Aug 9, 2019 | Anna's Best Recipes, Sides, starters, soups & snacks
This is a delicious way to enjoy cauliflower. I use my Middle Eastern tahini sauce as a dressing but you could also dress with extra virgin olive oil, lemon juice and some paprika/smoked paprika. If you like, add some chopped fresh oregano or flat leaf parsley when the salad has cooled. The tahini sauce is also lovely used as a sauce over some simple poached/grilled fish, or as a dip with vegetable sticks. Keeps well in an airtight jar for several days. I like to make the dressing a bit in advance, to let the flavours develop. Eat it warm or cold – it’s all good.
For the salad:
1 medium cauliflower, leaves removed
2 tbs extra virgin olive oil
1 dsp sumac
Freshly ground black pepper
Himalayan/sea salt
2 large handfuls (about 250g) green beans (or runner beans)
For the dressing:
1 rounded tbs light tahini
2 tbs lemon juice and about 125ml cold water OR 150ml home made kefir (lemon juice OR kefir gives the sauce acidity and balance)
1-2 cloves garlic, crushed
1. Preheat oven to 200C/185C fan
2. Placing the whole cauliflower with stalk downwards, cut in half, and cut out the big central stalk. Then slice each half in slices approximately 1.5cm thick. Slicing (rather than breaking into florets) helps the cauliflower to caramelize deliciously.
3. Place in an ovenproof roasting dish, drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle over the sumac, a good pinch of salt and lots of black pepper and mix gently to coat everything evenly.
4. Roast for 20-25 minutes until you can pierce easily with a fork.
5. While the cauli is roasting, boil the kettle. Steam the green/runner beans until they are slightly softened but retain some crunch. Drain and refresh in cold water. This stops the cooking process. Once cooled, drain.
6. Make the tahini sauce. Whisk or blitz together in a mini food processor all the sauce ingredients. You are aiming for a consistency about the texture of double cream. You may need to add more water as you go to achieve this. The tahini will clump initially. Just keep mixing, and adding more liquid if needed.
7. When cauliflower is cooked so a fork pierces it easily, empty it and the green beans, into a serving dish and drizzle with the sauce.
Why this is good for you;
Cauliflower is a sulphurophane vegetable. This means that (like broccoli and cabbage) it is rich in sulphur which is crucial for detoxification. Detoxification affects every aspect of our health so if you want clear skin, good energy, mood and to keep clear of any health conditions, these sulphur rich veg are great to eat at least 3 times a week.
Garlic is also rich in sulphur and helps rebalance your gut bacteria in favour of useful micro organisms which ALSO aid detoxification. In fact over 70% of your detoxification is looked after by good gut bacteria – if you have enough quantity and variety of them!! Spices like sumac, paprika and black pepper, used to coat food, help reduce the toxic substances generated by roasting/heating food to high temperatures.
Spices (and herbs) also stimulate our body’s antioxidant defenses to keep us looking and feeling better for much, much longer. Kefir, especially when home-made, is a hypoallergenic milk product that’s really rich in over 30 species of beneficial micro organisms. Did you know that although many of these micro organisms dont survive the acid in our stomachs they still exert a beneficial effect. Research has shown that even heat-killed friendly bacteria do us good when we take them. Who knew! Of course we really also want to grow our own good bugs, which colonise and cling to the walls of our large intestine. There they ferment plant fibres (if we eat a big variety of plants) to make short chain fatty acids. Short chain fatty acids like butyrate are essential for daily repair of our gut. Get your gut health right and you have at least 90% of your health sorted.
Jul 15, 2019 | Anna's Best Recipes, Dressings, rubs, spreads, sauces & more
I have to say this is the most delicious mayo recipe I have ever tasted. I so enjoyed it with steamed asparagus and a couple of boiled eggs for lunch today. Personally I like using a half and half mix of extra virgin sunflower/sesame and olive oils. Extra virgin sesame oil has a neutral flavour similar to sunflower, in my opinion. Nothing like the usual sesame oil, which is super heat-treated. Dijon mustard, salt and herbs preserve the mayo longer. When its gone over, you’ll know because it will have separated or gone runny. One yolk will bind up to 1 litre of oil so for a bigger batch you only need to increase the other ingredients.
