other sides to this life | Robin Ellis

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Meaty thoughts…

Posted in Food, other sides to this life, tagged GI, GI newsletter, GL, michael pollen, protein form plants, red meat, supermarket meat on August 12, 2011| 19 Comments »

I finally got round to looking at August’s newsletter of GI News–a useful and lively healthy eating outlet from the University of Sydney and based around the principles of the Glycaemic Index and Glycaemic Load.

There’s a short piece by dietician Nicole Senior in which she discusses the pros and cons of eating red meat from the perspectives of health and the environment.

It’s far from bad news for red meat fanciers.

She quotes recent research:

A model healthy diet according to Australia’s National Health & Medical Research Council, contains 65g a day of red meat (455g/1lb per week) and the American Institute of Cancer Research: World Cancer Research Fund says to limit red meat to no more than 500g (1lb 2oz a week) to reduce the risk of cancer.

To reduce greenhouse gas emissions, Professor Tony McMichael and colleagues from the Australian National University have suggested we limit red meat to no more than 90g (3oz) a day (630g/1lb 5oz a week), based on the idea people in developed countries currently eat more than double this.

Restricting red meat to a quarter of the Plate, she says, will help as a guide to achieving this.

I then took another peek at Michael Pollen’s excellent and amusing Food Rules (Penguin) in which he says that when buying meat, it’s worth looking for animals that have been fed in pastures.

Monsieur Fraisse, our butcher in Lautrec, knows where each animal he butchers has been raised and what they’ve been fed on. A luxury I know and not so easy when shopping in supermarkets.

Worth asking though?–if there’s a working butcher’s counter at the supermarket?

I’d be interested to hear any feed back–(so to speak!).

Michael Pollen writes:

The food from these animals will contain much healthier types of fat as well as higher levels of vitamins and antioxidents.

You will pay more but if you are buying and consuming less–the cost won’t be much higher.

The meat will taste better too!

Michael Pollen’s mantra on how to eat:

Eat food. Not too much. Mainly plants.

You could also check out the piece by Professor Jennie Brand-Miller–GI expert–on the protein values to be got from plants, in the same August newsletter.

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Regime change [part 2]–a timely visit.

Posted in Food, other sides to this life, Recipes, tagged big ripe tomatoes, courgettes, green fingers, no wine, salmon fillet on August 11, 2011| 8 Comments »

Our friend, Sonia, called by with husband John yesterday to buy an extra cook book autographed for a friend.

She’s a green-fingered gardener and a generous spirit–seldom arriving without something seasonal from her vegetable patch. Yesterday she brought us two HUGE tomatoes, and a round courgette.

How on earth did she know about our new resolve!?

She also brought enough basil to make pesto (recipe from the cook book)–a favorite with Meredith–which was delicious, drizzled lightly over the grilled aubergine and courgettes for supper:

No wine! We kept the pledge--but it was hard.

Now–what to do with the two red beauties…?

One weighed in at a pound and a half (700 grams)! A sauce, perhaps…?

A sliced tomato salad and pesto again, with the other (a puny pound or 450gms)?

Some of the left-over Parma ham, lightly grilled, and Sonia’s courgette–cut into thick rounds, lightly salted and left to drain for half an hour, dried and brushed with olive oil, then roasted for 20 minutes at a high heat (turn them over after 10 minutes) with a spoonful of tapinade spread over it this time–will see us through to supper.

A merry mess!

Post lunch, I notice that there’s enough tomato sauce left over to make a small courgette tian for supper.

We’ll be not be wanting courgettes for a couple of days!

But there are plenty of other summer choices and I’ll never tire of red ripe tomatoes….must go check the tomato patch!

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Regime change: eating the cover…

Posted in Food, other sides to this life, Recipes, tagged eat light, no wine, salade nicoise, salmon fillets, tuna in olive oil on August 10, 2011| 7 Comments »

…of the cook book!

"Salade Niçoise"--prét à manger!

“Can we have a week of eating lightly and no wine?”

The guests have flown, the book is launched, the sun has come out–seems a perfect time.

We’ll start today.

Lunch: A modest Salade Niçoise for two….

Cherry tomatoes–halved; a couple of anchovy fillets–halved; a hard boiled egg–halved; sprinkling of green beans–cooked to tender; black olives (niçoise if possible); half a cucumber seeded and diced; a spring onion thinly sliced and a tin of good tuna packed in olive oil–drained–all arranged on a small bed of salad leaves (heresy to some natives of Nice, who claim the authentic version has no salad leaves!)

Salade niçoise--lunch today.

Dressing: a few torn basil leaves and a couple of fat cloves of garlic, crushed to a pulp with a pinch of salt and whisked into three tablespoons of good olive oil.

