Jordan Bourke2013-05-25T14:37:32-04:00Jordan Bourkehttp://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/author/index.php?author=jordan-bourkeCopyright 2008, HuffingtonPost.com, Inc.HuffingtonPost Blogger Feed for Jordan BourkeGood old fashioned elbow grease.Guilt-Free Pecan Pie - Just in Time for Thanksgivingtag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2012:/theblog//3.21660852012-11-21T19:00:00-05:002013-01-21T05:12:01-05:00Jordan Bourkehttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/jordan-bourke/
Swapping some of the more traditional and less healthy ingredients for a few natural alternatives like coconut palm sugar, means you can still achieve that gorgeously nutty caramel flavour, but without all the bad stuff.
For the pastry I have opted for spelt flour, which is an ancient form of wheat that has not been refined and manipulated like regular wheat flour in order to meet manufacturing needs, so your body recognises it and digests it more easily. It is lower in gluten then normal wheat, so you feel less bloated and it is high in vitamin B2, which helps to strengthen the immune system. So really it's a winner all round.
Natural maple syrup is used as the sweetener, together with some coconut palm sugar. Try and use the best grade organic maple syrup that you can get your hands on, as it is so much better for you then normal sugar and is high in anti inflammatory and anti oxidant compounds. Steer clear of any maple flavoured sugar syrups, as it is the same as normal sugar.
This is the perfect dessert to whip out whenever you hear someone saying healthy food is bland tasting. It is just as indulgent and comforting as the original, only far better for you. Of course I am not suggesting you should eat a whole pie in one sitting, but it certainly makes that second (or third!) slice more enjoyable when you know you are being kinder to your body.
So whether you are celebrating Thanksgiving this Thursday or just looking for an excuse to indulge, cosy down with this gloriously 'guilt-free' pecan pie.
For more information on the nutritional benefits of coconut palm sugar and other healthier and more natural sweeteners read this post on our websiteThe Guilt Free Gourmet.
Guilt Free Cookery Classes
I will be holding a deliciously 'guilt free' food demo, together with Tara Wigley (development chef at Ottolenghi), on Friday 7 December and in January also. You will be guided through a range of 'guilt free' recipes that you can easily try out at home, then sit down for a leisurely lunch and glass of wine.
For full details and to book a place visit www.JordanBourke.com
Ingredients
Sweet Pastry
225g White spelt flour
50g Dairy free butter (e.g. sunflower spread)
60g Hard White Vegetable Shortening (it is crucial that you get the hardest one you can find, I have tried a number of them and in my view 'Cookeen' is one of the best)
1 Egg beaten together with 1 tsp water
1 dessertspoon of coconut palm sugar
Pinch of sea salt
Filling
250ml Organic maple syrup
100g Coconut palm sugar
50g Coconut butter
260g Pecans - very lightly roasted, about 5 mins at 170 C
1.5 tsp Vanilla extract
3 Eggs
Good pinch of sea salt
For the tart shell, sieve the flour and salt into a large bowl. Add in the coconut palm sugar, dairy free butter and hard white vegetable shortening and with a knife cut into small chunks. With your hands high, rub the dairy free butter and vegetable shortening into the flour until it resembles breadcrumbs. You can also do this in a food processor.
Add a tbsp of the egg and water mixture and fork the mixture together. If it is still crumbly and not coming together, add a little bit more liquid, being careful not to over do it. Bring the dough together with your hands until it is in a smooth ball with no crumbs falling away. Gently flatten into a round, wrap in cling film and place in the fridge until thoroughly cold.
Preheat the oven to 180 C. Once the pastry is cool, roll it out and line an 8-inch tart tin. A handy trick to make this easier is to roll out the pastry between 2 sheets of floured cling film.
Bake the tart blind for about 20 mins. Remove the greaseproof paper and beans used to blind bake. Brush the base and sides of the shell with some beaten egg. Return to the oven and continue to cook for a further 5 - 10 minutes until the base is a golden colour. This will give the tart base a lovely short pastry texture and prevent it from getting soggy. Remove from the oven and leave to cool.
For the filling, add the maple syrup and coconut palm sugar to a pan and heat gently until the sugar has dissolved. Remove from the heat and while still warm add in the coconut butter and stir until it has completely melted.
In a bowl whisk together the eggs, vanilla extract and salt. Then slowly add to the maple syrup mixture, whisking constantly to prevent the eggs from curdling.
