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Living Raw Food

November 9, 2009 · 17 Comments

About a week ago, I had promised a friend a delicious three course meal made by yours truly.  The day approached and only one thing was wrong- my oven wasn’t working!  My plan changed quickly and I sought out a cookbook I knew could help me in this situation, Living Raw Food by Sarma Melngailis.  Perfect!  I armed myself with my fancy kitchen knives and got to work.

Anything besides a salad or raw pasta always seems very daunting to me.  Living Raw Food has a lot of fancy and exciting recipes, but Sarma’s approach is welcoming and breaks it down in a way that does not seem overwhelming.  To my surprise, the recipes took barely any time at all!

Like I said before, I planned on a three course menu.  I decided on the Watercress and Seaweed Salad with avocado coriander dressing, Beet Ravioli with pine nut “goat cheese”, and per my guest’s request, Coconut Ice Cream.  The first two recipes are from Living Raw Food, but I took the ice cream recipe from Sarma’s other book, Raw Food Real World.

The salad was very easy to put together and it was my favorite part of the dinner!  I love seaweed, however, I did not soak mine because it is straight from the ocean for me when it’s not dried.

Next up, I served the beet ravioli.  I don’t have a mandolin, so it was quite tricky to get the beets thin enough.  The beet flavor was far too much and my thick slices were just not cutting it!  The pine nut filling was great!  I’ve never had goat cheese, so I cannot vouch for it’s similarity, but the nut cheese was hearty and flavorful.  Pine nuts are very expensive, so I substituted in half sunflower seeds.

The coconut ice cream was amazing!  Flavorful, light, and creamy!  It couldn’t be easier either.  I topped our ice cream with cocoa nibs.

I was so impressed by the raw vegan ice cream!  And what did my guest think?  He loved it!  The ice cream was his favorite part of the meal.

Living Raw Food is truly a great cookbook!  I am a huge fan of Pure Food and Wine and it makes me smile that I can have a little piece of it in my own kitchen.  The meal was perfect for tonight.  It was a great change of pace than the food I usually make.  To my surprise, I enjoyed every second of whacking, cutting, and grating!  I definitely recommend this cookbook.  Most of the recipes do not use any out of the norm equipment and with a restaurant like Pure Food and Wine, how could any of these recipes be wrong?

Written for GoDairyFree.com

Categories: Uncategorized

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