Slow Cooked Lamb with Aubergine.

After a year in Sydney I have done what everyone said I would do, and started to complain about the cold! When we arrived from the -16 Luxembourgish winter my family and I became the local weirdoes, as we were observed BBQing in thongs, mid winter. We would wave a pair of tongs at our Ugg-and-jumper-clad-neighbours, staring at us through their windows, and entreat them to join us. We would see heads shaking and shoulders shuddering in muffled laughter. A year later, I’ve joined their team. It’s bloody freezing!

 Always one to find a silver lining, I am happy to say that with this weather comes the perfect excuse for some long, slow cooking. Last night I cooked a mighty fine beef casserole with orange zest, star anise, red wine and mushrooms. The house was warmed by the 6-hour oven time I gave my cheap and tasty Bolor blade, and the smells that permeated the air when The Hubby arrived home made him want to renew his vows! The family was so keen to devour the dish that I had no time to take photos. I’ll make it again.

Tonight I have a cheap cut of lamb that deserves a long date with my oven. Usually I’d make a classic Irish stew with such a cut, but as I have aubergines that need to be used I’m going to concoct a Moroccan inspired casserole. It’s cheap, it’s easy, it’s a 1-pot wonder and it takes about 20 minutes to knock up. Winner!

This is what I’ve got

lamb, aubergine and preserved lemons...Yum!

4 lamb forequarter chops (1.1kg)

2 aubergines (cut into rough thick cubes)

1 tin chopped tomatoes (400 grams)

Beef stock (4 cups)

2 large brown onions (roughly chopped)

4 cloves garlic (crushed and chopped)

2 sticks celery (chopped)

Olive oil

½ teaspoon cinnamon

½ teaspoon oregano

2 small preserved lemons

2 teaspoons corn flour

½ cup roasted buckwheat, rinsed (optional) 

This is what I did
Preheat the oven to 140 degrees. Remove the thick fat from the edge of the chops and roughly cut them into pieces leaving the bones in place (3-4 pieces per chop).

Put a thick-bottomed stockpot on a med-high heat and add some olive oil, brown the pieces of lamb. Remove the meat from the pan and set aside. Add the chopped onions, garlic and celery. Check the bottom of the pan; add a dribble more oil if required and sauté until softened. Remove the onion mix and set aside with the meat. Add the aubergines to the pan and cook for about 8 minutes, stirring occasionally to avoid burning. Now tip the meat and the onion mix back in with the aubergines to combine.

Cut the preserved lemons into quarters and remove the fleshy interiors (discard these as they will only make your dish too salty) finely chop the skin and add it to the pan with the cinnamon, oregano, stock and tomatoes. If required, add a little water to ensure the liquid is just visible, but not covering the mix.

Put a lid on the pan and pop it in the oven (140 degrees) and cook for 3.5 hours. Slake the corn flour by putting it in a cup with a small amount of the cooking liquid and mixing into a paste. Add the slaked flour back into the pot and stir, this will thicken the sauce slightly. Cook with the lid off for a further 30 minutes.

The stew is basically ready to eat now, and is delicious with crusty bread or couscous. Another idea, and one that I particularly like as it keeps everything in the 1 pot, is to add ½ a cup of roasted buckwheat when you do the corn flour. This adds a lovely nutty flavor and thickens the stew considerably, so it needs no accompaniment other than a deep bowl and a spoon.

Chicken, Artichoke and Green Olive Tagine, with Saffron and Pistachio Couscous.

Chicken tagine with preserved lemons, green olives and artichokes, served with saffron and pistachio couscous.

I regret that I never ticked Morocco off my travel bucket-list, before I left Europe. I love North African food. Luckily when I smell this tagine cooking, I can close my eyes and conjure up the bustling souks of Marrakech and Essaouira. I’ll get there one day and until then I have my heavily perfumed dreams.

I made preserved lemons recently; you can read that recipe here. They take a month to mature, if you can’t wait that long you can buy preserved lemons at some supermarkets and most delis. You really do need this ingredient, don’t try and substitute regular lemon rind, it’s just not the same thing.

Serves 4.

