Berry autumn smoothie

For a quick fruit fix I am a big fan of smoothies and this week with my mother in law's blackberries in the freezer I wanted to use them without resorting to a crumble.

Having also learnt about the antioxidant power of raspberries I made this quick and delicious smoothie.

Ingredients

1 banana

Handful frozen blackberries

Handful raspberries

1 scoop of Sun Warrior chocolate protein powder (optional)

1/2 pot organic natural yoghurt (Yeo Valley is my favourite)

Such a great colour and really great if, like me, you're low on breakfast time.

Kale Crisps

Four weeks into healthy September and I am desperately in need of healthy snack alternatives. I have gorged on nuts and carrots with hummus, and nut butter on celery only cuts it at times of extreme need. And so, in a bid to also up my green intake I decided to try and replicate the delicious kale crisps that lurk on the vastly overpriced shelf of most local health food shops.

Wonderfully the result was that for the cost of just a bag (I didn't have time to get to a green grocers for a locally grown bunch on this occasion) of Kale, I now have these.

Ingredients

200g kale (I used a bag of curly kale)

Olive oil

Sea salt

Freshly cracked pepper

1. Wash the kale and leave to dry COMPLETELY otherwise you will end up with soggy kale 

2. Preheat the oven to 160c

3. In a large bowl toss the kale with salt, pepper and enough oil to coat all of the kale thinly

4. Spread the kale out over two or three baking trays and cook in the oven for 8-10 minutes, turning once. Keep a close eye on them to make sure they don't catch and burn

TIPS:
*The first time I did this I put far too much salt on them so use it sparingly as you can always add more after they have baked
*Make sure to eat them quickly as they don't store for very long before going soft

Super simple. Super yummy. Supper green.

Healthy september

My healthy September continues with these two amazing recipes from Veggie Runners and My Darling Lemon Thyme.

My Veggie Runners' Roasted Nut Protein Balls
Makes 12-14

These little snacks are SO moreish that I have had to stop making them! They are great as a post training protein boost or just as a sweet snack when you need it.

Ingredients

50g almonds
50g hazelnuts
100g dried dates – soaked in 200ml boiling water for 10 minutes
30g chia seeds
3 heaped tablespoons nut butter (I used Meridian Foods almond butter)
15g protein powder (I used Sun Warrior)
1 tablespoon organic coconut oil, melted

1 Roast the hazelnuts under a medium grill until they start to brown slightly. Gently rub off the skins with kitchen towel or a clean tea towel and place in a food processor with the almonds. Blitz the nuts until they are well broken. If you have the time you can pulse the blender until they are very fine but I tend to leave the chunks quite large. Set the nuts aside

2 Chop the soaked dates and add to the food processor

3 Add all of the other ingredients and blend well. Then add in the nuts and mix well

4 Squeeze tightly between your palms and form into small balls or patties 

6 Pop them in the fridge for an hour or so before serving.

My Darling Lemon Thyme's Kale pesto

This pesto is delicious and I gorged on it for a whole week; on Rivtea, with chicken, as a side to almost any dish!

1 bunch of kale (approx 250-300g), washed well, spun dry and hard stems removed
2 cloves garlic, peeled
1 cup (125g) lightly toasted pumpkin seeds
1 cup of loosely packed coriander leaves and stalks, chopped
1-2 green chillies, seeded and roughly chopped

3/4 cup (185ml) extra virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 tablespoon white miso (gluten-free)
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

1. Place kale, garlic, pumpkin seeds, coriander and green chillies, into a food processor. Pulse until finely chopped

2. With the motor still running, drizzle in the olive oil in a steady stream

3. Lastly add the lemon juice and miso, give it one final whiz, taste and season with sea salt and black pepper. If not using straight away pack into a clean glass jar, cover with a thin film of olive oil and store in the fridge for up to 1 week

WARNING: this nearly killed my blender so you may need more olive oil at the beginning to blend everything enough. It is worth it though just look at the colour and imagine all the goodness in that jar.

