Welcome to the new home-cooked recipe column. Each week, we’ll meet one local resident and learn the secrets of their favourite recipes.
This week, we meet Swedish-born Sara, a young Canonbury mum and nutritionist who wants to get Londoners to eat healthier food at home – as well as relishing every tasty bite.
Diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes aged two, Sara has been eating a healthy diet for as long as she can remember.
“On the whole,” she says, “I think a diabetic’s diet doesn’t have to be much different from any other healthy person’s diet.
“Lots of fresh vegetables, fruits and herbs, a range of whole grains, nuts and seeds, moderate amounts of eggs, dairy, meat and fish, and certainly the occasional treat.”
In March, Sara – who also works part-time as a reception manager at Trullo, one of the borough’s top-rated restaurants – signed up as a cook for the Hackney-based DishNextDoor, a website which allows residents to sell portions of homemade dishes to neighbours who want home cooking, rather than ready meals or takeaways.
Working for the website, she says, is a perfect way to supplement her income while looking after her one-year-old daughter Rosie, who loves to watch her in action at the kitchen counter.
“It’s liberating to do a job from home because I miss working full-time,” she says. Her family are equally happy with the arrangement. “We’ve never eaten so well,” she says.
“When my husband, who manages Trullo, comes home late at night, there are always leftovers on the counter.”
So far, her most popular recipe is a vegetarian dish: sweet potato gnocchi with almond and sweet herb pesto.
Sara’s Sweet Potato Gnocchi with Almond and Herb Pesto
Ingredients:
For the gnocchi:
2 sweet potatoes
3 eggs
1.5 tsp salt
6 tsp cornflour
360g spelt flour, sieved
For the pesto:
150g almonds
2.5 dl (?) olive oil
Bunch basil
Bunch parsley
Small bunch of mint
1 garlic clove
Zest and juice of 1 lemon
Handful of parmesan cheese
Salt to taste
Combine all ingredients in a blender and serve.
Method:
Bake sweet potato on a low heat till cooked through.
Cool, mash, then mix with eggs, salt, and flour to make a dough.
Roll into a sausage, then cut every 2.5cm to form dumplings.
Boil in hot salted water for 2 minutes then remove and place into iced water. Finally fry for 1 minute until nutty brown.
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