All Aboard The Grain Train!

I didn’t especially have an opinion on grains until I read Diana Henry’s A Change of Appetite in October last year.

The premise of Diana’s cookbook is finding really amazing cuisines that are incidentally delicious. Her recipes blew my mind, they were exotic, intriguing and obviously, incredibly tasty. I also loved the many articles in the book giving her interpretation on healthy eating. There are features on calories, the lessons we can learn from Japanese cooking, the miracle of broth, good fat and bad fat, dieting and grains. Her thoughts are measured, well researched and inspiring.

The section on grains really caught my eye.  Ingredients such as barley, buckwheat and farro are cheap as chips, packed with an astonishing amount of nutrition and prepared the right way, despite their rather dull reputation, are versatile and bloody gorgeous. Unfortunately in a Western diet we tend to eat a lot of processed grains (white rice, white bread, pasta) that have had most of their nutrients stripped away.

I was further convinced by Diana’s argument to get more grains in my life by the cracking recipes in her book.  Favourites included:

• kisir (an autumnal tabbouleh with pomegranite seeds) served with griddled aubergine, date, walnut and yoghurt salad
• a pilaf of mixed grains with sweet potato and fennel with avocado ‘cream’

Griddled aubergine, date, walnut and yoghurt salad and kisir

So a seed was planted in the back of my head ten months ago when I read A Change of Appetite. I decided to try to eat less white rice, white flour, pasta and to strive to eat more grains like quinoa, freekah and millet. However that’s easily said given I’m an experimental cook and I like eating out. I can’t say I succeeded. But, luckily I came across the Grains, Seeds and Legumes cookbook a couple of months ago by Molly Brown.  It’s packed with imaginative ways to use a wide range of grains, taking its inspiration from Middle Eastern, Moroccan, Indian and Spanish cuisines. We’ve had some stunning meals.  And the thing with eating grain fuelled meals is they are not only delicious, but leave you feeling full in a very satisfied, light way.  And sadly with refined carbohydrates like white bread you are hungry again quickly.

I’m still not treating my body as a temple, I eat a lot of cakes – although healthier versions, enjoy more than my fair share of wine and mainline diet drinks which are packed full of chemicals. However, I feel I’m at least moving away from a refined carbohydrate heavy diet and towards more grains in my meals.  And rather than feeling I’m on some miserable healthy eating regime, I feel like I’m on a tasty adventure!

Quinoa, chicken and black beans with avocado puree

Turkish barley and lentil salad with tahini dressing

Warm barley with roast pumpkin and feta

Cooking The Books: Leon Happy Salads

This seems like a very timely review with the first Leon restaurant having just opened in Manchester.

For those who haven’t heard of the Leon restaurant chain, they serve super healthy and imaginative ‘fast food’, including very delicious salads.

Leon Happy Salads is the brand’s truly joyful cookbook with many inspiring and colourful salad ideas.  I couldn’t wait to get to stuck in.

I’m going to let the photos do the talking as you don’t need my words to sell these beauties. We thoroughly enjoyed every one of these.  There’s so much more you can do with salads than serving bland iceberg lettuce and tomatoes –  and with these recipes we covered an exotic range from crab, asparagus, ceviche and peri-peri chicken to harrisa prawns.

We are looking foward to more sunny days so we can work our way through the entire book.

Harissa Prawns With Bulgar

Harissa prawns with bulgar

Cauchoise: Ham, Herb And Potato Salad

Cauchoise: ham, herb and potato salad

Greek Salad With Fried Feta

Greek salad

Coconut Kinilaw With Ceviche And Mango

Coconut kinilaw with ceviche and mango

Very Peri-Peri Chicken

Very peri-peri chicken

Sausage Pasta

Sausage pasta

Asparagus, crab and potato

Asparagus, crab and potato

Red Cabbage With Bacon And Goat’s Cheese

Red cabbage with bacon and goat’s cheese

Cooking The Books: The Green Kitchen

It wasn’t love at first sight with this book.  Well I was certainly in love with the beautiful photography, but when it came to the nitty gritty of choosing recipes to cook, I was less enamoured.

