Doc V's Healthy Kitchen

More than 5 years in Italy, more than 5 years I stopped working as a passionate family physician, more than 5 years I practice to live with the flow….it all seems yesterday, incredible. Nowadays I’m finding a new balance between daily life as ex pat in Italy, my personal professional project ( 😉 check my other website http://www.studiomedicosanpolino.com), and this blog which I started almost 5 years ago.

Last Saturday I invited the real friends we got to know during those years. Not everyone managed to come, so we were 7 and I probably cooked for 10p. Thanks to Ottolenghi we had a lovely buffet to start, 2 lasagnes ( the one of a few days ago Autumn orange and a lasagne which I prepared last year for another occasion Catering during the harvest of our own olive trees). For the dessert you will have to wait for another occasion because I forgot to take a picture.

Let’s start.

The third dish (if you start at the top of the photo) is an awesome Ottolenghi dish as I posted a while ago, link Beautiful colors after a wonderful day in the sun.

The first one, at the top of the photo, is a bit similar than another older post, link Tarocco. The only difference is that I finished with a dressing with lemon juice, olive oil and fresh coriander.

The second one is again an Ottolenghi recipe. Wash 1 kilo of beetroot. Put in an oven dish with 3 unpeeled garlic cloves. Spread some olive oil. Cover with aluminium foil. Bake in the oven at 200° for approximately 1h, until tender. Cool down a little bit and remove the skin. In the meantime, bake 1 finely chopped red onion and 1 table spoon of cumin seeds in 2 table spoons of olive oil for 3 minutes. Mix with the skin of 1/4 of a pickled lemon, 2 table spoons of lemon juice, salt and black pepper. Set aside.Mix the sliced beetroot with the dressing. Spread on a large plate. Serve with chopped fresh wild fennel ( instead of fresh dill) and a sauce with 150 grams of low fat Greek yogurt, 1 table spoon of white tahini, pepper, salt, some lemon juice and a drizzle of olive oil.

The bottom recipe is also an awedome Ottolenghi one. The sweet potatoes frites are awesome. Diane is waiting for this post. Remove the skin of 3 sweet potatoes (approximately 1 kilo). Chop in chubby frites ( 1.5-2 cm thick). Take a large bowl to mix the frites with 1 teaspoon of smoked paprika powder, 2 teaspoons of sweet paprika powder, 1/2 teaspoon of cayenne pepper powder, 1 teaspoon of ground salt and 30 grams of polenta and 5 table spoons of olive oil. Spread on a large tray covered with baking paper. Bake in the oven at 200° for approximately 30 minutes. Stir now and again. Spread on a plate. Finish with some salt. Serve immediately.

Those four dishes can easily be prepared in advance. Only the oranges and sweet potatoes are baked 30 minutes before the start.