Tag: vegetarian

Side dishes

Carrot salad

Jenny

carrot salad

During the many years I lived in France, carrot salad was something of a staple. I never actually made it myself, but would pick up a barquette de carottes rapées at the charcuterie on my local market street along with some cold cuts to serve as a weekend lunch that was more about shopping than cooking. The carrot salad was something I liked and enjoyed but never got terribly excited about.

Then one day my friend L brought a homemade carrot salad to a BBQ at a mutual friend’s house. Now, L is an amazing, professionally-trained cook, so I was quite surprised she would bring along something so ordinary. Until I tasted her salad, which was fresh and flavorful and incredibly moreish, with just the slightest kick of spice. Naturally I hounded her for the recipe.

I now make carrot salad very regularly, and not just because the nearest French charcuterie is a Eurostar ride away. It’s a lovely accompaniment to grilled fish or lamb chops, and the recipe can easily be scaled up to feed a crowd. Or to ensure leftovers.

Carrot salad (adapted from Chez Panisse Vegetables by Alice Waters)

750 g carrots

2 cloves garlic

1 teaspoon salt

a small pinch of cayenne pepper (more if you like it hot)

1 tablespoon white wine vinegar

4 tablespoons of your best olive oil

2 tablespoons chopped coriander leaves

Serves about four people.

Peel and grate the carrots – I use the grater disk of my food processor for this but you could also use a box grater or mandolin. If the carrots appear watery I like to drain them in a colander for about 15 minutes, but feel free to skip this step.

Crush the garlic into a bowl and add the salt. Mash together, then add the cayenne pepper, vinegar and olive oil and whisk well.

Toss the dressing with the grated carrots and taste. If it is at all bland or dry, add a pinch of salt or a drizzle of olive oil. Add the chopped coriander leaves and toss just before serving.

Dips and spreads

Cashew butter

Jenny

plate

In today’s nut-free schools, it is hard to imagine there was a time when PB&J was the staple of most children’s lunchboxes. It certainly was when I was growing up in 1970s America.

Of course many children big and small still enjoy peanut butter at home. Provided the brand you buy does not contain loads of sugar, salt, hydrogenated oils and other added nasties, peanut butter can definitely be part of a healthy diet. But if you or your child like peanut butter, why not try some other nut butters for variety? All nuts are a good source of protein and omega-3 fatty acids, but beyond that each nut has it own nutritional profile. Peanuts are a good source of vitamin E (important for cell membranes), but the cashews I’ve used in today’s recipe contain higher levels of magnesium, iron, zinc and selenium. It’s a great idea to eat a range of different nuts.

It’s also fun and easy to make your own nut butters with whatever nuts you like best – and not much else.

cashew

And once you’ve tasted homemade nut butter, I’d be surprised if you ever bought the stuff in the jar again.

Cashew butter

400g plain, raw cashews

3-4 tablespoons olive oil

a generous pinch of salt

Makes one 500ml jar of cashew butter

Preheat your oven to 190°C/375°/gas mark 5.

In a roasting tin, toast the cashews in the oven until golden (about 15 minutes), stirring or shaking frequently to avoid burning. Remove from oven and cool to room temperature.

Put the cashews in the food processor and blitz while gradually adding the olive oil and salt, until the texture looks like peanut butter.

Scrape into a jar and refrigerate. The cashew butter may seem too liquid at first, but it will firm up after a few hours in the refrigerator.

Delicious on toasted (gluten free) bread, on rice cakes or on sliced fruit.

Eggs

Spanish tortilla

Jenny

tortillawine

This recipe will change your life.

potatoes

Vegetarian friends coming over for dinner? Spanish tortilla. Planning a picnic? Spanish tortilla. Your GFCF child is invited to a pizza party? Spanish tortilla.

All of your food dilemmas solved with just one simple recipe.

tortillacook

For a relaxed tapas feast, serve with a selection of Spanish treats such as bellota ham, olives, cherry tomatoes, grilled sardines, chorizo and pan con tomate (toasted bread – GF or regular – rubbed with garlic and tomato).

Just be sure to save some tortilla for tomorrow’s lunchboxes.

tortillabox

Spanish tortilla (adapted from 1080 Recipes by Simone Ortega)

4 large potatoes (such as baking potatoes), around 1kg total

8 large eggs

500ml sunflower oil

salt

Serves 8 or more

Peel the potatoes and slice very thinly. I use the slicing disk of the food processor to do this. A mandolin would also do the trick. Otherwise, time to show off those knife skills.

Heat the oil in a deep-sided, heavy-bottomed 26 cm skillet (or something along those lines). Don’t worry about the vast quantities of oil – most of it will be drained off later.

Carefully tip the potatoes into the hot oil and cook at medium heat, stirring frequently, until soft and very lightly browned – about 15 minutes – then drain in a colander reserving about 3 tablespoons of the oil.

Whisk the eggs in a large bowl until frothy, then add the cooked potatoes and a generous pinch of salt. Stir well to combine.

Heat the 3 tablespoons of reserved oil in the skillet, then tip the egg and potato mixture back into the skillet. Cook on medium heat, running a spatula around the edges from time to time to prevent sticking, until the bottom of the tortilla is set – about five minutes. Tip the tortilla out of the skillet onto a large plate, then slide back into the skillet to cook the other side – about five more minutes. Slide or flip onto a plate when it is cooked.

Eat immediately or refrigerate and enjoy within 24 hours.

News

Welcome to Brain Food!

Jenny

Welcome to Brain Food, a children’s nutrition practice based in London.

We hope you have enjoyed looking around our new website. If you have any comments, please drop us a line.

Starting in January 2013, this section of the website will feature delicious and healthy everyday home cooking, without gluten or dairy.

If you would like to be alerted to new posts, please sign up for updates using the various options to the right of this post.