Olive oil – Clinical Alimentary

Pumpkin chicken and pesto pasta

It is my favourite time of year and I do love roasted vegetables. Here is a dish that provides some comfort on cold nights and left overs can be warmed up the next day for lunch.

Ingredients

75g of garlic infused olive oil

1 inch slice of parmesan

15g of fresh basil

2 tablespoons of pine nuts

Salt to taste

1/2 small pumpkin

2 large chicken thighs

Basil leaves and toasted pine nuts to decorate.

150g gluten free pasta.

Method

Slice the pumpkin in half and then slice into eight even slices

Remove seeds

Add basil, oil, pine nuts, parmesan and salt to a blender and blend till smooth to make the pesto.

Place the slices into a roasting tin and place the chicken on the top (this will allow the fat to drain into the bottom of the tray – if you have a roasting tin drainer use this too.)

Spoon the pesto sauce on to the chicken and pumpkin.

Roast for 30 minutes (the chicken is ready when juices run clear.)

Cook the pasta in boiling salted water (use directions on the packet and don’t overcook it some makes of pasta will disintegrate if cooked for too long.)

Chop the pumpkin and chicken and mix with the cooked pasta, if desired use a small amount of the drained juices to flavour the pasta – but not too much as it will be high in fat.

Serves two

October 23, 2016

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Cod with caper and olive sauce

Flavourings such as capers can be included on the Low Fodmap diet and are especially important when onion and garlic are not available in the range of flavours that can be used to develop dishes. Capers are a delicate taste and one that I certainly did not appreciate when I was younger. I remember very well taking a jar of capers to a party when I was a teenager and not one person who attended the party liked them. But perhaps this was because I had stated to absolutely everyone in my eagerness – taste these, aren’t they really disgusting? Perhaps this preconditioned everyone else that of course capers are MEANT to taste dreadful, perhaps not too surprising that everyone else thought so. However when we are younger we have more taste buds therefore we taste more acutely and this is thought to be as a result of the higher energy needs of children enabling them to prefer and seek out energy dense foods. Bitter and sour notes in food are avoided – we only start to appreciate bitter notes in food when we are in our early twenties. As my taste has developed as I have aged I now really relish capers – they go rather well with fish and are better eaten warm and add a depth of flavour. I noted a very similar effect of olives, and do now love their saltiness and rich flavour. We also can develop aversions to foods and food aversion might be psychologically conditioned – a learned behaviour. If we experience sickness during a time when we are eating we can develop a strong aversion to that food, it is common that people undergoing chemotherapy can develop aversions to food. This can happen if strong negative emotions are developed during eating also, the food a ‘reminder’ of the episode therefore avoided.

Development of taste matures as we age, capers are an acquired taste, but one that will expand the range of dishes available to people following the Low Fodmap diet. Taste is a very complex sense – why not challenge yours and make this recipe?

Ingredients

2 pieces of white fish

1 egg

Gluten free flour for dusting

2 tablespoons of capers

1 Lemon (juice only)

1 tablespoon of oil

1 tablespoon of green olives

Salt and pepper to taste

(serve with steamed kale and new potatoes.)

Method

Mix the egg with a fork and add to a flat plate, add the flour to another flat plate with a small amount of salt and pepper.

Dip the fish fillets into the egg first, then the flour.

Fry in a small amount of oil till the flour is golden and then remove the fish fillets and cook for ten minutes in an oven till cooked through (timings will depend on how thick the fillets are.)

Add capers, olives and the juice of the lemon to the pan and warm through. You should not need to add salt to this sauce as the olives and capers add plenty of saltiness to the dish

Serve the fish and pour over the capers and olives, serve with green vegetables (I used kale) and boiled new potatoes in their skins for added fibre.

Enjoy!

March 27, 2016

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Easter meal – roast spring lamb

The first thing to do in the preparation for this Easter meal is to marinade lamb steaks for 1-2 hours.

Marinade

1 freshly squeezed lemon

1 tablespoon of garlic infused oil

Sprinkle of salt

3 sprigs of rosemary

chop the rosemary and add to a bowl with 2 lamb steaks, oil, lemon juice and a small amount of salt to taste.

Leave to refrigerate for 1-2 hours before adding the lamb to a roasting tin with vegetables (I chose parsnips, these were what I had in the fridge, but you could choose carrots if you wish.)

Place in the oven at gas mark 4 and cook for 2-3 hours or until the lamb is very soft and falls apart. Keep checking it as you don’t want it to become too dry. Cooking the lamb long and slow will ensure that some of the marbling of fat it contains will liquefy and can be skimmed off the meat juices once cooked.

