28 Apr For flavour – cooking with the Mediterranean diet principles
As much as I love my mainly vegetarian diet, I must say that when I have been bringing home a serving of some of the slow cooker concoctions I have been making recently for my clients, the taste of these dishes has been something else!
It has me thinking about how to make HEALTHY food even more tasty. Because, while I wouldn’t expect my clients to become vegetarians overnight, eating less meat overall is healthier for everyone. I was thinking about the Mediterranean Diet, which is mostly vegetables, fruit, fish, whole grains, legumes, and good fats. It made me realise that one approach might be to add a little meat to dishes for flavour, but to make the bulk of the dish plant based.
I have started thinking of recipes in this way, and am interested to know where this might take my cooking adventures.
For example, tomorrow I want to use an open bottle of tomato passata at my clients’ house, and this morning I had a vision of a tomatoey/bean/minced beef concoction. I think I am going to make Chilli Con Carne with just 200 g of meat (50 g per serve), but with two different types of legumes (and some mushrooms for good measure).
Hopefully it will be yummy. And satisfying!
I am thinking of serving it on a bed of crispy roasted potatoes. It might be a little more special than serving it with rice. And of course, I am hoping that toppings of corn chips and ripe avocado will not be too much trouble for my clients.
Chicken substitute
It has me thinking of how to do the same thing with some of the yummy slow cooker chicken dishes that I have been making. I am wondering what a good chicken substitute might be. Tempeh or tofu seems like obvious choices. And because many of the slow cooker recipes I have found, have been pretty light on the veggies, amping that part of the meal up would add bulk to the dish too.
It will be an interesting era of experimentation coming up!
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