Where’s the Bakin’?

Shakshouka from Cumulus Inc. It’s baked eggs with roasted peppers and shanklish

Baking food is the way to go in Autumn months. If you think about it in Chinese Medicine terms, Autumn is when the direction of our body’s natural energy turns inwards – our intelligent biology knows it’s time to prepare for cooler months. That’s why it’s that little bit harder to get out of bed and naturally, we spend less time outdoors. And that’s ok! This is something we can’t control, and trying to force the opposite, well it will drain the energy faster than you can say “is it winter yet?”.

One way to get more bakin’ is breakfast time. I don’t know why it became the norm to socialise before 12pm on a weekend.  Somewhere along the lines it did, and that’s exactly what us Melbournians do en-masse come the Saturday. So Melbourne chefs had to get up earlier and get creative…not that this little foodie is complaining. Breakfast worship is my thing.

Trusty eggs benedict has been superseded by Turkish baked eggs, which I see on menus we are now using it’s “proper” name, Shakshouka. Essentially you have the same thing: Arabic spiced tomato base, crack in a couple of eggs, bake in clay pot, then serving with crusty bread and warning not to touch the pan.

Doctors orders this Autumn is to bake, braise and stir fry. Lots of fragrances stimulate the metal element – being our Lungs – and another little trick from 5,000 years ago to ward off the lurgy.

Look after yourself this Autumn,
Becki xx

Why It Seems I Over Salt My Food – A Chef’s Trick of the Trade

If you’ve read a recipe or two of mine, it looks like I over salt food.

This is not the case, because I add the same amount of salt (actually it’s probably less) in stages and I use celtic sea salt.

Salting in stages is the difference between
being a home cook and great home cook.

How does salting in stages work? A little trick I’ve learnt from chefs in the know, and really easy to make big flavour impact. Say you would normally add approximately 2 teaspoons of salt to a soup (depending on volume of course). Divide that up into 3 or 4 and use those portions to salt as you add in different vegetables, meat and stock. I’m not as literal as that, because I am familiar with how much to use. Use a pinch here. A pinch there. Don’t go too far at each stage – you can’t un-salt. And be sure to taste towards the end, checking if it needs a final pinch.

A little magic then starts to happen. And perhaps a little chemistry. Salt brings out the innate flavours of each ingredient, enhancing the depth and quality of the dish. If a dish is salted at the end – which is what most recipes recommend – it leaves a one dimensional salt-sitting-on-the-top-palate flavour.

Isn’t salt bad for us? For starters, if you want anything to taste a-ok, you need salt. Enjoying food is a huuuuuge part of health. That’s the esoteric side covered.

On a more scientific note; each and every cell in our bodies has a sodium/potassium pump. Look it up. It needs sodium (salt) and potassium (kind of another salt) to transfer nutrients into the cell and wastes out. This needs to happen for the most basic cellular function. Just go easy. Remember balance is the key to having salt.

However, we’re not getting enough proper salt anyways – depleted soils and all that. That’s why I’m ok with salting my food with celtic sea salt. Unlike it’s evil twin table salt, celtic sea salt has a nutrient content of over 80 trace elements. This is a mineral profile very similar to that of healthy blood. Being unrefined, the salt will have a slight green tinge and some brands are even a little moist. The flavour is well rounded and has punch, which means I don’t need to use as much as I would using table salt.

While on the matter, refined, bleached table salt in the form of sodium chloride has been stripped of its companion elements and contains toxic additives such as aluminium silicate, to keep it powdery and porous. This is the salt product that has a tendency to cause odema and weight gain and linked to kidney and blood pressure problems as we have learned through the common food pyramid teachings. It’s not only bad for health, refined salt progressively deadens the palate and taste buds so that more and more must be added to get any taste at all from the meal.

So, there you have it – salt in stages
and use a nutrient rich unrefined salt.

I recommend tasting as you go until you get a feel for how much salt you can use at each stage. It will vary depending on the kind of salt you use.

Look after yourself,
Becki xx

Edit: Saltiness is one of the 5 flavours that has an important function in TCM herbology. The salty flavour influences the Kidneys and functions to soften hardness (nodules and the like and including accumulations in constipation), and helps to drain and purge. Like all the flavours, nothing in excess or it leads to more problems.

