10Apr / 2016

Pork Loin with Sweet Potato Colcannon

This is pork loin cooked with mustard and rosemary on a bed of sweet potato and celeriac colannon served with broccoli. You can cook this under 30 minutes but it’s a bit hectic so you might want to prepare all the vegetables in advance and take a bit more time. It depends on how confident you are in the kitchen.

Serves 2

350g celeriac cut into 1 cm slices

250g sweet potato

4 spring onions

20g butter

2 pork loins

2 sprigs of rosemary

2 tsp of mustard powder

1/4 of a savoy cabbage with outer leaves removed (about 250g)

10 florets of broccoli

salt and pepper

Boil the kettle and warm up the hob on a medium-high heat (4)
Peel and chop the celeriac and sweet potato into 1cm chunks
Put the celeriac into a medium saucepan, cover with boiling water and put on the warm hob. Add a pinch of salt. Bring up to the boil and simmer for 20 minutes
Peel and chop the spring onions into 3-4mm rounds
Melt 10g of the butter in a medium frying pan over a medium heat (3)
After 5 minutes of the celeriac simmering, add the sweet potato to the same pan.
Add the spring onion to the frying pan and stir fry until soft, then remove the onion from the pan into a separate bowl.
Remove the leaves from the rosemary and chop finely.
Put the frying pan back on the heat, it should have some butter still in it. Turn it up a little (4) and add the pork loins. Sprinkle over a quarter of the rosemary and half a teaspoon of mustard powder on each loin, season and then turn immediately. Add the remaining mustard powder and rosemary and fry for 4 minutes. Turn and fry for another 4 minutes.
Meanwhile, boil the kettle again, remove the stem from the cabbage and shred. Boil in a small saucepan for 5 minutes.
Drain and set aside with the spring onion.
Boil the kettle again
When the celeriac and sweet potato is done, drain and put back into the medium saucepan. Add the other 10g of butter and using a hand blender, blitz the celeriac and sweet potato mixture until smooth.
Add the broccoli to the small saucepan, put back on the heat, cover with boiling water and a pinch of salt and simmer for 3 minutes.
Add the spring onion and cabbage to the sweet potato mixture and stir through.
Serve and enjoy. Delicious and simple!

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09Apr / 2016

Creamy BBQ Beans

Serves 2 as a side

1 tbsp olive oil

1/2 onion

1 clove garlic

1 can haricot/cannelloni beans drained

1/2 can good quality chopped tomatoes

1 tsp smoked paprika

1 tsp dried thyme

1/2 tsp ground coriander

1/2 tsp mustard powder

pinch of salt and pepper

1 tbsp creme fraiche

1 tbsp of coriander leaves

Heat the oil in a large saucepan on a medium hob (3)
Finely dice the onion
When the oil is hot, saute the onion for 5-10 minutes until it is soft
Add the garlic and stir fry for 1 minute
Add all of the other ingredients, stir and leave it simmer for 20 minutes to bed in the flavours. Stir every now and then.
Halfway through, if it is getting a little dry, add a splash of recently boiled water
At the end stir in the creme fraiche and top with the coriander leaves. If you don’t like a big hit of coriander you can always chop these finely and add.
Serve with sourdough toast, steam green vegetables or omelette.

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09Apr / 2016

Chinese Duck and Orange Salad

I don’t personally like raw spring onions so I took them out in the end.

