Detox-free health food!

I probably use my dad as the benchmark for whether I can get a healthy dish just counting as normal, tasty food. While he’s more than happy to eat loads of veg any sniff of something being passed off in place of his favourite things and he’s most unimpressed. I’ve managed to come up with a number of options he’ll eat but if its brown rice instead of white or courgetti instead of spaghetti he will always eat it with a slight air of martyrdom - I may finally have found the solution!

BodyKitchen aims to feed people healthy food without allowing their dishes to stray into the boring plain steamed chicken and veg category. They are getting ready to launch in the new year but are giving Tabl members and a few lucky friends the chance to try out the food in advance. Last week, I went to one of BodyKitchen’s taster events in Notting Hill. They’ve brought on a fantastic chef, who cut his teeth in Michelin-starred kitchens including The Fat Duck, and are working with nutritionists to take the healthy eating to the next level.

Our evening included a lovely pressed juice on arrival followed by three courses of delicious food accompanied by ‘healthy’ beer and wine. I only tried a sip of the sour beer courtesy of Tom from The Allrounder who declared he will be buying it in bulk. I can definitely say the biodynamic wine went down a treat!

Our starter was a butternut squash soup topped with parmesan cheese and toasted seeds. I had fully intended to leave most of the soup as I knew there was a huge amount of food to come but it was so tasty I wolfed down the whole lot before I remembered my good intentions.

The main was a choice of:

Slow cooked blade of Highland beef with rich braising juices and caramelised onions
Rabbit leg stuffed with sun dried tomato, rosemary and olives with lentil salsa verde and roast lemon
Whole roast sea bream marinated in aromatic spices with shaved fennel salad
Roast red pepper stuffed with tomato, herbs, chilli, garlic, spinach and feta cheese

I went for the beef as its BodyKitchen’s signature dish so seemed appropriate. It was meltingly tasty topped with shallots and gravy (or jus if you're feeling fancy). The sides were delicious and I especially liked the sweet potato masala - so much so I’m afraid the kale and quinoa were slightly neglected.

The pudding was not quite so healthy but it was so delicious I didn’t care - also fantastically from my point of view it was gluten free so half way there! The creme fraiche cut perfectly through the rich chocolate torte and was a very welcome end to a thoroughly delicious dinner.

There are a few more sneak preview events on Tabl for the new year then BodyKitchen will be launching so the lucky residents of West London will be able to order this healthy-fare to their own doors. 

Usher in the new year with a healthy option you’ll actually look forward to eating!

www.tabl.com

A Very French Weekend

Last weekend I went for a long overdue visit to see my cousin and her family in Paris! I haven't been to Paris in years so I was very excited about actually spending time there with someone who:

1. Speaks the language - my French is basic at best (although I’ve been told my accent isn’t bad).
2. Knows their way around - although its ridiculous I hate to be the tourist walking round with their head buried in a map.
3. Knows the best places to eat - let’s face it this is probably the most important factor, how can I go to Paris without having amazing food?!

I arrived on Friday and met Jane for lunch in the 4th district / Le Marais - thoroughly recommended for a good shopping expedition as I left my heart with a beautiful cashmere dress! We went to eat at a great little place called Au Petit Fer à Cheval so named for its horseshoe bar to have a ‘pichet de vin’ and super cheesy crouton-topped french onion soup. My only piece of advice is beware the loos - I won’t go into detail as this is a food blog but I’ve not experienced a toilet like that in Europe since I last went skiing!

We spent a lovely afternoon wandering round the shops including a great vintage fair full of designer-ware that sorely tempted me. Having resisted picking up a pair of vintage Dior sunglasses we moved on to the more purse-friendly shops along with a few pitstops for another cheeky glass of wine or two. We also wandered down the Rue Saint-Louis en I’lle to pick up some of the best cheese I’ve ever eaten and some lovely bread for dinner - the truffled cheese was particularly delicious. Take note the cheese shop also offers a vacuum packing service for those who wish to take a little piece of Paris home with them. To my great pleasure our walk ended by crossing the Seine and catching a cab from right next to Notre Dame.

