RECIPE: Jamie Oliver's granola dust breakfast smoothie

My thoughts on sugar, and a great breakfast recipe with no added sugar

I find myself joining the sugar debate quite a bit these days. I sat next to a nutritionist at dinner this week, and the first thing I asked her was what her thoughts were on the white stuff. 

I think its power to infiltrate and detriment whole societies and cultures really hit me during the four weeks I spent in Mexico last year (Mexico City, Oaxaca, Merida, and Tulum), where in the poorer parts, I regularly witnessed babies being fed Coca-Cola instead of milk or water. I was surprised at just how uncomfortable this made me; it's an incredibly jarring image.

breakfast smoothie made with
Jamie Oliver's granola dust 

Out of the more populas nations (so, excluding the little Pacific islands that even manage to surpass US and Mexico when it comes to inches around the waist), Mexico is now the fattest country on the planet. 

They've overtaken the Americans, with a whopping seventy percent being overweight, and almost one-third registering as obese. In the poor districts, there are obese parents and malnourished children. And it doesn't help that in Mexico, the fizzy pop is cheaper than a bottle of water or milk.

And then when I returned to the UK from my eight months of travel, I watched Jamie Oliver visit Mexico in Jamie's Sugar Rush, a programme he presented that investigated sugar's contribution to global health problems, such as type 2 diabetes and obesity. He discovered that in 2014, Mexico introduced a 10 per cent tax on sugar sweetened beverages, in a bid to reverse the trends which helped it take the accolade of being the most obese country in the world. 

And just in January this year, the British Medical Journal reported that Mexico's sugar tax has resulted in a 12% drop in sales of sugary drinks, and an increase in sales of bottled water. Which can only be a good thing.

So good old Jamie put his balls on the line, and decided to take this same idea to the UK Government, to prevent the UK going the same way as the USA and Mexico. After months of campaigning, he finally succeeded - the UK Government announced that a sugary drinks tax will be introduced in the UK in 2018.

Why am I ranting about all this? I'm not anti-sugar, not in the slightest. The last two recipes I published attest to that - gluten-free hazelnut and coffee cookies and 'The Elvis Sandwich' peanut butter, banana and bacon mini cakes. 

There is always a place for sugar. In sweet treats - cakes, biscuits, chocolate. And who doesn't love a dessert after dinner? We go to these things because we fancy that sweet hit. And they should be treated as just that - treats. The occasional reward we give ourselves because we've earnt it, and there's nothing wrong with that.

me and JO, just hanging

My main problem with sugar, is when it appears in places it just doesn't need to be. Like pasta sauces, daily drinks, and a real gripe of mine, cereals. Especially the ones that try to market themselves as 'healthy' - *rage*.

Turns out my good pal Jamie Oliver (pretty sure this picture 👈 means he's ok with me calling him that) has the same bugbear. 

Jamie mentions in his ace book Everyday Super Food, that he and his wife get particularly frustrated over how most breakfast cereals are full of added sugar, and nutritionally aren't the best start to the day. So with his nutrition team, he developed this epic megamix of great ingredients - oats, nuts, seeds, and dried fruit. There are also a couple of pages covering the number of ways you can use this magic granola dust. 

The guys over at personal healthcare providers Benenden asked me if I had opinions on sugar and if I wanted to take part in a blogger challenge they're running, to help spread the word about their Sugar Hub. Clearly, I have opinions on sugar that I'd been meaning to write about anyway, and I wanted to share how great JO's granola dust recipe is as a part of that. So I said, why not.

Unless I'm out of the country or in a restaurant for breakfast, this is the stuff I start every morning with, throughout the year. 

In the winter, I heat it up on the stove with milk and make porridge, and maybe throw on a sliced banana if I'm feeling fancy. It tastes so much better than standard porridge, because the toasting means the natural sugars present have begun to caramelise, adding a whole new flavour dimension. I don't think I'll ever be able to go back to un-toasted oats when it comes to porridge. Plus, it's gloriously nutty.

In the summer, I blitz up the powder with milk, fresh fruit and cinnamon, for a gorgeous morning smoothie.

However you decide to use it, make up a big batch, store it in a jar, and use 50-60g per serving.

