The Green Kitchen
I have just bought the fabulous The Green Kitchen by David Frenkiel and Luise Vindahl. It makes simple vegetarian food look as sexy as anything you have ever seen on a plate.
For years eating meat has troubled me. In the 1990's I picked up a small chicken in Tesco costing about £2.00. I wondered 'if this chicken costs £2.00 and the supermarket and producer have taken a cut how much has been spent on its food and board?' I left the supermarket without buying the chicken.
Repeated food scares have made me wary of both storing and preparing meat in my kitchen because of the risk of food poisoning. Swabbing down work surfaces in the aftermath of preparing raw meat puts me off.
As a lecturer in nutrition at Leeds University I went to hear clinical microbiologist Professor Richard Lacey speak in the 1990's. Professor Lacey raised the alarm over the possibility of BSE hitting the food chain through infected beef carcasses.
He was a voice in the wilderness. The food industry ignored him and the university hated him. He was bad for business, bad for securing research funding from the food industry, and he was consigned to the lunatic fringes. Eventually Lacey was exonerated and the food industry was exposed for the appalling lapses in the safety of the food chain. By that time it was too late. BSE was with us.
Alarm bells have once again been ringing over the horse meat scandal - not necessarily bad for our health but a further example of how cavalier and dishonest the food industry continues to be.
In this week's Food Programme on BBC Radio 4, Alex Renton, top investigative food journalist states the case for eating less meat. He questions how we are going to feed ourselves as the globe becomes more densely populated. He cautions feeding meat to a population of 9 billion in 2050 at the current rate of consumption. 'Its effect will go much further than we are prepared to tolerate in terms of lowering prices and increasing the suffering and cruelty caused to animals.'
Alex, once bored by vegans and their preaching has done a U turn. He now acknowledges the key role vegans and vegetarians have played in alerting the world to the problems of a heavily meat based diet and its impact on the planet.
Mark Bittman, the chief food writer for the New York Times has also had a radical change of view about vegan and vegetarian food. The reason? His own health. In his late 50's Mark, a lifetime carnivore, was advised by his doctor to become a vegan following diagnostic tests which showed all the figures relating to his blood pressure, blood glucose, and cholesterol 'were heading in the wrong direction'. He took up the challenge of eating a more plant based diet and after two months of eating vegan he lost 30 pounds in weight and his medical diagnostics began heading in the right direction.
Mark says 'the deeper you get in to this way of cooking the more you discover a wide range of ingredients and dishes that are really quite fabulous.' Praise indeed from such an acclaimed food critic.
So with a ground swell of support for a plant based way of cooking and eating I embarked on cooking a few recipes this weekend from my fabulous new Green Kitchen cook book. Walnut, sundried tomato and sage pâté - really quick to make in a food processor and rye and spelt crisp bread; which took more skill and time but worked really well.
The Green kitchen has made me vow to become a more adventurous and interested vegetarian cook even if I don't quite make the grade as a fully signed up member of the tribe.
Rye and spelt crispbread
from the Green Kitchen
Makes 12
Ingredients
250ml luke warm water
2 tsp sea salt
3 tsp fast action yeast
2 tbsp cumin seeds
120ml buttermilk/yogurt
250g rye flour
225g wholegrain spelt flour flour
40g linseed, crushed or ground (optional)
Flaked sea salt for sprinkling
Method
Place the water, salt, yeast and one tablespoon of cumin seeds into a bowl and stir well. Add the buttermilk/yogurt. In a separate bowl sift the rye and spelt/emmer flour together and add half to the yeast mixture. Stir with a wooden spoon and gradually add more flour until the dough comes together into a ball. Knead gently for a couple of minutes in the bowl. Cover with a polythene or clean supermarket bag. Allow the dough to rise for an hour in a warm place.
Preheat the oven to 200C.
Turn out the dough onto a work surface and cut it into 12 pieces. Shape each piece into ball and place each on a sheet of floured baking/parchment paper. Roll the ball out into a very thin disc, about 25-30cm in diameter.
Cut a small hole in the centre of the disc. Sprinkle some cumin seeds and flaked sea salt over the disc and flatten with the rolling pin. Transfer the baking paper and the disc of rolled dough onto a baking sheet. Bake in the preheated oven for 10 minutes. (I was able to cook three discs at a time in my fan oven). Remove from the oven when crisp and beginning to brown. To make sure they are really crisp and dried, leave in the oven as it is cooling. Just check them every now and again to see they have not over cooked. Allow to cool on a wire rack. Store in an airtight container. They will keep crisp for at least a week.
NB if you tire of rolling the dough you can wrap it up in a clean plastic bag and keep in the fridge for a few days and resume rolling and baking later. The dough also freezes well.
Sun dried tomato, sage and walnut pâté (from Green Kitchen Stories)
Serves 4 as a starter
Ingredients
100g sundried tomatoes in oil
100g walnuts, soaked for 2 to 3 hours and drained
5 large sage leaves
sea salt and freshly ground fresh pepper
Method
Place all the ingredients with 1 tbsp of water in food processor. Mix until smooth adding more water if needed to make a stiff, smooth paste. Transfer to airtight glass jars. The pâté will keep in the fridge for about a week.
PS...I made these two recipes for a family gathering on a barge trip along the Oxford canal last week to commemorate our late Mother's birthday - the date the clan traditionally gathers. There were 17 of us and everyone loved the crispbread and the pâté - even the little children. I doubled up the recipe for the pâté and it made loads...result!
PPS... store the flat bread in a clean supermarket plastic bag, fasten tightly and they will remain fresh and crispy for a couple of weeks. These are a real hit with everyone!