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New York Post
23-06-2025
- Health
- New York Post
3 easy, healthy foods you can grow at home — even if you only have a window sill
Talk about a plant-based diet. You don't actually need a green thumb to start growing your own healthy food at home, promises Welsh chef and influencer Gaz Oakley — in fact, you don't even need a garden or a yard. Oakley says there are several things you can grow inside your house or apartment with just a sunny window, some soil and water — and he handpicked the three easiest, most low-maintenance foods that have tons of nutritional value. 'I've actually started doing this as an experiment to show people that you don't need space,' he told The Post. 5 Chef and influencer Gaz Oakley told The Post that there are several things you can grow inside your house or apartment with just a sunny window, some soil and water. Tom Lewis #1: Microgreens 'I think the most nutritious thing you could start off with and that takes up a limited space is microgreens,' said Oakley, who recently published 'Plant to Plate: Delicious and Versatile Plant-Forward Recipes.' These come in lots of varieties and include cauliflower, broccoli, cabbage, watercress, radish, arugula, radicchio, chard, spinach, chives, dill, endive, and herbs like mint, basil, rosemary, sage and oregano — all harvested when they're small and young. Nutrients in microgreens are more concentrated than in full-grown plants, meaning they pack 4 to 40 times as much nutritional punch. Kale, for example, has tons of vitamins You don't need any special equipment, either. He uses a cut-open Oatley milk carton, fills it with soil and sprinkles in seeds. 5 Microgreens are easy to grow at home. ronstik – 'They need just sunlight, so you need to be putting them somewhere where there's sun, and give them daily watering,' he recommended. 'I always say most vegetables are less sensitive than your average house plants. House plants are the most drama queen plants I've ever known. You give them everything and they just die, and it's really annoying. But vegetables, they're a bit more resilient.' 5 Oakley's new book, 'Plant to Plate,' is out now Quadrille You can harvest these after about eight days when they're around two inches tall, and they'll continue to grow back over and over again. 'They're so nutritious and you should eat them right away that they're incredible for you,' said Oakley, who recommends them as toppings or ingredients for smoothies. #2: Tomatoes Tomatoes are great for your heart, lungs, eyes, skin, teeth and blood vessels. Besides vitamins C and K, potassium and folate, they're packed with the antioxidant lycopene — which can lower your risk of cancer and help manage a bunch of diseases. Oakley says these are very easy to grow — and planting these in front of a sunny window will 'all be worth it.' 5 Tomatoes are great for your heart, lungs, eyes, skin, teeth and blood vessels. 'You just need a small bucket with some holes in the bottom. Put a plate underneath it. Or you can go fancy and get a nice terracotta pot and fill it with some compost,' he said. 'You can get it to buy a tomato plant from a garden center, or you can sow your seeds into a little tray first and then transplant it. Water every now and then, and maybe give it some support with a piece of bamboo. 'And then in about two months' time, you will have tomatoes to harvest.' End up with more tomatoes than you can eat? Oakley recommends fermenting them into something like his tomato kimchi recipe. It's 'so delicious,' he said — and you get that extra bang for your buck since fermented foods are great for gut health. 5 Finally, lettuce is great if your home doesn't get much sunlight. geshas – #3 Lettuce If your home doesn't get a ton of sunlight, you should still be able to grow lettuce — and it does best in spring and autumn climates. No special planters necessary for this, either: He grows his in an old pipe split in half, filled with compost. 'Sprinkle some lettuce seeds on top, water every now and then, and within about 21 days, you'll have lettuce,' he said. 'Pick the outer leaves and then leave the center leaves to grow and get bigger.' Even if lettuce doesn't get you terribly excited, it's certainly versatile — and full of vitamin K (good for blood and bones), flavonoids (gets rid of those free radicals), and the 'eye vitamin' lutein.
The Guardian
03-03-2025
- General
- The Guardian
What's the secret to great vegan yorkshire puddings?
I can never get my vegan yorkshire puddings to work – help!Traditional yorkshire puddings have eggs and milk to thank for their golden, crisp and puffy looks, so it's no wonder people run into bother in their absence. 'Vegan yorkshires are a mighty task,' says Lianna Lee Davis, who is behind the much-lauded vegan Sunday roast at Our Black Heart in Camden, London. Your first task is to decide on their replacements, and for that you have a few options. 'I use aquafaba and whisk it with apple cider vinegar, rapeseed oil, dijon mustard, unsweetened soya milk and water,' she says. She then combines plain flour, chickpea flour, salt and turmeric ('for a bit of colour'), and whisks that into the wet mix to make a batter. Marc Joseph, of E3 Vegan, meanwhile, prefers a combination of soya milk, baking powder and self-raising flour: 'I've tried all sorts of things,' he says, 'and baking powder gives the best results.' Once mixed with the flour and popped into a really hot oven, 'they rise quickly like a cake at the start, so, by the time they're cooked, you have really crisp edges'. That's also Gaz Oakley's preferred route. For 12 yorkshire puddings, the author of Plant to Plate, published in May, combines 260g self-raising flour, one and a half teaspoons of baking powder and a teaspoon of salt. 'Add 480ml soya milk, whisk until smooth, then pour into a jug.' Just like the OG, vegan yorkies also benefit from a rest, Joseph says: 'Make the batter at least 30 minutes before you want to use it.' On to the baking vessel, for which Davis favours a metal muffin tin: 'This is the really important part,' she says, 'otherwise your yorkshire puddings are going to come out like pancakes!' Both Oakley and Davis pour oil into each hole of the tin (about two teaspoons in total of vegetable oil for Oakley and 3-4mm rapeseed oil per hole for Davis), then whack it in a hot oven (210C-220C) until smoking. 'As soon as you open the oven door, quickly take out the pan and pour in the batter,' Davis says. 'Grab a spoon and make a small indent in the top of each yorkshire, so it has that natural collapse.' Oakley bakes his batter for 16 minutes 'until golden brown and nicely risen', Davis gives it about 30 minutes and Joseph opts for 45-50 minutes. Shaun Rankin, chef/patron of Shaun Rankin at Grantley Hall in North Yorkshire, has another tip: 'Make a little well in the centre of the mix with an oiled spoon halfway through the cooking,' he says. 'This allows the edges to rise further.' Oakley serves his yorkshires right away, but Davis recommends giving them a rest: 'Vegan ones have more of a gooey texture than those made with egg, so you need to let them cool for at least 30 minutes on a rack,' she says. The proof, of course, is in the pudding, and Joseph ensures that his are 'even better' by pouring onion gravy into the well just before serving. And as we all know, everything is better with gravy. Got a culinary dilemma? Email feast@
