by Amber Rose
Remove the cover, replace with a tight-fitting lid and transfer to the fridge. It will last for about 10 days if kept cool, although it will harden in the fridge. To soften it, simply stir vigorously with a wooden spoon.
Roasted garlic cultured nut cheez with fresh herbs and cracked pepper.
MAKES A 15CM ROUND CHEEZ
This is a cheese of sorts, hence the name ‘cheez’ and not cheese. It’s not dairy cheese; it’s made from a base of nuts and cultured with probiotics, which makes it great for lactose-intolerant people or anyone who just wants to avoid dairy. Don’t expect delicious melty, stinking brie – much as I love it (brie that is!), this is good in its own unique way.
You can leave out the roast garlic if you don’t fancy it (personally, I can’t get enough) and just keep it as a plain nut cheez with lovely fresh herbs. You could serve it with my crackers, or crusty fresh sourdough bread or crudités. It will last in the fridge for up to a week.
FOR THE CHEEZ
½–1 small garlic bulb, depending on how garlicky you like your food
2 tablespoons finely chopped thyme and rosemary leaves, plus extra to serve
1 teaspoon freshly cracked pink peppercorns (use black peppercorns if you can’t find pink and crack using a mortar and pestle not a grinder), plus extra to serve
145g raw cashews, soaked in water for a minimum of 4 hours or overnight
50g coconut butter, or 25g unsweetened coconut flakes soaked in hot water for a minimum of 15 minutes, then drained
¼ teaspoon sea salt
3 tablespoons lemon juice
1 probiotic capsule (contents only, capsule discarded)
EQUIPMENT
45cm square of cheesecloth
15cm round cake tin or dish
Clingfilm
Preheat the oven to 180°C/fan 160°C/gas mark 4.
Start by cutting the top of the garlic off, just enough to expose all the tops of the cloves. Wrap the whole bulb neatly in foil, pop it in the oven and roast for about 40 minutes, or until fragrant and the cloves are meltingly tender. Remove from the oven, set aside and allow to cool completely before moving to the next step.
Line the tin or dish first with clingfilm, then with the cheesecloth and sprinkle in most of the chopped herbs and pink peppercorns (reserve some to sprinkle on top).
Place the cashews, coconut butter, salt, lemon juice and the contents of the probiotic capsule into a high-powered blender or food processor. Blitz for a couple of minutes, or until completely smooth. Squeeze the roasted garlic out of its skin and add that too, then blitz again until thoroughly incorporated. You may need to stop the motor, scrape down the sides of the bowl and blitz again to keep it all smooth and combined.
Scrape the mix into the prepared tin, firming the cheese down into the herbs and cheesecloth. Tap the tin down on the worktop a few times to level it out. Sprinkle with the reserved herbs and crushed pink peppercorns. Next, bring the sides of the cheesecloth up and over so the cheese is totally covered. Place a small plate on top of the cloth and weigh it down with a can of beans or something heavy. Set aside on the worktop for several hours before placing the whole thing, weight and all, into the fridge to set for 24 hours.
The next day, remove the weight, unwrap the cheese, lay a plate over the uncovered cheese and gently flip it over so that the cheese is now on the plate. Remove the cloth completely. Sprinkle with any extra herbs or pepper and either serve or keep it in an airtight container in the fridge for up one week.
Labneh
MAKES ABOUT 500G
Labneh is an easy-to-make soft dripped yogurt, with the consistency of a soft cheese. It is a staple of the Middle East. You can make it from cow’s, goat’s or sheep’s milk yogurt. It’s best to use the thicker Greek-style yogurt as that will give you a higher yield. Labneh can be turned into a savoury or sweet dish, you can roll it into balls flavoured with fresh herbs and spices and submerge it in olive oil for a delicious and beautiful snack or as part of a mezze platter. Sweet or savoury, you will love it; it’s incredibly easy to make and super versatile.
