Participants:
Series Code: DDCC
Program Code: DDCC000016A
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00:19 Bonjour, Benvenuto!
00:22 And welcome to Creative Cooking. 00:24 My name is Nicole Braxton 00:26 and I will be your tour guide 00:27 as we travel the world one bite at a time. 00:31 Today's theme will be live, love, and left. 00:35 For the different recipes that we'll be making, 00:38 we will have a pesto, 00:40 a Jamaican Me Crazy fusion pasta, and polenta pizza. 00:45 Now for our pesto, some of the ingredients include... 01:01 So to get us started, 01:03 we're going to take some fresh basil leaves, 01:06 and we're going to put it into a food processor. 01:11 Okay. 01:14 So we'll put some basil. 01:16 Actually, we'll also put some garlic... 01:23 some nutritional yeast flakes. 01:29 And now you will take your walnuts 01:32 and you'll add this to the processor as well. 01:36 Okay? 01:37 Now you'll give this a blend. 01:46 Okay. 01:49 Now after that has had some time, 01:51 you can also pulse it if you like. 01:57 Let's just ensures that everything mixes well. 02:02 Next, you can put in basil leaves. 02:09 Okay. 02:15 And basil is part of the mint family, 02:18 so it's really nice if you're cooking dishes 02:20 to add it later in your dish, 02:23 so it doesn't lose all of its flavor, 02:26 and is able to effectively accent the meals that you make. 02:29 So now we're going to put this in the processor. 02:35 You can pulse it too. 02:37 All right, last but not least, 02:40 we're going to take some olive oil 02:42 and we'll pour it in. 02:55 Okay. 02:57 And for me, it says salt to taste on the recipe. 03:00 I do like to add a little bit of salt 03:02 to make sure it just accents the flavors but not too much. 03:07 So I'll add up like a pinch or two of the salt, 03:11 maybe one more pinch, and then I will blend it again. 03:23 Now depending on the type of consistency and texture 03:26 you like of your pesto, 03:28 you can add more or less water, 03:30 or olive oil, and you can blend it more or less. 03:32 For me, I like a little bit chunky 03:34 'cause we're going to add it to one of my favorite dishes, 03:37 Jamaican Me Crazy fusion pasta. 03:40 So we're gonna take this out, 03:43 and we have our pesto. 03:48 We can put this in the container, 03:49 it's very quick and simple, really enjoy this. 03:55 When you smell it, the aroma of basil is amazing. 03:58 It's full of flavor. It's light. 04:01 And what I like about pesto, 04:03 you can put this on top of toasted bread, 04:06 you could put it on a baguette. 04:08 You can do so many things with this. 04:10 And so, this recipe can be a good addition 04:14 to the next dish that you create. 04:18 All right, so this is what it looks like when you're done. 04:21 We have all the colors coming out. 04:24 It's really ripe and green. 04:27 You can see the basil, some garlic, walnuts, 04:31 it's really great dish to put in different recipes. 04:36 All right, so that is our pesto. 04:40 Now we're gonna get started 04:41 on the Jamaican Me Crazy fusion pasta. 04:44 This recipe includes... 05:18 So let's get started on this delicious fusion pasta. 05:23 So to start us off, we have some diced onions, 05:27 and we also have some red bell peppers. 05:31 Now you can use olive oil as a base, 05:34 but in previous episodes, 05:35 you've heard me to allude to the fact 05:37 that you can also cook with water. 05:38 So I'd like to show you how that's done. 05:41 So we'll heat our skillet. 05:43 You can also use the olive oil, 05:44 but just in case if you're curious 05:46 how do you even cook with water. 05:48 Let us experience this together. 05:50 So I'm gonna take some water, put it at the base. 05:53 It's healthier to cook with water 05:55 because it's natural, it doesn't add anything. 05:59 You don't have to worry about calories 06:00 and different things like that. 06:02 So we're gonna take the chopped onions. 06:04 We'll let it heat up a little bit, 06:05 then you put the chopped onions in there. 06:09 We'll also take some garlic cloves, 06:11 chop that up really quickly. 06:23 Garlic is also a great thing 06:25 that you can make different health drinks out of. 06:30 For example, you can combine it with lemon, oranges, 06:36 and mix it all together in a blender, 06:38 you can add some water in there, 06:40 and it's a great immune builder drink. 