I recently (i.e. yesterday morning) discovered another combo of flavours that works together like charm. Since I don’t believe in heaven or jesus or hell or stuff, I just have to call it a match made in Monkeyfood. Which is, anyway, pretty accurate.

[This ain't the real thing but an evening meal with cabbage, fresh mint and parsley (cheers, Peppi!), coconut milk, salt, pepper and a cut sausage.]

Tangy Tuna Salad

• some veggies and or salad (lettuce, cucumber, bellpepper, zucchini… )
• tuna in oil
• avocado
• a hint of balsamic vinegar
• freshly grounded black pepper
• a little quality salt

Combine into a salad as you wish. Somehow the oily saltiness of the tuna, the creamy taste of the avocado, the tangy and a bit sweet bite of the balsamic vinegar and the hotness added with black pepper just hits a nerve. In a good way. A very, very good way. So, have yourself a merry little morning (oh yes, it’s October and I’m allowed to think of X-MAS!!).

This idea I got from a wonderful (or should I say dejligt?) Danish cook’s Camilla Plom’s tv show. She made some kimchi and sauerkraut out of this but it’s also possible to just use this method to get the juices flowing when preparing cabbage salad.

Salad Pizzeria revisited

• white cabbage
• coarse sea salt
• (red bell pepper)
• (oregano, vinegar, olive oil)

Chop cabbage into thin slices and put into a large bowl. Start crunching the cabbage slices with your hands. After awhile add a generous pinch of coarse sea salt and continue crunching until the cabbage starts to get moist and juicy. Keep on going until the cabbage is moist enough for your purposes (doesn’t take too long altogether). There you have it. If it’s too salty, just rinse it with cold water in a colander.

If you want to prepare the entré salad famous from pizzerias, add thinly sliced red bell pepper, oregano, olive oil and a little vinegar. And if you wanna be as mad as the monkey, eat your salad by adding it into a bowl of pureéd veggie soup! Exotic isn’t it. But I’m loving it.

Ps. I’m also loving Camilla Plom. Her laid back Danish and attitude make me miss my staying in Denmark so much… Have to go back!

Love at first sight! That’s what it was when I laid my eyes on this recipe just a few brief days ago in Thee Finnish Food Blog, Pastanjauhantaa. The recipe originated from a Finnish glossy food magazine Glorian Ruoka and included a whole HALF a decilitre of sugar. A genuine paleo monkey such as myself of course arrogantly sweeps away even the thought of adding sugar in food and so I just skipped that one ingredient, whistling like Piglet. Still, the result blew me away. As well as the rest of the eaters. Oh yes, this one’s a keeper.

Indeed it’s not the best quality paleo salad there is since it includes a whole lotta mayo but you gotta get your omega 6s somewhere to balance the omega 3s from all the grass-fed beef and wild-caught salmon  (or the lemon tasting bottle, to tell the truth). You are welcome to prepare your own mayo (I can has mayo!) but I just went with a store-bought this time.

Mayo Monster (aka broccoli salad)

• 1 kg broccoli
• 4 shallots or a generous bunch of spring onion/a junk of red onion/whatever onion you like
• 2 dl (0,8 cups) cashews
• 300 g bacon

Tear the broccoli florets in a bowl and chop the onion(s) along them. Roast cashews on a hot pan, set aside. Leave the bacon until later. Prepare the sauce.

Sauce

• 2,5 dl (1 cup) mayonese
• 2 Tbs raw apple cider vinegar (or white wine vinegar)
• 1 tsp freshly ground black pepper

Mix the sauce and blend it among broccoli and onion. Let the salad sit in the fridge for about two hours. When it’s time to serve the course, bake bacon until crispy and cut it in pieces. Spread cashews and bacon bits over the salad and dig in! …it’ll be gone before you have time to say HOLY CATS!

The easiest salad dressings come from a jar (or a bottle) and so does this one. And I don’t mean just the usual olive oil. I mean business! Coconut milk. A divine dressing for salads, steamed or boiled veggies, meat, shrimp, chicken… Particularly heavenly combination is one of crayfish tails (jokiravunpyrstöt), Brussel sprouts (steamed/boiled), avocado and coconut milk. Would change anything for this one! Add some salads and other veggies, season with quality salt and pepper and add the finishing touch with the coconut milk. Can’t get any better, this paleo divine diet! The mix of salty crayfish liquid, creamy coconut, meaty (umami) brussel sprouts and soft avocado would charm anybody.

