At the moment I’m surrounded by boxes, trying to figure out what goes where. Moving can be incredibly overwhelming, but thankfully another kind blogger has offered to help me out. 

Kristel of Kristel’s Kitchen has graciously written a great guest post for me. I actually had the pleasure of meeting her last night in real life at a Montreal Dishcrawl. My first impressions of Kristel are that she’s kind, fun, and passionate about food. I hope you enjoy her guest post and her blog as much as I do!

 

For those of you who don’t know me (or haven’t read my blog), I recently did a raw⁄living food cleanse. Though I am and always will be a true omnivore, there are certain aspects of the rawfoodism that I have decided to keep as part of my lifestyle, in an overall attempt to achieve balance and just feel better overall. In a nutshell, my objective is to be 60% rawfoodist and 40% omnivore. But you know, sometimes foie gras can taste just as good as a hot dog.

I chose this recipe because it is a simple, elegant, fresh and raw appetizer that fits perfectly with warm summer evenings that each day are getting closer and closer. I called it a tartare, because we are in Montreal and that is how we like to call things when they are served raw.

Strawberry Radish Tartare for Two

§    2 tbsp red onion, diced

§  1⁄2 cup strawberries, diced

§  1⁄2 cup radishes, julienned

§  1⁄2 cup cucumber, diced

§  1⁄2 tbsp balsamic vinegar

§  1 tbsp grape seed oil (because it is a bit more neutral in flavour but olive oil is fine)

§  Sea salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

Begin by dicing the red onion, strawberries and cucumbers. You want to take the time to cut these ingredients into a small dice. To julienne the radishes, simply slice the radishes and slice again into a small matchstick. You can also dice the radish but I like playing with different types of cut. It adds a sense of whimsy to the dish. Combine the diced strawberries and vegetables in a mixing bowl with the sea salt, the balsamic vinegar, the oil and some freshly ground pepper to taste. You can prep the ingredients ahead of time but wait until no more than 30 minutes prior to serving to combine the salt, pepper, balsamic and oil. If the mixture macerates for too long, the salt and vinegar will extract too much water from the strawberries and the vegetables.

Now, moving on to plating! You do not need any special tools to achieve the shape you see in the picture. Just rummage through your cupboards and look for a ramekin, cookie cutter, small cup, jar or dish that you can use to shape the tartare for serving. You can always just skip this step and using a spoon simply pile-up the tartare in the center of the plate. If using a mould, make sure you firmly pack the mixture and avoid spooning in too many juices. Unmould the tartare onto a plate, garnish with a mint leaves and stare at your creation like the pro that you are!

Pop-open a bottle of rosé wine and get ready to enjoy the long summer evenings ahead!

A toast goes out to Lynn from I’ll have what she’s having for inviting me to share a recipe of my own on her wonderful blog. Thank you!