GLUTEN FREE WALNUT WONDER

Walnuts are wonderful.   They are an excellent non-fish source of omega 3 oils (omega 3's have many health benefits - cardiovascular health, joint health, skin health, anti-inflammation, immune system support, to name a few).  They have high levels of magnesium, vitamin E and B vitamins.   They seem to have anti-cancer and anti-inflammatory properties.  Studies from walnut consumption show lowered crp (c-reactive protein) levels in the blood, which indicates lower inflammation and lower heart disease risk.  They are an excellent source of mono-unsaturated fats, which helps lower 'bad' LDL cholesterol levels.  They contain l-argnine, which lowers blood pressure, and melatonin, which helps you sleep.   They have a variety of anti-oxidants shown to support circulatory and cardiovascular health. They have been shown to protect bone health and prevent gallstones.  They are also a good source of protein and fiber, and have been shown to help prevent weight gain.

Many of my friends avoid gluten, either from medical necessity or as a way to give their digestive system a rest from potential inflammation.  If I'm going to a pot-luck or communal dinner, I'll almost always make a gluten-free dessert, just to be on the safe side.  I've had absolutely no difficulty in finding beautiful, delicious food that doesn't have gluten in it.  I don't look at 'gluten-free' recipes, but rather at classic cooking techniques (often French) that use eggs to rise, or corn or potato starch for a lighter texture, or nut flours for a rich taste.  This recipe combines all these elements, and has very little sugar - the nuts seem to provide a natural sweetness.  I use whole walnuts, which I grind in my food processor for instant walnut flour.  I also use the best possible eggs, as I've found it doesn't rise with poor eggs.  

People love this cake. 

This is a fairly simple cake.  For the beginner baker, here's a few tips:  1. Have the butter at room temperature, slightly soft.  2.  Have the eggs at room temperature (if you forget to take them out, place the eggs in a bowl of warm water for a few minutes before using).  3. To fold ingredients, use a soft rubber spatula, be very gentle.  Hold the spatula in the center of the bowl, perpendicular to the ingredients.  Go directly down to the bottom of the bowl, then scoop along the bottom of the bowl and up the side.  Take the spatula out.  Return to the center of the bowl, turning the bowl slightly. Repeat. And repeat again until the ingredients are mixed.  In this way the ingredients are lightly mixed without deflating the eggs.

Walnut Cake (adapted from The Art of French Cooking, Volume II)

Preheat oven to 350

9" cake pan - line with parchment or wax paper, butter and flour (potato or corn starch).  I use a springform cake because it's so easy to get the cake out, but a normal pan is fine too.

1. Prepare the nuts:

1 C (4 oz) walnuts

3 T sugar

1/3 C gluten free flour - I use a mix of potato starch for lightness and buckwheat flour for flavor, but it will be lighter with all potato or corn starch.  Tapioca flour is another option.  If you're not gluten-free, you could use regular white flour.

Grind half the nuts with half the sugar in a food processor or blender, and turn onto a piece of waxed paper.  Repeat.  Sift the flour over the nuts and mix well with a spatula.  Set aside.

2. Butter

4T butter.  Have the butter at room temperature, slightly soft, in a bowl..  Beat with a wooden spoon until soft and creamy - like mayonnaise.  Set aside.

3. Cake
1/3 C sugar

3 large eggs

2 T alcohol - I use an Italian hazelnut liquor I happen to own, because I love the increased nuttiness, but an orange liquor like Grand Marnier, kirsch, brandy, or even a coffee liquor would also work well.

pinch of salt

Beat the sugar and eggs with the alcohol and salt on high speed in an electric mixer.  This is one of the few times when I get out my mixer (mostly, I mix by hand).  If you have a heavy-duty stand mixer, this will take 3-4 minutes.  If, like me, you have a normal hand-held mixer, it will take 7-8 minutes.  The eggs will get very fluffy and pale.  The volume should double, and the mixture should have soft peaks (ie if you pull the blender out, the mix should form into little peaks and stay up).  Fresh, organic eggs make a real difference in this recipe.

Scoop a couple of spoons of the egg mixture into the butter and mix it with a rubber spatula - the butter mix will be even lighter and softer now.

Sprinkle 1/3 of the nut mix over the egg mix and fold in (see above).  Repeat twice more.  Then add the butter and fold that in.  (Take your time with the folding - too rough, or too much folding will deflate the cake.  Don't worry about folding in every last bit).  

Turn into cake batter.  Place in the middle of the oven.