Makes 5 lunches

2 duck breasts

5cm ginger peeled and grated

2 cloves of garlic

1 1/2 tsp chinese 5 spice

4 spring onions (optional)

10 cm cucumber

100g radishes

1 medium carrot

100g baby leaf salad leaves

100g peanuts

4 oranges

Dressing

2 tsp toasted sesame oil

1 lime

2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

Heat a medium saucepan on a medium low hob (3). You do not need to add any oil to the pan.
Using a sharp knife, slash the skin of the duck breasts, diagonally 4-5 times. Add the chinese 5 spice and rub in both sides of the breasts
Add the ginger to the duck, it may end up looking a bit “hairy” because of the fibres in the ginger mixed with the spice but you can always remove these bits at the end.
Add the breasts to the pan skin side down and crush the garlic onto the side facing upwards. After 18 minutes, turn and cook for 6 minutes or less if you like it rare. I like mine medium, slightly pink in the middle.
While the duck is cooking, finely slice or mandolin the radishes and spring onion if using. Cut the cucumber in half lengthways and mandolin or finely slice to make half moon shapes.
Peel and grate the carrot.
Blitz the peanuts in the food processor so they are roughly chopped. Keep an eye on them as you don’t want them to be a too small.
Once the duck is cooked, remove it from the pan and put onto a chopping board. Leave it to rest.
Segment the oranges.
Squeeze the juice from the lime into a small bowl and add the sesame seed oil and extra virgin oil to make a dressing. Dress the leaves.
Add the cucumber, radishes and carrot.
Finely slice the duck.
Top the salad with the duck, orange and then peanuts and spring onion if using.

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09Apr / 2016

Chicken Liver Pate

200g of chicken livers are about £1.50 from my local butchers making it a very cheap but tasty source of protein.

50g butter

1 small onion

leaves from 1 sprig of fresh thyme

200g chicken livers

2 tbsp full fat live yoghurt

1 tbsp tomato puree

Pinch of salt and pepper

Pinch of ground allspice

1/2 tsp ground ginger

Finely chop the onion and pick off the leaves from the thyme
Take 10g of the butter and melt in a medium sized saucepan on medium low heat (3)
Once melted turn the heat down a little and let the onion and thyme cook in the melted butter for 10 minutes.
Meanwhile, wash the chicken livers and trim away any sinew. Pat dry with kitchen roll. Chop into 15mm pieces.
Remove the onion mixture from the pan into the food processor bowl and set aside
Add another 10g of the butter to the pan and cook the chicken livers on high for 2 minutes until caramelised on the outside.
Place all the ingredients into the food processor. Blend until as smooth as you can get it.
Pass the mixture through a sieve so you are just left with the smooth mixture and leave to cool.
Seal with melted butter if you wish but I don’t believe it’s necessary.
Serve with sourdough toast or oatcakes.
The pate will freeze but remember not to heat when defrosting or else the yoghurt may curdle and split.

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03Apr / 2016

Healthy Tacos

Tacos are made in a factory so strictly speaking, they’re processed but when I looked at the ingredients list it said cornflour and oil so it didn’t look as if they were full of chemicals and life’s too short to make your own tacos! Plus only 2 ingredients makes it under the 5 ingredients rule of clean eating.

My boyfriend swears that if you use guacamole and creme fraiche as cement when building the taco then it doesn’t go everywhere when you eat it. I tried it and it still didn’t work!

Serves 2-3

1 brown onion

1 clove of garlic

1 finger/birds eye chilli (add more if you like it hot)

500g minced beef (I used 10% fat)

1 tsp smoked paprika

1/2 tsp cumin

1/2 tsp coriander

1/4 tsp cinnamon

Salt and pepper

1 tbsp oil

Salsa

1/2 green pepper

1/2 yellow pepper

1 spring onion

3 medium tomatoes

Half a lime

1/2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

Handful of fresh coriander

To serve:

Creme fraiche or sour cream

1 5cm slice of Iceberg lettuce shredded

Grated cheese for those not dieting!

