MonkeyFood Ylimuulin apinanruokakeittiö ruokkii päätä ja häntää

28.9.2010

You don’t have to be cool

Filed under: Alakarppi,Arkiruoka,Gluteeniton,Maidoton,meat,paleo — Meri @ 16.40

kiss

…to rule my world, I just want your extra time and your – KISS! Food doesn’t have to be as complicated as relationships so here’s a few ideas to ease up your royal pain of running out of cooking time. Here’s to keeping it simple (stupid)!

gnakei

Sausages! In Finnish: gnakei (Jaskalle terkkuja!)! Be sure to pick some quality ones that contain at least 80% meat and no E621. These nitrite free sausages are made by Vataja and are totally grain, dairy, soy and spice free. Not bad from an aisle product. The lack of spices naturally makes them lack taste which sure is bland, but if you’re not too picky, it’s easy to add some with quality ketchup, mustard, pickles, Croatian kajmak, mayonese, by grilling it black… Your call.

meat

Or why not make yourself a nice ol’ steak, medium rare, baked in butter. I have a steak season going on so this is my common breakfast these days. Add some veggies, raw and/or cooked and finish off with a tablespoonful of coconut oil! Yummy.

Some other ideas

  • boiled/steamed veggies with a hefty amount of butter melted on top
  • steamed and then pureéd veggies, add butter and chop some salami in
  • omelette always works – have you tried it with adding a splash of coconut milk instead of water?
  • a big salad with a can of tuna in oil and one boiled egg
  • mackerel in tomato sauce and an apple (sweet and salty, mmm)
  • hummus/tahini and veggies
  • a generous amount of mayo mixed with tuna in oil, maybe add some lemon for twist
  • liver paté on a slice of zucchini

If (and when) you have better ideas, please share!

25.9.2010

Thanks for all the Phish

Filed under: Alakarppi,Gluteeniton,Kala,Maidoton,Napot,paleo,välimeri — Meri @ 16.31

phish

Our genuine paleo posse got together a week ago for the second time and this time fish was the name of the game. A very fresh, whole wild-caught salmon (lots of omega 3s unlike farmed salmon!) was put in the oven despite the horrified look in its eyes. To ease the pain y’all feel in your hearts I can assure that at least the salmon wasn’t cooked alone. It got some nice fennel bulbs and onions steeping underneath. If there’s something worse than dying, it’s dying alone (Let’s not stick to the fact that the phish was already dead.).

antipasti

Before this magnificent main course, which was accompanied by finely chopped cabbage seasoned with salt, pepper, olive oil and balsamic vinegar, we enjoyed a paleolithic antipasto plate. This was (hunted and) gathered by myself and the Carnivore. It included the following, delirious combo:

  • dried kale chips
  • kajmak aka Croatian ketchup (bellpepper paste)
  • cold smoked pork (from Hakkarainen)
  • marinated zucchinis (these are brilliant! Slice into 0,5 cm slices, sprinkle some oil and bake in the oven, then put in a jar together with salt, pepper, olive oil and vinegar. TASTY as hell! 😛)
  • …and mushroom: fresh chantarelles tubaeformis (suppilovahvero) fried in butter

latable

themeal
After the delicious, juicy phishy main course we still had some room left in the dessert stomach for raspberries and salted and roasted cashews. Looks primal and beautiful.

rasp

swan

Last but not least, the pumpkin swan doing dancing its ballet solo!

21.9.2010

I’d do anything for loaf (and I will do this)

Filed under: Alakarppi,Arkiruoka,Gluteeniton,Lihaa,Maidoton,meat,paleo — Meri @ 16.05

This meaty course is dedicated to the legendary Meatloaf. A simple yet catchy tune, this porky bit.

porkloaf

Pork Loaf

  • 500 g organic pork meat, minced
  • 1 organic egg
  • 1 onion
  • 1 dl coconut milk
  • 2 Tbsp coconut flour
  • 1,5 Tbsp nutritional yeast
  • salt, pepper

Yes, it’s the very same recipe I use for burgers and meatballs but just to remind you, it also works as a loaf. And there’s nothing easier than a loaf. Just grate the onion and mix all the ingredients. Put in a (silicone) oven mold and bake in approx. 200 degrees for a good 40 minutes or until the loaf’s settled. Made out of greasy pork meat this is DELISH!

