Beef Stew

This dinner is one of our staples, but a recent change to low carb/no sugar requires a few changes.

Ingredients:

600g stewing beef
1 Tin of tomatoes
Half a celeriac - optional
4 carrots
2 onions
1 beef stock cube - made up as per instructions
3 sticks celery
Handful of sage leaves chopped finely
Small handful of marjoram chopped finely (leave the stalks out)
Small glass of red wine - optional

Method:

Peel and roughly chop all of the vegetables.
Add a couple of tablespoons of olive oil (not extra virgin) to a large casserole on high heat. Fry the onions and beef for a few minutes until the beef is well coloured. Add all the other ingredients and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat to very low and leave it to cook for 2 to 3 hours. Exact time will depend on the cut of beef used.

Differences from 'Normal':

• No potatoes used 
• No tomato puree used - this usually has added sugar
• We just serve this on its own. It has enough veg without side dishes
• It contains more beef than we would normally use for this size of casserole
• Check all ingredients used for sugar
• The red wine might be a bit of a rule breaker, but we add it early so most of the alcohol is gone and besides, it really lifts this dish

Venison stew

I was given a leg of venison by my dad. He knows a guy whose son hunts. None of them seem too keen on it, but I am. Have had venison a few times and it is always delicious. Bit pricey and tricky to get, so was very happy with this. There is a tablespoon of redcurrant jelly in this and it is served with roasted potatoes. Neither of these are low carb of course, but we had guests so needed to accommodate them too. You could of course leave these out if you prefer.

Venison Stew

Ingredients

1.5 kg of venison leg - chopped into chunks
2 Rashers of smoked bacon, roughly chopped
3 Carrots
2 Onions
3 Sticks of Celery
1 Tbsp of redcurrant jelly
1 Beef stock cube
5 crushed juniper berries

Method

Preheat the oven to 150 degrees C.
Peel and roughly chop the vegetables. Fry them in a little olive oil in a large pot suitable for the oven.
When they have softened remove them from the pot and put aside.
In the same pot fry the bacon until some of the fat starts to run. Brown the chunks of venison in with the bacon. Return the vegetable mixture to the pot and cover the whole lot with boiling water from the kettle. Add the beef stock cube and make sure it is dissolved.
Bring to the boil and place it in the oven with the lid on.
It will be ready in between 1.5 and 2 hours. Check the meat is tender before serving.
I served this with roasted potatoes and a garden salad on the side.

Stir fried broccoli

This is a very simple side dish, but it goes with a lot of different mains. I first saw this done with cabbage and it is lovely that way too, but this is a broccoli version.

Ingredients

A large head of broccoli including stalk
3 cloves of garlic sliced thickly
2 tbsp of cold pressed vegetable oil - details of what is good here
1 tbsp of Soy sauce (tamari is wheat free, so this is probably better here)
1 tbsp of Shaoxing rice wine - you can get this in chinese supermarkets

Method

Cut the stalks off the broccoli and scrape off any tough bits. Split the main stalk into 4 pieces lengthways and then slice these pieces finely. For each floret that remains do the same with the attached stalk so that there is as little stalk as possible still attached. This means that all the parts will cook together and you don't get rock hard stalks on the florets when everything else is cooked.
Heat the oil in a wok until it is almost smoking. Add all of the garlic and stir fry for a minute. Add the broccoli and stir fry on a high heat until cooked through. Make sure you keep everything moving or the garlic will burn. When it is ready add the wine and soy. Continue to cook until these have evaporated off. Serve immediately with a sprinkle of sesame seeds.

Tuna and egg salad

This is very simple to make, but satisfying enough for dinner for 2. It is a variant on a Nicoise salad, but does not have any potatoes in it.

Ingredients

For the salad

4 hard boiled eggs, sliced
1 Tin of tuna in oil, drained
Half a jar of black olives, pitted
Lots of rocket, enough to make a thick layer in the bowls before you put the other ingredients in
4 tomatoes, sliced

Optional ingredients for the salad: 

Capers, green olives, anchovies, toasted pine nuts

For the dressing

Olive or cold pressed rapeseed oil
Balsamic vinegar, good stuff is better as its flavour dominates this dressing. You don't need much
1 tsp english mustard
Salt and pepper

Instructions

Get a jar with a screw top lid on it. A clean jam jar is fine, but a screw top plastic food storage container is better. Pour in about 1 cm deep of oil. Add the mustard and salt and pepper. Pour in some balsamic vinegar. Less than half the quantity of oil should do the trick. Close the lid and give it a good hard shake.
Line the serving bowls with rocket. Arrange the other ingredients on top. Drizzle the dressing over.

