SmarterFitter Daily

Let's get something out in the open straight off the bat: the pizza base was abysmal. I attempted to make a sourdough pizza base using this recipe and it was waaaay too sour. The toppings were good, though - I took some inspiration from smitten kitchen's shaved asparagus pizza and did ricotta, mushrooms, asparagus, spring onions and a light sprinkle of parmesan. A really nice combo, especially with some rocket salad lightly dressed with lemon and olive oil. Oh but that crust was so bad. Confession: I ended up scraping off the toppings onto a piece of toast. 

Had a nice lunch with Rachel Demuth at Made by Bob, pretty much the best thing going in Cirencester at the moment for good food (perhaps some Cirencester peeps can correct me on that one?).

I ordered the asparagus with parmesan and balsamic, which in retrospect was pretty meagre for lunch. Luckily Rachel shared with me some of her focaccia with Imam Bayildi, a Turkish dish of braised aubergine, onion, garlic and tomato. I'd never had before and now I totally want to make it. Rachel informs there's a recipe in Green Seasons. Imam Biyaldi coming soon.

Pretty awesome way to make use of any leftover bean dish: top it with a poached egg. And in this case, these beans - an Italian dish that includes tomato, greens, onion, garlic, sage and lemon zest - are the ultimate egg bed. 

Recipe: Fagioli All Uccelletto

Really just needed a light dinner after today's lunch, and in truth - I think I pushed it at lunch today. Stomach still not 100% and I was probably pushing my luck with all those root vegetables (or do I mean Prosecco?). So for dinner, I cooked up some mushrooms, broccoli and spinach with some tomato sauce and tossed in a few capers and olives to make it interesting. It was like a puttanesca primavera, or something like that. Also, it was piping hot, which I really needed after a day of cold salads and high wind and rain (London).

I rarely eat pasta. But I've been feeling poorly ever since the aforementioned food poisoning incident, and the only foods I can seem to deal with are pasta, toast and strangely, eggs. That there are greens in this dish marks an improvement - I'm slowly coming back around to veg. But they have to be cooked. Raw veg has no appeal. So weird. 

With garlic, leeks, red pepper, fennel seed and parmesan. Served with toast, avocado and sauteed kale.

Breakfast: Strawberry and banana smoothie; sourdough toast with almond butter; coffee