Veal chops with oysters

If you're not one for hearts and flowers but still feel like cooking up a special meal for Valentine's night this recipe from Will Beckett, Huw Gott and Richard Turner's Hawksmoor at Home* would fit the bill perfectly.

After all it does contain oysters which as you know are an aphrodisiac . . .

Huw writes: After a weekend in Vienna (during a depressingly England-less Euro 2008), we returned home with a newfound respect for schnitzel. Back at Hawksmoor, where the world revolves around a real charcoal grill, we decided to grill the veal and use the schnitzel’s breadcrumbs to coat oysters instead. It appealed to our inner food geek – the Victorians loved to pair oysters with beef, why not with veal? And it seemed like a good excuse to pile on the deep fried oysters – we love their crunch and soft milky, saline interior (part sea, part sex, part chicken nugget).

Veal needn’t be a cruel meat. Although crating has been banned in the EU a number of other unsavoury practices are still common. Your best bet is to buy British rose veal from a reputable supplier like Percy and Ben Weatherall’s Blackface Meat Company who produce great quality ethical veal from their Ayrshire dairy herd in south-west Scotland.

serves 2

2 British rose veal chops (3–4cm thick)
Maldon sea salt
freshly ground black pepper
12 oysters
75g seasoned self-raising flour
2 lightly beaten eggs
100g fresh breadcrumbs
vegetable oil for deep-frying
2 lemon wedges to serve

For the mayonnaise:
50g line-caught tinned tuna
100g mayonnaise (Hellmann’s is fine)
10g capers, rinsed
50ml double cream

To make the mayonnaise, whizz the tuna, mayonnaise and capers in a blender and sieve into a small bowl. Stir in the double cream and set aside.

Open the oysters, remove the meat and pat them dry.

Dip them in the seasoned flour, then the beaten egg and finally the breadcrumbs. Set aside.

Preheat the oven to 160°C/325°F/Gas 3. Heat a ridged grill until almost smoking. Season the veal chops well and sear both sides until well coloured, then place in the oven for 5 minutes to finish cooking. Remove the pan from the oven and set aside to rest.

Heat an electric fryer or a deep pan of oil to 180°C/350°F. Dip the oysters in the breadcrumbs a final time and deep-fry for a couple of minutes until golden brown.

Serve the chops with a pile of fried oysters on top and a large spoonful of the mayonnaise.

NOTE: You can also use a barbecue to cook the chops.

What to drink: You could drink a lightish red like a red burgundy with this but I'd be inclined to go for a Chablis because of its association with oysters - maybe a vieilles vignes or a premier cru - or even grand cru - given the fact that the veal is grilled.

*which is owned by my son Will, in the interests of full disclosure! But the profits go to Action Against Hunger.

How to make a really healthy smoothie

If your new year's resolution is to get fit you may be planning to start the day with a smoothie. But how good for you are they and could you make them healthier?

Monica Shaw, the author of Smarter Fitter Smoothies, gives us her 5 top tips:

"Just because a smoothie is a smoothie doesn’t automatically make it healthy. Many smoothies, especially pre-bottled smoothies, are full of as much sugar as a can of Coke. Even if it’s not refined cane sugar, fruit sugar is still sugar and all that energy (energy = calories) can add up to a real sugar crash not long after you’ve had your last straw-ful (or spoonful if you drink your smoothies like I do).

So what makes a smoothie “healthy” versus a sugar bomb? It’s all about balance. A healthy smoothie should be a whole lot more than fruit alone. Vegetables, nuts and seeds all contribute to make a smoothie that’s a healthy balance of carbohydrates, protein and healthy fats.

Now that you know that, here are the 5 ingredients you need to put it all together and turn it into a delicious healthy smoothie.

1. Fruit AND Vegetables

A smoothie should contain both fruits and vegetables in the blend to maximise nutrient potential and balance the flavour, too. I aim for one fruit portion in a smoothie, and let the rest come from vegetables. Use about two big handfuls of any combination of fruit and vegetables. Aim for at least a 2-1 ratio of vegetables to fruit. You can choose from whatever suits your tastes or what’s available in your area. In my kitchen, these are my core fruit and vegetables:

* Fruit: apples, pears, raspberries, blueberries, blackberries, pineapple

* Vegetables: Beetroot, cucumber, carrot, celery, kale, spinach

2. Something creamy

Avocado is my go-to for making a smoothie creamy. Other favourites are whole nuts, flax seeds and sometimes even cooked grains. These same ingredients also add healthy fat and fiber to my smoothies, thus making them all the more satisfying. Add enough of these ingredients with a bit of ice and you’ll feel like you’re drinking a milkshake!

