Potato and Beetroot Gratin, curtesy of Gordon Ramsay (again)

Another Gordon Recipe recipe. Did I mention that I love Gordon. Well I do.

I've been a fan of potato bake for as long as I can remember, well before I knew that it didn't actually count as a serve of vegetables for the day! Shame. It should, I would eat five serves every day. 

I love finding a new way of twisting an old favourite into something with a bit of a modern kick. When I saw Chef Ramsay's take on a potato gratin which included red beets, I was intrigued to give it a go. 

Ingredients

750g large potatoes, peeled

500g cooked whole beetroots, peeled

500ml double cream (I used Emla)

Salt and pepper

Method

1. After you have peeled the potatoes and beets you need to slice them all into rounds, approximately 1cm thick. There is no need to precook the potato.

2. Layer the potato around the base of your ovenproof dish until it is all covered, sprinkle with salt and pepper.

3. Place a layer of beetroot on top of the potato, and repeat until you have used all the potato and beetroot to form complete layers. 

4. Pour the cream around the entire gratin and bake in a moderate oven (180C/350F) for an hour. 

The colours are gorgeous and the beetroot really gives the potato such heavenly flavour.

There aren't many bad ways to eat potatoes thats for sure, but this has to be one of the best ways! Not really an every day side dish, but I cooked this when we had Brisket a few weeks back, and it was just sensational.

So if you want to double the flavour and halve the carbs, add some beetroot and make this gorgeous winter Potato & Beetroot Gratin!

Photo Phriday #31

Non-Food Cuddles

I'm not sure if you know this about me already, but I LOVE food. I love thinking about it, photographing it, writing about it, Pinning it, preparing it, cooking it, smelling it, and of course eating it. 

If you've known me a little while, you may also know that I am an emotional eater. I eat especially when I am anxious, and don't get me started on how I recover from a migraine! 

The trouble is, when a foodie and an emotional eater are combined in one package, the results are often lots of jiggly bits. Many years ago when I was in the throes of a 5 year chronic sickness phase I met a great dietician who was unable to cure me of my pain, but did help me identify some unhealthy associations I had with food. I hadn't really noticed how much I used food to soothe me, calm me down, and all other kinds of negative emotional attachments I reacted to with food. Food can be such a positive experience though. It can be sociable, rewarding if you cook something impressive, and just downright delicious. As someone who spends a lot of positive time with food, I have noticed that in doing the Fast Diet (my original post here) I still was hanging on to some of my negative attachments, and so needed to turn back to some old techniques, and my most effective was the Non-Food Cuddles. 

Much like the little character Jules in "Hug Time", one of my favourite book of Madeleines', you have to come up with a list of hugs! But these are a list of things that you can do instead of reaching for food when you are bored/upset/stressed/anxious/angry/etc then you may stop some bad habits and in turn, be a fair bit healthier, in many ways. 

The list I had when I was 19 was VERY different to the list I made this week, but, the important thing is finding actual things you would choose instead of food, or it won't work. So here are my Non-Food Cuddles, and most of them are very affordable, so its not like you need to go and buy yourself a  pair of earrings instead of having a donut!! Mmmm donuts...

1. Literary Cuddle

I often find that when I have a bit of time free in the afternoons while my baby girl is sleeping is when I like to create something spectacular to eat for myself. It is very indulgent but I feel like having that un-interrupted time to myself is such a luxury and so reward such time with food. Instead though, my non-food solution is a Literary Cuddle. When I have quiet free time, I should embrace reading a book for half an hour. The settling down for some quiet personal time would be such a departure from my day that I might just find it relaxes me far more than does beating eggs! 

2.  Conversational Cuddle

I'm not a very chatty person. Unless I know you well, then you would know I can gabber on all day. I am quite shy by nature and am far better at conversing via the written word rather than spoken. But, when I do call a friend/family member and have a chat, I just love it and feel so much better afterwards (most of the time!!). So again, if I have free time I have been finding that picking up my phone/signing into Skype is a great way to feel connected to the world and take my mind off whatever it was that I was trying to cover with food. 

3. Floral Cuddle

I am very lucky, my husband buys me/the house flowers a lot. We have a little florist stall down on the High Street which sells extremely affordable blooms and so we don't mind spending £3 on a bunch of beautiful roses every other week. I was walking past said florist the other day (which is right next to Starbucks I may add) and I had the thought, would you rather spend £3 on a Starbucks coffee that last half an hour and is quite likely terrible for you; or, would you rather spend £3 on a bunch of flowers that brightens you and your house for about a week?!? I chose flowers. You don't have to have someone buy them for you, why not cheer yourself up a little when you are out next instead of spending money on bakery food/coffees/donuts.

