Jabernet, Author at The Body Retreat

Blackcurrant & Kale Smoothie

This is the perfect time of year for a blackcurrant & kale smoothie. Spring is on the horizon but I need something packed full of vitamin C to boost my immune system and to get me through the last of the winter months. Blackcurrants are one of my favourite fruits, they’re rich in vitamin C and have a great balance of tart and sweet. If you can’t get hold of frozen or fresh blackcurrants replace with frozen strawberries.

This blackcurrant and kale smoothie has a balance of fats, fibre and protein. I’m using camelina seeds which are high in protein, a good source of Omega 3 oils and rich in antioxidants such as vitamin E. You can replace these with flax or linseed’s. The kale provides fibre, antioxidants and is also high in vitamin C. The rich deep purple from the blackcurrants means the green kale is hidden in this smoothie.

Blood and blush oranges are in season and provide a lovely floral sweetness for this smoothie. I have added elderberry syrup for an extra vitamin C boost, this is optional.

I have used a small amount of yogurt, a dairy free alternative will work just as well.

Serves 2

1 cup frozen blackcurrants

2 handfuls of kale leaves (roughly 6 cavalo nero leaves, taken off the stalk)

2 blood oranges, juiced

1 tbsp camelina seeds, soaked in 2 tbsp of water

1 cup of coconut water

2 tbsp yoghurt

Method for Blackcurrant Vitamin C Boosting:

Soak the camelina or flaxseeds in 2 tbsp of water and leave whilst you prepare the rest of the ingredients. If using ground flax seed you won’t need to do this.
Place all the ingredients in a vitamix or blender and blitz until smooth. Serve immediately.

Savoury Buckwheat Pancakes

This week were celebrating Shrove Tuesday early with Savoury Buckwheat Pancakes. A change to the usual lemon and sugar, these pancakes are gluten and dairy free. The buckwheat gives a delicious nutty and earthy flavour which pairs perfectly with the almond milk.

I’ve topped mine with steamed cavalo nero, a grating of Gouda and a poached egg. You can get creative with toppings; such as mushrooms and lentils, roasted squash, red pepper and chickpea or spinach, tomato and ricotta.

Let me know your savoury pancake favourites!

Makes 4-6 pancakes:

100g buckwheat flour

1 egg

300ml almond milk

2 tbsp water

20g butter or dairy free alternative

To top one pancake:

1 egg

2 leaves of cavalo nero, taken off the stalk

10g gouda cheese

Salt & pepper

Method for Savoury Buckwheat Pancakes:

Sieve the buckwheat flour into a medium bowl, make a well and crack in the egg. Start to whisk and then gradually add the almond milk, add bit by bit to avoid a lumpy mixture. Finally add the water, you should have a thin pancake batter.
Heat a non-stick or cast iron pan on medium high heat, when hot add half the butter. Once the butter has melted ladle the batter into the hot pan, making a thin layer that covers the bottom of the pan. Leave for a couple of minutes then flip and cook the other side. Transfer to a warmed plate while you cook the rest. You may only need a dab of butter for the next pancakes as the first seems to season the pan.
Whilst cooking the final pancakes prepare your toppings. Steam or fry the kale and poach the egg.
To serve top each pancake with the kale, grate over the cheese and then top with the poached egg.

If you want a sweet option this Shrove Tuesday try our Sugar Free Buckwheat Pancakes with Cinnamon Nut Cream.

Pumpkin Broth with Tofu and Noodles

This pumpkin broth with tofu and noodles is comforting and flavoursome, a great immune boost for this time of year. I love the light broth combined with the different textures of the tofu, noodles and fresh vegetables. If you have the stock already made this dish is super quick to put together.

For the pumpkin stock use any of the waste parts; the peel and seeds. If you use more of the pumpkin flesh it will make the stock go thicker and cloudy, this is fine and will give you more of a soup texture rather than a broth.

