The Mediterranean diet - recipes for healthy living
I have always loved food, not just for sustenance but for the creative art and companionship that accompanies preparing and consuming a great meal. Suzy calls me, guitar chef.
Nearly 10 years ago Suzy became part of my life. Choosing to study woodwork at school as opposed to indulging in the culinary arts, at home she DIYs, designs, decorates and gardens. The cooking is up to me.
Prior to getting together I never cooked regularly, but as my waistline often illustrates, I have always loved food, not just for sustenance but for the creative art and companionship that accompanies preparing and consuming a great meal.
When we are not on the road touring, we have established a routine that works for us.
Up, coffee, attend to our messages and other business connected with being self-managed artists, exercise then on to the serious business of preparing lunch.
Eating one meal a day has its advantages as all the cooking effort is concentrated over a couple of hours and I cook from fresh every day.
Following lunch of course we engage in making music with our average working day finishing around midnight.
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The Mediterranean diet
We live in Portugal which is famous for its food and fabulous quality fresh produce so great quality staples are readily available, however more esoteric ingredients can be very difficult to find.
For example, there are two types of oil - vegetable and olive (regular, virgin and a bewildering array of boutique extra-virgin varieties). Ask for anything else and they think you are a lunatic.
You will often see me rooting through the Indian and Chinese supermarkets to find a jar of tamarind paste or ground nut oil.
Many days we indulge in a Mediterranean diet of poultry or fish with various salads, our version of Jajik and a glass or two of superb Portuguese wine. A regular recipe of ours can be found at the end of this article.
Variety
Is indeed the spice of life and during the course of the week, I prepare some of our favourite dishes: pasta, curry plus Portuguese, Spanish, Far Eastern and Moroccan-inspired dishes interspersed with our salad days.
Prato do Dia
Once a week or so, we do treat ourselves to a Prato do Dia (menu of the day) at a local restaurant and try the more edgy dishes if available. Portugal has always been a relatively poor country and the custom here is to eat every part of the animal hence you can easily wind up with something unexpected.
Bacalhau (salt cod) is always lurking on the menu somewhere. Allegedly there are over 1000 recipes for this humble fish, but to date, have only managed to try around 30.
Eight Euros per person will give you a freshly cooked main dish, dessert, coffee and half a litre of red or white wine - it’s almost cheaper to eat out. An establishment with a good cook (usually a ruthlessly efficient, wiry Portuguese mama) will be packed with local workers so it’s a good idea to arrive early, around 1200.
Cookbooks
I love cookbooks and they always give me great inspiration but after a while, I tend to diverge from basic recipes, extrapolating to suit our specific tastes.
Every other week or so I try something totally new which can be time-consuming as many of the ingredients need to be sourced and purchased.
Over the years I dip into some old favourites and regularly seek out new publications. Here are a few of my favourites…
Marcella Hazan - all her publications
I have been using these books for years and although some of the recipes can seem outrageous, if closely followed, you will make restaurant-quality Italian food. No doubt.
Pasta
Although I would love one, we don’t have a fresh pasta maker and don’t eat it regularly enough to make this substantial purchase worthwhile, having said that it is essential to use great quality pasta.
Don’t dick around with cheap makes or supermarket brands, choose the really good stuff. Again in Portugal, it can be difficult to find in our local supermarkets, Continente, Pingo Doce and Intermarche but sometimes can be found in ALDI or LIDL.
Go for Rustichella D'Abruzzo, De Cecco, Rummo, Barilla or Garofalo.
Cooking with Marcella
Make sure you find the exact specified ingredients or you may be disappointed.
If you like Spaghetti alla carbonara, go to page 106 of The Second Classic Italian Cookbook and be prepared for the best one you have ever eaten. Incidentally, the pecorino romano cheese is totally essential, just parmesan won’t cut the mustard.
When we first arrived here in Portugal, I was looking for high-quality tinned tomatoes, but you would have to be totally bonkers to buy these when the fresh ones are sooooo good and cheaper. If not using tinned, I would recommend a little additional salt to her otherwise flawless recipes.
Check out The Classic Italian Cookbook and The Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking.
Jerusalem - Yotam Ottolenghi and Sami Tamimi
Our great friend Jackie Shirley recommended this to us. Sadly she is no longer with us but her memory lives on in this book.
It offers fabulous middle eastern recipes with some great vegetarian options. Ottolenghi has quite a few books and a great website I am just to buy his very first, surprisingly called Ottolenghi: The Cookbook.
Jackie did cook us a great, simple recipe: Couscous with tomato and onion which can be found on page 129. One of my favourites is Stuffed aubergine with lamb and pine nuts - page 166.
Check out Jerusalem!
The Food of Morocco - Paula Wolfert
As you see more of my book choices you will see that we love North African, Middle Eastern and Asian food.
This is a prime example of a well-researched and detailed publication. Even though Wolfert is not a native Moroccan, she has really captured the essence of this wonderful country and the recipes taste just as they should. Again, follow the instructions and ingredients to the letter.
We are fools for Tagine cooked food and one of my many favourites is Berber meat tagine with seven vegetables which can be found on page 356.
Check out The Food of Morocco!