For some reason none of the recipes really jumped off the  page for me.  They looked difficult to make, had obscure ingredients and some of them sounded outright boring.

How wrong I was.  This is an inspirational book.

For those who don’t know anything about The Green Kitchen – it’s a vegetarian cookbook written by Scandinavian couple, David Frenkiel and Luisa Vindahl.  He’s a magazine photographer, she’s a nutritional therapist. Good combo.

I would describe their cookery as thoughtful, original and super healthy.  You feel so good after eating their food, full and yet light and satisfied.

I think it’s fair to say that we had revelations with these recipes.  The rye bread in particular blew our minds.  We couldn’t believe we’d made this dense, beautiful seedy rye bread.  The sense of achievement was epic.

And pistachio falafels with salsa and nut dip were sensational and just an interesting flavour.  As was the coconut and fennel tart made with an almond flour base.  Oh and the aubergine, hazelnut, ricotta parcel.  OMG they were good.  And what better way to eat food served and in wrapped parcels out of the oven.  The anticipation was fabulous.

This recipe book was definitely an education for me.  When vegetarian food tastes this good and complex and makes you feel this satisfied, why bother with meat?  It also demonstrated how different you can feel after a beautiful healthy dinner.  You feel well, and energetic and positive.

Favourites

Pistachio falafels

Rye bread

Fennel and coconut tart

Sicilian parmigiana di zucchini

Hazelnut, aubergine, ricotta and mushroom parcels

Also Goods

Raspberry brownies

Cauliflower, apricot and coconut dahl

Decadent chocolate and beetroot cake

This is one of my favourite cookbooks of the year.  I think it’s a real achievement when a cookbook converts you to thinking differently about how and what you eat.  And as I said at the beginning it wasn’t love at first sight but more of a slowly igniting passion, which is way more interesting!

Cooking The Books: Thug Kitchen Eat Like You Give a F*ck

I’m really glad I bought Thug Kitchen because some of the recipes just absolutely blew my mind. However, quite a few didn’t, so it’s a bit of a mixed bag.  And the swearing is just plain annoying.

It’s an american vegan cookbook and there is swearing on every page which feels a bit desperate and gimmicky.  However some of the food is epic, so I got over my irritation.

The biggest revelations for me were roasted chickpea and broccoli burritos and roasted beer and lime cauliflower tacos with coriander and salsa – these recipes alone were worth the price of the book.  A taste sensation.

However I regret attempting any of their healthy cakes – they were really average compared to the other delicious ‘virtuous’ cakes I’ve been making lately in my attempt to give up ice-cream.

So here’s the lowdown on what we cooked.

Favourites

1. Roasted chickpea and broccoli burritos.  I will be cooking these again.  It was like having a flavour and texture party in my mouth.
2. Smoky black-eyed peas with roasted sweet potatoes and collards.  I thought this looked like quite a boring recipe.  I was very wrong.  It packed a punch and tasted fantastic.
3. Ginger sesame marinaded tofu and creamy peanut slaw.  Who needs meat or diary when you have marinaded tofu and peanut coleslaw.  Really interesting combo.
4. Roasted beer and lime cauliflower tacos with coriander and salsa.  I felt like I died and gone to heaven.  Everyone needs to try this dish.

Roasted chickpea and broccoli burritos

Smoky black-eyed peas with roasted sweet potatoes and collards

Ginger sesame marinaded tofu and creamy peanut slaw

Roasted beer and lime cauliflower tacos with coriander and salsa

The More Average

1. 5 spice fried rice with sweet potatoes.  Actually this was pretty tasty, it just wasn’t up there with the cauliflower tacos.
2. Maple oat banana bread.  This was quite nice, a little dry, but a bit of peanut butter spread on top perked it up.
3. Blueberry and walnut scones.  Now I’m really into my healthy cakes so I was a bit disappointed that there was white sugar in this recipe.  However all the other ingredients were healthy, but unfortunately I was just a bit indifferent to the flavour.
4. White bean and red lentil burgers and root veggie fries.  The burgers were just too dry.  The fries were good though.

