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Chocolate ginger cake (and canine neurosis)
With the hunting season in full-swing, I’m having to deal with a labrador hovering on the brink of nervous breakdown; he doesn’t like the sound of guns (despite the fact that, technically at least, he’s a ‘gun dog’). It’s a touch and go situation and I’m still sticking to my vegetarian resolution in solidarity, so this cake contains no meat whatsoever 😉 Just a word of warning: it does contain grated courgettes so if, like me, you live with men and children with entrenched prejudices about how and when vegetables should – or, more to the point, should not – be consumed, my advice is to keep the recipe under wraps. It’s delicious and that’s all they need to know. As cakes go, this one is also exceptionally healthy: buckwheat flour is gluten-free and full of fibre, amino acids, vitamins and minerals, courgettes speak for themselves and organic cocoa powder is rich in iron.
Ingredients (roughly 10 slices)
1 cup buckwheat flour ½ cup cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 pinch of bicarbonate of soda
¼ teaspoon sea salt (fine grain)
1 cup organic cane sugar ½ cup cocoa nibs (optional)
¼ cup organic coconut oil
1 egg, beaten
1 cup of almond or oat milk (or regular milk if you prefer)
3 cups’ grated courgettes
1 teaspoon of fresh, grated ginger
Preheat the oven to 160°C. Combine the dry ingredients (flour, cocoa powder, sugar, cocoa nibs, salt , bicarbonate of soda and baking powder) in a bowl and mix well. In another bowl, combine the ‘wet’ ingredients (eggs, milk, grated courgettes, ginger and melted coconut oil) and mix well. Combine both sets of ingredients, folding the mixture to obtain a smooth batter. Pour the batter into a loaf tin (preferably pyrex) roughly 25cm long by 6cm deep. Cook for about 40 minutes, or until a fork comes out clean. -
Three-bean vegetarian chilli for sensitive souls
Every year at about this time I become a born-again (and again, and again) vegetarian. My ideology coincides with the start of the French hunting season and usually lasts two or three weeks; Fickle is my middle name!
This vegetarian chilli is so good that it actually makes you wonder why you would ever bother putting meat in it at all. From a nutrional standpoint, it’s certainly not lacking. Beans in general are high in fiber, protein, antioxidants, vitamins and minerals. Black beans have plenty of folates, kidney beans are a rich source of manganese and vitamin K and white beans are full of molybdenum. Finally, beans are low on the glycaemic indew, which makes them both healthy and diet-friendly.
Ingredients (serves 6)
1 onion, chopped
3 cloves of garlic, crushed
1 red pepper, cut into strips
2 chilli peppers, cut into strips
1 large carrot, peeled and cut
1 courgette, sliced
5 mushrooms, peeled and sliced
3 tablespoons’ olive oil
110g dry black beans (you can also use pre-cooked but make sure to drain and rinse well)
110g dry white beans (you can also use pre-cooked but make sure to drain and rinse well)
110g dry kidney beans (you can also use pre-cooked but make sure to drain and rinse well)
1 tin of tomatoes (400g)
250ml vegetable stock
1 glass of red wine
2 bay leaves
Sea salt, pepper, paprika, chilli powder
Pre-soak and cook the beans if using the uncooked variety.
Brown the onions and garlic in a medium-size casserole until golden. Add the mushrooms, courgettes, carrots, red pepper and chilli pepper and continue to brown. After about five minutes, add the red wine and simmer gently for a couple of minutes. Then add the tomatoes, beans, stock and bay leaves. Bring back to a gentle simmer and add the seasoning. Stir well and cook in a medium oven (about 175°C) for an hour. You can cook for longer than an hour, but will probably need to add more fluid. Check from time to time anyway, as the beans soak up quite a lot and may need to be rehydrated. This is also good cooked in advance and reheated.
Delicious served with brown basmati rice and a crisp green salad. -
Low-GI chocolate mousse with cocoa nibs
I needed a delicious dessert to make for a lunch party today and, as our kitchen has apparently recently been transformed from family kitchen to medium-scale fig jam processing plant (see previous post!), it had to be something quick and easy. My husband and I married for better or for worse, but absolutely NOT to be cooking in the kitchen at the same time.
This mousse is really divine. It’s rich but simple and not too sweet. The recipe is a slightly adapted (I’m incapable of leaving a recipe intact) Montignac recipe, so its GI rating is good (ie low!) because it contains absolutely no added sugar. The rum I used is very luxurious and deliciously fragrant but I’m sure any rum will do.