2 tsp paprika

1 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp ground ginger

1 tsp turmeric

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp freshly ground pepper

2 tbsp olive oil

1.5 kgs skinless, boneless chicken thighs

Salt

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 onion, chopped

1 preserved lemon, pulp discarded, rind cut into thin strips

1 cup pitted green olives

1 cup of artichoke hearts in olive oil (quartered)

1/2 cup water

1/4 cup chopped fresh coriander

1/4 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

METHOD

If you are using a clay tagine, you must soak the bottom in water overnight before using, and then put a heat diffuser on your element to stop it from cracking. I find this all a bit fussy and my tagine is too small anyway, so I use a thick-bottomed stockpot, with a lid.

Combine all the spices in a large bowl. Pat the chicken thighs dry with paper towel and cut into quarters. Put the chicken in the bowl, coat well with the spice mixture and let stand for at least 1 hour.

Heat the oil on a medium-high heat and place the chicken pieces in to brown for 5 minutes. Do this in batches if you need to, as you do not want to over crowd the pan and sweat the chicken. Lower the heat to medium-low, add the garlic and onions over the chicken. Cover and let cook for 15 minutes.

Turn chicken pieces over. Add the lemon slices, olives, artichoke, and 1/2 cup of water. Bring to a simmer on medium heat. If you are making the tagine in advance you can take it off the heat now, cover and leave it to finish off when you are ready, otherwise continue directly with the next step.

Turn the heat back to low, cover, and cook for an additional 30 minutes, until the chicken is cooked through and quite tender. Mix in the fresh parsley and coriander right before serving. Taste and add salt and black pepper if required.

Serve with Saffron and pistachio cous cous.

I have my own method for cooking couscous and it has always given me fluffy, well flavoured couscous with no fuss. It really is the easiest thing in the world.

1.5 cups couscous

¼ tsp ground cumin

5 threads of saffron

Handful sultanas

Handful pistachio nuts

1 clove garlic

Juice of half a lemon

Black pepper

Olive oil.

Put the couscous, cumin, saffron, sultanas, and pistachio nuts into a bowl. Crush a clove of garlic and add the pulp to the bowl. Combine the lemon juice with equal part olive oil and pour this mix over the rest of the ingredients. Take a fork and mix the lot together, so that each grain of couscous is ‘dressed’ in the mix. I find a mix and chop motion the best.

Boil the kettle and cover the couscous with enough boiling water so that there is just a thin layer of water floating on top, covering the couscous; this will quickly absorb but don’t add more. Cover the couscous and set aside until you are ready to use it. It’s THAT easy.

When you are ready to use the couscous, remove the cover and using a fork ‘fluff’ the grains, making sure you get the fork all the way to the bottom of the bowl and chop up any lumps. 

Taste, and add more lemon juice, olive oil, salt or pepper as required, then simply clean the sides of your bowl and dress the top with coriander leaves and if your feeling fancy some pomegranate seeds.

Saffron and Pistachio Couscous.

Preserved Lemons

Home made preserved lemons. So Easy.

I love North African food and the big zesty flavours of Tagines are a favourite in my house. Once you get your head around the basic flavours: cumin, coriander, paprika, cinnamon, ginger and preserved lemon, Moroccan cooking can be very easy throw together. These hearty one-pot dishes make cleaning up a breeze and you can prepare everything in 15-20 minutes, then just leaving it all to stew long and slow. Great for busy families.

I was lucky, living in Europe, to have middle-eastern groceries on my doorstep and at very reasonable prices. I was disheartened to find some of the staples of this cuisine only available in the posh delis of Sydney as gourmet products at extortionate prices. A tiny jar of preserved lemons for example, containing perhaps 4-5 segments of lemon, for around $18.00. Seriously? It’s basically a lemon in salt water?!

The upside of this outrage is that I’ve always wanted to make my own, and this was the motivation I needed to get around to doing it. It was so easy and the jars look so pretty; I’ll never buy them again.

This is how it went…

3 x 500ml preserving jars (sterilized)

20 med-large juicy lemons

Salt

Peppercorns

Bay leaves

Cloves

Cut 10 of the lemons into wedges, 8 per lemon, then carefully de-seed them.

Cut the remaining 10 lemons in half and thoroughly juice them. Set this juice aside.

