Monday, September 03, 2018

Broccoli and Cauliflower in Rich Cheese Cream with Almonds

DIET?
Yes, Lynne is still following the Low/No carbohydrate diet, when she can. She had one pita bread on Sunday and swelled up like a balloon, so obviously the yeast and the bread are not a good idea. Note to self: DON’T DO. Broccoli and cauliflower are two of the permitted vegetables, so if you are struggling for ideas, try this simple supper dish – the quantities are up to you
Florets of half a white crisp cauliflower – 250g stems of sprouting broccoli – 200ml cream – 100g grated Parmesan or grana padano – 25g flaked almonds- salt and freshly ground black pepper – optional: a grating of nutmeg
Lightly toast the almonds in a dry pan and set aside. Heat the cream and stir in the cheese until it melts. Briefly boil the two vegetables in salted water or rinse them and cook in the microwave, covered, for 3 minutes. Put into a serving dish, cover with the cheese cream sauce and sprinkle over the toasted almonds and the nutmeg, if using. You can serve immediately or, if you like the vegetables cooked a little longer, bake in a medium oven at 180˚C for 20 minutes
Posted by MENU at 5:42 pm 0 comments

Jamaican Jerked Chicken

This recipe should add a dash of spice to your life:
25g Allspice Berries - 5 cm stick of Cinnamon - 1 teaspoon freshly grated Nutmeg -1 red chilli, seeded and chopped - 4 spring onions thinly sliced - 1 Bay Leaf crumbled -Sea Salt and freshly ground Black Pepper - 1 Tablespoon dark Rum - 6 chicken pieces
To make the seasoning, pound all the ingredients (other than the chicken) to a thick paste in a pestle and mortar or in a food processor. Slash the chicken pieces deeply on the skin side and rub the paste all over them. Cover, and leave in the fridge for 1 to 2 hours. Roast, grill or braai the chicken till cooked - approx. 20 minutes. Serve with a salad and, for those not dieting, rice. You could make a good salsa to go with this, using fresh pineapple, tomatoes, spring onions and avocado
Posted by MENU at 5:39 pm 0 comments

Van der Hum and Vanilla Panna Cotta with Raspberry Coulis

A very easy dessert to make indeed, so we thought we would give you the recipe. You will need leaf gelatine and Nielsen Massey Vanilla Bean Paste or a lovely soft Madagascan vanilla bean. It is pretty low in carbs except for the 25g sugar, which is spread across six panna cottas, so it is not that bad. If you are sticking to the low carb diet religiously, you could use Splendor, the liquid sweetener (you will have to work out the equivalent, we don’t use it), and not use the liqueur. We eat very little sugar in our daily diet, so a dessert every now and then is, we think, permissible. If you could leave the bread and the chutney out of Bobotie it would be low in carbohydrates too. But would it taste the same?
500ml cream – 1t Vanilla bean paste or one vanilla bean – 25g sugar – 3 sheets of leaf gelatine – 1 T Van der Hum liqueur (substitutes would be Grand Marnier, Curacao or Benedictine) – 150 g Raspberries
Soak the gelatine leaves in cold water until soft – just 5 minutes. Put the cream, sugar and vanilla into a pan and bring up to scalding point (just before boiling starts). Do not let the cream boil. If you are using a vanilla bean, cut it open down one side, scrape out the seeds and put them and the whole pod into the cream. Remove from the heat and add the soaked gelatine, stirring till it has dissolved completely. Take out the vanilla bean and stir in the liqueur. Pour into six ramekins and refrigerate for at least an hour to set. Blend most of the raspberries (keep a few for decoration) and push through a sieve to remove the pips and serve with the panna cotta which you have turned out onto a small plate. Do sweeten the coulis if the raspberries are very tart
Posted by MENU at 5:35 pm 0 comments

