Week 1- Lamb Tagine and Middle Eastern Munchies

January has been a dull month.

It's hard enough to get into the right frame of mind for going back to work after Christmas, but the January weather makes it worse. Snow days, icy windscreens, wind, rain and mud all conspire to make the business of trying to earn a crust seem nigh on impossible.

Time to think about warmer climes, spicier flavours - and to use up some of those storecupboard ingredients bought in for Christmas that really shouldn't languish there until the Christmas decorations go back up in 2013.

I'm talking about dates, nuts, dried fruits, mulled wine spices- ginger, cinnamon and nutmeg.

So, today's three course meal looks to North Africa for it's inspiration: roasted pepper hummus with flatbreads to start, lamb tagine with couscous for main course, and pears poached in mulled wine for pudding.

For the hummus- roast a red and yellow pepper (deseeded) in the oven until soft (20 minutes or so). You can do this earlier in the week when you have the oven on for another dish. Allow to cool completely before blitzing in the food processor with the juice of half a lemon, a can of chickpeas (drained and rinsed), a clove of garlic (more if you like), a tablespoon of peanut butter or tahini paste and a glug of olive oil. When smooth, taste and add salt or pepper, more lemon or more oil if it is too dry. Place in a bowl and chill well.

For the flatbreads, I used half a packet of bread mix from my storecupboard (125g mixed with 175ml of warm water.) You could use bread flour with a sachet of yeast in warm water or self raising flour with 1 heaped teaspoon of baking powder, a tablespoon of olive oil and 125ml of milk.

If using yeast, the dough needs to rise in a warm place for 1-2 hours.

When double in size, knock back and roll out into circles ( saucer sized or plate sized as you wish).

Brush a pan lightly with olive oil and fry gently on one side. As they start to puff up, press them down gently with a clean tea towel. Turn them over and brown on the other side.

Carrot and nut salad

Serve warm, sliced with a serving of hummus on the side and a carrot and nut salad, if you wish.


Next- the lamb tagine.

Spring lamb is not yet in season, but it is best to buy tougher cuts of mutton (which is in season) anyway for this dish. I used neck fillet, but you can use boned shoulder or knuckle.

First make your spice mix- 1 tsp of minced garlic, 2 tsps of ground ginger, 1 tsp of cinammon, 1 tsp of turmeric, a pinch of saffron soaked in an egg cup of warm water, 1 tsp ground coriander, 1/2 tsp black pepper, 1/2 tsp salt, 1 tsp mild chilli powder and a good grating of nutmeg.
Mix to a paste with the juice of half a lemon (the other half of the one you used for the hummus) and a tablespoon of olive oil.

You will need about 100g of lamb per person- cut into cubes and then coated in the paste. Leave to marinade for at least 2 hours but preferably overnight.
Fry one onion, finely chopped in some olive oil, then fry the meat and add a handful each of apricots, dates and sultanas to the pan. Add a can of chopped tomatoes and the residue from the marinade bowl rinsed out with a cup of water, along with a teaspoon of honey to sweeten.

I cook mine in a slow cooker (but of course you could use a tagine pot if you have one, or a casserole dish in the oven.)

Lamb Tagine with Couscous

The dish takes about 7 hours to cook in a slow cooker - until the lamb is tender.

Serve with couscous and a drizzle of natural yoghurt if you like that.

For dessert, I poached some pears in a cupful of red vermouth (but red wine with a little vanilla sugar added is fine), with a good grating of nutmeg and a teaspoon of mixed spice.
Poach until the pears are tender and have taken on the pink colour of the wine or vermouth.

Pear in Mulled Wine

Serve warm or cold to your liking.

Beans means Tagines!

And what of the leftovers- well, there was no meat left over but plenty of sauce- so I mixed it with a can of butter beans, drained and rinsed, a small can of chopped tomatoes and a dollop of smoky barbecue relish. It made an excellent filling for baked potatoes, and went well with chips too!
It would have been good as well with a slice of garlic bread to make Posh Beans on Toast.

Tabbouleh

Any leftover couscous can be made into a tabbouleh with parsley, mint, tomatoes and cucumber, and the hummus makes a tasty addition to my lunch box during the week.

The flatbreads freeze well- and make easy pizza bases for another meal.

Even the leftover fruit syrup from the pears can be used again (if there was any left) in a fresh fruit salad the next day.

I hope this trip to North Africa and the Middle East helps lift the winter gloom- there's lots to look forward to in the next few weeks- Pancake Day, Chinese New Year and Valentine's Day.

I haven't decided where in the world I'm going next week.

Any preferences?

A Week's Worth of Roasted Vegetables

Mediterranean Chicken (for the recipe see the link below)

There was a time when roasted vegetables meant roast potatoes and parsnips and nothing much else.

