Food for thoughts #4
Stuffed Turkey with stewed cabbage in orange juice.
Serotonin controls our emotions and motor skills. It’s the mood-stabilizing chemical that helps with sleep, eating, digesting. Serotonin is made from the essential amino acid tryptophan. An essential compound (amino acids, fatty acids, etc…) is something that must enter your body through the diet.
Being the precursor of serotonin and melatonin makes tryptophan extremely important to our mood and sleep cycle.
Eating a healthy diet which contains this amino acid may help support our mental health, so it is something we should all consider during these delicate times.
Tryptophan is found in red meat, dairy, nuts, seeds, bananas and turkey — and turkey is our special ingredient for this week’s recipe! We picked this type of meat instead of other animal proteins as we though not many people know the health-promoting benefits of turkey. This poultry has a higher protein content than beef, for example (34g instead of 26g per 100g) and half its saturated fat, plus it is packed with B vitamins and minerals.
In these roasted turkey rolls we also added spinach, pistachios and cabbage as we wanted to use more of those ingredients that can optimise the gut-brain health. Folate, B6 and magnesium found in the foods above are fundamental for both the digestive and nervous system.
To cook this recipe you will need a oven tray, baking paper, cling film, a rolling pin and some cook’s string.
https://www.cochranelibrary.com/cdsr/doi/10.1002/14651858.CD003198/full
https://www.karger.com/Article/Abstract/68692
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: about 2 hours
Serves 2
INGREDIENTS
1 turkey breast (about 250g)
FILLING
100g spinach
a bunch of thyme
30g onions (finely chopped)
2 garlic cloves (finely chopped)
5ml oil
15g crushed pistachios
salt
COATING
20g ground pistachios
20g chopped pistachios
1 egg
3g salt
CABBAGE
olive oil
170g cabbage
50ml orange juice
a pinch of salt
INSTRUCTIONS
For the filling. In a small pan heat up 5ml of oil and cook the onions and garlic with the thyme for about 5 minutes or until translucent. When it is ready, set aside to cool down and discard the thyme sticks.
Cut the Turkey breast cutting with a sharp knife in the middle to open it into two layers. Then place it in between two cling film sheets. Flatten it out with a rolling pin.
Now place the spinach leaves in a double layer on top of the turkey. Spoon the filling on the top. Roll it into itself to form a cylinder shape. With the help of the cling film. Discard the cling film and hold the roll in place by using the cook's string.
Place it in the fridge to rest for about 1 hour.
Brush some egg yolk on the top. Coat with the pistachio mix.
Preheat the oven to 150 ºC
Place a bit of parchment paper on a baking tray and cook the turkey roll for about 2hours. I advise using a thermometer to check the internal temperature, you are looking for 70 ºC.
While it is cooking you can prepare the cabbage. Cut it into thin stripes and discard the hardest parts.
Cook in a pan with a tiny bit of boiling water for about 10-15minutes. Drain the water, season to taste and squeeze half an orange on the top before serving.
About us
Giulia Rocca, is a registered Nutritional Therapist, the founder of Cromo Nutrition.
She has always been very passionate about food and plants; this is probably inherited from her grandfather, who used to teach her how to cook Italian recipes, plant tiny seeds and grow lemon trees in their garden. Her biggest interests are digestive problems, skin conditions, immunity and cognitive health, but she is very happy to listen and help people with any sort of health concerns.
Jennifer Cauli is a professional photographer and writer based in London. She is specialising in food and travel topics. She has worked with restaurants and food businesses around the world. Several of her images and stories have been successfully published with Culture Trip, Suitcase Magazine, Great British Chefs and many others. A few of her images made it into the shortlisted for The Pink Lady Food Photographer of The Year, International Siena Photo Festival and Women Behind The Lens.
Food for thoughts #3
Spinach cakes
This is a super easy recipe for a quick lunch or even for breakfast. You must know how to make a good spinach omelette or frittata by now. This is a healthier version as we cooked them in the oven instead of frying them and we added a bit of salted ricotta for a richer taste.
You will need a few cupcake tins to bake the small cakes . We used silicone baking cups cause it is the easiest solution to take the small cakes out once they are cooked. If you use some metal ones I advise you coat them with butter and dust the inside with flour to avoid them sticking to the surface.
For the props styling I decided to play with lines and patterns. It reminded me of the intricacy of the human brain or how I like to imagine it, as a thick weave of connections.
After a short journey to my local props house, Backgrounds prop hire I found what I was looking for!
We all started this new series with the idea of creating some recipes to boost your mental health. If you have been following us you must know that my blog partner Giulia is an professional nutritionist and she will tell us a bit more about why we choose to cook this recipe. Check below:
“On our last post we talked about the important connection between gut health and mental health. The intestine and the brain communicate with impulses via nerves and chemical messengers (neurotransmitters) such as serotonin and GABA. This last neurotransmitter called gamma-aminobutyric acid has the function to inhibit/block certain signals in our brain and reduce activity in our nervous system. Therefore, GABA and GABA deficiency are linked to symptoms like stress, anxiety, insomnia, ADHD… but also Parkinson’s disease and seizures.
There are not many foods that contain GABA —the only ones are fermented foods, in fact we added apple cider vinegar to our side salad— however, some vitamins such as vitamin B6 are required co-factors for GABA synthesis. Foods rich in B6 are first of all spinach (together with cabbage, broccoli, garlic, peppers, bananas…), so we decided to cook one of the most famous Italian recipes with spinach — frittata (di spinaci).
Spinach is also high in folate and mineral magnesium which both have been seen to be essential for optimal mental health. “
Spinach cakes
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 40 minutes
Total Time: 50 minutes
Serves 2
INGREDIENTS
4 medium eggs (about 60g each)
100g spinach
70g leeks
60g salted sheep's ricotta
5ml olive oil
black pepper
SALAD
5 radish
300g Mixed salad leaves
1 tbs apple cider vinegar
2 tbs extra virgin olive oil
a pinch of salt
a twist of black pepper
INSTRUCTIONS
1 Preheat oven to 170 ºC
2 In a small bowl beat the eggs
3 Grate the ricotta into the egg mixture
4 Sauté the leeks and spinach in a small pan with olive oil until tender (2-3 min)
5 Pour the content into the cupcake tins
6 Cook in the oven for about 30 minutes
7 For the salad: wash the radish, discard the leaves and slice thinly.
8 Mix all the ingredients together into a salad bowl
9 Once the cakes are ready you can plate them with a bit of salad on the side.
Food for thoughts #2
Conta-bollita soup (a combination between Ribollita and Contadina soup )
Giulia and I started with the idea of a Ribollita, a thick vegetarian soup from Tuscany dated as far back as medieval times. Ribollita literally means re-boiled — noble family's servants used to reheat the left-over food with the addition of bread. The bread would soak in all the delicious flavours.
But since we thought some of you might not want to eat bread, the recipe would no longer be a genuine ribollita but more of a contadina soup. They are both very similar as they both contain lots of beans but the contadina doesn't have any bread.
So this recipe is sort of like a hybrid between two regional Italian recipes that we renamed Conta-bollita. It is a very comforting dish, perfect for cold wintery days. It would make a great addition to your diet as it is a very healthy one.
It needs a bit of advance preparation as the beans need to soak overnight or for at least 24 hours.
