Cornucopia Warmed Raw/Living Broccoli and Dillisk soup in Shitake and Tamari Broth
This raw living soup was inspired by Chef Veronica O’Reilly of Healthy Habits Raw Foods café in Wicklow Town who I had the pleasure of working with a few years ago. We introduced this particular soup to Cornucopia Restaurant’s ever growing raw/vegan menu last year as the chilly weather started to catch up on us. This is a raw, albeit slightly warmed soup.
Ingredients
Broth:
- 400mls Cashew Cream
- 60ml cold pressed Sesame Oil
- 100mls Tamari soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon Shitake Mushroom Powder
Vegetables:
- 14g of dried dillisk seaweed, cut into small pieces using a scissors
- 1 medium carrot, topped, tailed, peeled and grated finely
- 1 scallion, sliced thinly
- 1 small head of broccoli (120g when chopped) finely chopped and marinated overnight in 30mls lemon juice)
- 1/8 teaspoon sea salt
To Prepare the Cashew Cream, Broccoli and Mushroom Powder:
Make the cashew cream by soaking 100g of cashew nuts in enough water to cover the nuts. Leave in a cool place overnight/8 hours. Drain the cashews, discarding the water. Place the nuts in a high speed blender or hand-held stick blender. Add 250mls fresh water and process until it becomes cashew cream.
Prepare the marinated broccoli by chopping it into very small pieces, and placing in a bowl with the lemon juice and salt. Gently massage the lemon and salt into the broccoli and leave to marinade for at least eight hours also.
To make the mushroom powder, grind a couple of dried shitake mushrooms to a powder. You can use a high speed blender, an electric spice grinder or a mortar and pestle.
To assemble the soup:
Place the cashew cream, sesame oil, tamari and shitake powder in a medium sized bowl. Using a whisk, gently stir the ingredients to combine. Add the chopped dillisk, grated carrot, sliced scallion, and then the marinated broccoli into the broth, and stir to combine. Place into a fridge to chill until ready to serve. This will make a very thick broth which will be later mixed with warmed water to serve.
To finish and serve the soup:
Place the broth into four soup bowls, filling the bowls halfway. Boil water in a kettle, letting it cool to about 80*c, then add to the soup to warm.
Baked Winter Crown Prince Pumpkin, Roast Cauliflower Puree with Parsley Tahini Sauce and Dukkah Seasoning
Crown Prince pumpkins are not the most commonly available in Ireland but grow very well in our northerly climate. Also known as ‘winter pumpkin’, they are available in many specialist greengrocers or farmers markets. If you can’t source them, a similar sized butternut squash will work just as well. Dukkah is an Egyptian seasoning that adds a pleasant crunch and excellent flavour . This recipe calls for cold pressed rapeseed oil but a similar virgin olive oil will also work. I like to use smooth dark tahini paste as it has a higher calcium and nutrient content, but again regular tahini will also work as an alternative.
Makes 4 medium servings.
Ingredients:
- 1 medium sized Pumpkin/Butternut squash (About 1kg in weight before preparing)
- 15ml virgin rapeseed oil
Cauliflower puree:
- 1 medium sized cauliflower (About 1kg in weight)
- 95ml virgin rapeseed oil
- 120ml soymilk
- ¾ teaspoon sea salt
Parsley tahini sauce:
- 60g tahini
- 120ml water
- 30ml lemon juice
- 1 small clove garlic
- 10g flat parsley
- ¼ teaspoon sea salt
For the dukkah seasoning:
- 90g whole hazelnuts
- 25g brown sesame seeds
- 6g whole corriander seeds
- 1/8 teaspoon sea salt
Method:
Preheat your oven to 180*c/350*f
Cut the pumpkin in half lengthways, then slice into eight pieces. Remove the seeds using a spoon and peel each wedge lightly using a vegetable peeler. Place the pumpkin pieces onto a baking tray, brush lightly with the 15mls of rapeseed oil and set aside.
Prepare the cauliflower by removing the outer leaves and stalk. Roughly chop the cauliflower and add 15mls of the rapeseed oil – then place on a baking tray. Set the pumpkin and cauliflower into the oven. The pumpkin will need 35 minutes to cook and the cauliflower will take about 25 minutes.
While the vegetables are roasting, prepare the tahini sauce by pureeing all the ingredients with a stick blender and set aside. Add the Dukkah ingredients to a dry, roasting pan, and place in the oven to toast for 15 minutes. Gently heat the soymilk in a saucepan. Once the cauliflower has softened and slightly browned, add it to the warmed soymilk and puree. Add the sea salt and then slowly drizzle in the remaining 80ml of rapeseed oil until it has emulsified. Once the dukkah has been toasted, remove from the oven, very coarsely chop and set aside. Remove the pumpkin from the oven for serving.
To serve:
Divide the cauliflower puree between 4 plates and lightly sprinkle with the dukkah seasoning. Place 2 pieces of baked pumpkin onto each plate and sprinkle with more dukkah seasoning. Finish each plate by pouring the parsley and tahini sauces over the cauliflower puree and baked pumpkin.
