Paleo Comfort Foods
I've had Julie and Charles Mayfield’s “Paleo Comfort Foods” cookbook for some time. Despite reading it from cover to cover, I had not actually got round to cooking from it, until earlier this week.
I was limited for time, but wanted to make a Paleo friendly appetizer/ hors d'œuvre to take along to a Primal dinner I was going. The bacon wrapped dates recipe looked perfect. I usually try to steer away from dried fruit as it is so high in sugar, but in serving something like this before dinner each person only has two or three, so the sugar impact is minimised.
These are so many different variants of this meat wrapped dish – angels on horseback (oysters wrapped in bacon), devils on horseback (prunes of figs wrapped in bacon) and even the British favourite pigs in blankets – cocktail sausages wrapped in bacon. The version in Paleo Comfort Foods is very simple, using just dates, bacon and almonds inside.
I quite simply pitted the dates, replacing the stone with a couple of raw almonds. I then cut some organic bacon to size and wrapped it around the date, holding it in place with a cocktail stick (actually, several cocktail sticks!). I put these in the oven to crisp the bacon, turning a couple of times.
I find Australian bacon seems to contain a lot less fat than American bacon (I'm always surprised American’s get enough bacon grease left over to be able to use it for other things). This makes it harder to mould the bacon around the date, but using more cocktail sticks did the job!
I also made the Carrot & Fennel salad (again!) from the Everyday Paleo Cookbook, which is fast becoming a favourite! Why have a boring salad, when you can have something a bit different?
I love to take time cooking, but sometimes it’s nice to have Paleo dishes that can be made quickly and simply.
My Paleo Comfort Foods book is full of paper markers on all of the recipes I intend to try – hopefully I'll get a chance to try some of the sauces – Mayonnaise, Ketchup, Gravy and Barbecue sauce this weekend – handy recipes to have up my sleeve as they can go with so many meals. I'm also interested in the Paleo bread recipe – I wonder whether this would be a good alternative to offer to those friends who find bread to hard to give up?
Have you tried any of the recipes from Paleo Comfort Foods yet? Which is your favourite cookbook?
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I have “Make it Paleo” on its way to me at the moment which I am excited about!
I used to really like “Everyday Paleo” but my copy went missing 🙁
… I have Loren Cordains cookbook but don’t use it that much and the ebooks “Paleo Cookbooks” which I use quite a bit, although right now I am having fun adapting recipes from Jamie Oliver’s 30Minute Meals and Great Britain cook books
I love “Make it Paleo”, it’s such a beautiful book! What a shame you lost “Everyday Paleo” – hopefully it will turn up again!
Adapting recipes is great fun too – and I find the older the book, the less substitutions required!
I just ordered Make it Paleo as well the book is fabulous, easy recipes and the pictures look delicious I could eat the book if that was allowed :p The Paleo comfort foods look great too, ill have to save up some money then I can buy that next week! yum the pigs in blankets paleo version looks great too! I am loving cooking at the moment creating from scratch its so satisfying! I too have been looking at ordinary recipes and Paleo-ing them to suit my needs. Theres a great recipe “Beef Chitarnee” that I am going to try out that my mother had in one of her new recipe books, made from chuck beef steak, coconut oil, onions, capsicum, grated ginger, garlic, coriander, paprika, cumin, garam masala, tumeric, pepper, ripe tomatos, vinegar and curry leaves. im gonna combine it all and let it cook in the slow cooker till lovely and tender.
My favourite grain free bread recipe is this, I mix 3 eggs with 200gm almond spread together in a mixing bowl then I add 1 tsp baking soda, tablespoon apple cider vinegar, quarter tsp salt, 1 tsp cinnamon, tsp cardomon, half tsp nutmeg mix together until combined…then i put in a small loaf pan (line with baking paper and i bake for 160 degrees for 20mins until knife is clear when i insert to test loaf. take out of oven and cut into 8 slices. the slices will be springy delicious, spicy and you will think oh my god theres no grains in this??! it looks like the key ingredient is flour but there isnt. its my lifesaver loaf. i have it with soup, brekky, snack whenever I need to.
Are the two books mentioned above, Make it Paleo and Paleo Comfort Book Australian books? I really want to start paleo but do not want American books.
No, most of the books (so far!) are American Mary. It won’t be long before we have our own home grown books on the topic though!