Boundless by Chef Ryan Turner

I was very fortunate to meet Chef Ryan Turner, and his team, at Low carb Breckenridge and even more fortunate to have a) a meal cooked by him, b) have a good chat with him and, c) receive a copy of his cookbook “Boundless: A fresh approach to real food freedom”

Chef Ryan cooked dinner for all the Speakers at Low Carb Breckenridge.  During the conference itself, as soon as a break arrived, lots of people would try and talk to different speakers – which is great, unless you are a speaker, trying to talk to another speaker.  For many of us, this was a good chance to catch up over some wonderful food and wine.

I don’t remember all the wonderful food we had at the dinner, except the Chicken and Mushroom Soup, some wonderful beef (although I am biased towards NZ beef as having the better flavour) and a dessert made with SOLA, Chef Ryan’s proprietary brand of low calorie sweetener.  SOLA did not give the after-taste that I normally expect with low-calorie sweeteners.

I nearly didn’t get to bring Boundless home, after all, it weighs more than 3 kg (~6.5lb or 7.4 lb “shipping weight”), and is 12″ x 9″ x 2″ which is both hefty and weighty when I have to fit it, plus 4 copies of “Each Rich Live Long” into my single suitcase with a baggage allowance of 23 kg!  Fortunately it all worked out, and Boundless is rapidly becoming my “go-to” cookbook.

Many of the recipes do not require special of extra ingredients that you would only use once, and they don’t seem to be highly complicated to make.    The most complicated, (but very delicious) was the lamb roast with cranberry and pomegranates, which we served with steamed bok choy and a Central Otago Pinot Noir.    It was only complicated by the fact that I had to be organised enough to prepare the marinade the day before cooking!

Ryan also gave me some SOLA to come home with  (It is difficult to ship foods to NZ).    I used it to make lime meringue puddings.  The lime curd is made with butter, eggs, lime juice (from the tree in my backgarden) and enough sweetener “to taste”.  The SOLA was also used in the meringue.

This dessert is a family classic and while I have tried making low carb versions before with other low-calorie sweeteners; the meringue never works properly.   I was impressed with the SOLA and how it works.

So for anyone looking for other low-carb recipies or as a gift for someone, Boundless is a good option.