If you prefer a crunch to your vegetables use ones you can eat raw, place in the bowl with the noodles and warm through when pouring over the hot broth.

You can make this dish vegan by omitting the boiled egg.

Serves 4

Pumpkin Stock:

Pumpkin skin and guts

2 celery sticks

1 carrot

1 onion

Coriander stalks

5cm piece of ginger

2 cloves garlic

6 peppercorns

1/2 tsp salt

For the broth:

1 quantity of pumpkin stock (or 1.25 litres vegetable/meat stock)

100g noodles (I used brown rice udon noodles)

1 packet of tofu

4 hard boiled eggs

1/4 medium pumpkin peeled (or half a butternut squash)

3-4 spring onions, sliced

1 head broccoli, trimmed into small pieces

Handful of kale, stalks removed and chopped

2cm piece of ginger, sliced thinly

1 clove of garlic, sliced thinly

Handful of coriander leaves

Soya sauce

1 small chilli (optional)

1 tsp miso (optional)

2 tbsp toasted seeds (optional)

Method for Pumpkin Stock:

Crush the garlic, slice the ginger and chop the vegetables. Put all the ingredients in a medium pot and cover with cold water.
Bring to a boil and then simmer for 45 mins to an hour.
Strain and its ready to use for the tofu and noodle broth. Refrigerate for 3-5 days or freeze for up to 3 months.

Method for Pumpkin Broth with Tofu and Noodles:

Preheat the oven to 200C. Slice the pumpkin into 0.5cm pieces and put into a tray with a little bit of oil, salt and pepper. Cover in foil and put into oven for 10-15 minutes or until soft.
Put the pumpkin (or alternative) stock in a medium pan and bring to a simmer. Add sliced ginger, garlic and white part of the spring onion.
Cook the noodles according to the packet. Drain, then put aside until ready to serve.
Once the stock has been simmering for a few minutes add the broccoli and chopped kale leaves, cook for 5 minutes.
Slice the tofu into 2cm cubes 0.5cm thick. Add this to the broth once the greens are cooked.
If using miso paste, mix 1 tsp with hot water then add to the stock once it has come off the heat.
Layer the bowls with the cooked noodles then the pumpkin and some green spring onion. Ladle the broth on top evening distributing the greens and tofu, season with soya sauce.

I like to serve with a boiled egg, toasted sesame and sunflower seeds and coriander leaves. It’s also great with kimchi!

Chicken Soup with Homemade Stock

This time of year there is nothing more comforting for me than a bowl of chicken soup, made even more nourishing by homemade chicken stock.

The recipe for chicken stock is relatively similar to the vegetable stock, this also being a white stock, with the addition of the chicken bones and more time to simmer. I have chosen to use chicken wings but you can use drumsticks or a chicken carcass. Speak to your local butcher or Farm Shop as they will usually have surplus chicken wings and chicken carcass available for order. For a clear stock we are using uncooked bones in this recipe however if you want to avoid wasting cooked bones use them instead. You can always freeze cooked bones until you have enough to make a stock.

If you use cooked bones or a chicken carcass to make your stock you may want to poach some chicken (in the chicken stock) for the soup.

You can vary the ingredients for the soup depending on what you have in your kitchen, throw in some chopped kale or green cabbage. For convenience use vegetables from the freezer such as broad and green beans. Once the chicken stock is made, this soup only take 10-15 minutes so is a great option for a nutritious quick dinner or lunch.

