Thick Rich Raw Sauces

When I first began to make raw food I couldn't imagine how to create that slow simmered thick goodness that one gets with cooked sauces like marinara sauce or with dips, like hummus. Even the recipe books, in the case of raw zucchini hummus, will say that it's not as thick as hummus made with cooked garbanzo beans. I thought of that cooked down juicy goodness in apple pie...surely that must be impossible with raw food. Nope, it's not. Rich goodness begins by adding dehydrated tomatoes to a marinara sauce, dehydrated zucchini chips and extra sesame seeds to hummus, dried apple chips to the sauce for apple pie and......I haven't gotten around to making a mushroom gravy, but I will.

I hadn't imagined the bonus of zucchini chips tasting sweet and delicious, or my own "sun dried" (in the dehydrator) tomatoes added to so many dishes. I'd eaten apple chips before, but when marinated in lemon juice and cinnamon then dehydrated at 105 degrees, they achieve a whole new level of flavour.

The sauce for this raw apple pie was made with apple chips, dates, goji berries (for the warm delicious colour as well as the nutrients) and some water, whipped to silky smoothness in a high speed blender. The crusts had been made before hand and refrigerated. The ingredients are simple: walnuts, dates, goji berries, a few raisins, and vanilla pulsed in a food processor. Press into a form with a removable bottom and freeze or refrigerate. The apples are quickly sliced in the food processor, so the pie goes together, with layers of sauce and layers of apples, making a delicious apple pie dessert.

Here, laying out apple slices to go into the dehydrator.

The last two blog entries cover zucchini hummus and marinara sauce.

The latest, warm from the dehydrator, item in the "dried and ready to eat or make a sauce with" are spicy crooked neck squashes which are plentiful in the garden right now. These chips are delicious! Here, laying out the slices, marinated in sauce, in the outdoor kitchen.

Marinated crook neck squash, ready to dehydrate.

In this batch, there won't be enough left to make a sauce with. These are the best chips I've ever tasted! The marinade was made with a little tamari, olive oil, garlic, some red pepper, a seeded heritage tomato, some onion, lemon, a touch of avocado honey, turmeric, cayenne, oregano....all whirled in the blender and taste as you go to balance. Hemp seeds were sprinkled on top, but they didn't stick very well.

It's exciting to be keeping up with the pounds and pounds of produce from the garden this year, making things I hadn't even tasted this time last year.