Recessionary times and healthy eating & living

As most of the world seems to be in the grips of a recession (I've even heard it being called a depression, which is even worse!), it is hard to know how people will respond when they have less money in their pockets, and in their bank accounts - that is if they still trust the banks to mind their money properly...

On the one hand, it could make people learn to cook at home, creating a whole new wave of social behaviour of eating healthy good food, cooked from scratch, because the ready-made food section is very expensive for what you get, and anyway, if you're at home because you cant afford to go out, then it makes great use of all that extra time you have - and lets face it, TV is fairly awful most of the time, so you cant really watch the rerun of the rerun of a not very good comedy show - again!! And if you cook that little bit extra - then you have the leftovers for your lunch the next day (yes, it is time to buy that lunch-box and pack it with home-cooked food!).

On the other hand, and this is probably more likely, people will have to work harder to stay at work, worried about holding onto their job and prepared to work all hours to be seen to be doing a good job. They'll then head home and will have little choice of fresh food available to them on their way home, and then will be too tired to cook from scratch when they arrive in the door, so will pick up a take-away meal, or a convenience meal or a frozen pizza or whatever the easiest option will be... and the end result will be poorer health - you cant be healthy if you dont eat healthily - it is simply an impossibility in the long-term. This will then turn into a vicious circle, as if you are less healthy, you'll have less energy, and then working long hours will mean that your energy reserves will be depleted, and then you'll be prone to illness, or just plain tiredness...

So, if anyone is looking for a New Year's resolution - yes I know its a bit early, but at the same time... why not think about how you can turn recessionary times into a recipe for better health? Things to try... - dont try them all at the same time, as you'll never do it - just add one each fortnight and see how you get on...

Get out and walk or cycle to work - save yourself the bus-fare, or the petrol if you normally drive - and yes, there are dry days in January/February so no excuses for not doing healthy exercise three times a week at least.

Try and cook your evening meal from scratch - yes, starting with fresh raw ingredients - just go for it at least part of the week. If your cooking skills are non-existent, then learn some (you could even come to one of my cookery courses, but of course there are lots of them around). If you cant afford to pay for a cookery course, then get a friend who can cook to teach you - it is great fun and really easy to learn - so, no excuses on that one!

If you think that you'll be too tired during the week, then do your main shopping at the week-end. For me certainly, I never mind the cooking, its the shopping I dont like - crowds in the supermarket, dismal lack of choice and people looking like zombies - not the kind of experience to cheer you up at the end of a long day... If you go to a farmer's market, rather than to your supermarket, you are likely to get fresher food, and it'll be a positive experience as most stall-holders are only too happy to talk to you - a far cry from the experience in most supermarkets I know of. Find out when there is one near you. Then pick healthy ingredients - yes, you do know which ones to go for - and if you dont, email me and I'll be happy to help you with a top 20 list of good foods.

When you cook your dinner, make enough to freeze for another day, or enough to throw together a lunch-box for work the next day. Occasionally, make up a batch of fresh soup - great to have in the freezer for emergencies - there are literally thousands of recipes on the internet for soups, but if you want some ideas, I'm happy to help with some recipes - for starters try the squash soup recipe on this blog.

If you have any garden at all - or even a window box - grow some edible plants, particularly herbs - many of them have medicinal extra benefits as well as adding great tastes to your food - and the sense of pride you get when you can pick your own herbs to add to dishes is fantastic.

Is that enough??

Join the library - these days the range of books is pretty good, and it is free for the most-part (well, unless you're like me and forget to bring back the books, thus defeating the whole purpose of getting free books, because you've to pay huge fines!)

Join a book-club - I joined one earlier this year and have made some lovely new friends. If you're not into books, join a club which does interest you - most of them are really cheap to join and you'll get out and about with a purpose while the dark winter nights pass by!

