Ode to Thins

The Rude Health Thins are great for dunking in hummus, slathering with peanut butter or snaffling bare naked, straight from the pack. But the fun doesn't have to stop there. At Rude Health HQ the Thins have provided an accompaniment to numerous lunches and it's fair to say, we're hooked. Paired with chunks of soft avocado,  smoked makerel pate, leftover curries and hearty soups or just when you need a little something extra.

To show just how versatile these tasty little Thins can be, I decided to share with you my top five Thins-inspired recipes...

1. Thins with Goats Cheese & Piccalilli

Veg, No Nuts, Wheat Free, Gluten Free

60 mins plus overnight prep.

Ingredients

1 Cauliflower, cut into small florets

2 Courgettes, diced

1 Carrot, diced

1 handful of small silver-skinned onions, peeled and halved

1 handful of Green beans, cut into short lengths

(adjust veg quantities to your liking)

2 handfuls of Sea salt

3 heaped tablespoons flour

1 tbsp turmeric

1 tbsp ground cumin

1 tbsp English mustard powder

400 ml cider vinegar

1 tsp ground ginger

1 tbsp mustard seeds

Rude Health Multigrain Thins 

Method

1. Place all the vegetables in a bowl, add the salt and cover with water. Leave overnight, covered with a plate.

2. Heat a saucepan big enough for all the veg and add a splash of oil. Fry the mustard seeds, cumin, turmeric, ginger for half a minute.

3. Reduce the heat and add the mustard powder, flour and a splash of vinegar and stir into a paste. Add the sugar, then gradually add the remaining vinegar and 100ml water, stirring into a smooth paste and simmer for 2 minutes.

4. Remove the pan from the heat. Drain the vegetables and rinse with cold water. Carefully stir the vegetables into the spicy sauce.

5. Pour the mixture into sterilised jars and seal the lids tightly. Leave for at least two weeks before opening.

6. Serve with a slab of Goats Cheese, piled on Rude Health Multigrain Thins.

2. Oaty Thins with Cream Cheese & Salsa

Veg, No Nuts

15 mins

Ingredients

4 tomatoes, chopped

1 red onion, finely chopped

1 tbsp jalapeño peppers from a jar, drained and finely chopped

2 garlic cloves, crushed

1 small bunch of coriander, roughly chopped

1 lime

Rude Health Oaty Thins

Method

1. Stir all the ingredients together in a medium bowl with some seasoning.

2. Serve at room temperature with Rude Health Oaty Thins.

3. Corn Thins with Guacamole and Salsa

Veg, Wheat Free, Dairy Free, Nut Free, Gluten Free

10 mins

Ingredients

1 Large tomato

3 Ripe avocados

1 Lime

Handful of chopped coriander

1 Small red onion, finely chopped

1 Red chilli, de-seeded and finely chopped

Rude Health Corn Thins 

Method

1. Use a large knife to pulverise the tomato to a pulp on a board, then tip into a bowl. Halve and stone the avocados and use a spoon to scoop out the flesh into the bowl with the tomato.

2. Tip all the other ingredients into the bowl, then season with salt and pepper. Use a whisk to roughly mash everything together. Scatter with the coriander and then serve with Rude Health Corn Thins.

4. Rice Thins with Honey Spiced Figs and Greek Yoghurt

Veg, No Nuts, Wheat Free, Gluten Free

15 mins

Ingredients

3 tbsp Honey

4 Figs, quartered

1/2 tsp Cinnamon

1/2 tsp Ginger

150g Greek Yoghurt

Rude Health Rice Thins 

Method

1. Pour the honey and  spices and figs into a small bowl and sit over a pan of simmering water over. Stir to blend the spices and heat for 1-2 minutes until honey is warm and syrupy. 