Can you remember when we all started tray baking our courgettes and peppers? For me, I first had the dish (in a wondrous balsamic vinegar dressing- totally new to me!) at a party in the Nineties.

http://lizsleftovers.blogspot.co.uk/2014/01/week-47-healthy-new-year-recipes.html




I did a quick search on the internet and saw that this dish grew in popularity circa 1995 when Delia Smith brought out her 'Summer Collection' and suddenly we were all making Pasta Puttanesca, Chicken Basque and of course all oven-roasting our veg.
Well, nice one Delia.
It's been a mainstay of my repertoire evcr since.

When you have the oven on (if you're baking a cake or roasting a chicken perhaps), find the biggest oven tray you have and roast whatever is in the veg drawer of your fridge. Onions, garlic, courgettes, aubergines, peppers, tomatoes, squash, leeks, new potatoes- any combination as long as there is plenty of variety.
Cut them into equal sized chunks so they cook evenly, toss them in some olive oil, some balsamic vinegar and loads of salt and pepper and roast until they collapse and caramelize (usually 35-40 minutes at 180 degrees).



You can then serve them hot to accompany your meal- with chicken, steak, chops, salmon, hake...anything really- but then keep the rest and allow to cool completely and absorb the dressing. (Don't waste a drop of that sticky sauce!)

Hake with Roasted veg

Here are some suggestions of how you could use all these cooked veg during the rest of the week.

1. Mix with couscous to make a salad or to accompany  burgers, meatballs or quiche.

Couscous with roasted veg

2. Cook a pack of ravioli or tortellini , mix with the veg and some chopped tomatoes, top with grated cheese.

Tortellini pasta bake

3. Make a vegetable curry - by coating the veg in some korma paste, frying gently and then adding a tin of lentils and half a tin of coconut milk and simmering together until the flavours blend. Serve with basmati rice.

Vegetable curry with lentils

4. Mixed with salad leaves, fresh tomatoes and cucumber, pine nuts etc

Roasted veg salad with spinach and pine nuts

5. Blitzed with peanut butter or tahini, olive oil and lemon juice to make a roasted veg hummus

https://witness.theguardian.com/assignment/534564fbe4b06807fd8c4f13

This recipe featured on the Guardian recipe swap website (link above).

6. Packed with slices of mozzarella into a baguette for a substantial lunch

Roasted veg and mozzarella baguettes

7. Any left? Blitz the last little bit to make a sauce for white fish. Red pepper and tomato go particularly well with delicate flavoured fish.

Sea bass with roasted vegetable sauce

So, the week has gone by and the roasted veg have been used up in a variety of ways.

I hope you've enjoyed them and are not vegged-out!

Mozzarella Stuffed Meatballs and all things spherical

You can't beat a meatball- or a meatless ball- for a quick supper, a cheap filler, a crowd pleaser, a party favourite or even a sophisticated starter.

Whether you use pork, beef, turkey, lamb, chickpeas, sweet potatoes, rice or cheese- these little round parcels of tastiness hit the spot. They crop up in every cuisine- Asian, North African, Middle Eastern and Western- and everyone has their own version and favourites.




So, this week I've been cooking meatballs for supper- but also looking back at other dishes which are all-round pleasers.

Mozzarella stuffed Meatballs

Ingredients:

350g beef mince
1 cup soft breadcrumbs
1 egg
1 tablespoon chopped herbs eg. thyme, parsley or chives
salt and pepper to taste
1/2 ball mozzarella

1. Begin by mixing the beef mince, egg, breadcrumbs, herbs and a generous pich of salt and pepper together using wet hands until you have a homogenous mixture.
2. Wet your hands again and roll the mixture into 12 meatballs and place in the fridge to chill for 15-20 mins or more.

3. Slice the mozzarella into twelve little pieces.
4. Make a dent in the centre of the meatball with your thumb and place the mozzarella in the hollow.

5. Close the meatball back up again around the cheese (wet hands help to make it sticky)
6. Fry gently in a hot frying pan with a spritz of oil.

Tomato butter sauce:

1 tin of chopped tomatoes
1 small onion diced finely
1 clove of garlic minced finely
1 teaspoon each of balsamic vinegar, sugar, salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
10 g of butter

1. Gently fry the onion and garlic together until translucent.
2. Add all the other ingredients except the butter and bubble away for a while until beginning to thicken
3. Mix in the butter and adjust seasoning to taste.

I served the vegetables with roasted vegetable couscous and the tomato butter sauce.

