Category: Snacks
Taste – Pure and Simple
VANILLA STEWED SANTA ROSA PLUMS WITH YOGHURT LABNE
We were doing a shoot for Clean Food Organic magazine on Friday, an article on Nourishing Young Children…. including early foods (after first foods). I wanted to present a simple yoghurt with a fruit puree, settling on Santa Rosa Plums as they are in season and glorious. The chapter for first foods in my book Wholefood for Children, Nourishing Young Children with Whole and Organic Foods, is headed Pure and Simple, and honestly this very much what it’s all about. Pure, simple food is exceptionally grounding – I honestly think our recipes have become far too complicated, and the real taste of ripe, seasonal food, grown in nutrient rich soil in a sustainable manner is really, quite astonishing. This is equally as important for teenagers and adults. Pure and simple.
I do love fresh fruit don’t get me wrong, but when the flavour is concentrated by stewing or baking, it simply crosses the blood brain barrier, and whacks you directly in the taste centre of the brain. Now that’s not a scientific opinion but it’s my belief that it absolutely becomes more than it’s initial ripe self. I have a particular way I like to stew fruit – and that is with as little liquid added as possible which only serves to dilute the flavour. Remove peel or stone as indicated by the fruit (peel apples, stone plums etc) and chop them into desired size – as a rule, I cut wet fruit (stone fruit) into halves, and berries left whole. Drier fruit such as apples I cut into very thin slices or cubes. Add them to a pot with the smallest amount of sugar if needed – just enough to take the edge off – I like to use the Billingtons Golden Castor sugar – the least refined, clear crystallised sugar available to me – this allows the pure flavour of the fruit to come through, 1 – 2 teaspoons, more for a larger amount. This is no place for rapadura, maple sugar etc. Add 1/2 – 1 vanilla bean, cut down the middle ( I’m in love with Heilala, has a beautiful nuance of flavour). For very dry fruit such as apple, I’ll add a tiny bit of water. Cover and place over the gentlest of flames until juices are seeping from the fruit – this takes from 10 – 15 minutes, so be patient. Take the lid of, taste and adjust sweetness as desired, increase the flame to high and reduce to desired consistency. I leave the vanilla bean in because I’m making enough to last me for a few days – ooh, a quick dessert to serve with a rice custard – yes thank you, or serve on an autumn porridge or pikelets, yes thank you, or morning tea with yoghurt, yes please :), and let’s not forget, fold into a vanilla ice cream Yes, Yes, Yes ! Puree for baby.
Labne – really, this is simply strained yoghurt or kefir and this is proper thick yoghurt, where the watery part of the milk – the whey – is dripped off. Those thick yoghurts you find in the shops – albeit organic? You don’t want them. They’re thickened up with milk solids (no, no, no). My favourite brand is Paris Creek (Bio – Dynamic) – but when I can get it, I like the Shulz Organic Yoghurt also (couldn’t find a website for them) and you’ll notice they are decidedly more watery than the others. This is what real yoghurt looks like. The idea is to take a sieve (but you know, you could use a colander though it’s a little large) and place over a bowl to catch the whey. Line it with 4 layers of muslin. Add the yoghurt and fold the corners of the muslin over the yoghurt. In the cooler weather you can leave it out to drip, when warmer, put it in the fridge. There’s no time rule – the longer it drips, the thicker it becomes as more whey drips out. You choose what consistency you’d like. And keep that whey – place it in a clean glass jar in the fridge for up to 2 months. You use this for all sorts of things – soaking your grains, porridge, legumes, culturing dried fruits (see Wholefood for Children), adding to pancake or pikelet mix to culture overnight etc. The labne is gorgeous also in a savoury format – drizzled with extra virgin olive oil and herbs, or served in place of cream – mix with cinnamon, vanilla and maple syrup.
There are some beautiful fruits right now at this point of time in Australia – late summer, very early autumn. Plums, Figs, Peaches. Find some, keep them simple, taste their pure essence and take a snapshot of that flavour with your mouth. When you are tired of apples in the deepest parts of winter, you can file back through your taste memories and I know you will smile, and feel that essence flow through you once again. This is what good food, healthy food truly is. It gives you life, and makes you feel alive, all in one glorious, delicious whole moment. Go grab that moment.
Pancakes For Breakfast
OAT, APPLE AND BUCKWHEAT PIKELETS
When I was down in Augusta recently, I was reminded of the power of the pancake – or really, as I like to make them, a pikelet (a fatter and smaller version of the said pancake). Brendan made the most spectacular, enormous light and fluffy pancakes I’ve ever seen and served them on the deck (amidst the pink jasmine blossom) with a delicious cinnamon apple sauce, toasted nuts and seeds, honey or maple syrup, home made peach jam and yoghurt. This is a set Sunday breakfast at 8am. I want to be there every Sunday at 8am !!! And it reminded me just what a great breakfast (and indeed snack) a good pikelet can be, especially at this time of the year as the weather warms. Porridge can become a bit heavy and boring, and really a good wholegrain pikelet is just a porridge in another, albeit lighter, form.