5 spice fried rice with sweet potatoes

Maple oat banana bread

Blueberry and walnut scones

White bean and red lentil burgers and root veggie fries

I would definitely recommend this book, but don’t cook the cakes and stick to the mexican style dishes as that’s what they seem to be best at.  I am definitely keen to return to Thug Kitchen, because there’s clearly some magic going on with many of the recipes – the cauliflower tacos and brocilli burritos are two of the best things I’ve eaten this year.

Cooking The Books: Jamie Magazine

I bought a copy of Jamie Magazine a few weeks ago and I’ve literally been hooked ever since. It’s a bright, contemporary, inspiring magazine.  Whilst I subscribe to Delicious and really enjoy it, I way prefer this. Delicious actually feels quite old fashioned and stuffy in comparison. I’ve never cooked a single recipe from Delicious magazine, but I opened Jamie Magazine and I wanted to cook everything.  And we nearly did!  I think it helped that it was a ‘feel-good food’ issue – definitely my cup of tea – delicious food that I don’t need to feel guilty about.  I was particularly enamoured with a section on healthy baking and ended up cooking three cakes.

Here are my opinions on the all eight dishes we attempted:

The Favourites

1. Mushroom and lentil pappardelle bolognese.  I cooked it for Jamie and my friend Michelle and they adored it.  And if I do say so myself it was a real cracker.  Sweet, rich and complex, you definitely didn’t miss the meat.
2. Creamy lentil bowl with garlic mushrooms.  I’d just got back from a hilly hike in the Peak District and Jamie (my boyfriend not Jamie Oliver!) prepared this for me.  It was the perfect wholesome friday night treat, with the bacon adding a bit of indulgence and extra flavour.
3. Squash and greens lasagne made with leftover veg from our fridge.  We didn’t use squash or greens! We just adapted this recipe to use up all the old veg in our fridge.  We roasted the veg as was required of the squash and followed the recipe exactly apart from that.  It was fabulous! Much tastier and more interestingly seasoned than a standard lasagne. And the toasty breadcrumbs on top provided a lovely bit of crunch.
4. Apricot and root veg cake with honey and yoghurt frosting.  This was a revelation! Made with parsnips, beetroot and carrot, maple syrup, spelt flour and rapeseed oil.  This made me so happy to have this cake in the fridge.  Although it didn’t last long.  It was a very interesting sweet earthy flavour and the yoghurt frosting really was ‘the icing on the cake’ he he.
5. Banoffee pecan muffins with coconut clouds and date caramel sauce.  Another very imaginative cake.  It was very faffy to make and I got a bit annoyed with all the different stages.  But it was well worth the effort.  There was no sugar in these muffins at all – all the sugar came from dates and bananas.  The date caramel sauce and the whipped up coconut cream made the experience extra indulgent and fun.

Mushroom and lentil pappardelle bolognese

Creamy lentil bowl with garlic mushrooms

Squash and greens lasagne made with leftover veg from our fridge

Apricot and root veg cake with honey and yoghurt frosting

Banoffee pecan muffins with coconut clouds and date caramel sauce

The Also Very Goods

1. Beef shin ragu and polenta.  This was a handy one for us to cook as we had some spare beef shin in the freezer.  The only problem was that I didn’t register that this recipe was in the pressure cooker feature! We don’t have a pressure cooker, however we improvised with our slow cooker, and it was a lovely rich, flavourful dinner.
2. Indian chicken lentil traybake.  We mucked this up a bit.  Somehow we ended up with a tray bake drowning in watery sauce – so we stuck it on the hob and boiled as much of the water away as possible and threw in some extra spices and seasoning and all was good.
3. Rye pudding-loaf-cake with hazelnut crumble – made with about 20g of brown sugar and all the rest of the sweetness came from apples, apple puree and sultanas.  A really delightful cake with a lot of depth of flavour and a bit of added excitement from the crumbly topping.  Rye flour was used instead of white flour, whilst it’s not gluten free, it’s much more nutritious.

Beef shin ragu and polenta

Indian chicken lentil traybake

Rye pudding-loaf-cake with hazelnut crumble

I think the simplest way of demonstrating how much I enjoyed Jamie Magazine, is to tell you that I’ve subscribed to the magazine and I’ve bought the Clean Cakes Book written by Henrietta Inman, the lady who developed all the lovely healthy cake recipes. Jamie Magazine hits the spot for me.

