At this time of year, food must be comforting and rich. This isn’t solely to ward off the chill. It’s equally down to the limited selection of seasonal vegetables we have available, and the slow cooking-methods required to process them. Gone are the long Summer days of late-dining and salads made of fresh, raw vegetables. Nature’s harvest in Winter is every bit as delicious, but just needs a little bit more cooking to deliver its best!

One of the long-standing problems with Autumn- & Winter-fare, is that it’s traditionally hugely carb-heavy. The mind immediately conjures up potatoes, pastry, root-vegetables and bread; all of which are ‘off limits’ on a healthy ketogenic-diet. They all send a diabetic’s blood-sugar soaring & you’d have to expend ‘Olympic levels’ of energy to stop your body from storing away all that glucose as fat!

Thankfully, there’s also a huge range of delicious ‘low-carb’ options available. These tick all the boxes in terms of ‘comfort-value’, but save us the bloat and instinctive urge to hibernate, which arises from glucose-overload!

This particular dish is a favourite of mine. I adore food from Bavaria and Southern Germany. The French tend to use red-wine in their cooking, whereas these areas of Germany err more towards the whites. This gives the food a comparative ‘lightness’ which is hard to beat! The strong, robust tastes of mustard and vinegar provide a ‘backbone’ to that lightness, which renders the food fresh-tasting but also hearty.

I used Nordhessische & Nürnberger Bratwurst (purchased from local supermarket), but good results would also be achieved with standard sausages. It’s mainly the wine, mustard and vinegar which contribute to the taste; the rest comes down to availability.

Start by placing a heavy-based casserole onto the hob. Add diced bacon (lardons) and fry until brown. If more fat is required to prevent the bacon from sticking, then add a knob of butter and a splash of oil. Meanwhile, chop onions or shallots into hearty chunks and add these to the pan. These can be followed by whichever vegetables you have to hand; I used celery, green pepper, mushroom courgette and leek. Please note – cabbage comes later!

Whilst the vegetables are sautéing, chop your large Bratwurst into inch-plus chunks. Add these to the pan, with the smaller Nürnberger to follow a couple of minutes later.

Finely chop garlic and parsley stalks and add these to the casserole, then leave it to build up heat for a minute or so, before you deglaze the pan with half a glass of crisp, clean white-wine (such as riesling, or dry  Gewürztraminer). Once the liquid has all but evaporated, top up the pan with water until the sausages are up to their necks in it! Add a good teaspoon or so of mustard and a small teaspoon of white-wine vinegar. Place the pan in the oven for 20 minutes with the lid off, which allows the sausages to brown on top.

Meanwhile finely slice your savoy cabbage (circa half). Wash and drain this, then add to the pan when the 20 minutes have elapsed. By this time, the liquid should have reduced by at least half. Sprinkle paprika atop the cabbage, season well, then replace the lid and put back into the oven for 15 minutes until the cabbage is cooked through and tender.

Give the dish a good stir & check for seasoning. Finish by mixing in a knob of butter for richness. Garnish with a generous topping of finely sliced Gouda, drizzle of cream and a sprinkle of parsley. This is most definitely best enjoyed in bowls, with a soup-spoon on hand to make sure you don’t miss out on the rich sauce!

Et voila! Dinner is served.

Thank you for reading and bon ap!

Adam.

Making your own curry in no way means spending hours in the kitchen, grinding spices and copiously chopping. With the right recipe; fantastic results can be achieved in minutes, with no compromise on flavour.

I save this dish for a midweek, when I’m pushed for time. You can go from chopping-board to plate in half and hour, which is a real help if you’re late back from work. This recipe is low in carbs, which makes it perfect for diabetics, gluten-intolerants or those on a ketogenic-diet. Once you’ve tried it, you’ll start relying on it whenever you’ve got hungry mouths to feed in a hurry.

The curry can be served with any protein of your choosing; there’s no need to stick with beef. I accompany this with chicken, quorn, lamb, pork and even white fish. The world’s your oyster (okay so I fib; I haven’t tried that combination yet).