Serves 4-6

Chicken Stock:
(Makes 1 litre of stock)

1kg chicken wings or drumsticks (alternatively a chicken carcass or cooked bones)

2 sticks celery

2 leeks, just the green tops

2 carrots

Bunch of parsley stalks

2 sprigs of thyme

3 bay leaves

8 peppercorns

For the soup:

2 leeks, just the white part

1 carrot

2 tbsp quinoa

1 tin of white beans (I used butter beans in this recipe)

4 tbsp peas or sweetcorn

Bunch of parsley leaves (picked from the stalks for the stock)

1/2 tsp salt

Pepper

Method for Chicken Stock:

Put the chicken wings in a pan and cover in cold water. Bring to the boil and skim off the foam that rises to the top. This step is really important if you don’t do it the flavour will be affected.
Chop the vegetables into relatively large pieces. Once you have taken our any of the foam, add the vegetables and aromatics and drop the heat so the stock is just simmering. If you have a wood burner it can sit on top of the stove. Leave to simmer for at least 2-4 hours.
Remove from the heat and strain though a sieve to make sure you remove peppercorns and herbs. If the meat is still tender remove from the bones once cool and set aside to use in the soup.
The stock will last up to 5 days in the fridge or months in the freezer. Use straight away for the chicken soup.

Method for Chicken Soup:

Finely chop the white part of the leek and dice the carrot. Put the stock in a large pan on a high heat. Once boiling add the carrot, leek and quinoa.
Drop the heat and leave to simmer for 10 minutes or until vegetables and quinoa are cooked to your liking. Add salt, white beans, peas and season with pepper. Check the seasoning, you may want more salt, remember the stock was not salted.
Serve and sprinkle over the fresh parsley.

Vegetable Stock

Homemade vegetable stock can completely elevate a dish. It’s easy to make and is a great way to use up scrap vegetables and avoid waste. At the body retreat we use a variety of vegetables in all our meals, throughout the week I try to keep the scraps to make stock, especially the ends of onion, celery, leek and carrot.

This recipe is a white stock, the method of covering the vegetables in cold water and bringing to boil. If you want to create a brown stock you need to brown the vegetables first either by roasting them in the oven or gently frying them in a pan with oil or butter first. This can create greater depth of flavour but a darker brown colour.

Vegetable stock will completely vary in flavour depending on what vegetables you use. Try and keep a base of onion, carrot and celery in relatively equal amounts to keep the flavour balanced. The standard aromatics are bay leaves, thyme, parsley stalks and peppercorns. Leeks, parsnips and celeriac also work well and fennel gives a lovely aniseed flavour. Tomatoes and mushrooms give an deeper umami flavour but the tomatoes seeds can be quite bitter so remove if you can.

Avoid using brassicas (cauliflower, broccoli, cabbage) as they can give quite a sulphurous flavour. If you want to use greens them add in the last ten minutes of cooking otherwise you’ll end up with a bitter tasting stock. If you use pumpkin or potatoes they go very mushy and make the stock go cloudy.

You can leave on onion skins, or collect just the onion skins as part of the vegetable scraps, just make sure they are clean. This will give a browner colour to the stock.

Makes 1 litre of Stock

1 large onion (or 2 small)

2 carrots

2 sticks of celery

2 bay leaves

2 sprigs of thyme

2-4 parsley stalks

6-8 peppercorns

Method for Vegetable Stock:

Grate or finely chop vegetables. Put in a pan with the other ingredients and fill the pan with water so the vegetables are covered by a centimetre or two of water.
Put the pan on a medium high heat and bring to the boil. Once boiling drop the temperature to low and leave to simmer for 45 minutes – 1 hour.
Take off the heat and strain through a fine sieve of muslin.
If using the stock straight away without reducing it you can season the with salt. Otherwise leave to cool completely, fridge or put into a bag to easily store in the freezer.

Vegetable stock should keep on the fridge for a week or up to 3 months in the freezer.

Stocks aren’t just for soups! Beans, lentils, quinoa and rice are tastier cooked in stock.

If you’re looking for some inspiration for how to use your vegetable stock try some of our recipes; beetroot speltotto, leek and white bean soup, roasted pepper and sweet potato soup, leek, bacon & chicken Lenotto, green immune boosting soup.
Or cook the lentils in the vegetable stock for the lentil, tomato and green bean salad or quinoa and beetroot salad.

Author: Jabernet