SIBO friendly Valentine’s Day meal

'All you need is love', so The Beatles said and on Valentine's Day more than any other day of the year many of us want to make a meal to show loved ones that we care. So this year we're giving you a two course, SIBO friendly Valentine's Day meal to make sure your evening goes without a hitch. A Valentine's Day meal needs to be quick to prepare so that you can spend time with the one you love and include those indulgent ingredients that a celebration meal deserves.

With the weather hot and getting hotter in the southern hemisphere at the moment you might choose to move the cooking of this meal to the outside to the BBQ, although it's equally easy to prepare on the hob for those in the not so warm northern hemisphere! We've gone for our best ever steak with a rocket, tomato and prosciutto salad. This dish combines the delicious BBQ flavours of the steak with the wonderful crunch and tang of the salad. How about following this with our decadent mocha mousse? This is possibly the quickest and yet most indulgent dessert imaginable! You'd never know that it was free from dairy, egg and refined sugar. There's a secret ingredient in this mousse, but we bet no one guesses what it is, maybe a blindfold taste test is in order?

We hope you enjoy this meal, find these recipes and more of our favourites in our SIBO summer cookbook, available in hard copy for scribbling your notes in, or an eCookbook.

Thanks to our lovely friends at Organic Angels for supplying the scrumptious organic produce featured in this recipe. Click here to find out more about how they could deliver beautiful organic produce to your door.

Best ever steak with a rocket, tomato and prosciutto salad recipe

Serves 2

Classification: Restricted phase

Ingredients

Steak

2 x pasture fed, free range beef steaks

1 tbs olive oil

Salt & pepper

Salad

2 large handfuls of rocket leaves, washed

1 punnet cherry tomatoes, halved

6 slices prosciutto, salt cured, nitrate and sugar free

2 tbs pine nuts

1 tbs extra virgin olive oil

1 tbs red wine vinegar

Salt and pepper

If you are in Maintenance, add 60g parmesan cheese, shaved

Method

Pre-heat the oven to 200c.

Rub the steak with olive oil then season liberally with salt and pepper. Set aside.

Place the prosciutto on a tray covered in baking paper.  Bake for 10 minutes or until crispy.  Remove from the oven to cool.  Once cool enough to handle, break into small pieces. Set aside.

Place the pine nuts on a tray and roast in the oven for 5 minutes, or until golden. Keep an eye on the nuts as they can burn quickly.  Set aside.

Place the cherry tomatoes on a tray and sprinkle with olive oil, salt and pepper.  Cook for 20-30 minutes until roasted and cooked through.  Remove from the oven and set aside to cool slightly.

Heat the BBQ or a grill pan until hot.  Turn down the heat to medium-high.  Place the steaks on the heat and cook to your liking. Once cooked, remove from the heat and cover lightly with foil. Rest for half the length of the cooking time.  So if the cooking time was 6 minutes, rest for 3 minutes.

Assemble the salad while the steak is resting.  In a large bowl, mix the rocket, pine nuts, prosciutto, olive oil, vinegar, salt and pepper together.  If in Maintenance, add in the parmesan. Mix until well combined.

Serve the steak with the salad on the side.  A dollop of your favourite garlic and sugar free mustard will go perfectly with the steak.

Decadent mocha mousse recipe

Ingredients

1 ripe avocado

4 tbs cacao powder

250ml Ayam coconut milk, refrigerated

30ml strong espresso

3 tbs raw organic honey

Method

Place the avocado, cacao powder, espresso and honey in a food processor and blend until creamy.

Changing to a whipping blade, add the firm coconut cream from the tin. Don’t use the watery liquid at the bottom.  This can be kept for another recipe.  Whip until light and fluffy.

Spoon into bowls and refrigerate for 1 hour before serving.