Non fiction

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My Favourite Meal

Do you have a dish that you always order when you go out for a meal? I do.  The region I live is famous for  its cafes and restaurants that use locally sourced,  fresh, organic produce, whenever possible.

My favourite meal to eat out is Crab Linguine. Let me share with you a recipe from “The Dirty Dishes” by Isaac Carew (Bluebird: Pam Macmillan Australia) which will allow you to make this restaurant quality meal in your own kitchen. It’s fast, it’s easy!  I may never need to go out for a meal again.

‘The Dirty Dishes: 100 Fast and Delicious Recipes by Isaac Carew,’ Published by Bluebird, RRP $39.

Crab linguine
“Crab is quite an underused ingredient. I think a lot of people try brown crab meat first and don’t like it, or find a whole crab a daunting challenge. But it’s actually very easy to cook and the combination of crab and chilli creates a clean-tasting but fiery dish. I nearly always choose linguine over spaghetti – sauces cling to linguine easily and you get more from every mouthful.” pps. 86/87

serves 4

sea salt
olive oil
1 shallot, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, chopped
½ medium red chilli, sliced
1 sprig of thyme, leaves only
100ml white wine
1 x 400g tin of chopped tomatoes
360g linguine
100g white crab meat
1 tbsp mascarpone
juice of ½ lemon
a few chives, finely chopped, to serve

Whack a saucepan of salted water on to boil. In the meantime, heat a medium frying pan over a low to
medium heat, add a little olive oil and sauté the shallot and garlic until sweet and tender.

Add the chilli to the pan, along with the thyme leaves and cook for a few minutes. Next add the white
wine and cook over a medium heat for another minute or two until the sauce is reduced. Finally add
the chopped tomatoes and simmer for 5 minutes.

Chuck the linguine in the salted boiling water and cook until al dente. Retaining 1–1½ ladles of the
pasta water, strain the pasta and set aside.

Add the crab meat and mascarpone to the sauce, then fold the sauce through the pasta, adding the
reserved water. This will give extra gloss to the dish and a deeper taste. Finish with a little drizzle of
olive oil, the lemon juice and a sprinkling of chives.

 

 

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Review: The Fast 800 – Dr Michael Mosley

The Fast 800

The Fast 800

How to Combine Rapid Weight Loss and Intermittent Fasting for Long Term Health

Dr Michael Mosley

Simon and Schuster

ISBN: 9781760850180

 

Description:

Six years ago, Dr Michael Mosley started a health revolution with the 5:2 Fast Diet, telling the world about the incredible power of intermittent fasting. In this book he brings together all the latest science – including  a new approach: Time Restricted Eating – to create an easy-to-follow programme.

 

Recent studies have shown that 800 calories is the magic number when it comes to successful dieting – it’s an amount high enough to be manageable but low enough to speed weight loss and trigger a range of desirable metabolic changes.

 

The secret of this new programme is that it is highly flexible – depending on your goals, you can choose how intensively you want to do it.

 

Along with delicious, low-carb, Mediterranean-style recipes and menu plans by Dr Clare Bailey, The Fast 800 offers an effective way to help you lose weight, improve mood and reduce blood pressure, inflammation and blood sugars. Take your future health into your own hands.

 

My View:

Dr Michael Mosley delivers another powerful and informative, motivating read that introduces us to recent science based theories on managing your health that he has personally explored. I like his personable approach, his willingness to put his body on the line in the name of medical research is commendable.

 

As always, the writing here is accessible, the data/evidence presented in clear and concise ways that make choosing good health a realistic outcome. TRE (Time Restricted Eating) IF (Intermittent Fasting) are something that we are going to hear a lot more about in mainstream medicine and Dr Mosley succinctly explains how using these methods, in a responsible way, we can trigger a range of metabolic changes that will improve our health.

 

Fascinating reading.

 

 

 

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Best Cook Books of 2018

Again this is a very easy category for me to judge as their are a couple of books I continue to use and refer back to.

One is strictly for baking; breads, cakes, tarts, gluten free, dairy free…this book has it all and the recipes are easy to follow.  If you love baking give “Love Laugh Bake” by Silvia Colloca a try, you wont regret it.

Love Laugh Bake

 

And then we have something completely different – a book that has given me so much pleasure; it is a visual delight, I love the scenic tour of Italy it provides and the recipes are outstanding – I have tried so many of these, I love the seasonal fruits and vegetables they use. Adriatico is by Paola Bacchia is a musts for your kitchen library.

 

Adriatico_cover

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Best Non Fiction Read/Listen in 2018

This was a very easy category for me to decide as two books immediately came to mind – both have left a lasting impression – their stories poignant and engaging.  In no particular order, my favourite non fiction reads/listens of 2018 are:

The Tattooist of Auschwitz by Heather Morris 
The Tattooist of Auschwitz
And Evil Has A Name:The Untold Story of the Golden State Killer Investigation by Paul Holes,Jim Clemente,Peter McDonnell 
Evil Has A Name
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The Delight that is the Fab Five: Queer Eye:Love Yourself, Love Your Life – Antoni, Tan, Jvn, Bobby, Karamo

Queer Eye

Queer Eye

Love Yourself Love Your Life

Antoni Porowski, Tan France, Jonathan Van Ness, Bobby Berk, Karamo Brown

Hachette Australia

Headline

ISBN: 9781472261946

RRP $ 39.99

 

Description:

From the Fab Five—the beloved hosts of Netflix’s viral hit Queer Eye—comes a book that is at once a behind-the-scenes exclusive, a practical guide to living and celebrating your best life, and a symbol of hope.

