Christmas Cheer
Face facts - no one really likes turkey. Food Chain chef
Luis Luna (left) gives us a healthy alternative take on festive
fare. Just go easy on the egg-nog.
Beta-Boost Soup
A
feel-good soup packed with lots of nutritous ingredients. Butternut squash
is a natural detoxer, containing omega 3, calcium, magnesium, phosphorous,
potassium, beta carotene and vitimin C. Tofu is low in calories, contains
beneficial amounts of iron, has no cholesterol and is a primary source of
lecithin.
Serves 4
Ingredients
1 onion 2tbsp cumin
600g butternut squash 2 bay leaves
200g carrots 10ml olive oil
1 red or yellow pepper 2 cloves garlic
1l vegetable bouillon Tahini or sesame paste
200g tofu 1 bunch spring onions
Parsley to taste
Method
Wash, peel and roughly chop veg.
Finely chop the parsley and garlic.
Heat the oil in the pan and sweat off the onions, then add the garlic, diced
tofu and a bay leaf and cook for 3 minutes.
Add remaining vegetables, gently stirring until all of the aromas combine
and come through. An exquisite touch would be to grate in some quality parmesan
cheese at this stage.
Slowly pour in the vegetable bouillon and simmer for 20 minutes until the
vegetables are tender. Remove bay leaf and blend all vegetables together to
a rich, creamy consistency.
Serve topped with sesame seeds and a drizzle of olive oil.
Accompany with wholemeal bread.
Stuffed Sea-food Peppers
Instead
of stuffing a turkey, why not stuff a highly nutritious pepper. It is soft
and very tasty. Quinoa is a rich source of essential fatty acids, proteins
and fibre. It is also gluten free. It looks like round grain rice. Red peppers
are a great source of beta carotenes and the pepper itself keeps in all the
vitamins and nutrients so none is lost while cooking. This dish doesn’t
contain saturated fat, only olive oil, except for a small amount of cream
in the mushroom version. It is light and highly nutritious - leaving room
for the fabulous strudel.
Serves 4
Ingredients
4 peppers
2 cloves garlic
10g chopped parsley (small bunch)
4 scallops
50g cockles
1pint vegetable bouillon
2 egg yolks
200g quinoa
1 onion
Olive oil
Seasoning to taste
Method
Chop onion and parsley finely and crush the garlic.
Saute the garlic and onions with olive oil until soft.
Add the quinoa and the bouillon and simmer for 20 minutes till the liquid
has been absorbed then put to one side to cool.
Halve peppers and remove the seeds.
Mix remaining garlic and parsley and brush inside each half of the pepper.
Apply spoon of quinoa and then place a scallop in the centre.
Fill the rest of the pepper with cockles. Season to taste.
Bake in the centre of the oven for 20 minutes at 375f, gas mark 4.
Serve with roasted vegetables or salad and potatoes.
Vegetarian version: 200g wild mushrooms & 20g single cream
Slice mushrooms and cook with some garlic and oil.
Mix together the cream, egg yolks, add to the mushrooms and season.
Use this mixture instead of of scallops and cockles and bake as above.
Nutty Mango Strudel
A
modern twist on an old favorite. Nuts are a good source of essential fatty
acids and help to balance hormones. Replace with amaretto biscuits and sultanas
if allergic.
Serves 4
Ingredients
2 medium mangos 12 sheets filo pastry 1 egg
200g mixed nuts 20g melted butter icing sugar
3tbsp dry friut 1tsp cinnamon & clove powder honey
Method
Peel and cube the mango. Crush the nuts and combine with spices.
Brush three sheets of filo with melted butter and place on top of one another
Sprinkle with a quater of the nuts and add berries and mangos. Roll in a Swiss
roll fashion
Repeat three more times till you have four strudels.
Lift the strudels on to the greased baking sheet with the joins underneath.
Brush with melted butter and sprinkle with chopped pumpkin seeds or pistachios.
Cook at 180C/375F/gasmark 4 for 20 minutes till golden brown.
Drizzle with honey and dust with icing sugar and allow to cool a little before
serving.
Food Chain patron Jimmy Somerville
talks to Chris O’Connor about feeding body and soul
Jimmy
Somerville comes on like a Jack Russell on speed; opinions and enthusiasm
fly from him all wrapped in a Glasgow accent. One of his greatest enthusiasms
is the Food Chain, a charity that provides home-delivered meals and essential
groceries for people living with HIV.
“I’ve been a patron since it began,” says Jimmy. “At
the time I was living with a friend diagnosed with Aids. His options were
to take toxic drugs and live like a nun or enjoy what time he had left. He
chose the later; so eating well was important and very relevant to me at the
time.
“I went to New York when I was 23, I was full of it. It was hedonistic
and I was running around not really knowing the score.”
HIV was called HCV3 back then in NYC, and if you got that you died - fast.
“There was an organisation called God’s Kitchen, where gay men
and their friends got together and delivered meals to people who were very
ill. If you have no health insurance in the States you’re f***ed.
“Like the Food Chain, it went straight to the heart of the matter. There’s
something fundamental about helping with meals; it’s basic to life.
Part of supporting the miners’ strike in the eighties was with food
parcels also.
“We now have four kitchens. It has expanded massively and I would like
to see it move nationally into other cities. London has far and away the highest
numbers but cities like Edinburgh and Glasgow have just the same problems.”
“Our clients are predominantly heterosexual, many of them asylum seekers
who get nothing from the government. This is the fourth richest country in
the world and people rely on the Food Chain for a healthy nutritious meal
once a week.”
“I’m useless at following a recipe. I had times on the dole so
I can usually rustle something up. I was hedonistic but a boring hedonist;
I’d come in at all hours and have good healthy stews and soups.”
Jimmy and other celebrity friends of the Food Chain are holding a musical
fundraiser on 2 December - see page 9 for details.
