Leaping Lipids!

I mentioned last week about having to dig deep into my Creative Cooking 'file' in an attempt to get MOTH's cholesterol under record-breaking levels. Some of you were interested & so here's a few things I did for him over the Easter weekend. Please remember though that Gourmet Traveller will not be hiring me anytime soon for my cooking & food styling/photography skills!!

Good Friday dinner was a platter of smoked salmon with low-fat buckwheat blinis & yoghurt herb dressing. Followed by a plate of roasted vegies with low-fat ricotta.

Blinis
3/4 cup buckwheat flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 cup low fat milk
1 egg yolk
3 egg whites

Whisk the egg whites until they are fluffy & set aside. Combine the flour & baking powder in a mixing bowl, add the milk & egg yolk & mix thoroughly. Gently fold the beaten egg whites into the flour mixture until it forms a smooth batter. Spray a non-stick skillet with a little olive oil spray & heat. Drop tablespoons of the batter into the skillet, cook until small bubbles appear on the surface, flip & cook for a couple more minutes until golden.

Yoghurt Dressing
1/2 cup low-fat natural yoghurt
generous squeeze of lemon or lime juice
good pinch of good flaky salt ( I love the Murray River Pink flakes)
1/2 fresh herbs finely chopped (I used dill & mint)

Combine the 1st 3 ingredients & then fold through the herbies at the last minute.

Roasted Vegies with Ricotta
500gm. medium size Swiss brown mushies

3 Roma tomatoes halved

4 cloves of garlic peeled

good slurp of balsamic vinegar

1/2 cup breadcrumbs (I used a mixture of fresh wholemeal grain bread & panko crumbs)

a couple of teaspoons of fresh thyme leaves finely chopped

flaky salt & ground black pepper

200g. low-fat ricotta drained well

peppery rocket leaves

Spray a non-stick oven tray with a little olive oil & throw the mushies & tomatoes onto it, making sure to spread them out so they aren't overlapping each other. Chuck the garlic cloves over the vegies. Give them all a spray with the olive oil & evenly sprinkle over the balsamic vinegar. Mix the breadcrumbs & thyme together & scatter evenly over the vegies. Add the salt & pepper & then crumble/pinch the ricotta all over the vegies. Bake in an oven at about 170-180oC. for about 30 mins, or until the vegies are tender & the toppings are golden brown. Serve on a bed of rocket leaves. (You can use other vegies such as zucchini & carrot batons, pumpkin chunks, baby squash halved etc.)

Be Gone Bad Cholesterol Soop de Loop
1 brown onion diced
4 cloves garlic crushed
3 sticks celery diced
2 carrots diced
250g. beans cut into 4cm. lengths
2 zucchini diced
150g. Swiss brown mushies sliced
3 large stalks of fresh rosemary
1 can chopped tomatoes
1.5 litres low fat chicken stock (I used the recipe from one of the Heart Foundation cookbooks)
2 dried bay leaves
1 cup pearl barley washed thoroughly under running water
good handful of finely chopped flat-leaf parsley & shredded fresh basil

Spray the bottom of a deep stockpot with a little olive oil, add onion, garlic, celery & carrots & cook until soft. Add the rosemary & tomatoes & cook for another couple of mins. Add the chicken stock & bay leaves & bring to the boil. Add the pearl barley & reduce the heat. Cover & simmer for 1.5 hrs. Then add the beans, zucchinis & mushies & cook for another 30mins. Remove the rosemary stalks & bay leaves & serve with a good sprinkling of the fresh herbies.