15.9.2010

For all You Badgers Out There: Mushroom!

Filed under: Alakarppi,Arkiruoka,Gluteeniton,Lihaa,Maidoton,meat,paleo,Sieniä,Uunista — Meri @ 19.27

A little preliminary cooking inspiration, may I present, the classic: Badger Badger Badger!

…I was lucky enough to got offered some freshly picked mushroom the other day at work. Our speech therapist is a true forest fairy (even her name is Peppi – a suitable name for an elf) picking mushroom, running in the woods, taking her dogs for a walk. Thanks to her magic I had a huge bowl of cep mushroom (tatteja)! And they were my first. Ever. I’ve never cooked ceps before and I’ve only eaten them a couple of times in a restaurant. Did you know that when you bake them on a pan they mush and form a creamy sauce? Wonderful!

So it was good, no, it was better! I LOVE these! They almost win chantarelles, I must say. Anyway, this is what I did.

ceps

Mushroom Mushroom

  • a bowlful of ceps
  • butter
  • onion
  • garlic
  • coconut milk
  • salt

Chop the onion, garlic  and the ceps. Fry onion and garlic on the pan in a large amount of butter. Add the mushroom and let it cook for a good ten minutes, stirring often. Add a splash of coconut milk (say 1 dl) and cook it down a little. Season with salt. Now: you may as well eat it as it is, but I did the following and boy was that delicious!

Mushroom Bake

  • mushroom sauce
  • baked organic minced pork meat

Set the minced meat on the bottom of an oven casserole. Cover with the mushroom sauce. Sprinkle coconut flour and nutritional yeast on top to create a cheesy crust if you like. Bake in approx. 200 degrees for a good 20 minutes. Enjoy with sauerkraut and/or lingonberries and vegetables.

14.9.2010

Mint Truffles! Strawberry Icecream! (Are you sure it’s paleo?)

Filed under: Alakarppi,Elävä ravinto,Gluteeniton,Herkut,jäätelö,laktoositon,Maidoton,paleo — Meri @ 17.53

These babies are meant for the paleo population that tends to lean towards the sweeter side of life every now and then… Not too often, just often enough to savour the unique taste of sweet. Aaaaah. The inspiration for these first ones came from Rawmazing.com, even though I didn’t (and don’t and won’t) have the patience to prepare them like actual truffles.

But you, feel free to make them sweeties as perfect as you will! This would of course mean forming the filling into small balls, freezing them for an hour and then carefully dipping them (in a toothpick) into melted raw chocolate. Sounds awful lot of work to me. But it might be worth it? See food, you see.

Anyway, I cut all the corners possible and they STILL tasted divine. It’s no brain surgery preparing truffles!

truffles

Mindful Mint Truffles

Filling

  • 1 dl of cashews (soaked in water for three hours, pour the water away)
  • 1 dl of desiccated coconut
  • a little water
  • few drops of mint extract
  • (vanilla stevia if you want to sweeten it – if I remember correctly, I didn’t use any)

Blend the soaked cashews and add the coconut. Add enough water to get the blender going and the stuff forming into a ball. Spice it up with the mint! Set in a silicone icecube mold, one teaspoon per each hole. Refridgerate it to prepare the raw chocolate.

