Diet food has a bad reputation. It conjures up images of chewing on cardboard-like rice cakes and low-fat packet soups packed with preservatives, while you battle cravings for anything that so much as resembles dessert.
Enter Tom Kerridge. He not only runs the UK’s only pub with two Michelin stars (The Hand And Flowers in Marlow), but he knows a thing or two about weight loss – having shed a staggering 12 stones himself.
Now back with a second diet book, Lose Weight For Good, and accompanying BBC programme, he’s determined to demonstrate that calorie-controlled meals can be delicious and easy to whip up at home.
“I looked at lower-calorie recipes and I found them depressing, boring and flavourless,” Wiltshire-born Kerridge, 44, says. “I thought, ‘Well no wonder so many people yo-yo on diets, they’re not enjoying what they’re eating’.”
He describes his new book as a “celebration of great-tasting food”, with an emphasis on recipes that use everyday ingredients and come in portions big enough to fill you up.
It’s full of nutritious but hearty recipes, and some that might surprise you, like spicy lamb burgers, pork samosa pie, pizza with parma ham and mozzarella, and coffee and chocolate custard pots.
The accompanying TV show, currently on BBC Two, follows a group of 13 dieters on their mission to achieve steady but lasting weight loss with Kerridge’s recipes. “Seeing them actually enjoying what they’re eating has been the biggest thing for me,” says the chef.
So how did Kerridge lose his weight? Alongside a typically hectic lifestyle, being in the restaurant business and constantly around food saw Kerridge’s weight creep up to 30 stone.
“I worked very hard, I spent a lot of time in other people’s restaurants, a lot of time labouring in the kitchen. I’d go home late and have cheese on toast,” he recalls. “It was the same trap everyone else falls into.”
Approaching 40 made him evaluate his health. It was January 2013 when the dad-of-one gave up booze and devised his own weight-loss plan, later coined The Dopamine Diet, which was turned into a bestselling book. It took him to just under 18 stone, mainly by cutting down on carbohydrates.
Essentially, Kerridge wants to get people cooking, because there’s no better way to ensure what you’re putting into your body is healthy. But as for sticking to it? “Nobody else can do that for you,” says Kerridge. “And it doesn’t matter what diet you’re on, you have to make that decision yourself and you have to do it.”
Courgette cake
Ingredients:
(Serves 8)
Sunflower oil spray
250g half-fat margarine
100g caster sugar
4tbsp granulated sweetener
3 large free-range eggs
250g self-raising flour
1tsp bicarbonate of soda
1tsp ground cardamom
1 vanilla pod, split and seeds scraped
Finely grated zest of 2 limes
200g courgettes, grated
For the icing:
100g icing sugar
1tbsp light cream cheese
1tbsp lime juice
To finish:
Grated zest of 1 lime
Method
1 Preheat the oven to fan 180°C/gas 4. Spray a 900g (2lb) non-stick loaf tin with a few sprays of oil.
2 Using a stand mixer or electric hand whisk and large bowl, cream together the margarine, caster sugar and sweetener until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.
3 Sift the flour, bicarbonate of soda and ground cardamom together over the mixture, add the vanilla seeds and lime zest and fold in gently, using a spatula, until just combined. Lastly, fold in the grated courgettes.
4 Spoon the cake mixture into the prepared tin and gently level the surface. Bake on the middle shelf of the oven for 50-60 minutes. To test, insert a skewer into the middle of the cake: it should come out clean; if not give it a little longer.
5 Once cooked, leave the cake to cool in the tin for five minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
6 To make the icing, in a bowl, whisk the icing sugar, cream cheese and lime juice together until smoothly combined.
7 Spread the icing on top of the cake and sprinkle with the lime zest. Cut into eight thick slices to serve.
Calories per serving: 365.
Baked cod
Ingredients:
(Serves two)
2tsp flaky sea salt
1tsp hot smoked paprika
2 cod fillets (200g each)
3 medium courgettes, cut into chunks
4 garlic cloves, thickly sliced
200ml fresh fish stock
1tsp dried oregano
Olive oil spray
400g tin butter beans, rinsed and drained
200g cherry tomatoes on the vine
40g pitted green olives
8 thin slices of chorizo
Finely grated zest and juice of 1 lemon
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped, to finish
Method
1 Mix the flaky salt with half a teaspoon of smoked paprika and sprinkle over both sides of the cod fillets. Place them on a plate, cover with cling film and refrigerate for one to two hours.
2 Preheat the oven to fan 180°C/gas 4. Line a roasting tin with baking parchment.
3 Place the courgettes in the roasting tin. Add the garlic and pour on half of the fish stock. Sprinkle with the oregano and some salt and pepper. Spray with 25-30 sprays of oil. Cook on the middle shelf of the oven for 15 minutes.
4 Remove the fish from the fridge, wash off the salt and pat dry with kitchen paper.
5 Take the tray from the oven and mix through the butter beans. Nestle the fish fillets into the mixture, along with the cherry tomatoes and olives. Pour on the rest of the fish stock. Lay the chorizo slices, overlapping, on top of the cod fillets.
6 Sprinkle the lemon zest and juice and the remaining half teaspoon of smoked paprika over everything and season with salt and pepper. Spray another 20 sprays of oil over the surface and bake in the oven for 12 minutes, until the fish is just cooked. Sprinkle with chopped parsley and serve.
Calories per serving: 535
Shakshuka Breakfast Eggs
Ingredients
(Serves 2)
1tsp light olive oil
1 red onion, finely sliced
1 large red pepper, cored, deseeded and diced
1 large green pepper, cored, deseeded and diced
4 garlic cloves, finely sliced
1tsp ground cumin
1/2tsp ground cinnamon
2 tsp hot smoked paprika
A pinch of flaky sea salt
2 x 400g tins chopped tomatoes
4 medium free-range eggs
50g half-fat feta
A handful of coriander leaves, roughly chopped
Freshly ground black pepper
Method
1 Heat the oil in a medium non-stick frying pan (that has a lid) over a
high heat. Add the onion and cook
for two minutes, then add the
peppers and garlic and cook for a
further four minutes. If the veg begin
to stick, add a splash of water to
the pan.
2 Stir in the cumin, cinnamon, paprika and salt and cook, stirring, for about 30 seconds, until the spices become fragrant. Tip in the tinned tomatoes, stir to combine and lower the heat. Simmer for 10-15 minutes until the sauce thickens slightly.
3 Make four small wells in the tomato sauce for your eggs. Crack an egg into each well and place a lid on top of the frying pan. Leave the eggs to cook for five minutes or until the whites are just set.
4 Crumble the feta over the surface and finish with the chopped coriander and a grinding of pepper. Serve straight from the pan.
Calories per serving: 375
Lose Weight For Good: Full-Flavour Cooking For A Low-Calorie Diet by Tom Kerridge is published by Absolute, priced £22. Available now. The accompanying six-part series continues on BBC Two on Wednesdays.
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