EQUIPMENT
1 sieve
1 piece of muslin or cheesecloth
1 medium bowl
800ml thick, whole milk, or natural greek yogurt
2 teaspoons sea salt (optional, for the savoury version)
Place the yogurt in a medium bowl and, if you are making savoury labneh, add the salt and give it a good stir.
Next, line a sieve with the muslin and set the sieve over a bowl, allowing the cloth to hang down over the sides. Scrape the yogurt into the muslin-lined sieve. Gather up the sides of the muslin and tie them tightly together with a long piece of string.
Suspend the muslin cloth with the yogurt in it over the bowl by tying it somewhere it can hang and the whey can drip into the bowl. Leave overnight and the whey will continue to drip. The next morning you will have labneh. If you would like it thicker, just let it hang for a bit longer, anything up to 24 hours is good. Unwrap the labneh from the muslin and decant the whey from the bowl into a glass jar or other container.
The labneh will keep in the fridge for three to four days.
You will end up with a bowlful of whey that drips out of the yogurt. Whey is a wonderful thing and can be used in other recipes such as the mung dahl, in place of stock or water. It’s full of protein and tastes great when you cook with it, adding a certain depth of flavour and richness. If you can’t use the whey right away, it will keep in the freezer for a good few months.
Labneh balls rolled in Pistachio and kale ash dukkah
1x quantity of pistachio and kale ash dukkah
500g savoury Labneh
Sprinkle several tablespoons of the dukkah onto a plate, then take walnut-sized pieces of labneh, roll them into balls and roll the balls in the dukkah. Continue until you have finished all the labneh. You may need to add more dukkah to the plate as you go. Serve these little balls as part of a mezze platter, picnic or with crusty sourdough bread. You could also pack them into jars fully submerged with olive oil – they make great gifts.
Spiced savoury labneh balls in olive oil
500g savoury labneh
5 teaspoons finely chopped fresh thyme leaves
5 teaspoons red chilli flakes
1 teaspoon ground sumac
Zest of 2 unwaxed lemons
About 700ml extra virgin olive oil
To make these little balls, sprinkle the herbs and spices onto a plate, then take walnut-sized pieces of labneh, roll them into balls and roll the balls in the herbs and spices. Continue until you have finished all the labneh. Carefully place the balls into a wide-necked 1-litre sterilised glass jar or several little jars and top up with the olive oil, ensuring the balls are fully submerged. Seal the jar(s). The labneh will keep like this for several months in a cool dark place. Once opened, eat within two weeks.
Broth and Soups.
A rich chicken broth.
MAKES ABOUT 4 LITRES
This is the perfect broth: delicious, nourishing and gelatine rich, which is amazing for skin, joints, healing the gut, reducing inflammation, balancing hormones and much more. You can drink cups of this just as it is for a restorative gut-healing drink or you can use it in soups, casseroles and stews. You can also reduce it right down to make gravies and sauces.
2–3 chicken carcasses
4 prepared chicken feet (optional)
3 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
Filtered or spring water (about 3–4 litres, enough to cover the bones)
3 large carrots, peeled and chopped
2 large celery sticks, washed and chopped
2 large onions, washed and quartered (skins can be left on if they’re organic)
6 garlic cloves, skin on, lightly bashed
A handful of parsley, stalks and all
2 bay leaves
2 teaspoons whole black peppercorns (no salt – see here)
Put the chicken carcasses (and feet too, if using) in a large pot. Ad
d the vinegar and enough cold filtered water to cover the bones with a little extra room to allow for the veg.
Place over a medium heat and slowly bring to the boil, skimming off any scum that rises to the surface. When most of the scum has gone and the water is close to boiling, add the veg, herbs and peppercorns (no salt!). Return to a gentle simmer, cover with a tight-fitting lid and reduce the heat to the lowest possible setting. Cook at a bare simmer for a minimum of 6 hours and up to 12, occasionally skimming off any scum that rises to the top.
When the broth has cooked for long enough, remove the bones and pour the broth through a fine-mesh strainer. Allow to cool before transferring to the fridge or freezer.