Dark chocolate is full of antioxidants. Cocoa is a good source of vitamins and minerals including magnesium, calcium, iron, sulphur and manganese. It also contains B vitamins. Cocoa nibs have all the same benefits as chocolate in a purer, more powerful form.
Ingredients (serves 4)
200g dark chocolate (minimum 70% cocoa)
4 eggs
1/2 glass of rum (5 cl)
2 tablespoons cocoa nibs
pinch of salt
Break the chocolate into pieces and melt in a casserole with the rum. Separate the eggs and beat the whites with a pinch of salt until stiff. Once the chocolate has melted, add the beaten egg yolks to the mixture and stir rapidly for about a minute. Stir in the cocoa nibs and then delicately add the mixture to the egg whites, stiring well to obtain a smooth, homogenous texture. Transfer into four ramekins or glasses. Chill for at least five hours before serving. -
Fig jam and irritating scrubbers
My passion for figs is similar to my passion for tomatoes; it starts out all guns blazing, only to die a sudden death after the second consecutive week of thrice-daily consumption. Figs are pure nectar, either eaten straight from the tree still warm from the sun, in a salad with proscuitto or Bayonne ham, in Greek yoghurt with almonds, or with ice cream and hot honey sauce…
Once your two weeks are up and you would rather gnaw your own arm off than eat another fresh fig, you can make jam. This jam is reasonably healthy because it isn’t too sweet and the cinnamon regulates your insulin reaction to the sugar there is. Figs are a great source of minerals, vitamins and antioxidants.
A few words of warning: the first is that jam sticks to pans if left unattended. My husband made an enormous pot-full, left it to simmer and then went to mend a fence (as you do!). Consequently, not only was I exposed to some very rude words, but also the unbearably grating sound of metal scrubbing metal for most of the evening. The second is to make sure to remove the fruit-picking ladder from underneath the tree every evening. Hens may not be very bright, but if the reward is delicious enough, they will find a way to climb a stepladder…
Ingredients
1 kilo of fresh figs
500g cane sugar
30g fresh grated ginger
2 tsp cinnamon
half a lemon
200ml water
Cut the figs into quarters and add to the water in a large saucepan (preferably non-stick!). Cut the (washed) lemon into small pieces and add to the saucepan. Finally add the sugar, ginger and the cinnamon and gently bring to a simmer. Stir frequently and leave to simmer for about an hour. Transfer into sterilised jam jars. -
Fresh tomato sauce
We’re drowning in a tomato torrent at the moment. We also have a steady stream of bell, chilli and Espelette peppers to complement them. I was naively imagining myself being able to relax a bit at the beginning of September after a very hectic summer. That was before the tomato frenzy. And as if our own aren’t enough to contend with, well-meaning (or perhaps sadistic?) neighbours donate to our tomato fund as well. We’ve been ringing the changes with tomato risotto, tomato omelette, stuffed tomatoes, tomato and basil salad, spicy chicken with tomatoes and black olives… Are you sensing a theme? Even the hens are indulging; if anyone has any good tips on how to protect tomato plants from hens’ destructive beaks, please let me know.
Tomatoes are overflowing with vitamins, minerals and antioxidants, most notably lycopene which is thought to be capable of fighting and preventing cancer and heart disease. I justify my lax attitude towards the hens’ tomato fest with the fact that their eggs will be full of lycopene this Autumn.
As you can imagine, I’m absolutely tomatoed out and am now mindlessly brewing up this old favourite, which freezes well to use in the tomato-barren winter months. It may be used as a sauce for pasta, added to risotto or any tomato-based dish.
Ingredients (serves 8)
1 red onion
5 cloves of garlic
4 tblsp olive oil
8 medium size organic tomatoes
1 red pepper
1 green pepper
2 chilli peppers
Sea salt and pepper
Lightly fry the chopped onions and garlic in olive oil in a casserole dish. Skin the tomatoes by blanching in boiling water for a minute or so and then add to the dish. Cut the peppers into thin strips and add to the tomato mixture. Season with salt and pepper and leave to simmer on a low heat for at least an hour, or until the mixture begins to caramelise very slightly.
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Sardine pâté and then there were three…
I haven’t had much time to blog lately as I’ve spent much of the Summer slaving over a hot stove (real punishment in 40°c of heat), producing food for an abundance of hungry guests. The latest ‘feast’ was a three-day party to celebrate my husband’s birthday (a big one – the birthday, not the husband ;-)).