Simple Satisfying Sure-to-please Fennel, Parmesan & Chickpea Soup. Andifyadon’tlikeityoucangostickit

El yummo

I really do like this soup. Like I said before, you could end wars with it. How can you go wrong with an aromatic base of onion, celery, carrot, fennel and garlic bathed in a savoury broth? Oh that’s right, if you add potatoes and parmesan rind you’ve just gone form naught to 100 on the flavour scale in about 20 minutes.

I do have a penchant for soups in general because a) they’re ridiculously easy to make that I feel like a faker when they turn out stupendously tasty b) they’re really good for digestive health c) talk about budget friendly my friend, and d) any person watching their weight should be living off soups. Look at the traditional Asian diet for example.

I really don’t want to get into one of my Chinese Medicine digestive rants, but one is coming on….

I can’t urge you enough to eat more soup. It’s like you’ve done the work for your digestion. The environment of the stomach is moist and warm. When you apply the judo method – or “gentle way” – to your diet, weight loss / weight management is effortless. You go with the flow of the natural energy that your digestion craves. Not this stupid Western “make your body work harder” bullshit. I’ll stop myself there, but do realise I can go on.

Onto the recipe then…

Fennel, Parmesan & Chickpea Soup

A good slurping of olive oil
1 onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
1 medium potato, diced
1 medium carrot, diced
1 celery stick, diced (include the washed leaves)
1 bulb fennel, diced
4 c. water, maybe a slurp more
1 x 400g tin chickpeas, rinsed well (or cook your own)
1 x bay leaf
Rind from a chunk of parmesan
Salt and pepper to taste

1. Heat the olive oil and begin to sweat the onions with a pinch of salt ensuring they don’t brown
2. After about 2 minutes, add potato, carrot and celery and fennel with about a minute in between each one and saute with another pinch of salt for 2 minutes, giving the odd stir
3. Add the garlic, give a swirl and saute for 20 seconds or so
4. Add the water and parmesan rind. Make sure the water is covering vegetables with a good 3 – 4 cm more
5. Bring to the boil, then reduce heat and simmer with the lid on for approx 20 mins until vegetables are soft
6. Taste for seasoning*. Add more if necessary
7. Add the chickpeas, gently simmer with lid on through and serve with lashings of fresh parmesan and fresh parsley

*why do I add salt in so many stages? Isn’t that a lot of salt? Answer: Nup. For starters, if you want anything to taste a-ok, you need salt (which is not your enemy, lets just clear that up right now alright?). So say you add approx 1.5 tsp salt to this here soup. Approximately divide that up into 3 or 4 and use those portions to salt as you go. Not only will you adequately season your dish, you’ll also be enhancing the natural flavours of the ingredients, which come alive with a little salting. You will also avoid that one dimensional salt-sitting-on-the-top-palate thingy that goes on with amateur cooking. So, there you have it. Salt in stages, just taste as you go until you get a feel for how much salt you can use at each stage. It will vary depending on the kind of salt you use. I prefer Celtic Seasalt which is rich in a bunch on minerals has a very intense deep flavour which means you require far less salt that average table salt…because even though it’s not your enemy, too much of anything is.

(Adapted from: Enjoy – New Veg by Nadine Abensur)

Soup in the pot

A Sardinian Breakfast. By the way…where is Sardinia?

Typical Sardinian Breakfast. My version sans poached eggs. Because I suck at poached eggs.

Sardina. Located off the east coast of Italy and second largest island in the great salty pond known as the Mediterranean, to Sicily. Known for it’s long living folk who feast off simple meals with bountiful fresh produce grown locally.

Sounds like a great way to start the morning.

This breakfast was made for me recently and adapted from A Sardinian Cookbook by Giovanni Pilu and Roberta Muir. I have to say the Turkish can reclaim their baked eggs and the whoever’s, their eggs benedict*. Me? I’m all Sardinian (even though I’m a bastard breed of Northern Italian and whatever goes into making up Australian).