06:43 You can also add ginger 06:45 to make it a little bit more fresh and potent. 06:47 Ultimately, all those ingredients help 06:49 to build your immune system. 06:54 And as we discussed in the previous episode, 06:57 it's important to treat the cause first 07:00 before you have to deal with the effect. 07:02 So by being preventative, 07:04 incorporating these healthy products 07:06 within your food, in your diet, 07:08 you'll be able to go to the cause 07:11 before there is an effect. 07:13 And also manage the cause if it's already there. 07:17 So now we're sauteing our onions. 07:18 We have some garlic in there. 07:20 Next, we are going to put some red bell peppers. 07:23 They're beautiful, super rich in color, 07:27 so we're gonna add that. 07:30 Okay. 07:34 Let these all saute. 07:36 And as you can see when you cook with water, 07:39 it still has the same effect, 07:41 in the sense that everything is sauteing just fine. 07:46 Okay. 07:49 Now we will add some seasonings, 07:54 but before then we can add broccoli. 07:59 And you might want to dice it up, 08:01 add as much broccoli as you'd like. 08:05 You can dice it up a little bit. 08:10 And broccoli is a great cruciferous vegetable 08:13 to add to your stir fries or your pastas. 08:17 It has some elements and protein inside of it, 08:20 so it's great to add to your dishes. 08:28 So I'm just chopping this. 08:29 And this all came about one day, 08:32 I had some events going, 08:35 but I had to cook dinner, and I decided, all right. 08:39 I love Italian food and along with Italian food, 08:44 I really love Asian food, so I made this fusion dish. 08:48 I combined both of my loves in one meal, 08:51 so that's why we call it the Jamaican Me Crazy pasta 08:54 'cause around the same time, 08:56 I also went to a Jamaican restaurant 08:58 and I realize they use similar flavors as I. 09:00 So I realized with the different coconut base 09:04 'cause we're gonna use some coconut milk, 09:06 that's where the Jamaican part comes from. 09:08 It's more of an island taste with the coconut milk, 09:12 but it's a huge fusion pasta. 09:15 So we're gonna put that in. 09:17 You can add a little bit more water or oil if you'd like 09:19 when you're adding the different veggies in. 09:22 Can you hear the sizzling? 09:25 Wow! And that smells great. 09:28 Okay, so now I'm going to add my mushrooms. 09:30 We have some portobello diced mushrooms. 09:33 We'll put that in there. 09:36 All right. 09:40 So if you take a look at the skillet, 09:41 you can see all the different colors. 09:44 They're just beginning to saute. 09:46 But it's a very healthy dish and you can sense that, 09:50 all plant-based and fresh, combining the ingredients. 09:57 Okay. 09:59 And next we're gonna put some chicken style seasoning. 10:04 I will pour some over it initially 10:07 just to season the vegetables. 10:13 Okay. 10:16 Now, we'll just toss this together, 10:19 careful not to lose some. 10:22 We'll just toss this together. 10:24 And now, what you can do... 10:30 This is the vegetable portion of the recipe, 10:33 and also you'll boil your noodles 10:35 so you can put it into your dish. 10:38 Now, one of the things 10:40 that I want to tell you is that you're in for a treat 10:43 because as we're talking, 10:45 currently I'm making our last dish for this episode, 10:49 so I'm really excited. 10:50 I don't even want to tell you, actually I did tell you. 10:53 So I'm excited for you to see it. 10:55 It is a delicious dish that has a unique base 11:00 and it's actually cooking as we speak. 11:02 So stay tuned 'cause you'll see what that dish is 11:06 and what it looks like. 11:07 All right, so I'm sauteing my vegetables, okay. 11:13 Very nice. 11:14 And now what I want to do, 11:16 I can put a little pesto in there as well. 11:25 Now, the pesto is great 11:26 because along with the different seasonings 11:30 that we're going to put in, 11:32 this just adds a whole another element of flavor. 11:35 It is just powerful, it's pungent. 11:39 Hold on. 11:41 Wow! That's amazing. 11:43 So fresh and delicious. 11:45 And just imagine the combination. 11:48 This is really good. 11:49 Okay, so now we're going to... 11:51 We have some pesto 11:53 and I just put a little to coat the vegetables 11:55 before I add our noodles in. 12:00 Okay, so now I'm gonna put our noodles. 