Low Carb Hospitality

I attended an event at Google in Dublin a couple of days ago. The catering was very impressive, but as you can see from the picture, not very low carb. This was afternoon tea for those feeling peckish after lunch. There was something similar in the morning and lots of options for lunch - low and high carb.

The point here is that it can be very difficult to stick to a low carb diet (or indeed any diet) when someone else is feeding you. To be fair to Google, they asked me twice by email if I had special dietary needs and I thought, 'I'll be fine'. I presumed they were asking if I was a vegetarian. Maybe I should have told them I was gluten intolerant. Might have gotten me somewhere.

If lunch had not had as many options as Google customarily offers I would have been in trouble. Even a visit to the local Spar is unlikely to produce much low carb joy.

So the message is to bring your own lunch if you don't think you will be able to eat what they give you. Thanks to the reduced appetite that comes with a low carb diet the sugary treat tables did not bother me. And they had very nice coffee to give me something to do during the breaks.

Green lentils with smoked coley and cabbage

This is a good filling main meal. It requires some chopping to get it started, but cooks away on its own without requiring any of your attention.
This serves 2 adults and takes about 50 minutes in total.

Ingredients

200g Green lentils - I got mine in Dunnes Stores
1 litre of vegetable stock - Marigold is good, but any that is not full of rubbish will do
3 Carrots, finely chopped
1 Onion, finely chopped
3 Sticks of celery, finely chopped
1 Tbsp of Olive oil
2 smoked back rashers, chopped
4 bay leaves
200g approx of smoked Coley
About 5 leaves of green cabbage, stalk trimmed out and discarded

Instructions

Heat the oil in a thick bottom pot. Add the bacon and vegetables and cook for about 20 minutes on medium. Stir occasionally to stop it sticking. Add the lentils, stock and bay leaves. Bring to a simmer and cook covered for about 25 minutes until the lentils are almost done. Cut the cabbage into strips and cut these cross ways - this just makes it easier to eat without scalding your chin. Add the cabbage and fish to the pot and push them down beneath the surface of the liquid. Cover again for about 10 minutes. Ladle into bowls and serve with a good drizzle of extra virgin olive oil on top.

Puy lentil casserole with balsamic vinegar

We have been making variations of this for years. Lentils are low GI, so less impact on insulin levels than other more processed foods.

Eating low carb can lead to more meat consumption. Just because meat is good for you does not mean that it has stopped damaging the environment. This meal is a tasty and satisfying meat free one.

Ingredients

200g Puy lentils
1 litre vegetable stock - Marigold powder is good
3 carrots, peeled and finely chopped
1 onion, peeled and finely chopped
4 sticks of celery, finely chopped
1 tbsp of balsamic vinegar
Oil for cooking

Method

Cook the vegetables for about 30 minutes in some oil over a medium heat. Stir it now and then to make sure it does not stick and leave the lid on to keep the steam in.
Next add the lentils and stock. Bring to the boil and cook until the lentils are tender - this varies by the exact type of lentil, but expect about 30 minutes.
Using a stick blender blend about half of the lentils in the pot. Add the balsamic vinegar and give everything a good stir.
I serve this with a rocket salad with tomatoes, toasted pine nuts and a balsamic and mustard vinaigrette. Grate plenty of parmesan on top of the lentils.

How to avoid Wheat Belly

Not eating wheat is a side effect of being on a low carb diet. Dr. William Davis makes a serious case for eliminating wheat even on a non low carb diet. The details of what has been done to wheat in the name of productivity and profit at the expense of people's health is shocking. We are used to wheat being part of our diet, so this stuff is as hard to believe as the low carb regime in general, but it is a message worth listening to. Dr. Davis is an engaging speaker and the quality of the presentation is very high.