Press a layer of lemon wedges into the bottom of each jar.

Cover each layer with: 2 teaspoons of salt, 3 peppercorns, 1 clove and a bay leaf.

Firmly press in another layer of lemon wedges, and repeat the salting and spicing. Continue with this process until the jars are almost full to the top, you should only have 2-3 cm of space at the top of the jar.

Fill each jar with the lemon juice squeezed earlier.

All you need to do now is find somewhere cool and dark to store them; under the stairs or at the top of a cool cupboard. They will be ready in a month, but you should check them after a few days. If you have not used enough salt there may be some gas in the jars that needs to be released; simply open the jars briefly to release it and then close them until they are ready. How easy is that?

Veal Saltimbocca with Pumpkin Risotto

It’s autumn again, and I have just returned home to Australia after 15 years in Europe, so find myself in the season for the second time this year. Luckily it is my favourite season, and even though autumn in Luxembourg is very different to autumn in Sydney, some things are constant; like the presence of pumpkins.

For me and nothing goes better with pumpkin than sage, and by lucky coincidence I have a large sage bush on my terrace in Sydney, just as I did in my garden in Lux.

This recipe is a favourite of mine; it’s elegant and delicious enough to serve up at a dinner party, yet easy enough to do for a simple family meal. For 4 people, it goes like this…

The Veal

8 veal escalopes 

8 slices of prosciutto

8 sage leaves

2 tablespoons olive oil

60g  butter

185 ml marsala 

Salt and black pepper.

 Place each veal escalope between 2 sheets of cling film and gently pound with a mallet, or rolling pin, until even in thickness. Season each lightly with salt and pepper.

Place a slice of prosciutto on top of each escalope and trim the edges to fit, place a large sage leaf on top of the prosciutto and pin it all together using a cocktail stick.

Heat the oil and half the butter in a large, heavy-bottomed frying pan. Cook the veal in batches, frying prosciutto-side-up, over a medium-high heat for about 4 minutes (until the veal is just cooked through). Transfer each escalope to a hot plate when done, and continue this process until all the escalopes are done.

Drain the excess oil from the pan and add the marsala. Cook over a high heat until the liquid has reduced by half, be sure to stir and scrape all the tasty ‘bits’ from the bottom of the pan.

Add the remaining butter, taste and season if required. When the butter has melted into the sauce spoon it over the veal and serve with the pumpkin risotto.

The Risotto

2 cups Arborio rice
600ml chicken stock
500g pumpkin, peeled and diced.
1 cup dry vermouth
2 sticks of celery
1 onion
1 clove of garlic
20 sage leaves
75g butter
3 tbsp olive oil
75g grated Parmigiano-Reggiano.
Salt and freshly-ground black pepper.

Preheat the oven to 200degrees.

Place the pumpkin on a lined baking tray, drizzle with 1 tbs of olive oil, season with salt and pepper, and roast for 35 minutes until starting to go crispy and gold at the edges.

Roughly chop half the sage leaves.

Put the stock in a saucepan and bring to a simmer, turn the heat down and keep the stock warm on the hob beside your risotto pan.

Melt 2/3 of the butter in the risotto pan with the remaining olive oil. Add the onion, celery, garlic and sweat over a medium heat for about 8 minutes, stirring occasionally until the mixture is soft but not browned.

Add the rice and stir to coat each grain with the buttery mix.

Turn the heat up and add the vermouth, when this has been almost absorbed, add a ladle full of stock. Stir the mix until the liquid has been almost absorbed then add another ladle of the warm stock. Repeat this procedure of adding stock and stirring.

When you have only 2 ladles left in your stock pot, add the roasted pumpkin and chopped sage to the risotto mix, pour in the last of the stock, the grated cheese and stir the whole mixture gently folding the pumpkin pieces in(the whole stock and stir process should take 30-40 minutes).

Cover your pan and set aside.

Heat a little extra olive oil in a pan, toss in the remaining sage leaves and flash fry until they turn crispy. This will take just a few moments so be careful not to burn them.

Stir the crispy leaves through the risotto and serve immediately with the veal.

A Scotch Eggstravaganza.

Chorizo-spiced pork scotch eggs.

