French pizza and Scottish tagine

This is the tagine I first made the day after I was given the book.  It never fails to please.  Make a marinade with one grated onion, 3 crushed garlic cloves, a knob of grated ginger, finely chopped parsley, a pinch of saffron threads, juice of a lemon, salt & pepper, 3 tbsp olive oil.  Add chicken thighs with bone in, or legs.  You could get Maryland pieces and cut them in two then you have both.  You want 1-2 pieces per person depending on the size of your diners.  Rub the marinade well into the skin & refrigerate 1-2 hours. 
Heat a tbsp olive oil with a knob of butter, in your tagine.  Remove the chicken pieces from the marinade & brown well on both sides.  Pour over the marinade & add just enough water to come halfway up the sides of the chicken pieces.  Bring to the boil, cover & bake in the oven at 180 for about 45 minutes.   Add 2 preserved lemons, cut into strips, 175g cracked green olives & 1 tsp dried oregano.  Return to the oven for a further 20 minutes.  Sprinkle some fresh oregano over the top to serve.  I served it with steamed carrots tossed with toasted cumin & coriander seeds & mint.
Sunday being rugby I decided we should do the right thing & eat pizza in front of the telly.  I made RWC Final Pizza - one half black & white, the other red, white & blue for Le Tricolore.
I also made Olivo's delicious parsnip skordalia for rugby snacks.  Toss 500g parsnips, quartered lengthwise, with 1 tbsp Helen's cumin oil and 2 tsp cumin seeds and place in a roasting pan. Put in the oven and roast at 190 for about 25 minutes until cooked through and golden. Cool.  Place the parsnips in a food processor and pulse until mashed. Add 3 cloves garlic, salt to taste & an egg yolk then pulse again. Gradually drizzle in about 1/2 cup cumin oil while pulsing, then finally add the juice of 1/2 a lemon. If the mixture is too thick add a little warm water to the desired consistency.  As well as a dip Helen suggests serving it as an accompaniment with sausages.
Monday night I made one of the best soups ever.  Pea & parsley with scallops.  If you don't eat scallops (you must be crazy) you could leave them off but they are a magnificent addition.  For 6 people, soften 1 finely chopped onion with a finely chopped stick of celery and a bay leaf in a little butter for about 10 minutes.  Add 3 cups of chicken stock & season.  Bring to the boil & add 1 kg peas.  Sadly, frozen, as mine aren't ready & I don't think I could ever harvest that quantity for a single meal.  Bring back to the boil for about 3 minutes then stir through 1 cup finely chopped parsley, 3/4 cup cream & white pepper.  Blend with a stick blender, then add 2 tsp red wine vinegar & adjust the seasoning.  Keep warm & prepare the scallops.  Heat about 50g butter in a pan & sprinkle with a little mineral salt.  Fry 3-4 scallops per person with some fresh tarragon or mint leaves, for about 1-2 minutes per side.  Top the individual soup bowls with scallops & the fried leaves then drizzle with the scallop pan juices. 
A couple of weeks back, I had a sorrel risotto at Floriditas & as I have some in the garden, I thought I would try this at home.  I made a basic risotto using finely chopped onion & celery as the base then at the end I stirred though 1/2 dozen finely chopped sorrel leaves & the zest of half a lemon.  I finished off with the juice of the lemon half & a knob of butter.  It was wonderful.  You should grow sorrel.  It is delicious cooked & in salads & grows so easily.  I found the half dead seedling languishing in a dark corner at the garden centre & this week I am planning to separate the plant as it has flourished.
I had a small piece of pumpkin that needed to be eaten.  Enter Moroccan chicken with rice & pumpkin.  Tie 2 boneless chicken thighs per person, with kitchen string so that they keep their shape.  Heat the oil in an oven proof dish & brown the chicken on all sides.  Set aside.  For 6, add finely chopped onions & carrots with 3 cloves crushed garlic & cook until softened.  Add 1 tsp each ginger, turmeric, smoked paprika & cinnamon plus the zest of a lemon & cook a further 2 minutes.  Stir in diced pumpkin then 2 cups chicken stock.  Scrape up all the sticky bits at the bottom of the pan.  Add a cup of basmati rice - I used brown - & sit the thighs on top.  Cover & bake 45 mins at 180.  
A reader sent me a photo of her egg & kefte tagine & I want to share it with you.  Do you have any photos to share?  I think the tagines have been a hit and many of you are making them.  Good old  Ghillie.  You may be surprised to discover she is actually Scottish.  She has also been shortlisted "Pasta Journalist of the Year".   Who knew their was such an honour?  Does anyone know who won?

