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Raw Tortilla Soup Recipe
May 10, 2004 | by Heidi | Filed under
Raw
Wayne's birthday was last week, and I decided to make a reservation at Roxanne's -- a fancy, raw food restaurant in Larkspur (just north of the Golden Gate Bridge). For those of you in the dark, an unbelievable amount of national-level press over the past months has been focusing on Roxanne, the restaurant, and/or the book about raw cuisine she wrote with Charlie Trotter. The restaurant also came highly recommended by a couple of our picky, highly critical friends who don't easily drop $50+ per person on a meal.
The food at Roxanne's is vegan, organic, all natural, and raw (food is never heated above 118 degrees). The idea is that the nutrients in food particularly energy-giving, age-deterring enzymes break down in heat above 118. The atmosphere inside the building is upscale, refined, but not fussy--there is a lot of wood around to keep you feeling cozy -- apparently all the wood that went into the construction was recycled or sustainable harvested. The walls were painted with chemical/toxin-free lime based natural pigment paint. All the fabric inside the restaurant is either organic hemp, or organic unbleached cotton. This list goes on and on from the solar panels on the roof to the menus and stationary made of tree-free paper.
Overall the decor wasn't exactly my flavor -- we agreed that the building on the main strip in Larkspur with its low ceilings was probably a children's photographer or maternity wear store in the 80s. Wayne summed it up best when he added the decor was like somebody's new age mom. I would add, a tasteful new-age mom (no crystals or lavender-tinted angels), but definitely new-agey. You get a much stronger sense of this when you dine in the back room with its billowy (dark purple?) hemp curtains which is where we were stuck.
Roxanne's has a big room with, I don't know, twenty or so tables spread out across it. There is also a back room which is small and set off to the side. This room had four tables. We sat in this smaller side room between a large banquet table (8 to 10), and and even louder 4-top. Why you would cram a table for two next to a banquet table in a restaurant you clearly know people go for a nice intimate dinner, is beyond me. Disappointing, but maybe a fluke. Fortunately we had a really great waitress who told us all about what ingredients and techniques were used in our food, so that almost made up for it.
Onto the meal: We decided to each get 2 starters and and entree ($44). You could also opt for 3 starters and an entree ($52), or go for the $75 tasting menu. We also decided that we would both get different things, no overlap.
I ordered:
Polenta with White Truffle Oil (starter)
Fennel Soup with Bee Pollen (starter)
Tamale with Queso Amarillo, Corn, Chipotle Vinaigrette, Sour cream and Mole
Sauce (Entree)
Wayne chose:
Zucchini Cannelloni with Wild Mushrooms, Truffle Cream and Aged
Balsamic (starter)
Sea Vegetable Salad with Kaisou, Wakame, Arame and Hijiki (starter)
Five Spice Chow Fun with Bbq Portabella, Coconut Noodles,
Stir-fried Vegetables, Snow Pea Tips and Cashews (entree)
Wayne also got a pre-dinner "tropical" drink that was strawberries, almond milk,
coconut and coconut for 7$, served in a martini glass. I tried it and thought the flavors were very nice but that it was like a melted smoothie. I had a really nice Belgian Ale called Delirium Tremens.
My polenta was rich and flavorful, and nutty. If the recipe for this polenta had been in the 'Raw' cookbook, I actually would have purchased it. My fennel soup was good as well. The home run was the little tamales -- it seemed to have some sort of squash/nut cheese filling, the guacamole was fresh, bright, and just how I like it - simple, and the mole was complex and spicy, and added just the right punctuation to the creamy fillings. I loved it. Knowing what I now know about raw food preparation, Im sure that my tamales took days to prepare from scratch. Dessert was a German Chocolate Ice Cream Cake ($9), and it was unremarkable. I thought the chocolate flavor was strong and good, but the consistency of the cake was just a bit off, particularly the 'cake' part....which sort of reminded me of thick uncooked carob cookie dough.
I would certainly go back to Roxanne's (maybe once or twice a year). I made some good choices off the menu, and ended up having an outstanding meal. It was also exciting to see all sorts of innovative culinary techniques in action at a high level. The next logical step was for me to try and whip up some raw food delicacies at home.
I knew this was going to be a challenge. I bought Juliano's raw cookbook four or five years ago, and although I've flipped through it dozens or times, and am enthusiastic and receptive to the concept of cooking raw -- I've never cooked a damn thing from it. Part of the reason is that many raw food recipes have and exhaustive list of ingredients, take a few days worth of prep time (soaking nuts, dehydrating vegetables, etc), and require multiple processes (dehydrating, blending, juicing, etc). Also, as you will see, assembling the ingredient lists for raw recipes is no cake walk either. It really is a lifestyle, and I'm sure that after you assemble all the different raw-friendly appliances, and source out all the food stores with raw-friendly essential ingredients, your pantry will grow, and cooking on the fly might actually become possible. For someone like me, the barrier to entry is challenging.
