Morocco bound

I love the warm spicy flavours of Moroccan food. Recently the spice mix harissa has become more available but usually it is in oil. I have found that Sainsbury's now do a dry mix, harissa and rose rub. Hopefully other stores will catch on that not everyone wants their spices in an oily paste. I find adding a teaspoonful when making a vegetable soup really gives it a lift! The ingredients are coriander seed, dried red pepper, garlic, cumin seeds, caraway seed, paprika, chilli, sea salt, black pepper, dried rose petals and mint. Lovely stuff for those cold winter days.

Scary movies

The scariest things I have seen in a long time are the cookery videos of Paula Deen. There was the pie filled with melted chocolate marshmallows and cream and topped with a huge cone of whipped cream which Paula said was ‘so light’ you could almost believe it had no calories. Gosh really?
Then there was the French toast made from croissants dipped in eggs and heavy cream and fried then covered with bananas in syrup. ‘Makes you almost weep, doesn’t it?’ said Paula. Well, yes it did. For ultimate ghastliness however, the video of her eating a burger, fried egg and bacon between two iced donuts really takes some beating. The amazing thing about these recipes is that people are commenting on the food network website saying that they have tried them and they are now a family favourite.
I have to say when I first saw Paula I did wonder if she was for real. After all there is the redoubtable Jolene Sugarbaker and her trailer park cookery – now Jolene is the alter ego of a male comedian and great fun to watch as long as you don’t try the recipes (I think some people do) - but I can find nothing to suggest that Paula is anything other than a real person who actually means us to eat her sugar cream pie and fried butter balls.
This really is the Texas Cholesterol Massacre.

National Curry Week

This week is national curry week in the UK. Pretty much always that in this house! On the weekend I had some time to cook and did a light chicken curry with onions garlic ginger, mustard seed and a whole host of other spices. I served it with a dish of shredded mixed greens cooked with nigella seed and curry leaves, a grated cauliflower pilau steamed with whole spices and saffron, and fresh coriander and mint chutney. My version of this chutney is to take a good big handful fresh coriander (cilantro) about half the amount of fresh mint leaves, a hot green chilli deseeded and chopped, and a 1 cm piece peeled chopped fresh ginger, and puree in a food mill with a little water, adding some lemon or lime juice to taste. This will keep in the fridge for about two weeks and adds quite a bit of oomph to just about anything. To make a milder sauce, just stir it into some plain yogurt.

Another birthday

My CRON birthday, that is. Two years old today. When I started I never knew where it would lead me and never knew how long it would last. Whatever happens, whether or not I actually gain some years of life, I know that the experience has been massively positive. I have gained so much in health and appearance, and feel so much better about myself. I am lucky in having a supportive partner, who although he is not CRd will happily share CR friendly meals. It feels good and it feels right.

Brrrr!

I am reminded right now of the old pun, ‘winter draw(er)s on’. November in London is cold wet and gloomy with grey overcast skies. (Yes I am making sure to get my vitamin D) I have always, even before CRON felt the cold more than most and being cold makes me miserable and bad tempered. So I am cold-proofing myself this winter with some nice thermal silk underwear. Not glamorous, but it fits like a second skin under even the most fashionable clothes. I find the size aimed at a 12 year old child is a very good fit, and of course this makes the price very reasonable!

Curry

We Brits love curry, it's sort of a national favourite dish having overtaken fish and chips ages ago. It can be very oily but it doesn't have to be if you make it at home. Last night we had breast of chicken in a light curry sauce with a side dish of casseroled courgettes (zucchini) okra, and peppers flavoured with garlic, nigella seed and lovage seed, a chunky tomato and cucumber salad and a fresh chutney made from blending coriander (cilantro) mint ginger and lemon juice. As you see I have translated British terms into American! One of the useful things I learn from watching American cookery programmes on TV is the equvalent names of some ingredients. For example I was able to confirm recently what I suspected, that April's favourite napa cabbage is the same vegetable as my favourite Chinese cabbage. But I can always learn from the most unlikely sources, even cooks who provide the most calorific recipes can give me tips on attractive presentation or combinations of herbs and spices. I do like the programmes of Ellie Krieger - my husband calls her 'the low-fat contessa' - her recipes are not CR'd of course, but she emphasises healthy ingredients and careful portion control of high calorie foods, which is a huge improvement on many people's standard diet, and many of her methods are CR-friendly. I recently saw her do panini using portabella mushrooms in place of bread. Way to go!

Minty Fresh

Recently in a restaurant I saw Moroccan style mint tea on the menu. I checked if it was sweetened and was told it was not, so I ordered it. It arrived in an elegant Moroccan teapot stuffed with fresh mint leaves and one teabag. It was delicious! I have had mint tea made with dried mint lots of times before but this was a flavour revelation. I went out to the market and bought a bunch of fresh mint and have been drinking mint tea ever since. I find it works very well with green tea also. It is so zingy that it is amazingly safisfying. You need quite a bit of mint - a few leaves will not give the full effect. Now all I need is an elegant Moroccan teapot. Fresh mint isn't always available on the market so maybe I will establish my own mint garden - in a container of course as I know it can spread out of all control if not in a pot by itself!