The following day we headed out to Montmartre with the kids for a strenuous workout walking up all the steps and a brief view over Paris followed by a more lengthly (and delicious) lunch at Chez Plumeau. I had a classic steak tartare with salad and chips while the kids went for burgers followed by crepes smothered in chocolate and chantilly. Unfortunately I was so busy stealing bits of crepe from the children and drinking vin chaud (mulled wine to you and me) I totally forgot to take any photos - very bad form!

After an afternoon nap - necessary after a huge lunch with wine - we were ready to head out again! We went for a few drinks and an explore followed by an absolutely delicious dinner at Comptoir Gormet. Don’t let the picture fool you, while this might look like a mere sandwich or wrap it is one of the tastiest dinners I’ve had in a very long time - and in my line of work that’s saying something! The piadina was especially good with a generous helping of porchetta, a mix of lovely mushrooms in truffle oil and a good pile of rocket. It was messy eating but the best combination - I’ll definitely be trying to recreate this one at home!!

If you’re looking for a post dinner drink in the area I would thoroughly recommend Les Etages. Although their drinks menu is limited they are more than happy for you to go off menu whether you’re looking for a cocktail or a cheeky glass of fizz. The other equally lovely option is to head further down the same road to La Belle Hortense for a post-dinner digetif.

Sunday was a walk from near the Eiffel Tower, down the Seine to the Musée d'Orsay. If you get a chance to go there I’d really recommend checking out the view through the clock face!

Monday everyone was back to work and school so I took myself off to Le Bon Marché for a shopping expedition. Not surprisingly I ended up spending almost all my time in La Grande Épicerie de Paris aka foodie paradise! It was full of the most delicious smells, products and testers - as you can see from the below I particularly enjoyed the fruit section. If you’re in Paris and have a couple of hours to kill I’d recommend having lunch there too - annoyingly I had a train to catch so I just filled my basket and legged it to the Metro.

All in all a very satisfactory long weekend - bring on the next visit!

Stale bread?

This is more of an idea than a recipe but I couldn't resist sharing! I watched Hugh's War on Waste recently - yes I know I'm behind but I've been busy and my Sky box was totally full of foodie programmes to catch up on! I'm a bit of a fanatic when it comes to using everything but this spurred me on to new heights.

Anyone who follows me on Instagram or Twitter will know I hosted my very first supper club with a colleague from Tabl just over a week ago. One of the dishes I cooked was a pulled pork slider with winter slaw - these were served in a little brioche bun (which I'll admit to buying rather than cooking myself).

There were a couple of buns left over, they sat in our office for about a week until they were horribly stale then I took them home - I had the perfect plan!! I'm not even going to pretend these were healthy as they definitely aren't but they are super tasty and make the perfect brunch/pudding/midnight snack.

Brioche french toast with honey

Stale brioche buns sliced in half (I had two but any bread or amount is fine, just adjust the eggs)
2 free range eggs, beaten
Glug of double cream
Flavourless coconut oil
Butter
Tiny pinch of salt
Honey

Beat the eggs and cream together with a tiny pinch of salt in a shallow bottomed dish that you can fit the brioche into, soak the brioche buns on both sides in the egg mix.
Heat the butter in a pan with a bit of oil to stop the butter burning.
Once your brioche is suitable soaked with egg mix, fry in the butter, turning over when browned.
Slide out onto a plate and drizzle with honey.
This would also be great with some sliced banana, mixed berries or even a dollop of whipped cream.

Best leftovers ever!

I love the chance to use up some of my leftovers - even better if I can create something totally different out of them! We had our Christmas party on Friday so by Saturday morning I was feeling a little worse for wear and may have gone totally overboard during a takeaway order from the Chicken Shop - I mean does anyone need a whole chicken and burger to themselves with all the side dishes?? No they do not!

