Ribeye and Courgette Salad

 

Day before payday… I decided to treat myself for some steak.. Ribeye steak hmmm! Good thing about living in my area is the millions of butchers.

My favorite of the area is Baldwins Butcher!

I could seriously eat this dish everyday! I love this courgette salad that goes with it!
I bought an amazing tool for peeling vegetables! I got the Benriner and if I could use it in all vegetables I would, I mean I am a real pasta/noodle fan, so anything in pasta or noodle shape will do for me. This little tool is so easy to use and clean.. I definitely recommend it.

For the courgette salad, I used chilli powder, fresh garlic, truffle salt, ground black pepper and a big splash of toasted sesame oil! This automatically gives more of an Asian taste to the salad.

For the steak, I usually have mine medium rare or rare – This will usually depend on if I forget the steak in the pan and I’m doing something else.. like chatting away with my housemates!

I hope you get the chance to try the salad at least!

  Ana x

Pork Steaks and Aubergine

Sorry I haven’t posted anything lately, I have been working hard and haven’t had time to cook a lot and make inventions.. I have been having chicken thighs, steak and scrambled eggs for the whole week basically..  Being on a Ketogenic diet, really limits the stuff I can eat, I have to add everything on my MyFitnessPal app and make sure I don’t exceed 20g of carbohydrates a day and keep my fat intake high. Since I have to eat fatty meats, I’ve decided to get some pork loin steak today, and to go with it, I have chosen aubergine.. Aurbegine is a vegetable with almost no carb content – so if you have spent the day munching on macadamia nuts like me, you watch your carb in takes and balance it out.     You must know that this dish contains a lot of butter.. I have not only fried the aubergine and the pork loin steaks in butter, I have also served it with garlic and parsley butter – yes obviously homemade! – I cut the aubergine in thin slices and fried them first, seasoned with chili powder, garlic powder and salt.  I’ve seasoned my pork loins with salt, pepper and garlic powder, fried them in butter. They are quite thin, so you don’t need much cooking time.  For the garlic butter, I added dry flat parsley herbs, a bit of salt and lots of garlic powder to the butter! In my opinion you can use this butter with beef, chicken or fish.. Nothing tastes better than butter and garlic..  I hope you all had a good weekend!  Ana x

Fluffy Grain-Free Sunflower Bread

a week into my Atkins/Ketogenic diet, I’m trying my best to consume under 25g of net carbohydrates per day..

Growing up in a Portuguese and Chinese household, all my meals involved carbohydrates.. Bread, rice, potatoes, noodles… But unfortunately my metabolism is not fast enough to break down the carbs.. Nor can I control my portions because I love food too much.

I have to admit as much as I love this diet, as it allows me to eat as much protein and fat I want, I miss pasta and bread the most!

Luckily for me, I’ve found a low carb bread recipe!

 
This is not an easy recipe, nor will you have the ingredients at home.. Most stuff I had to order from Amazon.

Your ingredients:

• 4 large eggs
• 2 large egg whites
• 2tbsp melted butter or coconut oil
• 2tbsp toasted sesame oil
• 2/3 cup psyllium husk powder
• 1/4 cup flax meal
• 1/2 cup sunflower seed
•  1tsp caraway seeds
• 1tsp baking soda
• 2tsp cream of tartar
• 1tsp pink Himalayan salt
• 1/2 cup water at room temperature

Preheat your oven at gas mark 4 or 175C. Line your loaf pan with some baking paper, this will make it so much easier to remove the bread once it’s baked, or you can use a silicone loaf pan.

Separate the yolks from the whites and save the whites for later… Yes you better have a electrical whisk!

Mix the egg yolks with the sesame oil and the melted butter and the water. In a seperste bowl, mix the dry ingredients, flax meal, psyllium husk powder(don’t ask.. I have no clue what it is!), baking soda, caraway seeds and the salt.

Now with the egg whites, beat until they create soft peaks, you should definitely add cream of tartar to help it stay fluffy. Mix the yolk mixture to the dry ingredients, when everything it’s mixed, fold in the egg whites slowly.. Don’t need to be very gentle, but just gentle enough to not deflate the peaks!

Last but not least, add in sunflower seeds.. I personally think that I could have done with less seeds.. But I guess this is to your personal taste. Put the batter inside the loaf pan and bake for about 65/70 min.

This is an extremely great recipe to help you kick that bread craving!

Make sure you follow the recipe and tell me how it goes!
Ana x

The Poutinerie – Field Day Festival

One of the great things about festivals are the various food stalls with good variety of cuisine.

For the first time, I’ve tried Poutine. Poutine  is a dish originating in Quebec, Canada, made with french fries, topped with a light brown gravy-like sauce and cheese curds.

The folks from The Poutinerie (check them our on twitter @ThePoutinerie ) were providing this lovely dish at the festival, and I must say they were one of the few stalls that caught my eye.

They serve two types of Poutine, the original for £5.00 which is chips, cheesecurd and gravy. And the other one that I ordered for £7.00 – Roast chicken and bacon Poutine, chips, cheesecurd, chicken, bacon and gravy… I must say that this really hit the spot for me.. I can imagine many variations of this dish.. Can’t wait to experiment in a few months!

Right, unfortunately I am going to do my atkins/ketogenic diet and cut off sugars and carbs.. I have put on a bit of weight the past few months.. So more potatoes or homemade pasta for me!

Wish me luck guys!!

Ana x

Few of My Favorite Things

One of my favorite restaurants to go to in London is the Wright Brothers.. I have been to the one in Canarby Street in Soho too many times… Let’s say we spend about £100pp each time we go there.

 
Wright Brothers are known for their seafood.. fresh seafood from the southwest coast of England.

Testeiras, my housemate Jenny and I decided to go explore Borough Market. It’s like my own personal heaven.. Al the fresh vegetable, cheeses, cured meats, fresh bread and food stalls!

 
This is definitely a place I would recommend you to go if you ever decide to visit London…I am pretty sure I have eaten my weight in food… 8 oysters, half of a duck confit sandwich, a portion of salt and pepper squid, seafood platter to share for 3 people and 3 bottles of prosecco!

I have got a few cheeses with me that I’ll use for some recipes.. I’ve got pecorino sardo, pecorino and truffle, smoked ricotta. I have got both black and white truffle oil.

I would buy the whole borough market if I could!

Ana x