Hurrah...

...for Delamere Spreadable Goats Cheese! Great on oatcakes. Bought mine at Tescos (selected stores only).

Recipe: Potato and Onion Fry

Well the name just about sums it up. I'd completely run out of food this evening, so had to cobble dinner together from the odd thing I had lying around. I came up with this. Add a tomato sauce and a drizzle of yoghurt (in place of soured cream) and you'd get a candida diet friendly Patatas Bravas.

Potato and Onion Fry

1 large potato
half a large onion
1 clove of garlic
olive oil
soft goats cheese
seasoning: freshly ground pepper, salt and paprika

Peel the potato, cut into quarters and boil until just tender. Meanwhile, grate the garlic and dice the onion. Fry in the olive oil until golden. Drain the potatoes and dice into pieces roughly an inch-cubed. Add to pan and fry gently until golden brown on all sides. Add a sprinkle of paprika and season to taste.

Serve with a couple of chunks of goats cheese just starting to melt on the top of the potatoes and boiled/steamed broccoli.

Smoked Salmon

I know that smoked products are frequently prohibited for people following the anti-Candida diet, but occasionally I indulge. I figure it's better than eating a slice of chocolate cake! So, the other day, I bought some wafer-thin smoked salmon slices from Marks & Spencers. Yesterday, I had several slices with soft goats cheese on oatcakes for lunch, and this evening I finished off the rest of the pack in a pasta dish, the (slightly vague - sorry) recipe for which follows. (and jolly tasty it was too!).

Smoked salmon and broccoli pasta
(makes enough for one generous portion)

half a pack of wafer-thin smoked salmon slices
a handful of purple-sprouting broccoli
wholewheat pasta tagliatelle or spaghetti
wholewheat flour
goats milk
olive-oil spread
bay leaf
paprika
salt and pepper

Trim and cut the broccoli stems in half. Boil or steam until just tender. Meanwhile cook the pasta and make a white sauce (flour, olive-oil spread and milk) in a saucepan. Add a bay leaf and a sprinkle of paprika and cook gently until the flour has cooked, whisking all the time to create a smooth sauce. Season to taste. Meanwhile, slice the salmon into strips. When al dente, drain the pasta and return to a low heat. Add the drained broccoli, sauce (remember to remove the bay leaf) and salmon strips. Stir to combine and serve with a rocket, spinach and watercress salad, dressed with a spot of Olive oil.

Quick and tasty lunch idea

Wholewheat pasta tubes;
Olive salad mix (capers, sliced green olives and strips of roasted red pepper, in brine - comes in jars from Tescos);
Shavings of hard goat's cheese; and
Freshly ground black pepper.

Delicious! :)

Prosciutto and how to use it

Errata: When I originally wrote this post I had a bit of a brain freeze and talked about pancetta when - of course - I meant prosciutto ham. Duh! Sorry...

When I first started out on the Candida Diet I was told that I couldn't have smoked or cured meat in any circumstances. The idea being that cured meat has been hanging around in an environment conducive to yeast and mould growth. I've always felt a bit ambivalent towards this prohibition. After all, how much meat these days in cured or smoked in a shed or up a chimney, with no environmental/hygiene controls whatsoever? And wouldn't heating/cooking kill off any organisms which had managed to colonise my rasher of bacon, or slice of smoked salmon?

Over the two years since, these restrictions have been relaxed slightly (not least because I have a different nutritional therapist now): I'm now allowed to eat cured or smoked meat occasionally - mainly because there is a school of thought which considers the chemical changes that occur during curing/smoking as potentially carcinogenic. Nevertheless, the other day - as a treat - I bought myself some prosciutto from Marks & Spencers no least! ;)

Good prosciutto or parma ham should be okay - it shouldn't contain anything but pork, salt and possibly a bit of water. The only thing I found was that it did taste incredibly salty, which I think is a result of me re-educating my taste buds since I went on the diet. Anyway, apart from in a sandwich (made with soda bread) I did come up with a few ideas on how to use the rest of the pack.

Potato farls* with prosciutto and goats cheese

A couple of potato farls or pancakes
Two slices of prosciutto
grated hard goats cheese

Slice each farl/pancake width-ways. Place the farls cut side up on a baking tray/grill pan and toast under a grill for a couple of minutes. Remove, and on top of each farl place half a slice of prosciutto and some grated cheese. Place back under the grill and cook until the cheese is bubbling and starting to brown.

