Falling off the bone ribs

I've missed ribs. They are great low GI food, until the sauce goes on, then the sweet sticky delicious gooeyness just turns them into a totally hopeless food, GI wise. But, there isn't any reason you can't do the fall apart ribs and put a more GI friendly sauce on.
These ribs were oven roasted with a rub, and then you can choose what sauce to add before barbecuing if you wish, or eat them as they are, delicious.

Ingredients
1 kilo pork ribs
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
2 tablespoons paprika
1 teaspoon chilli powder
1 teaspoon Chinese all spice
Juice of two limes
1 teaspoon sesame oil
1 cup of black tea

Preheat the oven to 180C.
Remove the membrane from the ribs and place them in a roasting tray.
Mix the oil and lime juice and rub that over the ribs.
Mix together all the other ingredients, except the tea and rub them into the meat.
Add the tea to the tray and cover with silver foil, shiny side up.
Cook for 3 hours.
Either serve like this, using a fork (or your fingers) to tear apart the meat, or add a sauce and barbecue.

Roast chicken with white beans, capers and limes.

Ingredients:
Four chicken pieces, skin on
Two tins haricot blanc
Two tablespoons capers
Three limes, thinly sliced

Preheat the oven to 180C.
Rinse the beans and put in a roasting tin.
Add the capers.
Place the chicken pieces on the beans and add the slices from two limes.

Add a cup of water
Roast for 30 minutes, turning once.
Turn the chicken again so it's skin side up (where possible).
Turn the heat right up and cook for ten more minutes.
Meanwhile cook the rest of the lime slices in a dry pan until slightly caramalised and serve.

Steak salad with horseradish cream

So full of flavour. A real treat.

We made the salad a luxury one as we were having steak, but of course, you can put whatever you want in it. a

Ingredients:

 One piece of sirloin steak

Half an iceburg lettuce

A handful of each of the following:

green beans, topped, tailed, stringy bits removed and sliced

cherry tomatoes, halved

mange tout, topped and tailed

A few spears of asparagus, tough bottom removed

A few sticks of celery, sliced finely

A few spring onions, sliced finely

One courgette (we used several mini ones), sliced into rounds

A selection of lettuce leaves and pea shoots

Two tablespoons whipped cream (or yoghurt - ideally greek)

A little butter and maybe some olive oil

One tablespoon regular oil (not olive oil or butter - both of which have low smoking temperatures)

Salt and pepper

A spoonful of horseradish (mustard or wasabi are ok substitutes)

Optional extra ideas - olives, capers, carrots, cucumber, guerkins, artichoke hearts, peppers

First remove the steak from the fridge to bring up to room temperature.

Next, boil the green beans and the asparagus. 

Then boil the mange tout. 

Once they are ready, dip them in cold water to stop the cooking and leave to completely cool.

Fry the courgette in butter, then put to one side to cool (you could also oven roast them if you prefer).

Fry the tomatoes in olive oil or butter, set aside to cool (you could also oven roast them if you prefer).

Make a non stick pan very hot then add the regular oil.

Put the steak in, season it, but don't move it for two minutes.

Turn it and season it.

Don't touch it for two minutes.

Turn it.

After one more minute turn it.

After one more minute remove from the heat and put on a cutting board. Do not cut it yet.

Rub it with butter.

Toss the lettuce together in a bowl

Arrange the rest of the salad (leaving aside some spring onions) over the lettuce.

Mix the cream (or yoghurt), spring onions and horseradish together.

Slice the steak which has now rested.

Arrange on the salad and top with the horseradish cream.

Bacon, tomatoes and poached eggs

Simple and delicious!

First cook the tomatoes. We used cherry tomatoes that we had halved, but you can cook them whole and squash them. They are going to go under the egg for when the yolk spills out so you want plenty. It doesn't matter if they are warm or not - either way tastes good.
Put some water on to boil.
Next cook the bacon in it's own fat. If the quality isn't good, it may have been pumped with water, which will need draining, but most bacon here is great quality done by local butchers who care! How crispy you want your bacon is a personal thing!
Add a spoon of vinegar to the water. This helps to hold the white together.
When the water is boiling, turn it down to a simmer and use a spoon to stir it fast until it spins on it's own. Pour an egg into the centre. Allow to cook until the white is held together then turn the gas off. Use a slotted spoon to pick it up carefully and check that the white is cooked. Ideally you want the white completely done and the yolk still runny.
Serve immediately on the tomatoes with the bacon on the side.

Cheesy creamy mushroomy eggs en cocotte

These are easy, impressive, and both delicious and filling.

Ingredients - per person

100 grams mushrooms

2 dried mushrooms, soaked in very hot water for 20 minutes

One clove garlic, finely diced

One very fresh egg

One tablespoon cream

A sprinkling cheddar cheese

Two teaspoons butter

Preheat the oven (to around 180C).