Meatballs in a Provençal Sauce

Another variation on the provençal recipe. The quantities here are for 2 people.

Ingredients

For the meatballs

500g of minced beef
Handful of fresh sage and marjoram, chopped finely
Salt and pepper
Rapeseed oil for frying

The sauce

3 Carrots, finely chopped
1 Onion, finely chopped
4 cloves of garlic, thinly sliced
Handful of pitted black olives, cut in half
2 tbsp of capers
A small tin of anchovies in oil
2 Tins of tomatoes
4 bay leaves, dried are fine
Black pepper
Butter, about the size of 2 walnuts
1 tbsp of olive oil for cooking
A handful of french beans cut into bite sized pieces

Method

Place the mince in a bowl and add the herbs and salt and pepper. Mix it well with your hands. Add the oil to a pan and get it nice and hot. Remove a golf ball sized piece of mince and shape it into a ball. Drop it into the pan. Do this for the whole lot. Keeping the heat quite high, keep the balls turning to that they don't burn. Do this until they are firm when squeezed. This means they are cooked through. Next for the sauce

Heat the oil and butter in a thick based pot over a high heat. Once the butter is bubbling add the onions, carrots and garlic. Give everything a good mix to coat in oil and butter and put the lid on. Lower the heat right down. Give this about 40 minutes stirring occasionally to allow the vegetables to soften. Then add the olives, anchovies in their oil and capers and cook for another 10 minutes or so. Then add the rest of the ingredients except the meat balls. Give everything a good stir and put the lid back on. Once the carrots are soft add the cooked meat balls. Cover them with the sauce and continue to cook with the lid on for about 10 minutes. Ladle into bowls to serve.

Hot Smoked Mackerel Pate

This is really simple and only has a few ingredients. These packets of hot smoked mackerel are very versatile. It's not really a pate as the fish is just mashed with a fork. You can blend it for a smoother paste if you prefer, but it is not necessary. Delicious as part of a weekend lunch.

Ingredients

1 Packet of Hot Smoked Mackerel - Aldi
1 tbsp of horseradish sauce
1 tbsp of crème fraiche

Instructions

Peel the skin from the mackerel and remove any small bones. Flake it into a bowl. Add the horseradish sauce and crème fraiche and mix the whole lot thoroughly.

Serve with some tomatoes on a bed of rocket.

A Big List of Low Carb Recipes

There are lots of low carb recipes available on the web (and in books), but I think it is useful to get an overview of a bunch of them so that you can see common themes and make up your own. This list is useful in conjunction with yesterday's shopping list. Knowing how fill and empty your presses is crucial. 

Some of these are more filling than others. When I am still hungry after dinner I just fill up on healthy snacks. That's not ideal though. Your main meal of the day should leave you feeling satisfied. To that end I will adjust these recipes with experience to make sure they are filling enough for 2 adults. 

Some of these are not very low carb, but I have noted where that is the case. Not too much of those. I will post fuller instructions for some of the items in the list, but for a lot of them they are just a single item (how do you make 'Tin of Sardines'?) or they are very obvious and you can use your imagination.

Breakfast

• Porridge - every day. No sugar now. Just milk.

Lunch

• (I usually have a raw carrot or 2 with my lunch. Any opportunity to get some veg in is good)
• Tin of mackerel - my most common mid week lunch
• Smoked Mackerel - vacuum packed stuff from Aldi is very good. About half a packet is enough for 1 person.
• Tin of Sardines - in oil, which should be drained
• 3 scrambled eggs with a large knob of butter, salt and pepper. Don't have this too often as eggs can be difficult to digest. 
• Cold meats - no too many of these as they have lots of preservatives
• Hummus and thinly sliced carrot - only a snack really and not that low in carbs. So have a small amount of this with something else for lunch.

Weekend lunches

• Butternut squash and nut butter soup. This is from River Cottage. You can find it here, but the book is well worth buying. They have a great collection of recipes that fit or can be made to fit a low carb diet.
• Red lentil, red pepper and coconut soup. A nice recipe from Catherine Fulvio. You can find it here.
• Bean salad - tin of mixed beans from aldi, dressing made of olive oil, balsamic vinegar, English mustard and salt and pepper. Serve with lots of rocket and tomatoes.

