Enjoying a meat-free diet can be effortless
and delicious, with Aldo Zilli’s easy recipes
Whether for ethical, environmental or
health reasons, more and more people are shunning meat. As it happens, health
reasons were top of the list for chef Aldo Zilli when he decided to go
meat-free. “Meat is not good for my cholesterol,” he says. Of course, being a
chef. Zilli wanted to ensure a vegetarian diet would be creative and exciting,
as well as nutritionally beneficial. This is the inspiration behind his new
book Fresh & Green (Simon & Schuster, $31), which offers more than 100
exciting new vegetarian recipes.
While working with one of his chefs Enzo,
who is vegan, Zilli realized there are many innovative and resourceful ways to
cook vegetarian food that people don’t know about. Combining these new ideas
with what he’s learned growing up in Italy, and what he picked up on his global
travels, Zilli adapted and created innovative ideas for meat-free dishes.
His love of food endures from his childhood
in Italy where mealtimes were a family affair. “Food brings you together,” says
Zilli, but he sees a lot of couples, where one partner is vegetarian, who find
it difficult to cook together. “Vegetarians shouldn’t be overlooked,” he says,
and to help remedy the situation, he created Fresh & Green to bring
inspiration and imagination to vegetarian home cooking.
Creativity is key; Zilli believes a lot of
vegetarians overload on pasta and cheese, because they don’t know what to cook
and rely on cheese for protein. This obviously has health implications. Cooking
with green veg and a variety of grains such as quinoa, spelt and barley will
give you all the protein you need. “They’re power foods,” he says.
Vegetarian eating as been a revelation for
Zilli, after growing up on a farm and eating lots of what he refers to as
“pig-meat” (salami, sausage, ham). He doesn’t miss it. “I love greens! I don’t
miss meat. I get everything I need from my diet”, he says. We love the positive
attitude and inspiration Zilli’s brought to vegetarian cooking, and with the
mouth-watering recipes on offer in his book, you certainly won’t mind being
told to “eat your greens!”
Quick Tip:
“Beetroot is a wonderfully versatile, delicious vegetable, available all year.
Use during winter for soups and roasted veg, or in summer for salads and
chutneys”
Watercress soup with potato, onion and toasted pumpkin
seeds
Makes: 4
Preparation time: 20 minutes
Cooking time: 30 minutes
Per serving:
419 calories, 10g protein, 16g fat (of which 2.5g saturated fat), 44g carbs (of
which 3g sugar), 6.5g fibre, 0.8g salt
2tbsp olive oil
1 onion, chopped
1 garlic clove, crushed
1kg potatoes, peeled and chopped
11 hot vegetable stock
150g watercress
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
4tbsp pumpkin seeds, toasted
Extra virgin olive oil, to drizzle
1. Heat the oil in a large pan, add the onion, garlic and potatoes, and
fry for five minutes. Pour in the stock and cook for a further 20 minutes until
the potatoes are tender. Add the watercress and remove from the heat.
2. Put the soup mixture into a blender and blitz until smooth. Season,
reheat and serve topped with toasted pumpkin seeds for a crunchy texture, and a
drizzle of oil.