Dinner: a salmon fillet each–cooked in a pan on the lowest heat, skin side down and with no oil.

When they start to change colour at the base, sprinkle with a little salt and pepper and cover the pan.

They are done when little beads of white juice emerges from the top.

A simply cooked seasonal vegetable (Green beans? Grilled/roast halved tomatoes? Grilled courgettes/zucchini?) would go well plus a quartered lemon.

(Both these recipes from Delicious Dishes for Diabetics–a Mediterranean Way Eating.)

Bon appetit!

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The launch–part 1

Posted in Food, other sides to this life, Recipes, Robin Ellis, tagged book launch, Delicious Dishes for Diabetics, Donald Douglas, Ottolenghi on August 8, 2011| 7 Comments »

First “post-launch” post–we’ve been busy!

Twenty-two friends (many of whom, in one way or another, had helped with the book) sat down for lunch on Friday at tables set end on end under the trees–

Ma's Gazpaccio waiting patiently

–nicely protected from the sun but rain could be a problem and it has been uncharacteristically wet this year.

The skies were scoured for signs, forecasts checked hourly and finally a prayer went up to the heavens.

We were blessed–not a drop fell the entire afternoon.

A friendly sounding hum rose early from the throng–Ma’s Gazpacho was hitting the spot; as was the mellow Tuscan red poured from a 3 litre magnum–a gift from our friends Keith and Helen.

It–“the book”–was launched.

Hope James–the book’s illustrator–was there and I read this out from our friend Eva Marie’s email, received that morning:–

“Her beautiful sketches brought me right back to your cozy home and the French countryside. I am suddenly missing you and Meredith!”

That’s what they do–they bring the book to life.

Chicken was next, with unfamiliar spices–sumac and za’atar–[see part two–tomorrow– for the recipe]

An Ottolenghi special that lends itself well to large parties.

Marinaded overnight on Wednesday, cooked in three batches Thursday afternoon and gently reheated–stacked in its juices–an hour before we ate it.

Served with plain green beans, a garlicky yogurt sauce and toasted Moroccan bread.

Then followed two lovely surprises–for me.

Fellow Poldark actor Donald Douglas [his chilled cucumber soup features in the book] tapping a glass and rising during the cheese course, meant only one thing–he was going to speak.

He not only spoke–he sang!

“There is nothing like a Dame” from South Pacific–adapted for the occasion.

“He played Ross the brave and bold

Now here he is grey haired and old”.

Now another surprise.

My old friend George–one of three distinguished judges present–touched me and everyone with his words on long lasting friendship.

What a day!

[A second helping promised for tomorrow…!]

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PUBLISHED!!

Posted in Diabetes, Food, other sides to this life, tagged delicious dishes, diabetics, published on August 4, 2011| 49 Comments »

It’s publication day–August 4th–for Delicious Dishes for Diabetics!

In February 2010, Meredith and I popped into publishers Constable and Robinson in London for a meeting.

Eighteen months later and the book goes on sale–TODAY!

What can I SAY but–

HOORAY!

And a big THANK YOU to Francia, Paula, Judith, Hope, Paige, Alex,Holly, of course Meredith, and all those who have helped it along the WAY.

Thanks too to all for supporting the blog–which I’m enjoying writing hugely.

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Ex-CEP-tional Gifts

Posted in other sides to this life, tagged cep, mushrooms on August 2, 2011| 1 Comment »

: “Brown gold”

[this was published but the toadstool fairies censored it for a while!]

Our friend David’s generous gift nearly caused a diplomatic incident at a sun-drenched shindig yesterday!

The unseasonal weather last week (grey skies and downpours) followed by the heat of the last couple of days made for unusual mid-summer sights–roadside stalls selling ceps–not peaches.

David knows where to look in his neck of the woods for these big brown beauties so prized by the locals. They fetch good money in the markets in the autumn. So when my box of treasure was spotted, things got animated…

“–Dangereux–Je vous assure!”

“Bad–Very bad!”–implying poisonous.

: Envious by-standers

Dangerous indeed–I had to fight my way out of the party and make a dash for the car. It seems cep-envy can can bring out the worst in people!

They starred at last night’s farewell to Christine and Alice who were leaving [as the good weather hits] and our friend Roger’s arrival.

Happy to report a hundred percent survival rate this morning!

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“There’s a snake in the dependence*!!”

Posted in other sides to this life, tagged couleuvre snake, dishwasher, skirting board on July 30, 2011| 8 Comments »

… I pencilled in a note to Meredith who was in the middle of a skype conversation.

Waltzing over there for a quiet read I was stopped in my tracks when I spotted what looked like a colourful belt lying across the entrance.