4. Bake

Bake for 30 minutes.  The cake will rise, but may sink slightly in the last ten minutes.  This is normal.  The cake will pull away from the edges of the pan.  That means it is done.  

Remove, let cool 10 minutes.  Remove from pan and let cool.

This cake is great as it is.  However, I was asked to bring a dessert to a fancy-ish diner where there a few gluten-free guests.  I whipped some organic whipping cream and covered the cake with a thick layer.  Then I covered that with fresh raspberries.  Then, I grated some bittersweet chocolate (semisweet is fine too) and decorated the top.  It was amazing!  Elegant and delicious. Do use the best chocolate you have.  I don't sweeten my whipped cream, but you could add some confectioners sugar if you like. 

Enjoy the health benefits of walnuts with the indulgence of a rich, beautiful cake.

SUGAR SWEET

There are moments when my professional interests - to promote our own relationship to health - and my passion for cooking seem to clash.  This happens particularly in the baking arena.

I love to bake.  My family and friends love to eat the things I bake.  On the other hand, most baking requires an essential ingredient - sugar.  And sugar, in both traditional and alternative medical worlds, is EVIL.

White sugar does not have any nutritional benefits.  High sugar & high fructose corn syrup consumption is possibly linked to many, many health issues including obesity, diabetes, raised blood sugar levels, high triglycerides, immune system suppression, decreased mineral absorption, premature aging, weakened eyesight, tooth decay, autoimmune disease, fluid retention, depression, hormonal imbalance, impaired metabolism, cancer risk, yeast infections, and kidney disease. 

And yet baking requires the use of sugar!  No sugar, no beautifully risen cakes.  No yummy brownies.  No fun.

The average American eats 1/2 lb of sugar & high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) per day - 150 lbs per year.  Much of that consumption is in processed foods, particularly sodas.

I do believe that  sugar consumption is out of control.  On the other hand, I believe that life is not worth living without an occasional indulgence.  I'd rather that indulgence be from a home-cooked, made-with-love brownie than from a can of soda!

Over the years, I've looked into baking with alternatives to sugar.  Please, please avoid agave - it is not the healthy sweetener it claims to be, but a highly heated and chemically processed product that is even higher in fructose that HFCS.  Also, avoid artificial sweeteners - sucralose (eg splenda), sugar alcohols (eg mallitol or erythritol) and aspartame (eg nutrasweet) - as they are highly toxic.  Some recipes can be made with raw honey or maple syrup, both of which have more nutritional benefits than sugar.  Organic evaporated cane juice (which is brown-ish in color and larger crystals than white sugar) is marginally better - it has some of the natural ingredients of sugar cane left in, and none of the pesticides found in commercial sugars.

However, sweeteners in baking are not there simply to provide a sweet taste, but to interact chemically with the other ingredients (namely the fat and flour) to produce a certain product. For many recipes, white sugar is, quite honestly, the only way to go!  I do find, however, that many recipes are too sweet.  I regularly cut the amount of sugar in a recipe by 1/4 - 1/3 (anymore and that chemical balance will be altered, and the texture and rise of the cookies and cakes will be changed).

As a health practitioner, I know that I should strongly endorse a 'no sugar' approach to eating.  In theory, I do.  I regularly have periods of time where I will eat no refined products, and believe this is a good way to improve my health and give a rest to my body physiology. I don't drink sodas.  I don't buy or eat processed foods.  I don't add sugar to hot drinks. However, I do believe in enjoying food.  Occasionally, this means using sugar to bake a cake - and then eating small quantities of that delicious cake!

SUMMER POTATO SALAD

Well, I did get a bit carried away discussing the health benefits of potatoes.  On to the fun part - cooking and eating.  In the winter, I rely on potatoes as part of a warm and comforting meal - in stews, mashed, roasted, baked, boiled, sauteed, braised.  In the summer, I'm looking for lighter fare.  My husband Roland has begun to dig our potatoes out - we have beautiful, tiny new potatoes and fingerlings.  I boil them until just done, then use them in a warm potato salad.  No heavy mayonnaise here - just a light vinagreitte and lots of fresh herbs.  My family can't get enough of this dish. If you don't grow potatoes, this dish is best with waxy potatoes - new potatoes or fingerlings.  They'll be the small ones in the store or farmer's market (not the standard large russetts or Idaho).  New potatoes are small and round; fingerlings are long and skinny (like fingers). The may have white, pink or even purple skins. The purple ones are amazing - purple all the way through! Buy organic if possible, and look for firm smooth potatoes with no sprouts or green spots.