I’ve been experimenting with some different coconut milks such as Rainbow, Kara and the one you get from this Asian store Vii Voan, Aroy-D. It’s always thoroughly mixed (not separated as coconut “water” and the white stuff) and the taste is brilliant. It’s also perfectly “light” by texture to serve as a dressing. It says it has no preservatives and ingredients include only coconut milk, but I have my doubts. Still, it’s too delicious to give up so I’m gonna put my head in the bush and use it until proven otherwise. Also, I feel fine using it (and I do use it EVERY DAY) so it can’t be that bad. Recommendable, really.

The more thicker coconut milks work well with minced meat, prepared on a pan and cooked down a little. Moist, velvety and tasty minced meat as a result. And coconut cream’s the one to opt for with berries, a true delight.

At least in Finland, at least when I was still eating pizza in some distant past (like 10 years ago), it is common that pizzerias have this tasty and crunchy salad as an appetizer. It’s really a classic in my opinion, I always looked forward to that when having a pizza. It doesn’t smell as good but sure tastes great! Also easy to prepare home to create some authentic pizza feeling to your paleo goods…

Pizzeria’s Paleo Salad

• cabbage
• olive oil
• raw apple vinegar
• salt
• dried oregano, basil or other herbs

Grate the cabbage. You may grate some red cabbage, carrot or other veggies to go as well, but basic cabbage works the best. Pour in some olive oil, like for a quarter of a cabbage maybe 1,5 tablespoon. Add a little less vinegar, maybe 1 Tbsp. Season with salt and some dried herbs, mix. Eat or better yet, let sit in the fridge overnight. Delish! Perfect with meats.

Just to boost you in the middle of this devilishly cold REAL winter that we all SO LOVE, here’s just another example of a beautiful combination of beautiful ingredients. These go so well together I wouldn’t believe if I just didn’t finish my dinner… Boy I was in need of one! Already gave the eye for some bloody awful Budapest chocolates when picking up my new moisturizer: there it was, a cup full of them just to quickly grab one, and there it was, my horrible hunger and too low blood sugar, BUT!! Conqueered it, not surprisingly. “A superhuman“, you say. I know. I get it a lot. Guilty as charged. Muahahahaaa So not.

Inspirational Salami Salad

• veggies (broccoli, bellpepper, root celery, carrot, tomatoes, courgette, spinach…)
• avocado
• fennel seasoned wildboar salami (this is SUPERB! Bought from Roiniset at Hakaniemen halli. YOU have to try it.)
• fresh shrimp (from Rosendahl at Hakaniemen halli)
• optional: fresh coriander

You can make whatever salad base you prefer, the three key ingredients are avocado, salami and shrimp. If you like fresh coriander, it goes brilliantly with this combo. I also added some mungbean sprouts, turmeric, gojis, salt and pepper after taking the pic. Wanted to keep it prettier for you. <3

I bought some quality lamb meat (grounded) yesterday and made meatballs out of it just now to have a decent meal after my FIRST SKIING IN 11 YEARS!! Woohoo! Big hand for Da Mule! Awesome. Cheers, Fedo for taking me. (Despite the fun the trip had a slight aftertaste thanks to a HKL bus driver having not the best of days… Well, first time Ive heard a city employee call someone an asshole [kusipää in plain Finnish], mark on the wall.)

Anyway, I would’ve just normally cook the meat on a pan but I wanted to make it easy to freeze in a meal size portions so burgers or meatballs it was gonna be. And I just felt a bit more… meatballsy than burgerish. Got a chance to try something new as well since I wanted to use my arame seaweed. Worked okay in the balls, didn’t bring any significant difference in the taste. Maybe could be enhanced by seasoning the balls with some wasabi, soy sauce and ginger. Next time then!

Meatballs with Seaweed

• half a kilo grounded lamb meat
• a generous handful of dried arame
• an organic egg
• paprika, oregano, salt, pepper

Soak the seaweed in cold water for fifteen minutes, then prepare the dough. Form balls the size that suits you best (I tend to aim for Nigella-like small ones but always lack the patience) and bake in the oven until done. Approx. 220 degrees, 25 minutes. Add to the salad and freeze some to grab later!