4. Exercise Cuddle

Exercise gives you endorphins. You, not me. I feel tired and sore most of the time! But, lately, I have been choosing to go for a walk, or run up and down our stairs, or do a 7 Minute Workout and then I feel better about myself for the rest of the day. If I do this earlier on in the day it also means for the rest of the day I don't want to un-do my good work from the morning, so make better choices all day as a consequence. 

5. Bubble Cuddle

Not the drinking kind (unfortunately, although they give other sorts of cuddles too) but the bathing kind. You are never EVER too old for bubble baths. I could spend hours soaking in the tub, aside from the wrinkly fingers and curious baby wondering why she can't get in too! I know bath's aren't for everyone, but they make me happy. I have finished my all time favourite bubble bath now (hint hint Santa...) but this Laduree bubble bath is not too sweet but yet very bubbly! Until I have a replacement though, it's Burts Baby Bees for mama!! 

6. Stretch Cuddle

It is so simple and you can do it anywhere but it feels so good. For someone with hyper mobility (most of my joints have an unusually large range of motion) I am extremely un-flexible! I can't sit on the floor with my legs out straight without it pulling my hamstrings. So stretching is a bit important for me, but I never remember to do it. But being on my list means I do it a lot more than before!! And the funny thing is that it hurts but its a good hurt. If I commit myself to a ten minute stretching session I feel more relaxed and feel like I have connected with my body and so are more in tune for the rest of the day. 

7. Dance Cuddle

VERY embarrassing so for me, it's blinds closed, lights off, earphones in and GO FOR IT! 

8. Beauty Cuddle

I don't really have a beauty regime. After spending a few hours at a makeup counter in Bloomingdales and having the Estee Lauder continually threaten to "slap you down girl" I do now take off my makeup each night, apply an eye cream, and then moisturise in the morning! But the one beauty routine I do adore is painting my nails. As soon as I became a mum, it felt like I could have everything crumbling around me but if I had my nails nicely painted, then I would at least feel a little bit like I had my sh*t together. I loved getting my nails done in NewYork ($10 manicures, yes please) but can't afford the £30 ones here in London, so do it myself at home. 

9. Pinterest Cuddle

Warning: Do not ambly browse Pinterest if you are trying to avoid food. It will find you. Instead, you need to use the categories to narrow the field to something enjoyable to look through. I have a few favourite boards that I add to when I'm avoiding food... Theres: Bub Love,  Tickles my funny bone, House to Home, and Where are we going I don't quite know.

10. Creative Cuddle

I think this one is quite a meg-specific cuddle because I know not everyone feels buzzed about spray painting an old iron doorstop!! But I sure do. I get an infinite amount of enjoyment out of creative things and love making something and seeing the finished product being put to use. I have a bucket list of a gazillion things that I want to make/create/recondition and so I keep this list nearby and let the creative juices flow through me instead of Mimosa juices!! Perhaps art gives me the endorphins that exercise should! 

And of course, the cuddles that don't need to be on a list...

So there you have it, my personal 10 Non-Food Cuddles. Being on the Fast Diet has really just brought to my attention how much of my time is spent participating in food, and made me want to make sure that these behaviours are the positive ones from here on out. 

Have you heard of coming up with a list like this and if not, what would you include on yours?? 

Fast Diet - Week 5 - #LoseDayTuesday

Week five of the 5:2 Fast Diet!! To find out more about it, read my original post here.

Four weeks down and into the fifth week. I have continued on with Monday and Wednesday fast days and have found it easier to get them "over with" earlier in the week. I am not finding the fast days quite as difficult as they first were, but I would rather fast on busy days to keep my mind from constantly thinking about food.

This diet has really identified my eating patterns that need changing. I have always known how much time I spend thinking about food, but I hadn't really noticed how much of the day I participate in food, be it prepare, cook, eat, pin and now calorie-count! I justify it partly because of this blog, but I have become aware of some of my behaviours towards food that I have held onto that must change.

Whenever I have some time to myself in the afternoons when Baby M naps, I make an afternoon treat. Whenever I feel unwell or have had a migraine, I heat up potato in some form to soothe my woes. Whenever I am stressed or anxious, I bury my worries in sugar. These behaviours are ingrained in me as a way of dealing with life, but as I have other mechanisms to deal with things these days, it surely is time to let go of the emotional eating! I have a post prepared for later in the week regarding non-food cuddles, a topic that is personal to me but something I really want to talk about.

