EAT UP YOUR SPROUTS and stagger around spain
Sprouts and Sprouting Valerie Cupillard
As inevitably as night follows day, post Xmas we all get bombarded with books to help us lose weight, exercise more and eat healthfully. It’s cashing in on our post binge guilt, of course and it fills a lot of space in publications, which editors always like.
While this book might at first glance appear to be one of those cases, in fact the sprouting message is valid all year round because they are a delicious treat and well worth the slight hassle involved in growing them. This book takes the mystique out of sprouting seeds and shows you don’t need to end up with a jar of foetid pulp that requires a strong stomach to clean out
All kinds of seeds can be sprouted and each has its own unique flavour to add to salads and cooked dishes. Sprouts are rich in vitamins as well as having high levels of fibre, enzymes antioxidants and enzymes. As a ‘living food’ they punch up your energy levels and add texture and crunch. Research has shown that sprouts improve and maintain the immune system, improve your digestion, and help prevent and fight serious diseases, such as cancer. Although you can buy sprouted seeds it’s far better to do your own and it can be as simple as jar with muslin over the end. Or you can buy some very fancy plastic systems, all of which are discussed at the start of the book as well as an in-depth look at different seeds and their unique qualities.
So you have your sprouted seeds, now what? This book includes 70 healthy and creative recipes. Cream of avocado soup with sprouted sunflower seeds I tried and enjoyed a lot, as well as sautéed potatoes with onion seed sprouts, the onion seeds really adding flavour and making the dish seem healthy even though fried. Simple things like rice come alive when dressed with sprouted red lentils with a walnut oil and cumin dressing. I’m so hooked I’m thinking of buying a proper sprouting kit, I think this is a craze that’s going to last me well into 2008.
Find this book on Amazon.co.uk
Floyd on Spain - DVD 210 minutes
Having recently come back from a press trip to Galicia (see next newsletter) I am keener then ever on Spanish food and its incredible diversity. But when Floyd made this series back in 1992, El Bulli wasn’t the world’s best restaurant and most people’s idea of Spanish food still revolved around the twin poles of paella and tapas. Spain was a foreign foodie country, neglected as the gourmets charged to France or idled Etruscan summers away in agreeable villas. Not any more. Most top end restaurants in London have at least one member of staff Spanish trained, if not Spanish bred and so it’s not a bad time to look back at earlier times with the man who reinvented the cookery programme for a new generation.
And here he is, lurching into view wine glass welded to his hand, chattering away in his genuinely unaffected and straightforward manner and bantering with his director and crew in his usual way, and boy does he look young, but then didn’t we all? From the tops of mountains to the depths of dingy bars, Floyd hunts down the real flavours of Spain and criss crosses the country - AndaluciaThe Costa Blanca The Balearic Islands, Catalonia and of course Galicia. As much a travelogue as a cookery show, Floyd takes wonderful train journeys, visits gentlemen’s clubs, cooks traditional dishes under the suspicious eyes of trained chefs and crusty old matriarchs and generally makes you want to get cooking yourself. When the shows were made many of the ingredients were unavailable, today almost all are available on line. A timely re-release of a classic show and great fun to watch even if you never cook a single thing.