Delicious! But packed full of calories. ;)

(Sort-of) Pasta Carbonara

Okay, this isn't anything like a real carbonara, but it's kind of the same idea.

Sufficient pasta shells/spaghetti for one person
2/3 slices of prosciutto
cornflour
goats milk/soya milk
olive oil spread
paprika
salt & pepper
Goats cheese
olive oil

Put a saucepan of water on to boil. Add a spot of olive oil to the pan to prevent the pasta from sticking together. When boiling, add the pasta, cover and simmer until al dente. Meanwhile make a white sauce (add a dessert spoonful of cornflour to a pan, with a knob of olive oil spread and a dash of milk - whisk until smooth and cook on a low heat, whisking all the time to prevent the sauce from burning/going lumpy. Gradually add more milk until the sauce is a good consistency). Take off the heat and add the grated cheese, a sprinkle of paprika and salt and pepper to taste (remember, the prosciutto and cheese will be quite salty, so you may not need to add much salt).

Drain the pasta and put back in the saucepan. Tear up the slices of prosciutto into strips and add to the pasta along with the cheese sauce. Give it a good stir and serve.

*I thought that I'd written about potato farls/pancakes/bread before in this blog, but it turns out I haven't, so here goes. Potato farls tend to be candida diet-friendly (with caution). Predominantly made from potato, they do include a small amount of plain wheatflour and occasionally (as is the case with Marks & Spencer's version), vinegar. As ever, it's important to check the ingredients list, and if there's anything you're not sure about, it's best to leave it on the shelf.

New recipes

I had a fairly successful day of culinary experiments yesterday. I'd been invited to a party where everyone was asked to bring a national dish (I belong to an international community of research students). So, I decided to make my own 'national' dish, Suffolk Rusks and a vegetarian Shepherds' Pie, just in case the rusks were revolting, which they weren't. :)

Suffolk Rusks

Traditionally these are eaten with lashings of butter, but they're equally good with a soft goat's cheese.

225g self-raising flour
85g butter
1 egg, beaten
pinch of salt
goats milk or water

Pre-heat the oven to 230 degrees. Place flour and salt in a large mixing bowl. Rub the butter into the flour, until it resembles breadcrumbs. Stir in the beaten egg and enough liquid (milk or water) to produce a smooth dough. Roll out onto a lightly floured surface to a thickness of 1 inch, and cut into 2 1/2 inch rounds (I used a tall glass, in place of a cutter). Place on a greased baking sheet and cook for 10 minutes. Remove from oven and cut in half (width-ways). Reduce the temperature of the oven to 190 degrees. Return the rusks to the baking sheet, cut side up, and cook for a further 10 to 15 mins, or until the rusks are crisp and golden-brown. Cool on a wire rack.

Vegetarian Shepherds' Pie

Rather than finely dice the vegetables, I left them quite large which stopped them turning to an unidentifiable mush!

1 tin of mixed pulses
tomato puree
1 onion, finely sliced
1 clove of garlic
1 large carrot, sliced and chopped
About 5 mushrooms (okay, not strictly anti-candida friendly, but a few won't hurt!)
Couple of large potatoes
1/2 yeast-free stock cube
sunflower/vegetable oil
boiling water
salt and pepper

Peel and chop the potatoes. Place in a saucepan of water and bring to the boil. Simmer until cooked. Meanwhile, slice the garlic and lightly fry in the oil. Add the onion and carrot and cook until the onions start to soften. Chop about three of the mushrooms into fairly small pieces. Add to the pan and cook for a further couple of minutes. Then slice the remaining mushrooms and add to the pan with the tin of pulses. Cook for a couple of minutes and then add the the stock cube and a good quirt of tomato puree (about a dessertspoon full). Season to taste.

Mash the potatoes, season with salt and pepper to taste. Place the vegetable mixture in a deep dish and top with the mashed potato. Cook in the oven (at about 200 degrees) for about 15 mins, or until the potato starts to brown.

How to use up leftover salmon

I had a nearly successful attempt at using up a piece of cooked salmon this evening. I used Barbara Cousin's white sauce from her Potato and Leek Pie recipe (brown rice flour, goats milk, mustard powder, bay leaf, nutmeg, lemon zest), into which I added the flaked salmon, broccoli florets, wholewheat spaghetti and grated some hard goats cheese over the top. Not bad, but got a bit sick of the spaghetti after a few mouthfuls (not feeling on top form at the moment).

Incidentally I made Leek and Potato Pie (p. 157) the other day. Very good. The best sort of comfort food; creamy sauce and mashed potato. Yum!