If you want to de-fat the stock, allow it to cool in a wide-necked container, then pop in the fridge overnight. In the morning, a layer of solid fat will have formed on the top, which you can simply lift off. Don’t throw it away though, use it for roasting or sautéeing vegetables.
Nourishing bone broth.
Making bone broth is an incredibly old and nourishing tradition in almost all cultures. Somewhere along the way some places lost the knowledge and habit of making this truly magical elixir. It has so many health benefits, partly due to the gelatine and collagen that real bone broth contains (unlike broth or stock made from powders or cubes) and the unique combination of amino acids, minerals and cartilage compounds, which are to be found in the simmering broth. Protein plays a crucial role in pretty much every single biological process within the body and amino acids are the building blocks of protein. Our cells, muscles and tissues are made up of a large proportion of amino acids, which makes them essential for our bodies to function in a healthy way. Minerals are important for many reasons too; they help us with building strong bones and teeth, blood, skin and hair, nerve function and building muscle. They also help metabolic processors such as those that turn food into energy. Bone broth and meat stocks contain minerals in a form the body can absorb easily – not just calcium but also magnesium, phosphorus, silicon, sulphur and trace minerals. Bone broth also contains the broken down material from cartilage and tendons – stuff like chondroitin sulphates and glucosamine, now sold as expensive supplements for arthritis and joint pain. Nourishing bone broth will help with speedy recovery from surgery and illness, healing of pain and inflammation anywhere in the body, increasing energy levels from better digestion, lessening of allergies, and assistance in the recovery from auto-immune diseases. It also helps with the recovery of common colds and flu. Mineral- and protein-rich broth can also help reduce cravings, of all sorts, due to its nutritional profile, which has an extremely nourishing effect on the body as a whole.
Bone broth is typically simmered for between 6 and 48 hours. Some people with severe digestive and neurological issues cannot tolerate the broth when it has been cooked for this long, due to the profile of amino acids within it. Some people have MSG sensitivities, which long simmered broth has in its natural form. On various gut-healing diets, such as the Gaps diet and the SCD lifestyle (specific carbohydrate diet), it is advised to start with meat stock, which is similar to broth but, rather than just bones, whole legs and thighs of chickens are simmered and it is cooked for a far shorter time, typically anything from 1 to 3 hours for poultry and up to 6 hours for beef. The meat stock is milder in flavour and the meat can be eaten when the stock is cooked. It is much gentler than the broth, although both are incredibly healing, nourishing foods. The gelatine present in meat stock and broth is a key superfood for healing a leaky gut and soothing inflammatory digestive disorders. It protects and heals the mucosal lining of the digestive tract and helps to regenerate cells. It also aids in the digestion and absorption of nutrients.
Of all the different meats that can be used to make bone broth, fish broth made from whole fish frames including the head is the most potent and healing. White fish is best for making fish broth because the highly unsaturated oils contained in oily fish become rancid during cooking. Other bits of animals that many people in western cultures find hard to cook include chicken feet and pig trotters – these are the parts that contain the most gelatine. Asian cooks often add these to their broth pots, which makes their broth so full of gelatine that, as it cools in the fridge, it sets like jelly. Over time I have grown used to adding these ingredients to my simmering broth pots; the taste is no different from making the broth without them but the health benefits are far superior, so I just decided to get used to it. After all, if I can happily eat a steak, why not add a pig’s trotter to my broth?
To get the most out of your broth, have a read through the following points before you start making broth a regular part of your weekly routine for optimal health.
TIPS FOR MAKING BROTH LIKE A PRO When broth won’t gel…
Ideally, you want to make a broth that gels in the fridge once it is cool. It should set like a soft, wobbly jelly. If your broth doesn’t ‘gel up’ you might not have used the right variety of bones – for a delicious and nutritionally balanced broth that gels well, you want a good mix of bones and in particular ones with a lot of cartilage on them which specifically help the broth to gel. One quick way to ensure this is by adding chicken feet and/or split pig trotters to the broth. As a general rule of thumb, it’s best to add the right mix of bones that yield gelatine and other types of bones that add both flavour and colour. Free-range chickens often give better gelling results than regular barn-raised chickens. Many people report that they get better gel using pasture-raised chicken carcasses over conventional chicken carcasses.
