You Are What You Eat Cookbook

In today’s review I will reveal my true colours as a “food nazi”. So far I have tiptoed down the line of moderation but now is the time to come out, so to speak.

My standpoint is that good food is the basis of harmonious health. The problem is many people associate healthy food with bland hippy fare. The reality is a diet that is broadened with a variety of foods will encompass many flavours and has no reason be dull. Remember the taste of the first mango of the season? The sweetness on your tongue, the velvety texture, the sticky residue dribbling down your chin. Such simplicity is stunning, some would say almost orgasmic. Far from dull, unless mango isn’t your thing – so think warm ripe peach, an organic strawberry or a juicy rambutan.

I need to work at keeping my diet varied as the vagaries of my body has narrowed it somewhat. Most dairy products cause me to get perpetual sore throats and colds, they also create acute gastrointestinal pain so the joy of indulging in a slice of stilton or a creamy dessert is entirely lost on me. Vegetarianism in my early 20’s caused my gut to stop producing the enzymes needed to break meat down and the results are highly uncomfortable and just not pretty. As for peas and capsicum are concerned, no excuse just plain fussy, but I think we are all aloud a few exceptions.

I adore seafood, embrace the whole spectrum of fruits and veggies, experiment with grains, munch on seeds and nuts, devour nori and play with pulses. Melbourne is an exceptional place to live, with its ethnic diversity fresh ingredients, herbs and spices are plentiful. There is no reason that any dietary limitation should lead to a boring culinary life.

I have become the mistress of adapting recipes. No one has noticed the replacement of milk with soy in sweet recipes (fortunately small quantities of butter are ok, the person who invented margarine should have been shot). I scramble eggs without cream. Or when caught short have squeezed and crumbled tofu to eek out the eggs and added sautéed spring onion and semidried tomatoes. I once served this to a self confessed beancurdphobe who declared it was the best scrambled eggs he had ever had (I just smiled sweetly). Nothing replaces meat, but some deep sea fish like tuna gives a similar chew factor and satiety.

What makes me well may make someone else sick. There is no perfect diet, just a perfect dialogue with your own body to understand what makes it zing.

But my biggest gripe is with a lack of cookbooks that really embrace these ingredients, with recipes that are simple to prepare and results that taste good. Many vegan books come up with meals that make cardboard look appetising or fallback on 101 things to do with pasta. Worst are the ones that employ a host of pretend foods – soy cheese, not-bacon and horror of horrors – tvp.

So finally I have found a book that hits many of the right bases, Dr Gillian McKeith’s “You Are What You Eat Cookbook” (Michael Joseph Books. 2005). If I had watched the series McKeith’s doggedness and the smug Australian commentary may have put me off checking out the book. What little I saw reminded me of why I dislike the reality television genre. As for food nazi, I hand her the crown. I am a mere courtier by comparison. However, the book looks good.




The extensive recipes are largely gluten free, dairy free (except for a couple with fetta) and feature only a few carnivorous offerings (organic chicken) making it predominantly vegan + fish, which sings very nicely to me .

I will get back to you with seeing if the recipes pan out, but on first pouring over the book I have earmarked the following:
Shitake mushroom risotto using barely instead of rice.
Cauliflower and millet mash (I have tasted one before which was delicious).
Smoked tofu and kidney bean burgers.
Sesame rice balls with umeboshi plum paste.
Some great spreads/dips including sweet carrot butter, butter bean, asparagus and miso and nut butters.

The book also features a basic flavouring guide, healthy snacks and inspiration for tailoring your own muesli. The recipes appear very simple, after all she wrote them for people who only knew how to ‘cook’ frozen oven chips or order takeaways.

With the detoxing craze heading into another year of popularity (the lard revolution must be just around the corner) this book offers interesting tastes that fit the virtuosity of the phase.

Enjoy!

