Chef Martin Anderson
As we near the end of week two of your lifestyle choice I have to ask ……. how are you doing?
Perhaps you didn’t bother or don’t need to look after your health and eating habits but it’s always good to keep an eye on them for your later years in life.
There has been a lot of attention paid to sugar in the media over the last few weeks and I think it’s time I gave you a recipe for a wee treat .
I talked before about the hidden sugars and dairy in chocolate and as you may have read even Cadburys creme eggs are suffering a drop in sales because they took the milk out of the chocolate and decided that they would coat the ‘gooyeeeness’ in just chocolate. Changed the taste completely as everyone noticed .
By adding fats and dairy to chocolate makes it really tasty , the higher the fat content the more tasty the chocolate is.
Can you imagine putting two squares of chocolate in your mouth and as it slowly melts it sticks to the roof of your mouth. It’s the fat in the chocolate which causes this to happen. It’s the same when you eat home-made chips or deep fried foods, the cooking fat sticks to the roof of your mouth.
The traditional way of wrapping fish and chips was in newspaper or brown paper – we have all seen how much fat seeps through the paper! That fat in the chocolate has to go somewhere and it’s usually where you don’t want people to see it.
Tasty but in moderation !!
When we add extra sugar, milk, cream or even oil to chocolate we are changing the natural ingredients and raising the sugar and fat content. This increases the calories and of course makes it cheaper to produce . That’s the secret you see, cheaper to produce and more profit !!
Brace yourselves for the next bit ………….did you know that chocolate fountains have cooking oil added to them so that when the chocolate heats up with the oil they flow more freely.
Remember that the next time you are at an event and you see the children eating big cups of chocolate and strawberries. Yes it’s tasty but again in moderation , the cheaper the fountain the cheaper the chocolate, remember that.
Artificial sugar is another pet hate of mine. These are man made sugar replacements to be honest I’d rather you used real sugar and burnt the calories off in exercise that sprinkle this stuff on you porridge. If taken in large quantities they act as a laxative , you’ll lose the weight that way alright but it’s not ideal as you can imagine .
Look for natural ways to sweeten your food, there are various concentrated fruit syrups in Heath food shops which can be added to fruit salad , porridge , yogurts and granola .
Be careful when adding dried fruits also as some of these are soaked in sugar syrup before drying to help preserve them – all hidden sugars.
Low fat foods have a tendency to have high sugar content especially yogurts and many of low fat meals you see advertised , they have to replace the flavour that the fat doesn’t give , sugar and salt are the two cheapest ingredients to do this be careful when feeding yourself of your children with low fat options the hidden sugars are horrendous .
As I’ve said on many occasions I’d rather you ate real food and cooked it in a low fat manner.
Anyway this article is about having a chocolate treat so here you go. When I eat chocolate I always go for the high cacao content that is 70% or above , this is also called Dark chocolate simply because there is little or no dairy and added sugar which keeps the chocolate dark in Colour , some people suffer from migraines when they eat dark chocolate so please don’t use it in this recipe if you do , you may use milk chocolate but it defeats the purpose really.
Research has shown that by adding fresh chilli to food you are increasing your metabolic rate and you body will burn fat quicker so give it a go !!
Chilli & Chocolate Bark
This is a quick and easy chocolate treat for you to make, use what ever dried fruits, nuts or seeds that you have at hand, allow to chill before you break or cut it.
By spreading the chocolate thinly on parchment paper you are using less chocolate for a portion , let’s be honest have you ever eaten just 1 square of chocolate !!!
You will need
200g of 70% dark chocolate, make sure it is dark!!!
Chilli powder or 2 fresh chillies de-seeded and chopped
Seeds, dried fruits and nuts of your choice. Remember to pay attention to the sugar content of the fruits
Mini marshmallows or similar or you may cut larger marshmallows up into small pieces.
Method.
Melt your chocolate in a bowl over a pot of hot water, do not allow the bowl to touch the water as it will be too hot and will ruin the chocolate
Season with your chilli powder or add the fresh chillies .
Pour your melted chocolate onto a sheet of parchment paper and spread as thinly as possible , sprinkle with your nuts and other ingredients .
Place in the fridge to set , at least 2 hours .
When set remove from the fridge and cut or break as required.
Keep in an airtight container .
