Diabetes | Robin Ellis

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Tari’s stir fried cabbage with peas

Posted in Diabetes, Food, other sides to this life, Recipes, Robin Ellis, tagged peas and cabbage, spicy cabbage recipe, spicy peas and cabbage, stir fried spicy cabbage, stir fry vegetables on April 7, 2013 | 20 Comments »

London again–briefly.

Out of Spring–back into Winter–snowing when we arrived!

Our friend Tari–the carefree cook from Delicious Dishes–is cooking lunch and I’ve just watched him stir fry some cabbage for lunch to go with spatchcocked poussin.

1 medium cabbage–outer leaves removed, quartered, de-stemmed and sliced fine

a swirl of olive oil in the pan

1tsp cumin seeds,

1tsp turmeric

a pinch of red chili flakes

a couple of bay leaves

salt and pepper

a couple of handfuls of frozen green peas

He heats the oil in a large sauté pan.
Adds the cumin seeds and fries them briefly until they color a little.
Adds the cabbage and turns it over thoroughly in the oil.
Adds the spices and seasons it all with salt and pepper.
Stir-fries over a highish heat for about five minutes–(the cabbage wilts but retains a bit of a bite!)
Tari says that if the heat is too low it will steam the cabbage and taste like hospital food!–and won’t pick up the little flecks of brown that add to its deliciousness–don’t burn it though!.
Then he adds the peas and turns them in and over with the cabbage.

He likes to cook this a little ahead of time to let the flavours meld–then reheat it just before eating.
It looking beautifully green and I can hardly wait!

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Salmon tucked under a spinach blanket with shallot

Posted in Diabetes, Food, other sides to this life, Recipes, Robin Ellis, tagged easy salmon recipe, new cookbook, salmon, salmon and spinach, Simon Hopkinson, spinach on March 27, 2013 | 18 Comments »

I originally published this recipe in early April last year. Yesterday Meredith bought some good looking spinach in Castres market and today a couple of salmon filets caught my eye in Realmont market. Voila! I thought–lunch!

A shy salmon fillet taking a peek at the world!–today’s version.

I am at the cookbook coal face at the moment, finishing a second book. Finding time to post on this blog is a challenge.

Je m’excuse tout le monde!

This dish is adapted from a recipe in Simon Hopkinson’s The Good Cook.

He uses butter and vermouth. I use olive oil and white wine–fits in better with my way of eating.

The single pot and the short cooking time make it a useful quick lunch.

for two.

2 salmon fillets–skin left on

1 shallot–chopped fine

300gms/10oz spinach–washed, de-spined and spun free of water

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 tablespoons white wine

a grating of nutmeg

salt and pepper

Heat a tablespoon of oil in a pot with a top.
Sauté the shallot for a couple of minutes to soften it.

Add the wine and leave it to bubble a moment or two.
Lay a third of the spinach in the pan and place the salmon fillets over it.

Sprinkle over some salt and pepper and a grating of nutmeg.
Cover the salmon with the rest of the spinach.

Scatter the remaining tablespoon of oil over the spinach and cover the pan.
Cook for seven minutes over a low heat.
Turn the heat off and leave the pan covered for ten minutes before serving.

These timings can vary depending on the thickness of the salmon fillets.

Less rich than the original might have been, but we enjoyed it.

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Pot roast pork loin w/red wine vinegar, bay and peppercorn

Posted in Diabetes, Food, other sides to this life, Recipes, Robin Ellis, tagged Marcella Hazan, pot roast pork on March 20, 2013 | 11 Comments »

This is smelling mighty good at this moment–gently simmering on the stove.

A dish I’d bet Marcella Hazan ate regularly at this time of the year growing up in Senatico on Italy’s northeast coast.

Marcella is one of my heroes/mentors–though she doesn’t know it!

She married an American and left home with him to live in New York City in her early thirties.

She claims she had never done much cooking before this–the family meals were cooked by her mother, her grandmothers, aunts, the usual story of an extended Italian family.

Living with a new husband in a foreign land concentrated her mind she claims and she taught herself to cook. She says she remembered the way dishes smelt back in Italy and used this sense to judge if she was doing it right.

No memory of Grandma’s cooking for me but from the smell that’s wafting my way, things seem to be on course!

She cooks Italian/Italian not American/Italian and her books are wonderfully detailed.

There are just three ingredients here apart from olive oil and salt.