Raw Chocolate

  • organic coconut oil
  • organic cocoa butter
  • organic raw cocoa powder
  • a little quality salt
  • some vanilla stevia

Melt the coconut oil and the cocoa butter. Mix in the other ingredients and add stevia and salt to your liking. Pour in the icecube mold over the bits of filling and set to fridge to settle. Once they’re cooled down, you have the most rawmazing mint truffles to indulge with.

icey

This next one is the oldest trick in the paleo (dessert) cookbook but just to remind you: it’s still fabulous! The soft strawberry taste of this creamy delight brings me back to the days of my childhood. In my family we had this special treat when we would eat vanilla icecream together with some heated mushed strawberries (mom had mushed them in the summertime and they’d been heated to melt them from the freezer). That and my mom’s chocolate sauce with vanilla icecream are THEE BEST THINGS I know. Or knew. Paleo change things… Hmmpf.

Strawberry Icecream

  • frozen strawberries
  • coconut milk
  • vanilla stevia

Take the berries out a few minutes before making this to let them melt just an inch from their ice cold state. Once they’re ready to be blended without breaking the blender, blend them into a powder like consistency. Add coconut milk until you get the desired consistency. Add stevia and taste to adjust the sweetness. You may freeze this but it’s better refridgerated, at least in my opinion. Not too hard but soft and cold and… Delicious! Just like icecream.

12.9.2010

Juicy Cabbage

Filed under: Alakarppi,Gluteeniton,Kevyt,Maidoton,paleo,raw food,Sallad,Side order — Meri @ 15.33

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.

kaali

paprikakaali

kaalisoppa

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!

Benetton Approved Food

Filed under: Alakarppi,Gluteeniton,Maidoton,meat,paleo,Sieniä — Meri @ 8.08

Howdy guys and welcome to Monkey kitchen! Today I’m playing some good old Gipsy Kings as a background music to create an authentic sweaty and Southern European feeling. How’s it working for you?

These fellows ain’t again nothing so innovative but they’re delicious and more than just steamed veggies for a change. And sort of nice looking if you’ve got guests coming up for sum paleo dinner. You may fill them with just some fried veggies or even the fish combination I posted couple of days ago (smoked fish, eggs and coconut milk) but these minced meat ones are probably the most traditional. So get your pumpkins ready! You may use zucchinis, bell peppers, tomatoes and/or eggplant like I did but sure it’s possible to fill, say, …something else as well? A piece of sausage? 😀

Lineup

[After they’ve been to oven they are not THIS nice looking. But you wouldn’t be either.]

Line up

  • bell peppers, eggplant, zucchini, pumpkin, tomatoes (whatever is easy to fill)
  • minced meat
  • onion
  • mushrooms
  • salt, cinnamon, Indian spice
  • ketchup, Tabasco (hot sauce)
  • (almonds)

Set the oven for about 220 degrees. Cut the veggies that you’re going to fill: you may do it lengthwise (eggplant, zucchini, bell pepper) or just take the “hat” off (tomato, bell pepper, zucchini, eggplant). Scrape out the veggie meat. Chop onion and fry in butter on a pan. Add chopped mushrooms and then the veggie meat you scraped out. Finally add minced meat (I used organic pork) and season with salt and other spices according to your taste. I used Indian spice, a little cinnamon, some ketchup to bring sweetness and some Tabasco (smoked chipotle) to bring fire.

Fill the open cut veggies and transfer into oven. If you want some kind of crust and don’t use dairy I’d suggest either my “cheesy crust” aka combined coconut flour and nutritional yeast OR some chopped/crushed almonds. I absolutely love oven roasted almonds and they go so well together with this a bit spicy meat filling.

almondcrust

[Before the oven, still RAW!]

Bake until the cup veggies are tender, maybe 40 minutes and there you go.

10.9.2010

There’s more fish in the paleo sea

Filed under: Alakarppi,Arkiruoka,Gluteeniton,Kala,laktoositon,Maidoton,paleo,Sieniä — Meri @ 6.51

Ain’t saying that this would be anything new under the Monkey sun and ain’t saying this is something spectacular, but just to remind you of the variety in paleo cooking, I present yet again an oven-baked dish. Easy, simple, delish. Will keep a couple of days in the fridge and is tasty hot and cold.

fork

[A forkful.]