Jamie Oliver's awesome granola dust - nuts, seeds, oats and fruit galore

Makes about 15 servings

500g porridge oats
125g unsalted mixed nuts, such as walnuts, Brazils, hazelnuts, pecans, pistachios, cashews
50g mixed seeds such as chia, poppy, sunflower, sesame, linseed, pumpkin
125g mixed dried fruit with no added sugar, such as blueberries, cranberries, goji berries, mango, apricots, figs
1.5 tbsp quality cocoa powder or raw cocoa nibs
1/2 tbsp freshly ground coffee
1 large orange 

Preheat the oven to 180 C/350 F/Gas 4. Places the oats, nuts and seeds in a couple of large roasting trays, toss them together, and roast for around 15-20 minutes, until they start to golden and caramelise.

Remove from the oven and allow to cool, then add the dried fruit, cocoa and coffee to the mix. Finely grate over the orange zest, then in batches, blitz the whole lot to a rough powder in a food processor. Tip it into a large airtight jar for storage.

For my smoothies, I take 60g of the dust and blend it with one fresh banana, a handful of frozen berries, around 200ml of milk, and a teaspoon of cinnamon.

Related posts
RECIPE: Blueberry and almond smoothie

birds of a feather: pheasant masterclass at jamie oliver HQ

It’s not often I get the opportunity to meet a culinary legend. 

Well, I say that. 

I bumped into Antonio Carluccio in the kitchen garden of Lainston House Hotel this summer. And I’ve sipped pisco sours with Raymond Blanc after he turned up at London Cocktail Club on a night I happened to be painting the town. It seems the stars do align occasionally. That, or I can sniff out an A-list chef like a bloodhound.

An event held at Jamie Oliver HQ near Old Street allowed me to add another of my all time favourites to this list; Gennaro Contaldo. About as southern Italian in the flesh as Vito Corleone eating a linguine vongole in the shadow of Vesuvius. Complete with a brown leather jacket and slicked back hair. Which is exactly what I hoped for; a wonderful character and a genuinely very nice man.

As were the two other professionals present, Andy Appleton (Head Chef at Fifteen in Cornwall) and Jon Rotheram (Head Chef at Fifteen in London and a close friend of fellow Essex boy, Jamie). All kindly giving up a few hours to share their skills and expertise, and feed a bunch of food bloggers for the evening.

The topic for the cook-off was pheasant, with a from-gun-to-table masterclass to help us get under the skin of this bird. Each chef walked us through their take on how to turn this underused, dark and gamey meat into a plate of something glorious.

Gennaro was up first and with all the impassioned gesticulation and inflected musical tone of words one could hope from such a character, deftly butchered the breasts of a partly feathered shimmering green pheasant. He spoke of the dark lean meat with much affection, shared stories of hunts and foraging, and while doing so prepared a very simple dish.

Into the meat he pressed slithers of garlic, sprigs of rosemary, a long slice of chilli, and seasoned. Cooked briefly in a pan (de-glazed with wine after) until still pink in the centre, it was juicy, aromatic and wonderfully Italian. With this he served a very complimentary patate arraganate; thinly sliced potatoes layered with oregano, basil, red onions, cherry tomatoes, a little white wine and baked covered in the oven for around 45 minutes.

Jon's offering used the meat to create a very British dish. His own sausages took centre stage; made with sixty per cent smoked pheasant and forty percent pork, complete with pork back fat and seasoning, we were told it was a recipe perfected after several attempts. And one he has nailed. Served with wilted kale, slow roasted onions, quince, crispy game chips, and sitting a top a pool of bread sauce, it sang all the notes of a hearty and comforting winter dish.

Andy returned to Italian influences with a caponata using some of my favourite ingredients (and incidentally no aubergine as is typical to the dish) to accompany pheasant that had been slowly pan-frying.

Diced roasted squash was combined with onion, celery, fennel, chestnuts, cherry tomatoes, thyme and lightly pickled raisins that had been steeped in red wine vinegar. Cooked out until softened and well acquainted, it had a rich autumnal glow and was topped with the sliced golden brown bird.

Game isn't something people tend to tackle too often. The unfamiliar can be daunting, and the meat can require a little more effort to source. There is then the challenge of what to do with it. 

