There are days when it rains and wontons call my name. It’s a craving I can’t resist, and I have yet to find a way to paleofy those thin delicate wonton wrappers. So be warned, unlike most of my recipes, this one is only paleo friendly if you skip the wonton wraps and make little meatballs of filling instead, which is still like a warm hug on a cold day. Our house got struck by lightning, I thought we were going to explode it was so loud and scary. We were about to run out the door when it happened. I’m convinced if we would’ve been outside at the time one of us would’ve been struck. Such an occasion of torrential downpour and a near zap from Thor is a definite occasion to indulge in these little pockets of flavour and texture.
We’re in the middle of our move, the house is chaos, have I mentioned that I hate moving. This is the 5th time in the last year and a half and it is decided that the next time we move it will be to our own land, to build our own earthship or something equally eco friendly and awesome. Thankfully my parents are here to help us, and give J and I ample reprieve from baby holding. We saw 2 baby moose on our way back from the new place yesterday, man they are beautiful creatures.
I really like my wonton soup infused with thai flavours of lemongrass,chilis and kaffir lime, the exceptional flavour makes up for the lack of MSG which lies in most restaurant wonton soups.
1 thai bird chili minced, or 1 tsp sambal chili sauce
1 tsp ground lemongrass or paste
2 kaffir lime leaves or 1 tsp lime juice
1 tsp fish sauce
1 Tbs coconut sugar or honey
2 tsp tamari or coconut aminos
For the broth
8 C chicken stock
1/2 tsp sea salt
2 kaffir lime leaves
1 thai bird chili minced, or 1 tsp sambal chili sauce
1 tsp fish sauce
a few handfuls fresh greens-kale,mustard,bok choi, chard...
For wontons
one package medium sized wonton wraps
1 egg yolk mixed with 1 Tbs water
Instructions
For the filling
Add coconut oil to a hot skillet, sautee onion, garlic, ginger until onion is translucent.
Add pork or chicken, chili,lemongrass, kaffir lime,fish sauce,coconut sugar and tamari and cover on medium until pork is fully cooked- about 10 minutes.
Allow filling to cool somewhat before assembling the wontons.
For the broth
Add all ingredients aside from greens to a large pot and bring to a boil.
Assembly
Typically I make a row of wonton wrappers, add a tsp of filling to the centre of each, with a little pastry brush or my finger i use some of the egg yolk and water mix to create a glue around the perimeter, fold them into little diamond shapes and repeat until all the filling is used up.
Make sure to get all the air out when you fold the wraps and they will be less likely to explode.
When you have a sufficient amount of wontons made, approx. 40 you can start adding them to the boiling broth, they only need about 5 minutes to cook, lastly add the greens.
Rrratatouille, it’s worth making, not only is it a palatable way to enjoy a smorgasbord of summer vegetable abundance, just the word ratatouille is fun to say. I love to enjoy ratatouille in a number of ways, traditionally it is a slowly stewed dish with herbes de provence, but I also love roasting it and layering the veggies all pretty like. The addition of pesto is magnifique, and unless I can find a fresh bouquet of herbs de provence I will use pesto to add the pizazz required for a special french dish such as this. You could also try adding brazil nut pesto instead of sunflower for an extra selenium boost. Now the possibilities for enjoying ratatouille are many. I love it as a simple elegant side dish with a roast chicken, or with poached eggs on top, ratatouille is also really nice with a soft cheese like chèvre and drizzled with balsamic reduction.
Heirloom tomato season is my absolute favourite, just look at those glistening sweethearts. The mad harvest is on, you can feel the end days of summer in the air. The time is now to enjoy the bounty and nourishment that summer gives us, replenish your stocks for that time that we’ll just pretend doesn’t even exist…
What I’ll miss most about summertime…
-the livin’s easy
-my baby can’t even crawl yet and I’m certain that won’t last into the Fall
-jumping in the cool but not too cool river everyday
-the abundance of local food and wild food everywhere
1/2 of a medium sized zucchini, cut into thin slices
4 medium sized tomatoes, cut into thin slices
1/2 of an onion, cut into thin slices
1 sweet pepper, cut into thin slices
Instructions
Pesto
Add basil, sunflower seeds, garlic,parmesan, olive oil and salt to a blender or food processor and process until smooth.
