healthy gut – Clinical Alimentary

The Perfect Watercress Soup – low FODMAP

Watercress soup is sublime and tradition in our household means that we have it as a starter every Christmas. I have considered the fact that we can’t use onion – the complete taste profile onion gives to the dish – including the slight amount of sweetness it provides and I have replaced the onion with alternatives in hope of retaining it’s benefits without its nasty gut side effects.

Watercress is a member of the brassica family of vegetables, therefore it is related to broccoli, cabbage, radish and rocket. Watercress has lot’s of peppery goodness, but although it is rich in some nutrients you would only gain benefit if you include it in your diet regularly – luckily it has lots of uses. It tastes excellent with salmon and watercress is great to use as the leaves for a salad, if you enjoy it’s slightly hot taste! It contains some vitamin A, vitamin K and folate, plus iron (plus is a reasonable source of vitamin C to help absorption of the iron – it is probably better eaten as a salad leaf to achieve this benefit.) As it is a source of iron it is therefore useful for vegans to include in their diet alongside other sources – but this recipe would have to be made with almond milk and dairy free margarine instead of butter to make in suitable. Perhaps I could try that next!

The soup does contain butter and uses full cream milk – but this is a soup for special occasions – so it is OK to have this amount of fat occasionally and you could change to semi skimmed milk and 20g fat, if needed, if you do find that rich foods result in symptoms. The garnish I have used is watercress leaves, radish sprouts and dried seaweed – radish sprouts and seaweed are not integral to the dish, however – and the conkers in the picture are not edible. I hope you enjoy it!

Ingredients

1 bag of fresh watercress
500ml of full fat lactose free milk
1 sprinkle of asafoetida
1/4 teaspoon of sugar
Salt to taste
40g butter
1 tablespoon of corn flour

Method

Melt the butter in a pan and add the cornflour whilst mixing and the sprinkle of asafoetida and the sugar. This will not form a traditional roux, but not to worry.
Slowly drizzle in the milk – note that it will start to thicken at this stage and a whisk might be a better tool to use to ensure that no lumps are formed.
When all the milk is added then bring to a slight boil to thicken.
Add the watercress and cook until wilted then blend the soup
Season to taste.
Serves 1-2

October 6, 2019

Jules_GastroRDLeave a comment

Orecchiette con Cima de rape – Low FODMAP

This recipe was in a newspaper supplement but wasn’t really Low FODMAP friendly so I decided to give it an update and make it suitable for those with food intolerances. It is a traditional Puglian recipe using broccoli tops (Cima de Rape), which is a winter vegetable in Italy but is a really refreshing recipe for spring in the UK using broccoli tops makes it a suitable low FODMAP version.

The other problem is that there is no suitable gluten free Orecchiette pasta that is available in the UK, so fresh gluten free pasta has to be made if you want an authentic dish. The other point to note is that only if you find cooking relaxing should you attempt to made home made gluten free pasta. An important factor is not making more work for yourself if you don’t find cooking relaxing and dried pasta is suitable for this dish.

I have decided to make a longer recipe today as it is Bank Holiday weekend and the forecast suggested that it was going to rain although it hasn’t done yet. I have also posted some bluebell images from this weekend – bluebells are everywhere at the moment and are quite a spectacle.

Ingredients

Pasta (wheat free)

250g Pure maize flour (wheat contamination free if you are coeliac)

50g Gluten free bread flour

2 Eggs

Salt

1/2 Teaspoon xanthan gum

Enough water to bring the dough together

Stock

1 Ladle of pasta cooking water – top up to 500ml with water

20g Carrot chopped

30g Celeriac

1 Bay leaf

Small amount of salt and 6 peppercorns

Sauce

1 Head of broccoli (250g) stalks removed

1 Anchovy

1 Lemon

20g Parsley

20 Bay leaves

20g Rocket

30g Parmesan

3 Tablespoons of garlic infused olive oil

25g Butter

100ml White wine

Salt to taste

Method

Pasta

Weigh the flours into a bowl and add salt and xanthan gum. Mix the dry ingredients well before adding any liquid to the mix. Add the eggs and start to mix the flour, then add water to bring the flour together into a dough. Add just enough to ensure a soft mix – it is not possible to give a volume as this will depend on the fineness the flour mix you use. Once the dough is formed work it well to incorporate it together and make a smooth mix. This will take time, don’t worry about over working – this is not the same as making standard pasta. Roll out logs of the dough to the thickness of you thumb and then slice finely. To make the orecchiette shape press your finger into the centre of the disc. Bring a pan of water to boil and add salt and the pasta. Cook till the pasta rises in the pan remove and drain.

Zest the lemon and juice.

Chop the broccoli tops, celeriac, carrot, anchovy finely and add to separate bowls.

Then chop the basil, rocket and parsley and add to a bowl with the rest of the lemon juice.

