Earlier this year, food blogger and friend of Sporteluxe, Leah Itsines, released an e-book called BARE (Balanced And Realistic Eating) which is a nutritional guide aimed to help women take the initial steps toward making a healthy lifestyle change. Then, in June, she launched her first hardcopy book, The Nourishing Cook which is filled with over 100 of her favourite recipes. Now, just when we thought we couldn’t get enough of Leah’s fab foodie ideas, she’s come out and just released her second e-book, Feel Good Food with another 40 of her go-to dishes that feed your soul (think; mushroom risotto and fudgy chocolate brownies—all the good old classics. Keep scrolling as she shares with us a recipe from her pages, exclusive to Sporteluxe readers.
Serves 2
Prep time: 10 minutes each
Cook time: 30 minutes
Anti-pesto
Ingredients
2 sheets puff pastry
2 tbsp (25g) pine nuts
¼ cup (50g) sundried tomatoes
½ cup (50g) chargrilled capsicum
1 small garlic clove
¼ cup (15g) finely grated parmesan
2 tbsp (40ml) olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
3 pieces of marinated eggplant
10 pitted kalamata olives
3 marinated artichoke hearts, halved or quartered
2 Swiss brown mushrooms, sliced
half (65g) buffalo mozzarella ball or cherry bocconcini
basil leaves and shaved parmesan to serve
Method
1. Preheat the oven to 200C.
2. Toast the pine nuts on a baking tray for around 5 minutes until golden. Tumble into a small food processor with the sundried tomatoes, capsicum, garlic, parmesan and olive oil.
3. Blitz to a paste, season with salt and pepper to taste.
4. Place the pastry onto a lined baking tray. Spoon the paste over the pastry leaving a 1cm border around the edges.
5. Lay the eggplant, artichokes, olives and mushrooms evenly around the base. Tear the mozzarella and dot between the vegetables.
6. Bake in the oven for 30 minutes until puffed and golden. Top with basil leaves and shaved parmesan.
Spicy Italian Sausage
Ingredients
2 (170g) Italian style pork sausage
1/2 cup (125ml) tomato passata
1 small garlic clove, minced
1 tsp dried oregano
salt and pepper to taste
half (65g) buffalo mozzarella ball or cherry bocconcini
1 tsp chilli flakes
handful baby rocket leaves
Method
1. Preheat the oven to 200C.
2. Remove the casing from the sausage and place in a bowl with the passata, garlic, oregano, salt and pepper, mash together to form a chunky sauce.
3. Spread the sausage mix over the pastry leaving a 1 to 2cm border around the edges.
4. Tear the mozzarella into pieces and dot around the pastry. Drizzle with a little of the cream and sprinkle with chilli flakes.
5. Bake for 30 minutes until puffed and bubbling. Remove from the oven and top with rocket.
Feel Good Food is available to purchase on October 15, 2018. Visit www.leahitsines.com.au for more.
