Spring into summer

This week's tagine seemed more suited to a festive occasion but I needed to try it out before presenting it to guests.  This is described as a traditional Moorish duck tagine.  You will need one duck breast on the bone per person.  Using a mortar & pestle pound a knob of fresh ginger and 2 chopped garlic cloves to a paste.  Heat 2 tbsp olive oil with a knob of butter in your tagine.  Stir in the garlic paste & 2 cinnamon sticks.  When the mixture starts to colour add the duck breasts & brown the skin.  Stir in 2 tbsp honey and tuck a handful of stoned dates around the duck.  Add just enough water to cover the base of the tagine & come about 1/3 up the duck breasts.  Bring to the boil, cover, then transfer to the oven and cook at 180 for about 25 minutes.  Add 1 tbsp orange flower water, season & continue cooking until the duck is tender - 5 minutes or so.  Saute a handful of whole blanched almonds in a little butter & scatter over the duck to serve.  Serve with couscous flavoured with fresh herbs & lemon zest.  This will help to counter the richness of the duck.
Try a pinto bean chilli using early summer veg.  For 4, heat 1 tbsp oil & soften 3 finely chopped onions.  Add 2-3 fiery green chillies deseeded & finely chopped, 2 finely chopped cloves of garlic, 2 tsp ground cumin, 1 tsp cayenne, 1/4 tsp allspice.  Cook for about a minute.  Add 2 diced courgettes & one diced red capsicum.  Coat in the spices then add 2 tbsp tomato puree, a tin of tomatoes, a tin of pinto beans, 100ml red wine & a handful each of fresh parsley & oregano, finely chopped.  Pour over 200ml water & simmer gently for half an hour until all the vegetables are tender & the dish is thick & saucy. We served ours with homemade guacamole, shredded cos lettuce, grated cheese, sour cream and some grilled flat breads. 
I had been given some walnuts so we tried a quinoa & walnut salad.  Make extra because the leftovers are good in lunches.  For 4, toast 2 tsp cumin seeds & 1 tsp fennel seeds, then crush in a mortar & pestle until you have a fine powder.  Heat 2 tbsp olive oil in a pan & saute 1 finely chopped onion, 1 finely chopped fennel bulb,  2 finely chopped garlic cloves.  Add the ground spices & the zest of a lemon.  Cook the quinoa according to the instructions.  If you don't have quinoa you could substitute brown rice, bulgar wheat or that large Israeli couscous.  Drain & mix with the onion mixture then stir in the juice of a lemon & chopped herbs - parsley, chives, tarragon, toasted & chopped walnuts - about 75g.  Taste & add more oil & lemon juice if you think it needs it.
Still on the summer veg theme, we stir fried a bunch of greens and served with egg fried rice.  For two, cook 1/2 cup rice - we used brown jasmine - then set aside.  Prepare the vegetables before you start.  A courgette, halved lengthways & sliced thinly lengthwise,  spring onions sliced on the diagonal, a handful of greens such as spinach, rocket mizuna, a handful each snow peas, fresh podded  peas & broadbeans.  I blanched the podded beans & slipped them out of their skins.  Heat a wok or frying pan over a medium high heat & add 1 tbsp sunflower oil.  Add the snowpeas, then the courgettes, peas, onions & greens - one at a time cooking each one a minutes or so before adding the next.  When the greens have wilted down add a finely chopped piece of ginger, a crushed garlic clove & finely chopped green chilli.  Transfer to a hot serving dish & scatter with soy sauce & sesame oil plus a sprinkling of toasted sesame & shredded mint. 
Wipe out the wok & bring back to a medium heat.  Add 1 tbsp sunflower oil and when the oil is hot add the reserved rice & stir until all the grains are coated in the oil.  Make a bit of space in the pan & tip in a beaten egg mixed with a tsp soy sauce.  As the egg starts to cook move it around through the rice until it is cooked & distributed through the rice.  Serve the veg atop the rice & sprinkle with more soy sauce if you like.
This week I had my first go at cheese.  I started with cream cheese which was very simple & also turned out to be delicious.  I started with 2 litres of whole milk and let it sit 24 hours with the cheese culture & rennet.  I then drained it through muslin for a day, and stirred through dried herbs & cheese salt.  It was great on grilled sourdough, with boiled potatoes or on crackers.   Unfortunately I didn't have any smoked salmon.
We also made a batch of marmalade from the windfall grapefruit & lemons we had collected while in Auckland the previous week.  It came up such a beautiful golden colour. 

