Life Without Lemons: Lunch & Dinner

ROASTED PUMPKIN & FENNEL SOUP

There was a buzz of excitement in the air at the Old Strathcona Farmers Market this week. The asparagus had arrived! Edgar Farms from Innisfail AB had a table stacked high with the most fabulous looking asparagus. Every customer who walked through the market was grasping their prized asparagus like it was pure farmers market gold!

EDGAR FARMS
We grow the most delicious asparagus on our family farm at Innisfail AB. We have a very short picking season, generally mid-may until the end of June. Asparagus grown in our sandy soil and with our cool nights produce incredibly sweet asparagus jam packed full of flavour.

There are so many wonderful ways to enjoy asparagus but here are my two favorites:

EGG AND SOLDIERS
Traditionally Egg and Soldiers is soft boiled eggs and crunchy, buttered toast cut into dipping strips. When asparagus is in season they are a wonderful toast replacement. I boil my eggs using Delia's soft boiled method.

First of all have a small saucepan (or the right sized saucepan depending on how many eggs you need) filled with enough water to cover the eggs by about 1cm.
Bring it up to the boil and when large bubbles are breaking on the surface quickly but gently lower the eggs (from room temperature) into the water, one at a time, using a tablespoon.
Now switch the timer on and give the eggs exactly 1 minute's simmering time.
Then remove the pan from the heat, put a lid on it and set the timer again, giving the following timings:
6 minutes will produce a soft, fairly liquid yolk and a white that is just set but still quite wobbly.
7 minutes will produce a firmer more creamy yolk with a white that is completely set.

Crack the top off the eggs, sprinkle with sea salt and get dipping!

ASPARAGUS, LEMON AND MINT DRESSING
This dressing is perfect for pasta and salads. You only need 2 or 3 spears of asparagus but the flavour throws a real summer punch!

Place 2 or 3 spears of asparagus into a small blender with the juice of half a lemon, 2 tsp olive oil, a pinch of sea salt and 3 or 4 mint leaves. Blitz everything till its roughly chopped. Toss through salads of cooked pasta.

So this Saturday get to the Old Starthcona Farmers Market and grab some amazing asparagus! But be early, it sells fast!!

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, by Elyse Chatterton

Gluten Free

GLUTEN FREE, LOW CARB FLATBREAD

"Sacrifice is giving up something good for something better"

I am not on a Gluten Free thing! I have friends who are and therefore I always feel that having some GF options on hand is always a bonus. I like everyone to feel included. The Low Carb part of this experiment is for me. Although I don't like using the "D" word (I will say it once only- "diet"), summer season is coming and I am trying to trim some wobble around the middle and rather than go on a "D" I am just switching a few things up in my everyday life. I love carbs and they love me, they especially love my thighs. One of my personal problems is my lack of portion control. "Eat till your comfortably full" someone once said. Comfortably full? Is that so full you have to lie down and unfasten your pants full? Probably not. If I eat a big bowl of pasta for my evening meal I always eat way too much of it. Then, I feel uncomfortable as sitting down, relaxing after the kids have gone to bed does nothing to shift the truck load of carbs sitting in my stomach. So my compromise is to eat my carbs first thing in the day and let my natural busy lifestyle take care of them. It's working out pretty good so far but I still want to eat what I want to eat and a good wrap is what I wanted one evening and therefore I needed to find a new solution.

I did my research and scoured the internet for Low Carb flatbreads. Recipes that popped up were combinations of coconut flour, psyllium husks (sound scary don't they!), flax seed, almond meal flour and lots of eggs. One of my favorite recipes came from Green Kitchen Stories. They use almond flour and blitzed vegetables as the base and you bake them in a large sheet and chop it up once it's cooled. It's really tasty and I make them often. I love that you can change up the vegetables and seasonings in them. I also like to add dried chilli flakes and fennel seeds- tastes so good!

But what about spur of the moment when I just fancy a wrap. I would normally reach for a flour tortilla or wholemeal pitta bread. I needed a low carb, fast flatbread that didn't need 20 ingredients. I started to experiment.

I figured that an omelette style flat bread would be great but it needed to be able to hold together when filled. It needed a little body and I tested three options. Coconut flour, ground flax seed and almond meal flour (ground almonds). I wanted to see what each flour alternative would do so I used 2 tablespoons of each with 1 egg. I then added a pinch of salt and other combinations of dried chilli, fennel seeds, turmeric and smoked paprika. I cooked them in a hot, dry frying pan on each side till golden. I let them cool under a cloth. I tested each one for flavour and strength when filled with coleslaw and salad. Here are the results;

Top: Flax seed. Middle: Coconut Flour. Bottom: Almond meal flour.

COCONUT FLOUR

I had to add some water to this mix as coconut flour sucks up moisture really quickly. It cooked well and gave a nice golden colour. When cooled it was so brittle it broke apart when I tried to fold it before the filling even got near it. It tasted really sweet and for me the coconut is just too much. I want my wrap to carry what's inside of it not steal the show.

GROUND FLAX SEED

I was worried about the colour of this mix so I added turmeric to try and brighten it up. It cooks well and once cooled it's super flexible and strong. This wrap would hold up well with a hotter filling but I found the texture just a little too rubbery.

ALMOND MEAL FLOUR

I was quietly confident about this mix as the Vegetable Flatbreads I make so often work perfectly with almond meal flour. The flatbread is a good colour and the flecks of chilli look great. It cools well and holds up great when filled. It has a subtle flavour that is not overpowering. This was by far my favorite.

LOW CARB, GLUTEN FREE FLATBREAD

WHAT YOU NEED

1 x egg
2 tablespoon almond meal flour
pinch sea salt
pinch dried chillies
pinch fennel seeds

WHAT YOU DO

Place a frying pan on a medium/high heat. Whisk everything together and pour into the frying pan. Swirl the pan to get everything even, like you would with a crepe. When you can see bubbles that set on the surface flip the flatbread over. Cook till golden brown on both sides. Use straight away or allow to cool under a cloth to keep it soft.

The recipe for my Sweet Potato Falafel and Cafe Coleslaw can be found here.

So if you are looking to reduce your carbs or need a gluten free option this flatbread is the perfect solution for you. Everything you need can be in the fridge and the pantry and there are no complicated steps or fancy ingredients like so many gluten free, low carb options. Just good, fast food.