Autumn Menu by Linda Wemhoff

Hello! Wishing you a lovely Autumn filled with the comfort of brown rice, the strength of seaweed, the sweetness of squash and the fun of almond cream!

Blessings on your food! :>) Linda

Autumn Menu

• Grain: Rice and Wild Rice
• Protein: seitan Steaks with Garlic, Mushroom Basil Sauce
• Seaweed: hijiki with Scallions and Mustard
• Vegetables: Squash Slices, Kale
• Pickle: Sweet and Sour Red Beets
• Dessert: Dried Fruit Compote with Almond Cream

Linda has a fantastic cooking DVD that has recently come out where she prepares a complete macrobiotic meal from start to finish before your eyes, while at the same time immersing you in the  macrobiotic theory behind all she does. Click Here for complete details.

Wild Rice Blend

• 2 cups Lundberg Wild Rice Blend
• 4 cups water, 2 pinches sea salt

Bring the water and salt to a boil. Add the rice and cook for 40 minutes. Don't stir.

Seitan Steaks with Mushroom Sauce

2 pkgs. seitan

Tempura batter: 1 cup flour, 1 tsp. Kuzu, 1 pinch sea salt, enough cold water to make a pancake batter-like consistency Bread crumbs (I like Jaclyn's Plain Bread Crumbs) oil for deep frying (try a combination of olive and light sesame)

1. Slice seitan in 1/4" thick slices.
2. Heat 1" of oil in a small cast iron skillet or thick pan. Start over if the oil smokes.
3. Make the tempura batter. Test that the oil is hot enough by dropping a drop of batter into the oil. If it immediately comes to the surface, the oil is ready.
4. With your right hand, dip a seitan slice in the batter, one at a time and drop into bread crumbs.
5. With your left hand, toss the seitan slice around in the bread crumbs and gently place in the hot oil.
6. Continue to dip each slice using separate hands so the bread crumbs don't get clumpy.
7. Have 3-4 slices in the oil at a time. (Use a mesh protector over the skillet.) Once a 'steak' is golden and crunchy on one side, turn it over with chopsticks.
8. Prepare a plate with two paper towels. When each slice is golden and crunchy, remove it and place on the paper towels. Don't let the 'steaks' touch each other so they stay crispy.

Mushroom Sauce

• sesame oil
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 lb. fresh mushrooms, sliced
• 2 cups water
• 1/2 - 1 tsp. shoyu
• 1 TB kuzu diluted in 1/4 cup cold water
• 1 tsp. dried basil, rubbed between your palms to release the flavor

1. Heat oil in skillet. Saute' garlic and mushrooms with shoyu for 2-3 minutes.
2. Add water and simmer 10 minutes.
3. Stir in diluted kuzu and simmer 1 more minute.
4. Season with basil and serve.

(If you want to use this sauce when you aren't making a deep-fried dish, it's delicious with a bit of tahini added in at the end.)

Hijiki with Scallions and Mustard

• 1 pkg. hijiki
• 3/4 cup apple juice & 3/4 cup water
• 1/2 - 1 TB Shoyu
• 1 tsp. wasabi Mustard
• 1/2 cup Scallions, minced

1. Rinse hijiki in a bowl of water... lifting it out of the water to leave the sand below. Soak in fresh water, just enough to cover, for 15 minutes.
2. Pour off soaking water. Put hijiki in a skillet and add the apple juice/water mix to just cover the hijiki. Simmer with the lid off for 25-30 minutes.
3. Just before the liquid is gone, season with shoyu and cook 2-3 more minutes.
4. Shut off heat. Cut to desired size and add mustard and scallions.

Sweet Squash Slices

• 1 buttercup or hokkaido squash, sliced into 1/2 moons
• 2 pinches sea salt
• water with steamer basket

1. Wash, de-seed and slice squash into moons. Sprinkle with salt and let set at least 5 minutes. (The squash will taste sweeter.)
2. Bring water to a boil and place the squash around on the steamer basket.
3. Steam until soft - about 10 minutes. Remove gently on to a serving platter.

Kale

• 1-2 large leaves per person
• 1 inch boiling water, 1 pinch sea salt

1. Wash kale and remove the leaves from the stems. Cut the stems in to 1/4" pieces and the leaves into 1" strips.
2. Add the stems to the boiling water and cook 1/2 minute with the lid on.
3. Remove the lid, add the leaves and cook 1 minute with the lid on. Stir and cook one more minute. When the kale is bright green and still slightly crunchy, remove immediately from the water. (This is important so the greens don't leach minerals into the water.)

Sweet and Sour Red Beets

• 2-3 red beets
• 1/2 cup organic apple juice and 1/2 cup water
• 2 TB shoyu
• 2 TB rice or hato mugi vinegar
• 1 TB kuzu diluted in 1/4 cup cold water for glaze(optional)

1. Peel the beets if needed and slice 1/4" thick.
2. Simmer the liquid and the red beets for 15 minutes until tender.
3. Remove the beets. Pour 1/2 of the sauce into a jar for future pickling. (Great to pickle daikon radish.) Thicken the remaining sauce by stirring in the diluted kuzu. Cook 1 minute and glaze the beets.

Dried Fruit Compote with Almond Cream

• 1 quart organic apple juice
• 2 pinches sea salt
• 1 pkg. mixed organic dried fruits
• 1 cup water
• 1 1/2 cup soaked, blanched almonds (If soaked for a few hours prior to blanching, the cream will be creamier but this isn't necessary.)
• 1-2 tsp. kuzu diluted in 1/4 cup cold water vanilla or cherry concentrate, nutmeg and cinnamon

1. Rinse and soak the dried fruit in the apple juice for 15 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, bring water to a boil and boil the almonds for 1-2 minutes. Then remove the almonds and pop off the skins. Set aside.
3. Simmer the apple juice, dried fruit and salt for 15-20 minutes.
4. While this is cooking, prepare the almonds by adding them to 1 cup of boiling water, cooking 1/2 minute, strain and 'pop' off the skins. Use 1/2 cup of these almonds for the compote and 1 cup for the cream.
5. When the dried fruit is soft, thicken the juice by stirring in the diluted kuzu. Cook one more minute so the kuzu doesn't taste 'chalky'. 6. Remove from the heat and add 1/2 cup blanched almonds, and dashes of vanilla (or cherry concentrate), nutmeg and cinnamon.

Almond Cream

• 1 cup soaked, blanched almonds
• 2-3 TB rice syrup
• 1/2 tsp. vanilla
• Store-bought or home-made Almond milk

Blend 1 cup blanched/skinned almonds with 2-3 TB rice syrup and vanilla. Add Almond milk gradually to get the cream consistency.

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