Friday, October 28, 2011

Summer berry walnut crumble











Just because summer is at our doorstep doesn't mean we need to put away our favourite dessert crumble!

This is a special strawberry, raspberry and mulberry crumble I made for my boyfriend and I snuck in some rosewater and it was truly magic.

As berries are very tender the best way to handle is very gently and prepare quickly. I actually used frozen organic raspberries and fresh mulberries from a neighbours tree and strawberries cut into quarters with a sprinkling of rapadura sugar, it's a quick easy and nutritious recipe packed with antioxidants

2 cups raspberries (frozen best)
1 cup fresh strawberries (washed and cut into quarters)
1 cup mulberries (pick stalks off)
2 tablespoons rapadura sugar (to sweeten)
2 tablespoons rosewater
1/2 cup spelt flour
80g organic butter, melted
1/4 cup oats
1/4 cup walnuts roasted

Place the raspberries and strawberries into a baking dish or pyrex, sprinkle with the rosewater and sugar and gently stir around with a spoon.

In another bowl mix the oats, melted butter, flour and roasted walnuts gently drop little dobs of the crumble on top of the raspberry mixture, it will sink through but don't worry too much about it.

Put some foil on your cooking vessel and into the oven for 15020 minutes on 165 degrees

Friday, October 14, 2011

Warm spiced chicken and mango salad with yoghurt dressing












This recipe is from the lovely Susan our nutritional cook. New season mangoes are appearing at the markets and in the produce aisle... so be very QUICK. This is a yummy combination and I can't wait to try it myself, the crispy greens, sweet mangoes and cumin chicken make a wonderful combination!



Warm spiced chicken and mango salad with yoghurt dressing

1-2 tsp ground cumin
Salt,pepper
2 chicken thighs
Mixed green leaves
Snow peas (we had heaps in the garden!)
1 cucumber, sliced
1 mango, slightly under ripe
Dry roasted cashew nuts, optional

Preheat oven 200 C. Rub chicken thighs with cumin, salt and pepper (could also add some chilli or cayenne pepper if not serving to kids). Cook chicken in the oven for 15-20 mins, or until cooked through. Slice while still warm.

Serve on a salad of mixed green leaves, raw or very slighly blanched snow peas, dry roasted cashews and sliced mango. Drizzle over yoghurt dressing.

Yoghurt dressing
1 cup natural yogurt, 1/4 cup mint leaves chopped, 1/4 cup coriander leaves chopped, 1 small clove garlic crushed, 1 tsp finely grated ginger, juice from half a lemon. Combine ingredients or blitz in a food processor. Season to taste. Also good with a 1/4 tsp of cayenne pepper added or 1 tsp of honey.

Tuesday, October 4, 2011

Blue mackerel with peanut satay and spring salad














This is lunch from the weekend, I purchased the mackerel whole so had to gut and fillet it (something I learned from my dad when I was a kid). It's pretty simple, and I cheated using a spiral foods organic satay sauce (which is delicious and contains real ingredients) the salad composed of organic rocket from the markets, yellow tomatoes, cucumber and cucumber with sheep's feta.

I gently fried the mackerel is a small saute pan in coconut oil and then smothered in peanut satay sauce and added some crunch with black sesame seeds.

Apparently mackerel are flighty to catch and the fish monger told me he only gets them in when its not windy at sea.

I like them because they are oily, an excellent source of protein, magnesium and have high levels of vitamin d, omega 3 and essential fatty acids and also a fish thats cheap as chips! It's popular in Northern Europe to smoke them and eat for breakfast.