A perfect summer meal—best enjoyed on the patio in the sunshine! This recipe is really 3-in-1; try the Sundried Tomato and Pistachio Pesto in your stuffed mushrooms, and serve the Fermented Sunflower Cheese Crisps as a tasty snack or on your favourtie salad.
This recipe was contributed by Danielle Arsenault-Ketch, founder of Pachavega Living Foods Education. Danielle is, amongst many other things, a passionate Raw Food Chef, vegan and plant-based nutrition expert. It is her dream to educate the world about the healing power of plant-based whole foods and a healthy lifestyle rooted in compassion for the planet. We are fortunate that she calls Vancouver Island her home!
Ingredients
- 2 medium zucchini
- 3 large tomatoes, sliced
- 3 cups spinach, roughly chopped
- 1 cup olive oil
- 1 cup fresh basil
- 1 Tbsp fresh oregano
- 1 tsp chili flakes
- 1 tsp pink salt
- 1 cup pistachios
- 2 cups fresh basil
- 1/2 cup sundried tomatoes, soaked in water and rinsed well
- 1/2 cup zucchini, chopped
- 1/2 cup olive oil
- 2 Tbsp nutritional yeast
- 2 Tbsp kimchi juice
- 2 cloves garlic, chopped
- pinch of salt to taste
- 3/4 cup Brazil nuts
- 1/4 cup pine nuts
- 1/2 cup nutritional yeast
- 2 Tbsp kimchi juice
- 3 cloves garlic
- 1/2 tsp pink salt
- 1 3/4 cups sunflower seeds (soaked at least 6 hrs or overnight)
- 1/2 cup nutritional yeast
- 1 Tbsp lemon juice
- 1 Tbsp chickpea miso
- 1/4 tsp turmeric
- 1/2 tsp onion powder
- 1/2 tsp dijon mustard
- 1/4 tsp pink salt
- 1 probiotic capsule (emptied from capsule)
Preparation
Slice zucchini into ribbons with a mandolin or vegetable peeler. Marinate for an hour with savoury herbs olive oil.
Savoury Herbs Olive Oil
Blend all ingredients on high in a high speed blender and store in a squeeze bottle or glass bottle in the fridge. Let the oil warm to room temperature before using.
Sundried Tomato and Pistachio Pesto
Combine all ingredients in a food processor and pulse until well mixed.
Brazil Nut Ricotta
Combine all ingredients in a food processor and pulse until well mixed—leave some texture in the Ricotta.
Fermented Sunflower Cheese Crisps
Add all the ingredients into the blender, except the probiotic capsule. Twist and open the probiotic capsule and empty the contents into the high-speed blender and compost the empty capsule. Blend on high until super creamy.
Transfer to a glass mason jar and let it sit on the counter for 2 days (more if your environment is cool, less if you are in a warm climate). Cover with cloth and rubber band or loosely with a plastic jar lid - do not tighten (metal may rust as the pH drops and the cheeze ferments, so we recommend against the traditional mason jar lids). 24-36 hours later, the cheeze will have formed bubbles and may even taste carbonated. This is a good thing.
Stir the contents in the jar, whipping down the bubbles and then pour onto a dehydrator sheet and dry for 8 hours at 115 degrees F. After, flip the crisp and peel off the dehydrator sheet, dehydrate for another 6 hours or until very dry. Store in an airtight container and serve as a tasty snack or to accompany your favorite soup or crumble over top your next salad—or this lasagne.
Lasagne Assembly
Layer the following—from the bottom:
A few zucchini ribbons - Sundried Tomato and Pistachio Pesto - fresh spinach - Brazil Nut Ricotta - fresh tomato - Sundried Tomato and Pistachio Pesto - zucchini ribbons - fresh spinach - Brazil Nut Ricotta - fresh tomato - Fermented Sunflower Cheese Crisps.
Why Kimchi Juice?
Kimchi is Korea's staple condiment. It's ubiquitos presence graces every table across the country. The best part, it's loaded with probiotics. Probiotics and fiber-rich foods work to diversify the microbiome and gut flora by introducing good bacteria. The gut microbiome, specifically, is all of the microbes in your intestines. They begin diversifying the moment you’re born through your mother’s breast milk and they continue to diversify and protect you throughout your entire lifespan. Good bacteria are essentially both the brain and food of the gut’s immune cells, which help them win the battle against pathogens. A healthy population of gut flora as well as a diverse microbiome will help protect your heart, brain, and every other organ in your body. Use kimchi juice in place of lemon juice in your next recipe and let the probiotics flourish.