Cooking The Books: The Foodie Teen by Alessandra Peters

I bloody loved The Foodie Teen cookbook.  Apologies Alessandra, but I didn’t anticipate a teenager coming up with such brilliant recipes.   And they were all super healthy too.

The dishes weren’t just good, they were inventive and challenging. The cakes in particular (all made from non refined sugar) were exotic and had incredible depth of flavour.  I would 100% cook from this book again.  Although I have two very small complaints: 1) a lot of the dinner recipes don’t have carbs which you do need to feel full and 2) there are too many cake recipes in the book, and despite my obsession with cakes, I craved more dinner options. But overall, my goodness, what fabulous, flavourful recipes.

Here’s my rating on the recipes:

Favourites

1. Spiced chocolate chilli with coriander spiked avocado.  This was so rich and delicious.  I might even go so far as to say it’s the best chilli I’ve eaten in my life.  We ate it on a friday night and I enjoyed it so much I couldn’t wait to eat the leftovers for lunch the next day.
2. Pineapple carrot cake with passion fruit coconut frosting. This was an indulgent piece of tropical heaven.  The coconut passion fruit topping was sweet and creamy and the cake was so moist.
3. Crunchy nut banana loaf.  The pecan nut and coconut oil crumble on top of this banana bread made it a real treat.
4. Mexican burgers with all the toppings and raw beetroot-carrot slaw.  I’m not sure how Alessandra did this, but the burgers were juicy and the slaw, salsa and guacomale were so fresh, the combination absolutely hit the spot.
5. Sweet potato vegetable pad thai with lime tahini and ginger dressing.  I was sceptical about whether this would work until I shoved a mouthful in my mouth.   The peanut dressing coating the vegetables was gorgeous.

Spiced chocolate chilli with coriander spiked avocado

Carrot and pineapple cake with coconut and passion fruit frosting

Crunchy nut banana loaf

Mexican burgers with all the toppings and raw beetroot-carrot slaw

Sweet potato vegetable pad thai with lime tahini and ginger dressing

The Also Very Goods

1. Spicy red thai curry soup with prawns.  Exactly what it says on the tin, an excellent red thai curry soup, full of flavour and kick.
2. Pea and pepper beef curry.  This was made with thai curry paste and was a fresh tasty curry.
3. Blueberry and almond crumble slices.  Crunchy, crumbly and juicy with tart blueberries, they didn’t last very long in our house.
4. Egyptian dukkah crusted chicken fillets wth cauliflower taboulleh.  The dukkah crust was a winner, providing a lot of spice and flavour to the chicken and the pomengrates in the taboulleh complimented the chicken beautifully.

Red thai curry soup with prawns

Pea and pepper beef curry

Blueberry and almond crumble slice

Egyptian dukkah crusted chicken fillets wth cauliflower taboulleh

As I said at the beginning, I bloody love this book.  It’s bursting with imagination, colour and flavour and it’s all incrediby healthy.  I always love a cookbook that will take me on a culinary adventure yet not leave me worrying about my arteries or my waistline.  Well done Alessandra, I could just about cook at basic bolagnaise at your age, so hats off to you for being so clever!

Cooking The Books: Hemsley and Hemsley ‘The Art of Eating Well’

For those of you who haven’t heard of these very attractive sisters, Hemsley and Hemsley started out in 2010 providing a healthy food coaching and catering service. They attracted celebrity clients and big brands like Louis Vuitton and Vivienne Westwood.  Next came their beautiful and stylish cookbooks containing recipes for all sorts of wonder items like black bean brownies, kohlrabi dauphinoise and cauliflower base pizzas.

More recently there has been a backlash against the ‘clean eating’ fad associated with Hemsley and Hemsley and I’m not sure why.  This is not some crazy yo yo diet book, the food is balanced and they’re not afraid of a bit of full fat mince or butter.  The food leaves you satiated and full.  I can see why the media might be envious of the success of these gorgeous and stylish ladies – I know I am, but why rip them to pieces when actually they are providing inspiring healthy alternatives to the processed crap a lot of the population eats?

