Lamb with quince

Quinces are here.  They have some very good friends but their window of togetherness is short.  I spied quinces & figs  - enter baked tagine of lamb with quinces, figs & honey.  This was more suited to a crowd but I didn't want to launch it on unsuspecting guests if it wasn't up to the job.  So Peter & I had to eat it all ourselves.  As you know I am a dab hand with leftovers.  There is no waste at our house so I had a plan.  First the tagine.  Start a couple of days ahead. I ordered a boned shoulder of lamb because I didn't think it would fit in the tagine with the bone in.  I might try it in a large cast iron casserole next time.Then make the chermoula.  Pound 4 cloves chopped garlic, a knob fresh ginger, 1 chopped red chilli, 1 tsp sea salt to form a coarse paste.  Pound a small bunch each coriander & parsley into the paste.  Beat in 3 tsp each ground  cumin & coriander.  Bind with 3 tbsp olive oil, 2 tbsp honey & the juice of a lemon.  Cut small incisions in the lamb & rub the paste all over the meat.  Cover & refrigerate overnight or at least 6 hours.
Next day heat oil & butter in a tagine, add the lamb & brown all over.  Transfer to a plate.  Into the tagine, stir 2 red onions cut in wedges, & any left over chermoula.  Add 225g stoned prunes and if you can't get fresh figs 225g dried.  If you have fresh leave them until later.  Pour in 300 ml hot water & return the lamb to the tagine.   Cover & put in the oven for two hours.
Near the end of the cooking time peel, core & quarter 2 quinces.  Melt a little butter in a pan & toss the quinces until golden.  Remove the tagine form the oven & place the quinces around the lamb.  Splash over a couple of tablespoons orange flower water & drizzle a similar quantity honey.  Return to the oven a further 30 mins until the lamb is very tender.  Sprinkle with chopped parsley & serve with plain couscous & soft leafy greens.  This is truly the queen of tagines.  Save the leftover lamb, fruit, & liquid for another day.
Sunday we got some fish from the market again & I did our old standby saute potatoes & the last of the courgettes from the garden.  Probably not the last, but the last ones that were there on Sunday.
 We had a soup planned for Monday but one of you brought me some freshly caught snapper and we had to eat it immediately.  Thank you.  For a change we crumbed them & served with crushed potatoes & an egg mayonnaise.  For 250g snapper combine 5 pitted finely chopped green olives, zest of a lemon, 1 tbsp chopped parsley, 1/4 cup panko crumbs.  Cut the fish into 5 cm pieces.  Dip in lightly beaten eggs then the crumb mix.  Press the crumbs on to help them stick.  Combine chopped egg & mayonnaise with lemon juice.  Cook the fillets in a little olive oil 2-3 minutes each side.
Tuesday was left overs - Moroccan shepherd's pie.  Firstly saute a finely chopped onion, celery, carrot, garlic in a little olive oil until really soft.  Add  the roughly shredded/chopped lamb & heat through.  Pour over the reserved tagine cooking liquid & add the chopped fruit.  Throw in a splodge of Lowry Peaks Quince Splash.   Simmer a few minutes.  If it is too dry add some liquid.  Stock or water is fine.  I had a small bowl of spicy lentil stew left so I just added enough lamb mix to make a meal for 2.  I topped with me left over pumpkin & parsnip mash mixed with some mashed potato from an earlier occasion which I had thawed.  Always freeze left over mash.  It will come in handy for a mash topped pie. If the tagine was the queen this was certainly the princess of shepherd's pies.  And I have a container of the lamb mix in the freezer for one or two more pies.
We had Monday's planned soup on Wednesday.  For 4 soften 1 thinly sliced onion, diced carrot & potato, 2 cloves crushed garlic with 1 tbsp finely chopped rosemary.  Add a splash of water if the potatoes look like catching.  Add 1/2 tsp each turmeric & smoked paprika, 1/4 tsp cinnamon & 2 drained tins chickpeas.  Set a cup or less aside for garnish.  Add 5 cups stock & simmer 10 minutes.  Blend in a food processor & bring back to heat.  Heat some olive oil in a pan & saute a diced chorizo with 1/2 tsp smoked paprika & the reserved chickpeas.  Stir 1 tbsp lemon juice into the soup & ladle into bowls then top with the chorizo & chickea mix & drizzle with a little of the oil from the pan.
Now we are looking forward to the Easter cooking.  The crabapple trees actually produced fruit this year although not enough to make jelly.  I am looking for something to do with them as an accompaniment for the Easter lamb. 

End of the Golden Weather

The summer crops are winding down and the new season's produce is filling the market stalls. All the brassicas looked irresistible but I settled for broccoli which we just steamed and served with an old favourite beef stew. It's a good idea to make lots and freeze as it is little effort and you'll have a 2nd hearty meal to produce on one of those nights when you don't have time to cook but want something substantial when you finally get in.