12:02 I use whole wheat. 12:05 And when it comes to different things, for example, 12:08 like diabetes and other health concerns, 12:12 it's better to use if you're going to use pasta or rice, 12:16 it's better to use something that is more whole wheat 12:20 from a whole wheat product. 12:21 So for example, when you go to the store, 12:24 you may see whole wheat bread and say, 12:25 "Okay, cool, it's brown, it's healthy. 12:28 Let's get it." 12:30 But the key thing 12:31 to pay attention is the ingredient list. 12:34 When it says whole wheat, 12:36 it doesn't actually mean that it has all the nutrients 12:38 as a typical whole wheat dish would. 12:41 So you want to look for the label, 12:44 it just needs to say "Made from whole wheat flour." 12:48 Not enriched whole wheat, whole wheat flour, 12:51 that's very, very important 12:53 because essentially what enrich means 12:55 is they take all the nutrients from the pasta or the bread, 13:01 and then they put it back in. 13:02 But when they put it back in, 13:04 they've already lost so many vital nutrients that you need. 13:08 So pay attention to your labels and look for whole wheat flour. 13:11 That's important. 13:13 It should be the first ingredient. 13:14 But when you start seeing enriched, 13:16 you might as well just get some white bread, 13:17 just letting you know 13:19 because it doesn't have the same nutrients 13:20 as the whole wheat flour. 13:22 So now we're just stirring up our pasta. 13:27 Gonna turn the heat down a little bit, okay. 13:34 Now, I'm going to add 13:36 some chicken style seasoning. 13:41 Sorry, this one. 13:42 And I'm going to add some nutritional yeast flakes. 13:47 Nutritional yeast flakes are really great. 13:49 They're full of nutrients. 13:52 They have the B12 that helps with memory loss, 13:56 and they also have essential amino acids. 14:00 It's the only one you may have tuned in earlier 14:03 but it is the only, it's one of the top things 14:07 that have all the essential amino acids 14:09 that you need to make a protein. 14:11 So this is a great thing 14:12 to start incorporating within your meals. 14:15 Nutritional yeast flakes. 14:17 And it has a cheesy taste, 14:20 so I like to add that to my pasta dishes. 14:23 Next, I'm going to add some coconut milk. 14:27 So I'll just pour that in there like so. 14:34 And you could have the pesto pasta without the coconut milk, 14:38 but you won't have the Jamaican Me Crazy fusion pasta 14:41 but it's also delicious as well. 14:44 So I put the coconut cream and coconut milk inside, 14:47 now I'm just stirring it. 14:49 I'm allowing all of the different flavors 14:52 to marinate and become one 14:55 so we're just gonna let that simmer little bit 14:57 on the low heat. 14:58 And then I will also put some more nutritional yeast flakes. 15:03 So we season the vegetables initially, 15:07 and now we also want to make sure 15:09 as the pasta is added that we season that as well. 15:13 It takes up a lot of flavor, 15:14 so I just want to make sure we're portioning out 15:19 our different spices and seasonings 15:22 for both the vegetables and the pasta. 15:26 All right, so now I'm going to put some garlic powder. 15:31 Okay. 15:34 And next, I'm going to put some Italian seasoning. 15:37 I'm gonna sprinkle this all over it. 15:40 Okay. 15:42 This is why it's called a fusion 15:43 'cause we have some Italian influence, 15:46 some Jamaican influence, 15:49 all mixed together which is my favorite. 15:52 And we're gonna put some salt to taste. 15:57 All right. 16:03 And last but not least, we're gonna let that stir. 16:06 Wow! That smells amazing. 16:10 Okay, I'm gonna put a little bit 16:12 more chicken style seasoning in. 16:15 And remember, as you cook, 16:17 make sure it meets your needs 16:19 and rectify it to your taste buds. 16:22 So this is a great baseline 16:23 and I want to challenge you to cook at home 16:26 because we can do this together, all right. 16:32 So we'll take a look at the pasta. 16:35 There we go. 16:39 Okay, so to finish it off, 16:44 I will put... 16:46 I'll squeeze some lemon juice inside of the pasta. 16:51 So there we go. 16:53 This really accents it and adds that unique taste. 16:59 That makes me crazy 17:01 when I try my Jamaican Me Crazy fusion pasta, all right. 17:07 So it's done. 17:10 Take a look at it. This is our finished product. 