I am still enjoying good food. I am still baking and not worrying about eating an entire fish (he was a little guy don't worry), followed by rhubarb and apple crumble. The difference is now though, that knowing a big dinner is looming, I ate small and healthy meals all day so that my evening intake wouldn't tip the scales terribly. This diet is helping me restore balance in my food life, and it is starting to show, ever so slightly, in my clothes!

The scales may not be saying all that much still, but my clothes are fitting better and having tried on clothes from a few years ago that are now fitting (but not quite yet looking good, still work to do!) it is giving me a surge of motivation to keep going and see where this diet can take me.

Enough ramblings from me, here is my food intake for last weeks' fast day. 

Lunch - Scrambled eggs with grilled tomatoes

This was made possible by the discovery of oil spray. I've always seen it on the shelves but never felt compelled to pick it up before this diet. But hey, if you can have a little moisture in the pan to grill some tomatoes and it only adding one extra calorie for the process, well that's okay with me. I grilled 5 cherry tomatoes, and then scrambled one egg with some fresh parsley. Delish.

Snack - Green olives

Yes, the same snacks as I've had before, but I was just needing some salt!!

I also had to sacrifice some calories on throat lozenges, darn cold and flu season is playing havoc on me this year!! 30 calories were wasted, grr!

Dinner - Chicken Puttanesca with Courgetti

This was definitely a case of moulding a recipe around my pantry, but it worked! I again consulted the Fast Diet Recipe Book, and stumbled upon the Sarah Raven's Chicken Puttanesca recipe, and adapted it to match what I had on hand. I had some spare calories up my sleeve, so had my chicken on some amazing courgetti (courgette-spaghetti). Here's the recipe post.

Drinks

I caught up with a friend for some park time for our little girls and then we huddled inside at the nearest coffee shop for a warming beverage. I asked (without too much hope) what herbal teas were on offer, and to my surprise, discovered a new tea that blew me away! Teapigs Creme Caramel tea is divine. It is sweet and packs a punch in the flavour stakes. I've had it since with milk and sugar, and it really didn't need it, or add anything really, it doesn't need it. 

I found drinking water much easier this week, so was able to get 2L per day easily. 

Total calories for the day = 415

Exercise

Pilates, lots of walking, and a workout in the stairwell again. It's actually one of my favourite ways to work out. I have loaded up a fun playlist on Spotify on my phone, plug the headphones in and away I go. It is such an exit from life for me, and I really enjoy it. Plus, I can look ridiculous and get really sweaty, without anyone ever seeing!! 

Weight loss?

Total loss to date = 1.8kg (3.97lbs)

Last week I was toying with the idea of doing a third fasting day, and gladly was talked out of through some really encouraging comments. This week, I am wondering whether I need to start actually counting calories on non-fast days. If you're doing the Fast Diet, do you count calories every day? I just am starting to feel like whilst I am seeing some changes, I'd like to see more, and am wondering how to tweak my week to make this happen. So I think my two options are to count my calories every day (oi) or to up my exercise... Which do you guys think would be more successful??

Have a great week! One Fast Day down, one to go!

meg xx

Chicken Puttanesca with Courgetti

Courgetti. Courgette, dressed up as spagetti. Love it.

I made this meal for a dinner on week 5 of the Fast Diet, and the entire plate was only 250 calories.

To prepare the Courgetti

I don't have a spiraliser or a julienne grater, so mine was more like half length spaghetti, but that's not going to stop me from calling it Courgetti, that I love!

I used my Kitchenaid Food Processor and attached the julienne blade. It produced perfectly thinly chopped courgettes, like this:

Simply spray some oil-spray in a pan and heat before adding the courgette. Add the pile of courgettes to the hot pan and gently cook for 3-4 minutes.

To prepare the Chicken Puttanesca

I followed the Fast Diet Recipe Book, however as I am not all that fussed about anchovies or capers, I left these out of the recipe, but if you like anchovies, add a few per person. I found that the green olives were salty enough though.

Serves 2
1T extra virgin olive oil
2 garlic cloves
250g cherry tomatoes
10 green olives
Half an onion
2 lean chicken breasts
Fresh basil leaves
Salt and pepper

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 180C/350F.

