Nadia Lim My Food Bag Interview

Nadia Lim My Food Bag Interview

MasterChef NZ winner, NZ My Kitchen Rules judge, award winning cookbook author and co-founder of My Food Bag, Nadia Lim has reached Australia&rsquos shores - bringing with her a refreshing &lsquoNude Food&rsquo philosophy that is changing the way Australians approach healthy eating.

Nadia Lim won MasterChef NZ in 2011 after working as a dietitian in the diabetes sector. Since then, Nadia has become a runaway success and household name in NZ, having published three best-selling cookbooks, starring as a tasting panel judge on NZ&rsquos My Kitchen Rules and the host of an international cooking TV series New Zealand with Nadia Lim, plus The Healthy Food Channel.

However she says her biggest achievement is the fact that every week tens of thousands of people are cooking and eating her simple, healthy and delicious recipes, via My Food Bag, a recipe and ingredient delivery service that is revolutionizing the way Kiwi&rsquos and Australians eat. To date, almost 5 million Nadia Lim-inspired meals have been delivered, cooked and eaten. Nadia&rsquos &lsquoNude Food&rsquo philosophy underpins all her work, with the consistent aim of helping people eat in a more nutritious, delicious way, by getting back to basics and stripping away the distractions of food fads, diets and marketing hype.

Her down-to-earth, simple approach to healthy eating is accessible to everyone. Whilst she is a qualified dietitian, Nadia says she doesn&rsquot believe in diets.

What she does believe in, however, is stripping down to Nude Food &ndash a philosophy inspired by Jamie Oliver&rsquos Naked Chef series. &ldquoIt all started when I was 12 years old. I&rsquod come home and watch TV after school and Jamie Oliver would be cooking up a storm on The Naked Chef. I thought, &ldquoOoh&helliphe&rsquos cool, I&rsquod love to cook, eat and write recipes all day like him&rdquo. I firmly decided that when I grew up I&rsquod write a cookbook and have my own cooking show called &lsquoFood in the Nude&rsquo. &ldquoWhat I wanted was to show people how delicious simple, natural food can be - stripped down without additives and excess packaging. Eat from the ground, the sea and the sky, and less from factories. That&rsquos Nude Food,&rdquo says Nadia.

Nadia is also the co-founder, head chef and dietician for My Food Bag, one of New Zealand's fastest growing companies, which is now bringing Nude Food into the homes of Sydney and Melbourne families.

Every night, My Food Bag helps to solve the &ldquoWhat&rsquos for dinner?&rdquo dilemma for thousands of families, delivering fresh ingredients and inspiring easy recipes that result in healthy, delicious dinners. Nadia is proud of the positive effects that My Food Bag has had on their routines:

&ldquoKids are eating more vegetables and trying new foods, families are eating together around the dinner table more, couples are cooking together in the kitchen, and people are eating less takeaways. It&rsquos amazing and humbling to hear how much it&rsquos changing people&rsquos lives,&rdquo says Nadia.

Along with this, Nadia is supporting Australian farmers by sourcing only fresh, local and free-range Australian produce for her food bags. With her nutritious and delicious Nude Food philosophy, approachable charm and natural beauty (her unique look is thanks to the mix from her Malaysian-Chinese father and New Zealand mother), Nadia Lim is set to become a popular fresh face on the Australian food and nutrition scene.

 

 

Pizzettes With Olives, Feta, Oregano Oil and Greek Salad

Serves 4-5
Ready In: 35-40 Minutes
Prep Time: 25 Minutes
Cook Time: 20-25 Minutes

Ingredients

PIZZETTES
1 cup tomato pizza sauce (see page 60 or store-bought)
4 small wholemeal pita breads, cut in half horizontally to make 8 thin pizza bases
2 ½ cups grated mozzarella
2 handfuls baby spinach leaves
½ cup Kalamata olives
1 red capsicum, thinly sliced
150g marinated artichokes, roughly chopped

Oregano Oil
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon finely chopped oregano

Greek Salad
2 Lebanese cucumbers, cut in half lengthways and thinly sliced
1 punnet cherry tomatoes, cut in half
½ small red onion, thinly sliced
100g feta, crumbled
1 tablespoon finely chopped oregano leaves
1-2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1-2 tablespoons vinegar (e.g. red wine, white wine, balsamic)