My husband loves scotch eggs, “proper home-made scotch eggs” he tells me “are a delight” and far, far removed from the things I was used to sampling on bad cocktail party platters. I think he likes them as they remind him of his favourite pub in the world, The All Nations, Madeley in Shropshire, where they only have 3 things on the food menu (raw black pudding sandwich, pork pie and scotch egg).

I have made 2 versions of this British classic for you; the first is my own creation (I have borrowed part from Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall , his ‘Tupperware Chorizo’ is a simple and tasty recipe you really should make yourself aware of). The second is a little more delicate, I found it on the wonderfully niche ‘Forever Eggsploring’ food blog, but it is actually a Jamie Oliver recipe (with a few modifications).

Ingredients for my duo of Scotch Eggs.

Giant Chorizo Spiced Pork Scotch Eggs.

Ingredients

500g minced pork

1 tbsp sweet smoked paprika

2 tsp hot smoked paprika

2 garlic cloves, finely chopped

1 tsp fine sea salt

1½ tsp fennel seeds

¼ tsp cayenne pepper

¼ cup Marsala

Freshly ground black pepper

5 large hens’ eggs

150g breadcrumbs (made by blending a stale baguette)

Oil, for deep frying

Method

Take your eggs out of the refrigerator and leave out to adjust to room temperature.

Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall's
Tupperware Chorizo

Mix together the pork, both varieties of paprika, the minced garlic, salt and pepper, fennel seeds, cayenne pepper, and Marsala (the original recipe calls for wine – ‘whatever you have lying around open’…well I don’t EVER have wine lying around open, as it usually gets drunk, so I used Marsala. You can use red wine if that suits you). You should end up with a spicy, red, fragrant mixture. Cover and put this in the fridge.

Now boil 4 of the eggs to your liking; 6 minutes for soft and 10 minutes for hard yolks.

Remove the eggs from the pan and plunge directly into iced water to stop the cooking process. Shell the eggs remembering to be gentle if they are soft boiled

 

Split the pork mix into 4 equal parts and flatten each portion in the palm of your hand, place an egg in the centre and gently mould the pork around the egg so that it is completely encased and there are no gaps.

Beat the remaining egg then dunk and roll each Scotch egg in this. Transfer the Scotch eggs into the breadcrumbs and roll to coat

I don’t have a deep fat fryer, it’s not a way I generally like to cook and I hate disposing of the oil afterwards. For this, I half filled my wok with vegetable oil, and waited for the temperature to reach 180oC, then carefully lowered my eggs in, frying for around 10 minutes, I needed to roll the eggs around every now and then as they were not quite covered by the oil. You need to ensure that the eggs are a nice golden brown colour, and that pork inside is cooked.

Drain on kitchen paper to remove excess oil.

These eggs are sublime. I made mine slightly runny and the rich, creamy yolk goes sooo well with the spicy pork mince. You could make these with quail’s eggs and serve as part of a tapas platter. These big ones make a substantial supper when served with a salad and selection of condiments (mustard, chutney) maybe a platter of Spanish bread and cheese, and of course good bottle of Rioja. Ole!

Salmon and Dill Scotch Eggs.

Ingredients

250g salmon fillet, skinned
1 handful of fresh parsley, finely chopped
1 handful of fresh dill, finely chopped
grated zest and juice of 1/2 lemon

½ tsp paprika
8 quail’s eggs or 4 hens’ eggs
2 more hens eggs for the coating
salt and freshly ground black pepper
150g breadcrumbs (made by blending a stale baguette)

Oil, for deep frying

Method

Take your eggs out of the refrigerator and leave out to adjust to room temperature.

Place the salmon in a food processor and blend to form a rough paste. Add the parsley, dill, a beaten egg, lemon juice and zest, season well with salt and cracked black pepper. Cover and refrigerate.

In a separate bowl, mix together the breadcrumbs and paprika and season with salt and black pepper

Take a toothpick and gently prick a tiny hole in the top of your quail’s eggs. To do this, hold the eggs steady in the pack and gently, but firmly punch the toothpick into its shell. Now boil the eggs to your liking;

§         for the hen’s eggs boil 6 minutes for soft and 10 minutes for hard yolks.