Home and away

We were away for a few days so this week saw us emptying out the cupboards & eating on the road.  At the weekend, before we went, we had the tagine - the last of the chicken tagines.  This was the more traditional tagine with dried fruit.  For 4, heat 2 tbsp olive oil with a knob of butter in the tagine.  Stir in a finely chopped onion, a sprig of finely chopped rosemary, a knob of grated ginger & 2 finely chopped red chillies & saute until the onion has softened.  Stir in a couple of rosemary sprigs and 1-2 cinnamon sticks.  Add the chicken thighs & brown on both sides.  I rolled & tied these the same way we did for the Moroccan chicken a couple of weeks back.  This gives the thighs a good shape to serve.  Toss in a good handful of dried apricots & 2 tbsp clear honey then stir in a tin of tomatoes.  Bring the liquid to the boil & transfer to a medium oven for 40 minutes.  We served this with couscous and a salad.
We usually eat at the market on Sunday morning but we didn't go because we were going away.  Because we were going away we had very little food in the house and no bread.  So we used up some of the eggs we did have and made pancakes.  This was such a satisfying breakfast.
We did make some bread as well and for a change we made Hugh F-W's sourdough recipe.  This made a nice change.  We were struggling to get through the bread.  We are still making are making it weekly, sometimes a sourdough & a Norwegian but we are halving the loaves and freezing what we are not immediately eating.  This means the freezer is full of bread that can be brought out when we have visitors staying.
For lunch I used up the potatoes & everything else I could in a potato salad.  What didn't get used here went into the fish stew for dinner.  Not only was it very pleasing to consume all potential wastage but the meals were utterly delicious. A reminder that you can make great food with very few ingredients.
While we were in Auckland I made a couple of finds I'd like to share with you.  You Aucklanders probably already know them.  We went to Al Brown's new eatery in Federal St -The Depot.  We had the Falafel & the Battered Snapper Tortillas as small sharing plates.  Delicious.  I also discovered Ebisu on Quay St.  This is contemporary Japanese and again is in the style of sharing plates.  We tried the Gyu no Tataki and the Tori no Karaage.  Both delicious & not especially small.
The other treats were the Strawberry Corner in Clevedon.  My sister took us there and treated us to real strawberry ice creams.  Said sister also keeps chickens and one of the girls had produced an egg that was large, beyond imagination.  It was a double yolker as we suspected and each yolk was the size of a regular yolk.  My beloved nephew isn't a fan of eggs but he knows that eggs are nutritious so he has developed a cunning recipe for a smoothie incorporating a raw egg.  This incredible egg went into the smoothie.
To make the super smoothie blend a banana, 1 tbsp cocoa, 1 tsp vanilla extract, 1 tbsp strawberry syrup, 1 cup frozen mixed berries, 1 egg (preferably a double yolker!), a dash of honey, 1 scoop ice cream (whatever flavour you have to hand), 1/2 cup yoghurt (again, whatever you happen to have),  1/2 cup milk and lastly a tbsp of Vitaplan or similar energy powder.  You'll need a big glass to serve it, although if you are a teenage boy, you will probably drink it straight from the blender.
On the return journey we overnighted at Tokaanu.  At the local supermarket I bought one of those packs of salad with dressing, a pottle of potato salad & some slices of free range ham at the New World in Turangi.  As small town supermarkets go, this was a good one.  We had eggs from Takanini.  Presto - a plate of delicious salad.
It was so good we had a very similar supper when we got home.  You can put together a very appealing table starting with a base of bolied potatoes, eggs and a slice of ham.  Don't forget a plate of steamed asparagus drizzled with lemon infused olive oil.  I think we will be eating like this for the rest of the summer.
I had a birthday this week and we had a similar spread.  This included tabbouleh; Antoinette's falafels; a delicious pea & broadbean mash - we raided the garden; hummus; grilled pita triangles; asparagus; shredded carrot salad; mint labne.  I was given Hugh F-W's new vegetable book so you will see me exploring this over the next few weeks.  My Auckland dining experiences, combined with summer eating & ideas from this book will see me exploring the sharing plate possibilities. 
I was also given a poffertje pan for my birthday & Phoebe had friends over so we tried these.  Yes, Phoebe is back with us for the summer and we may see some of her culinary efforts on these pages.  Back to the  poffertjes.  These are a Dutch mini pancake concoction - apparently traditionally made with yeast & buckwheat flour.  The recipe I had was more like a traditional pancake mix with golden syrup added.  They are served sprinkled with icing sugar & a knob of butter.  We served ours with strawberries.  I forgot to photograph the pan but will do that next time we have them. They were delicious!
I also got a book on cheese making so I will get around to trying that out & share my experience sometime soon.

