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Millet Mash

Ever tried it? Millet is the sort of food the Smurfs might eat – full of bounce and sufficiently mythical. Think creamy couscous meets blank canvas. It loves a spice with muscle, and is garlic’s most faithful mistress.

This grain is best known for its nutritional chops, and not for its timid taste. 500g should set you back €2, providing immodest amounts of B vitamins and cardio-loving magnesium. B vitamins act like spark plugs in the body, most important for new parents and idle cabinet ministers. B6 in particular helps to optimise your chances of reaching Snoozeville by helping produce the sleepy hormone melatonin. No B6, no zeds.

Despite playing a central role on many dinner plates across the globe, we Irish have yet to be convinced of millet’s charm. Lets remedy that.

Millet Mash

Feeds 4

You could serve this mash alongside roast chicken instead of potatoes, or as a bed for curries. This recipe is terrific for young children – easy to digest, non-allergenic, highly nutritious and very economical. They might prefer you leave out the garlic, but do load it in for adults. Raw garlic is nature’s best antibiotic, and conversation stopper.

1/2 cup millet grain
1 & 1/2 cups cauliflower florets (broken from its head)
1 & 1/2 cups chicken or veg stock
2 tablespoons extra virgin coconut or olive oil
1 clove garlic, crushed
Sea salt flakes to taste

Turmeric will give a wonderful 70’s glow

Sweet curry powder will deliver comforting warmth

Cumin powder should boost its exoticism

Herbs like thyme and parsley can add extra nutrients and make it look very swanky

In a heavy-based saucepan, bring the millet, cauliflower and stock to the boil. Reduce to a low heat, cover tightly, and cook for 12-15 minutes or until the millet soaks up all the liquid and looks fluffy. Remove from heat, and keep the lid securely on for a further 10 minutes. This allows the ingredients to continue gently steaming without burning the base of your saucepan.

Once it looks ready, start mashing with enough olive oil and raw garlic to your liking. Finish with a light flurry of flakes, black pepper and fresh herbs if you have them.

September 7, 2014

Lunchbox, Sides, Vegan &/or Raw

Oven-Roasted Chickpeas with Caramelised Banana and Cavolo Nero

Cavolo Nero is the George Clooney of cabbages – tall, svelte and suave. Its short and pudgy cousin goes into hibernation from July to October when the cavolo reigns.

Health divas have already dubbed this Dark Green Leafy as Tuscan kale, with its Italian sophistication and unlikely elegance. The cavolo may have already slammed curly kale off its number one spot (horrah!) One look at a model’s Instagram account shows how frequently this DGL is papped. Alarming and perplexing, with equal measure.

So why the excitement? Cavolo nero is an excellent source of folate, often associated with great quality nookie. Looks like folate can regulate the production of histamine – a very important chemical released during orgasm. No, a cabbage smoothie will not bring you to climax but you’re welcome to try.

You probably don’t need another reason to watch your folate intake, but here’s an additional fireworks display you’ll be interested in. Folate plays a large role in our mental and emotional health. It is in fact a B vitamin – think B for Brain and Battery. Or Bergman and Bogart (okay, that’s probably E for Electricity, but you get the picture).

Cavolo’s bumpy dinosaur skin hides some other champion vitamins like K, C and A. Lutein, a nifty carotenoid, can help strengthen our vision and beef up ocular health. That’s Doctor Speak for 20-20 vision.

Not worried about your eyes? I bet your granny is. Ageing is cruel. Just when you need your sight the most, it starts to dull. Maybe that’s Mother N’s way of restricting the pain of seeing your magnificent mane growing grey, or your chin turning hairy.

Cavolo Nero won’t save your sight, but it can help. Think of DGLs as ammo against ageing. Kale, cabbage, cavolo, the entire cast are at your disposal to help improve the quality of your vision.

Oven-Roasted Chickpeas with Caramelised Banana and Cavolo Nero

Serves 2

This makes a groovy side and will have your nostrils doing the Mexican Wave. It particularly thrives in lazy kitchens and time-pressured zones.

That holy honk associated with onion-breath contains an entire pharmacy of compounds for the body. Get this: foods rich in sulphur are thought to help manufacture synovial fluid. We need this fluid to bathe our bones and stop them from squeaking on the dance floor. Onions and Brussel sprouts have loads of sulphur compounds – but you already guessed that right?

Other goodies packed into these red veggies include quercetin to help relieve inflammation (especially hangovers) and to help copycat antihistamines during Sneezy Season. Onions also have fabulous amounts of inulin, known to work as a pre-biotic in our gut. Prebiotics help by feeding the good bacteria in our internal eco system, keeping our digestive system smiling and our skinny jeans on speaking terms with us.