Add the lightly toasted pecan nuts to the mixture and combine together. Pour this into the tart shell, cover with tinfoil and bake in the preheated oven for 20 minutes. Then remove the tinfoil and bake for roughly a further 15 minutes or until the top is reasonably firm with a little bit of give in the centre.
Leave to cool and serve with a dollop of dairy free ice cream.]]>Learn How to Cook - The Answer to Britain's Nutrition Crisistag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2012:/theblog//3.21617402012-11-19T19:07:51-05:002013-01-19T05:12:01-05:00Jordan Bourkehttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/jordan-bourke/Guardian's 'Breadline Britain' article on Sunday, large swathes of the country are feeling the pinch and have swapped their traditional 'meat and two veg' for ready meals and frozen food in a bid to save money. According to their findings, the worst affected are the elderly and "people on the lowest incomes". Essentially, those sections of society whose circumstances mean they have very little choice what food they eat.
What I find equally concerning though, are the moneyed middle classes, whose expanding waistlines and diet related illnesses are costing the country just as much time and money, and yet they do have a choice. It is not because they can't afford to buy and cook their five a day, they simply choose not to. Why go to the effort of shopping for ingredients when you can get a take away, eat out or grab a burger on the way home?
When they do decide to cook, pasta, white bread, pizza and other nutritionally devoid foods are high on the list, again because they are fast and easy to prepare. High salt and high sugar cereals, soft drinks and snacks tide them over between meals and I am not just talking about kiddie junk food either. Some of those posh, supposedly healthy granolas and smoothies can often hide a ferocious amount of sugar and saturated fats.
Having asked around friends and family of varying ages and backgrounds, the general consensus seems to be they don't feel confident enough in the kitchen to cook more adventurously and after three nights in a row cooking the usual 'fling it in the pot' pesto pasta, they out of boredom if nothing else, opt for the take away or ready meal. When I probed further, most of them owned enough cookbooks to wipe out several rainforests, and while they enjoyed flicking through them and ogling at the photos, they rarely, if ever, picked out a recipe and cooked along with it.
Is it any wonder then that we are in the grip of an obesity epidemic? Of course our grandparents were slimmer and healthier with less incidences of coronary heart disease, diabetes and everything else. Back then restaurants were a rare treat, take aways and ready meals were few and far between and so the only option left was cooking. Regardless of how good or bad you were, you suffered through it and ate the end result or you went hungry. That was that.
So without wanting to go on a Jamie Oliver rampage, (in fact he has been a very positive influence on the young and trendy crowd), I think we as a nation really need to get back in the kitchen. No one is expecting you to be the next masterchef winner, forget the soufflé's and veloute's, not even chefs cook those at home. All it takes is the smallest bit of imagination. Easier still, try reading that recipe beside the photo you love so much and follow through with it one day, what's the worst that can happen? (Well burning down your kitchen, according to one person I surveyed, but that is really not very likely!)
If you would like a more hands on course, I will be holding a deliciously healthy food demo, together with Tara Wigley (development chef at Ottolenghi), on Friday 7th December and in January also. You will be guided through a range of 'guilt free' recipes that you can easily try out at home, then afterwards sit down for a leisurely lunch and glass of wine.
For full details and to book a place go to: www.JordanBourke.com]]>Powerful Home Remedy for Coughs and Coldstag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2012:/theblog//3.21158442012-11-13T19:00:08-05:002013-01-13T05:12:01-05:00Jordan Bourkehttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/jordan-bourke/
Prevention being better then the cure though, it is always advisable to eat a healthy diet high in fruit, vegetables, grains and pulses, which will help your body fight off common colds and coughs. Avoiding certain ingredients can also be hugely supportive to your body's immune system. For years now, I have all but cut out refined cane sugar and dairy, having noticed a huge difference to my energy levels and over all health when I swapped them for more natural and healthy alternatives, like maple syrup, soy/rice milk etc. (For a list of some of these great natural alternatives you can have a look here.
At the time (almost 10 years ago), I was probably in the minority of people eating that way, but now I am delighted to see a huge movement towards eating mindfully and an awareness of how the foods we eat have a direct impact on our overall health and well being.
