when we got the juicer we also bought a magimix food processor and a few bits and pieces to make food prep easier. it's all very well having gorgeous risotto pans but for raw food you need extra salad bowls (tip: small salad serving bowls are just the right size for one person to eat dinner out of!) and big chopping boards, jars for mixing dressings, lettuce spinner, spiraliser, sprouting trays, mesh bags...
i already had a couple of books from last time, both by Leslie Kenton (try this one) but I wanted more ideas. it's hard not to get bored when you're using nothing more than raw veg. with juices, it's easy to go for the obvious carrot and apple mix. well, with raw food there's even more of a case. if you don't want to feel like you're eating salad every day then you need some inspiration from somewhere.
so i read the amazon reviews and chose the raw food gourmet. unluckily the majority of the recipes rely on a dehydrator so it's not much use. besides not having the equipment i don't have all day to make dinner either. impractical to say the least. however, we have managed to find a couple of interesting recipes. getting completely away from the reworked salad recipe is the not-spaghetti and sauce. quite groovy. you make the spaghetti using courgette and a nifty machine called a spiraliser (or a veg peeler if you want tagliatelle) then you make a raw tomato sauce. lots of basil and garlic. we used some real parmesan, too. just didn't seem right otherwise.
since then i've bought a bunch more books (more about them in a later post) and added not-meatballs to the spaghetti spectacular. i also tried using butternut squash instead of courgette for a change. and to replace the parmesan we have the not nearly so tasty, but not a bad rip-off, nutrional yeast flakes. see photo courtesy of booyaa
one of my favourite recipes so far is the romaine wraps. easy peasy. take some avocado, apple, mango, peppers, spring onions, fresh corn, alfalfa sprouts and chop everything finely. add some fresh herbs (my fave is basil) and make a creamy dressing with natural yogurt (not strictly raw vegan, ahem. but it provides good bacteria and B12, which is notoriously difficult for vegans to get in their diet) garlic, soy sauce, spices, mustard... whatever you fancy really. then you mix it all up and spoon onto romaine leaves, then roll. stick a cocktail stick in the middle to hold together. really yummy!
another really easy one is based on an old warm salad recipe that anna introduced me too aeons ago. break a cauliflower into tiny florets, chop red pepper, chunky grate or julienne carrots, finely chop green beans (i use 'helda' beans, which i knew as vainas in spain) and some spring onions. make a dressing (this is the good bit!) with a dessertpoon each of oil (try walnut and sesame) honey and soy sauce plus crushed garlic and ginger (the more ginger the better, as far as i'm concerned) and shake all that up. you can add a bit of finely chopped chilli or a drop of hot sauce, too, for more zing. toss the salad and leave it to marinate for a while. sprinkle with flaked almonds or sunflower seeds and eat.
