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. 

Goodbye summer, hello autumn

Only a couple more tagines to go.  This week it was butter beans with cherry tomatoes & olives.  I use the jars of Spanish butter beans.  Heat some olive oil and butter in a tagine.  Stir in 4 cloves of crushed garlic, 2 sliced red onions, 1 sliced green chilli.  Add 2 tsp crushed coriander seeds, a knob of grated ginger & a pinch of saffron.  Cover & cook 5 mins.  Add 20 or so cherry tomatoes with 2 tsp each sugar & dried thyme.  Cover & cook until the tomato skins begin to wrinkle, not long.  Toss in the drained butter beans & a handful of black olives.  Squeeze on some lemon juice, cover & cook until the beans & olives are heated through. Sprinkle with parsley & serve with some crusty sourdough & a dollop of thick yoghurt.
Sunday night was a lovely piece of gurnard & an unexpected treat from the market - samphire. Luckily the fishmonger was able to tell us how to cook it.  I cooked the fish with the potatoes a la Hugh.  First roast the potatoes in a roasting dish big enough to hold the fish & when they're nearly done add the fish.  I often do this & serve with a garlicky minty pea puree.  The samphire is easy.  You do need to pick through & remove the woody bits.  The bottoms are quite twiggy & not nice to eat.  Think asparagus of the sea & you will get the idea.  You just boil for 3-4 minutes & toss in butter with black pepper & lemon juice.  Think seafood+lemon.  Don't salt without tasting.  It grows in the salt water.  Keep an eye out for it next year - this was the end of the season.  I think this lot came from the Hawkes Bay somewhere. 
Try this soup with the last of the courgettes & corn.  Heat some olive oil with a knob of butter in a large saucepan & add 2 thinly sliced onions & 400g floury potatoes peeled & diced.  Cover & steam for 10 minutes or so.  Keep an eye on them to ensure the potatoes don't catch.  Add 500g roughly chopped courgettes & the kernels off 2 sweet corn cobs with 2 tsp ground cumin, 2 cloves crushed garlic & cook for a couple of minutes.  Add 5 cups chicken stock, season & bring to the boil.  Simmer 10 minutes ensuring the potatoes & corn are cooked.    Transfer 1/3 of the soup & 1/2 cup basil to a food processor & blend until smooth.  Tip the puree back in the pan & reheat if necessary.  To serve top with a dollop of yoghurt, some extra basil & a drizzle of olive oil.  This is delicious reheated for lunch on a day you happen to be working from home.
It's the new leek season so we had spaghetti with leeks & bacon with chilli crumbs.  Remove the crusts from 3-4 slices of sourdough bread & tear into large crumbs.  Lay on a baking tray & spray lightly with olive oil.  Add 1/2 tsp chilli flakes & 1/2 tsp sea salt.  Mix them well & bake at 180 10-15 minutes.  Keep a close eye & toss occasionally.
Meanwhile heat some olive oil in a pan & add finely sliced onion & leek with a tbsp finely chopped rosemary.  Cook slowly until the alliums are soft.  Stir in 200g crumbly goat's cheese.  Grill a couple of rashers of bacon & chop into the onion mix.  Cook the spaghetti  and put everything together with some grated Parmesan.  Hold back  a few of the crumbs & sprinkle on the top.
As you know, I am very fond of lentils & I got the idea of making a spicy lentil stew from Nigel Slater.  I thought that this would be nice with mashed potatoes, then I found a parsnip in the fridge & thought parsnip & potato mash but that seemed a little insipid & carrot seemed like a colourful addition.  The trick is to cook the potato separately.  So cook the potato in one pot & the parsnips & carrots in another then puree them with a little butter in the food processor & mash the potato with a little warm milk.   Whip them together with a fork, season & add a little grated nutmeg.  There was some spinach in the fridge with the parsnip but not quite enough for two so I added the beetroot leaves.  Remember to always use your beetroot leaves.  I just like them in salad but I now know that they are also good cooked.  Just roughly chop the spinach & beet leaves & put in a dry pan.  The water left from washing the leaves is sufficient.  Cook them down, season - nutmeg is also good here - & stir through a little olive oil or cream if you find some in the fridge.  This meal was my favourite of the week although I did use every pot and pan in the house.  One for the lentils & another for the caramelised onion topping, two for the mash & another for the greens.  I did struggle to fit everything on the hob.  Phoebe would have had something to say about this.  There was more than enough but my plan is to add the left over lentils to the intended left over lamb & quince tagine for a Moroccan shepherd's pie.  The sweet orange mash should be perfect & I think I have some frozen mashed potato to add to it.  Return next week for the thrilling conclusion.

