Super Natural Every Day (15 page)

2 ripe avocados

2 teaspoons freshly squeezed lemon juice

Scant ½ teaspoon fine sea salt

10 g coarsely chopped fresh coriander

20 g
Clarified Butter
or 1 tablespoon extra-virgin coconut oil

1 teaspoon black or brown mustard seeds

1 small brown onion, finely chopped

2 garlic cloves, finely chopped

1 teaspoon Indian curry powder

1 small hot green chilli (such as serrano or jalapeño), finely chopped

Cut each avocado in half, remove the stone, and scoop the flesh into a small bowl. Add the lemon juice, salt, and most of the coriander. Mash the avocados a bit with a fork, but don’t overdo it—you want the mixture to be quite chunky. Set aside.

Heat the clarified butter in a frying pan over medium–high heat. When it is hot, add the mustard seeds. Keep a lid on hand because the seeds will scatter as they pop. When the spattering stops, after about a minute, stir in the onion and sauté for 2–3 minutes, until the onion is translucent. Stir in the garlic, curry powder, and chilli. Count to 10, and then remove from the heat. Stir in the avocado mixture, but just barely, and transfer to a serving bowl. Serve warm or at room temperature.

MAKES ABOUT 400 G

Hard-Boiled Eggs with Dukkah

HAZELNUTS, MINT, MIXED SEEDS

I put my mortar and pestle to work quite often making batches of the fragrant, nut-centric Egyptian spice blend called dukkah . Some days I add it to cottage cheese along with a couple of torn olives. Other days, I use it as a dipping spice with bread and extra-virgin olive oil. I’ve also come to enjoy it sprinkled generously across hard-boiled eggs that have been sliced in half and drizzled with a bit of olive oil or hazelnut oil. Give it a try.

This recipe makes enough dukkah for two dozen eggs, so, if I may sneak in a little side note here, save some dukkah in a vintage jar for giving as a nice hostess or house-warming gift.

30 g hazelnuts

2 tablespoons coriander seeds

2 tablespoons white sesame seeds

1 tablespoon cumin seeds

½ teaspoon fennel seeds

Scant 1 ½ teaspoons black peppercorns

½ teaspoon dried mint

½ teaspoon fine sea salt, plus more if needed

6 large eggs, hard-boiled (see
box
)

Extra-virgin olive oil or hazelnut oil, to drizzle

Sea salt flakes, to finish (optional)

Heat a large, heavy-based frying pan over medium heat. Add the hazelnuts and toast until slightly browned and fragrant. Transfer to a small bowl and allow to cool completely. Repeat with the coriander seeds, sesame seeds, cumin seeds, fennel seeds, and the peppercorns, toasting each separately and allowing each to cool completely. Put the peppercorns in a mortar and pound until crushed. Add the nuts and seeds, along with the mint and salt, and crush some more to a coarse consistency. Alternatively, you can pulse in a food processor, but don’t allow the mixture to become a paste.

Peel the eggs carefully, cut each one in half, and set cut-side up on a serving plate.

To serve, sprinkle the eggs generously with
dukkah
, drizzle with olive oil, and sprinkle with the tiniest bit of sea salt flakes if you happen to have some. Season with a bit more salt if you think the eggs could use it after the first bite.

Dukkah
will keep in an airtight container in a cool place for up to 1 month.

MAKES 12 SERVINGS

Pitta Chips

GARLIC, OLIVE OIL, BUTTER, SEA SALT

	I make these chips frequently. Slice and toss onto the baking tray—work quickly and you can have a batch in the oven in 2 minutes. The secret here is coating bite-sized pieces of pitta bread with a garlic-spiked blend of olive oil and melted butter. The butter gives the chips a richness that you can’t get otherwise.
This straightforward version is flavoured with just salt and garlic, but you can take the basic idea in many directions. Season the pittas with spices, use an infused oil, or cut the pittas into whatever shape you like—wedges or strips, thick or thin. They are great in place of croutons, and perfect alongside just about any dip.
Make pitta chips no more than a few hours before serving. They lose a bit of their crunch after spending any amount of time in a plastic bag.

3 x 18 cm-round wholemeal pitta breads, cut into bitesized strips or wedges

40 g unsalted butter, melted

60 ml extra-virgin olive oil

1 garlic clove, finely chopped

Very scant ½ teaspoon fine sea salt

Preheat the oven to 180°C (Gas Mark 4) with a rack in the bottom third of the oven.

Put the pitta pieces in a large bowl. Whisk together the butter, olive oil, garlic, and salt. Pour the mixture over the pitta pieces and gently toss for 20–30 seconds, until well coated. Turn the pitta pieces out onto a large baking tray and arrange in a single layer.

Bake for 10–15 minutes, until the chips are deeply golden, tossing once along the way. Remove from oven and allow to cool.

SERVES 4

Turnip Crisps

SMOKED PAPRIKA, LIME JUICE

These are the least perfect crisps you’ll ever make. They never quite crisp up entirely, have a tendency to go from barely baked to burnt in a blink, and they shrink in size, leaving you with half the crisps you thought you’d get out of the batch. But their roasted buttery sweetness make them too good not to include here. Spritzed with lime and sprinkled with a bit of smoked paprika, they’re even better.

680 g turnips, well scrubbed

60 ml olive oil or

60 g
Clarified Butter

¼ teaspoon fine sea salt

A couple pinches of smoked paprika

Squeeze of lime

Preheat the oven to 220°C (Gas Mark 7) with two racks set in the middle of the oven.

Using a mandolin or by hand, slice the turnips into uniform slices, none any thicker than two credit cards stacked on top of one another. If you are slicing by hand, cut the turnip in half and rest each half cut-side down so they don’t roll around; this makes for easier slicing. Toss the slices in a large bowl with the olive oil and salt and arrange in a single layer on two baking trays.

Bake for 12 minutes, check, and then continue to bake until the crisps are deeply golden. It usually takes another 5–15 minutes, depending on the thickness of the slices.

Remove from the oven, sprinkle with a light dusting of paprika and a small spritz of lime juice, and toss gently. They crisp up a bit as they cool, but I like them best warm.

SERVES 2

White Bean Spread

ROSEMARY, TOASTED ALMONDS

This is a simple pureed white bean dip made special by inviting rosemary and garlic-infused olive oil to play along. It’s fragrant, easy to make, and a good companion for pitta chips . The beans can be cooked from scratch, or you can use tinned beans.

60 ml extra-virgin olive oil

1 teaspoon chopped fresh rosemary

1 garlic clove, finely chopped

340 g cooked white beans (see
A Simple Pot of Beans
) or 1 x 425 g tin white beans, rinsed and drained

70 g almonds, thinly sliced and toasted (see
Wholegrain Breadcrumbs
)

Fine sea salt

1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice, plus more if needed

60–180 ml hot water

Grated zest of ½ lemon

In a small saucepan, combine the olive oil, rosemary, and garlic. Over medium–low heat, slowly warm the mixture until the oil just barely starts to sizzle, 1–2 minutes. Remove from the heat and set aside for 10 minutes. Pour the oil through a sieve and discard the garlic and rosemary bits.

In a food processor, combine the beans, two-thirds of the almonds, a scant ½ teaspoon salt, the lemon juice, and two-thirds of the rosemary oil. Pulse a couple of times to bring the ingredients together. Add the water 60 ml at a time, pulsing all the while, until the mixture is the consistency of thick frosting. You might not need all the water; it really depends on how starchy your beans are and how thick you’d like the spread to be. Alternatively, you can use a stick blender, but the consistency of the spread is better when you use a food processor. Taste and adjust with more lemon juice or salt, if needed.