Back to the food.  It’s been a pleasure and an education testing out these recipes.  I like learning about alternative healthy ingredients: black beans in brownies work, cauliflower mash in shepherd’s pie is delicious and coconut flour in cake tastes so exotic.  Out of the 9 recipes we cooked there was only one thing I didn’t love, the gingernut biscuits.  And to clarify, I still liked these biscuits, I just didn’t adore them in the way I did the other recipes.

So here’s the run through:

Favourites

1. Roasted vegetable salad and brazil nut pesto.  What’s not to love about roasted vegetables? I could eat them all day long.  And throw some brazil nut pesto and quinoa into the mix and you’ve got an incredible dinner.
2. Black bean brownies. Not as super sweet as standard brownies, but moist and rich and gorgeous.  These were very popular with my friends.
3. Quinoa risotto with gorgonzola.  The combination of fresh and porcini mushrooms gave this risotto a lovely intense flavour which was made even tastier by the gorgonzola.
4. Shepherd’s pie with cauliflower mash.  Full fat lamb mince provides the base for a lot of flavour for this pie.  Yes arguably if we are being factually correct shepherd’s pie should always contain lamb mince, but that’s often not the case.  And I loved the cauliflower mash on top, you absolutely don’t miss the potato.
5. Osso bucco.  Slow cooked beef shin with carrots with a smoky sweet gravy. An incredible winter warmer.
6. Prawn laksa.  My favourite dinner of all.  Full of colour and malaysian spices.  This dish kicks ass! I even took the leftovers in a thermos for lunch on a frosty hike in the Peak District.  I was the envy of my fellow hikers.

Quinoa Salad & Pesto

Black Bean Brownie

Quinoa risotto

Sheperd’s Pie

Osso bucco

Prawn Laksa

Also Very Goods

1. Lemon and poppy seed muffins made with coconut flour and maple syrup.  I loved the coconutty flavour in these cakes.  They are dense cakes and the delicate lemony flavour is very satisfying.
2. Teriyaki seabream.  We were so into the sweet and sour japanese sauce.  Not the most beautiful looking of all the recipes but it absolutely packed a punch.
3. Gingernuts.  Tasty biscuits made with ground almonds, maple syrup and three whole tablespoons of ground ginger.  Not as addictive as the sugarry buttery version, but still an enjoyable and filling snack.

   

   Lemon and poppy seed muffins

   

   Teriyaki sea bream

   

   Ginger biscuits

   After cooking another nine recipes from Hemsley and Hemsley, I just love this book even more. It’s jam packed with beautiful, imaginatively crafted and well researched recipes. The book is very good value for money – there are a lot of recipes, most are straight forward and it’s easy to achieve excellent results.  Some of the recipes are a bit fiddly and time consuming, but none are difficult.  There are some unusual ingredients like amaranth and bone broth that put me off, but it’s not hard to find alternatives to the ingredients that are difficult to source.

   I look forward to cooking more from The Art of Eating Well, in fact I’d really like to try every single recipe, especially all the sweet treats like sticky toffee pudding and five spice apple crumble. Maybe that’s a new cookbook challenge for Jamie and I?  Cook every recipe from The Art of Eating Well.  What do you think, shall we do it?

Cooking The Books: Ottolenghi ‘Plenty’

Ottolenghi’s Plenty has been an absolute pleasure to review.  This man makes you fall in love with vegetables. He serves them in unexpected and delightful ways. Cooking from Plenty made me very happy. And at no point did I feel that there was anything missing due to lack of meat or fish.

So here’s my run through of the eight recipes we tried out, starting with the favourites.