Recipe update: Yes I have blogged my own version of smoked tofu balls!

smooth operator

The cool change has come, but the house is still hot. Fitful sleep punctuated by a fan whirring and a cat skipping in and out of the bedroom window, I awoke groggy and dry. The fruit bowl had been picked over. The mangoes used up yesterday in a spectacular breakfast of wholemeal pancakes*, maple syrup and slices of juicy, ripe mango. The heat had begun to knock the expensive white peaches around (I was saving them for a work morning treat) and the lady finger bananas were ‘eat now’ ripe. It all spoke of the perfect, morning liquid meal.

Fruit smoothie

(per person)
1 lady finger banana
1 peeled peach (nectarines would taste almost as good), sliced
A splash (1-2 tsp) pomegranate molasses
Milk of choice (for me, malt free soy)
Ice if desired

Place ingredients in a beaker or jug and whiz with hand blender (I love my kitchen magic wand!). Sit in the garden under the grape vine and sip.

*Wholemeal pancakes
1 cup organic, wholemeal flour
2 organic eggs
Enough soymilk to make a pourable batter

Blend ingredients in food processor til smooth. Allow the batter to sit for 15 minutes. Heat a medium sized non-stick fry pan, add butter, turn heat down so it is hot but won’t burn. Ladle in some batter and swirl around pan. When the mixture bubbles on top, flip and you will find a browned under belly. Remove from pan when cooked, add a small knob of butter and a generous amount of good quality maple syrup. You may form a stack of them if desired. Top with slices of mango. Consume with the finest black coffee available.

The pancakes are more a flapjack than a crepe. The wholemeal flour is not too dense and the combination with the soy made it taste almost coconuty.

And yes, I use butter but don’t eat cow’s milk. Something about extracting the whey (protein?) makes butter digestible to me, but not other dairy foods.

Gyoza, gyoza, my queendom for gyoza

Luscious, hot, tasty parcels.
Fried on the bottom, soft on top.
Plunged into a salty, tangy dipping sauce.

Some days only a gyoza (or twelve) will do the job.

They are the simplest and ultimately flexible food to make. They also never fail to impress the pants off visitors, yet can be made without fuss and cooked in a moment.

My first foray into gyoza was with a simple cabbage filling. I had tasted them at a sadly now defunct home style Japanese café in Carlton and after a bit of questioning figured out how to make them. Once mastered, I was on the hunt for The Ultimate Vegetarian Gyoza, and I think I found it.

Fresh shitake mushrooms (or 50:50 shitake and portabello)*
Spring/green onion*
Crushed garlic and root ginger*
A splash or two of tamari

Process ingredients together so the mixture is still a bit chunky but not too smooth. Moisten with tamari (soy sauce if need be).

Take a package of gyoza wrappers. (These are available in the refrigerator of most Asian grocery stores. Unless I am making further batches in the next few days I freeze those I don’t use.)

Put a wrapper in your hand and place a teaspoon of mixture in one half of the circle. Run a little water around the edge. Fold in half and gently pinch together. You can make them plain like I have, or do some fancier pinching work if you are out to impress. If you are making a big batch, or preparing them ahead of time, place a damp tea towel over the prepared gyoza to stop from drying out.

Heat up a fry pan and add some vegetable oil (I tend to use Melrose raw sesame oil). Place in a semi circle around the pan, close together without over lapping. Mine takes up to 14 gyoza at a time. Cook on medium-high 1-3 minutes til the bottoms are getting brown. Add 1/3-1/2 cup of water and place a lid on the pan. Turn the heat down a bit and simmer for about 3 minutes. If any water is left by that time, take the lid off til evaporated.

Dipping sauce
1-2 tablespoons tamari
1-2 tablespoons rice vinegar
a few shakes of chilli oil (from Asian stores, this stuff is hot, so add it a drop or two at a time and taste).

You now have these wondrous pillows of goodness, soft on top and a little crunchy on the bottom. Dip in the sauce and devour.


showing the top (soft side) and bottom (fried)

Thursday’s cauliflower gyoza
I had a craving bad, but couldn’t get any fresh shitake and didn’t want to use dried ones. I was roasting some cauliflower and a leftover leek (to go with some pan-fried blue eye for dinner) and blended a little of the roasted vegetables with garlic and tamari to use as a filling. A very tasty and interesting variation.