It takes a fair amount of time to make this soup so I recommend doing a large amount and freeze the rest if you wish.
Foods that are full of fibre and contain a wide variety of vegetables can have a fantastic impact on our gut health, and therefore on our mental health. Recent studies have brought to light the synergistic and important connection that exist between gut and brain. Our digestive system and our brain interact both physically and biochemically in a number of different ways.
The vagus nerve, for example, a long nerve which connects the intestine (and other organs) to the brain, sends signals in both directions. Therefore if you are stressed you may not digest very well, and if your stomach did not agree with certain foods, your concentration may not be as good as normal.
Gut and brain also communicate with neurotransmitter, chemical messengers produced mainly in the brain which control feelings and emotions. Our gut, though, also produces certain neurotransmitters like serotonin (which works by making us feel happy), and our gut microflora can produce a neurotransmitter called gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA), which helps control feelings of fear and anxiety.
This show us how connected the health of our digestive and nervous system is —no wonder that “adherence to the Mediterranean diet is associated with better mental and physical health”
In order to promote our mind well-being even further, for this recipe we added black beans to the mix of pulse are traditionally use in the recipe since black beans are one of the top foods for folate, and “Folate deficiency and low folate status have been linked in clinic studies to depression, persistent depressive symptoms, and poor antidepressant response.”
When changing the recipe we also made sure the soup was going to have a good amount of leaf vegetables which are packed with calcium, vitamin K and magnesium, essential for energy production, heart and brain health.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4367209/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4393509/
https://www.karger.com/Article/Abstract/68692
https://www.bmj.com/content/369/bmj.m2382.short
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00394-019-01943-4
https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/british-journal-of-nutrition/article/adherence-to-the-mediterranean-diet-is-associated-with-better-mental-and-physical-health/0C91627A98D6ABB078EFBA47B0573EC8
https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/public-health-nutrition/article/mediterranean-diet-and-depression/67F265CA11470ADC1C9AD2838B7340B7
Prep Time: 25 minutes +
10 hrs to soak the beans overnight
Cook Time: 1h 45 minutes
Serves 6 people
INGREDIENTS
80g dried green lentils
150g dried cannellini beans
150g dried black beans
2 garlic cloves
20ml olive oil
1 rosemary stick
1.5l water
salt
pepper
olive oil 5 ml
70g onion
2 chillies
70g carrots
1 celery stick
120g potatoes
250g savoy cabbage
250g kale
250g swiss cabbage
200g tinned plum tomatoes
black pepper
1-2 tsp salt
INSTRUCTIONS
1 Start by soaking the beans overnight. If you don't have time or you want to speed up the procedure you can just buy precooked canned beans.
2 To prepare our conta-bollita you must cook the beans first as they take a fair amount of time. In a large deep pan heat up the olive oil with the rosemary and garlic for about 2 minutes. Drain the beans and pour them in. Cover with 1.5l of boiling water and cook for about 1 hour. Season with salt and pepper.
3 Take out the rosemary stick. Then blend in half of the beans in a mixer and pour it back into the pot.
4 Now prep your veggies.
5 Peel the onion and chop it finely.
6 Remove the strings from the celery sticks and chop them finely.
7 Peel the carrots and cut them into small cubes of about 1/3 inch.
8 Peel the potatoes and cut them into cubes of about 1 inch.
9 Chop the chillies finely, taking care to remove the seeds if you don't want the soup to be too spicy.
10 In a small pot heat up the olive oil and cook the onion, celery, carrots and chilli for about 5 minutes.
11 Wash the savoy cabbage, kale and Swiss cabbage. Then remove the middle stems from the hardest leaves, and roughly chop them into large pieces of about 2”
12 Now add in the potatoes followed by the tomato sauce and cook for about 10 minutes.
13 Pour in all the content into the larger pot with the bean soup previously made .
14 Add the lentils, cabbage, Swiss chard and kale leaves. Bring the soup to the boil and simmer with the lid on for about 30 minutes.
15 Season with salt and pepper.
16 Taste and serve with bread if you wish.
I like to eat mine like the original ribollita with a lot of bread soaking all the delicious soup.
Enjoy!"
Food for Thought
Energy Balls
It has been a revelation to find out that it is possible to improve your mental health by eating certain types of food. I never thought about food that way. Tim Spector’s book “Spoon Fed” was the book that ignited my interest.
Our gut has a role in depression and the connection between food and mood has been confirmed by several clinical trials in humans such as this one of Professor Charles F. Reynolds.
Food and brain function are connected, by feeding your body with the right food you are stimulating your brain to produce and recognise the right chemical signals.
“Food is not only carbohydrates, proteins and fat, but a mixture of thousands of chemicals that interact with our gut microbes to modify our brain signals.” writes Tim Spector.
Giulia and I have been talking a lot about mental health during this lockdown, so we came up with a few recipes that can help support your mental wellbeing.
The avoidance of highly refined sugars has also shown great results in research (see links below). However, to avoid or to limit eating sugar does not mean you can’t have anymore treats especially for St Valentine’s.
‘Jenny & Giulia to the rescue’ then, with a FABULOUS recipe that smells and tastes like a rose field, but contains zero added sugar.
To create these treats AKA energy balls, we used native ingredients from the Mediterranean region such as almonds, pistachios, prunes and rose petals —rose oil is known to bring relaxation when used in aromatherapy. We also added a few non-Mediterranean ingredients as they added a better texture to the recipe.
Let’s not forget that cacao and nuts, including cashews and pistachios are a good source of Magnesium and this mineral plays a key role in the health of our brain and nervous system.
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/da.10054
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1744388117302694
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00394-019-01943-4
https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/public-health-nutrition/article/mediterranean-diet-and-depression/67F265CA11470ADC1C9AD2838B7340B7
https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/british-journal-of-nutrition/article/adherence-to-the-mediterranean-diet-is-associated-with-better-mental-and-physical-health/0C91627A98D6ABB078EFBA47B0573EC8
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00394-019-01943-4
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1734114013710326
Preparation time: 20minutes + 10 min soaking
INGREDIENTS
50g almonds
40g cashews
5g coconut oil
50g prunes (soak in warm water for 10 mins, then drain. You may want to keep
1 tsp of that water to moist the mix)
8g cacao powder
3g dried rose petals
For coating
10g crushed pistachios
5g dried rose petals
INSTRUCTIONS
Combine all ingredients in a food processor. Add 1 teaspoon of prune water if it’s too dry. Make small balls the size of a walnut with the mix rolling the tiny balls with your hands.
In a small bowl pour the dried rose petals and crushed pistachios and roll the balls into them to form a coating.
Leave the balls to cool in the fridge for 1 hour before serving.
The Sardinian Kitchen
Orange zest candies - Aranzada
Today I want to share with you the recipe for Aranzada, a typical dessert from Sardinia, my region in Italy.
I come from a tiny village in the East coast of Sardinia that is famous for its oranges, generally the second week of April there is the famous “Oranges festival”. I took some images a long time ago during the event, if you love citrus fruits and you want to know more click Here.
Oranges are in season right now, so I thought to take this opportunity to make these zingy sweet bites made from orange peel, honey and almonds. For the orange zest to lose its bitterness, you need a bit of advance preparation. You must soak the skins one day before or to achieve best results, a few days in advance.
