FOOD:Be a smart cookie: keep your brain cells and taste buds happy with these tasty dishes, writes Domini Kemp
SOME OF THE little tricks that food companies get up to make me laugh. I recently picked up a jar of green goo that was supposed to be some sort of guacamole dip. It didn't contain one ounce of real avocado, but was flavoured with avocado powder. It was the most poorly described product I have seen in a long time. Imagine buying an avocado dip that doesn't contain any avocados. Mental.
The other thing that makes me chuckle is when rubbishy food products are loaded with supplements. There are increasing amounts of evidence that Omega-3 fatty acids, folic acid and polyphenols all do fantastic work on improving the brain, but I reckon the more we can eat directly from natural foods, the better it is for us in the long run.
Surely a varied diet with plenty of raw foods and natural snacks, such as nuts rather than crisps, has to be better for us than poor diets full of processed foods, supplemented with a handful of pills?
Don't get me wrong. In certain cases, it absolutely makes sense to supplement diets with additional vitamins and minerals. But the aim is to eat better, enjoy our food more and give your system a breather from time to time. Therefore, suggestions that we should eat more Omega-3s (in oily fish, walnuts and kiwi fruit), more folic acid (in spinach, orange juice and marmite) and foods that have strong anti-oxidant effects (berries) are proving to be true, as scientists study the effects of food on the brain.
There is one polyphenol in particular, curcumin (which is what makes turmeric yellow), that has a protective effect on the brain. Scientists are taking note that in countries such as India, where a lot of curcumin is consumed, Alzheimer's disease is rarer than in other countries.
And on the Japanese island of Okinawa, where they consume loads of fish, there is a very low level of clinical depression. To back up the hypothesis that there is good brain food and bad brain food, scientists have found that diets rich in trans-fats and saturated fatty acids can badly affect cognition. They also found that simple over-eating is bad for the brain. With all this in mind, I'm sneaking in some super-healthy recipes to keep us all in tip-top shape.
Chickpea, chilli and garlic salad
This is a tweaked version of a Peter Gordon recipe. He adds feta cheese to it but I don't usually bother unless it's the star attraction of dinner, in which case I add feta or grilled halloumi cheese. My tolerance for chillies is improving somewhat, so I chuck a few of the seeds into the mixture. Or rather, I'm bad about de-seeding the chillies, so if a few get in there, so be it.
200ml olive oil, plus extra to season
3 red chillies, finely-sliced
12 cloves garlic, peeled and sliced
3 red onions, peeled and finely sliced
150ml cider vinegar
1 large bunch coriander
1 large bunch flat-leaf parsley
1 large bunch mint
2 bunches spring onions
2 tins chickpeas
Juice and zest of one lemon
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Handful of rocket or baby spinach leaves
Heat the olive oil in a medium-sized saucepan and gently cook the chillies, garlic and onions for about five minutes, until the onions are flaccid. Add the cider vinegar, turn up the heat and cook for a few more minutes, until some of the harshness of the vinegar has cooked off.
Put the onion mixture in a bowl to cool, and then roughly chop the herbs and spring onions. Drain and rinse the chickpeas under cold water and mix with the onions, the herbs and spring onions. Season with the juice and zest of a lemon, some more olive oil, salt and plenty of black pepper. Serve on top of the leaves.
Grilled mackerel with marinated cucumber and mustard creme fraiche (serves 4)
Marinated cucumber
100 ml white wine vinegar
1 bay leaf (if you have one)
1 chilli, finely chopped with or without seeds
2 tablespoons caster sugar
1 big cucumber
1 small onion, or a couple of shallots, peeled and finely chopped
Bunch of chives, finely chopped
4 mackerel fillets
Salt and pepper
Knob of butter or splash of olive oil
Mustard creme fraiche
Small bunch of dill, finely chopped
I tablespoon Dijon or wholegrain mustard
1 small tub creme fraiche (about 170 g)
In a small saucepan, heat up the vinegar with the bay leaf, chilli and caster sugar. Bring to the boil, then strain the liquid and allow to cool. Throw away the bay-leaf debris. Peel the cucumber, slice it thinly and mix with the chilli and vinegar syrup, the onions and chopped chives. Season to taste.
Turn up the grill to high and dot the mackerel skin with butter or a drizzle of olive oil, salt and pepper. Grill, skin-side up, until the skin starts to bubble, blister and char. It cooks very quickly, maybe just two to three minutes. Mix the creme fraiche with the dill and mustard, and serve with a spoonful of cucumber and a mackerel fillet.