Dinner

Beef

• Beef stew without parsnips or potatoes
• Braised Beef curry with coconut
• Meatballs Provençal
• Goulash
• Ricotta beef burgers - from Nigel Slater's eat

Chicken

• Roast chicken with vegetables
• Chicken, Chorizo and butter bean casserole
• Roasted chicken portions rubbed in jerk seasoning. I just use some stuff I bought, but you can make your own if you like.

Vegetable

• Veg curry
• Chickpea chard and porcini soup - River Cottage Veg
• Hearty Green lentil stew - Gillian McKeith
• Mediterranean black eye pea casserole - Gillian McKeith
• Red lentil casserole - Domini Kemp
• Dhal - River cottage veg

Lamb

Slow cooked lamb shoulder with white wine black olives and anchovies. Theo Randall on Saturday Kitchen. 

Fish

• Provençal style Salmon with (optional) chard
• Fish stew
• Roasted salmon with vegetables

Others

• Mushroom omelette with smoked mackerel
• Butternut squash and sweetcorn soup with smoked mackerel

Snacks

• Nuts
• Olives
• Cheese
• Carrots
• Hummus - there's that carb alarm again. Use in moderation.

Low Carb Goulash

One of the things I try to do with low carb versions of dishes is to incorporate as many additional vegetables as I can. A classic Hungarian goulash contains far fewer ingredients than this, but this version works well. Also Hungarian Goulash is usually served with rice and I leave that out here to keep the carbs down.

Ingredients

500g Stewing beef pieces
2 Onions, chopped roughly
2 Carrots, chopped roughly
1 red and one green pepper, chopped roughly
3 Sticks of celery, chopped roughly
1 heaped desert spoon of smoked paprika
Salt
Olive oil for cooking
1 Tin of tomatoes
Creme Fraiche to serve

Method

Brown the beef in a pressure cooker with the lid off. Use plenty of heat to thoroughly brown the outside of the meat. Remove the meat from the pot and put aside. Fry the onions, carrot and celery in the same pot until they are beginning to brown. Return the meat to the pot. Add the tomatoes and paprika and put the lid on. Cook at pressure for about 45 minutes. Add the peppers. Bring the pot back to cooking pressure and turn the heat off immediately. Let it come to normal pressure in its own time. This is sufficient to cook the peppers.
Ladle the goulash into bowls and add a dessert spoon of creme fraiche and stir in.

Provençal Style Salmon with Chard

There are lot of different protein sources that you can add to this basic sauce to make a delicious low carb dinner. It works great with meat balls for example. The quantities here are for 2 people.

Ingredients

3 Carrots, finely chopped
1 Onion, finely chopped
4 cloves of garlic, thinly sliced
Handful of baby sweetcorn, cut into 1 cm pieces
Handful of pitted black olives, cut in half
2 tbsp of capers
A small tin of anchovies in oil
2 Tins of tomatoes
1 Red pepper chopped small
2 Salmon darnes
4 bay leaves, dried are fine
Black pepper
Oregano, I used dried
Butter, about the size of 2 walnuts
1 tbsp of olive oil for cooking
Small bunch of chard, central rib trimmed out an shred the leaves

Method

Heat the oil and butter in a thick based pot over a high heat. Once the butter is bubbling add the onions, carrots, baby sweetcorn, red peppers and garlic. Give everything a good mix to coat in oil and butter and put the lid on. Lower the heat right down. This is basically a type of mirepoix, but with extra vegetables. Give this about 40 minutes stirring occasionally to allow the vegetables to soften. Then add the olives, anchovies in their oil and capers and cook for another 10 minutes or so. Then add the rest of the ingredients except the salmon. Give everything a good stir and put the lid back on. Once the carrots are soft it is ready for you to add the salmon and chard. Mix the chard in first and then place the darnes on the surface of the sauce and spoon the sauce over them so that they are covered. Put the lid back on for about 10 minutes. Check that the salmon is done and ladle into bowls to serve.

Ingredient Sources

I got the salmon darnes in Aldi for € 3.99 for a pack of 2. We have had these before and they are excellent. Almost everything else if from Aldi too.
The chard is from the garden.