It's Pancake Time!

And it's not a day to be ignored! Who doesn't love a fluffy pancake topped with all sorts of goodies?

I have been using chickpea flour (gram flour) for a while now. It has a lot going for it - it's a rich source of fibre and protein, offers good levels of calcium and magnesium (great for the bones), potassium (good for the heart), selenium and iron (good for protecting us against disease), B vitamins (energy-givers), is gluten-free and best of all, is well-tasty and makes great pancakes!

Many cultures claim to have 'invented' the chickpea pancake but as ever, the Italians like to claim the edge! The story goes that they were created aboard a shipwreck by Genoese sailors, where the only foods to survive a fearsome storm were chickpeas and olive oil so they mixed them with sea water, flattened the resulting dough, allowed it to dry on the deck in the sun and their version (farinata) was born.

I use Yottam Ottolenghi's recipe which makes 12 delightfully light and fluffy pancakes (the man just never disappoints!)
Put 100g gram flour (readily available in Indian and Middle Eastern stores), 4g (half a sachet) of 'fast action' yeast and ½ teaspoon of caster sugar in a large bowl with a good pinch of salt. Add 1 small beaten egg and 100ml water and whisk until you have a very smooth batter. Cover with clingfilm and set aside for an hour until it has doubled in size then add ½ teaspoon of baking powder, mix well and set aside, covered for another 10 minutes (you can do all this beforehand so you are good to go when it's pancake time).

Put a heavy-bottomed frying pan on a medium heat and add a tablespoon of light olive oil. Once hot, put three or four heaped dessertspoons of the batter into the pan and cook for 2 minutes each side or until the pancakes have risen to about 1.5cm in height and are light, fluffy and golden-brown. Transfer to a wire rack, cover with a clean tea towel and set aside while you make the rest of the pancakes, adding more oil with each batch.

You can serve them with all kinds of savoury and sweet toppings but I think this year I am going to go with blogger Allyson at Reclaiming Yesterday's suggestion of creamy natural yoghurt and frozen or fresh blueberries lightly 'stewed' with water and honey - her image (below) just screams 'Pancake Day deliciousness'!

Chicken Soup to Beat a Cold is not just an Old Wives’ Tale!

A major study found that chicken soup helps to prevent the migration of inflammatory white cells into the lungs - this is pretty significant because cold symptoms are a response to the accumulation of these cells in the bronchial tubes. The amino acid cysteine, which is released from chicken during cooking, is chemically similar to the bronchitis drug, acetylcysteine, which is regularly prescribed in a bid to inhibit the inflammatory response but who wouldn’t opt for a daily bowl of deliciously-rich and comforting chicken broth versus a few hard-to-swallow pills? Not me! If you haven't already gotten into the chicken soup habit, start now, beat the colds and flu viruses that are all around us right now and be assured that great granny really did know best! Try my Chicken and Barley Broth - a fabulously-comforting concoction!

Bare All with Confidence - Make Muesli

Producing 4 to 5 at home or on the go healthy, balanced, tasty and filling breakfasts that will keep you energised and on the ball all morning with minimum fuss. Enjoy it plain and simple or top with some more fresh fruit, a scattering of mixed nuts and seeds and a sprinkling of cinnamon or nutmeg.

Sling 12 tablespoons oats, 280ml coconut water, 4 tablespoons toasted, flaked almonds, 1 tablespoon Manuka honey, 2 tablespoons of 0% fat Greek yoghurt, 4 teaspoons of lemon or lime juice, 1 peeled, cored and grated apple and 8 finely chopped fresh mint leaves into a bowl, give the whole lot a really good mix, cover and place in the fridge overnight.

View all my Bare All This Summer Top Tips here.

From Giant Omelette to Longest Pizza!

The bigger the better appears to be the order of the day on the food front! Last month I blogged about the humble but oh-so-nutritionally-fabulous egg on the back of the annual celebration in a small french town where chefs join forces to create a 'giant easter omelette' and now it seems to be time for pizza to hit the headlines!

Naples has recently claimed the 'longest pizza' award - have a look at the Telegraph video - that's one mighty big pizza!

I am often asked about whether pizza can feature in a healthy, balanced diet and those who are trying to lose weight, regularly want to know if the odd slice or two of their favourite pizza combo is going to wreck their diet and/or encourage weight gain. Yes and no is the answer. It all depends on the base and the toppings!

Image by Matt Lewis

I happened upon this image a while ago and thought it looked so darned delicious that I decided to have a go at creating something similar. Instead of the 'classic' refined wheat flour pizza base, it involves a chickpea flour flatbread. So... why should that be a big bonus for pizza lovers? Because chickpea flour is higher in protein, higher in fibre, lower in carbohydrate, lower in calories and richer in healthy fats than wheat flour. It is also gluten-free and is bursting with an array of vitamins and minerals. This impressive combination makes it more filling (so we eat less), a splendid route to keeping blood sugar levels balanced (so we don't find ourselves hungry a couple of hours after our pizza fest) and as it is slightly sweeter than wheat flours, satisfies any niggling little sugar cravings.

The quickest and simplest route to making one 9-10 inch chickpea flour pizza base is to whisk together 120g chickpea flour (also known as gram flour and readily available in supermarkets and health shops), 235ml water, 2 tablespoons olive oil, 1 or 2 peeled, crushed garlic cloves and a good pinch of sea salt. Cover the bowl and leave for around an hour. Meanwhile, prepare your toppings. I roasted thinly-sliced onions, red, yellow and orange peppers (lightly coated in olive oil, salt and pepper) in the oven until cooked through and caramelised around the edges, steamed some kale and spinach until just wilted, crumbled some feta cheese, drained some anchovies and sliced up some pitted black olives. 

When you're good to go, heat a heavy-based, oven-proof frying pan until hot, swirl 1 tablespoon of olive oil around before spreading the batter evenly over the pan surface and cooking over a medium heat for 3 minutes each side (or until the flatbread is cooked through and beginning to get slightly crispy around the edges) then spread a little more olive oil over the surface and get topping (leaves first, then onions and peppers, then anchovies and olives and finally feta). Pop the whole thing into a hot oven and bake for 6-8 minutes or until the cheese is starting to brown and the pizza base is nice and crisp.

You can get super-experimental with your toppings (the more vegetables and the fresher the better) but stick with cheeses with a lower fat content (goats, fresh mozzarella, parmesan, pecorino, Swiss - and be sparing) and if using meat and poultry, lightly cook fresh cuts rather than opting for processed, pre-packed products.

Now that I am firmly on the road to creating healthy pizzas that are not going to compromise my waistline, I intend to try all manner of different base and topping combinations - I'll keep you posted but in the meantime, let me know about any that feature regularly in your pizza world and I will include them in my recipe page - send images if you have them!