SPOON MEASURES. All spoon measures are level unless otherwise stated. (see here.)
OVEN TEMPERATURES. All the recipes were tested in a fan-assisted oven. If using a conventional oven, set the temperature 20°C higher than stated in the recipes. Oven temperatures do vary, so practice makes perfect!
BUTTER is unsalted unless otherwise stated.
DRIPPING/ANIMAL FAT is a frugal alternative for cooking in place of butter, coconut oil and ghee. Save it from your roasting tray or skim off the top of cold broth and store in an airtight container.
EGGS ARE MEDIUM-SIZED. For baking, remember to use them at room temperature. Guidelines recommend that pregnant women, the elderly, babies and toddlers, as well as people who are unwell, should avoid recipes that contain raw or partially cooked eggs.
LEMON/LIME JUICE AND APPLE CIDER VINEGAR (ACV) are interchangeable in many of the recipes although the ratio varies depending on the dish. Please see individual recipes for recommended amounts.
FRESH OR DRIED HERBS. If you don’t have fresh herbs, simply replace with dried ones – about 1 teaspoon of dried herbs for 1 tablespoon of chopped fresh. Keep dried herbs in a sealed container to retain their flavour.
KEEP THE STALKS. Don’t waste the stalks of fresh, tender-stemmed herbs like parsley, coriander and basil. Instead, finely chop with the leaves for sprinkling over dishes, blend into dressings and pestos or blitz into soups. Save mint stalks for brewing mint tea.
PAPRIKA AND CHILLIES. Where ‘smoked paprika’ is given in a recipe, either sweet or smoked can be used. Dried chilli flakes, chilli powder and cayenne pepper are interchangeable and you can swap them for finely diced fresh red chilli, if you prefer.
ACTIVATING. We ‘activate’ or soak pseudocereals, and certain lentils, nuts and seeds, and dried beans, before eating or cooking them. If you don’t soak them, you will need to allow more liquid in a recipe and a longer cooking time. (See here for more information.)
SPIRALIZING OR PEELING. If you don’t have a spiralizer, you can use a julienne peeler or standard vegetable peeler instead where indicated in a recipe.
GLASS JARS. Store pestos/dips/sauces/dressings in a sterilised glass jar with a lid. For sauces or dressings made with fresh ingredients (such as pestos), cover with a layer of extra-virgin olive oil (EVOO) and store in the fridge.
STERILISING GLASS JARS. To sterilise your glass jar and lid, add boiling water and leave for 10 minutes then drain, or put through a dishwasher cycle.
REHEATING. We avoid microwaves and simply reheat food in a pan with a lid (ideal for soups and stews). Bring to the boil, then reduce to a simmer to heat through thoroughly without impairing the flavour. Alternatively, heat through in the oven in an ovenproof dish with a lid. Add a splash of water to whatever you are reheating as it will lose moisture as it heats.
BATCH COOKING. We like to batch cook and many of our recipes can be easily doubled in quantity, allowing you to store half in the freezer for later use.
FREEZING. Allow food to cool down before placing in the fridge or freezer, and get into the habit of labelling food with the date you made it so your freezer is nicely organised and you’re more likely to use what you’ve made. Glass jars can also be used to store frozen foods, but they should not be used to store liquids. If you use glass jars, be sure to choose the wide-mouth, dual-purpose jars that are for freezing and bottling and leave 2.5cm of unfilled space for expansion.
STORING COOKED FOOD. We avoid storing food and drink in plastic wherever possible and use glass, ceramic or stainless steel jars instead. For any non-liquid foods, such as cakes, crackers, biscuits or burgers, you can line plastic containers with good-quality baking parchment (see here).
STORING FRESH FOOD IN THE FRIDGE.
Keep raw meat, fish and eggs away from other foods.
WASHING FRESH PRODUCE. For advice on washing fruit and vegetables before eating, see here.
WAX REMOVAL. To remove the wax from a non-organic citrus fruit, place in a colander and pour over freshly boiled water. Scrub with a brush, then rinse under cool water and dry.
GINGER. If you don’t like the texture of fresh ginger, try using a microplane for finer slices or wrap the chopped ginger in muslin or a clean tea towel and squeeze out the juice, then discard the pulp.
NOTES FOR VEGANS, VEGETARIANS AND THOSE WITH ALLERGIES
Our recipes can be easily tailored to suit your dietary needs with simple substitutions. Wherever possible, we suggest alternatives within the recipe. The following apply throughout the book:
+ Coconut oil. In all recipes, whether sweet or savoury, coconut oil can be used to replace animal fats.
+ Coconut yoghurt can be used in place of cow’s milk yoghurt.
+ Maple syrup can be interchanged for raw honey in every recipe.
Bone broth can be replaced by a good-quality vegetable stock in all recipes. In certain cases, where the bone broth or vegetable stock is not essential to the recipe for its flavour, water can be used instead – this is indicated in the recipe. Bear in mind that neither vegetable stock nor water will have the same nutritional value as a quality bone broth.
Eggs can, in some recipes, be substituted with a gel made from ground flaxseed and water known as a ‘flaxseed egg’. It’s not an exact 1:1 substitution in every recipe since it won’t bind and stiffen during baking quite like an egg does, but it works where indicated in the book. Where a dish works equally well without using eggs (such as for Chestnut Pancakes – here), this is indicated in the recipe.