Favourites

1. Aubergine and lemon risotto. Ottolenghi may cook with vegetables but that doesn’t mean his dishes are low calorie.  This dish had a lot of butter in, but it tasted so good. Incredibly rich and creamy as you scoop out the goo of a charred aubergine to mix in with the risotto rice.
2. Courgette and hazelnut salad.  Admittedly we deviated from the vegetable theme here and ate it with roast chicken, but hey we would have been hungry without a bit of protein.  Griddled courgettes combined with roasted hazelnuts, parmesan, basil leaves tastes superb.
3. Tomato, semolina and coriander soup.  So semolina is a rather fascinating addition to this dish.  It thickened the soup and even provided it with a few accidental potatoey like dumplings. Tasty.
4. Mee goreng.  Apparently this is a really famous Malaysian dish, but I’d never had it before.  I am now an official fan.  Stir fried tofu, pak choi, french beans, noodles and a chilli and soy sauce. Salty and interesting.
5. Crunchy parpadelle.  A lovely creamy pasta dish made with double cream, sprouting brocolli, mushrooms and an exciting topping of crunchy panko breadcrumbs and lemon zest.  I really loved this one!

Aubergine and lemon risotto

Courgette and hazelnut salad

Tomato, semolina and coriander soup

Mee goreng

Crunchy pappardelle

Also very goods

1. Mixed beans with many spices.  Jamie chose this and I thought it sounded a bit boring.  I was wrong.  Beans can be very delicious in the right spicy sauce.  So tasty that I had two enormous plates full of the stuff.
2. Butterbeans friend with feta, sorrel and sumac.  Jamie wasn’t such a fan of this dish, but I love butter beans and feta and dill so I was happy as larry!  It was lovely and creamy and comforting with the dill and feta adding a bit of intrigue.
3. Soba noodles with aubergine and mango.  An unusual  and enjoyable dish.  The mango gave it an interesting sweet and sour flavour.

Mixed beans with many spices

Butterbeans friend with feta, sorrel and sumac

Soba noodles with aubergine and mango

I loved cooking from Plenty.  Ottenlenghi is a creative genius – the dishes are so colourful and imaginative – they really lit up our evening meals. Although sometimes there’s a lot of butter and cream in his recipes, I think they cancel themselves out because all the vegetables and other ingredients are so healthy. I will definitely be returning to this book for more vegetable worship.

Cooking the Books: Rachel Khoo’s ‘The Little Paris Kitchen’

On my return from France, because I was so fired up about French food I was desperate to review a French cookery book.  But, alas none of my 80 cookbooks are French.  Luckily my friend Katy came to the rescue with Rachel Khoo’s ‘The Little Paris Kitchen’.

I hadn’t personally been a fan of the tv programme – I found Rachel a bit smug with her glamourous outfits and her adorable Paris life and her perfect food.  Or more accurately I was probably jealous. However I am now eating humble pie.  Rachel Khoo – I apologise for misjudging you – I’m converted – your food is ace.

I wouldn’t recommend this book if you’re on a diet – there’s a lot of cream and cheese, although I did try and select the marginally more healthy options.  But I must confess I did like cooking with naughty ingredients.  It made a refreshing change from my comfort zone of reviewing healthy cookbooks.

The dishes were so good I’ve even had to invent new categories for grading the dishes we tested.  Firstly we’ve got the ‘Off The Scale’ category, followed by ‘Excellent’, finishing with ‘Really Good’.

I’ll talk you through them:

Off The Scale

1. Cauliflower bake with hazelnut crunch.  Cauliflower cheese is a comfort food dish, but this is a glammed up version.  The crunchy breadcrumbs and hazelnuts on top were a lovely addition.  I regret that I over steamed the cauliflower.  Next time I will aspire to crunchier cauliflower.
2. Bouillabaisse or fish stew.  This was our new year’s eve dinner.  I loved the exotic blend of herbs and spices – star anise, orange zest, fennel seeds, thyme and saffron threads – I’ve never eaten seafood with that kind of citrussy base before.  We tried to make the ‘rouille’ to go with it – a saffrony homemade mayonnaise.   Two attempts but no success  – I think more thorough guidance  from Khoo would have been useful, but the stew was still exceptional without it.
3. Chocolate lava cakes with salted caramel filling.  It was a triumphant moment at our table when Jamie and I tucked into these beauties.  Hot molten chocolate with salted caramel in the middle. A definite moment of pudding heaven for me.

