Nourishing Traditions: The Cookbook That Challenges Politically Correct Nutrition and The... (42 page)

Blend mayonnaise, egg yolks, mustard and dill together and season to taste. Excellent with salmon or
raw beef, Italian style
.

YOGHURT SAUCE

Makes 2 cups

1½ cups plain, whole yoghurt

¼ cup lemon juice

¼ cup water

3 cloves garlic, peeled and mashed

sea salt

Blend yoghurt, lemon juice, water and garlic together and season to taste.

ANCHOVY PASTE

(Anchoiade)
Makes ½ cup

2 cloves garlic

4 ounces canned anchovies with olive oil

1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

½ teaspoon raw vinegar

Place all ingredients in food processor and pulse to achieve a coarse paste. This is excellent spread on
round croutons
or with
Variety Salad for Grown-Ups
.

WATERCRESS SAUCE

Makes 1½ cups

1 bunch watercress, stems removed

1 egg yolk

2 tablespoons lemon juice

½ cup extra virgin olive oil

½ cup
piima cream
or
creme fraiche

sea salt

Place watercress in food processor and pulse until chopped. Add egg yolk and lemon juice and pulse until well blended. Using the attachment that allows you to add liquids drop by drop, add olive oil with motor running. Stir in cultured cream and season to taste.

Variation: Cilantro Sauce

Use
1 large bunch cilantro, stems removed,
instead of watercress.

Many cultures have valued basil as a sacred plant. In India, a species of basil called
tulasi
is an object of veneration, cultivated in temples and garden shrines.
Tulasi
is said to kill mosquitoes and demons, to cure disease and cleanse the air. In ancient Greece and Persia, sweet basil was associated with mourning and planted on graves. In ancient Rome, basil was associated with fertility, love and sexual stimulation. In China, basil traditionally provided a base for perfume and was planted in gardens to mask the bad odor of fertilizer.

Today the delicious taste and aroma of basil is the signature of Mediterranean cooking. The French call it
l'herbe royale
(the royal plant) for good reason. Tests have shown that the smell of basil has a salutary effect on people's outlook and disposition. It is valued for its ability to relieve intestinal gas and inhibit dysentery. The leaves may be brewed into a tea for these complaints. A relative of mint, basil is easy to grow. It goes beautifully with tomato, fish and meat dishes. SWF

PESTO

Makes 1 cup

2 cups packed fresh basil leaves, washed and dried

2-4 cloves garlic, peeled

½ teaspoon sea salt

¼ cup
crispy pine nuts

¼ cup good quality grated Parmesan cheese

¼-½ cup extra virgin olive oil

Pesto is normally mixed with pasta, but it is delicious as an accompaniment to fish and meat, or even spread on corn on the cob!

Place basil leaves in food processor. Pulse until well chopped. Add garlic, salt, pine nuts and cheese and blend well. Using attachment for adding liquids drop by drop, and with motor running, add olive oil to form a thick paste. Pesto will keep several days, well sealed, in refrigerator; or it may be frozen.

Variation: Cilantro Pesto

Use
2 cups fresh cilantro leaves
instead of basil.

PESTO SAUCE

Makes 1½ to 2 cups

1 cup
pesto

½ to 1 cup
fish stock
,
chicken stock
or
beef stock

Use fish stock if you are serving this sauce with fish, chicken stock with chicken and beef stock with red meat.

Bring stock to a boil and pour in a thin stream into pesto, whisking constantly, until desired thickness is attained. Keep warm in a glass or ceramic container set in a pan of hot water over a very low flame.

CILANTRO MARINADE

Makes ½ cup

1 bunch cilantro, chopped

juice of one lemon

3 garlic cloves, mashed

½ cup extra virgin olive oil

¼ teaspoon pepper

Mix all ingredients together. This is delicious as a marinade for swordfish and eggplant.

Cilantro is a hardy annual herb (
Coriandrum sativum
) that produces two products—one is the coriander seed, a spice valued in both cooking and medicine; the other is the leaves, known in America by the plant's Spanish name, Cilantro.

