In Conversation with Natasha MacAller - The Dancing Chef

FOR SPIRITED WOMEN WHO DANCE
TO A DIFFERENT TUNE

Rock my Age interview Natasha MacAller

From professional Ballerina, to chef and now author, The Dancing Chef - Natasha MacAller shares her journey spanning these three extraordinary careers - each an art form in its own right and requiring discipline, dedication and technique.

Now a restaurant consultant and author, Natasha’s most recent book Spice Health Heroes opens our eyes to the role spices play in our overall health and wellbeing.

The interview is also available on Podbean.

2018 New Year Gougeres

Delicious make ahead savoury profiterole appetizer to start your New Year”s celebration that pairs perfectly with a glass of bubbles or a Southern Hemisphere summertime beer! Speck is a traditional pork cut at the local butchers and similar to smoked bacon but generally is cured with spices such as bay leaf and juniper. Or use a bit of leftover Christmas ham or smoked chicken, or leave out all together and add a little touch of chilli paste instead!

Adapted from Vanilla Table @2013

Makes 2 dozen large

Ingredients

2 tbsp/30ml/1 fl oz vegetable oil
1 medium red onion, peeled and finely chopped
4 oz speck, bacon, or ham finely chopped
1 tsp fresh minced basil leaves or parsley, to taste
40 grams/1.5oz/5 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 ¼  teaspoons kosher salt
¼  teaspoon fresh ground white pepper
¼ tsp piementon or smoked paprika (optional)
¼  teaspoon ground mace or allspice
150grams/5 1/3 oz/1 cup bread flour
90g/ 3 oz/1 ¼ cup smoked cheddar cheese, finely grated
4 large eggs, room temperature
Egg wash for glazing, optional

Directions

In a small pan over medium heat add oil until hot. Add onion and cook until translucent. Add speck and cook until light brown. Stir in fresh herbs for a minute then remove from heat and drain mixture on paper towels. Set aside.

Preheat oven to 425°F. fan.

Add butter, salt, pepper and mace or allspice to 8 oz/225ml/1 cup water in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium high heat until butter melts. Turn heat to low and add the flour to pot all at once, stirring with a wooden spoon constantly until dough pulls away from sides of pot and flour is absorbed; about 1 minute. Turn off heat. Transfer dough to a stand mixer with paddle attachment and knead at medium low speed for 1 minute.  Sprinkle in the cheese and speck mixture-reserving a bit of each to top gougeres before baking. Turn up speed to meduim and add eggs, one at a time, scraping down sides between each addition until smooth and shiny and when paddle is held up the dough holds a “V” shape.

Drop batter by spoonfuls or pipe without a tip into 1 inch-sized rounds on parchment or non-stick lined baking sheets. Brush with egg wash if wished and sprkinkle tops with a little of the cheese and speck. Bake for 15-20 minutes, until doubled in size, golden brown and light in weight. Serve warm or at room temperature. May be reheated just before serving or cool, then freeze in an airtight container for 1 month.

Bread and Butter Persian Pickles

This tangy but slightly sweet pickle is delicious and is made with Persian (also known as Lebanese) cucumbers,which have a slightly thicker skin than hothouse ones, and few if any seeds.

Photo by Manja Wachsmuth, Spice Health Heroes

Makes 3 Medium-Sized Jars

Ingredients

900g (2lb.) Persian cucumbers, thinly sliced
450g (1lb.) white onions, thinly sliced into half moons
2 large (bell) peppers (red and yellow), seeded and cut into thin strips
2 tbsp sea salt
140g (5oz./1 cup unpacked) brown sugar
140g (5oz./¾ cup) granulated sugar
1 tbsp turmeric
2 tsp black peppercorns, toasted
1 tsp each yellow and black mustard seeds
1 tsp each celery, fennel and ajwain seeds, toasted
¼ tsp whole cloves
1 litre (4 ¼ cups) white vinegar

Directions

Layer the vegetables into a strainer and gently toss with the salt. Cover with a clean cloth and leave for 3 hours.Drain the vegetables, rinse thoroughly and drain again.

Put the sugars, spices and vinegar in a large stainless-steel or enamel pan (remember that turmeric stains!) and bring to the boil. Add the vegetables and return to the boil for 1 minute. Turn off the heat and spoon the vegetables into sterilized jars, then pour the liquid over all. Seal the jars, rinse under running water and cool on the work surface.

Store in a dark pantry and keep refrigerated once opened.

Country Onion Mushroom Soup

This is a quick and simple, thick, potage-style soup that I created as executive chef of Bridge Street restaurant in Bigfork, Montana, owned by the award-winning Chateau Montelena Winery in Napa, California. The restaurant was surrounded by a lovely herb and veggie garden, where I grew the horseradish used in this dish. When the time came to make it, the entire kitchen crew would back away as this fresh spice is odourless when uprooted, but once you break the skin, the smell is pungent! The volatile oil it contains is a powerful natural antibiotic but it can make you swoon and your eyes fill with tears!

Photo by Manja Wachsmuth, Spice Health Heroes

Serves 2-4

Ingredients

1 head garlic   
1 tbsp olive oil   
1 tbsp grapeseed oil   
250g (9oz.) mushrooms   
1/8 tsp (large pinch) nutmeg   
1 tbsp fresh thyme leaves   
125g (4 ½oz./ ½ cup) Turmeric Melted Onions (see below) 
garlic bread, to serve (optional)
50ml (scant ¼ cup) port
475ml (2 cups) vegetable stock
200g (7oz./1 cup) mashed potato
1–2 tsp lemon juice
2 tsp pure horseradish, fresh or from a jar, to taste
⅛ tsp freshly grated nutmeg, to garnish

Directions

Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F/gas mark 4). Cut the top off the garlic head to expose the cloves, then peel away just the outer layers of the garlic-bulb skin, leaving the skins of the individual cloves. Wrap loosely in foil and drizzle a tablespoon of oil over the garlic. Close the foil at the top, place on a baking tray and roast in the oven for about 30–35 minutes until soft and golden brown.