Nevertheless I worked my way through a good portion then broke the chicken down into strips to be used in another recipe. Ironically I think the leftovers were actually better than the original chicken but that may be because they weren't eaten extremely hungover!

Here is the original order just for reference :)

Spicy chicken

2 red onions, chopped
3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
2 green peppers, chopped into chunks
4 jarred red peppers - the jarred option was mainly as I ran out of red peppers, 2-3 fresh red peppers would also be lovely (if you're using fresh peppers then add at the same time as the green)
1/2 bottle passata
Good squeeze tomato puree
Lots of leftover roast chicken, shredded - alternatively add raw chicken cut into chunks at the paprika stage
Heaped teaspoon hot smoked paprika
Dried basil - a good shake
Salt and pepper
Coconut oil - non-flavoured version
White or brown rice cooked according to packet instructions - I used white as I'm out of brown (and fancied the less healthy option on a Sunday night!)
Grated cheese, optional

Heat some coconut oil and fry the onions and garlic with a pinch of salt
After a couple of minutes add the paprika and green peppers, cook until slightly softened.
Add the basil, red peppers, passata and tomato puree - rinse out the passata jar and add the tomato water to the pan, let this come to a gentle simmer and reduce.
Add the chicken (if using cooked), stir through and season to taste.
Once hot, serve with rice and some grated cheese (if you fancy) - I used a bit of cheddar and it was yummy!

Salad for brunch?

I love a brunch on the weekend but sometimes I really crave a big pile of veg - this may or may not be linked to the wine consumption of a Friday night! Since I hadn't managed to get up until quite late on Saturday I thought I may as well create exactly what I was craving - the brunch elements of smoked salmon and a poached egg went perfectly into a huge bowl of salad leaves. The photo is missing avocado as I totally forgot to put it in until I'd taken a few bites and realised - to my horror!!! - that my favourite ingredient was missing :)

I won't lie this is definitely more of a suggestion than a recipe but the ingredients worked well together so I've included them here. You can of course substitute any vegetables you have hanging around in your fridge. The 'recipe' below serves one but can easily be doubled, tripled etc.

Weekend Brunch Salad

Spinach
Kale, briefly steamed then cooled
Roasted red pepper, cut into strips (as always I used jarred)
Smoked salmon
Toasted pumpkin and sunflower seeds
Half an avocado spooned out in chunks
1 large, free range egg
Lemon juice
Extra virgin olive oil
Salt and pepper
Goats cheese, optional extra

I'm lazy so I used one pan for all the cooking - start by toasting your seeds in the dry pan, then steam your kale in a tiny bit of water with a pinch of salt.
Once you've done this use the same pan to poach your egg.
While the egg is poaching you can assemble your other ingredients, toss everything together with a good squeeze of lemon juice and drizzle with olive oil, season to taste.
Once the egg is cooked and drained slide it on top of your salad and grind over some black pepper - if you're like me you might need a pinch of salt as well.
Serve up your delicious, protein packed and super filling brunch salad - enjoy!

NB: I added a bit of goats cheese to this as I had some hanging round in the fridge but its not needed so totally optional.

Lunch with a difference

Having met the lovely owner of Dhaba Lane at an event we ran recently she was kind enough to let me try some of the delicious healthy curries they offer as a lunch delivery option - after all you never know when we might need a working lunch in the world of food tech startups.

Here is the menu we were treated to - a normal portion of each easily went round between three of us for lunch with a little to spare so I had a number of grateful colleagues too!

Menu from Dhaba Lane

Kadai Paneer: Peppers, Onions and Paneer in a thick tomato gravy. The fresh peppers add spicy and sweet flavour to the spices.
Dhaba Chicken: Chicken curry as found on Indian highways. This is simplicity at its best, with freshly ground spices.
Paneer, pepper & gobi paratha: Hand rolled stuff flatbread, its like Paneer pizza flavours stuffed in a paratha, without the grease! We use wholemeal flour.
Salad: Fresh mix leaves tossed with yellow split lentils, spinach, minted courgettes and oil free roasted cauliflower & broccoli. Served with home-made dry mango chutney.