1 tin chickpeas, drained

1 small red onion, roughly chopped

2 ripe bananas, sliced

1 tablespoon curry powder

1 teaspoon coriander seeds (optional jazz)

2-3 tablespoons extra virgin coconut or olive oil

1 bunch cavolo nero

Fire up your oven to 200 Celsius /180 fan-assisted. Let it get really hot while you prep the supper.

Toss the chickpeas, red onion and banana discs onto your largest roasting tray and coat with the spices and preferred oil. Curry powders can vary wildly, so add a pinch of luminous turmeric powder if you fancy a healthy neon glow. I do.

Roast for 15 minutes, or until the banana looks caramelised and the chickpeas are turning crispy. If your roasting tray is small, everything will sweat and turn soggy instead of caramelising so it might be worth spreading over two small trays.

While the chickpeas are raving in the oven, tear the green parts of the cavolo nero off its tough stalk. Gently rip into bite-sized pieces, and tumble into the hot chickpeas. You might need an extra splash of olive oil if everything looks dry. Return to the oven for 3 minutes.

That’s it. Any leftovers make an awesome dining-al-desko lunch at the office the following day. A few sun dried tomatoes or olives will give it a new identity. No need to submit to dodgy petrol station sangers!

August 31, 2014

Salads & Suppers, Sides

Soft Goat’s Cheese Salad with Cherries & Toasted Tamari Seeds

Have you a low tolerance to dairy?

You needn’t quarantine it from your diet entirely, or tell every waiter in Ireland about it. Give goat’s cheese a go.

The fat globules in goat’s milk appear to be smaller than cow’s milk, making it easier to digest. There’s also less lactose in goat’s milk – not that lactose is evil or problematic. Some of us simply don’t manufacture lactase, the digestive enzyme responsible for breaking down lactose in our system. This tends to be genetically determined.

Whether you suffer from dodgy digestion or not, Irish goat’s cheese is unreasonably delicious. Lidl do a good one, but we have a special squeal reserved for Bluebell Falls and Ardsallagh. It’s a stealthy vehicle for Green Leafy Veg, especially with toddlers, husbands and other contrarians.

Or sprinkle with bee pollen, to confuse them. Looks so pretty (see above).

Interestingly, goat’s milk contains more calcium than cow’s milk. Its pH level is more favourable than regular dairy too, which seems to excite ‘alkaline’ eaters such as Sienna Miller, Calgary Avensino and Robbie Williams. The Alkaline Diet is a scorching-hot trend among the gorgeous brigade in London and New York.

Interested? Check out The Honestly Healthy Cookbook penned by two savvy ladies, Natasha Corrett and Vicki Edgson. You’ll need to resuscitate that roll of litmus paper from biology class, a sense of adventure, and that day-glow exercise leotard!

Soft Goat’s Cheese Salad with Cherries & Toasted Tamari Seeds

It will probably take more time to read this recipe, than to make it.

No need to toast the seeds in soya sauce unless you are a bona fide umami tart like me. Umami is that lip-smacking mushroomy hit that obsessionistas crave (you know who you are). Soya sauce has loads of it. As does coconut aminos.

Umami is often referred to as our fifth taste sense, alongside sweet, sour, salty and bitter. I’d argue we have a lot more than five taste senses – fear, pheromones, visa bills, CK One, and stink bombs. I can taste them all.

For the salad:

1/2 cup pumpkin seeds

Good splash of tamari soya sauce or coconut aminos

Handful of greens like watercress, sunflower sprouts or Russian kale

1 cup cherries

Soft goat’s cheese for 2

For the maple dressing:

1 teaspoon of maple syrup

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

Good squeeze of lime or lemon juice

1/2 teaspoon whole peppercorns, crushed and pummeled

There’s enough here for two. Start by pre-heating your oven to 180 C / 350 F. Spread the pumpkin seeds across a baking tray and roast in the oven for 6 minutes. You’ll hear them popping. Toss the seeds with tamari or coconut aminos, and return the tray to the oven for another minute. Remove from the oven and allow the seeds to cool. This can be difficult.

I find leaving the kitchen helpful, to avoid repeatedly scalding my tonsils.

To assemble the salad, carefully peel the Russian kale leaves from its tough stalk and tear into rough pieces. You could use any leaves you fancy, but red Russian kale are strong, barrel-chested chaps. Spicy too. I used sunflower sprouts and cress in the photo, because I scoffed the kale before remembering to photograph it.

Tumble the halved cherries onto the salad leaves.

To make the dressing, whisk the elements together with a fork and drizzle over the cherry leaves. Gently turn the leaves to coat everything.

Crown with a generous dollop of goat’s cheese and bless with loads of roasted seeds.

August 4, 2014

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Sides

Millet Mash

Oven-Roasted Chickpeas with Caramelised Banana and Cavolo Nero

Soft Goat’s Cheese Salad with Cherries & Toasted Tamari Seeds

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