Jabernet, Author at The Body Retreat

Morning Refresh Juice

Morning refresh juice is a great way to start your day especially if you feel like you need a bit of a boost. This is a great time of year for this juice as there’s so many apples in the garden. Ask neighbours, friends or your local community if you don’t have your own tree.

Serves 2

2 sticks celery

1/2 cucumber

2 apples

1 lime

2 sprigs of mint

1 inch piece of ginger

The key to morning refresh juice is the celery and ginger. Adapt the recipe depending on what you have available at home and what is in season. You can add spinach or kale, swap lime juice for lemon and use pear instead of apple.

If you have a juicer but if not substitute the apples for apple juice and blitz everything in a Vitamix or blender.

Method for Morning Refresher Juice:

Squeeze the lime juice by hand seperatley. The skin and pulp can be very bitter tasting but if you like bitter flavour you can juice the lime whole.
Remove the pip from the apple before juicing. (I like to do this as the seeds contain a small amount of cynacide.)
Put all the ingredients through the juicer.
Serve immediately or keep in the fridge for a day or two (fresh juice doesn’t last very long).

Mayonnaise

Mayonnaise is really easy to make but rarely do we, most of us use shop brought. Making your own you get a richer flavour and is great in dips and to dress salads. We mix with yoghurt for our Black Bean and Red Pepper Burgers and our Egg Mayo Lettuce Sandwich. Mayonnaise uses raw egg yolks so make sure your eggs are fresh or buy pasteurised egg yolks. The advantage of making your own is it’s sugar free.

10-12 servings

2 egg yolks

250ml rapeseed oil (or another neutral tasting oil)

Salt

1 tsp mustard

Juice of 1/2 lemon

1 tsp white wine vinegar

I use rapeseed oil but you can use any oil, go for a more neutral flavoured oil, olive oil can be quite bitter tasting.

You can flavour your mayonnaise, I like to add minced garlic and fresh herbs such a chives. I always add mustard, lemon and white wine vinegar but adjust these to your taste. You do need some accidity to balance the flavours but that can be any vinegar or just lemon.

Placing the bowl on a damp tea towel will stop the bowl from moving and allow you to whisk with one hand and pour oil with the other.

The key is to add the oil slowly so the mayonnaise doesn’t split. If it does you can sometimes bring it back together with a drop of water. You may not need all the oil, it depends on the size of your egg yolks. Take the mayonnaise to a consistency you are happy with.

Method for mayonnaise:

Place egg yolks in a clean bowl on a damp tea towel and add a pinch of salt, whisking for 30 seconds to denature eggs.
Slowly add the oil. You can either add the oil in a slow steady stream or add a small bit at a time, making sure to whisk in all the oil before adding more.
Once the mayonnaise is a consistency you are happy with or you have used all the oil add the mustard, lemon juice and vinegar, whisking after each addition. Check the seasoning and add more if needed.
Keep in the fridge and use within 3 days.

Alternatively you can use a kitchen mixer but be careful to add the oil nice and slow as it’s more likely to split.

Puy Lentil, Tomatoes and Green Beans

We are lucky here at Tracebridge to have a glut of tomatoes. This week’s post is a salad recipe to celebrate tomato season. When choosing tomatoes I like a ranage of colours and sizes, make sure they’re ripe! In this recipe I slow roast the tomatoes giving an intense sweet unami flavour.

Serves 4

200g cooked lentils

150g fresh tomatoes (baby or smaller sizes work best)

200g green beans

6 basil stalks

1 tbsp rapeseed oil

4 cloves garlic

2 tsp red wine vinegar

Salt and pepper

Roast a large batch of tomatoes at once then keep in oil in the fridge. They’re great in replacement of sun-dried tomatoes, with pasta, in salads and in tarts and quiches.

If you’re a garlic lover, you can squeeze the leftover roasted garlic cloves and mix through the lentils.