Quinoa Salad with tomato chutney

My wonderful friend and bootcamp instructor Kate came round for lunch today and provided the perfect excuse for a healthy lunch.

Over Facebook and twitter discussions we munched on this really simple salad:

Quinoa salad with tomato chutney
Serves 4-6

The chutney
10-12 cherry tomatoes sliced in half
1 onion thinly sliced
A glug of olive oil
A descent glug of balsamic vinegar

1. Put everything into a thick bottomed saucepan and simmer. Cook until reduced and the mixture is gloopy (but not dry). Stir occasionally and leave to cool slightly before serving.

The Salad
200g quinoa
2 radishes thinly sliced
I sweet red pepper thinly sliced
50g pine nuts lightly toasted
2 stalks celery
handful sunflower seeds

1. Rinse the quinoa and cover with water. Bring to the boil and simmer for 15 minutes. Drain and leave to cool. You can either cool the quinoa completely or leave it warm; I left it warm and then mixed in the other ingredients.

2. Toss the quinoa with all the other ingredients and add a little olive oil and season to taste. Put the chutney on top and serve. This salad would be lovely with a sourdough bread but we were being virtuous and had it with fizzy water.

Antlers comes to Bath

After the recent opening of Hauser and Wirth Somerset, yet another artisitc great is widening its net and making the leap from Bristol to Bath.

Antlers, the nomadic gallery established in 2010 By Jack Gibbon now represents some twenty one artists and until now has only been gracing the Bristol art scene with regular exhibitions in disused sites from Cabot Circus to Hotwells (where they are currently in Purifier House).

I had the pleasure of working with Jack on a joint project a few years ago and have followed Antlers with interest ever since. Jack has a keen eye for, as he puts it, "showcasing a burgeoning scene of artists who explore themes such as narrative, space and the natural world through compelling and impeccably executed work." The result is a diverse mix of artists who create everything from ethereal worlds and magical landscapes to exquisitely painted animals and fabric-sculpted busts.

Antlers has now finally made that seemingly impossible leap from far-off Bristol to teeny-tiny Bath with a fantastic show in a fittingly teeny-tiny space on Margarets Buildings. Considering how literally and metaphorically large many of the works produced by Antlers artists are, this space is a triumph and most definitely deserves the slightly off the beaten track walk to the top of the city. 

The first show is a selection of Abigail Reed's magnificent paintings and will be followed by Charles Emerson and Dorcas Casey...both of which are not to be missed.

Guilt free banana pancakes

It's that time of year again when after whining on about it for an age I am back to health and fitness with a vengeance. No more sugar, wheat, dairy or processed foods; much less coffee and wine on occasions only.

Clean eating works on the idea that if it hasn't been around naturally for millennia then our bodies aren't that good at digesting it. It's hard, especially the sugar, but it really makes me think creatively about what I cook and where I shop. Ultimately though it is the physical results which make clean eating such an obvious choice: more energy, less bloating and for me at least, much better skin.

I did this with no alcohol at all for four months when I first started Bootcamp three years ago. One of my favourite breakfasts, which has since become a staple, was these mega simple banana pancakes. Using soya or rice milk and gluten free flour (rice is my favourite as it gives these pancakes a really velvety texture) there really is nothing bad about these. What you choose to top them with is another matter entirely!

Guilt free banana pancakes

Ingredients

1 cup rice flour (or other gluten free blend. I love the Doves Farm gluten free blends) 

1 cup soya/rice milk

1 egg

2-3 bananas depending on preference

1. Put the flour, milk and egg into a mixing bowl and whisk until smooth. With rice flour his doesn't take very long at all as it doesn't seem to go lumpy in the same way that wheat flour does.

2. Slice the bananas into the bowl and use a fork or stick blender to mash them up a bit. I like to leave the banana quite lumpy but they're are also nice if you make the mixture completely smooth.