You dont have to join a gym to get fit - walking an hour a day at a good pace will do the trick - just make sure you have good fitting walking shoes and that you wear visible clothing if you are walking in a non-lit area. Other sports clubs always welcome new people - and you dont even have to play competitively - there are lots of things that non-playing members can help out with, and you can just join in the practice sessions.

I think the most important thing of all is to remain positive. If our recession does indeed turn into a depression - it is called that for a reason, so dont give into it. As there are really strong links between healthy eating and energy, and between healthy exercise and even more energy, these are the things to focus on while the world economy tries to sort itself out. And who knows what opportunities times like this could throw your direction, so stay alert!

Lamb meat-balls with tomato, roast peppers and herby dip

I was experimenting with flavours last week, for once trying to prepare a dish that would match a wine, rather than the other way around. The wine in question was a St Emilion Grand Cru, one of the wines that we are working with our wine importing partners to market and showcase. I decided that lamb would work well, with a tomato and herb-based dip to go with some lamb meatballs. Due to the higher fat content in lamb, I thought it would work better to reheat than beef meatballs, and I wanted to play with the tastes in the dip to match. I roasted some red and yellow peppers in the oven - 20 minutes max, and then didnt even try and remove the skin afterwards. In the meantime, I chopped up a large clove of garlic, and softened it in some warm olive oil. I then hunted in the garden for some herbs and found some thyme, oregano and mint - mostly mint! I added this to the olive oil and garlic mix. I then blitzed the peppers and herb mix in the food processor and put them back onto the heat once they were fairly well blitzed. I then added about 200ml of tomato passata and about a glass of red wine and a generous squeeze of lemon juice (you have to taste it at this stage to know how much lemon juice to add, as it all depends on the sweetness of the peppers and the style of red wine. Finally, I seasoned it fairly generously with salt and black pepper. For the lamb meatballs: Cook off finely chopped onion (about half a small onion for a kilo of lamb mince and garlic - and some chilli if you are so inclined!. Then when that has cooled, add into lamb mince, salt and pepper - you can then form either small meatballs or larger kofti shaped ones - or even burger size if you want... Fry them in olive oil until browned and then finish off in the oven - 5 minutes for the smaller ones, up to 10 if you have burger size. As this dish went down so well, I will have to do it again, paying more attention to the quantities, and publish it on the website as a proper recipe... And it worked really well with the St Emilion - great dish for a supper party as it reheats wonderfully well...

Rabbit food!

I have been struggling for a while now to get a recipe to cook rabbit, which looks and tastes good. One recipe tasted great (lots of red wine and slow cooking), but looked unappetising - mainly a dull grey colour! The other recipe - loosely based on something someone had eaten in Spain - was incredibly tough (a quick cook recipe) and the rabbit tasted extremely gamey! A friend - Charlotte - who is french, suggested the following, which she has cooked a number of times and tells me tastes and looks delicious...

"One of my favorite dishes in the world is lapin a la moutarde it is yummy. Basically a chopped rabbit cooked in a stew dish with 1 cup water, once cooked slowly for 1-2 hours add a 50/50 mixture of French mustard and crème fraiche about 250ml of each and mushrooms (thinly sliced). You can have it with rice it is yummy the rabbit flakes off (can do same dish with chicken).We had it a few weeks ago with irish wild rabbit (cavistons I think) it did not taste too gamey."

So, there you go - I'll be trying it out one of the days, but in the meantime, if you want to try it, take a photo of the end result and send it to me with your verdict!





This is what it is supposed to look like...

November lunch for 7 - including a vegetarian!

