Cook Book Review: Yotam Ottolenghi JERUSALEM

Having watched Yotum Ottonlenghi's cookery program a little while ago, we purchased the cookery book on a wave of vegetable enthusiasm. Although not a Vegetarian book, many of the recipes have vegetables as their stars rather than meat.

As part of our frugal snob project, one of the tenants is to try new foods and to start cooking from the literally hundreds of cookery books we own. Having not touched 'Jerusalem' since we got it, I decided to try both a vegetarian and meat based recipes from the book - and I am so pleased I did; I feel that my cooking has been injected with a fresh and interesting new lease of life.

Pearl Barley Risotto with
marinated feta cheese.
An absolutely gorgeous dish
packed full of big flavours and
the ideal comfort food. 

The flavours are full and the dishes just different enough to make it feel like a real foodie experience. I like the little anecdotes and extra information that heads up the recipes, and the instructions are clearly laid out, if not a little unnecessarily complicated in places.

Chicken with Caramelised onion
and cardamon rice with barberries.
This made a huge portions is
great for a big crowd.  

I highly recommend this cook book for those who love food adventures and who want to embrace food that is both familiar and exotic all at the same time. If you love aromatics and spices, this book is for you. It's also great for big family or crowd cooking. 

I highly recommend this book and give it 5 STARS.  

Holy Nora - where has Bircher muesli been all my life?

So surprised how seriously lovely this was.
In truth, I was expected a rather unpleasant experience
and what I had instead was a creamy, indulgent bowl
of loveliness that gave all the 'naughty treat' vibes
whilst creating a halo of nutritional virtue. 

Breakfast - the meal of champions, or so they say. Now, I've never really done breakfast - not unless we're talking elevenses of either a full English fry up or a weekend brunch, but this whole eating just because you've got up and need to boost your energy stores -nope.

But in the interests of the Frugal Snob project, I have been trying to eat a better breakfast knowing that in my heart of hearts, it's the 'better' thing to do. My go to has been a slice of wholemeal toast with peanut butter, because the salty creaminess is just about bearable.

However, Jonathan is a breakfast man (he also does that whole healthy drinking water thing, too) and having spent quite a bit of time in the Nordics, we have come across the idea of that nordic style of breakfast - oats, muesli, flax, sunflower seeds, fruits, yogurts, all that healthy stuff.

You've seen the beautiful images floating around Fantasygram I'm sure. Big socks, giant knits and fairy lights - little kilner jars of ridiculously healthy 'cold porridge'.

It's never really appealed to me as I'm the 80's generation who grew up on Readybreak with five tablespoons of sugar but as we have said, The Frugal Snob project is all about experimentation and doing things differently - embracing a more healthy lifestyle and so.....

I went out yesterday and purchased a kilner jar (although I have since discovered this isn't entirely necessary) and 2 giant bags of oats from TESCO for 70p a bag - which I have now discovered was a) slight oat overkill and b) ridiculously economical for the amounts you make.

Putting on my new wave nordic folk - which actually, I am genuinely a massive fan of (check out the incredible Rebecca Karijord and Anna Ternheim, who I'm listening to at this moment) I set about making Bircher muesli

The idea is to make it the night before, so it's perfect for those who are in a rush in the mornings or who want to take it to work as part of their commute ritual - which is what Jonathan has done. Although be warned, as pretty and instagramable as his blueberry and pistachio Bircher was when he made it in his kilner jar, he's just messaged me to say that after a 40 minute overland and underground commute it looks like it's now been through a washing machine.

I have a plan for that - and it's going to involve a sewing machine; watch this space for Hipster commuter Bircher Museli carriers coming soon.

INGREDIENTS for 2 generous servings (but you can multiply and it will keep in fridge for 3-4 days)

110g Porridge oats
200ml Greek yogurt
350ml Whole milk or semi-skimmed

You can fiddle with these quantities depending on your personal preference of consistency.


TOPPINGS:

Grated apple, sunflower seeds, flax, chi seeds and honey

Blueberry compote (simple cookdown Blueberries with a tablespoon of honey)

Fresh blueberries, pistachios, honey or maple syrup

Cherry compote with flaked almonds


METHOD: 
In a tupperware box add the oats, yogurt and milk and then leave over night to soak and chill.

Add your toppings.