Ahem, anyways onto the recipe. Quite easy. All you need is pane carasau / pane di musica…not that economical, quick to make or easy to find, so I substituted with split and toasted wholemeal pitas – I used the mini kind – or you can try Lavosh. Layer 4 pieces per serve with a good quality passata, which I used my own by first soaking tomatoes in boiling water (about 1 minute) then peeling and seeding. Roughly chop the flesh and simmer for 20 – 40 mins with a pinch of salt and a bay leaf. More economical if doing in large batches and buying end-of-season, not-quite-perfect tomatoes. Also add shaved parmesan and fresh basil in the layers. If you’re like me and don’t have fresh basil on hand, but have salvaged bunches of basil before it goes off and minced in a food processor and drowned in olive oil and pinch of salt to be stored in the refrigerator, you’re going to be in luck.

Ideally you want to top with a couple of poached eggs since this particular morning I couldn’t poach an egg if my life depended on it. I took the picture above sans poached eggs (but still ate the little rascals anyway).

It takes pure talent to achieve poached eggs like this.

What makes this simple breakfast so delectable, I reckon is the slathering of tomatoes that are rich in umami…that I-can’t-get-enough-of-it savoury yumminess. I also happens to be filling and uncomplicated. Kinda like how I prefer my men.

Possibly better looking than mine. But both were as tasty as each other.

*Wikipedia doesn’t know the originator of eggs benedict, therefore subsequently, neither do I.

Beet away the toxins

Reblogged from No Crohn's:

Sometimes we drink to much.
Sometimes we need to help our liver cleanse itself of weekend naughties.
If you dared drink in the weekend like me- try this:
1 x can of chickpeas drained & rinsed
3 x cooked peeled beetroot
1 x massive handful of mint
Juice of half a lemon
1tspn Manuka honey
Salt & pepper to taste…

Read more… 20 more words

Love this post by No Crohn's (follow her here: http://nocrohns.wordpress.com), it's a great take on a fridge staple. We were talking about beetroot hummus the other day and she inspired me to make some. I added tahini because I read (somewhere) of the nutritional constituants of tahini (methionine for instance) compliment those of chickpeas (it's protein and perhaps others). The amino acid methionine in tahini will also aid in Liver detoxification, along with the beets. I like sesame seeds (what make up tahini) because of their high calcium content. I sprinkle them on a lot of foods including scrambled eggs. In TCM we use black sesame (Hei Zhi Ma) to benefit the kidneys, promote bowel movements and keeping hair shiny and strong (interestingly, this is to do with the relationship to kidneys). Not necessarily useful as tahini, but a good sprinkling on your hummus along with a drizzle of olive oil is a great way to reap the benefits.

Ribollita. It means reboiled, but don’t let that put you off

The perfect antidote to Sunday night miserable weather, this Tuscan soup is a winner. Traditionally a leftovers soup – Ribollita meaning “reboiled” – using minestrone and stale bread, but to us this is just as good as real meal.

Thanks to my housie for suggesting it…we are going to be eating well this week! This recipe is adapted from River Cafe Cookbook. Should get 6 servings out of it.

2 red onions, diced
2 carrots, diced
3 sticks celery, diced
4 garlic cloves, roughly chopped
1/2 bunch parsley, roughly chopped incl stalks
3 cups cooked cannellini and/or berlotti beans
2 stalks kale, leaves seperated, stems removed and roughly chopped
1 250g tin organic tomatoes
2 cups veg stock, heated
3 stale ciabatta rolls, hand torn into chunks (can use loaf equivalent)
Salt and pepper
Olive oil
Pancetta finely sliced and pan fried to crisp – for serving (omit if vegetarian)

In a good slurp of olive oil, sauté onions, celery, carrot and parsley with 1/2 tsp salt and a good grinding of fresh black pepper for 30 mins until flavours well blended. Add garlic halfway through.

Add kale, tomatoes and their juice and enough veg stock to cover. Add another 1/2 tsp salt. Simmer gently for 30 mins.

Meanwhile divide beans into 2 portions, set 1 portion to the side and purée the 2nd portion.

Once veg cooked, add whole and puréed beans and torn bread and a good slurp of olive oil. Add more stock if necessary, however you want a nice thick soup. Check for seasoning, adjust if necessary. Simmer for 3 minutes and serve with Pancetta on top.

Wanna know what’s new in the world of foodiecure?

Today I added a store to foodiecure (see tab above). It’s a bit crude and will evolve over time, but for now I have a home for products I talk about and link to.