2. Heat the oil in a heavy based pan and add the garlic and fry for a few minutes.

3. Add the cherry tomatoes, olives and chopped onion. and stir for five minutes.

4. Add the chicken and stir well. Put the lid on the pot and place in the oven for 20 minutes.

5. Remove from the oven and stir well to make sure the tomato sauce is fully covering the chicken. Place back in the oven without the lid on and cook for a further 20 minutes.

6. When fully cooked, allow to cool for a few minutes and stir through the basil to serve.

I would probably ordinarily serve with rice, but serving with the courgetti worked perfectly!! My only complaint would be that because the Puttanesca was a little watery (by its nature, I don't think I did anything wrong...) it would have been nice to have something a little more absorbent to mop up the juices. But the flavour of the courgette was the perfect match for the salty chicken! Delightful!

Chai Spiced Tiramegsu (GF)

I love the idea of a real Tiramisu. But, I can't eat chocolate. Or coffee. So to be honest, I've never even had one. I have smelled many (sometimes not the most sociable request to ask across the dinner table) and they smell divine. I've not met anyone who hasn't like them, so a few years ago I decided to make a meg-friendly tiramisu. A tiraMegsu if you will.

The two flavours that I decided to combine were baileys and chai spices, and yesterday I made it for the first time since becoming gluten intolerant, and it still worked beautifully. Ordinarily I would use the traditional sponge finger biscuits as the base of the tiramisu, but wasn't able to procure any gluten free ones, so just used the best that I could find, which was a GF orange and vanilla cake.

Ingredients

Base layer
Sponge fingers or GF Cake - depending on whether you are GF or not. Stick with as plain as possible.

250ml Baileys liquer

250ml hot water

15g (8t) chai spices (I sometimes use the spices individually or if i'm being lazy, just use an instant mix)

Cream filling

2 eggs, separated

75g caster sugar

60ml more baileys, this time for the cream

400g marscapone cream cheese

Crushed nuts for the topping, I used hazelnuts, but often just whatever is around. 

Method

1. Prepare the base of your dish by lining the entire bottom with the cake/fingers. I was making individual tiramegsu's and as we didn't have anything better, I used the mini cheesecake tins. 

2. Combine the baileys, hot water and chai spices in a bowl with a pouring lip. 

3. Carefully pour half of the mixture over the base cake/fingers until they are all well coated. They should have enough liquid on them to soak all the way through but not be too much to be dripping at the bottom. 

4. Meanwhile, start on the cream filling. Beat together the egg yolks, sugar and 60ml of baileys. Beat for a few minutes until pale gold. 

5. Gradually add the marscapone to the egg mix, bit by bit until smooth and creamy. 

6. In a separate bowl, beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form. 

7. Gently fold the egg whites into the marscapone mixture until well combined.

8. Spoon the cream over the cake/fingers until an even layer. 

9. Repeat the cake/finger and cream layering until you have reached the top of the dish you have used. 

10. Sprinkle crushed nuts with a little more chai spices on top of the tiramegsu and place it in the fridge for as many hours as you can, about 6 hours would be the best to allow the baileys and spices to really soak into the cake/fingers. 

So if you too are gluten intolerant and allergic to chocolate and coffee (would there be two of us out there?) then this is a delicious take on a classic dessert. Not especially healthy, but a lovely treat to indulge in all the same.

Photo Phriday #30

BBQ Brisket: Gordon Ramsay & Meg versus BrisketTown

Its a battle to the ends of the world, a fight worth winning, a duel of one man's BBQ versus another man's BBQ spices, an unlikely combat in which there are no points for second place (and if anyone can pick that quote, you are my kindred spirit). 

Dramatic enough for you? I think it's entirely appropriate and if you don't agree, you must not have had the joy of being able to compare and contrast these two incredible beasts. 

Let me walk you through my Brisket journey, it's a messy walk, but a good one! 

The first time we went to New York was December last year. We went and spent Christmas with framily (friends but more like family) in Charlotte NC and then had a week in Brooklyn. We explored parts of Manhattan that are on every tourist guide (little did we know we would be back 8 months later to do it properly over 5 weeks!) and because we had a wee 6 month old and it was utterly freezing, we also explored the best of Williamsburg too. Our friends are definitely far more hip and happening than we are, so we were only too happy to let them show us their favourite "off the map" places in their hood. 

And a highlight of the best of Williamsburg would have to be BrisketTown: Delaney Barbecue. 

An unassuming 35-seats-diner serving Brisket and ribs. This was my very first experience of this Southern meal and will always be the benchmark that every Brisket is measured against, until the end of time. 