Since changing they way I eat, I have noticed a dramatic decline in the number of colds and coughs I get, from up to 3 times a year, to now only once every one or two years. When I do get them, I am quick to act, making sure I avoid alcohol, sugar, dairy and coffee at all cots. Instead I make myself a batch of this potent tea, which keeps the virus at bay so I can carry on relatively unaffected.
Garlic, Ginger, Lemon, Onion and Cayenne Pepper Tea
While this may sound like the surest way to achieve bad breath, these potent ingredients have powerful anti inflammatory, anti fungal and detoxing properties that will be a great support to your body when fighting off the first signs of a cold. The sulfur contained in onions and garlic can kill and inhibit an astounding amount of bacteria's and viruses, so it is well worth putting up with the strong smell.
My sister Jessica Bourke, (a nutritional therapist), has posted some great information on the benefits of each of these ingredients here.
Makes enough for a medium/large thermos flask, or several cups of tea.
2 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed
1 inch piece ginger, grated (no need to remove the skin)
Juice of 1 lemon
1 small red onion, chopped finely
Large pinch of cayenne pepper
Place all of the ingredients in a thermos flask and fill with boiling water. Seal and leave to infuse for half an hour and then sip throughout the day. If you don't like the pieces floating around you can strain through a sieve.
For a selection of great 'guilt free' recipes using naturally healthy ingredients, click here.
'The Guilt Free Gourmet' cookbook, full of indulgent and good for you recipes, is available here.
With all hallows eve upon us, I have taken a festive diversion from my normal blog posts to feature my sister's fantastically morbid, and yet completely guilt free, Halloween coffin cake. In her case she made it for her kids Halloween party, but as this is the only time of year when you can get away with serving a slice of deathly black, RIP cake to your grandmother, I think now is the perfect time to throw caution to the wind and replace whatever average pudding you had planned for this evenings dinner, with this fiendishly good cake, bringing a whole new meaning to the phrase 'death by chocolate'!
Using a few naturally healthy ingredients like spelt flour, dark chocolate and coconut palm sugar; you can easily make a 'guilt free' cake that is still wickedly indulgent tasting.
Sponge
400g Fine spelt flour
150g Cocoa powder
4 tsp Baking powder
2 tsp Bicarbonate of soda
1 tsp Salt
500ml Rice or soya milk
Flesh of 1 large baked sweet potato
4 tsp Vanilla extract
340g Soya or sunflower butter
400g coconut palm sugar (available from health stores)
6 Eggs
Icing
1 container of Tofutti creamy smooth (this is a dairy free cream cheese made from soya, it can be found in health stores. In my opinion it is the only alternative to cream cheese worth using, as it tastes almost exactly the same.)
1 tsp vanilla extract
200g of at least 70% dark chocolate
Pinch of sea salt
2 tbsp coconut oil
100ml maple syrup
50ml soy cream
Silver sugar craft decorating balls
Sugar craft flowers
40cm x 25cm Roasting tray
Large flat tray wrapped with foil or coloured paper to serve the cake on
Preheat the oven to 180 C.
Line the bottom of the roasting tray with parchment paper and lightly butter with some of the non-dairy butter.
Sift together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, and salt. In another bowl, mix together the milk, sweet potato, and vanilla extract. Using an electric mixer beat together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy then beat in the eggs, one at a time. Reduce the mixer speed to low and alternately beat in the flour and milk mixtures in thirds.
Pour the batter into the prepared roasting tray and bake until a skewer inserted in the center comes out clean, it will be about 35 minutes depending on your oven. Cool the cake completely in the tin and then turn out carefully, using the edges of the parchment paper to help you.
While the cake is in the oven make the icing. Melt the chocolate in a heat proof bowl over a pot of simmering water, making sure the base of the bowl does not touch the water. Take the pot off the heat, but keep the bowl over the hot water and add the rest of the ingredients, beating them into the melted chocolate until completely smooth.
Using a large knife cut the cake into the shape of a coffin and position on the flat tray. Keep the trimmings of the cake for later. While the icing is still warm, completely ice the cake and smooth out evenly. Decorate the cake with silver sugar craft balls, using them to line the edge of the coffin and spell out the letters RIP in the centre. Place the sugar craft flowers on top of the coffin.
Crumble up the trimmings of the cake and scatter them around the coffin so it looks like soil. You can nestle jelly snakes and worms into the crumbled cake for added effect!
For Jordan's cookbook 'The Guilt Free Gourmet' click here: Amazon