It’s a long slow cook.

for 4

1.5 lb piece of pork loin–more or less as required, the cooking time will be the same

olive oil

salt

8 tblsps red wine vinegar

1 tsp black peppercorns

3 bay leaves

Heat the oil in a solid pan with a lid.
Sear the meat (brown it) all over then salt it.

Add the bay leaves, peppercorns and vinegar–and cover the pan tightly. It’s important not to loose too much liquid.
Cook for an hour and half or longer, on the lowest heat possible*.
Take out the meat and keep warm, covered with foil.
Carefully spoon off the fat.

Add three tablespoons of water and scrape off the bits in the pan.
Warm the gravy through.

*I cooked this tonight for two hours; it was good but next time I’ll reduce the time a little and use a diffuser.

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Chicken in red cabbage

Posted in Diabetes, Food, other sides to this life, Recipes, Robin Ellis, tagged chicken in red cabbage, red cabbage on March 16, 2013 | 3 Comments »

Red cabbage is a member of the cruciferous family of vegetables (the four petals of their flowers are in the shape of a cross), broccoli, cauliflower, brussels sprouts, kale, and bok choy too. These are super vegetables with many health benefits claimed for them.

It tasted good tonight but is not exactly photogenic!

Meredith bought the red cabbage at the organic market this week and it reminded me. It’s adapted from a Marcella Hazan recipe and has the advantage of being an all-in-one.

The chicken stays beautifully moist buried under its warm overcoat of collapsed cabbage.

for 4/6

1 chicken–cut up into eight or more pieces with the skin removed

1 red cabbage (at least 1lb/450gm)–quartered, the white stem removed, and thinly sliced

1 largish onion–peeled and thinly sliced

2 cloves of garlic–peeled and roughly chopped

6 tablespoons olive oil

8 tablespoons red wine

salt and pepper

Choose a casserole or terracotta pot large enough to hold the chicken pieces in one layer.
Soften the onion and garlic in the oil until they begin to colour–about 10 minutes.

Add the cabbage and coat it well with the oily onion and garlic mix.

Cook for 15 minutes, turning it over from time to time as it reduces in volume, taking care it doesn’t burn.
Season the cabbage well, then bury the chicken pieces underneath it.
Pour over the red wine and cover the pot.
Turn the contents over from time to time.
Prick the chicken with the tip of a knife after 30 minutes–if the juices run pink leave it to cook longer.

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Penne arrabiata

Posted in Diabetes, Food, other sides to this life, Recipes, tagged Arrabbiata sauce, mediterranean way of eating, Nancy harmon jenkins on March 6, 2013 | 18 Comments »

Farmhouse cupboard fare: Olive oil, garlic, tomatoes, chilis, pasta and parmesan–that simple!

A classic example of the Mediterranean way of eating, which is in the news–again!.

It has barely been out of the news–stories of people living to very advanced ages on Greek islands crop up with annoying regularity on the health pages; annoying in the sense that you immediately want to go there and get a slice of the action–and can’t!

You could though get a copy of food writer Nancy Harmon Jenkins’ wonderful book–The Mediterranean Diet Cookbook–20th anniversary of its publication coming up next year.

She has been trumpeting the “Med” way of eating for years.

This was Sunday night supper chez nous–inspired by the recipe in her book.

for 4

1 large tin [can] 800g of tomatoes–chopped with its liquid

3 large garlic cloves–pulped in a mortar or press

4 tbls olive oil

4 small dried red chili–chopped with their seeds–(less or more depending on your tolerance and taste, but this is called “angry” [arrabiata] penne!)

25 gms/12oz penne rigate–the ridged kind (it picks up the sauce better)–ideally whole wheat/integral–which is increasingly available

salt and pepper

Gently heat the oil in a pan large enough to take the pasta too.
Slip in the pulped garlic and let it colour lightly.

Add the chili and the chopped-up tomatoes.

Cook until the sauce thickens–about 30 minutes–stirring regularly.
It should be an unctuous pool of red glory.

Taste for heat/spiciness–add more if you like.
Bring a large saucepan of water to the boil and add a teaspoon of salt.
Add the penne, stir to stop the pasta sticking to the base of the pan and bring back to the boil.
Cook until it is just tender.
Drain well and add the penne to the sauce and turn it to coat the pasta thoroughly.

Serve with grated parmesan if that suits–and a glass of red wine?

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When is a diet not a diet? When it becomes…

Posted in Diabetes, Food, other sides to this life, tagged dieting, Mediterranean diet, new study of mediterranean diet on March 4, 2013 | 21 Comments »

… a way of life!

The very word DIET is open to interpretation.

