recipe « (y)our food choices™

We’ve been fans of “Euro bread” for years. What we call Euro bread is basically a whole grain, seed and nut bread that resembles a brick and is usually found in health food stores. Typically, the bread is thinly sliced and toasts up nicely. We love it with peanut butter (or any nut butter), Nutella, cheeses, smoked salmon, or basically anything we can find in the fridge that we would normally eat on a cracker. One of our favorites is toasted Euro bread, with a smear of keffir cheese, slices of cucumber, pickled red onions, and a few grinds of pepper – crunchy, tart, cool, and tangy. Just thinking about it makes me hungry.

How to make the bread has always been a mystery to us. We assumed it would be super complicated and would require a laundry list of ingredients and special equipment. To our surprise we found the opposite to be true. Yahoo! had a story in their food section from My New Roots about “seed bread.” A google search produced several helpful recipes. The following recipe is easy. The most challenging ingredient to find is the psyllium husks (the stuff in Metamucil). No kneading the dough. No waiting for the dough to rise. All it takes to make the bread mixing the ingredients, waiting for everything to absorb the water, and baking. Once cool, simply slice, toast and enjoy.

To those who care, yes this is gluten-free, and yes this is paleo, and yes this is also vegan. But really, who cares! The only thing we care about is how delicious it tastes. Forget about all the labels and just whip up a batch. Nuts and seeds can vary, just remember to use the psyllium husks or the whole thing will wind up crumbling.

Euro Seed Bread

1 cup multigrain cereal
1/2 cup raw almonds
1/3 cup millet
1/3 cup pistachios
1/3 cup chia seeds
1/3 cup flax seeds
3 tablespoons psyllium husks
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons coconut oil
2 tablespoons honey
1 1/2 cups warm water

Add the multigrain cereal, almonds, millet, pistachios, chia seeds, flax seeds, psyllium husks, and salt to a food processor, pulse 4-5 times, pour into a bowl.

Combine coconut oil, honey, and warm water together. Add to nut and seed mixture then stir to combine. Line a small loaf pan with parchment; add the mixture to the pan and allow to sit for 2 hours or overnight. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes. Cool, slice, and enjoy.

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As the new year approached, we started searching for chicken porridge recipes. They were all similarly easy to put together, but they also all called for long grain white rice. We like white rice but we also wanted our version to be more healthy, so we substituted the white rice for brown basmati rice. The brown rice gave it more fiber and the basmati lent a nutty taste to the porridge. We also like mixing grains whenever we get the opportunity. Our morning oatmeal will sometimes have polenta, quinoa, or whatever small amount of grain or seed we have on hand. So with the basmati rice we included steel cut oats, a traditional morning staple and just regular wheat.

This dish also cooks a lot longer then regular oatmeal or rice, about twice as long. The rice breaks down into a mush like consistency. The result is a savory morning, afternoon, or evening treat. The batch that we made was too much for just the two of us so we froze part of it. We now look forward to coming home after a morning run to find a thawed batch of the porridge sitting on the counter from the night before and all that is required is a quick reheating of the porridge, a couple poached eggs, and a few chops of the knife for the condiments to bring this yummy dish back to life.

Congee — Chicken Porridge
(Serves 6-8)

1 whole chicken (organic preferred)
1 small cinnamon stick
few whole allspice
small handful of whole peppercorns
1 star anise
1 inch knob of ginger (peeled and sliced into thick rounds)
3-4 carrots, scrubbed clean and cut into 2-inches
2-3 celery stocks, cut into 2-inches
1 large shallot, cut into large chunks
1 gallon of cold water, or more to cover the bird
1/8-1/4 cup soy sauce
2 cups brown basmati rice, or other long grain rice (not instant)
2 cups steel cut oats (not rolled oats), or other whole grain, or a combination
3-4 chopped green onions
small bunch chopped cilantro
Chinese donut, cut into pieces (optional)
soy sauce
sesame oil
Sriracha and other hot sauce condiments

Put the chicken, vegetables, and spices into a large stock pot and cover with cold water, about a gallon, and add the soy saucePut the stock pot on the stove and over medium heat cover the pot and allow the water to come to a boil. Once the water is boiling turn the heat down to low and simmer for about 1 hour. Turn the heat off and remove the chicken. It will probably be falling off the bones. Strain the stock and discard the vegetables and spices.
Return the stock to a clean pan and add the rice and steel cut oats. Over a medium heat bring the broth, rice, and oats (and grains) to a boil. Reduce the heat to a simmer and cook slowly stirring occasionally for about 2 – 2 1/2 hours. During the last half hour you’ll want to stir more frequently to avoid scorching the bottom. This can be done the night before, covered and finished the next morning.
In the meantime, when the chicken has rested and cooled, remove the skin and bones from the chicken and shred the meat with your hands. Careful to remove all cartilage and gristle. If you’re eating the congee right away, add half to all of the chicken— depending on the size of the bird and the amount of meat. If you’re cooking the congee the night before, refrigerate the shredded chicken and add to the congee the next morning.
Serve in warmed bowls with chopped green onions, cilantro, Chinese donuts, soy sauce, rice vinegar, sesame oil, and Sriracha or other hot sauce.

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