Feeling your best is about far more than deciding what color to paint your accent wall or how to apply nightly moisturizer. It’s also about creating a life that’s well-rounded, filled with humor and understanding—and most importantly, that suits you. At a cultural moment when we are all craving people to admire, Queer Eye offers hope and acceptance. After you get to know the Fab Five, together they will guide you through five practical chapters that go beyond their designated areas of expertise (food & wine, fashion, grooming, home decor, and culture), touching on topics like wellness, entertaining, and defining your personal brand, and complete with bite-sized Hip Tips for your everyday quandaries. Above all else, Queer Eye aims to help you create a happy and healthy life, rooted in self-love and authenticity.

 

 

My View:

The Fab Five deliver their inspiring, inclusive, positive outlook with a few tips and tricks to have you feeling good inside and out. I am a big fan of this show; it surprises me, it is sometimes hard hitting, addressing such issues of racism and the epidemic of loneliness and poor self-image that seems to have swept over our planet, other times it shines the light on contemporary social issues, sometimes it is light-hearted and makes me smile. Never is it boring, always poignant and ultimately, fun. The book is written with these trade mark characteristics; there is a good dose of honesty and personal information shared that explains how the individuals arrived at this point in their lives (on the tv series).  Then the individuals in the team – and it is definitely a team, share a little of their expertise whilst all the time reminding us we are great, we can do whatever we make up our minds to do, and that we are “already fantastic, honey. You just need a little help to become your best self.”

 

A most enjoyable and positive read. Share this book with someone you love.

 

 

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Just Desserts: Raspberry and Chocolate Tart – Fruit – Bernadette Worndl,

fruit-9781925418446

Edited extract from Fruit by Bernadette Worndl, published by Smith Street Books, $55. Photography © Gunda Dittrich. Out November 2018

 

RASPBERRY AND CHOCOLATE TART

 Chocolate and raspberries really, really like each other!

 

Raspberry and chocolate tart

Pastry

100 g (3½ oz) cold butter

200 g (7 oz) plain (all-purpose) flour, plus extra for dusting

1 tablespoon icing (confectioners’) sugar

pinch of salt

1 egg

splash of milk, as needed

 

Chocolate filling

300 g (10½ oz) bitter dark chocolate (at least 70% cocoa)

pinch of salt

pinch of ground cinnamon

pinch of finely grated orange zest

125 g (4½ oz) thickened (whipping) cream

½ teaspoon orange-flavoured liqueur

 

Topping

1–2 tablespoons raspberry jam (jelly)

250 g (9 oz) raspberries

1–2 teaspoons honey

 

Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F) (conventional). For the pastry, chop the butter into cubes. Place the butter in a large bowl, along with the flour, icing sugar and salt. Using your fingertips, rub the butter into the dry ingredients. Add the egg and knead into a smooth dough, adding milk if the dough is too dry. Roll the pastry out on a lightly floured surface to 3 mm (⅛ in) thick. Line a large pie dish or 4–6 small flan (tart) tins with the pastry and refrigerate for 20 minutes.

 

Cover the pastry with baking paper, fill with dried beans or baking beads and blind bake on the lowest shelf of the oven for 10–15 minutes. Remove the paper and beans and bake the pastry for a further 10–12 minutes, until the edge begins to turn golden brown. Remove from the oven and allow to cool.

 

For the chocolate filling, chop the chocolate and place in a bowl with the salt, cinnamon and orange zest. Heat the cream in a small saucepan, then pour it over the chocolate mixture and allow everything to melt together for 2–3 minutes. Stir until smooth, then stir through the liqueur.

 

Spread the jam over the pie base. Pour over the chocolate cream and leave at room temperature until set. Top with the raspberries and serve drizzled with the honey.

 

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Sunday Roast: Pork Cutlets with Caramelised Pear and Sage

fruit-9781925418446

Edited extract from Fruit by Bernadette Worndl, published by Smith Street Books, $55. Photography © Gunda Dittrich. Out November 2018

 

PORK CUTLETS WITH CARAMELISED PEARS AND SAGE

 “Roast and caramel flavours combine here with smoky wooden-barrel notes of Cognac and creamy, sour crème fraîche.” p. 157

 

4 pork cutlets

salt and freshly ground black pepper

1 bunch sage

2 tablespoons clarified butter

4 small pears

6 French shallots

1 garlic clove

5 juniper berries

5 peppercorns

1 bay leaf

40 ml (1¼ fl oz) Cognac

100 g (3½ oz) crème fraiche

Pork cutlets

 

Preheat the oven to 120°C (250°F) (conventional). Season the cutlets with salt and pepper. Pick the sage leaves. Heat half the clarified butter in a frying pan over high heat. Add the sage leaves and cutlets, and quickly sear the meat on both sides. Transfer the cutlets and sage to an ovenproof dish and cook in the oven for 15 minutes.

Halve or quarters the pears. Peel and halve the shallots, and bruise the garlic clove. Heat the remaining clarified butter in the same pan and cook the pear, shallot and garlic until golden brown. Add the juniper berries, peppercorns, bay leaf and cognac, and very carefully set alight to burn off the alcohol. Stir in the crème fraîche. Remove the cutlets from the oven and transfer them to the sauce. Spoon the sauce over the cutlets for the flavours to combine, then season with salt and pepper and serve.

This goes well with creamy polenta or fresh white bread.