Recipes for Healthy Bones

The following are some recipes supplied by Belle Isle School of Cookery, using top quality seasonal Irish produce, which should hopefully offer you some interesting ways of incorporating calcium and vitamin D into your diet.


Beetroot and goat's cheese fritters

 Ingredients
300g/12 oz cooked beetroot, grated
1 shallot, finely chopped
200g/7 oz goat’s cheese, grated
50g/2 oz plain flour
1 tbsp fresh parsley, finely chopped
2 free range eggs
Salt and pepper

Method
  • Mix all of the ingredients together in a bowl and season well.
  • Heat some oil in a heavy bottomed frying pan and fry spoonfuls of the mixture, flattening slightly, in the pan on both sides for 2 minutes or so until golden. The size of the fritters is up to you. They work well as canapés when very small or instead of potatoes when they are bigger. They will need more cooking time if they are bigger.
  • Drain on some kitchen paper and serve at once.

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Chinese Omelettes with asparagus

 Ingredients
Serves 2

4 large free range eggs
Butter
Salt and pepper
Dash of dry sherry
10-12 spears of asparagus
110g/4 oz cream cheese

Method
  • To make individual omelettes, break two of the eggs into a bowl and whisk well with a tsp. or so of dry sherry. Heat a knob of butter in a non-stick frying pan over a medium heat and swirl around the pan to coat the sides.
  • Pour the beaten egg into the frying pan, swirling as you pour and lower the heat a little. Cook the mixture as though it were a crepe that is, flipping it over and cooking it briefly on the other side as opposed to folding it. Remove and make another one with the rest of the egg mixture.
  • Keep warm. Melt a little more butter in the pan and cook the asparagus in boiling water for a minute or so. Season well.
  • To serve, place 5 asparagus spears on each omelette with a spoon of cream cheese. Fold up the bottom of the omelette over the asparagus ends and then fold over the sides. This should leave you with a neat package with the asparagus heads peeping out. Serve at once or chill until later and eat cold with some chilli jam.

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Poached Salmon in a bowl

 Ingredients
Serves 6

6 fresh salmon fillets
4 tbsp low fat yoghurt
75g/3 oz pine nuts, toasted
Juice & zest of a lemon
2 tbsp dill, finely chopped
Freshly ground pepper
Rocket to garnish

Method
  • Sprinkle each fillet with lemon zest and season well with pepper. Wrap in 2 layers of cling film and seal well. Put the fillets in a large bowl and boil the kettle.
  • Once the kettle has boiled pour it over the salmon fillets and leave there for 10 minutes. Cover the bowl with cling film.
  • Mean while, mix the yoghurt with the dill and the lemon juice.
  • Remove the fillets from the water and unwrap. Discard the clingfilm and lay the fillets on a serving plate. Serve with the dill yoghurt and sprinkle with the pine nuts.

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Tuna Carpaccio

 Ingredients
Serves 4

450g/1 lb fresh Tuna
4 tbsp olive oil/hazelnut oil
2 tbsp lemon juice
2 tsp whole grain mustard
2 tsp fresh thyme/basil, finely chopped
Salt/pepper
1 small red onion, very finely sliced
Watercress to garnish
Toasted pine nuts

Method
  • First make the dressing: In a bowl combine the oil, lemon juice, mustard and herbs. Season to taste.
  • The tuna must be very fresh. Slice as thinly as possible with a sharp knife. Lay out in a decorative pattern on each plate, sprinkle with the red onion and spoon over a generous amount of the dressing. Adorn simply with the watercress and sprinkle with pine nuts. Serve with homemade bread.
N.B.: The dressing must go on just before serving. If you would like to slice the tuna an hour or so before serving and your plates won’t fit in the fridge/you have no cold room, place the sliced tuna on one big serving plate instead of doing individual plates and keep, covered in the fridge.

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