Clare's Budwig Muesli

Feeling a bit bloated after Christmas? Aiming for a fresh, healthy start in 2017? This recipe from Clare Skelton, trader at Borough Market and owner of Flax Farm, is a great breakfast and doubles as a nutritious dessert, bonus! This recipe first appeared on the Borough Market website as part of my series, I Am What I Eat, where I interview Borough Market traders about the foods that are important to them and why. 

"This is one of my favourite healthy foods,” says Clare. “It’s sort of a little treat, but also the basis of the Budwig diet”—a diet used by some people as a form of alternative therapy for a number of conditions. This recipe makes enough for one for breakfast, but it’s also a great dessert.

“It’s uber-healthy but I’ve done it at dinner parties and everybody loves it.” She likens it to eton mess pudding, “but less sweet and with much more flavour”. The recipe is very flexible—you can add whatever spices and natural flavours you like. If you are making it as a dessert, Clare also recommends a bit of kirsch, rum or juices for extra flavour. 

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Middle Eastern mezze no.5: Tzatziki

Yes, I know, tzatziki is Greek, and Greece is not technically Middle Eastern, but the Turkish word cacik (apart from looking like it reads ‘cat sick’) would be likely to return blank stares from most of my English speaking readership.

Tzatziki and cacik share the same core ingredients – yoghurt, cucumber, garlic, olive oil and salt. However, strictly speaking, they are not quite the same. Tzatziki is always of a thick consistency, while cacik is sometimes diluted with water and served as a soup. Tzatziki is usually flavoured with lemon juice, while cacik would use lime. Both can be flavoured with dill or mint, but only tzatziki occasionally contains parsley, while sumac or ground paprika are sometimes used to season cacik.

Here I give a recipe for a basic tzatziki. I tend to go with the less is more approach because I usually serve it with a selection of mezze dishes – tabbouli, hummous, spicy lamb mince, falafel – where the other herbs and spices make separate appearances. Nonetheless, I encourage you to play around with some of the above ingredients to make it your own, particularly if you are serving it as a standalone dip.

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Guest post: Chef Has (my Dad) shares his recipe for raita

As some of you may know, I owe most of my cookery skills, understanding of and passion for food to my Dad. I have asked him to share some of his infinite culinary knowledge with you by doing some guest posts every now and then.

This first post comes about largely by chance. Having seen my post on Kolhapuri lamb, which included a haphazard attempt at a recipe for raita, he sent me an email yesterday with the recipe he uses; I now know why his raita always tastes so much better than mine! I asked him to turn it into a post and also to explain one of the canapés from Christmas Eve, pictured above. The beauty of this canapé is that it look really impressive and tastes great, but is really easy. I hope this will be the first of many posts from Dad, or as he will henceforth be known, Hash Brown.

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