Eat Better, Not Less: The best recipes from the new book, from creamy cashew wraps to asparagus and peach salad

Nadia Damaso proves that eating healthily doesn’t mean you need to eat less. Combining huge amounts of flavour with texture, colour and goodness is the best way to live a healthy life

Creamy cashew carrot wraps

The time for boring sandwiches is over – now it’s wrap time. These are so easy to make and taste incredibly good. The smooth cashew cream gets a slight crust after frying in the pan, which you must try as it will almost knock you down! For freshness, I added some home-grown figs from our garden. I have wanted to make this recipe for so long, but I always felt like something was missing. Adding fresh and juicy figs provides a sweetness that superbly compliments the nutty flavours. Adding onion sprouts also gives a good contrast in both the look and taste.

Serves 2

2–3 wholewheat tortillas

Cashew cream

120g cashews
zest and juice of 1 lemon
150 ml milk of choice, e.g. soy, almond, rice milk
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon garlic powder
2 teaspoons mild or spicy curry powder
2–3 teaspoons maple syrup or sweetener of choice
salt and freshly ground black pepper

Filling

6–8 medium sized carrots
50g onion sprouts
4–5 figs, quartered

To make the cashew cream, soak the cashews in hot water for 20–30 minutes. Drain and put into a blender or food processor. Add the remaining ingredients and blend for 4–5 minutes until smooth and creamy. The cream should have quite a thick consistency but you might have to add another splash of milk to make the blending easier.

For the filling, peel and grate the carrots. Heat up a dry frying pan (skillet), add the carrots and cashew cream and fry over a medium heat for 3–4 minutes, stirring constantly. Fry for another 3–4 minutes. Reduce the heat. The less you stir now, the better a tasty crust can form. Spread 2–3 tablespoons of the cashew curry carrots on the upper two thirds of each tortilla. Add some fig quarters and onion sprouts on top, fold up the lower part of the wrap and roll in from the side. Halve diagonally and serve as a starter for four people or meal for two.

VARIATION: If you’d like your tortilla to be a little crispy, heat up a frying pan over a medium heat and add the wrap. Fry on all sides until golden brown, take off the heat, let it cool, halve diagonally and serve.

TIP: To save time, soak the cashews overnight or in the morning right after you wake up. There isn’t a limit to how long you can soak the cashews for. The longer you do, the creamier the result.

Beef tenderloin with plum blackberry sauce and garlic mushrooms

A good piece of local organic meat has its price, but for a recipe like this it’s absolutely worth it. I’d rather eat good quality meat very rarely than eat mid-grade meat daily. The fruity sauce pairs wonderfully with the beef. You might not have had a sauce like this with meat, but I’m sure you’ll be convinced. As a light side dish, I made some garlic mushrooms with fresh spinach. I could eat this every single day, to be honest. And if garlic didn’t have such a strong aftertaste, I would probably add around five more cloves!

Serves 2

Beef tenderloin

300g beef tenderloin
1 tablespoon olive oil
salt and freshly ground black pepper

Garlic mushrooms

1–2 teaspoons coconut oil
2 garlic cloves, chopped
​200g button mushrooms
​200g  spinach
1 spring onion (scallion), chopped
few springs of parsley, chopped
salt and freshly ground black pepper

Sauce

150 ml  water
1 teaspoon vegetable stock (broth) powder
4–5 plums, fresh or frozen
1 small red onion
4–6 dates, pitted
150 g blackberries
100 ml red wine
salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 teaspoon garlic powder
2–3 teaspoons maple syrup

For the sauce, bring the water and vegetable stock to the boil in a saucepan. Halve and stone the plums. Peel and halve the onion. Add the plums, onion, dates and blackberries to the pan and cook over a high heat for 3–4 minutes. Once slightly reduced, add the red wine. Cook for another few minutes, season with salt, pepper, onion powder and maple syrup and turn down the heat to low–medium. Cook for at least 15 minutes until the sauce thickens.

To make the garlic mushrooms, in a frying pan (skillet) heat up the coconut oil, add the garlic and fry until shiny. Add the mushrooms, spinach, spring onion and parsley. Season and cook until the water from the vegetables has evaporated. Turn off the heat and cover with a lid.

To cook the beef, heat up a frying or griddle pan. Rub the beef tenderloin with the olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Place into the pan and cook to the desired core temperature: rare 40–44°C (104–111°F); medium 48–52°C (118–126°F); well done 52–54°C (126–129°F). Take off the heat, wrap in aluminum foil to keep the beef warm and let it rest for a few minutes. Cut the beef tenderloin into slices and serve together with the garlic mushrooms and spinach. Serve the sauce separately.

Fresh and creamy asparagus and peach salad

Light, colourful and full of flavour. I have to admit, I wasn’t always the biggest fan of asparagus, but this recipe turned me into a real asparagus lover! The way you cut vegetables and how you prepare them can make such a big difference to their taste. In this recipe, I peel the asparagus and sauté the slices for a couple of minutes. The combination of sweet, bitter, crispy and creamy flavours makes every bite a new taste experience. Ricotta, with a fat content of only around 13 percent, is a great alternative to full-fat cheese, which contains over 40 percent.

Serves 2

500 g green asparagus
1 tablespoon olive oil
zest and juice of ½ lemon
1 teaspoon maple syrup or sweetener of choice
1 tablespoon ricotta
salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 teaspoon onion powder
½ teaspoon garlic powder
2 ripe peaches
3 tablespoons fresh ricotta cheese
2 tablespoons pine nuts
150 g prosciutto
drizzle of honey, to serve
2 slices of wholewheat or *gluten-free bread (optional)

Snap off the woody ends of the asparagus and peel into very thin slices using a vegetable peeler. Heat up the olive oil in a frying pan (skillet), add the asparagus and fry for 2 minutes. Add a splash of water and steam until the water has dissolved. Take off the heat and tip into a bowl.

Add the lemon zest and juice, maple syrup and ricotta to the asparagus. Season with salt, pepper, onion powder and garlic powder, and stir until well combined. Dice the peaches. Add to the asparagus and stir again. Toast the pine nuts in a frying pan over a medium heat until golden brown. Take off the heat and leave to cool.

Divide the asparagus salad onto plates, tear the prosciutto slices into pieces, add on top of the salads, spoon on the remaining ricotta and sprinkle over the pine nuts. Season with some black pepper, add a drizzle of honey and serve the salad lukewarm. If desired, serve with 2 slices of wholewheat bread.

Eat better, Not Less by Nadia Damaso (Hardie Grant £15.00 RRP)

Photography by Nadia Damaso