Chop the mushrooms finely. 

Melt 1 teaspoon of butter and cook the garlic. Next add the mushrooms. Season. Cook gently until all liquid has gone.

Add half the cream.

Grease the dish with the rest of the butter and add the mushrooms.

Make a dent in the mushrooms and pour in the egg.

Pour cream over and sprinkle with cheese.

Half fill a baking tray with water and add the dishes. Cook for around 15 minutes until the cooked. Ideally serve immediately, though I was surprised to realise it works well cold and microwaves well (though the yolk may harden!)

Lentil and sweet potato soup

Ingredients

4 sweet potatoes

125 grams red lentils

2 onions

3 tablespoons paprika (mixed with chilli powder if you want)

1 tablespoon oil

A generous handful of coriander

1.5 litres vegetable stock

Salt and pepper 

Peel and chop the sweet potatoes. Arrange on a baking tray with one quartered onion. Add salt and pepper and roast for about 40 minutes until beginning to caramalise.

Finely chop one onion and the leaves and stems of the coriander, leaving aside a few leaves for decoration later. Fry in the oil.

Add the paprika.

Stir and fry a little more till completely coated.

Add the lentils

Stir to coat thoroughly, then add the stock. Bring to a fast boil then simmer for 20 minutes.

Chop up the roast onion and add that and the sweet potato to the soup.

Cook for about 5 more minutes then liquidise half the soup. Stir in the rest and serve with the coriander on top.

Cinnamon apples with pistachio cream

Ingredients
6 apples
1 teaspoon cinnamon
2 teaspoons soft brown sugar
2 tablespoons butter
1 lime

2 cups cream
1 cup yoghurt
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
2 tablespoons pistachios
1 tablespoon mixed nuts and seeds

Peel and slice the apples into circles. Soak in lemon juice to stop from going brown.
Mix the butter, sugar and cinnamon powder together.
Arrange the apple slices on a baking tray.
Spread the butter mix over the apple slices.
Bake for about 15 minutes until starting to caramalize.

Meanwhile, put the nuts in a tray and roast for around 5 minutes to bring out hte flavour.
Whip the cream. Stir through the vanilla essence. Add the yoghurt and stir together. 
Mix in the nuts and seeds and serve with the warm apples.

Chocolate mousse with ginger berries (egg free)

High cocoa chocolate is fairly low GI, so using a dark chocolate, and not adding extra sugar makes this a great low GI dessert. Berries are low on the GI scale too.
I love desserts! Especially this one.
Not using eggs means that this can be safely made when pasturised eggs aren''t available.

100 grams dark chocolate - ideally 70 - 80 %
200 ml double cream
Pinch salt
A handful of mixed frozen berries (we used blueberries, strawberries and blackberries)
half teaspoon finely grated (or chopped) ginger
generous pinch ground ginger

Put some water on to boil and break the chocolate into a pyrex dish with a lip that allows it to fit over the boiling water, while steam can escape.

Once the water is boiling, turn down to a simmer and put the broken chocolate dish over the water, taking care that the bowl doesn't touch the water.


Warm the  cream and salt, taking it just below boiling point.

When the chocolate is melted (and take care with this, if you leave it too long, it'll spoil), pour in the cream and mix thoroughly. If you are too slow with this, you'll end up with lumps of solid chocolate in with the mousse - I can think of worse problems!

Leave to set. Ideally overnight or for around 4 hours.


Meanwhile, gently heat the fruit with the ginger until it breaks down.

Pass the fruit through a sieve, if you want.

Serve with the mousse and some cream.

Ratatouille with poached eggs

The key to this is to cut the ingredients into small 1cm cubes to help it work with the eggs.

Ingredients
2 tablespoons olive oil
200 grams cherry tomatoes, quartered
1 tin tomatoes (opened and diced)
1 courgette, diced into 1cm cubes
1 red pepper, sliced into thin strips around 3 cms long
4 aubergines, diced into 1 cm cubes
2 onions, diced into 1cm pieces
4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
A generous handful of basil leaves, torn, with a few leaves set aside for decoration
2 teaspoons oregano
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
500ml vegetable stock
3 eggs
Salt and pepper to taste

In one pan fry the onions and red peppers with one tablespoon of olive oil.

In another fry the cherry tomatoes with the rest of the olive oil.

Add the garlic to the onions.
Fry for a couple more minutes over a low/medium heat.
Add the oregano and the rest of the vegetables, including the tinned tomatoes.

Simmer for 30 - 40 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Add stock as and when needed.
Taste and add salt and pepper to taste.
Stir the balsamic vinegar through the vegetables.
Break the eggs into three individual bowls.