The greens make the meal

I bumped into one of my regular readers at Moore Wilson this week & she recommends the kefte tagine with eggs.  Has anyone tried the others?  What's your favourite to date?  This week was a Spanish influenced tagine of chickpeas & chorizo.  You could use merguez sausages or leave them out altogether & just do the chickpeas.
This is another to do on the stovetop.  In a casserole, saute 2 red onions, cut in half lengthways, halved crossways, & sliced with the grain.  Sounds complicated I know but the dish is simple & you can see in the picture that the lengths of onion look pretty.  Add finely chopped garlic & soften down.  Add one chorizo sliced on the diagonal.  For Takanini residents - they used to have the best chorizo at the Takanini Foodtown deli counter.  Add bay leaves & thyme then toss through a tin of chickpeas & 2 tsp Spanish smoked paprika.  Cover & simmer 10-15 minutes.  Add sage leaves & lemon juice.  Serving suggestions include with Turkish bread & yogurt, or as a side dish with grilled meat.  I served mine with one of these leafy salads.  In case you were wondering, you can eat radish leaves too.
On Sunday I had a hankering to do petit pois a la Francaise and I had a Kipdale chicken in the freezer for a rainy day.  The upshot was a French style roast chicken.  Make tarragon butter by mixing 50g butter, 1 tbsp wholegrain Dijon mustard, 2 tbsp chopped French tarragon, grated zest of a lemon & 2 cloves crushed garlic.  Put half the zested lemon & a tsp of the tarragon butter with some extra tarragon leaves inside the cavity.  Put half the rest of the butter between the skin & the chicken.  This gets messy but is the best thing to do with chicken.  My flatmate in London 30 years ago who was a chef taught me how to do this with the Christmas turkey.  Tuck in the wings & tie the legs together around the parson's nose then truss around the bird to secure the wings against the breast.  Rub the rest of the butter on the top of the chicken.  This will burn a bit but don't worry about that.
Put the chicken in a roasting dish with members of the onion family - 8 baby leeks, 8 spring onions, 4 red onions halved, 8 whole shallots, 2 heads of garlic beheaded a third of the way down and a bunch of baby carrots.  Add 1/2 cup white wine & 1 cup chicken stock.  Roast for 70-80 minutes at 200.  You could make a gravy with the stock & a little creme fraiche at the end.  I just reduced it down. 
To make the peas, halve a small lettuce such as baby cos or little gem & lay in the bottom of a pan.  Add six chopped spring onions, 1 tbsp parsley, a knob of butter, 4 tbsp water (or chicken stock because you got some out of the freezer for the chicken & didn't use it all), and lots of peas.  Add a pinch of sugar.  You can add 2 baby chopped carrots if you have them.  Cover tightly & simmer about 15 minutes, less if you are using frozen peas.  This sounds odd but trust me.  I went to all the trouble above because I wanted to eat this.  Julia Child calls this dish the glory of pea cookery and suggests it should be served as a separate course and eaten with a spoon. She suggests serving the peas with a chilled white wine that's not too dry, or a chilled rose.
Roast chicken for two can be a bit daunting but made good use of our leftovers with a delicious chicken salad.  I did the iceberg lettuce & verjuice aoli salad just adding the shredded cold chicken. And don't forget to make up some more chicken stock.
This week we had Angie O's walnut pesto tossed through spaghetti.  That was delicious. And no effort.
 Forget everything I ever said about Chinese greens.  I have a new method and this is amazing.  It is my version of Allan Fong's Chinese greens.  I just looked him up & he has a website!  Can you believe it - and it has the recipe.  Do it Allan's way or do it mine.  In a pan lightly saute thinly slivered or julienned garlic, ginger & baby carrots.  Chop a bunch of greens - I used baby pak choy & choy sum - on the diagonal & toss into the pan.  Pour in a good slug of gin & cook until the leaves are wilted then pour on some oyster sauce.  I added baby pea pods from the garden & blanched asparagus because it needed to be eaten.  I urge you to try this.  Like the peas, you will plan a whole meal around this dish.