17:15 Okay, all right, so for the next recipe, 17:19 like I said, it's been baking as we have been talking, 17:22 we have our delicious polenta pizza. 17:25 The ingredients include... 17:57 To start off our amazing polenta pizza, 18:00 I'm going to put in about three cups of water. 18:03 So right now it is boiling and just let it boil at home. 18:07 The next thing I'll put in is some chicken style seasoning 18:10 to give it a nice broth. 18:12 So I'll pour this in. 18:17 Okay. 18:19 And stir it a little bit. 18:24 Okay. 18:25 Now as it boils, 18:26 I'm going to put in some polenta or cornmeal. 18:29 So I will let it boil and as it is boiling... 18:37 I will slowly pour this in. 18:38 And what I really like about this recipe, it's unique. 18:41 When it comes to pizza, 18:43 and let's say if someone's gluten free, 18:45 there's lots of different crusts that you make, 18:47 but what I like about the fact that it's made out of cornmeal, 18:50 it just reminds me of it being more plant-based 18:53 or more whole grain oriented, and it's less processed, 18:57 as well as something unique and fun. 18:59 This is Creative Cooking after all. 19:01 So we're gonna take this cornmeal 19:04 and we're gonna pour this in. 19:05 And as you pour, 19:06 you want to make sure that you slowly whisk it in. 19:12 There you go. 19:18 And you want to make sure 19:20 it gets the consistency that you're looking for. 19:26 I'm just gonna let that keep boiling a little bit, 19:28 and I saved a little mixture as it's boiling. 19:31 The other thing that I like to do 19:32 because the polenta is essentially the base of it, 19:37 it's important to make sure it's seasoned well. 19:39 When you're making your pizza at home, 19:41 you can determine exactly how thick 19:43 or how thin you would like your crust. 19:45 For me, I found they're like a little bit thin, 19:47 so with the recipe it also varies 19:49 on how big your cast iron skillet is. 19:52 So gauge it to fit you the needs 19:56 of your cast iron skillet 19:58 and also what type of texture and pizza you like. 20:00 Do you like it really thin? Do you like it thick? 20:02 That will determine how much you'll use of the polenta. 20:07 So it's starting to thicken. 20:11 I'm gonna keep whisking some in. 20:16 This is awesome to watch. 20:18 You just watch it get thick as you're stirring. 20:23 And by slowly stirring, 20:24 it allows you to make sure 20:26 all of it is effectively getting dissolved. 20:30 So I'll put some cornmeal in there. 20:34 And now we can add some vegan butter if you'd like. 20:38 If not, you could replace it with broth. 20:41 So put that in there. 20:47 Okay. 20:52 So now it's important to continuously whisk 20:54 so it doesn't get too thick 20:57 before you get all of the cornmeal in there. 21:00 So I'm whisking away. 21:03 And now all the cornmeal is in there. 21:06 Also to give a little bit of flavor, 21:09 and also to make the crust a little bit more moist, 21:12 I also put some canned corn in there as well. 21:17 So I'll just pour that in. 21:21 And it gives it a really nice consistency and texture. 21:25 So I whisk that in. 21:29 Next, I'm going to add 21:33 a little bit of chicken style seasoning inside of it 21:38 so that it can have flavor. 21:40 If you do a thick crust for your pizza, 21:43 you're going to want to put 21:44 maybe a little additional nutritional yeast flakes 21:48 if you'd like or chicken style seasoning, 21:50 like I'm doing right now. 21:52 Just keep stirring that in. 21:57 Okay, perfect. 21:59 Also, you can put other seasonings in there, 22:03 like garlic. 22:08 It's all up to you if you like to add more flavor. 22:10 And I'm gonna put a little bit of salt to taste. 22:13 So Himalayan salt is great, any salt you have at home. 22:18 I like Himalayan salt because it's less processed. 22:20 It's more to its natural state. 22:23 I'll put that in there. 22:25 Okay. 22:27 Keep stirring. 22:28 You'll definitely get a great workout doing this. 22:31 If you didn't do your workout, 22:32 all you need to do is whisk some polenta together. 22:35 All right, so we have the crust going. 22:41 So now as it continues to thicken, 22:42 you want to allow it to keep boiling 22:44 so it gets really thick. 22:48 And as that's doing that, let's jump over 22:51 to the next ingredients of our recipe. 22:54 We are going to add some rosemary, 22:58 some vegan cheese. 