Party Snacks for Super Heroes

 

I took an informal poll recently of a few friends and family members gathered around the table.  The results surprised me.  So I'm putting the question to you a bit more guardedly.  My expectations are lowered, but still I have to ask -   

When you were a kid, were you pretty sure you could fly if you just ran fast enough or really, really tried?

Me, yes.  I even did a little on a couple occasions.

Though perhaps you should know that my best friend and I also had a magic bubble that could take us to different cartoon lands.  It had a control panel with buttons, but the rest of it, including the door and seat, that fit just the two of us, was transparent.

The reason I bring this up now is because the first week in January I made a bunch of raw food from one of those books on the pile and I think it gave me super powers.  I just felt so good that week.  It reminded me of that feeling of infinite possibility from childhood - that feeling that if I just ran fast enough...maybe...  I was also excercising more, and cutting back on caffeine and booze and wheat flour and sugar.  I still am, but I think the super powers I briefly experienced came from the collard roll-ups.  

 I found the suggestion for the rolls in a little side bar in Mimi Kirk's Live Raw.  Now that I'm giving the book a second look, I'm totally digging it.  At first I had written it off after I made her refrigerator dill pickles over the summer.  They were not precisely the way I like a dill pickle, so I added loads more garlic, a pinch more salt, ate precisely perfect pickles for the rest of the year and neglected to properly appreciate this book.  

It lingered on the pile until early January when I took five minutes to make her mustard.  It was creamy and hot and sweet and super-easy.  On the heels of that success, I made the nut cheese.  Life-changing.  We did eat some dolloped on pizza cooked in a 450 degree oven for 10 minutes.  So... not raw -  but still crazy delicious - a perfect creamy foil to a tart tomato sauce and chewy wheat crust.  We enjoyed most of the cheese scooped onto rye toasts with pickled carrots.  Such a good cocktail snack.

But then we made the collard rolls, and we made them again, and again.  I sent the recipe to my best pal in Lousiana.  She made them, again, and again.  I brought them to my mom's house, where I was shocked to see everybody assembled enjoy them.  I busted out the book.   How old do you think this woman is?  

46! guesses my mom.  
No, come on.  Look closer.  I'm almost 46.  (In 11 years.)  
Okay, 50.
52, says my brother.  

Irish step-dad insists she's in her 40s.  I astound them with the news that she is seventy and everybody passes around the book to get some tips on her secret to youthfulness while grabbing another collard roll.  

 

Collard Roll-Ups
adapted from Live Raw by Mimi Kirk
makes: 24 rolls
takes: about 45 minutes

• 1 bunch collard greens, washed and dried
• juice of 1 lemon, divided
• 1 tablespoon olive oil, divided
• 1 cup walnuts, soaked in 2 cups water for a couple hours
• 1 shallot, peeled and roughly chopped
• 1 clove of garlic, crushed and peeled
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 cup shredded carrots (from about 3 medium carrots)
• 1 fresh jalapeno or a couple tablespoons of pickled jalapenos, minced (optional) 
• 1 cup corn kernals

1. Cut the collard greens in half along the stem, removing it in the process.  Toss them with 1/2 teaspoon lemon juice, 1/2 teaspoon olive oil, and a pinch of salt.
2. Drain the walnuts and throw them in the food processor with the shallot, garlic, a tablespoon of lemon juice, and salt and pepper to taste.  Process to a rough paste.
3. Toss the shredded carrot with the chile, corn, 2 teaspoons lemon juice, two teaspoons of olive oil, and salt and pepper to taste.
4. To assemble the rolls - lay a leaf smooth side down, spread with a thin layer of walnut paste, sprinkle with carrot salad, and roll tightly.