Happy Food

The food we eat can lift our mood keeping us both happy and healthy - Swedish chef, author, and TV star, Niklas Ekstedt, has taken gut health one step further with the book he co-authored, The Happy Food For Life. Here’s a trio of satisfying recipes from the book.

Buckwheat risotto recipe with fennel and pea sprout salad

This buckwheat risotto is flavoursome, nutritious and makes for a hearty meal too.

Ingredients:

2 shallots
300g crushed buckwheat
3tbsp cold-pressed rapeseed oil
600ml chicken stock
150g Västerbottensost cheese (or aged Cheddar cheese)
4tbsp crème fraiche
1tbsp fennel seeds
1 bulb of fennel
3–5 cooked beetroot
Pea sprouts or green leaves or herbs, such as basil or Oregano, to serve

Method
1. Peel and chop the shallots.
2. Sauté the shallots and buckwheat in the rapeseed oil for four to five minutes in a wide, thick-bottomed saucepan.
3. Stir and add the chicken stock, a little at a time. Allow the liquid to reduce and add more stock while stirring until there’s still a little bite in the buckwheat.
4. Grate half of the cheese into the pan and add the crème fraîche.
5. Toast the fennel seeds in a pan over a medium heat.
6. Thinly slice the fennel – this is easiest on a mandoline.
7. Cut the cooked beetroot into wedges.
8. Top the buckwheat risotto with toasted fennel seeds, sliced fresh fennel and beetroot. Shave the rest of the cheese over.

Pasta al dente with sage, butter and pine nuts recipe

Best served al dente, this pappardelle pasta dish comes with a simple sauce of butter, sage and pine nuts. Fuss-free and delicious.

Ingredients:

400g pappardelle, dried
2 cloves of garlic

3tbsp butter
8–10 sage leaves, plus extra to garnish
50g Parmesan
3tbsp pine nuts, toasted
Black pepper for serving

Method
1. Cook the pasta al dente, according to the instructions on the packaging. Drain and leave to steam thoroughly.
2. Thinly slice the garlic.
3. Brown the butter slightly and add the sage and garlic.
4. Add the pasta and mix thoroughly.
5. Serve with Parmesan shavings, toasted pine nuts, extra finely sliced sage and freshly ground black pepper.

Tomato dip recipe with sourdough bread and olive oil

Heaped on sourdough bread and topped with olive oil, this delicious tomato dip makes a healthy starter or side dish, or even a simple but tasty brunch.

Ingredients:

500g sweet and ripe tomatoes
3 shallots
1 clove of garlic
4tbsp olive oil
2tbsp red wine vinegar
1 red chilli
6–8 basil leaves, wood sorrel or herb of your choice
Salt

Method
1. Cut the tomatoes in half and roughly chop or grate the cut surface coarsely with a grater (hold the tomato by the skin).
2. Add salt and suspend in a fine sieve for approximately one hour. If you grated the tomatoes you will obtain a thick consistency.
3. Finely chop the shallots and garlic and quickly fry without allowing them to brown in a hot pan with one teaspoon of the olive oil.
4. Mix with the tomato mixture, the remaining olive oil and red wine vinegar and season with salt.
5. Halve the chilli and remove the seeds.
6. Shred the basil leaves, sorrel or chosen herbs.
7. Top the tomato dip with chilli and herbs.
8. Serve with freshly toasted sourdough bread or roast chicken breast with grilled salad.

Recipes from Happy Food For Life by Niklas Ekstedt and Henrik Ennart, photography by David Loftus, y Bloomsbury Publishing, Available now