Cauliflower bake with hazelnut crunch crust

Bouillabase (sadly without the rouille)

Chocolate lava cake with salted caramel filling

Excellent

1. Smoky fish pie.  A good way to use up the leftovers from the christmas cheeseboard and random old veg in our fridge.  This was made with smoked haddock, bechamel sauce and veg of  your choice.  It was a lovely warming wintery dish.
2. Puy lentil salad with goat’s cheese, beetroot and a dill vinaigrette.  The perfect post christmas health kick dinner with the dill sauce adding a nice fresh, tart note.
3. Chicken and mushrooms in a white wine sauce.  Chicken and mushrooms with cream and wine is always a winner and the aniseedy tarragon on top really made it for me.

Smoky fish pie

Puy lentil salad with goat’s cheese, beetroot and a dill vinaigrette

Chicken and mushroom in white wine sauce

Really Good

1. Mushroom terrine.  Basically a mushroom quiche without a pastry.  Simple and tasty.
2. Carrot salad and celeriac and apple salad.  I too often forget how good salads can taste with a bit of love and imagination.  We were particularly taken with the celeriac and apple salad – the mustard and white wine vinegar giving it some pep.

Mushroom terrine

Carrot salad and celeriac and apple salad

I was rather sorry when we cooked the final recipe from ‘The Little Paris Kitchen’.  It had been a lot of fun – I had enjoyed the feeling of extending my french holiday by continuing to learn about French cooking and eating French food.  I also did really like the excuse to cook with fattening ingredients – the French know what they are doing with cream and butter.  Thanks Rachel, your cookbook is colourful, inspiring and you make it easy for readers to get impressive results.

 

Cooking The Books: Dale Pinnock’s ‘The Medicinal Chef’

I’m a sucker for a good healthy cookbook, but the recipes need to be delicious too.  On first impressions the title Medicinal Chef is a bit off-putting – it sounds rather clinical and dull, but in fact it really delivered.  The recipes were not only incredibly fresh and tasty, but they were quick and easy to knock together.

Here are the favourites:

1. Prawn and salmon skewers and citrus quinoa salad – this was such a hit for us.  I thought it looked a bit plain in the cookery book, but it was far from it.  The quinoa was mixed with parsley and the juice and zest of a lime and really lit up the meal.
2. No cheese chocolate cheesecake – made with avocados, a nut base and honey instead of sugar.  It was not particularly sweet, but once you got your head around that you could enjoy the subtle earthy flavours of the cake and feel smug for being so healthy.
3. Immune-boosting king prawn curry – as good as any curry we ate in Goa.
4. Sweet potato and spinach curry – a really delicate curry – and I loved the toasted almonds on top.
5. Grilled mackerel with sauted fennel and leek – the photo of this below does not convey how good this dish was.  Fresh, fragrant – you felt virtuous while you were eating it but thoroughly satisfied by the excellent flavours.

Prawn and salmon skewers with citrus quinoa salad

No cheese chocolate cheesecake

Immune-boosting king prawn curry

Sweet potato and spinach curry

Grilled mackerel with sauted fennel and leek

And as we liked absolutely everything we cooked, here are the also very goods:

1. Vegetable crumble with cheesy oat topping – a great way of using up all the leftover veg in our fridge.  I thought the oaty cheese crumble mix on the top was genius.  Especially the oaty twist.
2. Thai green vegetable curry – our motivation again was to get rid of old veg and what a delicious way to do it.
3. Mackerel marinated with beetroot and horseradish – I choose not to put a photo up as it looked revolting. It did however taste very nice – the horseradish with the beetroot was a great blend and I love the taste of mackerel.  And did you know mackerel is super cheap?

Vegetable crumble with cheesy oat topping

Thai green vegetable curry

Dale Pinnock’s Medicinal Chef may not be as sexy and on trend as Jamie Oliver’s Everyday Super Food, but is the same premise.  Delicious, easy to make healthy food.  I marginally prefer Jamie Oliver’s book – perhaps it is because the photography is so good and the dishes jump out at you from the page.  But Dale’s recipes are quicker to make and require only a few ingredients – so I’d big Dale up for convenience.  I’d thoroughly recommend giving Medicinal Chef a go – I’ve really enjoyed it and it’s helped keep my waistline in check in the lead up to Christmas!