8 taco shells

Guacamole

Peel and chop off the root end of the spring onion. Finely slice and place in a bowl of cold water for at least 10 minutes to get rid of the tart flavour of raw onion.
Heat the oil for the beef in a large saucepan over a medium hob (3).
Finely chop the brown onion and when the oil is hot enough, add and saute for 10 minutes.
Finely slice the chilli and add with the crushed garlic and saute for a further minute. You can also add the stalks from the fresh coriander, finely chopped at this point.
Add the spices, seasoning and the meat and brown the meat turning up the heat slightly (4).
Once brown turn down (2) and leave to absorb the flavours for 20 minutes.
Meanwhile, to make the salsa, drain the spring onion and gently pat dry with some kitchen roll. It doesn’t have to be bone dry.
Chop the coriander leaves finely, chop the peppers into 5mm squares and the tomatoes as finely as you can.
Add all the ingredients into a bowl, squeeze in the lime and drizzle over the extra virgin olive oil. I don’t like to season it as the salt draws all of the water out of the tomatoes.
Make the guacamole, shred the lettuce and serve everything in bowls so people can help themselves.
Separate the tacos on a plate and microwave for 1 minute.
Let everyone tuck in and enjoy!

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03Apr / 2016

Vegetable Stock

This is quick and easy to make. I don’t have a recipe to use it with yet, I’ve been experimenting a bit but haven’t come up with anything tasty enough.

Makes 500 – 700ml

1 large carrot

1 large onion

1 large leek

2 sticks of celery

15 peppercorns

2 bay leaves

1/2 tsp salt

6 parsley stalks

2 sprigs of thyme

1 litre of boiled water

Top and tail and peel the carrot, onion and leek. Top and tail and wash the celery.
Cut a slit in the top of the leeks and wash out any mud.
Chop all of the vegetables into chunks and blitz in the food processor.
Add with all the other ingredients in a large saucepan.
Bring to the boil and put on a rolling simmer for 30 minutes.
Pour into a sieve over a bowl and press. Leave for 10 or so minutes to get the maximum amount of stock from the ingredients. Discard or compost the remnants in the sieve.

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03Apr / 2016

Adventures in Sourdough

Yesterday I made my first ever sourdough loaf. I don’t know if it’s because I made everything from wholemeal spelt flour but it was absolutely delicious! It didn’t taste at all sour and the crust on the outside was crunchy and divine!

I was missing bread and looked back through the notes my nutritionist gave me and she said that sourdough was ok! I thought I would make it from scratch to be totally sure it had no sugar in it. I used to get it from Gails Bread shop which listed all the ingredients. This is a good option if you live in London.

The first time you make sourdough you either have to make or buy a “starter” which replaces your yeast. I made mine, it took about 14 days to make, after a couple of days, every day you have to throw half away and add more ingredients so it’s a bit of a commitment and you end up eating a lot of sour pancakes! I found the Shipton Mill website gave amazing advice for this. Once you have your starter you don’t need to make it again but you need to refresh it once a week.

I found the recipe for the bread had to come from many sources as I was making my bread from wholemeal spelt and I didn’t want to use sugar, orange juice or honey. It also depends on the temperature of you house, your oven, your equipment and the sleepiness of your starter. I didn’t realise until afterwards how important the final fold was. I looked at a number of you tube videos and this was the best at explaining it. Go to 8:30 minutes in https://youtu.be/be57uXRf5xo.

Makes 1 loaf

733g wholemeal spelt flour

431 warm water

10g salt

127g sourdough starter

(50g wholemeal spelt flour if you want to top up your starter)