Delia Smith - The Complete Cookery Course
No initial round of cookbooks is complete without Delia’s Complete Cookery Course which has served the entire population of the UK for over 40 years.
I don’t use it that often these days but if you own a cookbook, it’s likely to be this one.
With many celebrity chefs writing basic cookery books, it has kind of gone out of fashion. But when in panic mode, grab this from the shelf.
It starts from the very basics and takes from nothing to being a competent cook. Who hasn’t fucked up the traditional Christmas lunch? Turn to page 200 and carefully follow the recipe and I guarantee your turkey will be tremendous.
Eggs
Starting at page 18, the chapter on eggs is totally fabulous and if you have never cooked before it tells you everything you need to know.
Whilst writing this article I just skimmed through and looked at Boiled eggs - simple yes?
Well, we have lived in six countries over the 10 years we have been together and I can tell you, changes in atmospheric pressure and climate impact the simple boiling of an egg - check out the instructions and tell me if you are doing it right :)
And finally…
I finish with one of our regular lunch menus. If you enjoy it, please don’t forget to give me some feedback in the comments section below.
By popular demand, we have changed the publication date to every Thursday and next up in the hot seat is my wife.
Check out the recipe below.
See you in two weeks!
Chargrilled turkey with assorted salads
330g of sliced turkey breast (5-10mm thick) cooked on a chargrill, BBQ or grill pan. Ask your butcher to slice it to prevent an unscheduled amputation or at the very least a trip to A&E.
Sometimes we replace the turkey with a butterflied chicken breast, homemade hummus (see page 114 in the Jerusalem book for a stunning recipe) and cheese: fetta, or one of the excellent local sheep or goat varieties.
Outdoors
Here, for nine months it’s possible to cook outside but of course, you can say that anywhere providing you can shelter from wind - the enemy of the al fresco cook - and lashing rain, sleet or snow.
Marinate the turkey or chicken with regular olive oil, course grain sea salt, freshly ground black pepper and a ridiculous amount of crushed garlic. Prepare yourself with a water spray (to douse any of the inevitable flames) and a big stainless steel spatula. Put on the BBQ/grill, natural charcoal or thick dry wood and light - we use pine cones to start the fire. Don’t be impatient. Have another glass of wine until the coals or wood are light greyish in colour and look like they have half an hour left before they expire.
Wack on the meat and follow the directions below.
This recipe also works for firm fish and will reveal my method in a future article if you are interested.
Indoors
If using a pan, add a slug of Olive oil (not virgin or extra virgin) and then a good sprinkling of course grain sea salt. Apply furious amounts of heat. Whack on the turkey just before the oil starts to smoke. As one side is cooking grind black pepper directly onto the turkey. When it stops sticking to the pan, turn. Repeat turning until it’s slightly charred/golden brown and cooked.
The salad
Fresh leaves of lettuce, coriander, spinach and rocket
Two small carrots, topped, tailed, peeled and grated
A quarter of a large apple, cored, seeded and roughly chopped
Half a white onion sliced thinly
A sprinkling of toasted sesame and sunflower seeds (to taste)
A dressing of extra virgin olive oil (again don’t skimp on this - it’s easy here of course but it really makes a difference), a pinch of coarse sea salt and good red wine vinegar - we use a small screw-topped jar with 10mm of oil and 10mm of vinegar - shaken, not stirred.
500g of dried Couscous (it’s a lot but you can put it in the fridge for another day), mixed with two tablespoonfuls of extra virgin olive oil, half a well-matured, home-made preserved lemon (these are super easy to make) and a small palm full of chopped almonds and/or walnuts. Stick it in a heatproof Duralex/Pyrex bowl and cover it with boiling water - so you can see 5mm of water on the top. Cover with a plate and when you are ready, flake it out into another bowl. If necessary, stick it in the microwave although it’s supposed to be served lukewarm.
One large avocado, de-stoned, peeled and roughly mashed with a peeled crushed, clove of garlic, course sea salt and a good squeeze of lime juice.
One medium-sized ‘heart’ tomato, sliced 5mm thick and topped with half a red onion thinly sliced topped with a generous drizzle of extra virgin olive oil, a few fresh basil leaves and coarse sea salt.
Jajik: Peel half a Portuguese pepino (or cucumber) then chop into 10mm squares and add to small bowl of natural yoghurt. For seasoning add a large crushed clove of garlic, fresh chopped mint and a pinch of coarse sea salt.
Please note, as you are using coarse grain sea salt it takes time to dissolve and need to give let it rest for 20-30 minutes - stir before serving.
The bread
Although it is insanely difficult in Portugal we try to avoid the excellent bread and choose instead organic wholemeal wraps (ALDI) or if the mood takes me, freshly made chapatti or unleavened bread - again if you are interested I will reveal the recipe in a future article.
Hot sauce
Suzy and I are hot sauce fiends and with this dish - although actively discouraged by the manufacturer - we will have a dollop of Dave’s Insanity / Ultimate Insanity sauce which is not only tasty but kick-starts the endorphins and does wonders for your routine bodily functions.
The wine
A robust red from the Douro or Dão region of Portugal. ABV is usually around 14% so be careful. Don’t fanny about with overpriced French or Italian gear. Open well in advance and prepare another bottle in case of unexpected chronic evaporation.
Enjoy!