SOUL FOOD RECIPE
Introduction by Penny Stanway
We may talk of comfort food (pasta, perhaps, or honey sandwiches) or posh nosh (like lobster or caviar). We may reminisce about school dinners (my friends might remember scooping that frightful fish pie on to a ledge under the table), or natter about nursery food (for example, boiled egg and soldiers, banana custard and dripping toast – which was quite divine, but scorned by today’s food police). Or we may talk about food being filling, or appealing to the senses by smelling fragrant, tasting wonderful or having a good ‘mouth-feel’.
But just how often do we think of food as being good for our soul?
The answer, for most of us, is not often. Some people might anyway consider fasting a more appropriate way of focusing on their spiritual wellbeing and their relationship with God. But around the world many people do indeed use particular foods, meals and feasts as ways of enriching their soul. And on a personal basis, I think that virtually any food can provide a focus for meditation – an ‘eating’ meditation, if you like – just as you can have a ‘walking’ meditation or a ‘silent’ or a ‘singing’ meditation. And this in itself can feed our soul.
Any food will do, but I suggest one that seems to hold particular promise for you. And yes, this could be chocolate! But it doesn’t have to be rich and calorific.
If you are looking for a soul food recipe then keep coming back as we will be adding to this list of recipes as we go along. Alternatively, if you have a soul food recipe you would like to share with us, please contact us.
Soul Food Smoothie Recipes by Penny Stanway
Pear and blackberry
2 large or three small pears, cut up and cored, but not peeled
Large handful of blackberries
2 tbs water (eg, the defrosting water, if used)
Melon, grape and ginger
Half an ogen or a third of a cantaloupe, peeled, deseeded and cut into chunks
About 10 black grapes
1 inch of ginger root, sliced
2 tbs water if necessary
Banana, apple, mango and cinnamon
1 banana, peeled
1 apple, de-stalked and cut into quarters but not cored
Flesh from 1 mango, cut into chunks
2 tbs ‘cinnamon water’ - cover a broken-up cinnamon stick with just-boiled water
for 5 minutes, and seive
Blood-orange jelly recipe by Penny Stanway
Blood oranges offer up a sumptuous and richly ruby-coloured juice, but other oranges would be fine too. You could even use orange juice from a carton, but if so, it’ll contain more vitamin C if was packaged when freshly squeezed and not after being restored from a concentrate. (That reminds me. Why was the blonde staring at the orange-juice carton? ….. Because it said ‘concentrate’. It’s okay – I’m one too now!)
This recipe is enough for four, and you should make the jellies half a day before you want to eat them.
1 pint blood-orange juice, seived if necessary so it’s clear
1 pint champagne (Krug or Crystal if you must), sparkling wine (eg,
Cava) or
perry, or fizzy lemonade
75g (3oz) caster sugar – though not if using lemonade as this
is sweet enough
2 sachets (23.4g or a very scant 1 ounce) gelatine
8 thin slivers of orange peel, each roughly two inches long
First, cut the orange-peel slivers with a sharp knife, and store in
clingfilm in the fridge. Now halve and squeeze the oranges, and pour
their juice into a large mixing bowl.
Put two inches of water into a saucepan and bring to a simmer. Pour
a cup of juice into a jug or bowl that easily fits in the saucepan.
Add the sugar to the juice. Then put the bowl into the saucepan of water
and let the sugar dissolve, stirring occasionally. Turn off the heat.
.Now sprinkle the gelatine evenly on the sweetened juice. Leave the
bowl in the hot water until the gelatine dissolves; if you stir the
juice, do it gently so you don’t swirl gelatine on to the sides
of the bowl above the water, as it would quickly set there.
Pour the juice mixture into the champagne or other sparkling liquid,
stirring well all the time. Then pour the liquid into four large wine
glasses and refrigerate for several hours, until set. Decorate each
jelly with two orange-peel slivers.