Having felt a bit sluggish for a while now, I decided that perhaps my body needed a bit of a cleanse, and what better way to do it than buying a new cookbook with lots of cleansing recipes. Honestly Healthy Cleanse by Natasha Corrett is packed full of alkaline recipes, created to balance your body’s PH levels so that you look and feel better than you ever thought you could.

Having to start somewhere, and not wanting the husband to think I’d gone a bit OTT with the alkaline cleaning business, I decided upon an egg tart. When I say egg tart, I don’t mean one of those sweet, slightly wobbly things that my mum used to make my dad as a special treat (egg tart as a special treat – really!!!) . it’s more of a Quiche, but this one is gluten-free and almost dairy free, aside from the addition of a bit of goat’s cheese. The pastry is made from a simple mix of ground almonds and egg, while the filling uses coconut oil and almond milk, among other things.

While the pastry is pretty crumbly and tricky to work with, you don’t roll it out. Instead you simply press it into the case, before baking it for a short while, then filling it with the egg, goat’s cheese, broccoli and spinach mix before popping it in the oven.

The result, a light, slightly nutty, but still extremely filling tart. And because it requires zero flour, it’s suitable for the gluten-free mother. Unfortunately for her, she was on holiday when I made this, so the husband and I had leftovers cold from the picnic basket the next day.

The verdict from the husband: ‘Mmmm, can I have some more please.’ I think he approved.

Recipe from Honestly Healthy Cleanse by Natasha Corrett

Serves 4-6

For the filling

• 1 tbsp coconut oil, plus extra for greasing
• 1 small white onions, chopped
• 1 clove garlic, grated
• 1/4 tsp onion seeds
• 4 tbsp water
• 100g tenderstem broccoli
• 30g spinach leaves, chopped
• 140g hard goat’s cheese
• 2 eggs
• 200ml almond milk
• 1/4tsp Himalayan pink salt

For the tart case

• 250g ground almonds
• 1 egg, beaten

Method

1. Preheat the oven to gas mark 4. Grease a 20cm tart tin with coconut oil and line with baking parchment.
2. First make the case. Mix the ground almonds and egg together in a bowl until well mixed. Press the mixture into the prepared tart tin, being sure to press it up the sides, too. Bake in a pre-heated oven for 10-12 minutes until it just starts to colour. Remove from the oven and set aside.
3. Meanwhile, melt the coconut oil in a pan and saute the onion and garlic with the black onion seeds for 1 minute. Add half of the water and the broccoli – it will start to cook in the steam. After about 1 minute, add the rest of the water and cook for another 2-3 minutes until the broccoli starts to soften. Next, add the spinach and turn the heat off and let it cook in the residual heat.
4. Now, make the filling. Grate the hard goat;s cheese into a bowl and mix in the eggs, almond milk and salt.
5. Put the sautéed broccoli and spinach mixture into the base of the tart and pour the cheesy mixture over the top.
6. Bake in the pre-heated oven for 25-30 minutes until golden on the top.