Innovative Gourmet Flavor Combinations: Cool Cool Cucumbers!

Innovative Gourmet Flavor Combinations

Welcome! I've always enjoyed unusual flavor combinations. I am committed to continuing this pleasure, while eating healthy. I hope this blog will allow me to share ideas for eating healthy without losing the excitement of innovative recipes.

I am a follower of the diet plan of Dr. Eric Berg, which in my case means gluten-free, alkaline, low-fat; my health and figure have improved vastly with this. This also fits with raw-food, vegetarian, and Weston Price (nutrient-dense), D'Adamo's Eat Right For Your Type, the Perricone Weightloss Diet, and the proportions follow Barry Sears's 40-30-30 Zone Diet. Organic, ecologic, and local-eating are also guiding principles. (Interesting how they all overlap.)

But looking around the Net, and in books, a lot of what's offered for "gluten-free" eating is versions of baked goods, and imitations of wheat dishes like pizza and burritos. You won't find that here. This site will present a complete re-thinking of how to be "gluten-free".

And followers of chef Michael Roberts and khymos, as well as lovers of Japanese creativeness (as in Iron Chef) should also find gourmet ideas here. The recipes will not just echo American cooking, but present new combinations.

Some of the reasons for this way of eating are: autism, perhaps aspergers, "celiac disease", obesity, perhaps cancer and who knows what else. You won't find the word "disease" used here though. As D'Adamo explains, a large part of the world's population (mostly with "O-blood type") never got the genes to adapt to eating the new foods of wheat, etc that came into the diet during the Neolithic. So don't call it a disease! We are actually an older human type. We're not sick; we just don't have that new-fangled adaption that some folks have. And looking into traditional diets shows that much of the world did not have wheat until very recently, and got along just fine. I know I'm eating quite well. I don't miss gluten at all.

Enough! Welcome to my kitchen . . .

Sunday, May 24, 2009

Cool Cool Cucumbers!

The weather is warming up a bit. Here are some great cooling recipes for hot days:

COLD CUCUMBER-WALNUT SOUP

1 cup walnuts

5 large cucumbers, peeled, seeded and thinly sliced

2 large cloves garlic, peeled and finely minced

1/2 cup green onions or scallions (green tops included) finely minced

Juice of 1 lemon

1 quart buttermilk

1-1/2 cup plain, unflavored yogurt

1-1/2 tablespoons finely minced fresh dill

1 teaspoon salt, if desired

1/4 teaspoon white pepper.

HUNAN CHICKEN AND CUCUMBER SALAD

(a cooling salad to go with picante dishes)

(from: Henry Chung's Hunan Style Chinese Cookbook - a fabulous cookbook!)

2 ounces vermicelli OR Chinese bean noodles (for gluten-free, use rice noodles)

1-2 cups finely shredded cucumber

1 1/2 - 2 cups cooked, finely-shredded chicken meat

1 Tb sesame oil

1 Tb minced scallions

1 1/2 cups RICH HOT AND SOUR DRESSING:

2 Tb sesame paste (or crunchy-style peanut butter)

2 Tb soy sauce (or fish sauce)

4 Tb vinegar

1 Tb hot red pepper oil (optional)

1/2 tsp black pepper

1 tsp or less sugar (optional)

1 Tb sesame oil

2 Tb vegetable oil

1 Tb finely minced fresh ginger

1 Tb finely minced garlic

1 Tb finely minced scallions

1 Tb white wine

1 tsp hot mustard (optional)

1/2 tsp or less salt

1 to 2 cups chicken broth

SUNBURST SALAD - great for a potluck!

1/3 cups cooked wheat berries

1 orange, halved crosswise

1 cucumber, peeled, seeded and chopped

4 scallions, sliced

2 Tbsp. chopped fresh parsley

1/2 cup dried fruit (i.e. apricots and peaches)

1/4 cup nuts or seeds (i.e. pumpkin seeds), toasted

3 Tbsp. lemon juice

2 Tbsp. olive oil

1 Tbsp. Dijon mustard

1 tsp. chopped fresh mint, or 1/3 tsp. dried

1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon

CHLODNIK

1/2 pound lean veal, cut in small pieces

1/2 pound beets, cleaned and cut bitesize

6 large shrimps

1 cucumber, cut bitesize

2 cups plain, unflavored yogurt

1 tablespoon chopped fresh dill

1 tablespoon chopped chives or scallion tops

2 hard-cooked eggs, sliced

CEVICHE SCALLOPS WITH MANGOS AND CUCUMBERS

(from Temasek, a much-missed San Francisco restaurant)

How about CUCUMBER and MELON? (salad, or soup?)