3. Heat some vegetable oil in a frying pan over a medium heat and use roughly one ladle per pancake. Just a couple of minutes on each side should do it. I like to serve then with a spoonful of organic natual yoghurt and berries.

Hauser and Wirth Somerset

Sometimes I lament how infrequently I make it to London to visit shows and galleries and yet frequently I have to remind myself that even when I worked for Tate I managed to see an astoundingly small amount of art. So it was with joy that we went to check out Hauser and Wirth's latest gallery, on our doorstep in Bruton.

Brutopia, as it is affectionately known buy some locals, has long been a creative Somerset haven but has recently become firmly embedded on the London exodus list for families wanting to chuck in the rat race for a slower pace of life and green valley vistas a-plenty. Thanks to Hauser and Wirth, Bruton now also joins Zurich, New York and London on the list of destinations for those seeking contemporary art at its best and, most pleasingly,  accessible. Which is amazing coming from the couple dubed the 'power couple' of contemporary art, even if they do only live around the corner.

In their own words, Hauser and Wirth Somerset is "a pioneering world-class gallery and multi-purpose arts centre, which acts as a destination for experiencing art, architecture and the remarkable Somerset landscape through new and innovative exhibitions of contemporary art". The farm buildings that the five galleries, learning space, shop, bar, restaurant and library inhabit were rescued from redevelopment by H&W and have indeed been turned into a contemporary art haven. The conversion is almost as good as the art although with Louise Bourgeois, Martin Creed, Mark Wallinger and Phyllida Barlow amongst the artists that they represent the art is pretty spectacular too.

This first visit was a fleeting one as we arrived just before closing time but, once the Piet Oudolf meadow is fully open in September, we will definitely be back for more. Despite the jolly hockey sticks crowd (one friend commented that the people there seemed to think it was a National Trust property rather than  contemporary art gallery) this is an amazing asset and will undoubtedly become a firm favourite in my fair weather art viewing. Everything is indeed going to be alright.

Westcombe Dairy tour

Last month, whilst the family were over from Norway for two weeks we were lucky enough to get a tour round Westcombe Dairy from Tom Calver. Having missed the dairy tours at their Cheese and Beer Festival earlier in the summer I was delighted to look around the home of my favourite cheese.

Tom trained as chef before coming home to run the family business. His passion for "maximising the natural qualities of the farms raw milk" certainly go along way to explaining the fantastic growth of this Somerset dairy and cheese maker.

Taking time out from his busy day Tom talked us through the process and, most interestingly, the science behind it, plus the techniques they utilise to influence the flavour of their cheeses. As well as the cheddar, Westcombe also make Duckett's Aged Caerfilly and ricotta from the previously wasted whey. What started as a way to use the waste is now an ever growing part of the business with the dairy now supplying Jamie Oliver's restaurants with ricotta.

If you get a chance to take a tour around the dairy I would highly recommend it - Tom has a gift for explaining what he does with passion and clarity, something which is particularly impressive given the scientific nature of the process and his obvious attention to detail. Exciting plans are also afoot to increase and improve their cheese store so by next summers cheese and beer festival there should be even more to see at this lovely Somerset dairy.

The dairy also hosts The Wild Beer Co who are similarly using interesting and unusual flavours and cultures to influence their beers (The Evolver IPA is a particularly interesting beer utilising the brettanomyces yeast, considered an impostor by many brewers and wine makers. It evolves over time so they recommend you buy one bottle to drink straight away and another to leave and change in flavour as the yeast matures).

In the shop (of course) we bought Cheddar and Fresh Beer for the evening (which lives up to its name and comes with instructions to drink it immediately!). Quite honestly even if you cant take a tour, the drive to Westcombe through beautiful west country scenery is enough to warrant a trip, just to pick up some cheese and a beer to enjoy in the garden before summer ends.

Seven course banquet in a field in Northamptonshire

Way back in the heady summer days of June my friend Marcus and I had a conversation about how great it would be to pull off a multi-course sit down meal at a festival for our friends. And for a while that was that; a slightly crazy, never to be realised idea born out of festival induced madness.