On to the recipe at hand....I decided I wasn't going to purchase the Trotter/Klein Raw Cookbook. I don't own any of the Trotter books -- his food looks stunning and masterful, but it is just too fussy and formal for my personal tastes. I like having this sort of food cooked for me on occasion, but its not the kind of cuisine I am after in my own kitchen. I don't even own a formal dining table or a full set of china. I wanted to try one of their recipes though, without actually having to invest in the book itself, and so I found this Tortilla Soup recipe online, I will probably try the Pad Thai at some point as well.
This recipe has 30+ ingredients, let me list a couple for you; date paste, tomato water, smoked salt, coconut meat, raw apple cider vinegar. I even looked for the suggested wine pairing, Kunin "Alisos Vineyards" Syrah 2001, Santa Barbara, to no avail.
Once I got as many of the ingredients as possible, I made the Mexican Red Chili Sauce, and the Sour Cream -- then I tackled the soup itself. The recipe was confusing and complex in the way it was written, so I just did the best I could. Some highlights: Wayne cracking the coconut with a hammer and screwdriver, tortilla soup all over the kitchen because I had to use a food processor instead of a blender (broken), and my food processor leaks quite a bit. I never did find date paste, so I just skipped that ingredient. The recipe also suggests garnishing with tortilla chips, but of course most tortilla chips are baked, right? Anyways this recipe was adapted for the website, so I'll cut it some slack.
One thing I will say about all of the raw dishes I've tried is that the flavors are strong and bright. I am sure that this is in part because of the fresh high-quality ingredients uses, the raw method, and a generous hand with the herbs and spices. Whatever it is, the way flavors come through in all the raw recipes I've now tried is unlike anything else I've tasted. The tortilla soup was very good, a little on the spicy side even for me (add the chili sauce in increments next time). Was it worth the hours and hours of grocery store scavenger hunt? And prep times long enough to rival all others? I'm not sure. I think that is part of where Roxanne's comes in as a restaurant -- if you aren't and everyday raw foodie, head to her restaurant on special occasion and have her do it up right for you.
mainimage=rawtortillasoup.jpg
In some of the early entries on this site I didn't request permission to run the recipe I was writing about from the publisher so it won't appear here. The majority of entries on 101 Cookbooks will have the recipes attached, this just happens to be one of the ones that doesn't.
From: Roxanne Klein of Roxanne's
Her Book: Raw The recipe: Tortilla Soup recipe on StarChefs
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Your Comments
wayne said:Since Heidi gave such a glowing review to Roxanne's, I think it should be balanced with mine, which isn't quite as positive. Keep in mind, as Heidi mentioned, we decided to pick non-overlapping items on the menu to try as much as possible. I think this is where I ran into problems, since I probably would have picked the tamale entree.
Regarding the tropical drink: It was strawberries, almond milk, coconut (and maybe 1 or two other things that I couldn't taste) served in a martini glass and was 'ok' at best. After Heidi remarked that the drink tasted like a smoothie left out in the car I asked myself, "Is this as good as a Jamba Juice?" Answer: no. They really should put some "raw" vodka in it, making a Jamba comparison impossible.
My cannelloni had the zucchini thinly sliced as the pasta with their nut cheese was pretty good. I've had Some of the Japanese sea vegetables before - it was good but not really that exciting. One had a wasabi sauce on it, not really the most inventive flavor on an Japanese dish.
My entree: Five Spice Chow Fun with BBQ Portabella, Coconut Noodles, Stir-fried vegetables, Snow Pea Tips and Cashews was very disappointing. Since it was raw nothing is really stir fried, but I picked it because it has their 'coconut noodles' which they are somewhat known for thanks to the Pad Thai recipe which can be found online.
In reality it was an Asian slaw more than a stir fry. I don't think there was any cabbage, but the coconut noodles didn't seem much more than strips of coconut meat. Shredded carrot and sprouts added to its slaw-like quality.
There was a small piece of portabella on the side - which was good with a spicy BBQ sauce, but didn't have any flavor connection the slaw. They should double up the amount of portabella and call it BBQ Mushroom -with- Chow Slaw.
Desert was also mediocre. We ordered a German chocolate ice cream cake. In hindsight I should have lobbied for the lemon cheesecake (it was my birthday after all), which I assume employs their rich nut cheese, but I think Heidi likes chocolate more than lemon. I guess the ice cream is made with a nut milk or soy milk and it was fine. Like Heidi said, the cake was sort of like chocolate cookie dough, but not in a good-buttery way, but like the middle of an improperly cooked cake.
I have been a vegetarian now for more than half of my life and approach this raw cuisine with an extremely positive attitude. Heidi was far more impressed than I was that this food was all vegan and raw and used 500 ingredients and complex techniques. Eating their nine dollar slice of cake I couldn't help think it was not much better than Carvel cakes I had as a kid, but without a fun whale shape.
So at the end of a meal, when the entree and desert were medicore I left with a negative feeling. And the expensive mediocre smoothie added a third strike. I shouldn't feel mediocre to negative about three things I ordered. And there was the noisy room issue that Heidi mentioned. I'd like to go back to give it another chance, but it would be difficult to spend the money when there are so many other great places in the bay area to try.
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