The next dish to make is a greek salad – we had this as a starter to our easter meal.

Ingredients

1 large tomato

1/2 cucumber

10-12 black olives

1 teaspoon of dried oregano

100g of feta cheese.

Chop the tomato, feta and cucumber and add to a bowl with olives. Mix well, as the feta and olives are quite salty there should be no need to add salt to season this dish. Serve before the main meal or have it as a side dish – whatever you prefer to do is fine.

The next thing to make is the mint dressing for the potatoes.

Minted Charlotte Potatoes

2-3 potatoes per person.

2-3 sprigs of mint

1 tablespoon of garlic infused oil

1 tablespoon of white wine vinegar

Salt to taste

Chop the mint and add it to a bowl with the olive oil and white wine vinegar, salt and mix well.

Chop the potatoes into 2-3 cm wide slices. Boil the potatoes for 10-15 minutes, drain the pan of water, add the dressing and shake the pan well.

Keep potatoes warm.

Prepare the lamb

Trim the fat from around the lamb and place on a serving dish with the roasted vegetables.

Drain off the cooking juices and strain off the fat which floats on the surface, drizzle this liquid over the meat and allow it to rest (if you wish to make a gravy add a heaped teaspoon of cornflour and heat in a pan until thickened.)

Serve up and enjoy! This meal is gluten-free and Low FODMAP (a small amount of tomato is included in the salad, which shouldn’t be too much for those excluding fructose from their diet) however the salad does contain milk protein. The meal is a celebration and has been prepared with some effort to reduce the fat levels in the roast lamb, however lamb is still quite a fatty meat therefore it is probably better to eat it occasionally. It serves 2-3 people (ensure a lamb steak per person.)

March 31, 2013April 2, 2013

Jules_GastroRD1 Comment

Dippy over Hummus – oh sigh to find a Low FODMAP alternative

Since I have being doing the Low FODMAP diet I have been missing hummus and I was seeking out an alternative when I came across this recipe by a fellow blogger Frugal Feeding here

http://frugalfeeding.com/2012/12/09/carrot-and-coriander-hummus/

It’s definitely worth a look, however I decided to try to de-FODMAP it somewhat so it could be used by those people who want to follow a low FODMAP diet.

Ingredients

600g bag of carrot batons

1 tablespoon of garlic infused olive oil

1 teaspoon of cumin seeds

1/2 teaspoon of chilli power (optional)

1 teaspoon of fennel seeds

Juice of 1/2 lemon

Sprinkling of asafoetida*

300ml of water

Salt + pepper

Method

Add the carrots to a baking tray and sprinkle with olive oil, crushed cumin seeds, chilli, aesofotida and fennel seeds and roast in a hot oven till soft.

Remove from the oven and add the juice of 1/2 lemon, salt + pepper and water and blend till amalgamated.

Serves 2-3

With much thanks to frugal feeding!

http://sqlrus.com/2012/06/thank-you-for-voting-in-the-nomcom-election/

Suitable for low FODMAP, lactose & fructose intolerance (count in your fruit intake – lemon juice – if you have a large portion,) gluten free(*check for gluten!) and vegan diets.

Updated post 22.11.14

December 16, 2012August 8, 2017

Jules_GastroRD2 Comments

Autumn thick warming roasted carrot and pumpkin soup, lactose free, milk free, egg free – vegeliscious!

Roasted carrot and pumpkin soup

600g peeled carrots, cut into 4 lengthwise

500g pumpkin

1 tablespoon of garlic infused olive oil

1 teaspoon of turmeric

1 teaspoon of cumin

1 teaspoon of coriander

1 teaspoon of ground ginger

1.2 litres of water

small bunch of coriander leaves (depends how much you like the taste.)

Salt & pepper

coriander leaves and nigella seeds to serve

Method

Peel and slice carrots and pumpkin and place in a roasting tin, pour in the olive oil and coat the vegetables well. Sprinkle on spices and mix well.

Roast till the vegetables are soft in texture.

Place in a food processor or blender, add the other ingredients and blend well.

Warm the soup again then serve with a sprinkling of nigella seeds and coriander leaves.

Serves 6

(approximately per serving)

Kcal 67

Protein 1.2

Fat 2.9

Carbohydrate 9.0

Fibre 2.8

There is some debate as to whether pumpkin is safe for the FODMAP diet – it contains mannitol – amount varies on where it is grown, the one I used was grown within 10 miles of home. If you have problems with pumpkin, or are on a FODMAP exclusion you could replace the pumpkin with more carrot and this should work just as well.

September 16, 2012September 16, 2012

Jules_GastroRD2 Comments