• Avocado (~1/2 avocado)
• Whole nuts, especially cashews and almonds (a small handful, ~10-15g)
• Cooked grains such as millet or quinoa (1/4 − 1/2 cup)
• Flax seeds (a couple teaspoons)

3. Something sweet

This is one of those “to taste” sort of things. I rarely add sweetener to my smoothies; the fruit is plenty sweet enough. If I do add “sweetener”, it’s almost always dried fruit. Here are a few more natural ways to make your smoothies sweeter:

• Dried fruit: Dates, prunes, mulberries
• Naturally sweet fruit: bananas, pineapple
• Date Paste
• Coconut Nectar
• Yacon Syrup
• Stevia

Still not sweet enough for you? You could add agave nectar, maple syrup, date syrup or honey but this is basically adding pure sugar to your smoothie which I try to avoid.

Here’s a trick: if you think your smoothie isn’t sweet enough, try adding a small pinch of salt. It sounds counterintuitive but salt help brings out the sweetness and flavour in foods - I almost always add a small pinch of salt to my smoothies.

4. Liquid

I like a thick and creamy smoothie so tend to add just enough liquid to get the blender going. But you can add as much liquid as you like to achieve the consistency you’re after.

• Water (my favourite)
• Fresh pressed fruit and vegetable juice (my second favourite)
• Iced tea (tea you’ve brewed yourself and then chilled, not that Lipton junk)
• Nut or seed milk
• Coconut water

5. Optional add-ins

A few extras can help lift a good smoothie to a whole new dimension of awesomeness. Here are a few add-ins I like:

• Fresh herbs, especially mint
• Lemon or lime
• Dried spices, especially cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg and even turmeric (not too much!)
• Fresh ginger
• “Fragrances” like orange flower water and rose water
• Psyllium husk - a source of fiber and also thickens the smoothie
• Powders such as hemp protein, acai, spirulina and chlorella - tasty and highly nutritious. I’m a big fan of the powder line-up from naturya.com.

Putting it all together

Once you've got your ingredients, there isn't much more to making a smoothie than blending. But there are a few tricks that can make it easier.

• Put high-moisture ingredients into the blender first. They'll blend easily and release a lot of their fluid to help make blending everything else easier.
• Add a little bit of liquid to start, then add more as your blender needs it to really get everything blitzing and to the consistency you desire. I like a really thick smoothie so try to minimize the liquid as much as possible.
• Add your ice at the end. This is especially true if you've added leafy greens to the blend. I like to make sure everything is blended up nice and smooth, and then blend the ice at the end to chill it down.
• It’s worth saying: use the best blender that you can afford. I recommend the Froothie Optimum 9400 which is cheaper than a Vitamix and blends even tough vegetables like raw carrots and beetroot like a dream.

Serve your smoothie in a nice glass and add some garnish (cocoa, cinnamon, nutmeg, coconut flakes, chopped nuts, seeds, granola... I could go on). Take time with your smoothie. Sip it slowly. "Chew" it. There's good stuff in there - it deserves to be savored!

For me, one of these smoothies - with garnishes - is a meal in itself. One smoothie, prepared as described above, typically has about 250-350 calories. Add a bit of garnish and the result is immensely satisfying - you don’t need toast, bagels or cereal, and you won’t want it either. This what I have for breakfast every day and I’ve never felt better.

During autumn and winter months I like to take advantage of seasonal pears and kale and make the smoothie below.

Pear and Avocado Smoothie

Fresh pear and avocado go really well together. The avocado, combined with the flaxseed, make this smoothie super thick and creamy. You can substitute the flaxseed with other nuts or seeds, or omit completely if you don’t have it to hand.

What I like about this smoothie is that you know the avocado is there, and the pear gives it just a little sweetness (if you like it even sweeter, you can add a few dates, but I prefer the less sweet version; it allows more of the avocado and pear flavours to come through).

Taste aside, the smoothie is full of all of the good stuff that makes it balanced and wholesome. It’s got loads of fiber from the pear, flax seed and leafy greens, plus lemon which aids digestion and avocado for healthy fats and delicious creaminess.

Ingredients

320 Cals, 21g Fat, 29g Carbs, 5g Protein, 13g Fibre

• 1 large pear (~150g)
• ½ avocado (~50g)
• ¼ small lemon, peel removed
• 1 handful of kale or spinach (~1 cup)
• 1 heaped tsp flaxseed (~5g)
• 1-2 dates (optional)
• A few ice cubes
• Small pinch of salt

Method

Combine everything in the blender and add a little bit of water. Start blending and add more water as needed (the less water, the thicker the smoothie!).