Sauté a sliced onion in oil over a medium heat. Chop chilli and garlic, then add these to the pan. Cook for a couple of minutes, add sliced mushrooms, then shake in 2 teaspoons of cumin, 1 teaspoon of ground coriander & a couple of stock-cubes. Cook for a further minute before pouring in sufficient water to cover the vegetables. Stir in a couple of handfuls of frozen spinach (if using fresh spinach instead then add this 2 minutes before serving) and reduce the liquid to half its volume. Once reduced, mix in half a can of coconut milk and simmer until the sauce has thickened.

Meanwhile, empty minced beef into a large mixing-bowl. Shake on a teaspoon of garlic granules and the same of chill powder. Season well, then mould onto skewers with your hands. Oil a piece of tinfoil and roll each skewer backwards & forwards like a cigar to give the kebabs a ‘professional’ shape and finish. Oven-bake in a hot oven for 10 – 15 minutes.

Two minutes prior to service, add mange-tout to the sauce and a good whack of chopped coriander. A generous squeeze of lime will lift the flavour and form a fuss-free substitute for lemon-grass.

Spoon the green-curry into bowls and take the kebabs out of the oven. Position these on top of the curry, and garnish the lot with more chopped coriander and lime.

Delicious low-carb food in no time!

Thanks for reading and bon ap!

Adam.

I’ve always loved cumin. It has a warm aromatic flavour that adds depth to a dish like no other. In Autumn, when the evenings turn cold, this is just the kind of food I want – bursting with flavour, yet quick and easy to prepare. The perfume of spices instantly transports you to warmer climes – if ever there was soul food, this is it!

This dish is perfect for those on a ketogenic- / LCHF diet, or equally diabetics & gluten-intolerants. What little carbohydrate there is comes solely from vegetables, so it’s bursting with goodness. For those with a higher carb allowance, add a half-can of chickpeas or starchier vegetables such as squash or pumpkin. The ragout is incredibly adaptable to whatever you have on hand – just the thing for a mid-week meal therefore – use up the leftovers!

Start by dicing your vegetables. I used onion, celery, peppers, aubergine & mushrooms. Shake on a generous dusting of cumin and mix in two crushed cloves of garlic. If you like chilli, finely chop as much as you can bear then season well. Pour on sufficient olive-oil to coat then roast in a hot oven for half an hour.

Meanwhile, make your koftas. Place lamb mince into a bowl and measure in a small teaspoon of garlic salt, the same of paprika and two teaspoons of ground cumin. Grind in pepper and crushed sea-salt. Give it a good mix with your hands, then form into balls, about the size of a golf ball. Oven bake for half and hour until brown and succulent.

When the meatballs go into the oven, remove your vegetables and add to these a drained can of chopped tomatoes. Squeeze in some lemon juice and crumble in a chicken stock-cube. Chop the stems of your coriander and stir these into the mix. Place back into the oven for the remaining time it takes to cook the lamb.

Once cooked, take the lamb out of the oven to rest for a couple of minutes. Remove the vegetables and stir in a generous handful of grated cheese. This adds richness and a bit of body to the sauce. Ladle the ragout into bowls, then pile up your koftas to one side. Garnish with ripped coriander leaves and a final squeeze of lemon.

The perfect way to bring a little warmth to a cold November night.

Thanks for reading and bon ap!

Adam.

Oxtail is one of those things that has rather gone out of fashion. Principally I think because supermarkets rarely stock it, and consequently you have to go to the butcher’s to get it. Also, cuts of meat which require long, slow cooking don’t tend to fit in with our modern ‘convenience-lifestyles’ particularly well. It’s not the kind of thing you can grill for 12 minutes then it’s done!

In spite of its image problem, oxtail is something which definitely deserves the effort. Like lamb, it has that rich, unctuous quality, where the meat literally collapses and melts onto the fork. Because it’s braised on the bone, slow-cooking releases the marrow’s sweet, gelatinous stock, which gently cooks out into the sauce. It consequently has that feeling of ‘casseroles of old’.

Few low-carb dishes have the mouth-feel of a ‘thickened sauce’. The good news is that oxtail does it automatically, so you get the feel of flour, without the carbs!

