Mon, Oct-30-06, 06:16
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Plan: Muscle Centric
Stats: 238/153/160
BF:
Progress: 109%
Location: UK
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Bring some colour to your cheeks
A great article about why we should be eating 'seasonally' and what's good for us to now in autumn (Fall):
Quote:
Bring some colour to your cheeks
The Times
London, UK
28 October, 2006
Why should we eat orange food in autumn? Because it’s seasonal and full of immune-building antioxidants, says chef Allegra McEvedy
Why are tomatoes red and what does that redness do for you? Why is a pink grapefruit better for you than a yellow one? Are black grapes really more nutritious than red ones? (Yes.) And what is it that makes pumpkins so vibrantly orange? For most of us, when we sit down to a plate of food our first impressions come from appearance and smell, long before flavour comes into play. The decision about whether we like what we see is determined by several factors, such as texture and complexity of appearance, but far and away the most important is colour.
There are a lot of people in the food-supply business who realised this a long time ago and, unfortunately, they have been trying to dupe us subtly ever since with an assortment of devices such as chemical preservative sprays and even genetic modification. Yet it isn’t just the food suppliers who are at fault. Joe Public has been lazy, choosing to go for the easy option: “Wouldn’t a summer berry pavlova be delicious after the Christmas turkey!” We rarely stop to work out that those strawberries have come a minimum of 4,000 miles and have been squirted with all sorts of funniness to keep them in pristine condition for a scary amount of time.
The tragedy is that strawberries in mid- winter don’t do any kind of justice to their seasonal counterpart when it comes to flavour, nor for that matter do they do your body much good. A strawberry that has been flown in from Morocco, if you’re lucky, or South Africa, if you’re not, will contain less than 10 per cent of the iron, vitamin C and immune-building antioxidants than one bought locally in summer.
A study of oranges showed that one freshly picked and bought directly from the grower contained about 180mg of vitamin C, whereas an orange bought from a supermarket had less than 1mg. And that same supermarket will try to flog you 12 kinds of vitamin supplements that you don’t need if you take what Nature is giving you. Staying with oranges, as long ago as the 17th century it was known that eating oranges did you good. In 1895 scientists discovered that, specifically, it was the vitamin C that was beneficial. By 1937 there was a general acknowledgement that you need ascorbic acid to maximise the absorption of vitamin C, and the latest thoughts are that actually it’s bioflavonoids that help you to get the most out of it.
To me, it’s no mean coincidence that an orange contains all three of these nutrients, so let’s just hold our hands up, stop trying to play God to our bodies, and do what Nature tells us.
Nature is an annual miracle. Just when we are tiring of off-white root veg, we get the first greens of spring, which hand over to the summer reds, then the fantastic autumnal oranges, to be passed back to winter’s finest. How can any cook get bored with such a relentless barrage of change? If you make a list of every big indigenous fruit and veg, and then mark out each one’s season on a chart, a colour pattern quickly emerges. We get a fat hit of dark green midwinter, and after a long hot summer it’s all about sun-rich, heat-swollen deep purple: cherries, grapes, blackberries, Victoria plums and damsons — all laden with things called “oracs”.
Antioxidants are so last millennium; 21st-century free-radical cleaning up is done by oracs. These are foods with high oxygen radical absorbance capacity. Free radicals are the natural by-product of the body’s metabolic process, but we also absorb them through our skin, through breathing air and via processed foods.
There will always be free radicals, attaching themselves to our healthy cells and rusting them, but there are thousands of micronutrients that Nature provides, which are good for you, and orac is the collective term for them and their good work.
Eat a diet packed with oracs and you will keep the rusting at bay. As your guide, look to the colour coding created by the heat and love of the spring, summer and autumn sun: yellows, deep reds, purples and rich oranges.
AUTUMN SHADES
Autumn (Fall), in my mind, is the time to use more butter and less olive oil, swap soft herbs for hard (rosemary and thyme, not basil and mint), and change from flip-flops to slippers. As far as vegetables are concerned, this season’s big news is squashes and pumpkins, which come under the huge umbrella of the cucurbit family.
Other cousins include gherkins, gourds, courgettes and melons. Butternut (still the most popular variety) is packed with betacarotene, which is vital for vision, for those long, dark winter nights, and essential to keep your skin supple and elastic in harsh weather. Beta- carotene is a ferocious antioxidant. The knowledge we have of this nutrient is still comparatively meagre, but even the most traditional doctors are aware of its extraordinary disease-fighting qualities.
Studies at the University of Arizona have shown that 30mg-60mg of betacarotene taken daily boosts the immune-fighting cells, such as lymphocytes or T-helper cells, in proportion; ie, the greater the dose of betacarotene, the higher the immunity. But two months after the subjects stopped taking the dose, their immune-fighting cells were back to the pre- experiment levels.