A Latin meaning has it as daily food allowance; in classical Greek diaita means way of living!

Last week in its Health section, The New York Times reported on a remarkable new study of the Mediterranean Diet conducted in Spain and published in the highly respected New England Journal of Medicine:

About 30 percent of heart attacks, strokes and deaths from heart disease can be prevented in people at high risk if they switch to a Mediterranean diet rich in olive oil, nuts, beans, fish, fruits and vegetables, and even drink wine with meals, a large and rigorous new study has found.

Nice to hear about the virtues of red wine! Also dark chocolate gets a nod!

(A square of 90% cacao chocolate and a dried fig make a nice finish to lunch and dinner!)

In the UK, my cookbook is subtitled, Delicious Dishes for Diabetics–a Mediterranean Way of Eating. (The American publisher changed the subtitle!)

Person showing interest in the Mediterranean way of eating!

The benefits of a diet based on olive oil, garlic and tomatoes have been debated–and some American heart specialists insist the vegan diet is superior–no animal products whatsoever. But not everyone wants to follow that way of eating.

Our friend John in Washington D.C. who builds dry stone walls and massive earth dikes and stoneworks is relishing the Paleo diet which involves eating large helpings of red meat–even at breakfast!

Each to his own.

I suspect most people, at some point in their lives, willingly go on a diet--to lose weight, for medical reasons or for a general clean out–to feel better.

In the early eighties, I remember astonishing my dinner hostess in London by bringing my own dinner with me–a three pound bag of raw onions–which I proceeded to cook and eat at the table while all the other guests sensibly and politely ate her lovingly prepared meal.

It amazes now me that I could have been so obsessed that I lost all sense of manners!

I can’t remember how long I stuck with the onion diet; I hope I gave it up the following morning, from shame!

The faddishness of diets is well known.

There are always many to choose from and they are usually embarked on with gusto–missionary zeal even–which has a tendency to fade….The Mediterranean Diet certainly has staying power!

http://www.nytimes.com/video/2013/02/25/health/100000002085482/the-benefits-of-olive-oil.html

Mark Bitman of The New York Times says of the Mediterranean Diet:

This is real food, delicious food, mostly easy-to-make food. You can eat this way without guilt and be happy and healthy.

The study is receiving–by and large–a good reaction:

“Really impressive,” said Rachel Johnson, a professor of nutrition at the University of Vermont and a spokeswoman for the American Heart Association.

Mediterranean BLUE–shameless promotion of a Mediterranean Way of Living!

EXPLANATION of the Food Pyramid

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Foxy fishcakes

Posted in Diabetes, Food, other sides to this life, Recipes, Robin Ellis, tagged fishcakes, Fox Early Morning show, Nigel Slater, no potato fishcakes, primal paleo fishcakes, salmon recipe on January 23, 2013 | 9 Comments »

Just managed to fit in a cooking no-potato fishcakes session on Fox’s Channel 5 here in Washington with host Holly Morris, before we head for the airport.

Another recipe based on a Nigel Slater recipe. I have always loved fishcakes – must be the comfort food factor kicking in – but these days of course the fact they usually contain 50 per cent potato causes trouble for me as a diabetic.This recipe solves the problem by leaving the potato out! The dill and the grain mustard make the fishcakes special and they sometimes serve as a tasty starter. If you keep them small and cook them quickly, they’ll be crisp and brown on the outside and still succulent inside.

Yogurt sauce

2 x 125 ml pots low-fat yogurt
1 tsp grain mustard
good pinch of chopped dill (from the main bunch) salt

The Fishcakes

400 g/1 lb salmon fillet – skinless and checked for bones

white of an egg
1 tbsp chickpea flour – of course, plain flour works as well

1 tsp grain mustard

juice of 1⁄2 lemon
small bunch of dill – chopped fine salt and pepper (parsley will substitute though dill goes well with the salmon)

2 tbsp olive oil

Mix all the yogurt sauce ingredients and refrigerate until you are ready to eat.
Cut up the salmon fillets in roughly equal-size pieces.
Put these in a mixer and pulse three or four times.
Avoid working them too much and producing slush at the end.
You could just cut them up in small pieces if this suits better.
Put the salmon in a bowl.
Turn in the egg white and the flour, and then the mustard, lemon juice, and the dill.
Season with salt and pepper.
It’s a good idea to taste the mix for seasoning at this point – the dill and the salt should come through.
Refrigerate if not using immediately.
Heat the oil to hot in a frying pan and using a dessertspoon scoop out a dollop and make a ball.
Put this carefully in the pan and flatten it gently.
Cook on a medium-high flame, crisping and browning the outside while making sure the interior cooks through–about a minute each side, taking care not to burn them.
Serve with the mustardy yogurt dipping sauce on the side.