But perhaps next time they could morph into…Vegan Ravioli. Many vegans use gyoza wrappers as an egg free pasta replacement. In this case use two wrappers to make large round ravioli, taking about 2 teaspoons of mixture each. I imagine roasted rather than fresh garlic would go better for this being both a mellower a flavour and adding a little moisture, and sea salt and pepper instead of tamari. Cook in boiling water for a couple of minutes til they float to the surface and serve with a napoli sauce.


* a note on quantities: A little goes a long way, as you only need a teaspoon of filling each. I use the small mini blender attachment on my magic Braun hand blender, unless cooking for more than 4-6 people.

When the Big Breakfast goes bad

I knew it was not a good omen when a smiley face stared back at me from my breakfast. Nowhere on the menu did it say you would have a lump of something that may or may not have been a potato in it’s former life, moulded into a generic figure, sprayed with chemicals, fried and frozen, then reheated to leave a lingering taste of rancid fat – as part of the dish.

This was meant to be an item I knew well – 2 poached eggs, spinach, mushroom, tomato and hollandaise on a potato pancake. The latter, a rosti like creation taking up most the plate, was absent only to be replaced by Mr Smiley and two of those awful hash brown ‘bricks’ reminiscent of a mcbreakfast.

Poached eggs are one of those deceptively simple dishes, but done properly are a sign the chef mastered at least the first semester of cooking school. This one sadly hadn’t. Irregularly shaped, roughly textured, rubbery white with barely cooked yolk leaving a soggy imprint of the white sliced toast (another sorry substitution). The spinach from the freezer bulk catering pack, the hollandaise from a big plastic tub and the mushrooms from a can, none bearing any resemblance to a legend in the breakfast world, adored over the years. At least the tomatoes and garnishing herbs were fresh.

This local café had appeared strangely quiet in recent months. It had long since been sold, twice, since the enthusiastic first owners who had created their niche in a tough town of eat streets had moved on. I love my neighbourhood and always give new ventures a go, anything to keep out the creep of the faceless chains, but I won’t be sad when this one closes, as it inevitably will.

Fortunately I didn’t risk the coffee.

All that was missing was a cheery “have a nice day” on the way out, but the waitress, no doubt staring down the barrel of unemployment, looked far too sad for that.

Update: This was a review of "Eat" a cafe in Rathdowne Street, North Carlton. It seems that other locals voted with their feet and eventually the cafe closed. It is now the home of Gerald's Bar...no breakfast but better service and great tapas.

Summer grazing

One of the things I enjoy most about this time of year is the freedom of not living by the clock. While on holiday I take off my watch and meander through the day. My stomach, likewise is fed by it’s own rhythm. The necessity of breakfast, lunch and dinner melts into either a day of continuous grazing, or a brunch and an evening meal…or lucky days like Tuesday which was one slutty crawl beginning with a Big Vegetarian Breakfast, a beer at Southgate after viewing the Archibald, a late lunch upstairs at the Stokehouse and when night fell wound up with delicious cocktails* and finger food (wonton wrapped prawns, vegetable filled rice paper rolls and shoestring fries) at Polly.

While grazing yesterday I concocted a delicious smoked eel salad, a perfect balance between acid and fat, soft and crunch.

Chop up smoked eel fillets (leftover from Xmas)
Dice cucumber and tomato
Thinly slice fennel and spring onion
Combine with the juice of a lemon, a dash of olive oil and some cracked pepper

Lounge on the chaise in the sun and consume.

* Hazelnut Caipiroska: Zubrowka Vodka, Fresh Lime and Frangelico

Red Stiletto: Vodka, Fresh Berries, Boudier Peach Liqueur, Raspberry Puree and a hint of Ginger.