Rollover meals

I am now flipping through the tagine book picking up the ones I missed, mainly because they were unseasonal when I did the first round.  This week we had a creamy shellfish tagine with prawns & mussels.  For 2 steam a dozen mussels in your usual way.  We use a little wine. Reserve the liquor for later.  Shell the mussels & chop them up a little if you like, but leave a few on the half shell to be decorative.
Heat some olive oil in a pan or tagine. Stir in 3 finely chopped shallots & 1/2 a fennel bulb.  Stir in 1 tsp harissa paste - we were lucky enough to be given a jar of homemade harissa at Christmas & this is just the right warmth.  Pour in 150 mls of the reserved liquor & bring to the boil.  Stir in 75 mls cream, the juice of 1/2 a lemon & a dozen prawns.  Simmer gently until the prawns are cooked.  Season with salt & lost of black pepper & return the mussels to the pan to warm through.  Sprinkle with parsley to serve.
As so often happens one small thought leads to an entire meal.  The thought was  - I need to use up those little gem lettuces before they go to seed.  What about peas & lettuce - otherwise known as petit pois a la Francaise?  That goes nicely with roast chicken.  And we do have some carrots that are ready to pick.  Enter baked chicken with lemon, potato & green olives served with petit pois & steamed baby carrots.
I didn't want to roast a whole chicken so we did Maryland pieces.  Cut some roasting potatoes into smallish chunks & lay in the roasting dish.  Scatter over quartered red onion, a handful of green olives, some slices of lemon, a few chunks of pancetta & a couple of bay leaves.  Stir 1 tbsp each tomato paste & balsamic vinegar into 75 mls chicken stock & pour over potatoes.  Lay the chicken pieces on top, skin up & drizzle with olive oil, then sprinkle with salt & pepper.  Roast for 50 minutes then test the chicken to ensure the juices run clear.  Transfer the chicken to a plate to keep warm & whack the oven up to 220.  Return the veg to the oven until the potatoes are cooked through & beginning to colour. 
And you'll see we make good use of leftovers.  The potatoes go in the weekday salads & the peas & carrots are reserved for Monday's soup.
Chop the fennel left over from Saturday, a stick of celery, 2 spring onions, & a couple of courgettes into small dice.  Heat a pan & add a little olive oil &  knob of butter.  Add the veg except for the courgettes & cook 10 minutes or so until soft.  Add 500g vegetable or chicken stock & when it has come to the boil add the courgettes.  Cook for a minute & add 100g peas & broad beans - I would use fresh in spring but frozen is good.  Cook for another couple of minutes & add Sunday's leftover peas & lettuce plus the chopped carrots. Add a little more shredded lettuce if you like.  Simmer another minute, add chopped herbs then season.  Serve with grilled sourdough.
We planted a few buttercrunch lettuces & one of them grew into the biggest lettuce I have ever seen.  We have been having it for lunches.
The winter veg have arrived and it is hard to know which to choose.  Put together about 400g of vegetables - shallots, carrots, parsnip, pumpkin, beetroot, potato.  Chop them into chunks or thick slices with the slower cooking items in smaller pieces.  Put them into an ovenproof dish.  Add 1 finely chopped clove of garlic, olive oil, salt & papper.  Roast the veg at 190 until all are cooked through & beginning to caramelise. 
Beat 6 eggs with chopped herbs & season.  Pour over the vegetables & scatter over grated cheese.  Return to the oven for 10-15 minutes until the egg is set & the cheese is golden. Serve with a salad to try & get through some of the giant lettuce & use the leftovers in lunch salads.  It slices nicely & is good warm or cold.
Thursday we had that pinto chilli.  There was part of the tin of pintos and part of the tin of tomatoes left over so I heated those through with the left over lunch lentils & a splash of balsamic then served on sourdough toast topped with a poached egg for Saturday brunch.
During the week I had such a treat.  One of you kind readers, having read last week's entry, turned up on my doorstep with 2 kilos of green tomatoes.  I have made the chutney and will be delivering some to the tomato donor in the morning.  Phoebe will also be delighted because a jar or 2 will be wending its way to her this week.