Method for put lentil, tomato and green bean salad:

Preheat oven to 160C.
Slice the tomatoes in half and place in a roasting dish cut side up. Crush the garlic cloves with the side of a knife, leaving the skins on and put in the roasting dish with the tomatoes along with two sprigs of basil. Drizzle with oil and season well with salt and pepper.
Cook tomatoes in the oven for an hour to 1 1/2 hours. Check every 30 mins letting any moisture out the oven.
Whilst the tomatoes are drying out cook the green beans. Top and tail the ends and cut in half. Put the beans into boiling water and cook for 5-8 mins. You want the beans to still have bite. Drain and rinse under cool water.
To cook your own lentils, use 100g dried lentils and cook in 500ml of boiling stock for 10-15 minutes, you want the lentils to be aldente.
Mix the cooled lentils and green beans season and dress with the red wine vinegar.
To serve top the beans and lentils with the semi dried tomatoes and decorate the salad with the remaining basil leaves.

This salad is great as a small side salad or as a main with poached chicken.

Hot Salmon & Dill Mousse

Serves 4

250g fresh salmon, skinned and boned

1 large egg

150ml creme fraiche

1/2 tsp chopped dill, plus extra for garnish

Knob of butter

Salt & pepper

Butter for greasing

Hot salmon and dill mousse is a favourite on our retreat in France. We use lots of fresh salmon which makes a protein packed dinner lightened by the creme fraiche and eggs.

Method for hot salmon and dill mousse:

Heat the oven to 180C and grease 4 cocotte/ramekin dishes with butter.
Cut the salmon into smaller pieces and place in bowl of food processor. Give a quick few blitz to begin to break down the salmon.
Add the egg and creme fraiche and process for a couple of minutes util the mixture is smooth but there’s still visible flecks of salmon.
Season with salt and pepper and mix in the fresh dill.
Cook the mouse in a ban marie in the oven for 15-20 mins or until the mixture is set.
To serve, gently tip the mouse onto a plate and release from cocotte dish. Add a sauce of your choice and freshly chopped dill.

We like to serve the salmon and dill mousse with seasonal greens.

Quinoa and Beetroot Salad

Quinoa is a great source of protein, fibre and B vitamins. It can be used instead of couscous and bulgur wheat and a good alternative for those who are gluten free. You can now source UK quinoa from Hodmedods, a company supporting UK farmers.

Serves 4-6

100g quinoa

100g cooked puy lentils

2 medium beetroot, cubed

2 small red onions

1/2 cucumber

1 stick of celery

100g feta cheese

Handful of chopped dill, plus extra for garnish

Handful of chopped parsley

1 lemon, juiced

1 tbsp oil

1 tsp fennel seeds

2 dsp dukkah

Salt and pepper

The Quinoa and Beetroot salad can be eaten warm or cold. Prepare it in advance and it makes a great lunchbox or picnic option.

I love the contrast of crunchy fresh vegetables and sweet roasted beetroot and red onion. Eat what’s in season and change the veg accordingly. It’s also great with roast pumpkin, tomatoes and fresh basil.

Method for Quinoa and Beetroot Salad:

Preheat the oven to 200C.
Slice the onions in half the roughly into 5 slices. Toss the beetroot and onion in the oil and fennel seeds and out in a roasting dish. Roast in the oven for 20 minutes or until soft.
Rinse the quinoa in cold water to remove the bitter taste. Place in a saucepan with 200ml of cold water, bring to the boil then cook for 10-15 mins until all the liquid has been absorbed and the grain is tender.
Finely dice the cucumber and celery and roughly chop the herbs.
Mix the quinoa with the cooked lentils, cucumber, celery, dukkah, fresh herbs, lemon juice and half the roasted onions. Season to taste.
To serve place quinoa salad in middle of plate, decorate with remaining roasted onions, top with feta cheese, roasted beetroot and fresh dill.

Author: Jabernet