I recall a day from my university years when my partner and I were presented with a fully feathered pheasant from a farmer friend of his parents. We de-robed it, took a knife to it, and cooked it the only way we could think of; in a roasting tray shoved in the oven. It came out dry and tough and was a huge disappointment.

To avoid any such circumstances for when you do locate some fine ingredients, it would be wise to take a look at the Jamie Oliver game recipes for some inspiration beyond roasting it to a second death. If you locate seasonal game and treat it a way that makes it shine, it's hard to eat a better meat at this time of year.

A huge thanks to all involved in organising this event; it was (as usual), a quite wonderful evening.

Afiyet olsun.

crispy moroccan lamb pastillas

It seems my love of lamb and treating it with spices has not raised its hands and waved them about completely unnoticed (I wonder if the several lamb entries in my Top 10 Things to Eat in Istanbul had anything to do with this..). So much so that the nice folk at Jamie Oliver HQ have been kind enough to send over a pretty awesome sounding recipe from this coming Monday’s episode of Money Saving Meals for me to share with you all. They’ve even given me a gorgeous shot of it too.

So here you have it, hot off the press, here on this humble blog before being published on JamieOliver.com and before its TV airing on October 30th, I present to you something wonderfully fitting for Monday and a perfect way to use up leftover lamb from Sunday, Jamie’s brand-spanking-new recipe for crispy Moroccan lamb pastillas - ta daa!

Crispy Moroccan Lamb Pastillas

Serves 4

100g couscous

2 onions

4 cloves of garlic

60g sultanas

Olive oil

1 tsp ground turmeric

½ tsp cumin seeds

250g leftover cooked lamb

70g feta cheese

4 large sheets of filo pastry

1 tbsp flaked almonds or sesame seeds

1 heaped tsp icing sugar

½ tsp ground cinnamon

4 tbsp fat-free natural yoghurt, to serve

1 tbsp harissa or chilli oil, to serve

Pop the couscous into a small bowl, just cover with boiling water, then put a plate on top and leave for 10 minutes. 

Peel and finely chop the onions and garlic along with the sultanas and place in a large pan on a medium heat with a lug of oil, the turmeric and cumin seeds. Fry for around 15 minutes or until softened, stirring occasionally. 

Finely shred the lamb, add to the pan and cook for a further 5 minutes, then remove the pan from the heat. Fluff up the couscous and stir it through the lamb mixture with the crumbled feta, then season to perfection, going heavy on the black pepper.

Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F/gas 4. 

Working fairly quickly, as filo dries out easily, lay out the pastry sheets on a clean work surface and brush with oil. Divide the lamb mixture between them, laying it along the shortest edge of each sheet. Roll each one up halfway, fold in the sides, then continue rolling up like big cigars. 

Place them on a non-stick baking tray, brush the tops with a little oil and crumble over the almonds, or sprinkle with the sesame seeds. Sieve over the icing sugar and cinnamon from a height, then bake for around 25 minutes, or until golden and crisp.

Serve with yoghurt rippled with harissa or chilli oil for dipping. Delicious with a simple green salad on the side.

Tip: feel free to mix any leftover meat with these beautiful Moroccan flavours – whatever you’ve got will be delicious.

Taken from Save with Jamie, published by Michael Joseph
Recipes ©2013 Jamie Oliver Photography ©2013 Jamie Oliver Enterprises Ltd. Photos by David Loftus.

To watch it executed by the thrifty chef himself, tune into the show on Channel 4 at 8pm on Monday. It's also worth checking out the rest of the Money Saving Meals recipes as there are some real corkers.

If lamb is your thing (who’s ‘thing’ is it not? - vegetarians need not respond), you can take a look at more lamb recipes from JO and some of my own with Mediterranean / Eastern twists: Turkish spring lamb with green beans, lahmacun (Turkish street food), moussaka, Mauritian butter bean curry.

Afiyet olsun.

Danny McCubbin's San Patrignano Supper Club

When you first hear about the good that takes place in San Patrignano and the transformational effect it has on the lives of thousands of people, the hairs on the back of your neck stand up. 

I recall the first time I heard about this place; it was during an episode of Two Greedy Italians where the travels around the country guided by the culinary delights on offer, had Antonio Carluccio and Gennaro Contaldo stopping off at San Pat. Gennaro is a pretty emotional guy at the best of times (watch for the tears that pool in his eyes as he fondly recalls his mama’s cooking during the series), and when he speaks to some of the residents and they reveal what this lifeline of an establishment has done for them, the emotional response is similar. And it carries through to those viewing - that I can testify to.