Makes 8 aranzadas
Preparation time: 10minutes + a few days soaking
Cooking time: 20 minutes
INGREDIENTS
50g unwaxed orange peel
(around 6 oranges)
40g peeled almonds
15g caster sugar
60g honey
INSTRUCTIONS
First thing with a potato peeler peel the oranges making sure you will remove the white pith.
Thinly cut the peel into strips, mine were about 3mm wide and 5mm long. Allow them to soak in warm water overnight or for a few days for best result.
Change the water at least twice a day.
Drain the orange peel and pat dry them.
Preheat the oven to 180ºC.
Roughly chops the almonds into even-sized pieces. Spread them on a baking tray and toast them in the oven for 5 minutes.
In a large pot heat up the sugar and honey. Keep stirring until it is brown and it coats the back of a spoon. When it reaches a slightly stringy and sticky consistency it is ready. Pour in the orange zest and cook for 1 minute.
Stir in the almonds as well and quickly spoon it into small cake cases. You’ve got to be as fast as you can to avoid the mixture from cooling down completely and becoming rock hard.
Healthy January 0.4
Herbal tea
This time we made a hot drink, an herbal tea that combines those plants that remind us of Italy and that also have healthy properties for our body such as promoting detoxification.
Nettle is native to all Europe — Urtica dioica, called ortica in Italian, is an herb with amazing properties! First of all, nettle leaves are extremely nourishing and a great source of iron and antioxidants, which has little to do with detox, but it’s something we —especially us ladies— should always remember! Nettle is also mildly diuretic which means that it can support the urinary tract and stimulate water retention. It can also work as an antihistamine, helping with allergic responses.
Another amazing herb that comes from Souther Europe and is largely used in Italian cuisine is liquorice. This herb can promote detoxification in the cells, help getting rid of the mucus after a chest infection, improve elimination with its mild laxative effect.
In the mix Giulia and I also put fennel seeds, diuretic and soothing for the gut, and anise with its antimicrobial and anti-oxidative properties.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/11056414/
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27141606/
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0944711318305555
Detox tea per 500ml water
3 g dried nettle leaf tea
3 g dried liquorice root
3 g fennel seeds
2-3 anise seeds
Healthy January 0.3
Sourdough wholemeal focaccia with onions and radicchio
Like many, I have been playing with sourdough since the beginning of the first lockdown in England. It kept me busy as it is like a pet to care for. Anthony Bourdain in his book Kitchen Confidential mentioned several chefs giving names to their starter. One of his colleagues used to call it the B****
Have you given a name to yours yet?
This recipe is sort of an adaptation of a regional recipe from my area in Sardinia, Pratzira with onions (Onions focaccia). Pratzira comes in different flavours and shapes, onions, tomatoes, potatoes, mushrooms and so on.
I absolutely love the onions version with its sweet taste and slippery texture. Add some tasty radicchio leaves and you are in for a treat!
If you do not know how to make natural yeast, there are many resources online bit I will share the recipe with you in the near future. Check this space.
A bit about nutrition…
When I consulted my blog partner Giulia about this recipe for our healthy January. She said “Ok, we are halfway through our detox month and, therefore, we can allow ourselves to cook something scrumptious and slightly higher in carbs than our previous recipes. “
The star of these focaccine, though, are the veggies — radicchio and onions. The purple-and-white type of leaf vegetable can be eaten raw, mixed in into salads and contorno, but it is AMAZING also if cooked. Radicchio, also known as Italian Chicory is packed with plant compounds —especially in its red part— which act as antioxidants on free-radicals and can improve circulation.
Onions have been seen in research to have anti-inflammatory and anti-microbial properties, to act as a prebiotic on our gut flora, and to be able to balance the immune system and improve heart health.”
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0924224407002282
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10408398.2011.646364
Prep Time: 45 minutes +
leavening time about 14 hour 30 minutes
Cook Time: 30 minutes
Total Time: 15 hours 45 minutes
INGREDIENTS
DOUGH
210g strong wholemeal flour
150ml water
10ml olive oil
5g salt
70g sourdough starter
360g white onion
170g radicchio
60ml olive oil
INSTRUCTIONS
First thing you will need to activate your sourdough starter by feeding it on the night before using it.
The second step is often called by the experts as “autolyse”.
In a small bowl, mix the water, wholemeal flour, and oil. Cover the bowl with a cloth and set aside for 1 hour. This is to allow the enzymes in the flour to activate.
Then add in the natural yeast and knead for 5 minutes to form a smooth dough. Now add in the salt and knead for another 2 minutes.
Let it rest for 8-12 hours or until it is doubled in size. This time can vary significantly depending on the temperature in your kitchen and of your ingredients, and how active is your starter.
A generall tip is to check the consistency of the dough, it should be bouncy and light.
Slice your onions into thin rings. Then cook them in a pan with 30ml of olive oil for about 10 minutes or until translucent.
Stir constantly to avoid burning them.
Let the onions cool down. Keep some aside, you will need these to decorate your focaccine. Then gently incorporate the rest into your dough, folding the edges of the dough on top of it a couple of times.
Put the dough onto a floured surface and portion it into 8. Then shape each one into a small ball, tucking the sides in with your hands. Dust some flour all around and on the top of each ball rubbing it genlty with your hands. Cover them with a cloth and let them raise again for about one and a half hours.
Preheat the oven to 220 ºC
Now place each ball into a greased baking tray and flatten each one using your finger tips. Pressing genlty and avoiding knocking out all the air.
Cut the radicchio into small wedges to fit into your focaccine. Place some of the radicchio leaves on the top of each focaccina.
Bake for 10 minutes. Then drizzle the remaining olive oil on the top and cook for further 10 minutes or until is gold.
Healthy January 0.2
Artichokes in olive oil and parsley dressing
My obsession with artichokes goes as far as trying to smuggle two small plants with pot and soil in my suitcase from Sardinia to grow them in London. They arrived safely but suffered a few injuries on the way.
Sadly I also failed in my attempt to grow them in London, all of them died after one month of incessant rain.
The Sardinian variety is with spikes, which I found difficult to find in the UK. I have just recently seen that the brand Natoora sells them online. (This post is not sponsorised)
Some time ago I visited the Blue zone of Sardinia, an area with a high longevity rate among the inhabitants, and speaking with some of the oldest inhabitants it seems that many like to eat artichokes. So I consulted my blog partner Giulia, to know more about these delicious vegetables from the nutritional point of view.
“Cynara cardunculus var. scolymus is without any doubt one of our favourite flowers from the Mediterranean region, the area where Italy is located and where Jennifer and I come from.
Artichoke is an edible thistle (a flowering plant) and it is absolutely delicious —you can’t blame us for loving it so much!
When cooked artichoke has a succulent meaty pulp and a sweet and nutty taste. You can also eat it raw —mainly the inner part known as the heart— but the consistency is definitely more fibrous and the taste is bitter.
This chubby green thistle is also packed with nutrients and health-promoting benefits. Artichokes are low in fat and rich in fibre which make them a great food for our digestive system and our heart health. They also contain a good amount of antioxidants, vitamin C, K and folate, and important minerals, such as magnesium, phosphorus, potassium, and iron.