Winding Down

Happy New Year!  December was a busy month and there was quite a bit of eating out so I decided to take a break & return refreshed in the New Year.
During December when we did eat at home we were eating mostly vegetables, from the garden as much as possible.  I did do a summer lamb tagine I had been saving up.  Do try this, especially as the courgettes are plentiful right now.  For four, heat olive oil in the tagine & stir in 1 roughly chopped onion, 4 roughly chopped cloves of garlic, 1 tsp each cumin & coriander seeds, 1 tsp dried mint & a knob of grated ginger.  Do use dried mint here.  This gives an intense minty depth & you can add fresh at the end of cooking.  Once the onions have softened toss in 750g lean diced lamb & enough water to just cover.  Cook in the oven at 180 for about 1 1/2 hours.
Add a selection of summer vegetables.  The recipe suggests 2 small courgettes, sliced thickly on the diagonal, 1 red or green pepper, cut into thick strips, 4 tomatoes cut into chunks.  I added fresh peas & broadbeans because they were there.  I blanched the broadbeans & took off their outer jackets before adding.  Tuck them all around the meat & add a little more boiling water if necessary.  I never find it so.  Cover & cook another 15 minutes until the vegetables are tender.  Serve with lemon wedges & a soft leafy green salad.
I saw this amazing tamarind chicken recipe on the television & was compelled to try it. Do get some palm sugar if you can as I think it makes a difference.  I have been using tamarind concentrate in a jar, rather than a block, which eliminates the need for fiddly soaking.  It keeps & you will find plenty of uses for it.  If you don't have tamarind you can substitute lime juice or, at a pinch, lemon.  The tamarind is the sour component of the meal.  I had the leftovers in a lunch salad.
I sometimes pick up recipes from Le Marche Francais at the market & I was tempted by Oeufs Cocotte a Cabecous.  Cabecous is a small round soft goat's cheese.  For 2, butter 2 ramekins.  Crack an egg into each ramekin.  Add half the cabecous to each with 2 tsp cream & some chopped chives.  Season & put the ramekins into a bain marie and bake in the oven at 180 for no more than 10 minutes.  Serve with french bread.  Try dipping asparagus spears into the soft eggy cheese.
Hugh F-W has a delicious Summer Vegetable Soup which is wonderful to showcase the pickings from your spring garden.  Just use what you have to hand but whatever you do do not omit the lettuces.  If you can't buy a Little Gem  - I grow them from seedlings - you could try a baby Cos.  The lettuce gives the soup depth.  We need to rediscover braised lettuce.  It is delicious.
There is such a lot to be done with those early vegetables of summer.  You can add a selection of blanched vegetables to a risotto or try a Pasta Primavera.  Saute a selection of diced vegetables in butter or olive oil.  Start with onion & saute to a rich golden colour, then add celery & carrot & cook 5 minutes.  Add courgette & red capsicum & cook a further 20 minutes.  Add 1 cm asparagus lengths which you have already blanched.  Once all the vegetables are tender, add 200ml cream & cook until the cream has reduced by half.  While the cream is reducing cook some ribbon pasta.  Toss the pasta with the sauce & sprinkle over grated Parmesan & parsley.
During the week leading up to the festivities we treated ourselves to Hugh's Tahini Dressed Courgette Salad.  We made the semi-dried tomatoes, just cooking the tomatoes for 4-5 hours.  You need to treat theses as fresh & use within a week but you will find endless uses for them, for example tucking them in a delicious home-made hamburger.  I am sure you could also find endless uses for the tahini dressing.
Stay tuned & I'll fill you in on the festive dining in the next few days. 