Fast forward a month however and the madness had persisted. Marcus, who lives in Sweden, had emailed through some initial menu ideas after taking his parents to a vegetarian restaurant on his native Gotland (which by the way happens to be paradise on earth if you like your destinations Scandinavian, tranquil and extraordinary) and I had thrown in a couple more food suggestions for good measure. Fast forward another month and we were in a field at Shambala Festival with a basic kitchen, a pasta maker and tonnes of fresh produce getting ready to feed ten of our family and friends a seven course vegetarian meal.

Madness, especially considering this was our Priscilla-the-truck based festival kitchen: a sedentary second hand camping gas oven, a camping fridge that seemed determined to function merely as a cupboard, a sink which as yet has no plughole and no mains power. Madness.

After much to-ing and fro-ing and general smug excitement on our part this is the menu that we decided on.

As one not so friendly fellow crew member said, "none of these courses are that complicated" but we wanted to focus on seasonal vegetables, freshly made food and the audacity of having a proper sit down meal in a field with matched wines and mayhem all around us.

As the rest of my family built one of Shambala's favourite venues Beyond the Stars, I mixed looking after the baby with some gentle food prep. whilst Marcus squeezed in some pasta making between shifts and after their work was finished each day.

Pasta making on Priscilla's very small table. This was round one of the ravioli...in a bid to be over prepared we made the ravioli a day early and the soggy filling turned the whole lot into an unsalvageable soggy mush.

Cheese puffs made with puff pastry Westcombe cheddar, sea salt and freshly cracked pepper.

Marcus' homemade, nay festival made, cumin bread.

Honeyed walnuts for the Beetroot carpaccio.

The beetroot cooking away on Priscilla's stove. 

Round two of the ravioli, after Marcus had sat on it for a full twenty minutes (directly after instructing us to "put nothing on the ravioli"). If I am honest, by this point I was starting to doubt whether or not this meal would actually happen...

...but happen it did.

Marcus explaining the menu to our guests.

Cucumber and Mint Gazpacho. I found this recipe on Pinterest and adapted it for the field setting. The topping was the leftover bits of beetroot from the carpaccio.

I first tried this Beetroot Carpaccio at its home The Ethicurian near Bristol. We went there for my Birthday and it is perhaps one of my favourite dishes. To make this even better we were able to buy the beetroot at The Ethicurian itself (and stop for some coffee and cake as well of course!). They are so beautiful and jewel-like when prepared like this and not only was it tasty it looked gorgeous in the sunshine too.

Our food prep area was inside our friends' tent complete with the best tea cosy I have ever seen.

The third and final batch of ravioli was a complete triumph. Marcus served it with a rich creamy sauce of carrot, green beans and cauliflower, truffle salt and Parmesan.

In the excitement of it all I completely forgot to take a picture of the goats cheese desert; this was our practice run. The final version had soft Abergavenny goats cheese, a radish to prop up the homemade Swedish Knäckebröd and Swedish truffle honey. The seemingly lavish use of truffles is entirely down to their presence on Marcus' native Gotland where truffles are routinely used to barter with such is their abundance. We are lucky enough to have truffle salt at home with Marcus' truffles and salt harvested from by his parents.

Beetroot cordial with sparkling water, rosemary and a dash of vodka. The cordial is the leftover syrup from the Carpaccio and according to the owners of The Ethicurian is also good served with apple juice and absinthe...definitely one to try soon. This should have been served with ice but what with being in a field...

Relieved and ever so slightly pleased with our selves for having pulled it off.

Dirty dishes and furniture being taken back to our camp.

I can safely say this if anyone ever suggests cooking a  seven course meal for ten people plus children in a field again in the future I will laugh...but then I will remember what a blast it was and as Marcus said, "we could always do sixteen courses, or sushi". Madness, but the best kind of madness.