Medical research has found that this plant, which has been used for centuries for its benefits, may help balance cholesterol levels and blood pressure. Another great reason to consume artichoke as both a vegetable or an extract is the protective and stimulating effects it may have on our liver and gut health. The fact that this plant is also so high in fibre —especially a soluble fibre called inulin— makes it a prebiotic food, which can help improving the intestinal flora.
As we don’t waste anything in Jenny’s kitchen while we prepare our recipes, we used those inedible leaves we removed from the artichokes before cooking to make a tea. This tea has a bittersweet taste and it is a great drink to stimulate digestion and liver health. “
This recipe is great served as a starter to complement a cheese or cured meats board or even as a side dish.
This is the best season for Artichokes so make sure you don’t miss them!
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30308247/
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22435514/
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26310198/
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29520889/
Recipe
Serves 4
Preparation time: 20 minutes
Cooking time: 35 minutes
INGREDIENTS
8 artichokes
1 lemon
1 tsp salt
50ml white wine vinegar
1l water
2 tbs extra virgin olive oil
a handful of fresh parsley
INSTRUCTIONS
Artichokes oxidise when cut, therefore rub some lemon juice into your hands before touching them.
To prepare the artichokes remove about some of the harder outer leaves until you are left with the softer ones. Cut most of the stalk, leaving about 1 cm. Trim the stalk into a point and chop about 2-3 cm off the tips of the leaves.
Slice them in a half and then cut the so called “beard“ just below the leaves.
Place the artichokes in a large bowl with water and the juice of two lemons (this will prevent them from turning black).
In a large pan bring the vinegar and water and 1 tsp of salt to the boil. Add the artichokes and let them simmer for about 30 minutes.
Leave to cool down into their own liquid.
Now we will prepare our dressing. Finely chop the parsley. In a small bowl pour in the olive oil and spoon in your parsley.
Pat-dry your artichokes with a table cloth and pour some of the parsley oil previously made on the top.
You can add a squeeze of lemon juice for extra sharpness if you prefer.
Healthy January 0.1
Italian-style Zucchetti with lentil 'meatballs'
After a well deserved break I am back with a new series of images and recipes Giulia and I created for January.
I am aiming to post one recipe a week every Friday.
This months theme is Detox. As we know January is for many “Veganuary”, for others “Dry January”. I have never been a great fan of these trends, because it is like saying that you can feel at peace with yourself by being a good person only for 30 days, when you have been bad all year round.
I think we should try to do be moderate most of the times, but I understand many of us have been naughty throughout Christmas and NYE and we are desperately trying to recover the damage done both to ourselves and the environment.
So for these reasons we created some fun recipes to give a break to your body, eat something nice and tackle climate change at the same time.
For this recipe we played on the concept of spaghetti meatballs but using lentils ‘meatballs’ and spiralised courgettes instead of spaghetti.
You will need a spiraliser for this recipe to make your courgettes look like spaghetti.
Giulia is an expert nutritionist and she gave me some insight about the ingredients used here.
“Some great plant-based foods that are rich in proteins are nuts & seeds (pumpkin seeds, hemp, linen seeds, etc… almonds, hazelnuts, pistachios…) and legumes such as beans and lentils, but also eating whole grains can help you reaching your daily protein intake which is 0.8g per kilogram of body weight.
We prepared these lentil polpette (balls) with tomato sauce and zucchetti (zucchini spaghetti) as we wanted to show how easy it is to cook vegan and still use some of those comforting flavours which remind us of home.
Lentils can be a great alternative to meat. They are definitely high in protein, containing about 9g of protein per 100g, and they are also rich in fibre which make them a good food for our digestion and blood-sugar balance.
Courgette spaghetti instead of regular wheat spaghetti for reducing refined carb consumption as well, on top of increase fibre intake.”
Prep Time: 40 minutes
Cook Time: 60 minutes
Total Time: 1 hour 40 minutes
Serves 2 people
INGREDIENTS
FOR THE LENTIL BALLS (32-35 balls)
1 garlic clove
1/2 tsp paprika
1 shallot
1 tsp oregano
80g potato
100g dry lentils
2g salt
one twist of black pepper
a handful of parsley
50g oat flour
TOMATO SAUCE
1 tbs olive oil
1/2 onion (45g)
1 garlic clove
1 red chilli
3g salt
400g tinned chopped tomatoes
2 small courgettes spiralised
INSTRUCTIONS
Soak the lentils in water for about 1-2 hours.
Fill a pan with water and bring to a boil. Cook lentils for about 30minutes or until they are soft.
For better results taste your lentils to check when they are ready.
Peel the potatoes and cut them into small cubes. In a separate pan cook the potatoes previously cut in boiling water for about 25 minutes.
Now in a food processor blend in the lentils to form a smooth cream, then mash your potatoes and incorporate them into the mix together with the rest of the ingredients.
Using your hands shape the mix into balls of about 3cm diameter. Then roll the balls into the oat flour to form a coating.
Arrange the lentil balls in a large tray previously covered with baking paper.
Cook in the oven for about 15 minutes or until they fully cooked and crunchy on the outside.
To make the tomato sauce, finely chop the onion and the chili and slice the garlic in a half.
Take a small pan to cook these ingredients together in olive oil for about 3-4 minutes.
Then pour in the tomatoes and cook for about 5 minutes. Season to taste.
Then lightly blanch your spiralised zucchini in boiling water for 30-60 seconds.
Now you can assemble the plate with all your ingredients.
We hope you will enjoy it!
Cassola. Sardinian Seafood Soup.
If you are a seafood lover you can’t miss this seafood soup typical of my area in Sardinia, Italy.
With my family we generally cook a seafood based meal for NYE. Because of the pandemic, like many of us, I will not be able to spend time with them this year, but hopefully this comforting soup will bring you some warmth.
As we always do, Giulia and I cooked this main by making a few small changes in the list of ingredients, in order to offer a healthier alternative. However, the star of this dish was (typically) and still is seafood. Also following Giulia’s advice in terms of nutrition “Mollusks and crustaceans are a great source of proteins and minerals, especially if you compare them with the most popular protein-rich foods like chicken or beef. Prawns, for example, are high in an easily-absorbable form of selenium, an essential mineral that protects our body from free-radicals.
Mussels also contain good levels of selenium, zinc and other vitamins such as B12 and betacarotene. I really hope you love sea food as much as we do!
The first thing we added to this recipe in order to give this soup a small amount of fibre was celery. This vegetable is very low in calories, but full of health-promoting benefits such as antioxidants and anti-inflammatory compounds which have been seen to support the function of our heart and digestive system.
We then used red mullet a small-size fish instead of a big one such as sward fish, which is traditionally added to this dish. Small fish contain less mercury and toxins from the sea, so they are for sure a better option! (We decided not to add any oily fish to this soup as their distinctive strong flavour would overpower the delicate taste of the other ingredients).”
With our bellies full, we wish you a very relaxing New Year’s Eve and a positive start with the New Year.
Prep Time: 20 minutes + 2 hours to soak the clams and mussels
Cook Time: 40 minutes
Total Time: 60 minutes
Serves 2
INGREDIENTS
1 small squid (160g)
6 tiger prawns (shell on)
200g mussels
300g clams
1 small red mullet (200g)
100 ml white wine
1 chilli
2 garlic cloves
400ml tomato passata
150g cherry tomatoes
a bunch of parsley
1tbs olive oil
1 celery stick
FISH STOCK
450ml water
prawn shells
red mullet bones
1 celery stick
1 garlic clove
1tbs olive oil
INSTRUCTIONS
To start we will be prepping our ingredients.