Another reason your broth may not have gelled is that the bones to water ratio was not in balance. You want to only add just enough water to cover the bones. However, if you are simmering broth on the hob, you may need to top up with a little extra water because quite a lot will evaporate during the long cooking time. Cover the pot with a tight-fitting lid to minimise the amount of evaporation. Otherwise, cook the broth slowly in the oven, again with a lid on the pot, so that not much water evaporates.
In addition, broth won’t gel if it has been cooked at too high a temperature. Simmer your broth very gently, no hard- and fast -boiling.
Clear or cloudy?
Cloudy broth is just fine as a base for soups, casseroles and stews but ideally you want it clear for serving as a light soup.
To achieve beautifully clear broth, you need to be careful when it first comes to the boil, scooping off any scum that rises to the surface and discarding it. Don’t let the broth actually boil – as it comes up to temperature and starts to bubble, immediately reduce the heat to a gentle simmer.
Another good tip for keeping broth clear is to wash and dry the bones before roasting them and then adding them to the broth pot. Obviously you can’t wash and dry a chicken carcass, but big meatless beef bones and lamb bones can easily be washed.
Salt.
The one seasoning that should never be added to broth or stocks is salt. This is because if you want to boil down or reduce the liquid once it has finished cooking, it will become way too salty. Add salt to your soup, stew, gravy or sauce at the end of the cooking process when you have reached the desired thickness. When you do add your salt at this final stage, it’s best to use lovely pure sea salt or Himalayan salt, both of which are additive free and full of essential trace minerals.
Water.
It is best to use clean, filtered water for making broth, because the chemical content in highly fluoridated and chlorinated water will only become more concentrated as the water evaporates during the cooking. Fluoride and chlorine do not support health and can have detrimental effects on the gut and digestive system. It’s best to use fresh spring water, mineral water, filtered water, rain water from a tank or, if you’re lucky enough, beautiful fresh well water.
Vinegar.
Vinegar helps to extract minerals from the bones and vegetables. Small amounts do not change the flavour of the broth, and you don’t need to use raw vinegar as it will be heated during the cooking process so any good apple cider vin
egar will do.
Aromatics
Classic stock calls for the addition of certain vegetables and herbs, traditionally referred to as aromatics. Ideally, these are added after the initial skimming of any scum that rises to the surface, as the broth/stock is hard to skim when there are a lot of vegetables and herbs in the pot.
If you have organic onions, you can leave their skins on to add both flavour and colour. When making Vietnamese pho, the onions are often charred before being added to the pot to give an extra layer of flavour – this is well worth a try. Both onions and carrots add sweetness, and celery lends a distinctive savoury flavour. As for herbs, the classic addition is a bouquet garni – sprigs of thyme and parsley, plus a fresh bay leaf or two. Peppercorns lend warmth and flavour to the broth. You can add them whole or crush them. Again, it’s best to add them after the initial skimming stage, otherwise you usually end up accidentally skimming off all the peppercorns with the scum if you add them too soon.
Finishing and straining your broth/stock.
Once the broth has finished cooking, use tongs or a slotted spoon to scoop out the bones and veg, then strain the liquid through a fine-mesh strainer or sieve. The broth is now ready to use.
Storage.
Glass is definitely the cheapest and healthiest storage option. The ideal jars for broth or stock must be freezer safe with wide necks and strong seals. Glass jars are easy to clean and sterilise in the dishwasher and can be used an infinite number of times. They also do not leach plastics into your food, unlike plastic containers. To ensure they don’t explode in the freezer, only fill glass jars three-quarters full and allow the broth to cool completely before transferring the jars to the freezer. Broth will last quite a while in the fridge – it varies depending on the broth, but they should last at least a few days and up to a week. If there is a big layer of fat on top which seals off the broth underneath it can last even longer, up to 10 days or more. As long as your broth smells good and fresh when you heat it up, it will be fine to use.