A Year of Healthy Eating: Chew the fat

My recent re-dedication to healthier cooking, and to writing about it, has thrown up its fair share of surprises both personal and culinary.

On a personal level, I find it a privilege to report so honestly on my successes and (ahem) failures in the kitchen and to have such a great response from you, the readers, to what some might see as an abrupt change of direction. That you choose to bear with me is humbling, so thank you.

On a culinary level, well, it’s a bit like going back to school (and I wasn’t great at school). Having trained as a chef and developed food businesses with my sister, I thought I knew a lot about food until I got cancer and had to do some serious research. To an extent, I did. I just didn’t know how much I didn’t know, if you see what I mean.

But just as it always has, the food world continues to develop in exciting new directions, and the increasingly vibrant science of nutrition – of food and how it sustains us – just keeps churning out fascinating new insights that make me reassess how to cook and, crucially, how to make sure we enjoy it, both in the cooking and, as they say, in the eating.

Our understanding of the role of fat is definitely changing. For years we were told fat was bad or at best should be eaten in moderation. But now we are more aware that ‘good’ fats (no icky transfats or hydrogenated fats, thank you) play a crucial role in keeping our bodies, digestion and brains supple and responsive. Some nutrients, including vitamins A, D, E and K, are fat soluble and therefore can only be absorbed if eaten with fat.

Fats also do some seriously heavy lifting – in energy production, cell building, oxygen transport and blood clotting, for starters. No mean feat, I reckon.

So, recently, as well as experimenting with ways to introduce more healthy fats to salads and main courses, I decided to try making bread, or something bread-like, using ingredients full of fat – in this case, nuts, linseeds and butter or coconut oil. The original recipe in Helmsley & Helmsley is only slightly different.

I upped the acid quantity by adding zest and cider vinegar instead of lemon juice, plus some fennel seeds. I also opted for a split between the linseeds and flaxseeds. My tin was also a different size, so it made a sort of focaccia-sized loaf, in height. I froze it and it was fine. Not brilliant, but fine. But it’s almost more cake-like than bread-like, dense but super-nutritious.

And to go with it? This quick tomato soup is the perfect larder lunch; there’s nothing in it you won’t find in your store cupboard. Just don’t skip the anchovies; you won’t taste them and they add some umami oomph to this 15-minute wonder.