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Healthy nibbles! 

If there’s one feelgood interlude that makes you think of weekends and holidays, it’s nibbles. Sure, during lockdown it went online via Zoom or Skype, but it’s mainly about sharing, kicking back and la dolce vita. And if it’s healthy too, so much the better. 

Forget those open-faced sandwiches. Since sliced bread pretty much consists only of white flour, water, oil and sugar, it has lost its appeal and outstayed its welcome. Switch it out in favour of the smart person’s bread, or even of more unusual vehicles for your spreads. It’s possible to have clean nibbles, and it’s even easier to get into the habit than you might think.  

Are you a bread fan? Then get yourself some buckwheat! 

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This pseudocereal is light and easily digested, since it is gluten free. Toast some slices of buckwheat bread and spread them with various homemade spreadables like guacamole. As long as the avocados don’t come from the other side of the world. And on condition that the guacamole is seasoned with high-quality spices like curcuma, various peppercorns, pepper and a hint of chili rather than ready-made spice mix. These are often full of additives (to be avoided) and artificial colours. You can also go for hummus, tuna and potato spread, cauliflower cream, aubergine or tomato caviar and all kinds of soft goat’s cheeses.  

Give in to shuttles…  

In the form of endive or iceberg lettuce (stiff salad leaves). They have the merit of being plant-based “vehicles”, zero calorie and gluten free. They go perfectly with (organic) smoked salmon, and salmon or sea bream tartare. These can be garnished with lime, cubed mango, Roquefort or other blue cheese, cucumber sticks, strips of marinated courgette or avocado and cod liver. Spread with hummus or a thin layer of plant-based cream substitute, silken tofu, high-quality crème fraîche or unpasteurised butter, these shuttles are then perfect for loading up with salmon or trout eggs (a superfood packed with omega 3).  

Homemade open-faced sandwiches? 

Make your own pastry out of seeds, almond flour, linseeds and water. Mix it all up and spread the resulting pastry flat on a baking sheet to make a kind of big oven-baked cracker. Once it’s done, break it into pieces to go with spreadables at a later date.  

Sundaes and other delights! 

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Sundaes, or filled large individual serving spoons, make the colours in your compositions pop. Like prawns + pineapple, langoustines + supreme of clementine, curried prawns + avocado, salmon + cucumber or scallop + mango tartare. This is a cocktail of proteins and trace elements from the seafood. Other sundaes which are firm favourites: cucumber + goat’s cheese + sunblush tomatoes (or fresh ones, depending on the season). There’s also cream of pumpkin or red lentil soup “changed up” with a foie gras garnish… We’re sold! 

Vegetables (in season only) are a must, and brimming with vitamins. Such as radishes, black radishes, cauliflower florets with lemon, salt, pepper and curcuma or dipped in a sauce of fromage frais, salt, pepper and fresh herbs. And also big mushrooms stuffed with fromage frais, garlic and herbs (made with as little oil as possible, if not homemade). You can also consider homemade flaky pastries (filo sheets and spinach + feta, curried chicken breast mince).  

Top tarts 

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When it comes to savoury tarts, get off the beaten track by going for something a bit different on the base: grain mustard or tapenade spread onto the flaky pastry base, to which you’ll add quick-cooking vegetables like tomatoes (chopped at home and frozen or jarred), courgettes or spinach. In a standard quiche recipe, switch out crème fraîche in favour of goat’s milk quark, gruyere in favour of mozzarella or ricotta, and the egg, crème fraîche and milk filling with silken tofu mixed with cooked spinach and a hint of plant-based cream substitute. Basically, mix it up when it comes to quiches and tarts. 

Crispy crisps! 

Multicoloured vegetable crisps look pretty, and are very easy to make with baked carrot or beetroot strips or slices, or pan-fried kale. 

Homely crumble  

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A crumble is more fun than a traybake, and you can make a vegetable one with potato (and a glug of truffle oil!), with pumpkin and chestnut or with broccoli, cauliflower, potato and celery mash, or fried mushrooms and onion jam. To put a crumble-like twist on this, just add a crumble topping which can be made with ground-up seeds or rice flakes, parmesan and a glug of olive oil. Scatter this preparation over your cooked vegetable medley and bake for around 10 minutes. 

All washed down with a glass of… 

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Good red wine (either organic or natural), high in polyphenols, is almost the perfect drink to pair with your nibbles. You need nothing more than a glass of very good wine, savoured mindfully, a bit like what you might have in an oenology class or wine tasting. It will be the backdrop to all your spreadables, cheeses and little savoury tarts. To get into the party mood, treat yourself to a glass of good Champagne or organic sparkling wine. Pairing them with raw or cooked vegetables tempers their acidifying effect. 

Always set elegant pitchers of water out on the coffee table or side, either plain or flavoured with badian, fresh herbs or slices of in-season fruit. If you have not yet managed to drop mineral water that comes in in plastic bottles, now’s the time to offer “fine vintages” like Rosée de la Reine (available in organic shops and health-food stores) or the more widely-available Mont Roucous. They are perfect, because with a very low mineral content they have the merit of not taxing the kidneys too much.  

And now, it’s time to propose a toast to clean eating… To your good health! 

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