The first thing to do as soon as you buy the clams and mussels, is to place them in water for a couple of hours. This is done to help the clams release all the sand. Also if there are any open clams or mussels, lightly tap them to the side of the sink. If they do not close, discard them.
Clean the prawns by cutting the shells along the back slicing into the flesh a tiny bit too to expose the vein. Pull the vein out and rinse the prawn in water. Repeat the procedure for each prawn.
Place the shells in a small pan that you will use to make a fish stock.
If your fishmonger hasn’t filleted your red mullet then this is the time to do it. I suggest watching videos on the internet if you do not know how to fillet a fish. As a summary instruction, you must cut the head and tail of the fish. Then with a sharp knife slice along the back and keep slicing the rest of the flesh. You must feel that the flat part of the blade is rubbing against the bones underneath.
Keep the bones and place them in the same pan with the prawn shells. Add in the garlic clove peeled and sliced in a half and the celery stick with 1 tbsp of oil. Cook at high heat for 1-2 min until the shells have changed colour.
Add in the water and 1/2 tsp of salt and bring to the boil. Then cook at low heat for at least 20-30min.
Start by cleaning your mussels by removing the “beard” often found hanging off the shell. Place the mussels in a colander in the sink and run water over them, using the tip of a knife to clean off any debris that could be on the shell.
Drain the clams. Cut the squid into rings of 1/2 cm thick.
Now in a large non stick pan. Heat up the olive oil, then cook the garlic, celery and chilli for 3 minutes. Pour in your clams and mussels. Cook for 2 minutes. Then add in the white wine. until it evaporates completely.
Cook at medium heat for a few minutes. Shake the pan a few times to help the clams and mussels to open. Mine started to open after just 4 minutes and were all open within 6 minutes.
If you find any stubborn ones that do not want to open, then wait an extra minute for them to open. Avoid opening them with a knife but just discard them instead if they stay closed.
Set the clams and mussels aside.
Now cook prawns, squid and red mullet in the same pan with all the flavours of the mussels and squid. Cook for 2 minutes on each side for a total of 4 minutes and set aside.
Pour the tomato sauce in the same pan where you cooked the fish, season to taste and cook for 5 minutes. If your fish stock is ready then drain it with a fine sieve over the pan with the tomato sauce. Cook until you reach the consistency desired. I cooked mine for just about 10 more minutes.
Then place all the seafood back in to warm up for a further 2 minutes.
Sprinkle some parsley on the top and enjoy!
TIPS:
This recipe can be simplified if your fishmonger does part of the job for you. Such as asking him to clean the squid and fillet the red mullet. But remember to keep the red mullet bones that you will use to make your fish stock.
Alternatively if you want to save yourself some time, most of the fishmongers sell pre-made fish stock.
Check that the clams and mussels you are buying are not closed or broken.
Citrusy drink
This is our new recipes for the festive season. We all know that both Christmas and NYE involve drinking and eating in large quantities. So I asked Giulia if it is right to break the rules sometimes. “Of course I know that, as a nutritionist, I shouldn’t recommend to drink alcohol…but this cocktail has vitamin C in it!” she said jokingly.
”To be honest with you, the rational I use for sugar is the same I use for alcohol – cheat foods are non-healthy foods that becomes “healthy” on an emotional level, therefore if drinking a glass of wine once in a while makes you happy… DO IT!”
The topic of alcohol consumption is quite interesting and debated. Professor Tim Spector in his latest book “ Spoon-Fed” dedicates a chapter to alcohol. His research actually revealed that drinking a small glass of alcohol a day may not be as harmful as we think, but at the contrary, it might have some benefits for the body.
Remarkably many of the centenarians in the mountains of Sardinia drink a glass of red wine a day with meals.
This drink has been suggested to us by our mixologist friend Alessandro Viscardi who combined and slightly changed the French 75 and the Breakfast Martini recipes. The result is a delicate sweet & sour cocktail with a vibrant colour.
INGREDIENTS
30 ml gin
20 ml fresh lemon juice
10 g clementine jam
Top with Prosecco
INSTRUCTIONS
In a shaker pour the gin, lemon juice and jam and shake it!
Sometimes the jam has some stringy bits, so it is best to strain it before pour the liquid into a flute.
Top it up with Prosecco.
Gubana
Who doesn’t like cakes? Well, Giulia and I like them a lot! Cakes are obviously not the healthiest foods of all, but, “as a nutritionist, I believe a balanced diet should also include some cheat foods every now and then… and —let’s be honest— Christmas is all about cheat foods!” said Giulia
Our choice for this Christmas was Gubana cake from Friuli Venezia Giulia, a region in the North-East of Italy. Bordering with Slovenia and Croatia, it is not that surprising that this cake has a lot in common with cakes from these countries.
In order to make a dessert less “bad for you” from a nutritional perspective you can easily cut down on the amount of sugar you put into it — usually, if I’m baking for a party, I use 1/3 less sugar compare to original recipes; and 1/2 less sugar (I also use honey) if the cake/biscuits I’m making are for my household. This is a quick effective suggestion that can make a massive impact on your health if you eat sweet foods regularly.
Also, to slow down the absorption of sugars from your digestive tract, adding fibre to your cake is a very smart move!
Fresh or dried fruit and nuts such as almonds, walnuts, hazelnuts and pine nuts are a great source of fibre! And this is what we did, we researched and picked a traditional Italian dessert that would have a good amount of nuts and raisins in the recipe.
Nuts also contain a number of vitamin and minerals such as phosphorus, magnesium, calcium, vitamin E and K, so don’t be afraid of adding them to your Christmassy cake!
Prep Time: 30 minutes
Cook Time: 30-40 minutes
Total Time: 1.30 minutes
INGREDIENTS
FOR THE DOUGH
350 g strong bread flour
150 ml milk
80 g sugar
10g instant yeast
1 medium egg
70g butter, melted
Finely grated zest of one lemon
1 vanilla bean, split and scraped of seeds
FOR THE FILLING
150 grams raisins
70 ml marsala wine
20 ml honey
40 g peeled almonds
40 g walnuts
30 g hazelnuts
20 g pinenuts
10 g butter
1 lemon zest
2g ground cinnamon
1 egg yolk for brushing
INSTRUCTIONS
To start soak the raisins in the marsala wine and set aside.
For the dough bring the butter outside the fridge to soften. Then in a large bowl or a mixer, if you have one, combine all the dry ingredients together except the salt. Add the egg and the butter, and keep mixing with your hands until everything is well incorporated. Pour in the milk a little at the time and keep kneading until you reach the right consistency. The dough should be smooth, firm but soft and elastic.
Cover the bowl with a cloth and set aside to rise in a warm place.
For the filling preheat the oven to 150 ºC and roast the almonds for 10minutes or until they become lightly coloured.
Blend the raisins in a food processor with the marsala wine, lemon zest, honey, sugar and ground cinnamon.
On a chopping board, crush the nuts lightly and add them to the filling mix.
Take a circular baking tray of about 18cm in diameter. Spread a little bit of butter all around the inside with your hands and lightly dust some flour with a fine sieve. This is to avoid the dough from sticking into the tin while cooking. A good trick I discovered some time ago is to use rice flour instead of wheat flour.