Shopping

In my haste I only took $100 with me to the Vic Market today, which is almost twice as much as a weekly shop. I knew there would be a few extras, but nothing too extraordinary as I do not have to provide a festive spread. It soon became clear that this would not suffice, after I had bought a few luxuries, especially with the Christmas week price hike.

So in the most expensive week of the year, how much do you get for $100?

Organic produce: Fruit – cherries, a few peaches, apricots, avocados. (There’s usually much more fruit but the cherries blew the budget at $20/kg) Veges – potato, 1 sweet potato, brown onions, a couple of red onions, mixed lettuce leaves. 2 cucumber, squash (labelled zuccini but at this size its pushing it a bit), carrots, tomatoes (Ok technically a fruit), a handful of asparagus, ginger, 2 bulbs of garlic (@$35/kg) and a free chilli!
1 dozen eggs (I don’t care if they are twice the price I just can’t do battery anymore)

Conventional: fresh shitake mushrooms, lemons, 3 small mangoes, a bunch of spring onions. Oats. 1 smoked eel (it’s a kiwi thing).

Extras: chocolate – Lindt ‘intense lemon’, Pink Lady dark coated orange peel, 1/2 dozen of the best dolmades in the world, medium tub of babaganoush,

For the resident carnivore: 1 kg of pet quality diced beef.

Change: $1.10



It doesn’t look a lot but enough to make the weight of my backpack put my neck out. Glad I still have some other veges left in the crisper.

What’s been on your shopping list this week?

Summer Beans

I need easy Sunday night food. It’s summer but there is a cool breeze. I want beans, I want them hot but I don’t want them winter-chilli style. So with what is on hand I create warm beans with a Mediterranean twist.

Fry some finely chopped onion in olive oil (this was half a huge red onion, because that was all I could find).
When soft, add 3 cloves of garlic, crushed, and an anchovy or 2.
Throw in some fresh herbs of choice (in this case a little rosemary, which smelt superb as the heat released the volatile oils).
Add in another vegetable (this was a zucchini, diced), go wild and add 2 if you want (carrots, celery, capsicum would all work well).
When starting to soften add a can of well rinsed and drained organic kidney beans (of course with forethought some home cooked beans would be excellent).
Next, add some fresh diced tomato or a can of the organic variety.
Simmer away, stir every now and then.
Try to be patient (which can be difficult when it smells so good and you are hungry).
When the waiting is starting to get to you toss in a generous handful of black olives (or green if you would prefer).
Distract yourself by chopping some fresh parsley.
Wait and stir a little longer.
Taste and season accordingly, add the parsley. Stir. Wait another minute.
Serve, at last.

Delicious.

The Jewel in the Junkheap

‘Tis the season to cook rarely. Once again, have been supplementing the gluttony, with some delicious home made salads on the rare nights in my kitchen. Or sometimes on the evenings after big lunches – a simple wrap of marinated tofu, tomato chutney, crispy lettuce and anything else that looks edible in the veggie crisper.

Out in the world I have had some good and some so-so curries, more curries, finger food (thank god sushi has knocked party pies off the top of the Christmas gathering snack tree) and one of the best pizzas I have had in years. It was in a tiny, very ordinary Italian joint in downtown Oakleigh – eggplant, artichokes, fetta and fresh tomato (maybe olives too, but I eschewed the usual dollop of stringy cheese that came standard with the order). If it was at some moderne pizzaria, such as Ladro, I would have expected nothing less but from the depth of suburbia it was an unexpected pleasure.

Great food in not so exciting places got me thinking of one of the best dishes I have consumed in my life so far. I was backpacking as you do, a sweet young thing, almost 20 years ago. Sete is a small Mediterraneum port in the south of France. It sounded like an ideal place for a detour and am sure it is worthy of it these days. However back then it was seedy and had a sinister undertow. The first cause for alarm was as we climbed the hill to the hostel, a handwritten sign in English was stuck to the wall of the police station informing us that if you have experienced a crime and cannot communicate in French then don’t bother reporting it. The hostel was not a typical backpackers place, despite it being in the guidebook. It appeared full of itinerant workers and those maybe a notch above totally destitute. The bathroom was unisex with no lock on the door. Some suspicious chinks in the wall suggested that the occupants maybe being secretly viewed. To cap it off there was a strange teenager with a pet mouse on his shoulder who took to shadowing us wherever we went. By this point our minds were made up to spend only one night and head towards Spain the next day.

