FOOD:Don't believe the propaganda - some fats are good for you, writes DOMINI KEMP.
THERE’S SOMETHING VERY appealing about the sound of a Super Bowl party. I always imagine hunky men, ice-cold beers and pizza. With these sporting fantasises in my head, I stupidly offered up my cooking services for the Ireland-France rugby match, thinking I’d produce a constant stream of delicious morsels, for which I’d receive praise throughout the day.
What happened was somewhat different. I got about halfway through cooking the first dish and then gave up as the match was so good and I’d eaten too much. But I did manage to come up with a perfect recipe for “big batch” avocado salsa that was whipped up in a food processor.
I’ve always been a big fan of avocados, even during the era of low-fat propaganda, when we were all told to avoid fat if we wanted to lower cholesterol, avoid heart disease and obesity. For a decade or so, avocados were considered far too fatty for regular consumption, even though most of the fat in an avocado is mono-unsaturated – the “good” kind that actually lowers cholesterol.
Anyone who's interested in how these mantras took hold should read Michael Pollan's excellent book In Defence of Food, which makes my eyes water with relief because of his common sense and straightforward analysis. The moral of his story is to eat real food, lots of plants and to stay away from highly processed foods, including ready-meals.
It is clear from all the U-turns that nutritionists and scientists have done over the years that nutritionism is a lot more complicated than simply looking at the nutritional breakdown of ingredients and putting them into good or bad categories.
We know very little about micro-nutrients, food combinations and the complex chemical reactions that take place with certain diets and within our bodies. The so-called French paradox is a fine example of one such conundrum confronting nutritionists. The French consume bread, butter, rich cheeses and meats, but also consume plenty of fruit, vegetables, red wine and home-cooked food. How can that much fat in a diet actually do less harm than other typical western diets that are “low in fat”, but full of highly-processed food? Easy – it is real, natural, good quality food that is varied and never over-consumed.
The bottom line is this: cook more. Eat a varied and balanced diet, not too much of anything, and don’t stuff your face. Sounds blissfully simple, doesn’t it?
Bacon and cheese quesadillas (serves eight)
Feel free to change cheeses, fillings and add things such as diced tomato or red peppers.
500g streaky bacon or lardons
a splash of olive oil
2 onions, peeled and chopped
1tsp caster sugar
8 Portobello mushrooms, peeled and finely chopped
600g grated cheese (Cheddar, Emmenthal or mozzarella)
16 flour tortillas
butter
Chop up the bacon very finely, unless you’ve bought pre-cut lardons, and fry it in a splash of olive oil over a high heat until they go brown and crispy. Add the caster sugar, to help the caramelisation, then the onion. Turn down the heat and cook till they are soft and golden. Set aside. Fry the mushrooms in a little butter and olive oil over a high heat and season well with salt and pepper. They may go watery and soggy, but keep the heat up high and they will dry out and eventually go golden brown. Add to the bacon, taste and season as necessary. You may want to add garlic or chillis or herbs.
When you are ready to serve the quesadillas, preheat the oven to 160 degrees/gas three. Heat a little knob of butter in a non-stick frying pan. Place one tortilla on the pan, and top with a good spoon of bacon mix and grated cheese. Press another tortilla on top and press down. When you can see the bottom half is going golden brown, flip it on to a wooden board and then return to the pan, uncooked side down. The filling may spew out a bit, but after a few goes, you will find a system that works. When the tortilla is golden brown on both sides, slide it out and start cooking your next one.
When you’ve done them all, cut the rounds into quarters and bake them for 15 to 20 minutes until they are melted and gooey. Serve with salsa. These can be prepared in advance up to the pre-baking stage, and stored in the fridge for a couple of hours.
Avocado salsa (serves eight)
6 cloves garlic, peeled
2 tomatoes
2 chillis
1 whole lemon, skin cut off
big pinch of salt
big pinch of sugar
4 ripe avocados
2 bunches of spring onions, finely chopped
Put everything except the avocados and spring onions in a food processor and whiz until smooth. I didn’t remove the seeds from the chillis. Add the avocados and process until smooth. Taste, then add more of anything to get your desired heat or garlic kick. Mix in the spring onions and serve. This is really good with loads of carrot sticks if you want to be healthier.
Roasted red peppers with haloumi
4 red peppers
olive oil
sherry vinegar
salt and pepper
2 onions, peeled and finely chopped
1 pack of haloumi cheese, diced
50g green cabbage or curly kale, finely chopped
50g black olives, stoned
Preheat an oven to 180 degrees/gas mark four. Cut the red peppers in half and scoop out the seeds. Place the peppers on a baking tray, skin side down and drizzle them generously with olive oil and sherry vinegar. Season well and bake them for 15 minutes. Meanwhile, heat another splash of olive oil and sweat the onion and then add the haloumi and cook for five minutes until it is starting to go golden brown. Add the cabbage and cook until it has wilted and is tender. Add the olives. Taste and check the seasoning. The olives and haloumi make it quite salty, so you will probably need only pepper. Fill the peppers with the mix and bake for another 15 minutes. They can also be cooled and baked later. Serve warm.