Make three dips in the ratatouille and pour the eggs into each dip.
Simmer gently for around 10 - 15 minutes until the white is cooked but the yolk is still runny.

Sprinkle with basil leaves.

Serve immediately, eat communally from the pan.
Delicious.

Cranachan

40 grams steel cut oats
2 tablespoons honey
150 grams frozen raspberries (fresh if possible, but...)
2 tablespoons Scottish whisky
250 ml cream

Heat the oats and one teaspoon of the honey in a frying pan until toasted.

Spread on baking paper and leave to cool.
Defrost the raspberries and pick out some whole ones for the top.
Puree half the remaining fruit.
Whip the cream until it's thick.
Mix the whisky with the remaining honey and stir through the cream.
Break up the oats and stir this through the cream.
Stir together the pureed fruit and the other half of the fruit (but not the whole berries you have set aside) an stir this lightly through the cream, leaving streaks of colour.
Serve in wine glasses with the whole fruit on top.
Eat the same day.

Yoghurt with ginger berries

A very simple breakfast, but pretty, and tasty.

500 ml plain yoghurt - ideally greek yoghurt

1 knob of ginger, grated or chopped finely

200 frozen blueberries

200 grams froxen blackberries

200 grams frozen strawberries

1 heaped teaspoon ground ginger

Mint to garnish

Put the fruit, ginger and ground ginger in a pan and warm over a low heat until the fruit has reduced down.

Set aside some of the juice. Puree the rest of the fruit using a hand blender. Stir this gently through the yoghurt, so that it is streaked with fruit.

Drizzle the juice over.

Serve garnished with mint.

Cloud bread

Now, first of all, this really isn't bread.

That said, it does taste good and works really well at holding stuff together so that I can once again have sandwiches. And anything with cheese in, well, basically, it's good...
This is the basic recipe - I reckon it'd take some additions - some grated cheddar, some mustard, some poppy seeds, pepper, nutmeg, etc.
Anyway, it works.

Ingredients

4 eggs, separated.

1 teaspoon salt

Quarter teaspoon cream of tartar

50g cream cheese

Preheat the oven to 200 C.

Whisk the egg whites till they peak (and you can, if you are brave enough, turn the bowl upside down).

In a separate bowl, whisk the other ingredients.

Fold the egg whites into the yolk mix, taking care to keep as much air as possible in the mixture.

Spoon the mixture onto an oiled baking tray and cook for 20 minutes.

Eat hot or cold. 

Stoneground dark rye soda bread

Sandwiches, marmite on toast, anything on toast, buns, burgers, chapatis, nan, and a host of others. I miss them. I haven't had too many problems cutting out rice, pasta is ok, potatoes, well I miss, but I'm managing, but bread. I love bread. I miss bread. I always knew I wasn't going to cut bread out for life - it's got to be a lifestyle change and one I can live with long long long term, so this week I finally cracked and decided to experiment with bread.
Bread isn't all the same, GI wise. A baguette is horrendous with GI readings up in the 90s, white and even wholemeal are better, but not necessarily by much. Course barley kernal bread is really low, but I can't source the ingredients for that one. Wholegrain bread, pumpernickel and rye bread have a relatively low GI, so this seemed to be the way to go. And cramming it with low GI nuts and seeds would reduce it further. Stone ground seems to be the best processing to keep the GI low, so I wanted to use that too.
First I bought some pumpernickel. Seemed fairly low GI as bread goes. I wasn't familiar with it and it was frighteningly expensive, but, hey, I only planned to have it as an occasional treat.
Yeah, turns out pumpernickel isn't my thing. Not at all.
Back to the drawing board.
First the flour. I had some stoneground dark rye flour so decided to start with this.
I added nuts and seeds, and made a batch of soda bread buns which I then froze individually. I'm allowing myself one a week to satisfy those marmite cravings.

Ingredients
450g stoneground dark rye flour
450ml milk
Juice one lime
2 tablespoons whole almonds
2 tablespoons sliced almonds
1 tablespoon sunflower seeds
1 tablespoon pumpkin seeds
2 tablespoons steel cut oats
1 teaspoon poppy seeds
1 teaspoon sesame seeds
Half teaspoon salt
1 level teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
1 teaspoon honey

Preheat the oven to 200C.
Mix the milk and the lime juice together and leave to stand for ten minutes. It'll curdle. That's fine.
Add the honey and stir well.
Mix the dry ingredients together.
Add the milk mix and stir to form a dough.
Make into buns, or a loaf and arrange, with a little space around on a floured baking tray.
Bake for around 15 - 20 minutes (buns) or around 30 minutes for a loaf (it'll sound hollow when tapped when it is ready).
Serve hot, cold, freeze, toast, enjoy.