My low-carb kitchen
I know what it’s like to use carbs as a culinary crutch. Until I was a teenager I would only eat things that were white: rice, bread, potatoes, but most of all noodles. A little lick of butter, cheese or plain chicken was the flavour I needed.
It wasn’t until I was 21 and scoffing white rice and a curry in Malaysia that the tables turned. The water I was sipping came from the local well. The meal was accompanied by a side order of E. coli. Soon after that, I got glandular fever. Then came five years of a spluttering immune system and exhaustion.
Suddenly, the foods I had turned to for comfort provided anything but. Not only did they not give me lasting energy, but they encouraged a sugar spike in my body that made me feel even worse. The white carbohydrates I had grown to love were foods that are broken down quickly in our bodies, swiftly transforming into glucose. Some of them left me feeling bloated. Some drove me to rabid hunger only a few hours after I’d eaten. Most would deliver a sharp jolt of energy, before leaving me even more lethargic.
The only way out was to get creative in the kitchen. I needed to find food that was smarter. And I needed to be a little cannier about how I cooked. I needed to cut the carbs…
Cut The Carbs!: 100 Recipes To Help You Ditch White Carbs And Feel Great, by Tori Haschka, with photography by Chris Chen, is published by Quadrille, priced £20.
Savoury baked apples with goats’ curd & Parma ham
Serves 6
Ingredients
Method
Preheat the oven to 150C/300F/gas mark 2.
Cut the tops off the apples, about 1cm below the stalk, then set the tops aside. Use an apple corer or a melon baller to remove the core of the apple and fashion a tunnel about as thick as a wine cork through the centre. The walls of the remaining apple need to be 1-1.5cm thick. Discard cores. Using a sharp knife, score a shallow slit around the perimeter of each apple, about 1cm below the top (this helps the apples not to burst during baking).
Take one postage-stamp square of ham and shimmy it down to the bottom of the tunnel and let the corners snake up the sides – you want to create a ‘plug’ for the filling so it doesn’t fall out the bottom during baking.
Combine the chopped nuts with the goats’ curd, rosemary and lavender, if you fancy. Add the olive oil and mash with a fork to combine.
Divide the filling into 6 and press each portion into the hollow in each apple, being careful not to push out the ham plug at the bottom.
Wrap two sheets of Parma ham around each apple. Use the fattiest parts of ham as glue to help it stick to the fruit. If it really won’t stick, you can always use a cocktail stick to fasten it in place.
Put the apples in a baking dish and drizzle the tops with a little olive oil. Pour the cider or apple juice into the baking dish and place the tops of the apples in there too.
Cover the tray with foil (try not to let the foil touch the filling) and bake in the preheated oven for 40 mins. Remove the foil, turn the oven temperature up to 180C/350F/gas mark 4 and bake for another 20 mins or until the apples are soft and the ham is crisp.
Serve the apples warm, with the tops at a jaunty angle for presentation, with salad leaves and a drizzling of the cooking juices from the bottom of the dish.
Roast beetroot and carrots with ras el hanout, mint and labneh
Serves 2
Ingredients
Method
Preheat the oven to 200C/400F/gas mark 6. Cut 3½ carrots into batons. Set remaining half-carrot aside.
In a small saucepan, combine the marmalade and olive oil. Warm it gently and whisk it to emulsify.
Combine the carrot batons and beetroot in a roasting dish with the marmalade mixture and sprinkle with the salt and ras el hanout. Roast in the oven for 50 mins or until the vegetables have taken on a burnished hue and are cooked through.
Shave the remaining half-carrot into ribbons using a vegetable peeler. Serve the roasted vegetables with the almonds, labneh, carrot ribbons and mint leaves scattered over the top.
Chocolate, black bean & cherry cake
Makes 8-10 slices
Ingredients
Method
Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/gas mark 4. Using a stick blender and mixing bowl, blender or food processor, combine all the ingredients except the cherries and blitz until smooth. The batter will appear quite liquidy but don’t worry. Pour the batter into the prepared loaf tin and scatter the cherries over the top.
Bake the loaf in the preheated oven for 35 mins, or until a skewer inserted in the middle comes out with a few fudgy crumbs on it.
Leave to cool in the tin for 5 mins, then turn it out. Dust with icing sugar and serve warm with more cherries, yoghurt or crème fraîche for dessert, or allow it to cool and enjoy it with a cup of tea.
It wasn’t until I was 21 and scoffing white rice and a curry in Malaysia that the tables turned. The water I was sipping came from the local well. The meal was accompanied by a side order of E. coli. Soon after that, I got glandular fever. Then came five years of a spluttering immune system and exhaustion.
Suddenly, the foods I had turned to for comfort provided anything but. Not only did they not give me lasting energy, but they encouraged a sugar spike in my body that made me feel even worse. The white carbohydrates I had grown to love were foods that are broken down quickly in our bodies, swiftly transforming into glucose. Some of them left me feeling bloated. Some drove me to rabid hunger only a few hours after I’d eaten. Most would deliver a sharp jolt of energy, before leaving me even more lethargic.