Full disclosure: some products are listed because I love ‘em and talk about ‘em and make no financial gain from. Some I get affiliate income (for example Sarah Wilson’s e-books) and some are my own products (such as cooking lessons and e-books and other products to be added).

For the past 2.5 years I’ve been writing content and developing this blog. Many, many hours have gone into this, so far I have 102 posts, 14 pages and 328 comments. This, might I add, has been dispersed between full time work, part time work, casual work, free work, full time study, part time study, travel and a tiny social life…all just to make ends meet, learning as much as I can and paying if forward. Providing what I learn – my expertise – free of charge has always been the intended goal. And I want to keep it that way.

A store serves two purposes;
1. easy access to get products I talk about that you’re interested in
2. keeping foodiecure in operation

The second point generates a third reason; to keep you all informed, inspired and learning more of the poetic science that is Traditional Chinese Medicine.

Look after yourself,

Becki x

Eastern vs. Western Medicine. An Infographic

Dearly wanted to share this infographic with you. May be a bit biased, then again, so am I!

Not another pumpkin soup

You’ll be forgiven for groaning in boredom at another pumpkin soup recipe. Besides being cold weathers best friend alongside braised lamb shanks and mulled wine, this little staple is cracking for the digestion (naturally if its appearing here). Orange, naturally sweet, and fibrous (if you want to look at it all Western-like) pumpkin gets things, ahem, moving.

This recipe has a little jena se qua added – chestnuts, which are just coming into season and matches swimmingly with pumpkin. These little nuggets signify wood fires and alps, my Italian heritage and visible breath on cold mornings. They are one of the best things about cooler weather and my ancestors roasted them over wood fires, peeling back their woody casing exposing creamy, steaming nutty flesh. And are lovely little tonics for the Kidneys in preparation of Winter’s arrival.

Here’s how to make Pumpkin and Chestnut soup:

1/2 Jap pumpkin skin removed and roughly chopped
1 c. dried chestnuts (if you’ve got fresh even better!), simmered until tender (approx 45 mins)
3-4 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
2 tsp curry powder (optional)
3-4 c. Vegetable stock or water (or enough to just cover vegetables in pot)
Salt
White pepper (if not using curry powder)

1. In a soup pot at a good glug of olive oil and sauté pumpkin for 2 minutes
2. Add garlic and curry powder, pinch of salt and sauté for another 2 minutes
3. Add stock or water, bring to the boil and reduce, simmering until pumpkin soft. Taste for seasoning, adding more if necessary
4. Add chestnuts, cook for another 5 minutes
5. Using a stick blender, whizz until smooth
6. For extra smooth texture, run through a chinois

Serve with goats cheese and shoyu roasted pumpkin seeds. Here I’ve used Holy Goat’s Velouté that has a divine rim of ash and gorgeous rind.

Colour me Autumn and call me healthy: Zucchini, pumpkin and sage fritters

Ever wondered how it happens people often get sick this time of year? How all of a sudden latent bugs take us down? In TCM we look at the seasonal shift. We have just transitioned from “damp” late summer to the polar opposite “dry” autumn. Our sensitive little bodies are reacting to the energetic change and not even us TCM doctors are immune to the effects.

However, we can assist our bodies to cope. I love to do this through food (of course!)…this time of year taking advantage of gorgeous autumn produce coloured yellow, orange, brown with a hint of green. And fritters are one helluva enjoyable way to eat ‘em.

Zucchini, pumpkin and sage fritters (gluten free):

1 c.of besan flour (also known as chickpea and/or garbanzo flour)
¾ c. of water
1 c. of grated zucchini*
1 c. of grated pumpkin *
¾ cup of leek, thinly sliced half moons*
2 generous tsp fresh sage* (halve if dried)
Salt and pepper to taste
Ghee for cooking

Directions
1. Squeeze the excess of water out of the grated zucchini an pumpkin

2. Sift the besan flour into a large bowl and whisk the water into it until smooth.

3. Add the rest of the ingredients into the besan batter and stir well to combine.

4. Heat a pan with a little bit of ghee and drop generous tablespoons of the batter into the pan. Cook until browned and turn to brown the other side.

Serve topped with halved roasted tomatoes*, whipped ricotta and marinated feta (whip with a whisk like you would cream) and a squeeze of lemon*.

*denotes in season