Sunday 11 May 2014

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to all the hard-working and long-loving mums out there.
I hope all mums out there were indulged today. I think Mother's Day should be at least twice a year!
My husband completely surprised me with the most fabulous "primal" breakfast (that is, dairy was blessedly included). It was a recipe from my mummy's day present: the I Quit Sugar For Life recipe book. I had made Gwyneth's Paleo Bread, which he had topped with mashed avocado, fresh raspberries and the most divine goat's milk brie. What a great mix.



For our evening feast we had an antipasto platter of pate, salami, ham, sicilian olives, semi dried tomatoes, carrot sticks and more of that really good goat's milk brie. The boys love meals like that - we all sit round big platters and help ourselves to different flavour combinations.

I've had a big week of sweet potato folks. I competed in a sprint distance triathlon yesterday, so I really wanted to have a full tank before the competition. With one humble sweet potato, I made fritters for two lunches and PaleOMG's pumpkin bread (substituting the pumpkin for sweet potato). The bread was even popular with my boys. It was moist and the generous amount of nutmeg was really enticing. I had a slice of it the morning of my tri for some long and slow burning carbs.



The fritters were a basic recipe: 1 and a half cups of mashed sweet potato mixed in with about 150g tinned salmon, 1 beaten egg, a couple of tablespoons of fresh herbs, salt and pepper. I make little patties and fry them in some coconut milk or extra virgin olive oil. Then I made a big pile of rocket, avocado, tomato and cucumber and placed the patties on top. There was a quick dressing of 1 teaspoon of mayo, 1 tablespoon of coconut cream/milk and 1 tablespoon of chermoula paste to pour over it all.



We had guests over for pizza mid-week. I love making pizza dough - there's nothing better than the smell of the dough raising in the kitchen. To make a primal version, I baked a whole sweet potato, split it open and made it into a "pizza". I sat the potato in a sea of ranchero sauce, then dolloped blue cheese, bacon and roasted red pepper on top and grilled it til bubbling. Really filling but delicious and especially spectacular made with a purple sweet potato - that is, the flesh was a rich, royal purple (not the one in this picture below.)



I actually had the same dinner two nights in a row and the night before my race I wanted something not quite so high in fibre, so I made some plantain fritters, which I served with the same salad of lettuce, avocado, tomato and chermoula dressing. I used half the mixture then and cooked up the other half when I got back from the tri - starving and trying to avoid the packet of crisps sitting in the cupboard!



I almost forgot to mention my great excitement - it's now pumpkin soup time! I LOVE pumpkin soup and was stoked to make it this week for a scrumptious lunch. I roast half a butternut pumpkin, a couple of carrots and a bulb of garlic. Then I saute an onion and some rashers of bacon if I have them on hand. Add some dry roasted cumin, all the roasted veggies, several chicken stock cubes, cover the lot with water and bring it to the boil. Once I've blended it ,I then add half a tin of coconut milk. This one, I served with a plantain bread cheese toastie. To be honest the plantain bread didn't work well like this. It was nicer when I toasted it in the Breville and let the bread crispen up a bit more. 




Sunday 4 May 2014

May the Fourth be with you

I just had to blog today, so I could use that title!
It's also been a while and I have a few Paleo recipes to share with you since I left off. So, I added dairy back into my diet and strangely, the aching in my thumb joints has stopped. The problem is that I really don't like the flavour of milk now, except in my tea. But it's lovely to have a slice of cheese and a big dollop of yoghurt every now and then. I also added corn back in, or more precisely, I've tried corn twice now and had no reaction, so that's a bonus.
Apart from those few diversions, I've happily remained Paleo for 99% for the time. I read that people on Elimination Diets often are hesitant to add food groups back into their diet as they are so happy with the status quo that they don't want to potentially upset their systems. This is where I'm at. 

Here are some yummies I've made recently:
I went back to my favourite sweet-toothed gal, paleOMG, to make Chocolate Almond Butter Cups. They're cute, easy to make and very rich. I keep mine in the freezer. They're still not as good as her Chocolate Coffee Caramel Bars, which I'm going to make again this week.



I've loved the "not cornbread pie crust" recipe and decided to make it with Moroccan flavours instead. So I made my own chermoula and harissa. 