The only way out was to get creative in the kitchen. I needed to find food that was smarter. And I needed to be a little cannier about how I cooked. I needed to cut the carbs…
Cut The Carbs!: 100 Recipes To Help You Ditch White Carbs And Feel Great, by Tori Haschka, with photography by Chris Chen, is published by Quadrille, priced £20.
Savoury baked apples with goats’ curd & Parma ham
Serves 6 Ingredients
- 6 small red eating apples (I like Royal Gala)
- 8 slices (80g) of Parma ham, 6 cut in half lengthways, 2 cut into thirds to create large postage-stamp squares
- 30g hazelnuts, toasted and roughly chopped
- 30g almonds, toasted and roughly chopped
- 170g goats’ curd
- 1 tbsp finely chopped fresh rosemary leaves
- a pinch of unsprayed lavender leaves (optional)
- a drizzle of olive oil
- 200ml apple cider or juice
- sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
- a handful of salad leaves per person
- apple corer or melon baller
Method
Preheat the oven to 150C/300F/gas mark 2.
Cut the tops off the apples, about 1cm below the stalk, then set the tops aside. Use an apple corer or a melon baller to remove the core of the apple and fashion a tunnel about as thick as a wine cork through the centre. The walls of the remaining apple need to be 1-1.5cm thick. Discard cores. Using a sharp knife, score a shallow slit around the perimeter of each apple, about 1cm below the top (this helps the apples not to burst during baking).
Take one postage-stamp square of ham and shimmy it down to the bottom of the tunnel and let the corners snake up the sides – you want to create a ‘plug’ for the filling so it doesn’t fall out the bottom during baking.
Combine the chopped nuts with the goats’ curd, rosemary and lavender, if you fancy. Add the olive oil and mash with a fork to combine.
Divide the filling into 6 and press each portion into the hollow in each apple, being careful not to push out the ham plug at the bottom.
Wrap two sheets of Parma ham around each apple. Use the fattiest parts of ham as glue to help it stick to the fruit. If it really won’t stick, you can always use a cocktail stick to fasten it in place.
Put the apples in a baking dish and drizzle the tops with a little olive oil. Pour the cider or apple juice into the baking dish and place the tops of the apples in there too.
Cover the tray with foil (try not to let the foil touch the filling) and bake in the preheated oven for 40 mins. Remove the foil, turn the oven temperature up to 180C/350F/gas mark 4 and bake for another 20 mins or until the apples are soft and the ham is crisp.
Serve the apples warm, with the tops at a jaunty angle for presentation, with salad leaves and a drizzling of the cooking juices from the bottom of the dish.
Roast beetroot and carrots with ras el hanout, mint and labneh
Serves 2 Ingredients
- 4 medium carrots (about 450g), peeled
- 1 tbsp orange marmalade
- 4 tbsp olive oil
- 8 small cooked baby beetroot (150g), drained (from a tin or packet will do)
- 2 tsp sea salt flakes
- 2 tbsp ras el hanout
- 20g flaked almonds, toasted
- 2 tbsp labneh (strained Greek yoghurt) or goats’ feta, crumbled
- 20 fresh mint leaves, torn
Method
Preheat the oven to 200C/400F/gas mark 6. Cut 3½ carrots into batons. Set remaining half-carrot aside.
In a small saucepan, combine the marmalade and olive oil. Warm it gently and whisk it to emulsify.
Combine the carrot batons and beetroot in a roasting dish with the marmalade mixture and sprinkle with the salt and ras el hanout. Roast in the oven for 50 mins or until the vegetables have taken on a burnished hue and are cooked through.
Shave the remaining half-carrot into ribbons using a vegetable peeler. Serve the roasted vegetables with the almonds, labneh, carrot ribbons and mint leaves scattered over the top.
Chocolate, black bean & cherry cake
Makes 8-10 slices Ingredients
- 1 x 400g tin of black beans, rinsed
- 3 eggs
- 100g caster sugar
- 1 shot (30ml) of espresso or 1 tbsp strong filter coffee (you can use decaf if you prefer)
- 3 tbsp cocoa powder
- 1 tsp baking powder (check it is gluten-free if cooking for a coeliac crowd)
- 125g cherries, pitted (can be frozen, and you can also substitute other berries), plus extra to serve
- icing sugar, yoghurt, crème fraîche or fresh cherries, to serve (optional)
- 20cm x 12.5cm loaf tin, greased and lined with baking paper
Method
Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/gas mark 4. Using a stick blender and mixing bowl, blender or food processor, combine all the ingredients except the cherries and blitz until smooth. The batter will appear quite liquidy but don’t worry. Pour the batter into the prepared loaf tin and scatter the cherries over the top.
Bake the loaf in the preheated oven for 35 mins, or until a skewer inserted in the middle comes out with a few fudgy crumbs on it.
Leave to cool in the tin for 5 mins, then turn it out. Dust with icing sugar and serve warm with more cherries, yoghurt or crème fraîche for dessert, or allow it to cool and enjoy it with a cup of tea.