Old, new, walnut, blue

This tagine might just be the best ever edging out the beef & beetroot. This is another poached lamb kefta best done on the stove top.  Mix 450 g minced lamb with 1 finely chopped onion, a bunch of finely chopped flat leaf parsley, 2 tsp cinnamon, 1 tsp each ground coriander & cumin, 1/2 tsp cayenne, salt & pepper.  Shape into small meatballs - you'll get about 16.  In a pan, saute 1 roughly chopped onion with 3 cloves crushed garlic, a piece of grated ginger & a thinly sliced red chilli  Add 2 tsp turmeric, some roughly chopped parsley & mint and about 300ml water.  Simmer 10 minutes then carefully add the kefta & poach gently for 10 minutes.  Pour over the juice of a lemon and tuck a second lemon, cut into segments, between the meatballs.  Season with salt & poach a further 10 minutes. Sprinkle with parsley & mint.  Serve with couscous and a soft leafy salad.  This is deliciously lemony & fresh.
One of my favourite stalls at the City Market is Angie O.  At the moment she is doing a walnut pesto.  Try spreading this on a piece of toasted sourdough or French bread, then top with a rocket leaf & a slice of your favourite blue cheese.  We had Bleu d'Auvergne.  This makes a divine weekend lunch.
The weather is very up and down and although winter is over I could not resist this beef & red wine pie with spicy pumpkin mash.  The recipe called for beef shin but the butcher didn't have any & recommended a cross-cut blade steak with lovely glutinous veins of fat running through it.  You want something that loves to be slow cooked.    This is a really simple way to make a casserole because you just add everything straight to the pot without browning first.  In fact, I prepared it in the casserole dish in the morning and went to a movie.  When I got home I just took the casserole out of the fridge, heated the oven & popped it in.  To prepare, combine in your casserole dish 750g beef diced fairly large, 1 large carrot roughly chopped, 1 onion roughly chopped, 4 whole cloves garlic, 1 tbsp chopped garlic, 1 tbsp soy sauce, zest of 1 orange, 2 tbsp tomato paste, 2 whole star anise, 1/2 cup crushed tomatoes, 1 cup red wine, 1 cup beef stock, salt & pepper.  When you're ready to cook, put it into the oven at 150 for around 3 1/2-4 hours.  If the liquid is too thin near then end just remove the lid & cook until the liquid has reduced & is  a bit syrupy.
For the mash cook some pumpkin & Agria potatoes.  For two, I had about 1/4 pumpkin & 1 potato.  Mash with a little butter & cream & season well.  While the veg is cooking slowly, cook  a thinly sliced onion in a little butter or oil and a good pinch of salt, until soft & golden.  Add a clove of crushed garlic & a grating of ginger & 1/4 tsp allspice & cook another 2 minutes.  Stir through the mash.  To assemble spoon the lamb into individual oven proof dishes.  I have some beautiful pottery dishes my mother bought in Thorndon many years ago.  Do any of you remember the Courtyard Cafe on Tinakori Rd & the pottery shop next door?  These dishes served her well for many years and are now doing great service at our house.  Top with the pumpkin mix & cook at 180 until the mash is coloured & a little crisp.
We welcomed an old favourite back to the table.  This is quick and delicious and a good weekday standby although you do have to pick up your prawns on the day or the day before unless you have some in your freezer.  Skin, deseed & decore 1/2 dozen or so good flavourful tomatoes then roughly chop.  Drain them over a bowl for up to an hour so that you are just using the flesh.  Mix them with 1 clove crushed garlic, a handful each chopped flat leaf parsley & basil, 2 small dried bird's eye chillis (or use flakes), crushed, 1/2 dozen pitted kalamata olives, 3 tbsp olive oil.  Set aside.    Saute about 1/2 dozen prawns per person until just cooked then sprinkle over a pinch saffron & 2 more of those chillis.  Add the tomato mix briefly to warm and scrape up the tasty bits on the bottom of the pan.  Cook some spaghetti according to the pack then toss through the tomato and prawn mix.  Serve with a green salad.