Located in Rimini on the Adriatic Coast in Italy, San Patrignano is a life-affirming mix of many things: a drug rehabilitation centre, an alternative to a prison sentence, an alternative to Government offerings of more drugs to get off the existing drugs, an opportunity to re-learn how to become a fully functioning and contributing citizen, a producer of quality products made by the residents and sold at prestige retailers around the world, a vocational training centre that grows and nurtures skills, a practical educational method for learning to live in respect of others, a charity, a family, a community, and home to around 1300 adults and children.

It is a centre that operates thanks to 109 volunteers and 313 collaborators and consultants; 32.5% of whom followed a rehabilitation programme there themselves. Through disciplined routines, an immersion into their chosen vocation (cookery, carpentry, graphic design, plumbing, patisserie to name just a few of the 50 plus sectors), support from staff and family, participating in community activities, gradually increasing responsibility and accountability, and generally learning how to live the life of normal civil coexistence in respect of oneself, others and the environment, the percentage of people who fully recover after completing their rehabilitation programme at San Patrignano is over 72%. The individual is not considered afflicted by an ‘illness’ and therefore, pharmacological treatments to combat drug abuse are not used. Try to find a similar pharmacological-free alternative in the UK, and you would be extremely hard pressed to.    

Danny McCubbin has worked with Jamie Oliver and the Jamie Oliver Food Foundation in various roles for a number of years, and is also an avid evangelist of, and volunteer at, San Patrignano. Along with a host of others including Danny’s friends, financial contributors, other bloggers, Fifteen staff, San Pat volunteers, and current and past residents of the centre, I was invited to a supper club held above the space of Fifteen near Old Street to help raise awareness of this exceptional cause. 

We were treated to a wonderful four course meal consisting of various bruschettas, mushroom risotto, a meat stew and a panna cotta and berry dessert (cooked by the visitors from Italy) along with free flowing bottles of wine. Danny gave some insight into the guests around the table, as well as talking fondly and with passion about a place unquestionably very close to his heart. We were shown a 9 minute video providing real insight into the world of San Patrignano (do have a watch to obtain a true understanding of just what happens there) and spent a rather wonderful evening with all those involved.

This post is me playing a very small part in helping raise awareness of this inspiring cause. San Pat is free for all residents and no funds are received from them, their families or the Government. With a focus on becoming self-sustainable, the goods produced and services offered at San Pat meet about 50% of community needs. The remaining funds come from donations. Should you wish to contribute to the cause, you are able to very easily via the website.

Danny is also training for the New York marathon where he and others are running for San Patrignano. For more information on this and how you can support this specific project, see here.

Many thanks to Danny and all those involved for the wonderful evening hosted, and long may San Patrignano continue providing unrivalled support to those often otherwise cast out by society.

Afiyet olsun.

food, friends & funkin’ cocktails with the jamieoliver.com crew

How does one seduce a bunch of lovely ladies to brave the stifling depths of the Northern Line during rush hour on one of the hottest days of the year, to pay a visit to Old Street? With the promise of dinner and booze of course - particularly appropriate when the ladies* in question are all food bloggers. I think I speak for most when I say the way to our hearts is a full-throttle culinary steam train bulldozing its way to our stomachs. 

The crew at JamieOliver.com had an intimate evening planned, inviting ten to twelve of their favourite food bloggers (more than humbled to be included) to a supper featuring some of the recipes from Jamie Oliver’s website. The purpose of this event was to share with us the delights that can be achieved with ingredients people often find more difficult to cook with (based on the traffic in these areas on the Jamie Oliver website) such as game, seafood, vegetables and cheese. The idea is to get people to try cooking what may sit just outside of their comfort zone, or differ to what they may be accustomed to.

* It’s worth noting that while the main organiser of the event, Merlin Jobst, is quite the sweetheart and lady charmer, the single sex occupation was not intentional. Alas, some of the male bloggers that had been invited unfortunately could no longer make it. I believe that meant more food for us. Result.

