Friday Night Dinner Blog

Friday Night Dinner at Café Maitreya in Bristol

Avocado Ravioli

Sweet potato and rhubarb gratinée

And for Dessert: coconut ice cream

The Story: 

You know you’ve changed when a great dinner involves kelp noodles.

You know you’ve changed when you wrack your brains to try to remember where you put that damn neti pot.

You know you’ve changed when chocolate no longer means the same thing to you as it does to everyone else.

You know you’ve changed when you get excited about an article discussing the merits of a gluten-free diet.

You know you’ve changed when vegetarian (or even vegan) are no longer synonymous for health. 

We spent the weekend in Bristol, which, for me, meant a weekend of not cooking.  That’s rare these days and though there’s pretty much nothing I love more, familiarity does breed contempt and so I welcomed my brother and sister-in-law’s generous offer to take us out for dinner. 

They took us to a vegetarian restaurant in Bristol with many appetizing vegan and gluten-free options for which I was very grateful.  The menu was well-thought-out, the dishes fresh and creative, the staff informative and very very friendly.  It was a great dinner.  Though it wasn’t an unhealthy meal, I can’t say is that it was healthy either.

People assume that because there are vegetables involved, a meal is healthy.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  In fact, it is often in vegetarian restaurants that I find the least healthy fare.  What are they trying to make up for? 

Many of the online reviews of Café Maitreya are by omnivores who love the place.  It doesn’t surprise me.  And that is exactly what I’m talking about: when a restaurant serves vegetarian or vegan fare, they seem to feel that they have the choice between catering only to that population or trying to cater to as broad an audience as possible.  Of course restaurants need to make money so it’s natural that they would try to widen their berth as much as possible.

That is where our personal choices come in. 

I really enjoyed my food on Friday Night.  But I enjoyed it for what it was.  I didn’t leave feeling virtuous because I had had a vegan meal, but rather I left satisfied, full and grateful for the delicious, rich, food. 

I know I’ve changed over the years because the first time I met the man who is now my husband, we spent most of the night wandering the streets of Manhattan.  At about 3 a.m., we decided we needed a snack so we headed to a 24-hour place in the East Village where DW ordered a tuna melt. At the time, I was impressed by how health-conscious he was.  My parameters have definitely shifted.

My “healthy” may not be your “healthy” – but it’s important to keep in mind that there are a lot of steps between the Chips Ahoy and said kelp noodles; and each one of us has a place where we feel comfortable, which is where we should be at this point in time.  What I try to focus on with my clients is eating fresh food, food that contains as few ingredients as possible, food that they don’t need a dictionary to decipher.  That, in and of itself, is a big step for most people and helps many feel better, gain energy and vitality as well as improve their moods, their sleep patterns, their lives.  The rest, as they say, is gravy. 

The Recipe:

Kelp noodle salad with tahini-miso dressing:

So here’s proof of how far I’ve come from the food of my youth which, as I mentioned in this week’s newsletter, consisted of lunches of fish sticks and canned peas with mayonnaise or some kind of tartar-flavoured sauce.

Ingredients:

Kelp noodles (in the UK, I buy them here; in the US, I buy them here)

1 T tahini (preferably whole kernel tahini, not hulled)

1 T miso (preferably unpasteurised so all the good bacteria are preserved)

juice of 1/2 lemon or more to taste

small piece of fresh ginger (optional)

8 chard leaves chopped into bite-sized slivers

Instructions:

Remove the kelp noodles from the package and rinse well in a fine-meshed sieve.

Blend the tahini, miso, ginger and lemon.  Adjust quantities and add water if need be – what you’re looking for is a thick yet creamy consistency that is not quite a dip, but not a flimsy dressing.

In a mixing bowl, combine the kelp noodles, chard leaves and the dressing.  Mix well.

I ate this lovely, light meal sprinkled with nutritional yeast and my very first batch of homemade kim chi. 

Nutrition:

Kelp noodles. One of the new darlings of the vegan, raw-food world, kelp noodles are interesting and mysterious.  As I researched them, I found it impossible to get clear, straight answers about them, however.  My friend Meghan Telpner rightfully pointed out in her blog post about them that it is unclear whether kelp noodles are, in fact, a healthy (read: nutrition-dense) food.  Kelp, however, is.  Kelp, a sea vegetable, is often recommended to people with hypothyroid issues on account of its high iodine content.  And like most sea vegetables, kelp is high in trace minerals – always a good thing.  But does kelp in the form of these wonderfully squishy noodles still contain all of those things?  I can’t say for sure.  Though I can say I do love them, and if there is still iodine to be found, my thyroid (in addition to my taste buds – have I mentioned that I love these crazy things?) will be eternally grateful.  Stay tuned.