Purple Potatoes (and the air fryer)

Duncan and I finally went out and got the Big Kahuna of airfryers (one with two different baskets so you can do two different things at the same time (with different temperatures, and different times for cooking PLUS a feature that lets the two sides coordinate so everything is done at the same time).  Magic.   

Purple potatoes chopped up

Duncan has become the Monarch of Perogies.   I have become the Monarch of fries. 

I ended up heading to the interweb for strategies to perfect my skills at making perfectly crispy fries.  The instructions  reminded me of the process Arta used to make  Arta homemade fries when we were young (ie. soaking in water, and then parboiling, and only THEN into the oil).

The suggestion on the web, for the most crispy fries ever, was to parboil them for 5 minutes in water to which you have added a teaspoon of baking soda.

Same potatoes after 5 minutes in H2O

Baking soda?!  Apparently, the soda attacks the smooth strands of starch in the potatoes, 'roughing them up', so that when you air fry them, they end up being significantly more crispy.  

OK.  I tried it.   It works.

The interesting magic was trying this trick on purple potatoes.   I had a small handful of them left over from another recipe.  I had no other potatoes in the house and was desperate for fries.  And so, i tried it.  

Potatoes fresh out of airfryer

For whatever reason, the soda in the water did some magical colour transformation on the potatoes. 

  Somehow all that beautiful teal colour does make them taste even more delicious!   I highly recommend trying it out.

Anti-Inflammatory - Roasted Cauliflower with (what was supposed to be Almond) Sauce

 

Over the holidays, I have been trying to work my way through more of these anti-inflammation recipes (trying to get my repertoire increased).  Here is today's adventure: another effort to do something interesting with Cauliflower.  Basically, a recipe in two parts:

    A.  Get the Cauliflower covered in a mix of oil, salt, pepper, turmeric, and shoved in a 400 degree oven for 20-30 minutes, til tender and slightly browned (and may I say, my life has been transformed since discovering parchement paper! What a glorious way to avoid all the work of scrubbling a baking sheet clean!)

B.  Throw the other ingredients in a blender, and blend until smooth:

• 1 T chopped parsley
• one garlic clove chopped
• I T lemon juice
• 1 scallion chopped
• 1 T maple syrup (I was out, so used honey instead)
• .5 t salt
• .5 t pepper
• 1 cup plain yogurt (the recipe calls for almond yogurt but I used a vegan coconut milk yogurt, and imagine you could use almost any yogurt)
• 1/4 cup almond butter (I substituted 2 T of pumpkin seed butter, and 2T of sesame seed butter.... i was out of almond butter!)

And here are they combined together (with Penny waiting hopefully to see if i was going to accidentally drop anything on the floor....)

You end up with a quite thick and creamy sauce.  And it is not a mere garnish, but a central part of the recipe.  The jury is still out for me on the flavour.   It is interesting, but not really something that if firmly in my 'palate memory'.  I imagine it would have a much different flavour with the almond butter.  On the other hand, we do have some nut allergies in the house, so there are some reasons to branch out into the other nut and seed butters.   I imagine this would also work with peanut butter and give you another quite different flavoured sauce (though this book is trying to lean away from peanut/legume towards other kinds of nuts and seeds).   I can see there is room for experimentation (and i think i am going to try adding hot sauce to it next time to give it more kick). 

Anti-Inflammatory - The Breakfast 'Green Drink"

 So... I have been told by the wonderful (and painfully direct and truthful) Dr. Lam that my arthritis will hurt a bit less if I follow an anti-inflammatory diet.   Thus, I went and took at look at the changes that would be needed.  My first moment of sadness was in realizing how many of my favourite things are 'inflammatory'. (uh... like ALL of them?!)

However, having reached the point where pain may well be overwhelming pleasure, I went out and bought a "anti-inflammatory diet" cookbook to guide me in this new adventure. 
 

I thought I would share some of the recipes I have been enjoying along the way (along with my alterations!  :-)

The recipe that has become my 'go to' is this one... a morning smoothy.  Basically, into the blender (I use a good blender that can deal with ice) goes:

• half an english cucumber
• a pear (cored of course!)
• half a bulb of fennel (anise) 
• a big fistful of fresh spinach
• freshly grated ginger
• coconut water (or just water...)
• Ice

BLEND TIL SMOOTH 

At first tried to follow the instructions on amounts, but have shifted around a bit.   Particularly on the ginger.  I put in TONS (I adore ginger)... may a couple of tablespoons or more.  Add more water if you want it more watery, or more ice if you want it like a slurpy.

This makes a blender full.   I usually have a big glass, and then pour the rest into 1 cup mason jars (I usually get 3 of these), and then i have a few more servings for the next day or two.  It will keep this way the better part of 5-6 days (in the mason jar and fridge).  Massive amounts of vitamin C,  super refreshing, and a real waker-upper!

I never imagined I would be the kind of person to actually LIKE a green drink, but there you go.  The world is full of mystery.