Cannellini Bean Dip

 This makes a great dip for vegetables or low carb crackers.  If you add more stock you would get an excellent bean soup.  To make a purely vegetarian dish, use vegetable stock.  It is important to use the best quality olive oil available.

Serving Size: 4
Cuisine: Italian
-= Ingredients =-
500 gram Cannellini beans
Fresh rosemary
4 cup Chicken stock
1 medium Onion ; diced
2 cloves Garlic ; chopped
1 large Carrot ; diced
1 stalk Celery ; diced
3 medium Tomato ; chopped
2 teaspoon sea salt
Pepper ; freshly ground

-= Instructions =-
Soak the beans over night.  You can use tinned white beans, but the flavor won’t be as good.

Put all of the ingredients except the oil in a casserole.  Simmer for about 2 hours until the beans are fully cooked, adding water if necessary.  Cool this mixture to room temperature.

Use a food processor to blend the beans to a creamy texture.

Serve drizzled with more oil and some paprika powder to add a bit of color.

Beans and bacon

Very simple to make and so tasty.  Makes a great lunch on its own or as a side dish for a heartier meal, for example in place of potatoes with roast meat.  Add some good, homemade stock and you have a great bean soup.  I love the simplicity of this dish,

Low carb Lasagna

Make your favorite lasagna using fried aubergine and/or zucchini slices as ‘pasta’!  It works a treat.

Instead of bechamel or white sauce, use a mixture of sour cream and beaten egg.  If you want a fairly stiff layer of ‘white sauce’, use more beaten eggs.   If I use a simple tomato sauce, I make the white layer with more egg so that it stands out and provides more protein.  If I am using a more substantial pasta sauce (like Bolognese), I use less egg.  Sometimes I use sour cream on its own if I am not bothered about a layer of white.

This is a simple way to turn a favorite high carb meal into a favorite low carb meal.

Corn-fed Chicken with Lemon and Pepper

Free range chickens, especially if they are corn fed, are nothing short of wonderful.  They are meaty, moist and ever so tasty.  These chickens ask only for a simple treatment to bring out the best flavor.  Lemon and chicken was a match made in heaven.

Celery, Avocado and Bell Pepper Salad with Black Olives

This is a marvelous salad after a main course of grilled fish or chicken.  It is just bursting with complimentary flavors.

Clams with Bacon and Tomatoes

The combination of clams and bacon is always good.  Italian pancetta can happily be substituted for the bacon.