Now scatter some flour on a large flat surface where you will roll the dough with a rolling pin. The aim is to create a rectangular shape. Our rectangle was about a 48x25cm and about 4mm thick. With a knife or spatula spread the filling over the dough, leaving a small border all around.
Roll the dough up along the longest edge, you will obtain a long cylinder.
Then roll the cylinder around itself into a spiral shape and place in the baking tray.
Let rise in a warm place for about 2-3 hours or until it is doubled in size.
Brush with an egg yolk over the top and bake at 180 ºC for 30-40 min.
To check if the cake is ready, I suggest using a long skewer to poke the cake. If it comes out clean then it means your cake is ready.
The Sardinian Kitchen
Fregola with clams
I am really excited to post my second recipe from “The Sardinian Kitchen” series that I have recently created and tested for you.
When I think about food for celebration from home, I think about seafood. Now more than ever as it is not that easy to find good fresh seafood and also so expensive in London. So eating clams is really a treat reserved to special occasions.
Make sure you place the clams in a bowl with water as soon as you can. This will allow the clams to open and clean from any sand they might have.
Fregola is a special type of Sardinian pasta made with semolina flour and water. You can buy it online or if you have a deli near you then they might have it. If you want to prepare everything from scratch then follow my previous recipe for Fregola.
Feel free to write if you have any questions or to let me know how you get on!
INGREDIENTS
500g fresh clams
20ml olive oil
1 garlic clove
10g parsley
1 chilli
100ml white wine
400g plum peeled tomatoes
1 tsp salt
150g fregola
A bunch of fresh parsley to serve.
INSTRUCTIONS
The first thing to do as soon as you buy the clams, is to place them in water for a couple of hours. This is done to help the clams release all the sand. Also if there are any open clams, lightly tap them to the side of the sink. If they do not close, discard them.
Now peel the garlic clove and chop it really finely. Slice the parsley in a half along the long side. If you are not a big fan of spicy food, remove it from the recipe.
In a large pan heat up the oil with the garlic, parsley and chilli for 2 minutes. In the meantime, drain the clams and rinse them under the tap.
Add them into the pan. Bring the flames to a medium heat and place the lid on.
Shake the pan a few times to help the clams to open. Mine started to open after just 4 minutes and were all open within 6 minutes.
If you find any stubborn clams that do not want to open, then wait an extra minute for them to open. Avoid opening them with a knife but just discard them instead if they stay closed.
Now add in the white wine and wait for it to be completely evaporated.
Add in the fregola and 200ml of boiling water.
Cook for 5 minutes then add in the tomato sauce and season to taste.
My advice is to follow the instructions on the package to have a rough idea of the cooking times of your fregola. Although as timings on packages are not always accurate, by tasting it you will make sure that it is perfectly cooked. Mine was ready in about 20 minutes.
Sprinkle some fresh parsley on the top before serving.
Buon appetito!
Tortellini in brodo
On Christmas Day many Italian families will start their lunch with a “light” primo piatto. Tortellini (cappelletti, agnolotti…) are a common example of festive primo. They essentially are fresh pasta ravioli stuffed with a meat-base filling and served in a beef or chicken broth. But tortellini aren’t ‘tortellini’ in all areas of the Boot, they rather have different names and slightly different ripieno (filling) according to the city where they are made.
For our “healthier” Christmas menu, Giulia and I used the traditional recipe from Bologna which has a filling of meat, Parma ham, Parmesan cheese, etc… We only made two small changes to this filling while keeping its traditional flavour pretty much intact — we basically reduced the amount of cured meat used, and added a hint of fibre by adding sautéed Belgian endive.
As you may know, cured meat such as ham and sausage contains a number of preservatives which are not beneficial to our body. On the other hand, the fibre found in fruit and vegetable improves our digestion and helps us feeling fuller.
The main variation to this recipe, was to use beef bone broth instead of regular broth. This slow cooked food has an ancient tradition in our cuisine. Bone broth has also gained more and more visibility in the health industry over the past years due to its numerous properties, so Jennifer and I agreed to serve our tortellini with bone broth.
Drinking bone broth regularly can have a positive impact on our digestive system, skin appearance and joints health — the long cooking process of the bones releases collagen and amino acids such as glycine or arginine into the liquid, making bone broth a cheap and nutritious anti-inflammatory food.
The procedure is quite long although it is not too difficult. It is one of those recipes that brings families together to share the arduous task of preparing a large quantity of small tortellini.
The recipe can be easily converted into a vegetarian one, just by changing the filling to a ricotta and spinach and using a vegetable broth instead of a bone broth.
They can be stored for months in the freezer easily.
Prep Time: 3 hours
Cook Time: 20 minutes
Total Time: 3h 20 minutes
Serves 4 (about 120 tortellini)
INGREDIENTS
2L BONE BROTH
750g Beef bones
1 Onion
1tbs apple cider vinegar
2 celery sticks
2 Carrots
a bunch of rosemary
1tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
3 liters water
FOR THE PASTA DOUGH
110g 00 flour
1 egg (50g)
2g salt
TORTELLINI FILLING
20g butter
1/2 onion, finely chopped (70g)
50g minced beef
50g minced pork
40g Parma ham
40g Belgian endive, finely chopped
20g grated parmesan
a sprinkle of nutmeg
1tsp salt
2 twists ground pepper
1litre bone broth
INSTRUCTIONS
For the broth. Start by washing all the vegetables, then cut the onions in a half and peel the carrots.
Place all the ingredients in a large pot covered with water. Bring to the boil and simmer for 3 hours. The broth can be stored in the fridge for 5 days or in the freezer for 3-4 months.For the pasta dough place the flour in a large bowl put the flour into a mound. Make a hole in the middle and into it put in the saffron, water and salt. Mix it all together vigorously with your hands for about 7-8 minutes and knead until it forms a dough.
Put it into a container, cover with cling film and let it rest for about 30 minutes.
For the filling, start by melting the butter in a pan, add in the finely chopped onion, then add in your minced beef and minced pork. Cook for 5-10 minutes or until it is fully cooked or lightly coloured. Spoon in the finely chopped chicory and cooked for 1 minute further. Sprinkle some nutmeg, black pepper and salt.
Now add in the grated parmesan and grind everything in a food processor until you obtain a smooth cream. Cut the Parma ham into really small pieces and add in to the mix. Blend everything together one more time.
Now start the preparation for the tortellini.
On a lightly floured work surface, roll out the pasta dough with a pasta machine.
Split the dough into four equal parts. On a lightly floured surface, roll each one through a pasta machine, beginning on the thickest setting and working your way down to the thinnest.
If you don’t have a pasta machine, you can use a rolling pin to roll the dough as thin
as possible.
With a pasta cutter, cut squares of approximately 5cm side.
Place about half a tsp of filling in the centre of each square.
Fold each square in a half to form a triangle. Press the edges firmly.
Mix the remaining egg yolk with some water. Brush each dough circle with this egg wash.
Fill each circle with a teaspoon of the ricotta filling.
Fold each circle into a semicircle, press the edges of the semicircle firmly. Refine the edges with a pasta cutter again to make the tortellini triangles all of the same size.
Now, bring the pointed ends together and press firmly to close them into a ring.
Set aside on a plate previously dusted with flour. Avoid stacking them all one above the other cause they might stick together.