I reached a rather random conclusion as a result of these preparations: hens are far more intuitive and intelligent than we are led to believe. Their relatively tiny heads are deceptive; during the week preceding The Birthday Party, while I was in full-blown production mode, our TWO hens managed to produce THREE eggs between them every single day. While I am convinced that this was a gesture of female solidarity, my husband claims it was their birthday present to him. As the French say ‘Chacun voit midi à sa porte’ (literally: ‘Everyone sees noon from their own front door’, or simplifed I suppose ‘To each his own’).
One of the things I made as a starter was this deliciously healthy and refreshing sardine pâté, which is full of anti-oxidants and omegas 3 and 9.
Ingredients (serves 8)
270g of bonelesss sardines (2 tins)
2 tablespoons of butter
2 tablespoons of lemon juice
15 black olives, pitted
2 tablespoons of horseradish
2 tablespoons of Greek yoghurt
1 clove of garlic
1 red onion
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon paprika
black pepper and a pinch of salt to taste
Combine all the ingredients in a food processor until smooth. Chill for at least two hours and serve with either French bread or raw vegetables (carrots, celery, fennel…) -
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Guest post: The importance of good nutrition with cancer
Today I welcome Jillian McKee, who has worked as the Complementary Medicine Advocate at the Mesothelioma Cancer Alliance since June of 2009. She also has a blog.
Here is what she has to say about the importance of nutrition with regard to effectively fighting cancer.Cancer patients and the benefits of good nutrition
Cancer patients have a host of health concerns to attend to. As well the more obvious issues surrounding their course of treatment and their physical condition they must also look after their nutritional needs. Proper dieting is no cure, but it will help give patients the strength and energy to maintain a better quality of life throughout the process. Whether it is mesothelioma cancer or another form of cancer, there are many benefits to be had by maintaining high standards of nutrition through all stages of the disease.
Energy : To help them through the many difficult cancer treatments, patients should ensure that nutrition is enabling them to maintain good energy and strength levels. Chemotherapy and radiation are known to take their toll. Proper dieting will help replenish lost nutrients. Good nutritional practices will help the body maintain proper muscular levels.
Immune System : With all of the various invasive procedures that take place, cancer patients are always at risk of infection, further complicating their condition and knocking treatment off course. Protecting the immune system is vital. According to the National Cancer Institute one of the principal goals of good nutrition is to make sure patients have a strong immune system.
Wellbeing : High nutritional standards can lead to a better quality of life. The National Cancer Institute indicates that proper nutrition can help improve wellbeing. This can make the difficult days a little bit easier. Having the psychological strength to face another day is one of the primary challenges that cancer patients face.
Complications : One thing that physicians worry about is the existence of complicating conditions. They want to treat cancer directly without other worries. Nutrition can play a role in preventing other health problems. Good diet is closely linked to good heart health and good blood pressure. It will not, in itself, heal a patient, but it will provide a healthy environment in which to treat their disease. -
Flying school and birdseed sundae
There seem to be an awful lot of irresponsible parents around here. They have countless offspring and then leave them to fend for themselves while they go off galavanting, without even taking the time to check that their babies can fly properly first.
Luckily Léo, my son, is here to rescue them; He has a knack for finding himself in the vicinity of their nests when they tumble out and he snatches them up before sharp canines, beaks or hooves can cause irreparable damage. He feeds and waters them, gives them a bed in his bird youth hostel and then teaches them to fly. The only thing his hasn’t yet mastered is a feeling of satisfaction and contentment when they fly away from him for good; tears are shed. 🙁
In honour of our quick-to-learn, high-flying baby birds I created this delicious sundae. The only thing that is slightly unhealthy is the ice cream but as long as you use a good-quality full-fat one without too much sugar or additives it’s well worth the sacrifice. Ice cream also has fairly low GI, lowered further by the addition of the yoghurt, nuts and seeds. The rum aids digestion – that’s my excuse and I won’t be told otherwise. 😉
Ingredients (serves one)
10 cherries, pits removed
Two scoops of good quality vanilla ice cream
Two tablespoons of greek yoghurt
A tablespoon of dark rum
1 teaspoon each of : chia seeds, cocoa nibs, pumpkin seeds, dessicated coconut
2 teaspoons of raisins
2 teaspoons of chopped almonds
2 squares of 80% cocoa dark chocolate
1 teaspoon of coconut oil
Melt the dark chocolate with the coconut oil and a tablespoon of water over a low heat. Prepare the sundae, starting with the cherries, then adding the ice cream, yoghurt, rum and raisins, followed by the seeds, cocoa nibs and coconut. When the hot chocolate sauce is melted, pour it over the ice cream, yoghurt and seeds and finally add the chopped almonds.