To Garnish
¼ cup roughly chopped basil leaves
Method
PREHEAT oven to 220°C. Line two baking trays with baking paper.
If you are using home-made pizza sauce, start by making this first.
Lay pita breads, cut-side-up, on prepared trays. Spread each base with tomato sauce and sprinkle over 1 cup of the mozzarella cheese. Scatter over spinach leaves, olives, capsicum and artichokes.
Mix extra virgin olive oil, garlic and oregano together and drizzle over each pizzette.
Sprinkle with remaining mozzarella. Bake for 12-15 minutes until bases are crispy, and cheese is melted and golden brown you may have to move the pizzas around in the oven to ensure they cook and crisp up evenly.
5 While pizzas are cooking, prepare Greek salad. Toss all ingredients together and season to taste with salt and pepper.
TO SERVE garnish pizzettes with fresh basil leaves and place 1-2 pizzettes on each plate. Serve Greek salad on the side.

ENERGY 2342kJ (558kcal)
CARBOHYDRATE 29.5g
PROTEIN 26g
FAT 36.8g

Interview with Nadia Lim

Question: What is your food philosophy?

Nadia Lim: I&rsquom a &lsquonude food&rsquo advocate, I think the best way to eat, quite simply, is to eat as much food that comes from the ground, sea and sky as possible, and less from the factories i.e. Eat more unprocessed food that&rsquos not dressed up in fancy packages, marketing claims and additives.


Question: Why &lsquoNude Food&rsquo?

Nadia Lim: I came up with the idea when I was twelve years old, and it was all about getting people excited about fresh, natural delicious food that wasn&rsquot dressed up in fancy packages and additives. It&rsquos about stripping food and health back to the bare basics of what it means to eat healthily.


Question: What are the basic principles of &lsquoNude Food&rsquo?

Nadia Lim: 1. Strip away the hype, food marketing and fads when it comes to eating healthily &ndash it&rsquos much more simple than what it&rsquos made out to be in this confusing age of information overload.

2. Eat real food food that comes from the ground, the sea and the sky, and less out of the factories eat your colours, watch your portion sizes.

3. Trust your instincts. There&rsquos no one diet that fits all (we&rsquore far too genetically varied for that!) &ndash you are in fact your best &lsquoexpert&rsquo as you will know best what works for your body. Use common-sense healthy eating principles to guide you, and then use your gut (literally) and instinct to know what works best for you.


Question: What&rsquos your earliest cooking memory?

Nadia Lim: Making 'chocolate rough&rsquo &ndash mixing a concoction of melted butter, cocoa and coconut together when I was about 5 years old&hellipand sneaking a fair amount of the mixture from the bowl before it was cooked of course!


Question: What is My Food Bag?

Nadia Lim: We solve the &lsquowhat&rsquos for dinner?&rsquo dilemma by delivering simple, healthy, delicious dinner recipes, along with all the ingredients you need to cook them with, to your doorstep. To date we&rsquove delivered about 4.5 million meal kits across Australasia. It&rsquos literally changing the way we eat for the better! I get it every week and its like Christmas opening up your brown paper bags every week and pulling out all these wonderful fresh free-range ingredients. It makes cooking fun! A huge bonus is my husband now cooks at least a few times a week, producing great results every time.


Question: What inspired the concept of My Food Bag?

Nadia Lim: It was obvious that, for most people, coming home at the end of a busy day and hearing the &ldquoMuuum, what&rsquos for dinner?&rdquo question was a constant problem and chore. We simply wanted to solve that problem for people, so they could have more time to enjoy around the dinner table with their family! And it&rsquos worked amazingly&hellip.we get emails from people every single day saying how much its changed their lives &ndash families are spending more time together around the table, people are eating more vegetables, kids are trying a wider variety of foods, and even cooking 1-2 nights a week. This stuff is so inspiring to me, it&rsquos what keeps me going in this busy business!


Question: Can you talk us through the process of a My Food Bag order?

Nadia Lim: Easy peasy. Just go to myfoodbag.com.au and choose which bag suits you &ndash Classic, Family, Gourmet or My Own Bag, enter your delivery details and click order! There are no minimum orders or subscriptions so you can cancel or pause at any time. Too easy!


Question: What will families enjoy most about My Food Bag?

Nadia Lim: For the cook &ndash that proud moment when they deliver the meal to the table (we get this feedback so much from people that they&rsquore so proud and sometimes can&rsquot quite believe that they cooked that themselves!). For the rest of the family &ndash yummy, interesting meals 4-5 nights a week, they&rsquoll love the surprise and delight of trying new things too.

