Wednesday 2 February 2011

New Recipes

Hi Everyone
I am so sorry I have been so lax at posting new recipes for you. I have been really busy getting married, designing my new website and doing some new and amazing researching on obesity. All will be revealed here and in the meantime I PROMISE to post new recipes for you every week.
love from Marisa xx


Yay, finally today the Sunday Times stated that eating eggs does not risk our cholesterol levels and we can safely eat at least fourteen eggs a week. I have been championing eggs for years because they are wonder food that contain everything to sustain life and contain vitamins A, B, C, D, E and K as well as calcium, iron and zinc.
In celebration of eggs here are two recipes for flourless quiche and flourless sugarless cake

Flourless dairy free chocolate cake
Beetroot is fantastic for your endocrine system and is known as an anti cancer food. It makes a chocolate cake extra rich and moist but there is no beetroot taste at all. Almonds replace flour so the cake is dairy and gluten free.
Ingredients.
300 g unseasoned beetroot (freshly cooked or precooked and vacuum packed), cubed
4 eggs
4 tbsp acacia or manuka honey or agave nectar
1 tsp vanilla essence
1 tbsp pure cocoa
1 tsp baking powder
1 pinch salt
125 g ground almonds
125 g dark chocolate (at least 70% cocoa), plus 3 squares of the same chocolate for covering
4 tbsp olive oil
Preheat oven to 180°C. Line the bottom of a 23cm-round cake tin with greaseproof paper and lightly grease its sides with olive oil.
In a blender combine beetroot, eggs, honey or agavae nectar, vanilla essence, cocoa, baking powder and salt, and blend for 2-3 minutes until thick and creamy. Add the ground almonds and blend to combine.
To melt the chocolate, break into small pieces (leave aside 3 squares for decoration) and place in a glass or metal bowl together with the olive oil. Boil some water and pour into a larger bowl. Set smaller bowl on the hot water and stir chocolate and oil until they have blended into a smooth, velvety liquid. Add this to the cake mix in the blender and whizz to combine.
Pour into prepared cake tin and bake in preheated oven for 35-40 minutes. To test for doneness, a skewer inserted into the middle of the cake should come out clean. Remove from oven and place the three squares of chocolate on top of the hot cake; leave to melt and spread over the surface with the back of a teaspoon. To make it look extra gorgeous place some fresh dark red roses on top (calorie free of course) or some dark red berries like loganberries, blackberries, cherries or raspberries.

Flourless dairy free quiche
This flourless, crustless, dairy free quiche is a fantastic portable food for lunches or when you are eating on the go.
Ingredients:
4 Tbsp olive or sesame oil
1 red onion chopped
12 eggs, beaten
3 chopped red and yellow peppers
3 spring onions, chopped
1 Tbsp fresh chives, dill or coriander chopped
5 slices of torn up ham (optional)
Paprika
Preparation:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Heat the oil in a frying pan then pour half of it into a 9×11” Pyrex baking dish to grease the base, sauté the red onion in the pan with the rest of the melted oil season with paprika or pepper. Beat or whisk the eggs and add the spring onions, the pepper, the ham, chives, dill or coriander season with pepper and other spices you might like such as garlic.
Pour the egg and veggie mixture into your baking dish (sprinkle with paprika if preferred) and bake for approximately 40 minutes or until the edges are golden brown and the middle is set rather than runny.
Remove from the oven and allow to cool before slicing. The quiche will rise upon baking and flatten out a bit after it begins to cool. Cut it into six slices or into smaller cubes great for lunch boxes.
Variations
Mix in some cooked chopped bacon or flaked salmon or small prawns or some crumbled feta cheese, vary the vegetables my favorites are spinach, sweet corn, scallions, shredded savoy cabbage leaves or julienned courgettes. Add some chilli seeds or spices of your choice.
It is fantastic as a breakfast dish you can add bacon or ham with mushrooms and tomatoes and eat it warm at home or take it with you.
You can also bake the quiche in individual muffin dishes (silicone ones are best) and freeze as it makes them even more portable.
You can even make a sweet quiche by adding nutmeg or cinnamon and Zsweet and some flaked coconut so it’s like a large egg custard tart or make individual ones in muffin tins. Experiment by adding some blueberries or mashed banana or pear with ginger or some seeds or a swirl of peanut butter.





Chunky Fishcakes

Fishcakes tend to have too much potato in them so here are some less carby fishcakes that I love
Serves two
• 4 portions of fish either salmon, tuna, cod or coley (about 400g) either fresh, frozen or canned chopped into bite size chunks
• 2 tbsp or red or green thai curry paste
• Ioz grated ginger
• I large bunch of fresh coriander roughly shredded
• I tsp olive or sunflower oil
• I tsp light soya sauce

Mix the fish in a food processor with the paste, ginger, soya sauce and coriander until roughly blended but still lumpy. Remove mix and form into 4 round or oblong fish cakes. Heat the oil in wok or frying pan and fry the burgers for 4-5 minutes on each side, turning until crisp and cooked through. You can also fry them in pure lemon juice and no oil or use the spray oil. Serve with Julienned courgettes; stir fried Savoy cabbage or roasted peppers and red onions.

Fava Bean Falafel
I discovered this in Egypt where the falafels are bright green and delicious. Falafel does not have to be fried in can be oven baked and is one of my favourite portable foods great for travelling, for snacking and for lunch boxes
Ingredients:
• 1 15-19 oz can fava beans, drained OR
• I cup of dried peeled fava beans soaked overnight with half a cup of soaked or drained chickpeas
• 1 chopped red onion or three chopped scallions
• 2 cloves of garlic, chopped
• 2 tablespoons of fresh parsley, chopped
• Medium size bunch of fresh coriander chopped
• 1 teaspoon cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• salt and pepper
• 2 tablespoons olive oil for baking
Make sure the ingredients are dry rather than wet then place the beans in a blender and blend then add all the other ingredients apart from the oil and blend again to form a thick smoothish yet gritty paste, if too thick add 1 tablespoon of water at a time until it is the correct consistency.
Form the mixture into small golf balls or patties. Arrange on a tray and leave to stand in the fridge for 30 minutes.
Drizzle the oil evenly into a baking dish and preheat oven to 350. Place the mixture into the baking dish and oven bake for 15-20 minutes turning halfway through cooking. Serve with vegetables or salad drizzled with tahini sauce.
Make extra to take with you for lunch they are just as delicious cold. You can make bright green hummus by replacing chick peas with fava beans.