Sometimes called Chinese parsley, cilantro actually reached China rather late in history, after a long period of use in Persia and the Mediterranean area. Coriander is mentioned in a 16th-century BC Egyptian medical treatise, and coriander remains have been identified in the tomb of Tutankhamen. The plant is compared to manna in the book of Exodus and Numbers and is also frequently referred to in the Talmud. It was extensively cultivated in Persia—where it is still used today in many dishes—whence it spread to India and finally to China, where it is used liberally in fish and fowl preparations, as well as in soups. Chinese treatises include cilantro among the five "vegetables of strong odor" that are forbidden to monks. Some people do find that cilantro has a soapy taste but, in general, cilantro is widely accepted and liberally used in a variety of refreshing dishes, especially as it is now readily available in U.S. markets.

Cilantro leaves are rich in calcium, iron, carotenes and vitamin C. It is the seed that is most often mentioned in ancient medical treatises, but recently the leaves have become a source of great interest to holistic practitioners. A Japanese investigator, Yoshiaki Omura, has made the revolutionary discovery that cilantro can mobilize mercury and other toxic metals from the central nervous system if large enough amounts are consumed daily. This makes it very useful to individuals who are attempting to detoxify after the removal of mercury fillings, as detoxification of more peripheral tissues is a relatively straight forward matter; but mercury in the central nervous systems is recalcitrant and can remained lodged there permanently. Cilantro is the first known substance that stimulates the body to remove mercury and other toxic metals from the central nervous system and excrete them via the stool or urine. Dried cilantro does not work, which implies that the active principle is an aromatic substance (that soapy taste?) in the fat-soluble portion of the leaves. The heavy metal detox capabilities of cilantro should also make it of great use in the treatment of depression, Alzheimer's disease, lack of concentration and related disorders. SWF

RED PEPPER SAUCE

Makes 4 cups

9 large red bell peppers, seeded and quartered

3 cloves garlic, peeled and coarsely chopped

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

¹
/
₃
cup sun dried tomatoes packed in olive oil

sea salt and pepper

Place pepper quarters in an oiled pyrex dish, skin side up. Place in an oven set at 400 degrees. When peppers begin to soften, turn and bake until skin loosens. Transfer to a plate and cover with a plastic bag for 10 minutes before removing skin.

Place skinned pepper pieces in food processor and process until smooth. Add remaining ingredients and process until smooth. Season to taste.

Variation: Creamy Red Pepper Sauce

Stir in
½ cup
piima cream
or
creme fraiche
.

Variation: Thin Red Pepper Sauce

Stir in
½ to 1 cup warm
fish stock
,
chicken stock
or
beef stock
until desired consistency is obtained.

Once upon a time there was a scientific debate. The debate was between the ideas put forth by Louis Pasteur and the ideas outlined by Antoine Bechamp. The scientific community adopted the ideas of Pasteur and completely rejected the ideas of Bechamp. Because of that rejection, and the growth of dogma attached to the theories of Pasteur, our modern medical science may be digging a deep hole for all of us in our desires to overcome disease.

Medical and biological education today is based upon Pasteur's "germ theory of disease." Pasteur, who had immense political clout with Emperor Napoleon at the time, put forth the theory that germs, or microbial life, may be divided into "invariable" species and families. He proclaimed that each species caused a specific disease. Later, Dr. Robert Koch put forth his famous "postulates" of microbial infections which solidified Pasteur's point of view. Thus, any germ shown to cause a disease is called a pathogen.

At the time of Pasteur, the greatest acknowledged biological scientist in France was Professor Bechamp, a physiologist who had no political clout despite enormous scientific prestige and credentials. Historians have shown that Pasteur plagiarized Bechamp in one important discovery about fermentation. Bechamp's discovery about the nature of microbial life was exactly the opposite of what Pasteur proclaimed and science adopted. Briefly, Bechamp discovered a "symbiotic" relationship between microbes and larger animals. He also declared that all animal and plant cells contain extremely small granules, which are not destroyed even when the organism or cell dies. He called them microzymas and demonstrated that these tiny specks could change form and could result in changing the forms and the activity of other microbes.