Cut 2kg of stewing steak (blade, chuck, skirt) into thick chunks. Finely chop together 4 rashers of bacon, 2 onions, 2 carrots, 2 sticks celery, 4 cloves garlic with a handful of parsley & thyme. Gently cook in a tbsp lard in a heavy casserole (if you don't want to use lard try olive oil instead but lard gives good flavour here) and set aside. Heat a 2nd tbsp lard in a second pan and brown the meat in batches. When it is done sprinkle a handful of flour over the last batch and cook until the flour has browned. Add the meat to the casserole and to the meat pan add 1 cup red wine, 1 tbsp soy sauce, 2 cups water and salt & pepper. Scrape up the meat residue and add to the meat and vegetables. Cover & cook in a low oven about an hour. Take it out and add some vegetables selecting from mushrooms, pickling onions, carrots, potatoes, baby turnips. Just prepare them and chop them into a size you like. Return to the oven and cook for another hour. If you have 2 casseroles you could split them at this stage & put a different set of vegetables in each one.

Now that daylight saving has ended we are back on soup Mondays. We started the season with Egyptian lentil, served with some pita that was in the fridge and had seen better days. For 2 people, heat a small quantity of oil in a pan and soften a finely diced onion, a sliced garlic clove, a small piece of ginger grated and 1/2 a carrot, grated. Stir in a tsp each of cumin, turmeric and paprika and cook for a minute or two. Add a couple of handfuls of red lentils and stir through the spices then add 500ml chicken stock. Simmer until the lentils are cooked. Meanwhile brush a couple of pita breads with oil on both sides then cut into triangles and gently toast in a medium oven for about 8 minutes. You want them crisp but not so crisp that they shatter when you bite them.

On Tuesday I did something I've been thinking about for ages. I love mattar paneer and Zany Zeus have brought out a paneer so I thought I'd have a go. I delved into my trusty Indian Vegetarian Cookery bought in London 30 years ago and it did not disappoint. Cube the paneer (I just bought a pack of paneer that seemed the right amount for 2 people) and fry in ghee until golden. Set aside. In a mortar & pestle grind a small piece of grated ginger, 1 tsp turmeric, 1/2 tsp chilli, 1 tsp cumin seeds, seeds from 2 cardamom pods, a small piece of cinnamon and mix with a little water to form a paste. In a pan fry a finely chopped onion with 1 tsp each mustard seeds & poppy seeds. Add the paste & fry a couple of minutes. Add 2-3 chopped tomatoes and a cup of peas. Gently fry a couple of minutes, add a cup of water & cook until peas are done. Add the paneer and sprinkle with lemon juice. Serve with rice, home made tamarillo chutney and Indian bread.

If it is a cold night, try sausages in a mustardy sauce. I like to keep a pack of the Island Bay Butcher's pork & fennel sausages in the freezer for a rainy day & Wednesday turned out to be that day. Soften (almost caramelise) 1-2 onions in olive oil. Be patient, you want them to cook right down. While the onions are doing, cook some pasta such as penne or giant conchiglie and set aside. Skin the sausages and break into chunks - you can use any sausages you like. Add to the onion and cook through. Stir through a good dollop each of creamy Dijon and grainy mustard and a handful of chopped Italian parsley. Stir in about 1/2 cup cream and the cooked pasta.

We did a delicious creamy risotto topped with lemony chicken. In a baking dish, combine chopped rosemary and parsley with 2 cloves of crushed garlic, 1/4 cup olive oil and juice of a lemon. Add a couple of chicken thighs - skin on (and skin side up) if you can get them. Put in the oven at 180 and roast 30-40 minutes, basting once. Cover & set aside to rest.

While the chicken is cooking make a basic risotto adding lemon zest and 2 tbsp chopped sage with the rice. Serve with the chicken sliced on top andif you want to be fancy cook a few sage leaves in hot olive oil until crisp. I did the sage leaves in the leftover oil and fat the chicken cooked in - okay if you used a pan that can be used on the stove top.

In the weekend I made a batch of quince jelly. Yell out if you would like a jar. I used to be scared of jelly because people suggest it is complicated but it really is not. Wash & quarter 5-6 quinces. Put them in a large pan (skin, cores and all) covered with water and simmer covered until quinces are soft. Mash the quinces & water until you have a liquidy mush. Spoon the mush into a jelly bag suspended over a large bowl. You have a lot of liquid so I spooned in the solids using a slotted spoon & then poured the liquid over in batches, transferring the resulting pink liquid to the preserving pan so the bowl didn't overflow. Leave the last batch to drip for hours making sure you have eked out every last drop of liquid from the quinces. Measure the liquid as you go because you want to add 7 cups of sugar to 8 cups of juice. That's 7/8 cup of sugar per cup of juice. Don't be precise but you don't want as much as a whole cup. Bring the juice to the boil then add the sugar. Boil until it is ready, skimming off any foam that appears. You want the liquid to reach about 220F and you can use a cooking thermometer to measure this. Don't rely on it though. When your jelly has been at a rolling boil for 10 minutes or so test it by putting about 1/2 tsp on a dish you have had in the freezer. If after a few seconds, when you push it with your finger it wrinkles a little it is done. Don't worry if it isn't perfect. You'll just have jars of delicious quince sauce to pour over ice cream.

I also pulled the basil plants and
made a batch of pesto. The plan for this weekend is to get all those tomatoes that didn't ripen into a batch of green tomato chutney.