To help with culinary boredom, we have compiled a list of basic recipes you can make ahead of time. These recipes can be incredibly costly when bought from the shops and also contain additives we don’t need. Making them yourself costs a fraction of what you could buy them for.
Having them ready in your pantry or fridge will also save you on time and lack of inspiration.
Bone Broth
Broth is a mineral rich infusion made by boiling bones of healthy animals with vegetables, herbs and spices.
Homemade, nutrient dense bone broth is incredibly easy and inexpensive to make. There is no comparison to the store-bought versions which often contain MSG or other chemicals and which lack gelatin and some of the other health-boosting properties of homemade broth.
We have a great recipe for bone broth. Find it here.
Curry Paste Recipe
2 long green chillies
1 long red chilli (add extra if you like it super spicy)
2 garlic cloves
1 inch piece of fresh ginger peeled and quartered
¼ onion or 1 shallot
zest of 1 lime
1 tbsp lemongrass paste (or equivalent fresh chopped lemongrass)
Small handful of coriander
Small handful of thai basil or regular basil
1 tbsp coconut oil or water
To prepare curry paste place all ingredients in a food processor and pulse to create a smooth paste. Leftover paste will keep in the fridge for 2 weeks.
Mayonnaise Recipe
Delicious, thick homemade mayo. Is there anything better? This recipe uses healthy fats free from industrialised seed oils, as is commonly found in store bought mayo. It’s also really simple to make. You can use mayonnaise as a base for many different sauces. Make a chipotle mayo with paprika lime and chilli or tartare sauce with capers, gherkins dill and lemon juice.
1 egg
2 tablespoons lemon juice at room temp
1/2 teaspoon dry mustard
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup plus 1 cup light-tasting olive oil, macadamia nut oil or avocado oil (Not extra virgin olive oil)
Place the egg and lemon juice in a blender or food processor. Let them come to room temperature together. Add the dry mustard, salt, and 1/4 cup of the oil. Whirl until well mixed – about 20 to 30 seconds.
The only remaining job is to incorporate the remaining 1 cup oil into the mixture. To do this, you must pour very slowly… the skinniest drizzle you can manage and still have movement in the oil. This takes about three minutes or so.
If you’re using a blender, you’ll hear the pitch change as the liquid starts to form the emulsion. Eventually, the substance inside the blender will start to look like regular mayonnaise.
Do not lose your nerve and consider dumping! Continue to drizzle.
Tips
- Your ingredients must all be at room temperature; the egg, oil, and lemon juice infuse better this way.
- Take your time. You don’t want the oil to split from the egg.
- Look at the expiration date on your eggs. Add about a week. Write that date on the lid of your storage container so you know when to toss your mayo (if it lasts that long).
- Do not use expensive, fancy extra-virgin olive oil; the olive flavour is overpowering. Choose a “light” tasting olive oil.
Pesto Recipe
This is a very traditional recipe. You can jazz it up with extra herbs or red onion if you wish. Toss with zoodles and bacon. Because, everything's better with bacon. Make it without the parmesan to be dairy free.
If you don’t use all the pesto, you can freeze pesto in an ice cube tray and then pop out of the tray and into a snap lock bag. It will store in the freezer for 3 months. Add one ice cube to scrambled eggs for an easy meal.
2 cups fresh basil leaves, packed
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/3 cup pine nuts, cashews or walnuts
2-3 cloves fresh garlic, crushed
2-3 tablespoons grated parmesan
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
Place all ingredients except salt and pepper into a food processor or blender and blend to combine until desired consistency is reached. Season to taste.
Nut Butter Recipe
Nut butters are delicious, creamy, frighteningly expensive to buy but are actually really simple to make.
Pre-heat your oven to 180 degrees and fill up a tray with your nut of choice. We used about 2 cups. It’s fine if the nuts are a couple of layers deep, it just means you’ll need to mix them around a bit during roasting.
Good choices are almonds, cashews, or even more exotic nuts like hazelnuts or walnuts. Just note that the times indicated are for almonds. If you want to try other nuts you’ll just have to watch the roasting process carefully, since some nuts will take more, or less, time in the oven.
Put the nuts in the oven for 15-20 minutes, taking them out at the halfway point and giving the tray a good shake.
Go by smell, if the nuts smell roasted before twenty minutes is up, pull them out and have a look.
Let them cool for 5 - 10 minutes and then dump them all into your food processor. One tray comfortably fills a standard food processor.
Turn it on to a medium speed and let it process for several minutes. If necessary, stop and scrape down the sides.
Keep processing the nuts until the oils are further released by the grinding, and it turns into a smooth paste. It takes at least 5 minutes for it to really start turning into nut butter and not just ground up nuts. Be patient.
At this point, it becomes a matter of preference how smooth or chunky you like it and how long you process it for. The whole thing takes less than 10 minutes.
Optional: Season with salt and you can add a tablespoon of melted coconut oil to the nut butter. This makes it slightly sweeter and really creamy.
Pour into a jar and store in your cupboard.
