

*Ingredients are organic, raw, dairy, cane-sugar and gluten-free, high nutrient, high vitality and top quality – there’s nothing quite like this chocolate.

contact Martine at  heremeraw@gmail.com or 

 0433 600 655 for bookings / enquiries  

small groups - great fun - Hamilton Hill

Working out how to drive this blog.

Hello everyone,

I'm just test driving some new features which I wish I'd known before, and will soon!

In the meantime, here's a photo that may or may not show up in the newsletter - Will find out very shortly.
fingers crossed
Martine x (and Leo)

RAW like sushi

a rare recipe that's looking good today:

 Really really raw sushi

Raw nori sheets, kale and macadamia rice, quick pickle and avocado filling, and dipping sauce

I've had a packet of raw nori in the cupboard for a while now - why on Earth was I so afraid to open it?

Well today I did!  If you look really closely you can see the difference - the rolls on the left have a slightly burnished golden look - they're the ordinary roasted nori - on the right it's a deeper purple/black, that's the really raw one.

I'm usually so impatient with sushi and try to stuff too much in, so the only real secret here is breathe and be gentle.

 The 'rice' is a few leaves of kale with the stems removed 1/3 cup of soaked macadamias blitzed in a hand held stick blender with the nut attachment and just a little liquid to blend it - chiffonade the kale first, and open the mixer up every now and then to help it mix together.  It may not LOOK like it's going to hold together initially, but it will. don't squoosh it.

Easy Pickles

1 Tablespoon umeboshi paste or one plum broken up, cut up 1 lebanese cucumber, slice 2 mushrooms and cut up half an avocado - add a touch of rice vinegar or just use umeboshi vinegar (cheaper than plums but boy I love them!) - let it sit for as long as you can or eat it straight away and knock the leftovers off tomorrow.

You don't even have to make this - you could just add whatever veges you have but this is a spectacular combination.

Lay the nori on a sushi mat (or use a teatowel) gently spread the 'rice' just shy of each end, but right up to the left and right corners.  Then lay the cucumber, avocado then mushroom slices in that order on top along the centre of the rice.


Then breathe, adopt a buffalo stance, take the end of the mat closest to you and flip it up and roll - y'know - it's probably best to check YouTube for 'how to roll sushi', there's a real risk I'll make this sound weird!  There's a bit of a knack to getting the bottom edge tucked in to the top bit, but it doesn't really matter.  Before closing the roll wet the top clear nori edge just to make it stick, then rest the roll on the join before cutting with a SHARP knife.

joy! it worked.

My dipping sauce is equal parts of Bragg's Aminos and lemon juice with a glob of Namida Pure Wasabi Powder - it's lovely, gentler and sweeter, and raw!

Did you know that the 'Wasabi' that you usually buy is ordinary horseradish with food colouring? Check the label, and next time get this http://www.wasabi.co.nz/.

Now don't you get fresh with me...     http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JWsRz3TJDEY

Extraordinary Chocolate

The Chocolate F'Easter was really great thanks to Vanessa, Anna, Cathi, Annie, Andrea, Angela and Janelle - what a fab mob you are  It was the first of what I'm sure will be MANY MORE 

RAW CHOCOLATE WORKSHOPS.

this was a sample box I put together - from left - ginger caramel crunch, goji cointreau heart, 'bounteous' coconut, apricot orange truffle with almond, 'sheep's eye' with watermelon candy  - The big one bottom left is my most excellent 'failure' so far - and leading favourite of most who've tried it - it's ginger crunch with dried banana and agave caramel.  Then there's an orange/apricot truffle again, 4 squares of minty crunch, a gianduja centre, goji heart and another crunchy caramel banana.

The Raw Chocolatiers

We started by trapping a Chocolate Monster, locating the ink sac and removing it immediately...

at low temperature of course

work it, fridge!

lucuma truffle

dipping gianduja

  Focussing, creating, experimenting, delighting - this is tasty teamwork.

Cathi and Annie                                                                                       and I promised it would get silly.
Cathi went home and made these:

GORGEOUS!

next RAW CHOCOLATE workshop coming soon...

Chocolate f'Easter

This Sunday I'll be doing a Chocolate f'Easter workshop, details below.

yep, just the thing I've been working up to.
The minted buckwheat is ready, the ginger caramel is awaiting, the watermelon candy's on its way and the chocolate, OH! the chocolate!! (of course there's more)

*Yes! I mean cacao - raw, delicious, nutrient dense, amazing, delicious, criollo, organic, powerfood of the gods, Theobroma Cacao yes!*

I really ought to make myself a Willy Wonka inspired top hat and velvet suit (later!)

So I've been experimenting with different sources of chocolate, powders, beans, nibs, sweeteners, fillings and things, and I've put together a ridiciously delicious and fun 3 hours of chocolate making.  There are only a couple of places remaining this time, but register your interest as they'll be running again.

(The Coolbellup Library has a waiting list for Ukelele lessons - I recommend getting on that one too via facebook - http://www.facebook.com/notes/cockburn-public-libraries/join-the-ukulele-revolution-not-just-yet-though/10150148488687172  oops, another digression!)

The Chocolate f'Easter on Sunday April 17th will include:

White

Medium

Dark chocolate

Superfood balls

Temper raw chocolate

Hazelnut praline to gnutella

Truffles and textured chocolates

Moulded, filled and dipped chocolates

Knockout cacao and young coconut smoothie

And a simple melt and mix raw choc for when you need it now!