While the garlic is roasting, make the Turmeric Melted Onions (see below.)

Heat the grapeseed oil and sauté the mushrooms with the nutmeg and thyme leaves in a 2-litre (2-quart) pot until almost dry over medium heat, about 5 minutes.

Reduce the heat to low, add the Turmeric Melted Onions and half the roasted garlic (keep the other half for other use; it will keep for about 2 weeks refrigerated) and mix well. Add the port and reduce for 2 minutes or so. Add the stock and simmer for 3–5 minutes.

Stir in the mashed potato, lemon juice and horseradish and season to taste with salt and pepper.

Serve warmed in big bowls, topped with a sprinkle of freshly grated nutmeg, accompanied by your favourite garlic bread, if wished.

Turmeric Melted Onions

Ingredients

Makes 2 Cups

50g (1 ¾oz./½ stick) butter
60ml (¼ cup) grapeseed or vegetable oil
1 tsp ground turmeric
4 medium brown onions (450g/1 lb.), halved and thinly sliced
10 grinds black pepper (optional)

Directions

Heat the oil and melt the butter in a pan over medium–high heat, stir in the turmeric and cook for 1 minute. (Adding turmeric to the sizzling oil intensifies the flavour and nutrients; the pepper adds even more goodness.)

Add the onions and when they begin to let off steam, turn the heat down to medium–low and cook for 20–30 minutes, stirring occasionally, until translucent, melted and light-yellow-brown in colour.

Add the pepper and stir for a few minutes.

Remove from heat, cool, then cover and chill until needed.

Somoma Spice Super Seeded Wafers

A little something seeded for everyone, scented with my Somoma Spice blend from Spice Health Heroes. These crisp wafers are GF/DF/SF/NF/vegan, so simple to make, packed with flavor and just right for snacking. Mix it up with different seeds and spice blends to suit your super seed cravings.

In case you noticed, no that is not a typo. The title “Somoma” was implanted for all time during our 4-week summer camping holiday when I was 7. As our family of 5 leisurely rolled north up Pacific Coast Hwy from LA in our classic VW Van, we turned east at San Francisco to our final destination: the wine country of Napa, Calistoga and Sonoma.

I still remember gazing at the miles of perfectly aligned row-upon-row of grapevines in the Napa Valley, us kids singing silly songs and reenacting those now well-worn “I spy in my little eye…” car games.

However, the most vivid memory (and still gets me to this day) was hearing the gleeful raucous teasing of my younger siblings when they realized that I just could not say Sonoma.

With my newly discovered ballet perfectionist tendencies, it drove me absolutely nuts.

My siblings LOVED it.

All I could come out with was So-MO-Ma, So-MO-Ma!!!!!

It stuck..

So my Napa inspired Somoma Spice Mix it became.

(To this day, I take a microsecond to make sure I’m saying it right…SoNOma….SoNOma…)

Recipe:

115 grams/ ¾ cup sunflower seeds
115 grams/ ¾ cup pumpkin seeds
80 grams/ ½ cup chia seeds
65 grams/ ½ cup white sesame seeds
25 grams/ ¼ cup poppy seed
20 grams/ ¼ cup ground flaxseeds
5 grams/1 heaped teaspoon salt flakes
2 tsp. Somoma Spice Blend
1 tsp. chipotle chili flakes (or Aleppo flakes for a milder heat)
1 tsp. cumin seeds (optional)
350ml/1 ½ cups12 fl oz. water 

In a medium large bowl, mix all ingredients together. Add water and stir until well combined. Let sit for an hour, stirring every 20 minutes until water is absorbed.

Heat oven to 300F/150C fan.

Line 2 standard sized baking trays with non-stick parchment (baking paper) or silicone liners. If you don’t have non-stick parchment, spray or brush a thin layer of oil onto parchment.

Using a flat spatula or spreader, smooth half of the seed mix thinly pressing to about 1/8 inch/ 2cm thick covering one lined tray and repeat with the second tray. Spread out until the layer is thin but without any holes. Square up the sides with a spatula to create clean edges.

Place in oven and bake for about an hour, turning occasionally until lightly browned, firm and crisp. Remove from oven and leave on trays to cool to room temperature. You should be able to lift the entire layer without breaking it.

Break into shards or cracker-sized pieces and store tightly sealed in your pantry or in your favourite lidded biscuit jar!

Tasha’s Somoma Spice Mix

2Tbsp dried basil, crumbled
2 Tbsp dried marjoram, crumbled
2 Tbsp dried oregano, crumbled
1 Tbsp dried thyme leaves
1 Tbsp dried bay leaves crumbled*
4 ½ tsp dried rosemary needles, ground
2 tsp dried red pepper flakes
2 tsp dried fennel seeds toasted and ground
1 ½ tsp dried mint, crumbled
1 ½ tsp garlic powder
1 ½ tsp onion powder
1 tsp dried lemon zest

Combine all spices together mixing thoroughly. Store room temperature in a airtight container in a dark cupboard.

*make sure bay leaves are finely crumbled or ground as the edges can be quite sharp. I suggest grinding them in a spice grinder or mortar and pestle and well sifted.

Chef Natasha MacAller
June 16, 2019