 

 

Spiced Lamb With Roast Vegetables, Kasundi and Coriander Yoghurt

Serves 4-5
Ready In: 40 Minutes
Prep Time: 15 Minutes
Cook Time: 30-35 Minutes

Ingredients
Roast Vegetables
6 red yams, cut in half lengthways
400-500g kumara (skin on), cut lengthways into long 2cm-thlck wedges
½ head cauliflower, cut into large florets
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 large handfuls baby spinach leaves

LAMB
600g lamb loin or leg steaks (at room temperature)
2 tablespoons Turkish spice rub (see page 179)

CORIANDER YOGHURT
¼ cup chopped coriander
1/3 cup Greek yoghurt
juice of 1 lemon

TO SERVE
½ cup kasundi (see page 179)

Method
PREHEAT oven to 200°C.
Toss yams, kumara and cauliflower with olive oil in a roasting dish, and season with salt and pepper. Roast for 30-35 minutes until vegetables are soft inside and a little crispy on the outside.
While vegetables are roasting, make the kasundi and prepare the rest of the meal. Pat lamb dry with paper towels. Rub lamb with spice rub and season with salt. With 10 minutes of cooking time to go for the vegetables, cook the lamb. Heat a drizzle of olive oil in a fry-pan on high heat and cook lamb for 2-3 minutes each side for medium-rare, or until cooked to your liking. Set aside to rest for 5-10 minutes, before slicing.
While lamb is resting, scatter spinach over roasting vegetables and return to oven for a few minutes until spinach has wilted.
Mix coriander, yoghurt and lemon juice together. Toss roasted vegetables with wilted spinach.
TO SERVE place some vegetables onto each plate and top with slices of lamb. Drizzle over coriander yoghurt and serve with a spoonful of kasundi on the side.

ENERGY 2103kJ (501kcal)
CARBOHYDRATE 54.2g
PROTEIN 35g
FAT 15.4g

 

 

 

Thyme-Stuffed Chicken, Butternut and Spinach with Mushroom Sauce

Serves 4-5
Ready In: 40 Minutes
Prep Time: 20 Minutes
Cook Time: 30 Minutes

Ingredients

Chicken
4 boneless chicken breasts (skin on)
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 tablespoons chopped
fresh thyme leaves
30g softened butter

Butternut And Spinach
800-900g butternut (skin on), cut in half lengthways and cut into 1 cm-thick slices
1 ½ tablespoons maple syrup or runny honey
1 tablespoon olive oil
4-5 cups baby spinach leaves or chopped spinach

Mushroom Sauce
¼ cup white wine
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 onion, diced
250g button mushrooms, stalks removed and quartered
1 tablespoon soy sauce
½ cup cream
juice of ½ lemon

Method
PREHEAT oven to 200°C. Line an oven tray with baking paper.
Pat chicken dry with paper towels. Mix garlic, thyme and butter together. Divide flavoured butter into four and push under the skin of each chicken breast, distributing the butter evenly by squishing it around with your fingers.
Season chicken breasts with salt. Heat a drizzle of oil in a large fry-pan on medium heat. Add chicken, skin-side down, and cook for 3 minutes or until skin is golden brown. Flip breasts over and transfer to a roasting dish (but don't wash the pan).
Lay butternut pieces on prepared oven tray and drizzle over maple syrup or honey and olive oil. Season with salt and pepper. Roast chicken and butternut in oven for about 25 minutes or until chicken is cooked through (when the juices from the chicken run clear when pierced with a knife) and butternut is soft and slightly caramelised. Remove chicken from oven and leave to rest in roasting dish while you make the sauce.
Place the same fry-pan you cooked the chicken in back on medium heat. Add wine to hot pan and use a wooden spoon to rub the bottom of the pan to release pan brownings into the liquid while the wine bubbles away. Add olive oil and cook onion until soft, 3-4 minutes. Add mushrooms and cook for a further 2-3 minutes. Add soy sauce, cream and lemon juice. Simmer sauce for 2-3 minutes until slightly thickened (it will thicken more as it cools).
Wash spinach and shake off excess water. Scatter spinach on top of butternut and return to oven until spinach has wilted, 2-3 minutes.
TO SERVE divide butternut and spinach between plates, top with a chicken breast and spoon over sauce.

ENERGY 2241kJ (534kcal)
CARBOHYDRATE 27.1g
PROTEIN 41.8g
FAT 26.6g

 

Interview by Brooke Hunter .