In a pan bring the broth to a boil again and cook the tortellini in the broth. They are ready when they start to float.
“The food of the Gods”
Polenta cakes with mushrooms sauce and kale
Once I read that the ancient Romans believed mushrooms were the “food of the Gods” and I think most of us (Italians) still see mushrooms in the same way.
The properties contained in mushrooms are slightly different depending on each variety. For this recipes we used chestnut mushrooms which are rich in vitamin K —an essential nutrient to ensure healthy blood and bones—B vitamins and minerals such as copper and selenium. These succulent vegetables are also an amazing source of antioxidants and immune-boosting compounds such as beta-glucans.
“What I have realised during over three decades of dinner parties and, particularly, Christmas parties is that we all often start binging on appetizers and starters—high-calorie foods, made with refined ingredients and almost zero fibre— to find ourselves feeling full before the main meal even arrives on the table. For this reason, I like to inspire my guests with low-calorie vegan or vegetarian starters, and to share with you the recipes I tried.” says Giulia
Polenta is a delicious food, typical from Italy. In my region, Sardinia, people used to eat polenta as a primo, often served with a tomato sauce. In Lombardia instead, Giulia said “there is no party without polenta, but this corn-flour pudding gets generally served as a side dish (contorno), together with roasted or stewed meat.” Since polenta is very light, gluten-free and has a delicate flavour that works well with pretty much everything Giulia and I decided to use it as a base for our Christmas starters.
The combination of vegetables we used as topping also has the traditional flavours of Italy. However you could potentially use other veggies if you don’t like mushrooms or cavolo nero.
Cavolo Nero, also known as Tuscan Kale, is just an Italian variety of kale, but with dark green-blue leaves —here the adjective “nero” which means black.
Kale belongs to the cruciferous vegetable family, known for its high amounts of phytonutrients which help promoting detoxification and protecting against cell-aging. Like most leafy green vegetable, kale is also high in beta-carotene, vitamin C, vitamin K and minerals, especially manganese.
These polenta cakes are perfect served as a starter either for Christmas or NYE.
They are really easy to make, provided that you buy the instant polenta, or the task will become way longer.
For a more luxurious version you can use Porcini mushroom which have a stronger taste.
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 35 minutes
Total Time: 45 minutes
Serves 2
INGREDIENTS
POLENTA
200g Instant polenta
800ml vegetable stock
1 tsp salt
MUSHROOM SAUCE
200G chestnut mushrooms
1-2 cloves garlic
15g butter
30ml red wine
100g tomato sauce
a few leaves of kale (Cavolo nero)
100ml water
5g butter
1/2 lemon squeezed
TO SERVE
a bunch of parsley
INSTRUCTIONS
For the polenta I recommend using Instant polenta unless you want to spend your day cooking. For best results follow the instructions on the package. I used De Cecco polenta for mine (This is not a sponsored post). It just needs about 8 minutes to be ready.
The procedure is more or less the same for every polenta though, it consists in boiling your vegetable stock in a large pot, add in some salt to your liking.
Then remove the pot from the stove and pour in the polenta slowly into the water while stirring.
After you poured it all in, bring back the pot on the stove and cook at low heat stirring continuously for about 8 minutes or until the water is fully absorbed.
Take a large flat tray and pour in your polenta. It should form a layer about 1 inch thick. Leave to cool down.
In the meantime we can work at our mushroom’s sauce.
First thing clean your mushrooms using the tip of the knife to scrape the stalk a tiny bit and use a kitchen towel to clean the top of the mushroom.
Slice your mushroom into small pieces.
In a small pan heat up the butter and when it is melted add in the garlic cloves. Cook for 2-5 minutes or until they have some colour. Add in your mushrooms previously cut, add half a glass of water and cook with the lid on for about 10-15 minutes at low heat. Your mushrooms are ready when they are soft.
Spoon in your tomato sauce and cook at low heat for another 10minutes. Season to taste. Sprinkle some parsley on the top.
Now we will quickly prep the kale that will form a base for our mushroom sauce to seat on top of the polenta. Wash the kale, then on a chopping board shred it into 1 inch wide strips.
Bring to the boil 100ml of water with salt, add in the butter and lemon juice and cook your kale for about 5 minutes or until tender. Drain it well and set aside.
Cut the polenta into circles with a cookie cutter or squares if you prefer.
Heat up a pan and heat-up the polenta for about 2 minutes per side.
Place the circles on a serving tray. Then place some of the kale leaves on top of each one and spoon in some your mushroom sauce.
The polenta cakes are now ready, they are also delicious served at room temperature.
The Sardinian Kitchen
Fregola
I grew up in Sardinia, a relatively small island in the Mediterranean sea. When I moved to London my first mission was to try and find ingredients and produce from home. Luckily almost everything I need is available in this big city. Certain things are a bit harder to find, so I had to be creative and cook things by myself. My passion for cooking ignited, so I actually tried some traditional recipes that are renown to be particularly long, such as this one.
This Sardinian staple resembles couscous, although the procedure to make them is quite different.
It comes in different sizes, small and big. The small balls are used traditionally to make minestra, the larger ones for minestrone, two different types of soups. Nowadays can be used to cook some delicious seafood or meat stews with tomato sauce.
The action of making these tiny balls I found quite soothing, I hope you will enjoy it!
Keep following this blog for more Sardinian and Italian inspired recipes.
Doses for 4 people
Preparation time: 1hour
INGREDIENTS
250g coarse semolina flour
125ml warm water
INSTRUCTIONS
Traditionally Sardinians would use a very large circular terracotta bowl called “scivedda” to make fregula. Find a similar large bowl possibly made of terracotta. Place the water in a separate bowl. Pour 50g of semolina flour all around the bowl, then add in a few drops of water in the middle.
Stir very slowly with your finger tips making circular motions all around the bowl, add a few more drops of water and keep stirring. Slowly sprinkle a handful of semolina flour into the bowl and stir again. Repeat the procedure several times until many small balls of 3-5mm diameter form.
Do not apply too much pressure or the balls will flatten. Keep it moist but not too wet.
Preheat the oven to 220ºC
Rest the fregola balls in a tray covered with a table cloth for 15 min.
Separate the small balls from big balls and cook in two different trays for 10 min at for the big ones and 1min for the small ones.
Immune boosting
#5 Creamy broccoli soup
When I was a kid I absolutely hated broths or soups of any kind so much that I used to have nightmares about it. It was a thing that I always associated with being ill. It is not until I become an adult that I started to appreciate the health benefits and enjoy the nourishing side of soups.
Chicken broth has been considered a remedy for cold and viral symptoms for centuries, that’s why Giulia and I decided to create a soup that would contain this delicious ingredient.
When we get a cold, our body reacts to the virus by creating an inflammatory response. Chicken soup may have an anti-inflammatory action on our immune system which stops our white blood cells from migrating in the affected area. Another great bonus about eating soup when you are ill is that they help keep your body hydrated.
We chose broccoli as the main vegetable for this soup as it is high in vitamin C and antioxidant compounds such as lutein, zeaxanthin and carotenoids. Broccoli are also rich in vitamin K and vitamin A which are known to improve vitamin D metabolism. As we mentioned in the previous posts, vitamin D is an essential nutrient for our immune system health.