Make the stock adding the pasta cooking liquor, carrot, celeriac, bay leaves and pepper to a pan and cook for 10 minutes, drain and save the stock. You could add the carrot and celeriac to the main dish but remove the bay leaf and peppercorns.

Add the olive oil to a pan and add the broccoli, anchovy and the zest of 1/2 the lemon and cook for four minutes then add the stock, wine, 1/2 the parmesan and butter and simmer for 10 minutes until the broccoli is soft.

Add the herbs and the rest of the lemon zest to the pan and then gently mix in the pasta to warm through. Serve and finish with a tablespoon of the lemon juice and the rest of the parmesan.

Serves two

May 6, 2019

Jules_GastroRDLeave a comment

Broccoli

Broccoli is a newer addition to the low fodmap family – although particular attention needs to be made concerning which parts are low fodmap. Growing conditions and plant storage of FODMAPs affects the fodmap content of foods. A good example here is the ability to use the green parts of leeks and spring onions and not the bulb (the storage part of the plant.) The same is true for broccoli, the leaves and a small amount of stalk (less than 50g) are low fodmap – the stems alone above 50g per portion are not suitable. Testing individual components of food gives us more information about its fodmap content, and we are continuing to learn more about the diet with the valuable testing of the fodmap content of foods. It is thanks to the continued work by Kings College Nutrition department that has led to more information. Increased testing increases available foods and this makes the diet more varied, which is nutritionally more sound, but can add to the complexity of the diet making access to up to date information more critical. The best sources of information are dietitians who are fodmap trained, which is why it is recommended not to complete this diet alone.

What are the benefits of broccoli?

Nutritionally broccoli is suggested to be a powerhouse vegetable, although so are most others in their own way! The infographic above indicates that it has some good cancer-preventing properties via the content of sulforaphane – content of this chemical is affected by cooking time, and its benefits are debatable, as much of the evidence comes from studies in mouse models and cells in Petri dishes, one or two small studies in humans have been done, but certainly more information is needed. Broccoli provides dietary fibre content, which is always important for people with IBS. It contains good levels of vitamin A (more in the tops than the stalks), Vitamin C (but this will depend on how long the broccoli is cooked) and vitamin K.

What are the effects on the colonic microbiome? Well, in a small study broccoli consumption altered the variety of Firmicutes (reduced) and Bacteroides (increased) although it is really too early to say if this is beneficial in IBS or for those following the low fodmap diet. Interestingly Firmicutes have been found to be increased in people with IBS and reduction in the numbers of Bacteroides – perhaps this just represents people with IBS reducing consumption of those foods that are suggested widely on social media to increase symptoms, such as cruciferous vegetables. It would be interesting to know if including broccoli amounts recommended in the low fodmap diet improves these bacteria numbers and whether this is clinically significant.

What broccoli is unlikely to do:

Detox your body – your liver, kidneys and lungs are all you need for this.
Reduce ‘inflammation’ we don’t have enough information that broccoli has any effect for this unspecific term.
Reduce pain in fibromyalgia

I suggest cutting off the stem of the broccoli as close to the head as possible and discarding (or using for other members of the family or feeding to rabbits), then trimming the stalks contained within the base of the head – you can then weight the stems and calculate how much to add to the dish per portion.

What other cruciferous Brassicaceae vegetables are good to include in the low fodmap diet? Pak Choy, choy sum, kale, white cabbage and red cabbage – so do include these as well as other low fodmap vegetables – remember variety in the diet is best!

Now for the recipe:

Vegan broccoli and pine nut pasta – Low FODMAP

Ingredients

300g Gluten free pasta

40g Pine nuts

1 head of broccoli

2.5 cm square of Vegusto Prosociano

1 Tablespoon of garlic infused oil

A few basil leaves

Seasoning to taste

Method

Chop the broccoli close to the head and then into small ‘trees’

Cook the pasta in boiling water using the packet directions adding seasoning

Add 1 tablespoon of garlic infused oil to a pan and roast the pine nuts.

Add the basil, cooked pasta and broccoli to the pan with a tablespoon of water the pasta was cooked in.

Combine and serve with a sprinkling of the cheese for each portion

Serves 4

https://www.nhs.uk/news/cancer/broccoli-and-breast-cancer/

https://modalitypartnership.nhs.uk/self-help/livewell/topics/superfoods/is-broccoli-a-superfood ,

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30317146

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4317767/

January 13, 2019

Jules_GastroRD2 Comments

Vegan Pate – Christmas starter Low Fodmap

This is a spiced vegan pate starter – a really nice way to begin Christmas lunch. It has lots of seasonal flavours to remind you of the traditional Christmas. Being very easy to make it will take no time at all for you to prepare. Entertaining guests can be challenging so this dish can be prepared in advance and refrigerated till the 25th or perhaps used as a nice supper dish on the 24th if you prefer.