I’m a big fan of soaking grains for porridge (lot’s of recipes for these in my books) as this makes them more digestible. Phytic Acid is broken down (ensuring that you do indeed absorb all those wonderful minerals in whole grains), as are enzyme inhibitors and in the gluten grains, gluten. Soaking a grain really makes it so much more digestible and most people notice an enormous difference in how they digest it. You can take this concept of soaking on to include all wholegrain flours – now when it comes to cakes and cookies, I’m not much of a fan. I’m not a purist and it will often result in heavy end results. But, when it comes to pikelets or pancakes, it’s truly such a easy and wonderful thing to do. You’ll notice a little salt in the soaking recipe – I use this when soaking a flour – with so much endosperm (and thus starch and thus, sugar) available, salt just helps to slow it all down, a little control factor. I really prefer to add something lacto – fermented like
whey, yoghurt or kefir – it really helps to bump up the said lacto – fermentation.
I prefer to cook these babies in coconut oil – a great oil for heating, and it makes the edges so deliciously crispy, but you also use ghee or butter, or a combination. A word about cooking – make sure your pan is hot, but never so hot that the coconut oil is rippling or smoking. The batter should sizzle as it hits the oil, and should take 3 or so minutes until it is ready to turn. The pikelets will most likely have absorbed the oil (this is fine), and you can see in picture below, the the edges have ‘dried’ out so to speak, and there are lots of little holes. Now is the time to turn them. If the pan is too hot, they will cook on the outside, before the inside is cooked. If you’d like to add a little more oil (1 teaspoon at the most) after you’ve turned them you can, otherwise don’t worry.
As we are only just coming into spring (thus very little fresh fruit around), I used apples for the fruit and to make a simple apple sauce I just peeled and chopped 3 apples into my favourite Reiss enamel pan, with 1 tablespoon rapadura sugar, a touch of cinnamon and 1/4 cup water. Cover and let cook very slowly for 15 – 20 minutes, stirring often and breaking down the apples. When cooked, I grated in a little lemon zest. But now that strawberries are on their way (how exciting is this !!), I’d most likely make a simple poached strawberry number (in both Coming Home to Eat, and Wholefood for Children) and use a banana to mash into the pancake instead of the apple.
Yoghurt, Cultured Cream (Wholefood for Children) and Cream Fraiche, all are wonderful options for serving as they add more good bugs to help with the digestion. The Cultured Dried Apricot and Fig Puree from Wholefood for Children is another excellent lacto -fermented option and dairy free.
Don’t worry too much if you see an oily residue on the plate where they’ve been – this is the coconut oil. They won’t taste too oily, only delicious with crunchy edges – just take care not to let your oil smoke when you are cooking them. And leftovers? Brilliant heated up for breakfast the next day, or for a lunchbox snack. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do. I’ll see you at your place around 8am Sunday?
OAT AND APPLE PIKLETS OR PANCAKES
Wheat Free, Low Gluten. Can be dairy free.
Makes 10 medium – large pikelets
In Australia, Four Leaf makes a great Oat Meal. If you cannot find oatmeal, grind up some rolled oats into a meal, and then measure the amount from this – you may need to add a little extra milk (1 tablespoon is plenty) to the batter the next morning as the rolled oats absorb a bit more liquid.
If you’d like to make these a little softer for rolling (like a pancake) add a little more milk or egg. They can also be topped with berries or other fruits as desired.
½ cup oat meal
½ cup buckwheat flour
tiny pinch sea salt
1 cup milk or ½ cup coconut milk and ½ cup rice milk
2 teaspoons whey, yoghurt or kefir
¼ teaspoon cinnamon
1 tablespoon rapadura sugar
1 tablespoon melted butter, ghee or coconut oil
1 – 2 small apples 170gm approx/ peeled and grated
¾ teaspoon baking powder
ghee, butter or coconut oil for frying
SOAKED:
Add the oat meal, buckwheat flour, salt, milks and whey to a small bowl – stir together well. Cover and leave on the bench (or in the fridge) to stand overnight.
The next morning add the cinnamon, sugar, melted fat of choice, and grated apple. Sift in the baking powder and gently stir together.
Gently heat enough ghee, butter or coconut oil to coat the base of a frypan. Add 1 tablespoon (or more as desired) of the mixture to the pan. Cook well on one side for 2 – 3 minutes and is golden – you should also see small bubbles appearing in the batter – before turning it over. Cook on the other side for 1minute approx.