Chermoula from Greg and Lucy Malouf's "Moorish"
2 Tbspns cumin seeds, roasted and ground
1 Tbspn coriander seeds, roasted and ground
1.5 Tbspn sweet paprika
1 Tbspn ground ginger
2 cloves garlic, chopped
2-4 whole bullet chillies, seeded, scraped and chopped
juice of 2 lemons
100ml olive oil
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper

Blitz all ingredients in the food processor. Tip into a clean, sterilised jar and cover with olive oil. It will keep for up to 6 months. Top up with a little olive oil every time you use it. 

To make the Chermoula flavoured cauliflower puree, I simply blitzed the cauli in the food processor with a big dollop of chermoula. It seems to keep in the fridge for a week. I love using it as a base for dishes, as with the sausage stew, or as a topping so it goes a bit crispy.

Harissa from Greg and Lucy Malouf's "Moorish"
1 red pepper, whole
10-15 dried red chillies
10 small bullet chillies
2 cloves garlic
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp cumin seeds, roasted and ground
3/4 tsp caraway seeds, roasted and ground
60 ml olive oil

Preheat the oven to 200oC. Place the pepper on a baking tray and roast til the skin starts to blister. Remove from the oven, place in a bowl and cover with cling film to steam for 10 mins. Peel away the skin and discard the stalk and seeds.
Pour enough boiling water over the dried chillies to cover and leave to rehydrate for 10 mins. Seed the bullet chillies. Crush the garlic with the salt.
Blitz all the ingredients in the food processor. Taste for seasoning.
I made this without seeding the bullet chillies..... it really is HOT!!! 
Tip into a sterilised jar and cover with a thin layer of olive oil. It will keep for 4 weeks in the refrigerator.





As it's recently been the school holidays, I offered to make sushi for the boys. So we went to the fish market and my eldest chose some sashimi salmon (bless him), while my youngest chose the dodgy seafood extender of dubious origin. I've really got quite accustomed to sushi without rice (imagine explaining that in Japan?!) With lots of carrot strips, avocado, cucumber and pickled ginger, my salmon roll was fabulous.



The latest Coles recipe book has some good recipes for the family that can be adapted for Paleos. This one was a hit: Sausage Stew
1 Tbsp olive oil
8 Pork Sausages
1 eggplant (I slice mine, salt the slices and stand them in a colander. After an hour or so, I rinse the salt off them thoroughly and then cook them. It makes them more tender and less bitter.)
2 zucchini, sliced
200g mushrooms, sliced
2 x tins of basil and garlic chopped tomatoes

Heat oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat.
Cook the sausages til just cooked through. Transfer to a plate.
Add eggplant, zucchini and mushrooms to the pan. Cook for 5 mins or til softened. Add tomatoes and 1/2 cup of water. Bring to the boil. Reduce heat and simmer, uncovered for 12 mins or til tender. Slice sausages and add to the pan for the last 2 mins of cooking. 

At this point, I made mashed potatoes for the menfolk and served the stew with that. For myself, I had a batch of the Moroccan flavoured cauliflower puree on hand. I put a layer of the puree on the bottom of the dish, topped it with the sausage stew and then took 2 stalks of kale, rubbed them with some olive oil and salt and pepper and broke them up all over the sausage stew. I then baked the lot in a 180oC oven til it was bubbling, approx 20 mins (but watch that the kale doesn't get too burnt). 



This doesn't look so exciting but it was really tasty.

Then I came across some recipes for plantain. I got quite excited about this recipe for a decadent, oozy, cheesy sandwich and decided to give it a try. Firstly I made the plantain bread. I should have used baking paper as it stuck to the non-stick dish. But it was otherwise fine. The recipe made enough for 2-3 "sandwiches", depending on how big your baking tin was. Holy guacamole, it was good to have a grilled cheese sandwich. I also included some hot salami in mine. I believe it is a travesty to heat avocado and always add them to the sandwich after the cheese has oozed rewardingly out of the sandwich and caramelised on the Breville.... heaven.





Then, finally, I had guests round for brunch today and decided to channel Frida Kahlo and go all Mexican. I am sorry I forgot completely to take a photo of my plate but it looked very similar to this one.  I made the refried beans for the non-Paleos, and also made cornbread instead of the Spanish rice. I also should admit that I followed the instructions for the rancheros sauce and tortilla heating from this recipe... You gotta love a blog titled: Fur Coat, No Knickers - done up like a dog's dinner since 1984! So Paleos: grill some of the plantain bread and knock yourself out with the eggs, rancheros sauce, guacamole and a wee dollop of harissa. Really great flavours for all to enjoy. 

Cheers x