I was planning a lunch for a group of wine-tasters recently, when I realised that one of them is a vegetarian (I always check with people these days). This put a different perspective on lunch, as up to that point, I was planning a warming lamb casserole with Indian spices and flavours, which I had planned to prepare the day before. I know that a lot of vegetarians hate the idea that they are left with the 'side dishes' while everyone else scoffs down the dish that is the centre-piece of lunch, so I had to rethink my approach. It was made even more complicated by the fact that said vegetarian has also been diagnosed with wheat intolerance. So, I decided that a series of 'help yourself' dishes would work well - that way each dish would be interesting in itself, and the vegetarian luncher could simply not eat the meat dish. It worked out extremely well! I included the following:


Roasted squash (yes, more of the wonderful Crown Prince!), with lots of rocket, roasted pine nuts, little chunks of goats cheese, pink peppercorns and dressed with a mix of olive oil, lemon juice and cider vinegar. Because this dish is quite robust and filling, I reckoned that the vegetarian would get enough to eat! I hadnt reckoned on it going down as well as it did for the carnivores around the table, so it was just as well that I had hedged my bets with some 'meaty' aubergine as well! Everyone commented on how delicious the squash was - most people saying that they are sick of butternut squash at this stage, so something different and more interesting in taste was great. I forgot to take a photo of it, but I will the next time I make it and post the photo to my blog.


Tomato salad - I used the last of my home-grown toms, and the rest of them were bought at the market, so they tasted delicious! I added some red onion, some long red pepper slices and some basil, then drizzled some olive oil on top.


I made some tztaziki, and bought some really good hummus from Lilliput Stores in Stoneybatter, and I made some flatbreads with spelt flour. I also roasted some aubergine that morning.


Last, but not least, I roasted some lamb in the oven - fillet of lamb off the leg, which had marinated in garlic, mint, olive oil and thyme for a while beforehand. Unfortunately, while concentrating on making the flatbreads, I left the lamb in the oven for about ten minutes too long, so it was more done that I would have liked, but otherwise it was delicious!


We had a lovely meal out of all this - everyone just helped themselves to the various dishes and I dont think that anyone else realised that one of the guests was a vegetarian at all! And just about everything we ate was healthy - lots of organic vegetables, healthy fats, dips made from healthy ingredients (hummus with chickpeas and tztazaki from yoghurt, cucumber, garlic and mint), organic lamb, organic spelt flour, etc...


To drink with the food, we had a French Syrah Les Grands Augustins from Tardieu Laurent in the Vin de Pays d'Oc, which complemented the food beautifully!

Let me know if you would like any of these recipes, I would be delighted to send further details to you... The whole meal took about an hour and a half to prepare, so a great option for a relaxed Sunday lunch maybe followed with some more cheese and fruit to round it off...

Autumn fare and photos

I recently spent a lovely hour in the Botanic Gardens near me in Dublin, taking photos. It is a place where I go for walks a number of times a week, and it is great to have such a resource nearby. They have launched an organic fruit, vegetable and herb garden there this year, and it has been a wonderful addition to the place. This is a photo of some of the produce, on display at the moment as we approach Halloween.

The images inspired me to come home and make some soup - always a comforting activity on a cold day! I had some wonderful Crown Prince Squash sitting in my vegetable bowl, so I decided to use one of those. As usual, my supplier of choice was Jenny McNally at Temple Bar Farmers Market, and she had told me that the Crown Prince is her own favourite - and it certainly made a great soup! This is the recipe that I used, which I've often used for butternut squash, so I would say it'll work for most types of squash.

Ingredients:

1 medium squash (organic if possible)
1 tsp of coriander seeds (whole)
2 cloves of garlic
750 ml of stock (either vegetable or chicken) or water – plus more if necessary
1 medium onion, chopped
olive oil

To garnish: small handful of coriander leaves, finely chopped, and plain yoghurt (sheep’s milk based if dairy intolerant)