Ratatouille
Set oven to 375F
In a skillet or baking dish assemble layers of eggplant, zucchini, tomato,onion and peppers, working your way out to the edge of the vessel.
Sprinkle with salt and fresh cracked pepper and drizzle 1/2 C of your pesto over top. The seeds will get nice and toasty in the oven and the garlic basil flavour will penetrate all your lovely layers. Bake for 20-25 minutes
This is so extravagant, I want to eat this brazil nut pesto on absolutely everything! Why haven’t I thought of this before? The magical mineral rich nut is the ideal candidate when you don’t have/want pine nuts. Sunflower seeds, yes, very yummy substitute as well as almonds, but they still don’t equate to the awesomeness of selenium rich brazil nuts. Its pesto season, my friends, and I am lapping it up and licking the spoon, I suggest you do the same.
Potato salad is quintessential summer food and the addition of pesto is bloody good. Adding in little additional greens helps to mop up extra saucy goodness, crunchy onion,kale and swiss chard were on hand and worked beautifully. New potatoes or baby potatoes work the best since they are so tender and the texture is just melt in your mouth. Check out your local farmers market for the best of the best, after all, food that grew close to home always tastes better. Today at the store I needed some garlic and there was a sale bag full of organic garlic imported from Chile for 3.50, then there was a brilliant purple hued russian heritage variety grown locally and each bulb was the same price as the entire bag from Chile. Although I go throw garlic like a mad woman, I had to get the local stuff, I know it’s a million +1 times better. Still, this discrepancy in local fare costing far more than imported needs to change. Maybe a time will come when we can barter skills and trade commodities instead of fueling this global trade economy, because lets face it, we’re not doing the environment any favours, nor ourselves. I’m not saying that it will ever be 100%, there are plenty of useful things we can only get from other countries, but when our food security is at stake, or worse, doesn’t exist at all, something has got to give.
It’s the little things that count, one person cannot change the world, but collectively we can shift this paradigm. Our hearts know this beautiful world is possible. A new UN report says small scale organic farming is the only wayto feed the world, that’s right, not GMO’s and mono crops, humanity has always known this. Our amnesia is only temporary, as more reports like this start to come out it becomes blatantly obvious that we need to reconnect with the earth & remember, we are all connected. Thanks for reading friends.
1/2 C grated parmesan cheese, or nutritional yeast for vegan version
1/4 tsp sea salt
fresh cracked pepper
For the potato salad
1 lb new potatoes
1/4 of a red onion, thinly sliced
3 leaves swiss chard, kale or other greens, finely chopped
1/2 C mayonnaise
1/2 C pesto
Instructions
Pesto
In a blender or food processor, start by adding the garlic, brazil nuts, basil and cheese, start blending and slowly add the olive oil until mixture starts to become smooth, add salt and pepper.
Potato Salad
Boil water for the potatoes and cook until tender. Allow potatoes to cool before proceeding.
Mix the pesto and mayonnaise together, or leave the mayonnaise out for vegan
Add the cooled potatoes, kale, chard and onion to a large bowl and incorporate the pesto-mayonnaise until everything is well coated. I like to use my hand and mash the potatoes up a bit so that they absorb the most sauce.
Do you like to smash things? Weird question perhaps, but certain things are good for smashing, like plates at a Greek wedding, or smashing the world record for the most Pi places memorized, or smashing new potatoes and roasting them in chili garlic butter. If that last option sounds appealing to you, try these chili garlic smashed potatoes, I promise you will love them, I don’t feel it’s possible not to. You could smash the plate afterwards too, but I happen to like this plate and what a mess that would be!