As the kitchen slowly fills with the scent of braised beef, and each family member in turn asks hungrily “what’s for dinner?”; you’ll truly feel that rare sense of achievement which so often gets lost in modern cooking. This dish is one of those things where good things come to those who wait. Trust me; it’s worth it!

Heat a heavy-based casserole on the hob and then throw in a knob of butter and a little oil (to stop it burning). Salt the oxtail and add it piece by piece to the pan; enjoying the rich sizzle & odour as the cool meat instantly caramelises against the hot metal. Turn the meat as each side seals, re-seasoning the pieces as you go. Remember not to over-crowd the pan. Meat is a solitary fellow when it browns; it doesn’t much care for company. Put too much in at once and the temperature of the pan will cool. At this point, all you’ll get is meat which steams. There won’t be a sniff of caramelisation in sight. That would be a horrid pity!

Once the meat is nicely sealed, add a good handful of eschalions (also known as banana shallots). Stir these in, then add a clove of chopped garlic. Don’t go too heavy on the garlic with this dish. It’s not coq au vin, where the blandness of the meat requires a hefty boost in flavour. The oxtail can very much hold its own in taste and richness – but you must give it a chance.

De-glaze the pan with a good glug of port, then once the liquid has reduced, top up with water until the oxtail is ‘up to its eyebrows’ in liquid. Shake in some dried herbs, a bay-leaf and add a good teaspoon of Dijon mustard. Place the lid on the pan and, when it comes to the boil; move into a low oven (circa 130˚) with the lid on for a good two and a half hours.

Following this, lift the lid and you should see a rich, ‘glossy’ sauce which has reduced by roughly half its volume. If there is still any fat remaining that hasn’t cooked out; upend those oxtail pieces in the pan, so that the fat is facing upwards (like fat on a roasting joint). Return the pan to a hot oven without the lid, so that the remaining fat browns and the sauce reduces down by a further half.

Meanwhile prepare your béchamel. When I say ‘béchamel’, this is really a sauce based on cream-reduction, as it uses no flour. The end result is still the same however – rich, creamy and smooth. Make up a full cup-worth of double-cream, diluted by half with water. Pour this into a thick-bottomed saucepan and place onto the simmering-plate. Crumble a handful of blue-cheese into the pan, season and leave to thicken for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Chop your broccoli and steam with the mange-tout for a couple of minutes, until a sharp knife goes in but ‘meets resistance’ (we still want the vegetables to retain their bite). Take your oxtail out of the oven and ladle into a serving-dish. Pile the steamed vegetables next to this, and pour over your blue-cheese sauce. Serve in large bowls, making sure each portion gets a generous scoop of the thickened gravy.

Perfection itself!

Thanks for reading and bon ap!

Adam.

Sometimes, all we want from food is a sense of indulgence. When that’s your mood, it needs to be quick and fuss-free (you don’t feel very indulgent when you’re up to your ears in washing-up!).

Thankfully, Italian food comes up trumps on all these fronts. It’s light yet rich; packed with flavour, yet simple. I’m a huge fan, especially now that the evenings are getting so wintry and dark! Close your eyes and dream of Italy. Then feel smug as this won’t affect your waistline! It’s low-carb, gluten-free and won’t impact a diabetic’s blood-sugar. What more do you need? Give it a go.

In a sauté-pan, brown your chicken-fillets in a mix of butter and oil. Dice your bacon and add this to the pan. Slice half a leek & mix in, continuing to cook on a medium heat until soft. Finely chop a large clove of garlic and sauté this with the rest. After a couple of minutes, crank up the heat and de-glaze your pan with a very small amount of dry martini.

Add half a cup of water and a good tablespoon (at least) of pesto. Reduce this on the hob until the liquid is half its original volume. Stir through half a tub of mascapone and some chopped basil.

Meanwhile, finely slice red, yellow and green peppers, then mix these in a salad-bowl with crisp, fresh salad and a good glug of olive-oil. Sprinkle with parmesan-shavings, then serve piled up next to your chicken in a generous-sized bowl.

This is the sort of indulgent comfort-food that hits the spot each and every time. The carb-count means you can dive straight in for seconds, so what’s stopping you?!

Thanks for reading and bon ap!

Adam.