To prepare:
Heat the oven to 200°
Split the squash lengthwise into two halves, and then into wedge-shaped chunks and remove the seeds with a spoon; rub over with olive oil, and sprinkle with the coriander seeds. Place clove of garlic (do not remove skin) in the centre of each half of the squash.
Bake in the oven for approximately 40 minutes, or until a knife can easily be inserted through the squash – it might take longer depending on how ripe the squash is.
Meanwhile, sauté the onion in a little olive oil until soft and transparent – this takes a little while, but keep the heat low as otherwise the onion will burn!
When the squash is cooked, leave to cool for a few minutes until it can be handled. Then peel off the skin – or scoop out the flesh - and chop roughly. Squeeze the cooked garlic centre out from the skins (it should come away easily)
Add to the cooked onion, and add half the stock (or water).
Blitz with a hand blender or use a food processor.
Add the rest of the stock or water to get the consistency you like – ideally quite thick but not a puree.
Serve with a dollop of yoghurt and sprinkle with coriander leaves

Other options on the spices would include cumin or fennel seeds, both equally delicious. Any left-over soup freezes really well.

Exploring healthy eating advice

I am an avid reader of books which advise on healthy eating and healthy lifestyles, along with pretty consistent online research on the same topic. However, I was pretty startled to read about claims as to the extent to which the ph of your body affects your health. I was aware that an alkaline digestive system is a desirable thing, but reading about the claims that having your whole body in an alkaline state totally discourages cancer from flourishing was a new concept for me. Having also recently read that sugar encourages cancer cells in the body to replicate - and ingesting simple carbs makes your system acidic apparently - the two theories seem to complement each other. Also, stress can very quickly turn your system from alkaline to acidic - in as little as five minutes! All very interesting, but are these theories sustained by good research and lots of empirical evidence? As usual, it is very difficult to tell how well founded some of these theories are, and if the paranoia about the efforts made by big business to suppress some of these findings has any basis in reality. However, if these claims have even a small grain of truth then they should be explored by everyone to see if making changes to diet can improve health and longevity - not just to tackle obesity, but to address other major illnesses such as arthritis, diabetes and cancer.

On cooking rice...and other grain topics

While finalising my Tips & Tricks Guidelines for my Asian Inspiration cookery workshops, I decided to do a bit of online research on other people's experiences with cooking brown rice, which is the only type of rice that we now cook with (in fact I actually dont like white rice anymore when compared with brown). There seems to be a bit of mystique out there about how to cook brown rice, when I have found it to be much more forgiving than its white counterpart, which is apt to turn into a gelatinous mess if you turn your back on it for a minute! Brown rice on the other hand is difficult to overcook, and each rice particle remains separate even when the rice has gone cold. All this and its so much better for you - holding onto its vitamins and minerals and all the fibre that makes it a low-medium GI food to eat - and it tastes better - what more could you want?! So, go on, get out there and buy some brown Basmati rice, cook it for 30 minutes with double the quantity of water to rice and hey presto - great rice!

On a related carbohydrate topic - have you ever traipsed around a city mid-afternoon with someone who is wheat intolerant, in search of something quick to eat to tide you both over from an insubstantial and early lunch through to a late dinner? Well, it is an experience that you wont want to repeat if you can help it, but it is one that I went through recently in Dublin. Outside of lunchtime, the food options for people who are wheat intolerant - and up to 20% of people apparently have serious difficulties in digesting wheat - reduces to almost 0! Unless you count fast-food joints, which ironically are probably the only option available, where you can have chips and a burger, but you would prefer something slightly more healthy than that. We went from one end of the city centre to the other, and the vast majority of places which were serving food had wheat-based bread and no other options. So there was traditional Irish soda bread, Italian panini, French baguette, brown sandwiches, white bread sandwiches, pasta, pizza, but no other form of carbohydrate in sight! Why hasnt anyone tried to provide even spelt-bread based sandwiches as an option around the city? Perhaps we could have gone as far as the Maison des Gourmets in Castle Market - where they do sell spelt bread in their bakery - they might have managed to put something together for us. However, by the time we had got to that part of the city, our will to continue the search had waned considerably, so we ended up in a Mexican restaurant, which in fairness to them, they managed some corn-based tortillas and nachos for us - which at least gave us enough of a boost to contemplate the bus ride home!