Crustless Quiche à la Lynne

2 large onions, sliced – 1 T olive oil - 4 eggs – 150ml cream – 50g cooked gammon, sliced – 2 grated courgettes (half a cup) – 100g grated cheddar cheese – 1T chopped parsley – salt and freshly ground black pepper – cayenne pepper or a spicy chilli mix
Grease well the dish in which you want to cook this. We recommend a pie dish or any oven proof quiche dish. Fry the onions in the oil and allow them to sweat down till golden brown. Beat the eggs with the cream and then stir in all the other ingredients except the cheese. Season, then pour into your dish; top with the cheese and a sprinkle of cayenne. Bake in a moderate 180˚C oven for 30 minutes, or until it is just setting in the middle. Slice and serve with a simple salad. You can, of course, put this filling into a savoury pastry case should you wish to
Posted by MENU at 5:30 pm 0 comments

Fennel and Prawn Salad

We had a delicious dinner with friends on Monday night and Lynne was quite able to avoid the ice cream, but had a few raspberries. Our hostess made a superb starter which is all low carb so we thought we would give it to you
2 fresh fennel bulbs, sliced thinly lengthwise on a mandolin grater so you still have the shape of the bulb - 800g large cooked pink prawns, shelled – some of the fennel fronds, roughly chopped – really good mayonnaise, preferably homemade – seasoning
Grill the fennel slices on both sides until they begin to brown slightly. You could slightly oil them. Mix the prawns with the mayonnaise, the fennel fronds and some of the grilled fennel, season to taste and put into a pretty dish. Arrange the rest of the slices of fennel around the edges and serve
Posted by MENU at 5:26 pm 0 comments

Lower Carbohydrate Coleslaw and Feta salad

Tim Noakes’ Low or No Carbohydrate diet?
We are following this closely, because we have a vested interest in finding out whether this is another healthy alternative or a lifestyle change to make. Let us know if you have had any experiences with this sort of diet. Strangely, everyone we have met recently who has lost a good bit of weight, has told us they did it by giving up carbs. Lynne is trying it out as she really needs to slim down a bit
As you are encouraged to eat cabbage and lots of proteins, fats and nuts, Lynne came up with this quick salad. Yes, carrots do have carbs in them, but we are in transition so they worked for us. You could substitute apple or, better still, finely sliced peppers
Half a small white cabbage – 2 grated carrots – 20g chopped nuts – 2 T good mayonnaise – 100g cubed Danish feta – sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Finely slice the cabbage, add the carrot, mix in the mayonnaise, season, taste, adjust and then toss in the nuts and the feta and serve with grilled fish or a good chop
Posted by MENU at 5:22 pm 0 comments

Gooey Chocolate Pudding

from Willie’s Chocolate Factory Cookbook by Willie Harcourt-Cooze
This flourless pudding saved us a lot of bother on Monday night. Lynne bought lots of his chocolate from Woolworths when they mysteriously reduced it to a quarter of its original price. This is NOT a chocolate fondant, but it is very good and you can prepare two bowls – one with the unmelted chocolate, sugar and butter and one with the mixed eggs and sugar and vanilla - in advance, store them in the fridge and then cook when dinner is over and you need dessert quickly. We halved his recipe and made six small puddings. It is very rich. Use the highest percentage dark chocolate you can find. We used his Madagascan 71%. He recommends unsalted butter, but chocolate is always enhanced by a bit of salt so Lynne uses ordinary butter.
180g 70% Dark chocolate, finely grated or broken into small pieces – 200g butter – 175g caster sugar – 6 eggs – 2 t vanilla extract – 40g ground almonds – 6 to 8 buttered ramekins
Preheat the oven to 160°C. Melt the chocolate and butter by placing them, along with 60g of the caster sugar, in a large heatproof bowl over a pan of simmering water. Or heat briefly in a microwave. Stir in the ground almonds. Lightly beat the eggs with the rest of the sugar and the vanilla extract. Fold the chocolate mixture into the egg mixture and put into greased ramekins. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes or until they are just cooked – they should start to crack on the top - and serve at once with whipped cream. 
You can add fruit soaked in alcohol, such as apricots in brandy or raisins in rum for an adult twist
Posted by MENU at 5:18 pm 0 comments
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