1 medium/large organic egg yolk, at room temperature
1 tbs Dijon mustard, at room temperature
230ml extra virgin (cold-pressed) oil: olive, rape, sunflower or avocado
1 dsp apple cider vinegar or lemon juice
Himalayan salt
Pepper
Optional: 2 tablespoons herbs to add at the very end: e.g. fresh chopped tarragon,parsley, coriander or chives.
- Bring the egg and mustard to room temperature in advance (chilled eggs/Dijon will leave you with a runny, disappointing sauce!).
- Mix the egg and mustard with a stick blender or whisk and while whisking add the oil slowly in a thin stream (this is essential). The mayo should start to thicken. Many food processors now have a cap on top that has a small hole for this purpose.
- Continue whisking and adding until the oil is used up and the mayo is set.
- Add vinegar/lemon juice. Mix some more and season with salt and pepper and whatever herbs you are using.
- Let the mayonnaise rest in the fridge before serving – this allows the flavour to develop and the mayonnaise to thicken further.
Why this is better for you:
As you’ll know if you’ve been a client of mine, omega 6 oils in the form most people eat them, are toxic. Omega 6 oils like sunflower, rape, safflower, sesame, canola, soya and “vegetable oil” are heat treated to give them a long shelf life. This makes their chemical structure change to one that interferes with metabolic functions as they are incorporated into our cell membranes in EVERY tissue of our body. They are used as cooking oils, and to make bread, cakes, biscuits and confectionary and of course in ready meals, to give them a nice mouth feel.
So if you’d like to avoid or reduce chronic health conditions, swapping out your heat-treated nut and seed oils for healthier options is a winner. For food prep use either extra virgin olive oil or (never cooked) extra virgin nut/seed oils like sesame, sunflower, rape, walnut and hazelnut. Commercial mayonnaise is ALWAYS MADE WITH REFINED OILS (if you find one that’s not, do let me know so I can tell everyone!). Bottom line, we are all deficient in these life-giving untreated, never heated, omega 6 oils. DID YOU KNOW that mustard can be a powerful tool against eczema (dermatitis)? A study a few years ago showed that eating mustard daily prevented eczema in mice. Who knew??
May 3, 2019 | Anna's Best Recipes, Breakfasts & smoothies
I love this and invented it one weekend a few years ago when I saw beautiful ricotta on sale. Now I see it seems to be “a thing” on the internet. Quantities are to serve 2, as usual. If you use frozen berries and you forget to thaw them overnight first, just put into a pan and warm with about 1 dessertspoon of xylitol or around 5 drops of steviaor some erythritol/xylitol and warm gently, covered, until thawed. Allow to cool a bit before using.
2 mugs (about 200g) (THAWED OVERNIGHT) frozen or fresh organic raspberries or strawberries (personally I love frozen cos when you thaw them you get lots of juice)
4 small slices 100% wholemeal gluten-free bread (if you eat gluten, 100% wholemeal spelt, wheat or rye sourdough is great with this)
100-150g tub super-fresh ricotta cheese (NOT salted ricotta)
1/4 tsp vanilla powde or vanilla extract (make sure its extract not essence if you want to be gluten-free)
Stevia drops, erytirotol/stevia or xylitol to sweeten
1. Mix the vanilla powder/extract into the ricotta and add stevia/xylitol/erythritol to taste.
2. Toss your berries (with any juice that came out) with stevia/erythritol/xylitol to sweeten to your liking.
3. Toast your bread, divide the ricotta between the 4 slices, piling on top, and spoon over the berries and their juice (if any).
4. Enjoy for a leisurely breakfast.
Why this is better for you
Ricotta is rich in protein which keeps you fuller longer than if you just ate toast with fruit or jam for breakfast. The protein stops your blood sugar from soaring too high too quickly, which would cause inflammation and accelerated ageing. Protein slows digestion so this is a slow-burn energy breakfast. Slow burn meals are really important if you want to be well long-term and be the best body shape for you. Strawberries (and raspberries) are really rich in vitamin C and polyphenols which help keep every part of our body young-looking, springy and strong – from your skin to your arteries and intestines. Do go for organic if at all possible. Xylitol, stevia and erythritol have NO effect on blood sugar – this is good news for all of us, not just people with diabetes.