2. Top the Rice Thins with a dollop of greek yoghurt, figs and a drizzle of honey. Serve immediately.

5. Multigrain Thins with grilled Halloumi, Aubergine and Pepper.

Veg, No Nuts, Wheat Free, Gluten Free

15 mins 

Ingredients

2 tbsp Extra Virgin Olive oil

1/2 Aubergine cut into round slices

1 Pepper, cut into strips

1 block Halloumi, cut into thick slices

Pinch of sea salt
Rude Health Multigrain Thins

Method

1. Add a dash of olive oil to a non stick frying pan and gently fry the pepper strips for 5-10 minutes. In a large bowl toss the aubergines in olive oil, sea salt and a little water. 

2. Add the aubergine rounds to a large  pan and fry until golden brown on either side. Set aside on a plate and cover with kitchen towel.

3. Add a dash of oil to the large pan and arrange the halloumi slices in the pan. Fry for around 30 seconds on either side or until they start to turn golden brown.

4. Arrange the peppers, aubergine and halloumi in stacks on Multigrain thins and enjoy!

Feeling Thins-inspired? Got some recipes you would like to share? Send them to us on FB, Twitter or to hello@rudehealth.com for your chance to feature on our new recipe page.

Until next time...

The elusive oatcake.

We would like to thank Seb Emina & Malcomb Eggs, authors of the 'The Breakfast Bible' for inspiring this blogpost and letting us borrow this fantastic recipe. We've added a Rude Health twist. 

Nobody knows how the Staffordshire oatcake really came about. It tastes nothing like its Scottish counterpart. In fact the Staffordshire sort has changed my perception of what an oatcake is meant to be. It has the texture of a moist crumpet/pancake amalgamation, and tastes seriously (deliciously) oaty.

Some say that the Staffordshire oatcake came from India? Apparently the men of the North Staffordshire Regiment developed a taste for chapattis during their time there. When the men returned, they tried to duplicate the chapattis they had enjoyed but using local ingredients–and the Staffordshire oatcake / ‘chapatti’ was born.

The more credible story is that when the Industrial Revolution arrived, there was a boom in the number of hungry potters in the Stoke-on-Trent area so rural cooks had to make the most of the local Pennines oats.

The exact recipe varies between oatcake shops and was for many years a closely guarded secret. There would be an oatcake shop on nearly every street corner years ago. Not just selling the oatcakes but also hot filled oatcakes. The sale of these flat oaten pancakes became a thriving industry, with oatcakes being sold out of holes in the walls of city kitchens. This was British street food before the Golden Arches came about.

Nowadays the Staffordshire dinner-plate-sized oatcake is very hard to find, but it is possible to make a good approximation at home, using wholemeal flour, fine-ground oatmeal, yeast, water and milk.

It seemed obvious to try and incorporate Nick’s oatmeal into this recipe. Finding and developing recipes with which we can use our foods has become a bit of an obsession here at Rude Health. We have come up with quite a few and are sharing them all on our new recipe page.

To get you started, here’s the Rude Health version of the Staffordshire Oatcake using no more than five ingredients. ♯counton1hand




This recipe makes 6 oatcakes

Ingredients

110g Rude Health Oatmeal

110g wholemeal flour

½ teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon sugar

3.5g (a half sachet) dried instant yeast

210ml warm milk

210ml water





Method

1.     Mix all the dry ingredients in a large bowl, and add the liquids.

2.     Whisk until you have a smooth batter the consistency of double cream. It will seem a little thin, but the oatmeal will swell, making it thicker.

3.     Leave it covered with a clean tea towel in a warm place for 1 hour, until the batter is thick and frothy.

4.     Heat a heavy-based frying pan over a medium heat, and coat the surface of the pan with oil, using a piece of kitchen paper to wipe off any excess.

5.     Add one ladle of mixture, and tilt the pan so that it is evenly spread. Cook for 2–3 minutes on a medium heat, until the surface is covered in bubbles and the underside is brown. Flip and cook for another 2–3 minutes. Keep an eye on the heat, as the oatcakes need to cook through without burning.

6.     Serve hot, rolled around the filling of your choice. If you have any spares they will reheat well between two plates over a pan of boiling water.