If you'd like more of Monica's delicious smoothie recipes you can order her book Smarter Fitter Smoothies via her blog, Smarter Fitter. All the recipes are vegan and dairy-, soy- and gluten-free. Text and photographs © Monica Shaw.

Seamus Mullen's kale salad with apple, toasted pecans and yoghurt and dill vinaigrette

I've never really 'got' kale but this delicious salad would convert anybody. AND it's healthy too!

I've added some notes about how they've adapted the recipe at Mullen's restaurant Sea Containers. Given that fresh herbs are scarce and expensive at this time of year you might also want to cut back on the number you use (apart from the dill).

Kale salad, apple, toasted pecans and yogurt and dill vinaigrette

Serves 4

1 bunch Cavalo Nero, Dinosaur kale or Tuscan kale

A handful of dandelion leaves if available

1 oz spiced, caramelized pecans*

1 apple, thinly sliced (they used Golden Delicious, apparently)

1 small serrano chile, sliced as thinly as possible

1/2 an avocado, cut into 1/2” pieces

2 oz yogurt and dill vinaigrette (see below)

a good handful of fresh herbs - Mullen recommends cilantro (coriander), basil, dill and mint. Gus, his sous chef, used chives, parsley and chervil

For the yogurt and dill vinaigrette:

1/2 cup (4 fl oz) full fat yogurt or kefir

1 clove garlic, grated

6 tbsp fresh dill

zest and juice 1 lemon

1 tbsp champagne or moscatel vinegar

1 tsp honey

1 cup (8 fl oz) extra virgin olive oil

salt

fresh ground pepper

Combine all ingredients except oil, whisk together, then drizzle in oil until emulsified.

Process

Strip the leaves off the stalks and cut the kale into a paper thin chiffonade. Combine all the ingredients, season with salt and pepper and plate in a small bowl (see above. (I suspect you need to let it rest for half an hour or so to soften as you do a slaw.) Garnish with fresh herbs and fresh cracked pepper.

* in the recipe Mullen says "toasted in brown butter, tossed in sugar, cayenne, ground coriander and sea salt" but his chef Gus says he dips the nuts in whisked egg white, rolls them in a mixture of onion and garlic powder, cayenne, curry powder, salt and turmeric then roasts them briefly at 165°C. Or use any spiced nuts recipe you like. Or buy them ready made.

What to drink: I found an Austrian grüner veltliner paired very well with this but so would an apple juice. (See my pairings for kale).

Obviously the picture at the top of the page looks more stylish but yours - and mine - will look more like the dressed salad in the bowl.

Carrot and beetroot borscht

New year tends to mean two things - frugal living and healthy eating - and this recipe my eldest daughter Jo devised when she was a student ticks both boxes. Best, of course, with organic veg if you can get hold of them.

Serves 4

3 tbsp organic sunflower or organic rapeseed oil
4 rashers of smoked streaky bacon, finely chopped
1 medium onion, peeled and finely chopped
2 medium carrots (about 175-200g), well scrubbed or peeled and grated
3 medium beetroot (about 300-350g), peeled
1 fresh tomato, skinned and roughly chopped (optional but good)
1 tsp chopped fresh thyme leaves or 1/2 tsp dried thyme
750ml vegetable stock mixed with about 1/2 tsp brown miso or, at a pinch, Marmite
a handful of beet greens, washed and shredded
salt, freshly ground black pepper and sugar or vinegar to taste

Heat 2 tbsp of the oil in a large saucepan or casserole and fry the bacon for a few minutes until the fat begins to run. Stir in the onion, turn the heat down, cover and cook for 4-5 minutes then add the remaining oil and the grated carrot, pop a lid on the pan and continue to cook over a low heat. Halve the beetroot, slice thinly then slice across into short batons. Tip the beetroot and tomato, if using, into the other vegetables, stir, add the thyme and continue to cook for another 5 minutes. Add the stock and bring to the boil then cook until the vegetables are soft (about 20 minutes). Season to taste with salt and pepper. Add a little sugar if you feel it needs it or a few drops of vinegar if you think it needs sharpening up. Add the shredded greens, cook for a couple more minutes and serve. Good with rye or sourdough bread or crispbread spread with a soft cheese like Quark or goats cheese

What to drink: Assuming you've given up booze for a few days I'd go for water or a dry-ish apple juice. Otherwise a nicely chilled pilsner would be perfect