The rule of thumb for finding veg with the highest quantities of antioxidants is to follow your eyes: the deeper the colour, the higher the antioxidant levels. In the case of betacarotene, it is those with the most orange flesh (pumpkin, sweet potatoes, some carrots) or the deepest green leaves (spinach, kale) that can really make a difference.
The key colours for this season are all around us, in Nature’s most dramatic and best-loved shows. The yellows, reds, browns and oranges that each tree bears and sheds are reflected in the markets in the varieties of squash and pumpkins and abundance of wild mushrooms. Most cooks are happy to extol the virtues of wild mushrooms, with wild mushroom pasta or risotto the de facto veggie choice on so many menus. However, in my opinion, the magical versatility of pumpkins is missed by many. So much more than just an ornament for Hallowe’en, pumpkins have been used in the traditional Persian stew, khoresh, while the Turks make a stunning pudding by candying them with walnuts.
And then there are the Americans, who use their national vegetable in everything from breads to soups to pies, including the Thanksgiving tradition of baked pumpkin and marshmallow. Even leaving aside that classic, there are still innumerable ways to employ this most helpful of veg.
SEASONAL SUPERSTARS
Acorn squash contains magnesium to guard against heart disease. The carotenoids encourage great skin, too.
Almonds are rich in calcium and phosphorus. They also contain oleic acid, which lowers cholesterol while strengthening the cardiovascular system, reducing the risk of coronary heart disease.
Apples contain malic acid, which is one of the catalysts for the conversion of sugars and fats into energy so you use them and don’t accumulate them. As well as their antioxidant properties, they contain pectin.
Butternut squash has phenomenal amounts of betacarotene. This is very good for the skin, strengthening and helping to fight free radicals, keeping our outermost defence against the world strong and supple.
Carrots do help your eyesight — it’s all the vitamin A they contain. For maximum effect they are best eaten raw or lightly cooked.
Chanterelles or girolles (mushrooms) have been hailed for aeons as a panacea. They are good for keeping the blood thin, which works against arteriosclerosis.
Chestnuts are full of potassium, iron and vitamin E and are believed to help repair artery damage. Not to be confused with horse chestnuts, which are just for playing conkers.
Cobnuts contain zinc (which is claimed to be good for the libido) and they work with the pancreas to help to regulate insulin. Member of the hazelnut family.
Dates are a powerhouse of complex sugars and protein.
Pears contain magnesium, phosphorus, sulphur and zinc. They aid uric acid elimination, making them good for the joints.
Porcini (mushrooms) are also known as ceps. Their combination with olive oil and herbs such as thyme and rosemary makes a famous Italian cure-all, claimed to be particularly good for supple joints.
Prunes contain a perfect package of sugars and nutrients. Their orac value is still the same as when they were plums. They also contain sorbitol, a natural aspirin, and yes, with their high fibre they help to keep you regular.
Pumpkins are autumn’s mascot. They are low in calories and high in oracs.
Sweet potatoes are packed with good sugars and complex carbohydrates. Their betacarotene orange shows that they are the best of the oracs from under the earth.
BABY PUMPKINS LOVE LAMB
Serves 6
50g pine nuts
3tbsp olive oil
1kg diced lamb
2 white onions, cut into large dice
3 garlic cloves, peeled and chopped
2 bay leaves
1tbsp ground cumin
½tbsp dried chilli flakes
1tbsp dried mint
150g dried apricots, roughly chopped
250ml tomato juice
1 litre chicken stock
6 x 400g-700g individual pumpkins or acorn squash
40g pumpkin seeds
3 tbsp pumpkin seed oil
Salt and pepper
In a large pan, fry the pine nuts in the olive oil for a few minutes until golden, then take them out with a slotted spoon. Tip in the lamb with some salt and pepper and continue frying for 15 min, letting it pick up some colour along the way. Stir in the onions, garlic, pine nuts, bay, spices, mint and apricots and cook for 10 to 15 minutes until the onions have softened.
Pour in the tomato juice and stock, bring to the boil, skim and turn down to a relaxed simmer for 1 to 1½ hours, uncovered and stirring occasionally. It’s ready when the chunks of lamb are very soft when you squeeze them; it should still be pretty wet and, if not, add a glass of water.
Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/gas 4. Cut the tops off the pumpkins/squash (to make lids). Scoop out and throw away the seeds and stringy bits inside. You may need to trim their bottoms so that they sit flat.
Taste the lamb and adjust the seasoning, then pack into the pumpkins. Replace the lids, put in a lightly greased ovenproof dish and bake in the oven for 45 to 60 minutes. The time depends on the size and type of pumpkin/squash used. They are ready when you squeeze the outside and the flesh feels soft inside. They can be kept warm in the oven until 15 minutes before serving Pull them out of the oven and take the tops off. Share the pumpkin seeds between them and drizzle a little of the pumpkin seed oil over the tops of the stew, with a sprinkling of sea salt. Bake for a further 15 minutes, topless, but put the lids back before serving.
Serve and follow with a green salad.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/articl...23187_1,00.html
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