Salad (everything preferrably organic)

• broccoli
• bell pepper
• eggplant
• fresh coriander
• courgette
• tomato
• left over veggies from yesterday’s thai dish
• turmeric, a bit of balsamic vinegar (on of my few vices left that aren’t really paleo), goji berries, salt, pepper

Prepare! I quite often cook come chopped eggplant and bell pepper (or carrots/other root veggies) in the microwave for a couple of minutes to get something that is warm and a bit cooked, then I add a huge load of fresh vegetables. But it’s up to you how you want to have them. Steamed, boiled, fried, grated… Or just plain raw which works for me too. I just like the different texture in the weeny bit cooked ones mixing with all the raw.

Well, this is just another example how to put a salad together, you can do it anyway you like. As long as you JUST DO IT!  Again. Faster. Crossfithelsinki.com –>

I don’t really like omelettes but they are so big in the paleo world that even I was influenced by the hype and prepared a scrambled (the one that I like besides a hard-boiled egg) egg to go with my breakfast salad. Accompanied with some superb kalamata olives and stuff. I began my rehearsals to get accustomed to something else for a brekkie than my usual green smoothie; The Meat Eater hates the noise the vlender makes at 6 am. Sigh. Let’s see, how far I’ll get with this… But this was good and filling!

• a huge salad with root vegetables
• a scrambled egg
• olives
• spices, gojis, whatnot

[I love turmeric but it really spoils all the pics! Ugly yellow veil covers all my salads.]

Today I visited my trusted meat provider, Hakkarainen, who sells meat at my precious Hakaniemen halli. I bougth three (!!) different kinds of meat for me to experience on. First one in fire was a steak. I know, sort of hasard when I’ve always just had some perfectly made ones, but felt like it was the time to try it on my own. And I did okay. Not superb, but okay. You will probably do better. So here’s the pic, the recipe’s really quite simple:

• heat the pan
• add olive oil
• bake (?) the steak, couple of minutes each sides
• –> aim for a medium minus, then turn the gas off and let it sit
• season with salt’n'pepa
• eat!

I cut mine to go with a salad, easily eaten by fork, no difficult knife cutting skills needed and very neat to watch something entertaining from Tv-kaista. Or to listen to Ken Wilber’s podcast, which I did. Cheers!

Thaimaalaiseen tyyliin preparoitu papaijasalaatti sai innoituksensa Vii voanista, jossa myytiin aivan kokolailla erinäköisiä papaijoita kuin perusmarketissa. Vihreitä, suuren kesäkurpitsan muotoisia mötkyjä. Päättelin, että sellaista papaijaa se niissä thaisalaateissakin on ja tein näin. Hyvää.

Papaijasalaatti

• 1 vihreä pitkä papaija
• porkkanaa (laitoin kaalia kun oli luomuporkkanat kaapista loppu (itse olin käynyt syömässä))
• 2 rkl limenmehua (purkista, shame!)
• 1 rkl hunajaa
• 2 vihreää pientä chiliä
• 2 valkosipulinkynttä
• 3 rkl kalakastiketta
• 2 rkl seesaminsiemeniä

Raasta kaali/porkkana. Vuole juureskuorimella ensin papaijan vihreä kuori pois ja jatka sitten suikalointia juureskuorimella niin kauan kuin tuotetta riittää. Sekoita kastikeainekset kattilaan (silppua valkosippe ja chili), lämmitä sen verran että hunaja sulaa joukkoon. Kaada vihanneksille ja sekoita, siirrä jääkaappiin tekeytymään. Sitten syö.

Papaijasalaatin kanssa hyvältä maistui karitsanjauheliha (lähituotantoa) ja munakoisokuutiot, jotka kimpassa kävivät pannulla. Primal ballerina kiittää. Kuvan aploudin myöhemmin, jos hotsittaa. Ei se niin nättiä ehkä ollut ees?

(Ei paha tuunaus oli lisätä vielä loppusatsiin lautaselle luomujogurttia, johon olin sekoittanut hieman luomu-Heinzia. Tuo dippikastikkeiden paronitar!)