23:00 Well, you can choose one that you like. 23:02 I like having sliced cheese, little bit of Chao. 23:06 Make sure to continuously go back and forth and whisk, 23:10 so it doesn't get too thick or stick to the pan. 23:14 All right, so for our cheese, I have four slices. 23:20 I really like Chao as you'll see on the recipe 23:23 because it melts better. 23:25 So I will take the cheese like this and just cut it, 23:32 so we can place it on our pizza. 23:36 Wow! 23:39 That smells amazing, amazing, amazing, amazing. 23:42 Okay. 23:43 So I'm getting excited and a little bit hungry, 23:46 but I've got to make sure that I share this with you. 23:48 Now I'm gonna cut this also in half. 23:51 So we have little slices like this 23:53 if you see all the different slices. 23:57 So nice consistency, and it's cut well, 24:01 so we can place it on our pizza. 24:04 I'm gonna check on my polenta, it's getting thick. 24:09 Okay. 24:11 Now the next thing we're going to add 24:13 some diced onions as you see right here. 24:17 We also have rosemary. 24:19 So this is one of my favorite, 24:21 favorite, favorite, favorite herbs. 24:23 It's amazing to put on pizza. 24:26 I would love if I could call different pizza places 24:28 and ask them to incorporate this in their regimen, 24:32 but rosemary is one of my favorite herbs. 24:35 And as we talked before, 24:36 herb is the leafy green part of the plant. 24:39 So I'm gonna take some rosemary. 24:41 And the cool trick that you can do 24:43 is you take a rosemary sprig, 24:44 this is all the recipe calls for is one rosemary sprig, 24:47 you can take it like this and just slide it down 24:50 and then you have your rosemary in your hand. 24:53 So we're doing like that. 24:55 Okay. 24:57 And now I'm just doing the rocking motion. 25:01 I'm taking my rosemary, 25:03 checking on my polenta simultaneously. 25:07 I have a rosemary going. 25:13 Okay. There we go. 25:16 So the polenta, that's our rosemary, 25:19 we'll put it to the side, 25:21 and we'll also top it with some fresh basil. 25:24 I've chopped it up for you. 25:26 And we'll put that on the pizza. 25:28 And then also, I love to add tomatoes to it as well. 25:34 It's really nice to have it from the vine. 25:36 I like the different... 25:38 I like the concept that it just seems so fresh 25:42 and it's nearest to its actual state, 25:43 they'll sit there, okay. 25:45 There we go. 25:46 So we're gonna cut four slices of tomato. 25:50 You can use a serrated knife 25:51 or you can just chop with a regular knife. 25:56 Okay. 26:03 I like my slices a little chunkier than normal. 26:06 So we have four slices of tomato. 26:10 So now we've got the makings of a great pizza. 26:14 The other things that we'll use on our pizza, 26:16 we'll use some Italian seasoning. 26:19 And so, our crust is done, 26:22 it's been cooked 26:23 and it's formed a nice consistency. 26:27 So now I'm gonna put it into our cast iron, 26:31 if you could see that right there. 26:33 The water is dissolved, 26:35 and now it has a good consistency. 26:39 Now I'm gonna put it into our cast iron skillet. 26:43 Pour this in. 26:46 Okay. 26:51 And what you do is you allow it to get the shape, 26:56 mold into the shape of the cast iron skillet. 27:01 Okay. 27:02 And if you want less, you can use less polenta. 27:06 So now you let this cook 27:08 for about five to six minutes on the side 27:11 and then you'll put it in the oven, 27:13 and then you'll top it with your ingredients. 27:15 And as we're waiting, 27:16 you can top it with your pizza sauce, 27:19 you can put your onions, top it with your tomatoes, 27:24 rosemary and cheese. 27:25 And because I knew this would take a little while, 27:29 I also prepared one just for you. 27:31 So we're gonna take it out of the oven. 27:33 Here is the finished product. 27:36 So here we're gonna pull out our finished pizza. 27:41 If you take a look at it, it's beautiful. 27:45 All the different colors, you have the tomato, 27:47 the cheese, and the different herbs. 27:50 So this is our finalized product. 27:53 We've cooked a lot today, and it's been a pleasure. 27:56 From my kitchen to yours, 27:58 I want to thank you for joining us 28:00 with this Creative Cooking program. 28:02 And make sure to eat better 28:04 'cause if you eat better, you'll live better. |
Revised 2018-04-23