The Dhaba chicken curry and stuffed paratha were my favourite dishes and the ones I would go back to order again. They were both nicely spiced - as you'll remember from previous posts I'm a bit of a chilli fiend - and were even better when pimped up with a bit of the super hot chilli sauce that accompanied the dishes.

The salad made a tasty side and, although I'm not a lover of yellow split peas, they went really well with the rest of the dish a made a filling side to share or even a salad in its own right. The paneer curry was delicious but a bit on the mild side for me. My colleague who prefers to steer clear of spicy dishes loved it.

It made a lovely change for lunch and everything was really clean and fresh tasting. Its hard to find healthy options to eat at work and a healthy curry is an even more unusual find so well worth checking out!

A Cheeky Italian

I was lucky enough to be invited to lunch at Clapham-based Donna Margherita on Friday to check out the menu for their Napoli in Clapham event. The food was amazing and it was great to hear the owner, Gabriele's, passion for Neapolitan food and culture.

As we ate our way through the bruschetta, parmigiana, calamari, pizza margherita (which I learned to fold like a true Italian), gnocchi and two of the most delicious cakes I've ever tried, we chatted about food - of course!! Gabriele is passionate about the difference cooking methods and the resulting food between Southern Italy - especially Napoli - and the rest of the country. You'll have to come to the event to learn more but one of the things he did tell me about was the importance of al dente pasta - apparently those from Napoli like a bit more bite than the result of the country. He was kind enough to send me on my way with a packet of spaghetti so I felt like it was only fair to share the results!

To get the best taste of the spaghetti itself I decided to do a simple tomato sauce but this evening I couldn't resist eating even more pasta so cooked a 'meatier' version with prawns. I'm sure its not remotely authentic Italian food - you'll have to head to Clapham for that! - but it was delicious and the bite of the pasta definitely made a difference. I think I may have even been converted to Rummo.

 Spaghetti with slow cooked tomato sauce

1 red onion, roughly chopped
2 large garlic cloves, peeled and chopped
Punnet of good quality tomatoes, organic if possible
Dried basil
Dried chilli flakes
Salt and pepper
Olive oil
Marsala wine, if needed

Fresh basil to finish

Fresh grated parmesan to finish

Heat the oil in a frying pan and add the onion and garlic with a good pinch of salt, fry until soft.

Add the tomatoes, dried basil, chilli flakes and cover.

Leave to cook down for a while, if the tomatoes are not that ripe add a small splash of Marsala to sweeten them, if not using wine then add a splash of water.

Cook on a low heat with a cover on for as long as you can bear, I cooked these tomatoes for about 40 minutes whole then blitzed and returned to the pan with a bit of water and cooked for a further hour.

When you're happy with your tomato sauce you can get your pasta on - cook according to packet instructions (9 minutes in this case). I've been strictly told you need to time this to get true al dente pasta and it did work perfectly so I'm not going to deviate from instructions.

Once the timer has gone drain your pasta reserving a bit of water in case your sauce is too thick.

Add the pasta to the warm pan of sauce along with the fresh basil, adjust of flavouring and toss the pasta through the sauce ensuring everything is evenly coated.

Plate up and cover with lots of freshly grated parmesan cheese.

I also did another version of this dinner tonight, almost exactly as above but instead of fresh tomatoes I used tinned and I skipped the wine.
Once I'd blitzed the sauce and returned to the pan I added chopped roasted pepper and some big fat prawns - I always use frozen but if you can get good fresh ones then this will be even better!
Cover and allow the prawns to cook while you do your pasta.
Again the rest of the instructions would be as above - the perfect super fast recipe for a delicious midweek supper!