Greens, yellow, red, black & blue

I am in the spicy meatball or kefta section of the tagine book.  Last week's was one of my favourite things - meatballs with poached eggs.  This reminded me of Turkish pizza with lamb & egg on top which I am keen to perfect.  This tagine is best made on the top of the stove and takes no time at all.  The meatballs are poached rather than fried.  Mix 225g mince with 1 finely chopped onion, 1 tsp dried mint, 1 tsp ras-el-hanout, 1/2 tsp dried chilli, a small bunch of finely chopped parsley & salt & pepper and make into about 12 small meatballs.
Fill a shallow pan with water & bring to the boil & carefully drop in the kefta.  Poach for 10 minutes turning occasionally.  Remove the kefta & drain.  Tip away all but about 300mls of the poaching liquid & add 1 tbsp butter, then bring to the boil.  Stir in a pinch of salt & 1 tsp dried chilli then return the poached kefta to the pan. I also added half a tin of crushed tomatoes because they were in the fridge and that was nice.   Cook over a high heat until almost all the liquid has evaporated then break an egg per person carefully between the kefta.  Cover & gently cook until the eggs are just set.  About 3-5 minutes.  Sprinkle over roasted cumin & chopped parsley.
We have been trying to eat more fish although it is always tricky to do it mid-week as it means a trip across town after work.  We often get some on Sunday at the market.   We had a lovely piece of salmon with pea salsa & crushed potatoes.  To make the pea salsa cook frozen peas as usual.  For 4, blend 1/2 cup each basil & flat leaf parsley, 3 anchovies, 1 clove crushed garlic, 1 tbsp capers, 4 tbsp olive oil, 1 tbsp red wine vinegar, 1 tbsp cold water, in the food processor.  Mix half with the drained peas & set aside the rest.  Boil some Agria potatoes & crush lightly with the back of a fork.  Mix through a little olive oil & season.
Brush both sides of the salmon, skinned, with oil & pan fry until cooked the way you like it,  Don't overdo it.  Serve the salmon atop the potatoes, then top with the peas & drizzle over the reserved salsa. 
I had some Chinese greens again & a few sprigs of broccoli & a couple of asparagus stalks so I cooked them the way I told you a few weeks ago & served with sliced pork & egg noodles.  The next day I did the rest of the choy sum, with mushrooms & served with a plain omelette.  Just keep playing around with these greens.  There is so much you can do with them and they are so fresh tasting.  And they look pretty on the plate.  Always a plus. 
We had guests at the weekend and to start served a plate of antipasto.  This included some of the olives we brined ourselves and they were truly delicious.
We then served the chicken & couscous I made not long ago.  This was a good meal for a crowd as you can prepare ahead.  And it was a crowd pleaser - you will note the plate had been disturbed before I got in the photo.   I served it with a green salad.
The piece de resistance though was the pudding.  As you know I can be a bit lazy in this department.  I wanted something light  - it is after all spring, ha ha.  I settled for individual lemon jellies served with lemon curd & meringue.  This was again easy because everything was done ahead.  You could do it a couple of days ahead.
Clarifying the jelly seemed a pain but it was not too bad.  I always freeze left over whites when I separate eggs & I clarify with these.  You can also use this method to clarify your stock & savoury jellies.  I made my jellies in little tin jelly moulds from my childhood.  Top everything off with a small dollop of gently whipped cream and serve with a shot of limoncello.  Of course I have heaps of meringues left.  Any suggestions? 
We picked our first cabbage this week.  They have not been a great success in that a couple bolted and the ones that hearted up are quite small, but they are cabbages & there are only 2 mouths to feed.  We made two meals from this little beauty.
The first night I steamed the cabbage, finely sliced, about 4 minutes, then tipped back into the pan with a knob of butter & a turn or so of the pepper grinder.  We served this with pork fillet & lentils.  It was quite cold here this week and this was a perfect mid-week meal.
The next night we had a coleslaw variation with chicken.  We didn't have any mung beans but used pea sprouts and there was something about it that made it better than I remembered.  More mint maybe.  Or perhaps it was just that deliciously fresh cabbage.
A couple of weeks back in Moore Wilson they had RWC themed macarons.  The black was liquorice & delicious.  Not sure what the blue flavour was but equally delicious and they look so cute. 
Have just been out in the garden and note that peas, rhubarb & broad beans coming along nicely.   I wanted to say "coming soon" but Peter suggests just say "coming".