Creamy broccoli soup
Prep Time: 10 min
Cook Time: 30 min
Total Time: 40 min
Servings: 2
INGREDIENTS
CHICKEN STOCK
2 garlic cloves
3-4 chicken wings
1 carrots
2 celeries stalks
1 onion (100g)
bayleaves
2 tsp peppercorn
1 tsp salt
BROCCOLI SOUP
200g broccoli
200g potatoes
2 garlic cloves
1/2 onion (70g)
2 celery stalks
butter 10g
600ml chicken stock
a handful of rosemary
salt
pepper
GARNISH
thyme
extra virgin olive oil
black pepper
INSTRUCTIONS
To make the chicken stock, chop the carrots, celery and onions in big chunks. In a big pot place all the ingredients and cover with water. Bring to the boil and simmer for 3-4 hours.
To make the creamy broccoli soup, finely chop the onion and crush the garlic cloves first. Then chop the celery into small cubes. Heat up the butter in a deep pot and fry the onions, celery, garlic and rosemary for 2 minutes.
Slice the potatoes and cut them into small cubes. Chop the broccoli of approximately the same size as the potatoes as well. Add it to the pan and cook for 1-2 minutes.
Filter the chicken stock through a fine sieve and place it a separate pot. Strip some of the chicken from the chicken bones. You will add this to your broccoli soup later on. Bring the chicken stock to a boil.
Pour the chicken stock into the broccoli’s pot and cook it for approximately 25 minutes at medium heat.
Season to taste with salt and pepper.
Save some of the broccoli in a small plate to use as a garnish later on. Blitz all the remaining content and bring the pot back to the stove to reduce further more.
Portion the soup into two small bowls. Add in some thyme, a drizzle of olive oil and pepper if you wish.
The soup is also great cooked served with croutons.
Buon appetito!
Immune boosting
#4 Buckwheat risotto with asparagus and spinach
Since I was a child we would walk across the landscapes with my family in Sardinia during spring and late summer foraging wild asparagus. You would have hoped that nobody went there before yourself to harvest them all. And whenever one found a few would shout ‘two, three’ and so on, and your foraging companion would reply back with their numbers — it was like a challenge to prove who had the sharpest eyes!
I recently went to Sardinia and I brought a friend from London with me. We found so many asparagus that we renamed the place “The Asparagus Paradise”.
But luckily it is all a paradise in London if you wish to say so, we don't need to forage asparagus anymore as the grocery shops stock them all year round.
This is another variation of a tradition Italian primo piatto: risotto.
Giulia and I cooked buckwheat by following the exact same step you would follow to cook a regular risotto. We used buckwheat instead of rice as the first grain is high in fibre, phytonutrients and minerals such as copper and zinc. Low levels of zinc are linked to a weak immune system, therefor it is extremely important to increase consumption of zinc during winter months.
We picked asparagus for its distinctive flavour and because this vegetable —together with onion that in Italy is the base for almost every primo piatto— is packed with quercetin. Quercetin is a plant-compound that can help protecting the body from free-radicals, inflammation and viruses, on top of modulating the immune system.
Another great vegetable we added to the risotto is spinach which contains high levels of vitamin C and beta-carotene, also essential to our immune system and general health.
Buckwheat risotto with asparagus and spinach
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: 25 minutes
Total Time: 35 minutes
Servings: 2 serves
INGREDIENTS
STOCK
600ml water
1 vegetable stock cube
RISOTTO
140g buckwheat
100ml white wine
1/2 onion finely chopped
130g asparagus
20g butter
40g baby spinach leaves
a handful of parsley
5 twists of black pepper
sea salt to taste
INSTRUCTIONS
Bring some water to the boil and then break 1 vegetable stock cube into 600ml of water.
Chop the asparagus into pieces of about 1 inch long.
Heat the butter in a shallow saucepan over a medium flame. Add 1 finely chopped onion, then fry for about 5 mins until is translucent.
Tip the buckwheat groats into the pan and cook for 1-2 min. Pour over the white wine and boil until the alcohol fully evaporates.
Keep the pan over a low heat and pour in half of the vegetable stock. After about 5 minutes stir in the previously chopped asparagus, season with salt and pepper and continue to cook.
Simmer the buckwheat, stirring often. When it has absorbed all the liquid, add another splash of stock again and continue to simmer and stir.
Continue stirring until the buckwheat is cooked and the water fully absorbed. If it is still undercooked, add more water.
Take the pan off the heat, add in a handful of chopped parsley leaves.
Cover and leave for a few mins to cool down so that the rice can take up any excess liquid as it cools a bit.
Immune boosting
#3 Homemade oat & wheatgerm granola with goat’s yogurt and berries
The world is divided into two, between people that love breakfast and people that skip it all together.
I get very grumpy if for some reason I can’t have breakfast, it is my favourite meal of the day! My breakfasts vary from unhealthy options such as buttery croissants and ultra sweet jams every now and then, to healthier ones to redeem myself from my gluttony sins.
It is not until I arrived in London that I discovered granola, and I really liked it, although now you can find it anywhere in the world even in Italy. The problem with granola brands you find in supermarkets is that they often contain high amounts of refined sugars. That’s why me and Giulia decided to make our own recipe.
We put a spin to this recipe using rolled oats and wheatgerm. Wheatgerm is literally the germinating part of the seed that turns into a plant, it is often discarded during the milling process although it is a very nutritious ingredient, packed with minerals such as zinc —an essential nutrient for our immune system.
Nuts and seeds were also added to the mix for their beautiful texture and their vitamins, minerals and healthy fats content.
Yogurt is a great source of probiotics, those friendly microorganisms that help support our gut health and our immune system. If you are ok with dairy or you only have a mild sensitivity to it, you may want to try goat’s yogurt instead of a regular yogurt. According to research, goat’s milk contains less casein and lactose than cow’s milk, and it is high in nutrients such as calcium, phosphorus, omega-3, vitamin B12, vitamin D.
Note: In case of a proper dairy allergy or a strong sensitivity, please use a plant-based yogurt alternative.
Fresh fruit is a very important part of a healthy breakfast —and you could add potentially more fruit to this recipe. We chose a variety of berries since they are rich in antioxidants, anti-inflammatory compounds and they are low in sugar.
Try out this version and let us know what you think!
You can make a large batch of it if you wish. If placed into an airtight container, it can last as long as one month.
Homemade oats & wheat germ granola with goat’s yogurt and berries
Prep Time: 5 min
Cook Time: 15 min
Total Time: 20 min
Servings: 2
INGREDIENTS
GRANOLA
30g wheat germ
30g oats
20g mixed seeds
20g almonds and walnuts
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1tbs honey
10ml water
25ml coconut oil
240g goat’s milk natural yoghurt
mixed berries
1 tsp honey
INSTRUCTIONS
For the granola. First thing preheat the oven to 200ºC
Roughly chop the walnuts and almonds. In a large bowl, mix together the oats, wheat germ, mix seeds, honey, almonds and walnuts, cinnamon. In a separate bowl, whisk together the coconut oil, honey and water. Pour the wet ingredients over the dry, and mix until evenly blended.
Spread the compost on a baking tray covered in parchment, to form an even layer. Cook for about 15minutes.
Split the yoghurt into two bowls and add in the berries.
Sprinkle some of the granola. Drizzle some honey on the top if you wish for extra sweetness.
Pronto!