Variety, spice, life

We're onto the fish tagines which are (on the evidence of one) light & delicious.  This week we had monkfish with preserved lemon & mint.  The fish was marinated in a classic Moroccan chermoula. Using a mortar & pestle, pound 2 garlic cloves and a finely chopped red chilli with a little salt.  Add a handful of flat leaf parsley leaves & pound to a coarse paste.  Bash in some saffron threads with 2 tsp cumin then bind well with 3 tbsp olive oil & the juice of a lemon.  Cut about 900g (for 4) of white fish fillets into largish chunks & smother with the chermoula mix.  Keeep back 2 tsp to stir through  during cooking.  Marinate 1-2 hours.
When you're ready to eat, heat a little olive oil in your tagine & soften 1 finely chopped red onion, 2 finely chopped carrots, 2 sticks of finely chopped celery.  Add 1 finely chopped preserved lemon, the reserved chermoula & a tin of tomatoes.  Cook about 10 minutes to reduce then add 150 ml water & 150ml white wine or sherry.  If you use a good fino sherry and it will give a good flavour.  Bring to the boil, cover & simmer 10 minutes.  Toss in the fish & cook gently about 8 minutes until the fish is cooked through.  Season & stir through a tsp chopped preserved lemon & shredded mint leaves.  I served this one with boiled new potatoes & a leafy salad.
On Saturday morning we were in Moore Wilson when the Freedom Farms guy was cooking a butterflied rump of pork which he had marinated in ginger ale & soy sauce.  I tasted a piece, had to buy it & that became Sunday's dinner.  We actually marinated it in Stoke's ginger beer.  I served with crushed potatoes flavoured with sage and Alan Fong's greens with gin - actually my version of Alan's vegetables, which I think is a step up from Alan's original.  Did I tell you when we went to Auckland we drove through Pukekohe and we looked out for Alan's veg patch?  We didn't see it - lots of great vegetables though.  We also saw - when all the traffic was diverted  to be breathalysed at 10.00 a.m. - an amazing free range chicken farm.  Couldn't see a name but the chickens looked wonderful.
But I digress.  Because I had some left over meringues & some cream hanging around, I made Eton mess.  I mascerated the strawberries in some cherry brandy & a little sugar.  I later discovered I had some kind of strawberry liqueur that may have been better but any kind of fruity liqueur will do.
While they are better suited to autumn, I wanted to get in some parsnips before the season ended.  We had a delicious roasted parsnip salad with lentils & watercress. For 4, toss 4-5 parsnips, cut unto even chunks, in olive oil, season & roast at 190 for 40 minutes until they are starting to caramelise.  Cook about 100g puy lentils the way you like them.  Make a vinaigrette and add a tsp of clear honey - parsnips like a bit of sweetness.  Put it all together on a plate with some watercress & top with shavings of a hard goat's cheese. 
Wednesday was a birthday tea.  There's no point in me telling you how to make it.  Just look back over the years and there it is.  The same every year.  Chicken Za'atar with fattoush.  This year we added grilled haloumi, Antoinette's falafels, broad beans, guacamole & carrot hummus.
Thursday we had a traditional Ligurian pasta.  This was unusual but delicious.  We had some homemade basil pesto so used that but the walnut-parsley version would have been interesting.
Now that it is more summery, at least some of the time, I find that we just compile a selection of salady things from what we have at hand.  Buy those Antoinette's falafel.  A delicious addition to any meal.  And cook more than you need because they are delicious in your lunch salad.

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.