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Grapefruit alert!

Posted in Diabetes, Food, other sides to this life, Robin Ellis, tagged Florida, Grapefruit on December 18, 2012 | 23 Comments »

This is sad.

Grapefruit as villain. What a turn-up!

The evidence is strong–grapefruit juice may cause some prescribed drugs to malfunction– in some cases with life threatening effect.

This beautiful oversized “orange”–colored like a lemon.

So sweet–and comes with white or pink interiors.

My parents had half a one each for breakfast, carefully separated into segments with a serrated knife.

The serrated knife with the annoying curve at the end–annoying if you wanted to use it for any other purpose–but satisfying if you hit the joins just right and made a good job of segment separation.

These ’50′s grapefruit put me off! They were white and sour! Sugar required.

A long gap to the haven/heaven of pink grapefruit.

It makes a sweet and comforting wake-up drink.

For years we’d squeeze the juice–half a fruit each–into mugs in the morning and fill up with boiling water.

But a trip to Florida opened my eyes to the authentic grapefruit experience.

We were in Orlando at Meredith’s parents home.

At the front of the house there were two grapefruit trees–one with white fruit, one pink.

The grapefruit hung from them like enormous coloured canonballs–how could the trees support the weight?!

I was doubtful of the white fruit until I cut one in half and squeezed a little juice into a glass and sipped.

My mouth is watering now with the memory.

That’s how it will have to stay–a glorious memory.

This benign giant of a fruit is no longer benign for some like me who take a daily dose of drugs–hard to accept!

A slice of lemon in hot water with have to suffice.

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Keeping the Black Snake fat!

Posted in Diabetes, other sides to this life, Robin Ellis, tagged Barbara Young, diabetes uk, heart attacks, National Diabetes Audit on December 11, 2012 | 17 Comments »

It’s a while since I posted a Diabetes update.

Recipes and cat tales are so much more uplifting.

But given my recent history, this new study deserves an airing.

After analyzing the medical records of almost two million people in the UK, the National Diabetes Audit found that people with diabetes have almost a 50% higher risk of a heart attack.

About 22,000 people with diabetes in England and Wales died prematurely in 2010/11, the report says.

“The finding that people with diabetes are almost 50 per cent more likely to have a heart attack is shocking; this is one of the main reasons many thousands of people with the condition are dying before their time,” said Barbara Young, Chief Executive of Diabetes UK.

About seven weeks ago, my cardiologist at the excellent local clinic wasn’t a hundred percent happy with the results of a couple of my stress test results.

(These were routine tests suggested by my G.P.–given my Type 2 diabetes.)

The local cardiologist sent me to the Clinique Pasteur in Toulouse, where late one Tuesday afternoon in October I found myself flat on my back, naked, in what felt suspiciously like an operating theatre.

(This isn’t my preferred theatre experience!)

Shortly after sensing something creeping up the inside of my right arm, a masked face pushed through the hygienic barrier, regarded me with two quietly friendly eyes and uttered words I shall never forget:

“Vous avez un blocage de l’arterie principale coronaire.”

[You have a blockage of the coronary artery.]

His tone was so reasonable, I heard myself replying in a similar tone:

“C’est sérieux, Monsieur?”.

He remained calm in spite of what he had just heard, and didn’t shout:

“OF COURSE IT’S SERIOUS YOU IDIOT!!“.

Instead I was relieved to hear him say he was going to insert three stents–then and there.

The seriousness of the situation only registered fully with me the following afternoon just before we left for home.

The doctor showed us a video of my heart and arteries BEFORE and AFTER.

Oh my word!

For the procedure my blood had been dyed to show up as black.

In the BEFORE version, a black (blood-rich) artery snakes across the screen to the rhythm of the heart–black except for a small section where the FAT black snake became a very THIN black snake running through an otherwise pale (no blood) tube.

Le blocage–a narrowed artery!

In the AFTER video–three stents in place–the black snake is restored to its glorious fatness.

I had none of the usual symptoms of narrowed arteries— shortness of breath while walking, pains in the chest.

I asked the Quietly Spoken One why?

He said diabetes masks cardiac symptoms–numbing the nerves.

So, j’avais de la chance, je crois!

[I reckon I was lucky!]

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