Fresh and Wild Cookbook: A Real Food Adventure. Ysanne Spevack

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      Pour the water in, put the lid on the pan and simmer for 10–15 minutes, or until the buckwheat is tender. Check every now and then that the pan hasn’t run dry, adding a little more water if necessary. When the grain is cooked, add the cooked vegetables, mix well and serve.

TEMPEH, TSUYU, CARROT

      and Alfalfa Pittas

       Tempeh (pronounced tem-pay is an Indonesian delicacy made out of fermented soy beans. Local cooks boil up soy beans, add a bacterial culture, press the mixture into blocks and leave it to ferment. The process sounds kinda revolting, until you compare the process to Western cheese-making techniques. Believe me – it’s gorgeous stuff.

      Tempeh has a rich mushroom-like flavour that is a million miles away from the blandness of tofu.

      And tempeh contains about twenty times as many isoflavones as tofu, which are the natural substances that give soy foods their anti-cancer properties and help promote a healthy heart. In this recipe it is steam-fried in oils and tamari, but it is equally at home in anything from a bolognaise-style sauce to a curry.

      Look for it in the fridge, plain, marinated or with added flavours, in the freezer, or in jars in the Japanese section of the store with sea vegetables or in sauces. I keep some in the house at all times, ready for super-quick meals, either for lunch or dinner. Tempeh’s natural flavour is enhanced by tsuyu, a shoyu-based brown liquid made with concentrated shiitake mushrooms.

      Alfalfa is an Arabic word meaning ‘father of all foods’. If you let the sprouts grow big, they’ll become deep-rooting bushy plants. Fat chance of that happening though, because once you discover these curly little sprouts they’ll be straight in your sandwich.

      Alfalfa sprouts are sold in bags in the fresh produce display, plus the dried starter seeds can be found in paper packets next to the pulses. Alfalfa sprouts contain five of the eight essential amino acids, making them a nutritionally balanced food. They’ve also got lots of trace minerals that you won’t get from many other foods, plus a whole bunch of vitamins, including lots of stress-busting B vitamins. They help your body’s immune system, aiding natural detoxification of the blood and helping the general digestive process. And they’re crunchy, too! Check out the recipe on page 262 for Essene Bread, where you’ll find the method for sprouting your own seeds.

       TEMPEH, TSUYU, CARROT

      and Alfalfa Pittas

      TO MAKE 4 PITTAS FOR 2 PEOPLE’S LUNCHES:

       1 teaspoon sunflower oil

       1 teaspoon sesame oil

       200g plain tempeh, sliced like cheese

       3 tablespoons tsuyu

       2 small and sweet carrots, scrubbed

       1 bag alfalfa sprouts

       4 tablespoons tahini

       4 pitta breads

       Butter

      Heat the oils in a shallow frying pan over a medium heat. Add the tempeh and fry for a couple of minutes on both sides, then drop in 1 tablespoon of the tsuyu, which will sizzle. Put the lid on the pan and turn the heat down low.

      Meanwhile, grate the carrots into a bowl. Rinse the alfalfa and shake it loads to get rid of excess water. Put it onto a clean tea towel to absorb excess water. Mix the tahini and the last 2 tablespoons of tsuyu in a saucer, then add some cold water little by little to make a smooth and runny sauce. Put the pittas into your toaster on a medium setting and wait for them to ping.

      Check how the tempeh is doing. It should be cooked in about 5 minutes from start to finish. When it is, slice open the hot pittas and butter them inside. Stuff them with the tempeh slices, the grated carrots and the alfalfa. Drizzle the filling with the tahini sauce and serve immediately.

COD’S ROE FAJITAS

       Invented by the original Mexican cowboys of America, fajitas are tortillas filled with marinated beef, guacamole and salad. That makes this recipe a contradiction in terms, as fajitas are by definition made from beef by guys who raise cows. It’s like making shepherd’s pie out of minced beef instead of lamb – think about it … Oh well, these surf fajitas taste just as fab as turf fajitas. And we’re a long way from Mexico so let’s bend the rules.

      I’m hearing confusion at the back – yes, I did say that the original cowboys came from Mexico. The cigarette pack version of the blond all-American cowboy is a myth, along with Custer’s last stand and a million and one other Hollywood enhancements of American history. Cowboys were Spanish-speaking migrant workers from south of the border, and it was many decades before they were joined by a wider population of men – amongst them former slaves from the plantations and unemployed ex-Confederate soldiers left homeless after the war. The original cowboys were actually called vaqueros, and were based on ranchos which were established to convert the local Indians to Catholicism and the Spanish way of life. The advent of the railroads in the 1860s meant that beef could be sent to the rich eastern coast of America and hence things went crazy. A vast amount of cattle was then moved, and wild buffalo herds were mercilessly hunted to near extinction, all within a brief twenty-five-year period. Anyway, back to the point – by all accounts, cowboys made a mean fajita.

      Despite its availability throughout the year elsewhere, cod’s roe is only actually in season from January until February, so make this dish during this brief window of opportunity. That’s what makes foods special, eating them at specific times when they’re in season in your neck of the woods. So if you see cod’s roe on sale in another store in December, you’ll know that it’s been frozen for nearly a year.

      Watch out for proper fresh smoked cod’s roe taramasalata at this time, too – it’s made by the Cornish fishermen who catch Fresh & Wild’s cod. During the rest of the year, replace the cod’s roe in this recipe with crayfish tails or fish like brill, whiting or John Dory, or simply freeze up a batch of cod’s roe at home if you want to prolong the season and eat it in spring – you naughty …

      COD’S ROE FAJITAS

      FOR LUNCH FOR 6:

       500g raw cod’s roe

       1 ear of fresh sweetcorn or a small tin of sweetcorn

       1 tablespoon olive oil

       1 medium red onion, peeled and finely chopped

       12 pods of fresh peas, shelled СКАЧАТЬ