Refresh the starter 12 hours before you start cooking so that it’s active.
Add the starter and water to the food processor bowl, stir.
Add the flour and mix with a dough hook on the food processor. I couldn’t find my dough hook but I had something that had plastic “blades” instead of metal ones and that worked fine. Mix until it forms a dough and the edges of the dough naturally move away from the sides.
Leave to prove for 30 minutes.
Meanwhile if you want to top up your starter its 50g wholemeal spelt flour, 76g warm water
Add the salt and mix for 2 minutes in the food processor. You don’t want to overknead as you’re using spelt instead of flour so the gluten is more likely to break up.
Put the dough on the table and briefly knead whilst feeling the consistency. It should be sticky but not sloppy. It shouldn’t leave a residue on the work surface as you knead. Add more flour if needs be.
Oil a glass bowl and place in there with clingfilm over the top. Take a photo of the side and the top so you can see when it’s doubled in size.
Leave in a warm dark place for 5 hours. I used my airing cupboard.
Knead for 3 minutes. Again, you don’t want to overknead. When it feels like an elastic band that’s lost its elastic, stop immediately.
Line a bread tin with a tin liner. I used a non stick silocone liner. You can get these from John Lewis or Lakeland.
Go to 8:30 minutes in https://youtu.be/be57uXRf5xo to see how to fold the dough.
Place in the tin and cover with a tea towel. Let it rise again for 3 hours, keep an eye on it, it should almost reach the top of the tin liner.
20 minutes before the 3 hours is up, preheat the oven to 220C.
Spray about 10 squirts of water in the oven to increase the humidity. Bake for 30 minutes.
Leave to cool on a cooling rack before serving.
Serve with no added sugar peanut butter, homemade chicken liver pate, hummus or just plain butter.

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28Mar / 2016

Greek inspired chicken salad

Spring 2016 019b.jpg

Serves 2

Chicken

1/2 lemon

2 tbsp full fat probiotic yoghurt

1 tsp paprika

1 tsp oregano

1 clove of garlic

2 chicken breasts

Salad:

1/2 romaine/cos lettuce shredded

6cm of cucumber cut into bite sized chunks

5 small-medium tomatoes cut into bite sized chunks

12 purple kalamata olives cut in half

20 pistachios shelled

1 squeeze of lemon juice

1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

Slash chicken breasts against the grain, place in a sealable tupperware and add the yoghurt, oregano and paprika. Crush in the garlic and squeeze in the lemon. Mix, seal the tub and place in the fridge for at least half an hour.
Preheat the oven to 200C.
After 20 minutes place the chicken into the oven on a baking tray for 12 – 15 minutes each side depending on the size of the chicken breast.
Check it is cooked all the way through and then leave to cool.
Shred or chop into bitesized pieces
Add to the salad ingredients and mix well

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28Mar / 2016

Millet and Spelt “Oatcakes”

Makes 10 “oatcakes” of 8cm diameter

80g millet

80g wholemeal spelt flour plus a little more for flouring the work surface

60g butter plus a little more for greasing the tin

30g grated carrot

Pinch of salt

1 1/2 tsp caraway seeds

2 tbsp/30ml boiled water

Preheat the oven to 180C
Grease the tin
Add all the ingredients to a bowl and rub between your fingers to make breadcrumbs
Bring together to make a dough
Flour your work surface and rolling pin
Roll out until about 5mm thin (this thickness gives it a biscuit like consistency)
Use a round cutter to cut out. You might have to gather up the edges and form into a dough and roll out a few times to get your 10 oatcakes
Bake in the top of the oven for 10 – 12 minutes turning the tin around halfway through to prevent those at the back from burning.
Serve with hummus, guacamole or just butter spread on top

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28Mar / 2016

Hummus from dried chickpeas

You might want to look on the instructions on the back of your dried chickpeas as to rehydrate them as some of them are heat treated so might take a little longer to cook. These are East End chickpeas, found in most asian supermarkets and mine cost £1.49 per kilo. Considering 100g makes enough for about 2 large pots you find in a supermarket it’s probably cheaper depending on the cost of the other ingredients. I do put in a lot of tahini though, I love it, I lick the spoon after, even though it makes my mouth go funny!

Hummus from dried chickpeas

Spring 2016 033

100g dried chickpeas

4 tsp tahini

2 tbsp oil

1 garlic clove

50ml water

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 tsp paprika

1/4 tsp cumin

Juice of half a lemon

1/2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

Soak the chickpeas overnight
Wash twice
Boil for 45 minutes
Drain and leave to cool
Once cool place all the ingredients except the extra virgin olive oil into a chopper or blender and blitz until smooth
Add a little extra water if it looks too dry
Swirl with extra virgin olive oil to serve
Serve with crudites or oatcakes

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