The fabulous food bloggers invited to this event included the following - do take the time to check them out:

Rosana McPhee @Rosana_McPhee hotandchilli.com
Sally Prosser @MyCustardPie mycustardpie.com
Selina Periampillai @yummychooeats yummychooeats.com
Ren Behan @renbehan renbehan.com
Regina Sabur-Cross @gastrogeek gastrogeek.wordpress.com
Rachel Smith @The_FoodIEat thefoodieat.org
Su-yin @breadetbutter breadetbutter.wordpress.com
Tess Ward @tesstheyeschef theyeschef.com

Location and Graduates

The location of this banquet was the space above Fifteen and incidentally where most of Jamie’s cookery shows are filmed, such as 15 Minute Meals. A large, white-washed expanse straight out of the window of a Shoreditch estate agents looking for well-to-do artists to occupy, flooded with natural light from floor to ceiling sash windows and kitted out with tableware and sharing platters typical of Jamie’s cooking style. Unfortunately, the man himself was unable to make the evening but was kind enough to record a short film thanking us for our attendance and insisting we have a blast. Not to mention, accrediting Merlin entirely for the inevitable success of the evening. In the meantime, through an opening into the bare-brick walled kitchen, Merci and Tyrone, a couple of past graduates from the Fifteen Apprentice Programme, were toiling away over hot stoves rustling up our dinner. 

Head Chef Cooking Demonstration

The Head Chef of Fifteen, Jon Rotheram, was kind enough to take time out from his hectic kitchen schedule downstairs to give us a private demonstration of how to address game. He spoke at length of his first four months in the restaurant, his love of offal (particularly sweetbreads), different ways in which it can be cooked, and the benefits of choosing it over alternative and more expensive cuts. With flare and finesse, he rustled up in the blink of an eye devilled lambs kidneys served on toast. Flavoured with spices and finished with a few drops of homemade curry oil, these were served pink in the middle on a slice of crunchy sourdough, with warm flavoursome juices soaking into the bread. We were all urged to dive in. It was so moreish I went back for a second and third bite. Standard behaviour.

Supper is Served

Whilst I was entirely engrossed in Jon’s sautéing skills, I’ll admit I was more than a little distracted by a completely irresistible volume of fat and glistening king prawns piled high on a large plate, beckoning with black beady-eye come-hither glances, feelers motioning me towards them with their extension. One after another and with hypnotic repetition, I ripped off the legs, head and shell, dunked them into the accompanying Marie Rose sauce for a lick of seasoning, and popped each juicy morsel into my mouth. So simple but goodness, they were entirely glorious. I estimate my consumption of that entire platter to be approximately 37%. In addition, we were presented with mounds of herb salad with goats cheese. Generous creamy chunks of cheese mixed with rocket and fresh herbs and delivered with a wisp of heat on the tongue from finely chopped chilli. It took an enormous amount of self-control not to gorge myself on this single course alone.

Pint of prawns with Marie Rose recipe here. 
Herb salad with goats cheese recipe here.

The mains involved of a South Indian crab curry. Would you like any curry with that crab? There was so much crab. Certainly not too much crab though, it’s not possible to have too much crab. Creamy from coconut and gently spiced, it slid down with very little resistance. The vegetarian option was an equally flavoursome cauliflower Keralan curry complete with chickpeas and pineapple chunks. Both were paired with an oven dish full of zesty lemon rice - fluffy white mounds punctuated with the yellow and green from lemon rind and coriander leaves respectively.

South Indian crab curry recipe here.
Keralan veggie curry recipe here.
Lemon rice recipe here.

Dessert was made by Merlin the Magnificent (not an actual wizard) himself - a baked vanilla cheesecake with a (very boozy) cherry compote. With a smooth creamy middle and flavoursome biscuit base, it was a perfect way to round off the evening's eating. Alas, I didn't get a decent shot of it so there is none here. Lack of cheesecake photography and increase in alcohol consumption no doubt correlate quite nicely, I'm sure. 

Bloomin' easy vanilla cheesecake recipe here.

Tipples

Which leads me neatly onto the booze. Spoilt with a choice of wine and beer, glasses were never empty. 