There are no plates. Plastic forks only. And a choice of a few sides each day. We didn't realise it at the time, but they had only been open for a month, so we were riding the trend-setting train, back when it was BYO and relatively unheard of. Yes, we are cool (read: The Smiths are cool and we are just lucky to be taken along for the ride). They stay open until they sell out (sometimes in an hour and a half), and something utterly neat is that you can check online before coming to see how much Brisket is left, and pre-order, to ensure you won't miss out! An entire website set up for this simple purpose!  Big fan! http://istheremeatleft.com

And what about the Brisket?? It was incredible (the photo is not sorry!). The reason you don't need silverware is because it just falls apart, right off the plastic fork! It was crunchy on the outside and oh my gosh so tender its ridiculous. It was smokey and unlike anything I had ever tried before. 

Incidentally, I peeked online at their website and TODAY is their 1st Birthday!!! 

Happy Birthday Delaney Barbecue & congrats on your first of many I suspect!

Okay, so with my introduction to Brisket being somewhat of an awesome experience, it is no doubt that I've been keen to have it again. Thinking that I needed a big barbecue/smoker/backyard I hesitated. Until.... Gordon Ramsay of course. We were watching his Ultimate Home Cooking show and saw his BBQ Brisket segment and looked at each other and just nodded. Done. 

Off to the butcher to pick up some brisket. Oh. That's right, this is the UK, you'll have to order it in! Boo. Patience has never been my strongest suit, but alas, wait a week I did. 

We knew it would be the perfect meal to serve my brother while he was here, so I watched and re-watched the episode to try and get a feel for the recipe (not all the recipes are available online, somewhat frustratingly). This recipe below is what I did, as I didn't have a few of the ingredients Gordon used available, so it is a collaboration recipe! Now a traditional Brisket is just slow cooked and smoked, with only salt and pepper to season the meat. As we don't have a bbq or smoker, we have to rub the bbq into the meat, and then slowly oven bake it. Don't worry, it still tastes out of this world!! 

Ingredients (serves 6, should not serve 3)

2kg Brisket

1 large onion

BBQ rub - see photo below for my mix. Gordon used celery seeds and mustard powder, I didn't have these so made up my own mix!

1T tomato paste/puree

4 bay leaves (mine were dried but still did the same as fresh ones)

1 bottle of beer (I used Estrella Damm Daura GF Lager)

Stock - beef or chicken, about 4-6 cups

Method:

1. Combine all the spices together and rub all over the meat. Warning - the cayenne pepper will make you cough like a fool. If your husband and brother are teasing you, invite them into the kitchen and enjoy watching them eat their words while they cough out the window!

2. Seal the brisket in a hot pan for a few minutes until it has a slight brown finish. 

3. Remove from the pan and add the onions and tomato paste and stir well to coat the onions

4. Place the meat back on top of the onions and pour in one bottle of beer (saving a swig or two for the chef!)

5. Add beef stock until the meat is almost covered. And for good measure, give the spices a little extra rub in, why not! But do not lick your fingers or touch your face!! 

About half way through cooking I separated out my meat because the pot wasn't big enough and it wasn't allowing me to add enough of the stock. 

6. My Brisket cooked for 4.5 hours on a low heat, the first 3 hours with the lid on, and the last 1.5 hours with it off. 

7. Make sides as you see fit (I will do a separate post about the gratin, this post is getting a wee bit lengthy as is) while you let your brisket rest for ten minutes. 

8. Eat the heck out of it! 

So my brother made promises that I wasn't to make a dessert, he'd just have two dinners. Which he did. I think he ate about a kilo of Brisket. And got indigestion and meat sweats! Haha but said he'd do it all again, it was too good to stop. 

This meat was tender, delicious, but also a bit spicy. The spices obviously give it a different flavour to traditional Brisket, but without the proper means to cook it in, it makes sense to have to add the barbecue flavours in yourself. 

A definite to-repeat meal, but start putting it on about 5 hours before you want to eat.

So in the duel worth winning, I think i'm going to need a second tasting of each to clearly pick a winner, it's just too close to call this time. If you live in New York, do yourself a favour and head to BrisketTown. And for the rest of us, give this recipe a whirl, you'll love it!!!

And then, the next day, you can make a kick-ass pizza with the small amount of leftovers! Just add some red onion, tomatoes, cheese, sour cream and coriander and you're done! 

So, how do you like/make your Brisket? Are you Texan and think it is completely unheard of and miraculous to get to the age of 28 having never tried Brisket?? I concur!

Have a great weekend!