"Food as Pleasure" Challenge #1--"A" is for "Amaranth"

Often, I take on a new challenge or institute a new practice, only to have life circumstances move in ways that make follow-through complicated at best. Maybe I'm not alone in this?! This time, however, I knew from the get-go that when I set that 'food as pleasure' recipe-following challenge, I would be on the road within a few short days, heading off on my big adventure, my MFA residency, almost two weeks of everything 'writing and literature,' probably just the bare minimum of food-prepping, and otherwise just making the food thing work as seamlessly and graciously as possible. And so, on the eve of my departure, I have the first recipes (yes, I did make two) to tell you about.

First off, not a recipe but a wonderful fruit salad that is also a celebration of my renewed embracing of all macronutrients.

That is a bowl of blueberries, half a mango, thawed cherries and grapes, two chopped dates, spirulina and coconut kefir! It's like what you might make a smoothie from, but it's a very different experience from drinking a smoothie, let me tell you. A bouquet of varying textures and flavors: the intense almond note of the dense cherries, the juicy smack of the blueberries, the occasional sticky sweetness of the dates--and when you stir it all together, the spirulina and kefir just melt into the mix. So, I was pleased with that, and you'd enjoy it too (although replicating it just that way to eat while driving up to Anchorage might have been less smart--should have gone with the good ol' smoothie)!

As for the recipes I chose to feature for purposely delicious food, a little voice in my head had been nagging me for weeks that I should try amaranth. I've never had it before, and I haven't really explored the world of the 'pseudograins' (quinoa, millet, amaranth) yet. I'd been impressed by its nutrient profile and since I love the greens, I was curious to try the seeds.

I googled around to find a recipe to try it in, and was immediately drawn to this 'Amaranth Polenta with Wild Mushrooms' recipe: I'd been having a hankering to make a mushroom risotto-type dish for ages too, so this fit both the amaranth and the 'mushroom risotto' hankerings!

For the challenge, I wasn't supposed to 'healthify' the recipe, and in this case it was pretty easy for me not to: it's a simple and healthy recipe as it stands. My one exception to the 'no healthifying' rule is that I'm allowed to substitute coconut oil for other cooking oils if high heat is going to be involved. So, the recipe calls for butter or olive oil, and I used a bit of coconut oil instead.

Garnished with fresh thyme...They recommended serving it with 'wild game,' so I fixed up something of that ilk, together with freshly harvested chard (steamed with lemon) and lettuces (in a salad), and freshly baked bread--and it was quite a spread!

We had one friend over for dinner, and then another one unexpectedly stopped in, and everyone enjoyed all of it. I knew that Phil would like the amaranth, because it still has a crunch even in a porridgy-textured context like polenta. Here's the funny thing: both Phil and our friend who was there from the start commented that the texture and appearance of the amaranth reminded them of fish roe at Japanese restaurants (although it tasted completely different). And then, when the unexpected guest started eating it a little later, he said, "What's this? Fish eggs?"

But I wasn't done! That same website linked a recipe for gluten free Amaranth-Ginger Muffins--a blend of gluten free flours including amaranth, with crystallized ginger pieces and nuts scattered through them. I decided I should make those too. Now, this was a gluten free recipe, but it called for eggs and milk. I used ener-g egg replacer and almond milk instead, but this was veganizing, not 'healthifying!' In other words, I used real sugar, not stevia and xylitol, and although I did use coconut oil instead of the recommended canola (not on your life!), I didn't reduce the quantity. (Actually, with the quantity recommended, there's only a quarter-tablespoon of oil per muffin anyway, less than a teaspoon...) I _did_ leave out the nuts, but not for 'healthifying' reasons: simply because I don't like nuts in baked goods. Oh, and I used arrowroot instead of potato starch because I didn't have the latter.

Crystallized ginger is definitely one of those things that I _would_ normally leave out: honestly, though, I was fully intending to include it. I chopped it all up hours ahead of time. But I was multitasking, and only remembered that I'd forgotten to add it when the muffins were almost done. Since I'd decided not to make the sugar crumb topping (just didn't think it was necessary--you can call me on it if you think that's 'healthifying' :) ), I added the crystallized ginger pieces as a belated topping a few minutes before they were done.

I'd been quite nervous about how these would be received, being as they were gluten free and vegan and all. But they were delicious on all palates! Phil ate three of them right away, and one of our guests also went for seconds. Very moist but almost a 'stretchy' texture, from the combination of xanthan gum and egg replacer: I imagine that the texture would have been more like classic gingerbread had I used real eggs.

Since I made the amaranth flour by grinding whole amaranth in the Vitamix, there were a few whole grains still in there--you can see them in the picture above (maybe I need to grind for longer next time). These little seeds popped like fig seeds as we chewed--I'm glad that people were put in mind of figs and not fish roe in this context!

Oh, and I liked them too. I love gingery, spicy stuff. I didn't adore them but it definitely felt like a treat.

So. I'm flying south to Tacoma tomorrow. For the next two weeks I don't know what my schedule will be vis-a-vis blog-writing and reading but I'd love to stay checked in as and when I can. 

Sending love to everyone and hoping that if it's raining as hard where you are as it has been here in AK, your garden is growing beautifully as a result--and otherwise, that you're enjoying sunshine and summer with no breath of fall!

Have you tried amaranth? Liked it?