UNSOAKED – OMIT THE SALT
Combine the flours, cinnamon, sugar and sifted baking powder in a bowl – whisk through to mix. Add the grated apple, milk and fat of choice, mix together well before cooking.
Reducing Your Food Costs with Seasonal Organic Food
CAULIFLOWER FRITTERS WITH FUNKY BRIGHT GREEN FAVA SPREAD
I know a lot of you want to include more organic food in your diet, but for many, the perception is that they are too expensive. This is not necessarily true. It’s an incredibly worthwhile thing to want to do – it’s really the easiest way to get more nutrient density and less pesticide load, and walk lightly on the earth. There are many things you can do that will reduce your food costs and these are my top 8.
- Cook from Scratch: This is the most powerful way to reduce your food costs – muesli you make (even if using the most expensive organic, sulphur free dried fruits and nuts, will cost you about 1/4 the price of a packaged, pre – prepared one.
- Buy and Eat Seasonally: Very often, when something is in season, it will often be cheaper than it’s conventional counterpart. Last summer, organic mangoes were cheaper than conventional (when they were in season), as were apples this winter. Thus we ate a lot of mango (not that that is a problem!) over another more expensive fruit, but that is seasonal eating.
- Buy Direct from the Grower: Generally, the closer to the grower you can get, the cheaper it will be. Buy from the farm, or further out on the food chain, at a Farmers Market. This includes meat and eggs.
- Join a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture). The model varies enormously from farm to farm, but the idea is you pay to join. This money then gives the farmer a stable income to plant and produce his/her crop. The return to you is the crop – which can be distributed in a variety of ways – it might be a weekly box of vegetables and fruit.
- Buy from a Bulk Bin: ANYTHING that is in a packet will cost you a lot, lot more.
- Reduce your Reliance on Meat: Eating meat everyday is not an environmentally sustainable option. Rather, look at more grain and legume, and vegetable dishes – making sure they are well balanced vegetarian meals.
- Plan the Menu for the Week Ahead: This is a very old fashioned thing to do, but boy does it work. It avoids wastage, and also saves you time.
- Look for Seconds when you Shop: Buy second fruits from the farmer direct, or look for specials (end of season apples for example that might not be pristine for eating, but great for an apple pie or crumble).
A good example of using simple seasonal vegetables to provide a cheap meal is the Cauliflower Fritter, and using older broad beans to puree into a delicious dip. The fritters are also a great example of using the more expensive (but exceptionally nutrient dense) egg in a way that extends it. These are great for breakfast, lunch or dinner with a salad, and also make a great snack. They are so simple to make and keep well. As the season changes, you could replace the cauliflower with zucchini or corn, and if you have any left over cooked grain, you could replace the bread-crumbs with that.
Makes approx 14 Fritters
1/2 medium cauliflower, cut into small florets, with a bit of stem
2 large eggs
2 tablespoons unbleached plain white spelt or wheat flour (potato flour or arrowroot for gluten free)
2 tablespoons (approx) fresh or stale breadcrumbs
1 – 2 tablespoons finely chopped chives or spring onions
handful fresh herbs – whatever is around, right now this would be basil or corinader
sea salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
extra virgin olive oil or coconut oil for frying
Steam the florets until soft, drain and pat dry (you don’t want water in the batter!). Mash half and if the remaining half has been cut into fairly large bits, chop them into smaller bits.
Crack the eggs into a medium bowl and whisk together. Add the flour, bread-crumbs, chives, herbs, salt and pepper and whisk together. Add the cauliflower, and if it seems to thick, just add a little milk, or another egg.
Heat enough oil to coat the base of a medium fry pan well, and add desired amount of batter – 1 tablespoon is good. Cook for approx 2 – 3 minutes on each side, or until golden brown. Drain on a paper towel before serving.
Funky Bright Green Fava Bean Dip
With the funkiest of colours, this dip is fabulous just about anywhere–with raw vegetables, heaped onto fritters, tossed into cooked pasta – even scooped onto cooked fish. It’s also a great way to use the older beans, and frozen will work just fine. This will keep for 3 days or so in the fridge.
1 1/2 cups fava (broad) beans. This is measured when peeled from the pod. They will measure 1 cup when peeled from their skins.
1 garlic – crushed
pinch sea salt or to taste
10 – 15 gm parmesan or pecorino cheese, finely grated
¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
3 teaspoons lemon juice – or to taste
Bring a small pot of water to the boil, add a pinch of sea salt and add the broad beans. Young beans will take about 1 minute, and older and larger beans about 3 minutes. Drain and run under cold water. They will now easily slip out of their skins.
Add the peeled beans and all ingredients to a food processor – puree or mash well until you have a thick paste. Taste and add a little more salt, cheese or lemon juice as required.
Store in a sealed, clean glass jar in the fridge.
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