Spring Vegetables

This week we had a rather unusual tagine - chicken with grapes and artichokes.  For four, marinade 4 chicken breasts, cut into strips, in a mix of 2 crushed garlic cloves, 1 tsp turmeric, juice of a lemon, 1 tbsp olive oil.  Leave 1-2 hours.  Heat 2 tbsp olive oil in the tagine, and stir in 2 onions halved length ways & sliced with the grain.  This is what I did with the onions last week as well and I did it in the rice later in the week because I like the way it turns out.  Add 1/2 a thinly sliced preserved lemon with 1 tsp sugar.  Saute until slightly caramelised.  Toss in the marinated chicken slices, then add 1-2 tsp harissa paste, depending on how hot you want it, and 2 tsp tomato paste.  Pour over 300ml chicken stock & bring to the boil.  Cover & simmer 15 minutes.  Toss in a jar of artichoke hearts, cover & cook a further 5 minutes.  Add about a dozen green grapes halved length ways and flat leaf parsley, season & serve with couscous & a salad.  This was nice but not my favourite.  Worth a try.
We bought some beautiful snapper at the market on Sunday and served it with a fresh salsa verde type sauce.  For two, finely chop 1 clove garlic then add a small bunch parsley, a dozen or so basil leaves, 2 tsp capers & zest of a lemon.  Chop them all together as finely as you can, tip into a bowl, add the lemon juice & season well.  Add enough olive oil to make a thick puree.  Set aside.
Pan fry the fish using your usual method & when it is nearly done, add a knob of butter & the herb mix.  As the butter melts, stir it with the herbs & spoon them over the fish.  This should take about 1/2 a minute.  Pour the herby sauce over the fish on the plates.  I served it with baby carrots, asparagus & crushed baby potatoes.
This week I made a spring risotto with our own peas & broad beans.  They were a bit weeny - but still delicious, and a plate full of bright green with creamy rice is a beautiful thing to look upon.
For two, blanch 1/2 cup each of peas and broad beans with a bunch of thin asparagus sliced into about 3 pieces, in 1 1/2 cups chicken stock.  In a risotto pan soften 3 baby leeks & 3 spring onions finely sliced.  Add 1/2 cup of rice & prepare your risotto in the usual way.  At the end add the blanched vegetables with a tbsp each of finely chopped mint & flat leaf parsley.  At this stage I usually stir through a knob of butter, cover & let stand a couple of minutes then stir through Parmesan, season & serve.
On the same theme later in the week I did a saffron rice with peas.  In a large saucepan heat a tbsp sunflower oil & soften 1/2 an onion with 1/2 tsp garam masala.  I sliced the onion lengthways as noted above.  Try this - it's quite good.  Soak a few threads of saffron in a tbsp hot water & add to the onions along with 3-4 pitted prunes, sliced lengthways, 1/2 cup brown basmati rice and 1 cup chicken stock.  Bring to the boil, cover & cook until the water has evaporated & the rice is fluffy.  Add 1/2 cup blanched peas at the end.  If you are using frozen just pour boiling water through them in a sieve.  Stir in the parsley. 
While the rice is cooking combine 2-3 lamb fillets with 1 tbsp lime juice, 1/4 tsp cinnamon, 1/2 tsp cumin & 2 tsp sunflower oil.  Just before the rice is ready pan fry the lamb about 4- 5 minutes, then cover &  rest 5 minutes.  Slice & serve with the rice.