Little beauties, little buttery delights just plucked from the ground. The skin of new potatoes just peels away so easily from its flesh, resulting in a crispy skin with a supple interior. A farm down yonder a few miles grew these treats as well as lamb bratwurst that just blows your mind. There is something so enrapturing about eating a meal that’s 100% local, or even coming close. In such a world where most of our food is imported and transported across the continents, it’s special and secure feeling to eat food grown close by. What doesn’t make sense to me is that I can get walnuts from California for a lower cost than walnuts from my next door neighbour. I guess it’s just all the more push to start growing our own food if that option is there.
Add potatoes to the boiling water and cook for 10 mins. until just soft
In a bowl of ice water, immerse the potatoes allowing them to cool
With a flat spatula or the side of a knife apply a bit of pressure to the whole potato until it starts to flatten, careful not to smash them too hard ( red potatoes tend to fall apart easier than yellow fleshed)
Melt butter with garlic and chili
Lay potatoes on a baking tray and coat with this mixture.
Roast in the oven for about 15 minutes finishing on broil for a few minutes
J’s birthday was on Sunday. My passionately strong souled love with the softest cancerian tendencies. Alive another year, every one better than the last. Of course I had to make him deliciously unhealthy foods on his day. Though not terribly unhealthy. We had a fresh abundant salad with a toasted almond and herb vinaigrette, arctic caribou meatballs in a apricot cumin glaze,garlicky hummus and ciabatta,sweet potatoes and this “hot mess” cheesy dip filled with garlic, kale, onion, cherry tomatoes and of course cheesy goodness with fried wonton crisp. To top it all off I made a birthday pie, yes you can do that! J’s always bugging me to make him a berry pie, so I hooked him up with a raspberry-saskatoon-mango butter crust oh.so.yummy. pie!
So back to the hot mess cheesy dip. When we were doing the Whole 30 I stumble upon this recipe at the white on rice couple. Those guys could make a pile of haggis look good they are so talented. This dip was all I wanted in the whole world, it just oozes delicious comfort in its every molecule. Those fresh tomatoes they popped on top YES! Pucker! (As Jamie Oliver would say) I switched up the recipe a touch by adding some garlic and kale, plus I skipped out on the cream cheese and stuck to just monterery jack.
enough cherry tomatoes to plunk on top of your dish
and handful fresh parsley, finely chopped
one package wonton wrapper
1/4 cup sunflower oil for frying
Instructions
Preheat oven to 375F
In a oven proof deep baking dish (I used a typical fondue pot) about 6inches in diameter mix together the mayo, garlic, onion, salt, pepper, kale and cheese.
Top with cherry tomatoes and another sprinkling of cheese
Bake for about an hour until the top is golden brown.
For the wonton crisps, heat oil in a frying pan, add wonton wrappers a few at a time, frying until golden. Allow to drain on paper towel. Repeat for as many crisps as you want.
This is a luxurious dip to share with friends and family. Or to just gobble up all on your own, whatever, you only eat cheesy dip once in awhile rightttt? Or maybe cheesy dip is your go to staple food. Who knows. Wouldn’t be so bad would it?
Potent little packages of pure goodness. My heart sped up when I saw two huge bunches of the most perfect italian parsley in our CSA box this week. What a treat, and on top of that, gorgeous fresh mint bundles and long spindly green onions. Wild oregano has replaced grass in our yard, its one of the few things the chickens don’t nosh on. So what does one do when the herbs are all a plenty? Mix copious amounts with buttery rice, summer vegetables, fresh mango and hearty meatballs. Yes, yum.
I didn’t think I was hungry enough to devour a huge bowl of this herbed goodness, but I was wrong. Even with chop sticks it all disappeared pretty fast.
Hey I'm Chantelle, my alter ego would be a mermaid if I wasn't such a terrible swimmer. I love writing authentically and cooking in my pyjamas. My favourite pastimes include eating avocados, travelling the world and hanging out with a toddler.