The preparation is simple.  Wash the potatoes just before cooking.  Boil a large pot of water.  Place the potatoes in and keep at a moderate boil.  In the meantime, chop up a bunch of fresh herbs (more ideas in a minute).  Place them in the bottom of a large bowl.  Add some salt and pepper.  If you like, add some very thinly sliced red onion or spring onions.  Add some vinegar (I use balsamic, but sherry, wine or apple cider would also be nice).  When the potatoes are done, drain them well. Add them to the bowl and toss them into the vinegar mix.  Then take a very nice olive oil and add enough to coat the potatoes well.  Transfer to a serving dish.  Serve warm or at room temperature. 

The warm potatoes absorb the dressing and are truly delicious.  I vary the herbs to give very different taste experiences.  One night I did them with lots and lots of fresh mint (homage to my years in Britain, where potatoes and mint are always paired).  Another night I used a mix of fresh tarragon and parsley and a little bit of thyme.  Next time, I think I'll try them with caraway seeds and chives (a German tribute).  And a classic salad with spring onions and lots of Italian parsley is a star for summer.

A great addition to the salad is fresh peas, cooked separately until just tender, drained and rinsed with cold water, and then added at the end.  I used fresh peas from my garden, but frozen peas or petit pois will also work. For a more complicated salad, add some blanched string beans, or some cherry tomatoes sliced in half, or some artichoke hearts, or a little bit of fresh garlic, or some lightly cooked fava beans.

By the way - for more on growing vegetables, check out Roland's blog at http://organicbountea.blogspot.com/.  He grows, I weed and cook!

Rejoice in the health benefits - and the taste benefits - with a summer potato salad!

THE POOR POTATO

The potato has a bad reputation.  It's maligned because of its popularity as a deep fried fast food item.  It's white, so is often eliminated by health-conscious people eliminating 'white' (eg refined) foods - white flour, white sugar, etc.  It's a carbohydrate, so looked on poorly by those who think carbohydrates are unhealthy.  And it is often listed as very high on the glycemic index - a measure of how quickly carbohydrates break down and release glucose into the bloodstream.

In fact, the potato has much to offer nutritionally.  It is not a 'white' refined food.  In fact, it is extremely high in fiber - one baked potato has about 5 grams (as much as is found in fiber supplements).  As discussed previously on this blog (and every other health-oriented blog), fiber is absolutely vital for a healthy digestive tract, which in turn leads to benefits in heart health, cancer prevention, diabetes regulation, kidney functioning, digestive health, & weight loss.  The potato consists of complex carbohydrates (long chains of starch, rather than simple small sugar molecules), which means it is slower to digest than refined or simple carbohydrates.  In fact, a recent study (British Journal of Nutrition) shows that the high glycemic index rating might be erroneous or oversimplified.

Potatoes have many surprising health benefits.  They are very high in potassium (higher than a banana) making them useful in lowering blood pressure.  They are high in vitamin C.  They are high in vitamin B6.  B6 is essential in over 100 chemical reactions in the body, and is essential in building cell membranes, proteins, red blood cells, DNA, and neurotransmitters.  B6 is vital to nervous system functioning, cardiovascular functioning (it reduces inflammation in the arteries, which is the main cause of plaque), making and breaking down of proteins and fats, breaking down of glycogen (useful for athletes) control of allergic reactions (it helps break down histamine) and cancer prevention.

What else?  Copper and iron (both necessary for red blood cell formation).  Folates and magnesium.    Quercitin (important for the immune system). Flavanoids (useful for lowering LDL levels).  60 different phytochemicals (a rival to broccoli).   And, a recently discovered type of chemical called kukoamine.  Previously found only in the chinese gogi berry,  kukoamines have significant blood pressure lowering capabilities.  Finally, a single new potato has 26 calories, a large baked potato only 150.

A final word on carbohydrates.  There are many 'diet' or 'nutrition' regimes that personify  carbohydrates as evil.  I just don't believe this is the case.  Certainly highly refined foods have carbohydrates that are empty of all nutritional benefit and just dump sugar into the blood stream, leading to weight gain, diabetes and many other health issue.  However, real food (ie not processed, straight from the ground to your table) have complex carbohydrates which provide fiber, minerals, and beneficial phytochemicals.  Whole grains, fruits, sweet potatoes and potatoes (all examples of complex carbohydrates) provide far too much nutritional benefit to be shunned.

Potatoes, which are tubers in the ground, are very susceptible to absorbing pesticides, so use organic potatoes if possible.  Please eat the skin, where most of the nutrients are located.

Enough on potato praise.  On to the cooking and eating of potatoes.