Almond Pesto Pasta (Gluten Free, Dairy Free, Egg Free)

I love a good moodboard, me.  For those unfamiliar with the concept, moodboards are simply a way to visualise your aims, ideas, style, likes, ambitions, designs or hopes.  The principle behind it is that if you can visually collate your thoughts into one aesthetically pleasing space, then you make it much likelier that your idea will develop and come to fruition, or ‘manifest’ if you’re using the lingo. Frankly, they are just a brilliant way of pulling together your thoughts into a visual reminder of what your main aim might be.  For example, when I’m writing ideas for a book or this blog, I like to transfer my thoughts into one space , - notes, sketches, photographs, textures, colours – so that I can see the concept as a ‘whole’ and find connections and a ‘flow’ or theme to the work.  It also looks really pretty, and I’m a sucker for anything that would look good in a frame.  There is a science of sorts behind it, though I admit visualisation is a science dressed up in hippy pyjamas.  Our minds find it much easier to focus and connect with visual ideas, if we can visualise something then we find it easier to make it happen.  You can apply the principle to anything: a book design, a new healthy lifestyle, redecorating your kitchen, parties, a brand, it all works. 

It is also essentially a way of styling your life; and a very good way of gauging what you really like and whether there is an idea or theme that keeps repeating itself.  For example, I recently did a moodboard for the spring and summer recipes I would like to explore this year.  Green was a repeat presence: green smoothies, warm spring green salads, artichoke and pea sides, and rich green pesto dominated and this very simple supper was born from that mood board; I craved a fresh green pesto but one with a bit more bite than usual.  The introduction of almonds adds a lovely sweet background note, not to mention a slightly coarse nutty effect that I love.  That nuttiness and the fragrance of the basil meld nicely with the pasta while the sundried tomatoes add a little zing and colour.  I use blanched almonds as I prefer the paler effect on the pesto but you can just as easily use whole almonds, the pesto will be slightly darker but the real flavour comes from lightly toasting them, it just transforms the dish.  I recommend serving it as it, as I did, with a griddled asparagus and chicken side, it added just the right oomph to the whole dish and felt very summery indeed, though it would be just as good as it stands, a scattering of sliced sundried tomatoes its only addition...sit down, enjoy and let your thoughts wander and plan.

ALMOND PESTO PASTA

Serves 4

For the pesto

100g blanched almonds

A large bunch of basil

1 small clove of garlic

6 tbsp olive oil

Pinch of sea salt

400g fusilli or penne gluten free pasta

A handful of sundried tomatoes

Preheat the oven to 200c.

Place the almonds on a baking tray and toast in the oven until golden.  Remove and set aside to cool down.  Once cooled, place in a food processor with the basil, garlic, sea salt and olive oil and pulse until you have a coarse pesto.

Bring a large saucepan of salted water to the boil.  Add in the pasta and cook until al dente (follow the recommended timings on the packet).  Drain the pasta, keeping aside one cupful (about 250ml) of the starchy cooking water. 

Slice the sundried tomato into little pieces.  Stir the pesto into the pasta, adding spoonfuls of the starchy cooking water until you have a creamy sauce.Spoon into bowls, scatter with the sundried tomatoes and serve immediately.

Lightly Pickled Beetroot, Salmon, Apple and Fennel Salad (gluten free, dairy free, egg free)

Fresh, clean, lean and whole; possibly the most overused adjectives when it comes to healthy eating?  Whatever your feelings on the matter they are still pretty accurate, it’s fair to say that whole foods, fresh foods, lean foods are always going to be better for you.  But I’d go one further and say simple foods are the way to go.  There’s been a spate recently of five-ingredients-or-less type cookbooks and actually, they’re rather lovely.  I think we can sometimes be a little too clever with our food; try a little too hard; add a little too much pretension, so much so that we miss the point of it all.  Food is about simple, unequivocal, nourishing pleasure, and we don’t need a foam or five courses or thrice cooked finished dishes for that, what we need is good, fresh, vibrant delicious flavours.  It’s that simple.  As Simon Hopkinson recently said (he of ‘roast chicken and other stories’ fame – by the by, if you don’t already have a copy I highly recommend you get one, it’s a lovely book), ‘you cook to please yourself and hope others like it’.  The food we eat should be about what we love and reflect how we want to live.  So with that in mind here is my incredibly simple but wonderfully pleasing Lightly Pickled Beetroot, Salmon and Fennel Salad: fresh, colourful, piquant, sweet, smoky and rich, not bad for just four main ingredients.

Serve as it is for a lovely light lunch for two or add some steamed new potatoes or some of my Sweet Potato Bread Rolls and a homemade pesto to dip.  It also works well as part of a larger spread: quinoa or butterbean salads abounding and the treat of a tart for pudding seems suitable summertime fare.

LIGHTLY PICKLED BEETROOT, SALMON, APPLE AND FENNEL SALAD

Serves 2

2 large beetroot – alternatively use a pack of vacuum-packed beetroot in their own juices, you usually get four small beetroot in one pack

1 large fennel bulb, keep some of the fronds to finish the dish

1 eating apple - I love Pink Lady for their sweetness

1 fillet of hot smoked salmon

1 tbsp cider vinegar

1 tsp of caster sugar

Trim the leaves from the beetroot (if using fresh), place in a large saucepan and cover with water.  Bring to the boil and then reduce to a gentle simmer and leave to cook for around 40-45 minutes.  Once cooked, drain and leave to cool and then run gently under a cold tap and simply rub away their skins (they will come away easily).  Trim the ends and then slice into thin rounds.  Alternatively, drain and rinse the vacuum pack and then slice into thin rounds.

Trim the fennel bulb and slice thinly.  Core the apple and then slice into thin rounds to match the beetroot and fennel. Combine the vinegar and caster sugar in a small bowl and stir together until dissolved.  Pour the dressing over the sliced beetroot, apple and fennel, then flake the salmon over the top, season with a little black pepper and gently mix together.  Scatter with a few of the chopped fennel fronds and serve immediately.