Food, Food, Food

Below: batch cooking in the more humble kitchen at home

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Recently, as you know, the Diabetic Nurse and Dietician decided that they would take me off all medication and I should have a go at a very limited calorific diet.  Well, as you can imagine that lasted a matter of days as breakfast porridge sometimes makes me retch, and working full-time and rushing about needed more energy, and I was getting so hungry that I found myself raiding the the fridge at stupid-o'clock in the wee hours of the morning! Therefore, we are now attempting to follow more of the Soup diet (i.e. the very low calorie diet) and the 5:2 / 800c recipes.  SO, isn't it typical that this week I attended a Lebanese Kitchen cookery class ... utilising plenty of good healthy vegetables and pulses, but also involving generous glugs of olive oil, scoops of strong, white bread-flour and large pats of butter?*!

Check out:  https://www.foodworkscookeryschool.co.uk/
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"Lebanese food - or Levantine cuisine - conjures up thoughts of Arabian nights full of Eastern promise.  With exotically named ingredients such as Za'atar and Sumac now readily available it is relatively easy to add this style of cuisine to everyday cooking.
We will make a feast of sharing plates to include grains, vegetables, fruits and nuts, which are so popular in dishes all over the Middle East.  Very little animal fats are used so this type of cuisine is perfect for a healthy balanced  diet.
kills covered:

• A lot more than a great hummus
• How to make the perfect flat-bread
• Labneh making
• How to work with Lebanese spices
• Kofta making
• Pudding making
• Various cooking techniques 
• Flavour combinations and textures
• Presentation skills

Example Dishes:

• Lebanese cauliflower
• Harissa yogurt
• Pistachio dukkah
• Flat bread Kibbeh
• Sweet smoked paprika hummus
• Zaatar
• Tomato, feta and sumac salad
• Lamb Koftas
• Burnt aubergine
• Flat bread
• Muhallabieh
• Bazarek