Fishy stuff

  • smoked whitefish (in my case, savusiika, “lavaret”) OR smoked salmon
  • fresh champignons
  • 3-4 onions
  • 2,5 dl coconut milk
  • 3 organic eggs
  • salt and pepper if needed

Chop the onion and champignons, fry in butter until tender and golden. Rip the fish into bite size bits and put in an oven casserole together with the onion-mushroom mix. Mix in a separate bowl the coconut milk and eggs, season if the fish isn’t too salty. Bake in approx. 200 degrees until the bake is settled, about 40 minutes. Enjoy hot or cold. I’d say it’s even better when it’s cold!

If you want a cheesy crust in your fish pie, try this dairy free Monkey trick:

  • coconut flour
  • nutritional yeast

Combine equal amount of these too and sprinkle on top of the casserole before baking it. Forms a nice salty crust as you can see here:

crust

5.9.2010

Greetings from Croatia! …aka better than ketchup

Filed under: Alakarppi,Eksotiikkaa,Gluteeniton,laktoositon,Maidoton,On the Road,paleo,Soosit — Meri @ 20.05

paprika2

[The version I made… (all gone by the way O_O)]

Hi y’all and thanks for waiting! The summer vacation is over tomorrow so the monkey’s back in da kitchen. Bet ya are hungry already? Since we spent 10 days of our vacation in Croatia, first on the island of Hvar and then two nights in Split, I’d like to share a very common croatian recipe for a delicious paprika sauce. It accompanied every meat platter, mixed grill and pork cutlet dish we ordered and was always as good. I googled some recipies and this was my first attempt. Pretty good I’d say, follow me!

paprika

[…and the original in Croatia.]

Croatian ketchup (it’s probably unorthodox to call this ketchup but just to give you the idea)

  • 1 red bellpepper
  • 1 eggplant
  • (finely chopped fresh chili if you like – I didn’t have any and it’s not supposed to be hot)
  • 1-2 garlic cloves
  • vinegar
  • salt
  • olive oil

Roast the eggplant and the bellpepper in a hot oven approximately 30 minutes so that the eggplant turns softer and the bellpepper sweeter. Put the bellpepper in a plastic bag when it’s still hot so it’ll be easier to peel. Scrape the eggplant flesh out with a tablespoon and mix the peeled pepper and the eggplant in a blender together with a clove of garlic. Add a dash of vinegar and some salt to taste.

Pour a bit of olive oil into a thick bottomed kettle and add the mixture. Let it cook down mixing it often until a paste forms. You may now either eat the damn delicacy or put it in a jar for later. Excellent with meat!

NOTE: you may not want to throw the eggplant peel away. If you chop it and fry it on a pan with, say, minced meat, it’ll be tasty. I do love eggplant. Learn to love it as well!

22.8.2010

It sure looks like veggies (but tastes like pizza)

Filed under: Alakarppi,Arkiruoka,Gluteeniton,Maidoton,paleo,Side order,Vege — Meri @ 20.07

This is a simple and satisfying side order to go with some smoked salmon or maybe organic chicken. In my mind (and in my mouth to be exact) this tastes like pizza so it does makes me happy… In a way that no pizza would do. Anyway, I’m too coward to promise you a definate pizza experience but even as what it is – veggies seasoned with oregano – it’s delicious. Nothing too fancy but oh so satiating. Eggplant works the best sucking all the flavours in!

pizzavegs

Pizza Vegetariana

  • half of an large eggplant
  • half of an large zucchini
  • 2 carrots
  • 2 dl pureed tomato (or crushed tomato) in a can
  • 2-3 Tbs nutritional yeast
  • dried oregano
  • butter, salt, water

Chop the veggies into generous bites, carrots more thinly. Fry the veggies in a heavy amount of butter on a large skillet. Add the canned tomato and a little water. Season with oregano, salt and nutritional yest. Let it cook up until it’s more like a stew than a sauce and so that the tomato loses its bitterness. There you go. Uno Pizza Vegetariana, por favor.

« Newer Posts — Older Posts »

Powered by WordPress