Another atypical aspect of the hostel was that dinner was included in the price of the bed, so we took our places at the rough picnic table on the porch and accepted the one dish wonder that was put before us.

Bouillabaisse. The saffron tinged stew with seafood fresh off the boats. I would swear that the fish had been swimming only hours before and the mussels had clung onto the rocks thinking they were safe for yet another day. A big rich bowl of the stuff, complete with a large dollop of rouille on top of a slice of toasted baguette. This Provencal delicacy, made by a woman who certainly knew her way around a kitchen, in one of the worst hostels, in one of the most inhospitable towns that my wandering soul had led me too. In that moment the shower peepers, the arrogant police, mouse boy and the bedbugs were forgotten. Even before the first spoonful entered my mouth, I knew I had struck gold.

I have had fish soupy-stews since that have claimed to be Bouillabaisse. All sad imitations, dressed up in pricey restaurants. I accept that where ever I travel I will never experience a dish like it, enhanced as it was by the atmosphere.

Sometimes its worth zigging when you should have zagged. So even dinner in Oakleigh is worth it, once in a while.

Life is...

Cherries are Christmas to me. As kids we would awake on December 25th to a bowl of cherries and sweets beside our bed. That and the small sack of presents at the base of our bed was meant to be a bribe to keep us quiet so our parents could stay asleep just a little bit longer. Yeah, like that was ever going to happen!

In Melbourne they come in a month earlier, so perhaps don't hit such a luxurious punch to the savvy kid about town. Whether it is because of the Christmas associations or just because they taste so good - cherries have always been special to me.

Other than eating them as quickly as possible the only other thing I have done with cherries is the Famous Cherry Vodka of 2003. In December this fine brew was laid down. Later the next month it was consumed in numerous shots with the neighbouring Tango Evangalists, who spent a whole afternoon teaching us how to dance. A good time was had by all.

Cherry Vodka

Clean and dry a batch of ripe, luscious cherries. Discard any that could be even slightly dodgy looking. One bit of mould will spoil the whole batch.

Prick them gently to allow the juices to mingle.

In a sterile glass jar, place the cherries and a generous handful of sugar, then cover with vodka. I use Stoli or Absolut, because I like it. Make sure the cherries are well covered. Screw on the lid tightly.

Store out of direct sunlight for a minumum of two weeks.

Watch as the liquid turns ruby red.

Adjust sweetness to suit your palate, just add more sugar or sugar syrup* if needed.

Strain and rebottle.

Best drunk accompanied by singing and dancing.

* I'm sure you know how to make sugar syrup. For a heavy syrup use heat 1 part water to 1 part castor sugar, stir until dissolved.



if you really don't like the taste cherries, they make nifty earings as well

Greens

Chicory is a bitter ‘pot herb’. Unlike its sibling curly endive, this is a leafy green better cooked than eaten raw. At the market this week an incredibly healthy looking, organic bunch of the stuff enticed me into taking it home. A friend had cooked it for me once before and I got him around to give me another demo.

Horta
Take a bunch of chicory (organic really does taste better)
Wash thoroughly and remove any leaves that are not up to scratch
Chop into about 6 cm lengths, or whatever takes your fancy
Cover with water
Boil about 20 minutes til tender
Strain water (reserve and keep for a healthy drink)
Add the juice of 1-2 lemons, a dash of olive oil and a little sea salt and cracked pepper.

This was accompanied with (yet another) salad. This time – cannellini beans, rocket, diced daikon and carrot, tomato, parsley, with a garlic and lemon dressing.

A delicious vego delight. An oasis of health in the midst of a crazy season.