 2 – 5 pm You will take home a box of beautiful hand-crafted gourmet raw  chocolates made by you and a booklet of recipes so you can do it again and again      $120.00      Small classes – Hamilton Hill

Call 0433 600 655 or email heremeraw@gmail.com to grab the last spots or register for the waiting list.

OK now I have to go and test the banana/caramel invention, and I'll let you know how it goes!

Martine  - PS I'm also on facebook as Here Me Raw / Martine Rousset  - -photos with next post.

"LIKE A COW" - say it like that,

 and stand up!

CACAO that's its real name - not the bastardised Cocoa version - that's for the Englishmen of old who couldn't speak properly while retaining their upper lips stiffened then kindly left us with a confused legacy of cocoa/coco.  It's cuckoo - and it still gets me too.  Coco is for coconut, Cacao is for chocolate (Cocoa is cooked and refined and yes it still has antioxidants and health benefits, providing you select quality) - but!

CACAO IS ALWAYS BETTER - so if I say chocolate - this is what I mean.

 Check out those  fruits growing straight off the trunk!

Cut them in half to reveal the cacao bean inside.  David Wolfe recommends growing Cacao as an indoor plant in Perth - does anyone have any viable seed?

And it's raw - heated under 43* Celsius to retain the nutrients.

There's bucket-loads of info on raw cacao online - I'm about MAKING STUFF - so go googling for info.

All right - I admit, I'm also known to be pedantic with a penchant for pronunciation,  spelling and punctuation but that's completely irrelevant here,

although tangents are fun.

SO

I have a chocolate/raw cacao workshop coming up on April 3rd

and I've been playing a lot in preparation for it

and making silly, impractical things like 

white chocolate zombie skulls with mango jam and walnut brains

and easy and delicious things like cacao mousse, berry pie, brownies, superfood balls and smoothies.

So if you're coming to the Cacao class and have novelty silicone ice trays - bring them!

we'll fill them with things like:

*goji/coconut (better than cherry ripe)

*mango jam

*activated nuts

*crunchy minted buckwheat

*any other delights that pop in between now and then - any requests?

Remember these are all gluten, dairy, cane-sugar and additive free

so you can indulge virtuously,

Naturally!

Pizza and cake - mini class

This was a mini workshop done on request

there were just a few of us and we had a great time.

One of the girls has an almond allergy so we worked around it, and made Pizza, superfood balls (I'm sorry I forgot the photos AGAIN!) and a 'German Chocolate Cake' from "Sweet Gratitude" - what a great book.

Live Pizza

I'm really happy with the base - it's nut-free, flax free and mightily tasty with an oregano/tomato sauce.

It's topped with mushroom, avocado, black olives, baby spinach, fresh basil, sliced tomato and 2 types of nut cheese - one a fermented "cheddar cheeze" - a strong booty flavoured cheese coloured one you can see - and the orange wormy topping is a red capsicum macadamia cheeze.

 (OK I confess, I LOVE pineapple on pizza, the secret's out, some have told me "that's disgusting and shameful" but so what! I have a penchant for pineapple on pizza and I'm proud of it, if that makes me a food bogan, so be it! Some oxymorons are delicious, and this is one of them - especially as it's an acidic, sweet and juicy contrast of flavour and texture, I like that).

  The photo of this  little wedge of German Chocolate Cake doesn't begin to encapsulate the experience of having it and eating it too   - On the right the lovely Cinque is holding a slice of White Chocolate and Berry Pie (because I forgot to photograph the Superfood Balls before they all disappeared!) - but look at that lovely creamy pie with oozy berries on top, mentally steal the berries and put them between the chocolate and coconut cream layers of the cake on the left and - OK you get it - it's the only improvement the German Choc Cake needs - and cut really small pieces - it's impossible to stop eating it once you've started and it's really rich!!

PS every time I say 'chocolate' - i mean 'raw cacao' - the real stuff..  .

Workshops and playtimes

It was so exciting to kick off last month with a few workshops - thank you so much to everyone who came along and made it so much fun see here's Junee enjoying making fresh pasta from Zucchini:

  "Intro to Raw" which includes juicing and smoothies,  is about making the transition to raw food easy and delicious with lots of dips, sauces, salads, snacks, zucchini pasta, apple pie and a few variations and extras.

Cauliflower 'popcorn' snack 

with thanks to Philip McCluskey, an inspiration!

I was too busy being excited about doing my first workshop to get many pictures,

but here it's all being eaten!

and what a fantastic mess we made,

HOORAY!

Sweet Delights

APPLE PIE

I love this - apple pie with rose cashew cream, so easy, so delicate, so delicious and

SO GOOD FOR YOU!

I'd hoped to make a video presentation of the recipe, we'll see!

(cross your fingers for me)

I was lucky enough to try Hannah Sforcina's (of A Foodly Affair) watermelon sorbet on a sweltering Saturday night - it was wonderful, and this isn't it - it's :

WATERMELON CANDY

in preparation in the dehydrator.

slice, dehydrate (for an eternity) then be amazed by the results, but don't do it on the mesh like I did, it sticks!

(use baking paper or teflex)

 The strangely floral pink thing in the middle is a watermelon candy rose, flanked by luscious lemon biscuits and little black dahlia apricot balls.

That's all for today - I'm afraid my sweat might drip onto the keyboard and destroy the internet, so stay cool everyone and see you at dog beach when the sun's going down. phew!