Smoothie operator

Just when I thought I had mastered the art of making and drinking smoothies, I discover I am doing it all wrong.

I have fallen for smoothie bowls. Search for #smoothiebowl on Instagram and hundreds of beautiful creations will appear and if you're like me you'll be salivating and thinking about them day and night.

The idea is to make a smoothie and eat it from a bowl. Revolutionary, non? It makes sense. When you blitz a meal and drink it down quickly, the digestive process doesn't get a chance to work as well as it would if you were chewing solid food and then swallowing it. When we chew we produce amylase in our saliva. This is an important enzyme which breaks down starch and kicks off the rest of the digestive process in your body. Your liquid meal will arrive in your stomach more quickly than solid food would, meaning you might not digest it properly or absorb all the nutrients as well. 

What I find so appealing about these bowls of loveliness is how they can be decorated to look so appetising. To make a smoothie bowl, I start with a base of vegan milk or coconut water, a banana (preferably frozen), a tea spoon or two of nut butter and a scoop of vegan/veggie protein powder. Then you can freestyle it to your mood! Add fruit (fresh or frozen), powdered greens or spirulina, oats, avocado, seeds. Finally, to decorate your gloop use fruit, nuts, seeds, goji berries, dried mullberries, shelled hemp seeds, chia seeds, dessicated coconut or coconut chips, cacao nibs, nut butters, superfoods, even edible flowers! The only limit is your imagination.

I have compiled a few recipes below but they are so versatile and can be varied as much as you choose. I'm a bit of a renegade in the kitchen and don't tend to measure out ingredients so just try and experiment a bit with quantities. It's all personal preference anyway.

I use a Vitamix in my kitchen. It is an expensive piece of equipment but so worth it. It is high powered and the blades can deal with frozen bananas, hard nuts and ice for when I need an emergency frozen margarita or six.

Cheeky Monkey

1 tablespoon chia seeds soaked over night in vanilla rice milk

8fl oz vanilla rice milk

1 frozen banana 

1/2 cup organic jumbo rolled oats

1 scoop of banana split spirutein protein powder (Nature's Plus)

1 tablespoon ground flax seeds

Blitz all together in food processor.

(If the consistancy is too thick just add some filtered water and give it another whizz in the food processor)

For topping: toasted coconut chips, banana slices and raw cacao nibs.

Green Energy

8fl oz vegan milk like almond milk

1 frozen banana

2 scoops of Source of Life energy shake (From Nature's Plus)

1/2 cup jumbo rolled oats

2 tspoons almond butter

1 tablespoon ground flaxseeds

To top: raw cacao nibs, dessicated coconut, fresh strawberries and spirulina crunchies

Berry Tempting

8fl oz vegan milk or coconut water

1 frozen banana

1 cup mixed frozen berries

1 tablespoon acai powder

1 teaspoon almond butter

To top: 1 sliced kiwi, strawberries, dessicated coconut and cacao nibs.

Chocolate Dream

8fl oz Coconut water

1/2 ripe avocado 

2 tablespoons raw cacao powder

1 tablespoon ground almonds

2 medjool dates

To top: 1/2 ripe avocado, raspberries, blackberries, whole almonds, toasted coconut chips. 

I defy you not to go to your happy place whilst eating this!

Here are some variations:

Total food porn. 

Now go forth and create beautiful smoothie bowls!

Eat well. Xx

www.naturesplus.com for protein powder info and stockists

www.bonpom.com for raw super foods and treats!

Neptune's Larder

So the new year is upon us and most likely resolutions of healthier eating and detoxification!

But what about the New Year's parties? Canapés? Well don't worry because I have discovered a range of delicious and sophisticated organic Spanish seaweed based foods from CressUk, that can be whipped up in minutes and taste amazing!

Seaweed may not be everyone's idea for the basis of a meal but believe me, its ever increasing popularity makes it the perfect food for parties and it is low in fat so you can eat twice as much! (joke).

Seaweed is a fantastic source of protein, fibre, iron, iodine, calcium and a source of vitamins such as vitamin A. Seaweed contains substances called phycocolloids, which help intestinal motility and decrease appetite. Perfect then for canapés!

These canapes are incredibly easy to make but look impressive and taste even better with a cold glass of champagne:

Seaweed Tartar Blinis:

Pack of blinis
Seaweed tartar
Salmon roe

Place the blinis on a baking sheet and warm in the oven on 150 degrees for 7-10 minutes
Remove from oven and carefully place a teaspoon of the tartar in the centre of the blini. Then add a small amount of roe on top of the tartar (I bought mine from the fantastic Moxon's fishmongers, located on Lordship Lane, East Dulwich, and branches also in South Kensington and Clapham South). Serve immediately with champagne! (Essential).


One of my favourite dishes from the impeccable C's (formerly Cipriani's) restaurant is the squid ink tagliolini which also can be found in the Harry's Bar recipe book. I have used this dish as my inspiration as it is simply divine. I used the nori pasta as I think the dark colours and flavours all complement each other.



Squid cooked in Squid Ink
675g cleaned squid
100ml olive oil
1 large celery rib, finely chopped
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1 garlic clove, chopped
4 plum tomatoes, peeled, seeded and diced
400ml dry white wine
125g finely chopped fresh herbs (basil, parsely, oregano and thyme)
salt and pepper
3 sachets of squid ink (approximately 12g worth of ink)


For the squid (adapted from The Harry’s Bar Cookbook): Cut the cleaned squid into small pieces, roughly 2/3 cm each. Set aside. Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the celery, onion, and garlic, and cook until soft and golden but not browned. Add the tomatoes and cook for about 3 minutes. Turn the heat to high and add the squid. Stir the squid, cooking it evenly for a few minutes. Then add the wine and herbs and bring the liquid to the boil. Turn down the heat. Add the ink from the sachets, season with salt and pepper to taste and cook over low heat, partially covered, until the squid is soft and tender. This should take about 90 minutes. Stir occasionally.

When this is complete, toss in the cooked pasta and mix well. Then assemble on a plate (do this by twizzling the pasta with a fork, it looks presentable this way!).

For a lighter, less formal yet equally as delicious meal, I created an alternative pasta dish using the wakame variety. I roasted fennel and added caper berries to give it a fresher, zingy flavour. The scallop add a different texture but don't detract from or overpower the taste of the seaweed pasta.

Scallop Seaweed Pasta
Wakame pasta

One fennel bulb,

Scallops

Caper berries

Artichoke hearts, sliced

Lemon juice

Olive oil

Furimake Japanese seasoning

season with salt and pepper




Method:
Thinly slice the fennel bulb and spread on a warm baking sheet. Drizzle with olive oil, season, and place in the oven on 180degrees for about 15-20 minutes. To crisp them up a little grill for 5 minutes. Slice the artichoke hearts and put to one side. Cook the pasta and toss in olive oil so it doesn't stick together. While the pasta is cooking, heat a thick slice of butter in a frying pan and add the scallops. Cook for 5 minutes, turning constantly. Do not over cook them or they will be like rubber!

When everything is cooked, assemble in a warmed dish, drizzle with olive oil, lemon juice, caper berries and season.

Serve on warm plates. Sounds obvious but you'd be amazed how many people put warm food onto stone cold plates and wonder why it goes cold so quickly!

Try these simple yet stunning recipes. I have made them for my human guinea pigs who were sceptical at first but pleasantly surprised by how delicious they all were!

Happy New Year!!

Eat well. Xx

Links: www.cressuk.com
          www.moxonsfreshfish.com
          http://www.cipriani.com/locations/london.php