The San Patrignano brand of wine available that evening ironically has a very sobering backstory. San Patrignano is based on the Amalfi Coast in Rimini and is one of Italy’s largest rehabilitation centres for recovering drug addicts. It welcomes all young men and women and even whole families who have serious drug abuse problems regardless of their background – and completely free of charge. Since 1978, the centre has taken in over 20,000 people, offering them a home, healthcare, legal assistance, and the opportunity to study, learn skills, change their lives, and regain their status as contributing members of society. I vividly recall an episode of Two Greedy Italians when Contaldo and Carluccio visit San Patrignano and listen to the residents talk of the institution saving them from certain destitution and even death - it was moving to say the least.

Danny McCubbin has worked with Jamie Oliver for many years in various roles and in addition, volunteers at San Patrignano. Wine making is a result of one of the 52 different skills the residents learn during their rehabilitation and these rather quaffable bottles are the result. Danny spoke passionately and with emotion about San Patrignano (whilst serving us Merlin's cheesecake) - a force of pure good if ever I heard one.



All in, the evening was a riot. The thing that really struck me were the people involved from Jamie's side - from the graduates, to the Head Chef, to the online staff, they were all wonderful individuals completely unashamed of the immense amount of passion they have for what they do. We ate until our bellies were full, engaged in raucous conversation and eventually relocated the proceedings to the Fifteen cocktail bar where we were very generously treated to pisco sours, gin from teapots, cocktails with face-busting chilli and indulged in bad jokes and inappropriate conversation.

I like to think new friends were made here and I want to give a particular shout out to the talented and gorgeous Merci @Murrrcii, the suave salt shaking Joe Gray @JoeGray_, and my new favourite person Merlin Jobst @merlinjobst. Along with my sister from another mister Selina @yummychooeats, we'll see you kids for cocktails next week to carry on where we left off.

Afiyet olsun.

falafels with salsa

Considering Turkey’s close proximity to the Middle East alongside my love for chickpeas, you’d think I would have rustled up a batch of falafels in my time. But I haven’t. My permanent pyramid of chickpea cans in the cupboard, by default, gets used on houmous at least once a week and old habits die hard.

The thought of frying them in inches of oil also puts me off a bit. Contrary to what my dining habits may suggest, I do like to keep at least one lazy eye on my saturated fat intake. So I’ve been looking for a recipe that ticked my boxes and the ever reliable Jamie Oliver has come up with the obvious solution of squashing them into thin patties rather than balls, requiring much less oil to cook them in.  I also particularly like the inclusion of harissa in the mix which adds welcome heat. Not to mention I coincidentally had exactly a tablespoon left in a jar that’s been waiting to get used and taking up valuable shelf space in the fridge - I get a lot of satisfaction from finishing jars.






The original recipe can be found here under the 'vegetable recipes' section of Jamie's website and includes the falafels alongside a salsa and some sides

In this instance, I just made the falafels and salsa and devoured them with leftover houmous from the weekend’s BBQ (chickpeas with a side of chickpeas - I told you I like chickpeas) rather than the tortilla wraps. Either way, they're really tasty bites. You almost forget you're handling pulses and not mince. They're a great meat pattie substitute; it's good to abstain from the flesh once in a while.

Falafels with salsa

Serves 4

For the falafel
1 x 400 g tin of mixed beans
1 x 400 g tin of chickpeas
1 lemon
1 tablespoon harissa
1 heaped teaspoon allspice
1 heaped tablespoon plain flour
bunch fresh coriander
olive oil

Alteration: instead of mixed beans, I used a can of kala chana which are brown chickpeas. Also instead of allspice, I combined a little ground clove, nutmeg and cinnamon as a replacement.

For the salsa
1 big handful mixed-colour ripe tomatoes
½ –1 fresh red chilli
½ clove of garlic
1 lime

Drain the chickpeas and put them into a food processor. Finely grate in the lemon zest, then add a pinch of salt and pepper, the harissa, allspice, flour and coriander stalks (reserving the leaves). Blitz until smooth, scraping down the sides of the processor if needed. Scrape out the mixture and use clean, wet hands to divide and shape it into patties about 1.5cm thick. Put 1 tablespoon of oil into the frying pan and add the falafels, turning when golden and crisp.

To make the salsa, put the tomatoes, chilli and half the coriander leaves into the processor. Squash in the unpeeled garlic through a garlic crusher (or grate it), squeeze in the lime juice, whiz until fine, then season to taste and pour into a serving dish.

Afiyet olsun.