§         for the quail’s eggs boil for 1.5 minutes for soft and 5 minutes for hard yolks.

* note, have a runny yolk in the final scotch egg is a treat, but peeling a soft boiled quails egg is really painstaking and often ends up in the whole egg bursting in your hand. Decide how much you want the runny yolk in the final product. A harder quail’s egg is a lot easier to handle...

Remove the eggs from the pan and plunge directly into iced water to stop the cooking process. Shell the eggs remembering to be gentle if they are soft boiled

Split the salmon paste into 8 equal portions for quails eggs or 4 equal portions for hen’s eggs (I broke 2 of my quails eggs and so quickly soft boiled a hen’s egg to make up the numbers) and flatten in the palm of your hand.

Place an egg in the centre of the flattened salmon and wrap the paste around it, squeezing gently to seal the joins
Beat your remaining egg then dunk and roll each Scotch egg in this. Transfer the Scotch eggs into the breadcrumbs and roll to coat

I don’t have a deep fat fryer, so for this I half filled my wok with vegetable oil, and waited for the temperature to reach 180oC, then carefully lowered my eggs in, frying for around 3 minutes for the quail eggs and 5 for the hens egg, the eggs should be all golden brown in colour.
Drain on kitchen paper to remove excess oil.

These eggs are yummy hot or cold, obviously make great picnic food, but can also be plated up and served with tartare sauce, and a salad

A truly eggzellent buffet!





Fabuleuse Brittany

Clams Marinier

Yesterday was my birthday and I spent the day in Loqueric Harbour with the family. Yes, IN the harbour! There was a long, low-tide and local people were down on the sea bed, walking about on the wet sand. Some were working on the hulls of high-and-dry boats, others digging in the sand for treasure. TREASURE: clams, razor clams, whelks and mussels, all there and easy pickings. We came home with a bulging bag of the sweetest clams in the entire world and made a large pot of Clams Mariner. We’re going back for more soon.

BBQed Cote de Boeuf

Today we gave seafood a rest day, and visited the local Boucher, we came out with a magnificent côte de boeuf, we barbequed it and served it with béarnaise sauce. It was simply delicious.

    

Today Ian BBQed a large crab and some sardines; I cooked tomato and caramelised onion Tarte Tatin. The seafood won the pic of the day…so here it is (recipe for the tarte, which was delicious, will follow soon – I’m on holiday!)

We spent this afternoon back on the little beach in Locqueric. It’s so gorgeous with boats floating on the water, men fishing from the pier, kids building sand castles…and all this is surrounded by a small but perfectly-curated selection of cafes and restaurants. Today the village celebrated with the annual Nuit de Marine, moules et frites were the order of the evening along with some wonderful dry cidre eaten on the sand and followed by a spot of traditional Bretagne dancing in the street!

In the village of Plougasnou, while browsing the morning market for supplies, I snapped this photo of a man in local garb selling rotisserie chicken and ham hocks. I like him.

Artichokes from Brittany on my kitchen window. Perfection.

Je suis en vacances en Bretagne. C'est magnifique. Coquilles Saint-Jacques, de cidre, crêpes et beaucoup d'autres merveilles culinaires attendez-moi.

Apricots for sale at the marche des legumes in Chartres.

Brittany is everything I imagined and more, I spent this morning wandering around the Sunday morning market in the village of Pestin, it was so perfect I wanted to cry.  There were fishmongers selling lobsters, languostine, mussels, and scallops; there were bearded men selling sausage, pate and rillettes; Cheesemongers with carts so smelly they almost sent you running, but then drew you closer with a curious awe; there were olives and tapenades, butchers and bakers and the artichokes…Don’t mention the artichokes…Dear God! They are perfection. I think I bought one of everything!

I’m, going to upload 1 picture a day while I’m ‘en vacances’. Just 1 image of whatever foody thing I fall most in love with that day. Today it’s the artichokes I bought from the market in Pestin. I’ve also uploaded my image from yesterday; the apricots from the market we stopped at in Chartres. Who cares about some Cathedral? If I was a religious person I think I’d find more of God’s glory in a perfect apricot than the finest stained glass in all the world.