Under The Sea; Shellfish and the delicious truth!

            “Have you ever watched a crab on the shore crawling backward in search of                         the Atlantic Ocean, and missing? That's the way the mind of man operates.” 

                                                   -Henry Louis Mencken

I blame Disney for first putting the fear into me of eating shellfish. I for the longest time didn’t want anything to do with crab or really anything from under the sea on the off-chance they could be one of Ariel’s crustacean companions. That fear though, soon went flying out the window with the first taste of a creamy Seafood Chowder at a local bar in my hometown when I was around 13 or 14, and even further out the window with my first bite of Lobster in butter sauce at a fancy restaurant on Long Island when I was 17. 

And then finally the connection to shellfish and bad cholesterol threatened to once again put a damper on my new found love for shrimp and mussels and all that yumminess, but I wasn’t about to be so easily deterred this time and after some research it was to be revealed that shellfish are in fact not a threat to high “bad” cholesterol in the blood (on the contrary, as recent studies showed, men who ate shellfish once a week significantly reduced risk of cardiac death) and they are full of important nutrients which we need for great health!

Firstly, and most importantly, 

• they are almost 
  as good a source of Omega-3’s as some oily fish. Omega 3’s are severely lacking in the typical western diet and are essential for heart health and well preventing just about every single disease in the human body!
• Shrimp and Lobster and Crab for example are very low in saturated fat (although you will know if you’ve read some of my earlier blogs, that I’m not very afraid of certain saturated fats),
• and shellfish in general are a great source of protein, iron, zinc and the healthy skin promoting B vitamins!

There are some things to be careful with when it comes to shellfish and how they are prepared and cooked, as they can be full of bacteria viruses and pollutants!

Always buy your shellfish as fresh as possible and from a reputable source.

Many shellfish are bought live and not killed until you cook them, or in the case of oysters, sometimes eaten raw. The shells of Oysters, Clams and Mussels should be tightly shut or should shut when lightly tapped.  Luckily for those of us who don’t want to kill our food before we eat it, we can also buy shellfish already frozen.

(I have never killed any kind of shellfish myself before eating it, and honestly I’m not too sure I could. I’m not cold hearted enough for those kind of kitchen antics, So I buy it fresh or frozen to avoid all the guilt.)

And anyway, I must say one of my favorite shellfish related foods are Crab Cakes!

I must say the best Crab Cakes I ever tasted are in a restaurant on Bourbon Street in New Orleans, although that is to be expected as the city is quite famous for their seafood!

NOTE: For those of you that sadly have a shellfish allergy, (like a wonderful actor friend of mine who is a great supporter of this blog ;) ) you can always substitute the crabmeat for salmon. Use a can of salmon instead and the recipe should taste just a good and you wont feel like you’re missing out!

But here is a recipe I like using coconut flour  (you can substitute almond flour instead if you prefer)

Gluten-Free Coconut Crab Cakes with Mango Avocado Salsa

1 can of good quality Crab Meat

¼ cup fresh diced green onions

¼ cup finely diced red bell pepper

¼ cup homemade mayonnaise

2 teaspoons Asian Fish Sauce

½ lemon juiced

1 large egg

1 teaspoon ground Cayenne pepper

1/3 cup coconut flour

1 cup desiccated coconut (halved)

Mix all of the above in a mixing bowl. Sprinkle the other half of the desiccated coconut on your worktop and shape your crab mixture into round cakes and slightly roll and pat the crab cake in the desiccated coconut.

Using a little coconut oil heat a large skillet over medium heat. Carefuul place the crab cakes in the pan and fry until browned, turn them over carefully as they are quite delicate and fry on other side until golden brown. About 4 minutes.

Serve with this Mango Avocado Salsa that you would preferably make the night before and have refrigerated.

1 avocado diced up fine

1 mango diced fine

½ large red onion finely chopped

Zest of one lime

1 tsp salt

1 tsp black pepper

2 large tomatoes finely diced

Mix all ingredients well together and refrigerate overnight.

Serve with the warm crab cakes and Enjoy! Guilt free deliciousness!!

GUILT AND GLUTEN FREE COCONUT CHOCOLATE BROWNIES!

So I've been slacking on the blog updates lately, or rather the past few months, but I'm still in Ireland and I've been busy recording new music in the studio and it's taking most of my time!! But I felt inspired to write another blog to share with you all an amazing food that has introduced it's way into my kitchen!! 


It is Coconut flour. Yes flour made from coconuts. Well actually it's the meat of the coconut ground up into the consistency of flour and it can be used as a replacement of flour in a lot of baked goods.  And not only is it gluten-free (for all you gluten intolerant people out there) but it is also low GI due to it's high fibre content! Oh yeah, and it's delish!!


So I had this recipe for Coconut Chocolate Brownies saved on my phone since last ear but I had never got around to trying them. But recently I decided to give them a go and so I went on the hunt for coconut flour, which I luckily found in my local health store. Its Tiana Organic Coconut Flour and it cost me about 8 euro for a relatively small bag. The good thing about the coconut flour though is that you do not seem to use as much of it to make stuff as you would use normal flour, so that said, the price is not so bad!


Anyway, I took it home and tried the recipe which I modified and made into two sides of a cake which I sandwiched together with a little cream cheese and some strawberries!! Everyone devoured it within minutes ( as all you have to do in this house is say Gluten free and Low GI, and it's gone!) I must say it was absolutely unreal though. I love chocolate, but I've never been the biggest fan of chocolate cakes until now! The coconut flour gave the cake a rich moist almost moussey like texture and after one slice I was so full, (that's all the fibre).


The beauty with coconut flour is that it can be used to make so many delicious baked goods, even as a batter for crispy chicken!!  If you check out the Tiana website, they have a bunch of awesome recipes for you to try as well!!  Tiana Website 


I'll share my recipe with you as well just so you can try it!! You can also add nuts or berries or whatever you want to the batter to make it to your own taste.


And if you really want to be guilt-free eating this cake you can substitute the sugar for natural sweeteners like xylitol( which I used) or Stevia. 


GUILT FREE COCONUT CHOCOLATE BROWNIES


1 cup xylitol
3/4tsp Real salt
8 squares unsweetened baking chocolate
6 Organic eggs
1 cup coconut flour *sifted
2/3 cup unsweetened coconut milk
2 tsps vanilla flavoring
1 1/2 cups Organic butter or coconut oil
1 cup crushed walnuts (optional)

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees
• Blend Butter and chocolate over low heat
• Mix Eggs Xylitol Salt and Coconut milk and flavoring together in a bowl.
• Stir in melted chocolate mixture and coconut flour until smooth.
• Grease your tin before pouring in mixture.
• Bake for 20 - 25 mins.
• Remove from oven and let cool.
• Cut into brownie slices!!
• Enjoy

Definitely ELAA approved !! :)