It wasn’t a belt.

It was a beautiful snake.

We looked at each other for a minute before it swung round and started to slither into the building.

They can move with a surprising speed but so did I–over the threshold–sort of tippy-toe.

I beat him/her inside but didn’t stop it proceeding in a slinky snake-like fashion round the edges of the door and along the length of the small Ikea kitchen in the direction of the bedroom–ie away from me.

We both had a dilemma.

For the snake it was–“where can I go to get away from him?”.

For me –“what shall I do to get him/her out of here?”.

I couldn’t pick it up–I didn’t have one of those forked sticks you see snake handlers using to handle snakes humanely.

The snake coyly slunk along the skirting board of the kitchen looking for an escape, at one point considering the small mat in front of the sink–too small it decided quickly.

It then spotted the dishwasher and seemed to slide effortlessly inside it–from underneath.

Strange I thought–it’s a dishwasher–surely it can’t have gone inside–that would mean water could gush out when it was used!

Such was my state of disorientation as a result of having a wild animal on the premises, that two or three minutes after it had disappeared, I actually opened the dishwasher to check.

No snake.

I realised it had slid up into the space between the skirting board and the dishwasher.

I got down on my knees and saw there was a gap large enough for a snake to slink.

I didn’t fancy putting my fingers into the gap to prize the skirting board back–so I sat down.

I thought if I stay quiet and still, it’ll surface again–I’ll be able to guide it to the exit.

No fool this snake!

I left it in occupation–with the door open–hoping it would make a dash for it overnight.

I think [hope, trust, pray!] it’s a Couleuvre–

–which “prefers dry, sunny open situations that also offer shelter”–to scary spots behind the skirting board!

Stop Press—

Late this afternoon we return from a lunch date and are given the all clear by our friend Mitch–who was brave enough to sneak a look behind the skirting board.

No sign of snake.

Must have slipped/slid away under cover of darkness, in search of more congenial accommodation.

[*where the priest in earlier times used to stable his horse.]

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Summer stories: Iris makes tomato salad

Posted in Food, other sides to this life, Recipes, tagged tomato salad, tomatoes on July 25, 2011| 9 Comments »

It’s “summer“–though it felt more like March this weekend.

(“We had our summer in May,” said my egg supplier in the market early Saturday morning.)

It’s the busy season of guests–and the unexpected.

It was brighter Sunday morning and we took our visitors from Washington D.C., Irv and Iris, to Lautrec for lunch with two other friends.

Café Plum (charming bookstore/café, a touch of the Left Bank in Lautrec) was finding it a challenge being popular.

A table of twelve had just ordered when we arrived.

We waited twenty minutes, and then were told, politely, it would be another twenty if we wanted to eat!

The six of us decided a salad in the courtyard chez nous might be a better bet–though we might be chasing the sun.

Iris and I got back first.

“Shall I make a tomato salad?”

“Good idea,” I said.

Iris and Meredith had picked some of our tomatoes Saturday evening–five varieties–for a taste test.

Plenty were ripe, despite the weather. (Do they get tired of waiting for the sun and say to themselves: “time to go red?“.)

They cut them up in bite-size chunks and arranged them on a pretty plate with salt & olive oil for the sampling.

“Delicious!”– though some were sweeter than others.

Certainly good enough for a quickly improvised salad.

To go with the sweet tomatoes, Iris found black olives and buffalo mozzarella in the fridge, added some torn basil, thinly sliced red onion and sunflower seeds (dry roasted).

She dressed this good-looking mix with Tuscan olive oil (Liquid Gold) made by our friends, Keith & Helen.

We had it with tuna salad (A saucy tuna lunch for two), slices of melon and Parma ham, followed by local cheese.

We poured out more of our favourite everyday red– Gaillac’s Clément Termes and continued the animated chat.

Next time we go Café Plum we’ll make sure we pip “the party of twelve” to the post!

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Ma’s Gazpacho

Posted in Food, other sides to this life, Recipes, Robin Ellis, tagged cold soup, cold tomato soup, gazpacho on July 22, 2011| 8 Comments »

It’s a fair bet my Mother first tasted this traditional summer soup from Andalusia in 1953–when my parents took brother Peter and me to the Costa Brava for a two week holiday. Dad worked for British Railways and got a certain amount of concessionary travel in Europe.

There were five hotels at that time in Lloret del Mar (five hundred plus now!).

We stayed in one of them with a pretty courtyard–twenty yards from the beach.

I don’t remember the soup but the egg fried in olive oil I can taste to this day!

Franco’s military police, patrolling the beach in funny hats and holding not-so-funny machine guns, also made an impression. No such thing at on the sands at Woolacombe!