Apr 23, 2019 | Anna's Best Recipes, Main courses
This recipe is super-easy. It’s what I make when I come home late and want dinner on the table in 15-20 minutes.
For 2
2 salmon darnes/fillets/steaks, ideally wild or organic
A large clove of garlic, peeled and crushed
Tamari Sauce (see “larder & shopping” for where to buy)
1. Brush fish on both sides with the sauce, smear with the garlic.
2. Grill on medium heat for around 5 minutes flesh side up and 1-2 minutes skin side up until very slightly browned (watch it when grilling the skin side, it goes from not done to burnt very quickly).
Serve with:
- Steamed green or runner beans drizzled with fresh lemon juice or a large salad of mixed leaves, cherry tomatoes and sliced red onion drizzled with my home-made mediterranean or Asian salad dressing or a little fresh lemon juice and a glug of extra virgin olive oil. These accompaniments are suitable for a paleo (stoneage) or ketogenic eating diet.
- If you don’t want to lose any weight you could also add a medium steamed or baked sweet potato (just scrub, slice and steam with the skin on for extra nutrients) or some baby boiled white potatoes. Carbohydrates (grains, potatoes, sweet foods) are weight gainers.
Why this recipe is good for you:
Oily fish is a great source of omega 3 essential fats needed for weight management, beautiful skin and good brain function. Eating fresh rather than tinned fish is best because the plastic lining of tins contains bisphenol A (BPA). Fats in the food absorb BPA. BPA is linked by numerous studies to sex hormone imbalance (eg PMS, low libido, endometriosis, fibroids) and life-threatening diseases of the breast and prostate. Greens are a rich source of magnesium, which helps the liver clear natural and man made toxins from the body. common symptoms of magnesium deficiency include stress, wheezing in asthmatics, and sluggish bowels.
Apr 15, 2019 | Anna's Best Recipes, Main courses, Packed lunches
I love to eat a variation of this vitality-boosting salad for lunch most days. For a packed lunch put all the veggies including the garlic in a large lunchbox, store the dressing in a glass jar separately and put the fish or other topping in a glass or non-toxic container until ready to eat. The great thing about this is that because it doesn’t overload you with carbs (bread, grains, potatoes etc) you don’t tend to get that after-lunch sleepiness. For a change from tuna try a couple of boiled eggs, a cup of cooked butterbeans or beans (mixed with pesto and garlic) or a serving (80-100g) of smoked salmon or leftover roast chicken. Keep it interesting by changing around the types of leaves and the topping.
For 1:
Topping:
80-100g (half a large tin) tuna in spring water (or brine if you can’t get in water)
Salad:
1/2 a red/yellow pepper, de-seeded and sliced or cut in chunks
1 large vine tomato (cut in wedged) or 8 cherry tomatoes (halved)
1/4 red onion, sliced thinly
1/4 small cucumber or half a small courgette, sliced
A few black or green olives
2 large handfuls leaves (choose from baby spinach, lettuce, rocket, chicory, endive, watercress, landcress, pursalane, baby chard, flat leaved parsley leaves)
2 dessertspoons of home made extra virgin olive oil based dressing (see recipe on this blog)
1 small clove of garlic, crushed
Optional: half a cup of freshly grated raw beetroot or carrot
Optional: half a ripe avocado, cubed
1. In a large bowl mix all the salad ingredients with the dressing until everything is coated and glossy.
2. Pour out onto a plate, top with the tuna and enjoy.
Why this is great for you:
Did you know that eating lots of different plant foods every day is one of the most important things you can do for yourself. My guideline to patients is to try for 25 different plant foods (fruit, veg and beans/pulses) in the week. Each plant colour and type contains a different range of nutrients. Purple fruit and veg for example, contain proanthocyanadins, while orange and red plant foods contain carotenoids and green ones contain lots of magnesium. These are just some of the nutrients that help give you flawless (and young-looking) skin and hair, help repair and maintain your digestive system and keep you free of inflammatory conditions like eczema, asthma and digestive disorders like gastritis and colitis. Different plant foods feed different good bacteria to help you stay at your peak fitness and wellbeing. So its not just about eating large quantities of veg (half your plate at lunch and dinner) but large variety too. How many colours of fruit and vegetables can YOU eat today?