Yep, it really is that simple and I can't imagine us now ever looking back.

Is trendy instagram 'Bowl Food' just food porn?

Lunch today. It may not be beautifully
styled but it was certainly more of
an experience than I'd been banking
on and it's made me think. 

So, in the interests of spreading the Frugal Snob message out to a wider base and engaging with a community who really know what they're talking about when it comes to foo and environment, I set up an instagram account for The Frugal Snob. You can follow it here. 

I am a massive Instagram girl and use it a lot with the other side of my life, which is writing YA fiction. I love the aesthetics of Instagram and how it brings out people's passions and creativity.

The food communities are insanely food obsessed. I mean, half an hour on there and I feel somewhat of a fraud, but I'm carving out  my own little cosy, middle-aged, elder niche and have had some great interactions so far.

It's fascinating exploring other people's relationships with foods, and being that a lot of what we are doing on Frugal Snob is about trying to change our lifestyle habits as a family, obviously I have been engaging more with the health guru timelines than the copious amount of accounts that are temples to the great burger and BBQ

Instagram is full of beautiful presented #bowlfood
or #nourishbowl as they are sometimes hashtagged
I shall be following them much closer from
now on as I'm converted. 

Because of that, I've come across this really pretty but sort of food porn version of eating called 'Bowl food'. Now when I first started seeing picture after picture of food arranged like carefully arranged flower arrangements, my grumpy middle-aged lady mode switched immediately to cynical.

WHAT IS BOWL FOOD?

Well, I'm certainly no expert but what I see is the idea that you take a bowl and you arrange your ingredients in it (attempting to be artful, I guess) so that they are all separate in their own little sections, with the idea that you can see how your various components measure up against each other and balance. It also helps you check your colours as well as separating them out so you're forced to mindfully select what item you're going to choose rather than just dipping into it all jumbled up.

WHY IS BALANCE SO IMPORTANT?

I've been reading (well, actually TEDx Talk watching and internet surfing) around the idea of superfoods and nutrients, mostly with the idea of satisfying my own beliefs that a lot of it is all nonsense and over hyped.

However, it seems that it's not quite such nonsense after all. I'm educated, like the vast majority of folks and we all know what a healthy diet looks like - or at least we think we do, but these guys, they are seriously into knowing how foods work on the various parts of the body, and importantly, how our requirements change depending on our age, lifestyle and medical health.

As a young family, we've had our share of health issues over the last twelve months. There's me who's diagnosed prematurely perimenopausal and having suffered years of IBS, there's our daughter who has had two episodes of pneumonia in three months and as a result has obliterated her immune system, then there is hubby who is having a minor mid-life crisis about his executive commuting lifestyle, and we have a pre-teen who is hormonally all over the place.

We're a great candidate for needing some serious nutritionally input and boosting - which is partly why our family project is The Frugal Snob.

So having read about nutrition plates, and rainbow food and food colour theory over the last few weeks and how it can medically and psychologically impact on our well being, I returned to some of the food bowl gurus and have given it a bit of a go. Now my Instagram page prides itself on the fact that all the food pictures are real food that is minutes away from being in our bellies, so it's not food porn, but food love -- so this is my lunch today. It's not perfect but I'm applying the principles that I've picked up and here's my findings.

WHAT DID I DISCOVER? FOODPORN OR FOODLOVE? 

1) It's ridiculously filling to eat like this -- I left nearly 1/3 of it.

2) By dividing your food up like this, every forkful becomes a conscientious mindful choice, slowing the eating process down and helping you engage with your food.

3) I'd forgotten what some of those flavours tasted like in their natural standalone state. I can't remember the last time I had celery without a big spoonful of stilton on it.

4) It felt clean and light - now I know that's hocus-pocus, but I can't fully explain how it just felt good to eat. Like when you're thirsty on a hot day and you drink a chilled drink.

5) In preparing it, I made choices and thought more carefully about how I was balancing out my vitamins and mineral intake in a way that I don't normally do when slapping together a cheese sandwich.

6) It was easy to eat whilst typing at my desk - which is how I have lunch everyday despite working at home.

So, what's the conclusion - it may look all a little foodporn - but trust me when I say, just like with other aspects of our lives, sometimes it's nice to make the extra bit of effort and feel like a goddess.