Roasted vegetable couscous

When you're cooking for a crowd, I turn to pasta to help me out- and a meatball pasta bake can feed a dozen without stretching the purse strings at all:

Meatball Pasta bake
http://lizsleftovers.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/pasta%20bake

And if you are cooking for a children's party, meatballs make a good bite-sized treat. Season lightly to suit younger palates- but provide some tasty dipping sauces to jazz them up. My 'Angry Birds' in a noodle nest will go down well. You can make them look cuter of course- but mine turned out more Freddie Krueger than Orville:

Magpie meatballs in a noodle nest

https://witness.theguardian.com/assignment/534e74c8e4b0f610fb4d4784

Loads of lovely meatballs from lots of other clever bloggers on that link above.

This tasty meat mixture was actually the first recipe I posted on the blog more than 2 years ago- in the form of a burger sitting in a garlic mushroom cup. You could say it was the mothership of all my ideas since:

Burger in a garlic mushroom cup

http://lizsleftovers.blogspot.co.uk/2012/02/so-here-goes.html

As I said at the start, all cuisines seem to feature meatballs- be they falafel, kofta, kebabs or burgers. I've played around with spicy pork parcels:

Asian pork parcels

http://lizsleftovers.blogspot.co.uk/2013/04/week-13-lucky-for-some.html

And with lamb patties and flatbreads:

Lamb patties with home made pitta bread


http://lizsleftovers.blogspot.co.uk/2014/01/week-47-healthy-new-year-recipes.html

And some vegetarian options like falafel :

Falafel

http://lizsleftovers.blogspot.co.uk/2013/10/week-36-midweek-meze.html

And it's squished down sister- the sweet potato burger:

Sweet potato and carrot falafel-burger

http://lizsleftovers.blogspot.co.uk/2013/10/week-36-midweek-meze.html

And for a more sophisticated spherical look, what about arancini ( leftover risotto fried into balls):

Arancini with dipping sauce

http://lizsleftovers.blogspot.co.uk/2013/11/week-40-crunchy.html

And finally, if we're talking trendy, what about cake pops? They're round, and- if they're savoury- they're very now. Here's mine:

Brie cake pops with cranberry relish

http://lizsleftovers.blogspot.co.uk/2014/02/week-51-nearly-there.html

So, we've gone around the world in 10 different, well, round things. What's your favourite meat or non-meat ball?

Let me know.

We can have a reader's round-up.

Garlic Bread Dauphinoise and 10 other ways with bread

Everybody knows we waste too much food in the UK. Even the most remote cave dweller will have heard that bit of news by now.
But did you know that by far the biggest landfill-filler is bread? It makes up more than 32% of our food waste.

Well, when I say 'our' food waste, I don't mean mine.

I don't mean to sound holier -than-thou, it's just that there are so many tasty things you can do with bread rather than throw it away. So, before you get ready to put that stale half loaf in the bin, here are some ideas for you:




Firstly, Garlic Bread Dauphinoise.

This dish is lovely served as you would dauphinoise potatoes - with lamb, chicken, steak....- but it is lighter ( and soaks up gravy beautifully.)

Butter a spring form cake tin and lay in slices of leftover garlic bread. Squash them to fill all the nooks and crannies. Make a custard with 1 beaten egg, a pinch of salt and pepper and enough milk to pour over the bread without flooding the tin.
Do just that- pour it over, squish it all down a bit more and then dust with a grating of nutmeg and some grated hard cheese if you wish.

Bake in a moderate oven (180 degrees) until risen and golden.

Allow to cool enough to be able to release the spring form clips - and voila- your garlic bread dauphinoise ready for slicing and serving.

Garlic bread dauphinoise

Try it!

Now, I've put together another 10 ideas for ways to use up leftover bready things.

1. Pain perdu- delicious made with leftover brioche or madeira cake too.

   http://lizsleftovers.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/week-8-le-weekend.html


2. Caramel pain perdu pudding- a sort of bread and butter pudding meets creme brulee.

http://lizsleftovers.blogspot.co.uk/2013/11/week-40-crunchy.html

3. Croutons - for soup or salads

http://lizsleftovers.blogspot.co.uk/2013/06/week-19-other-fish-to-fry.html

4. Croques-messieurs- and baby-croques

http://lizsleftovers.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/week-8-le-weekend.html

5. Breadcrumbs- for meatballs and burgers and for coating fritters and meat

http://lizsleftovers.blogspot.co.uk/2013/11/week-40-crunchy.html

6. Crumble topping - for savoury crumbles

http://lizsleftovers.blogspot.co.uk/2013/06/week-18-getting-red-dy-for-summer.html

7. Bread sauce- to accompany game or use as a sauce for pie fillings

http://lizsleftovers.blogspot.co.uk/2013/12/week-45-beyond-boxing-day.html

8. Panettone or Brioche bread and butter pudding

http://lizsleftovers.blogspot.co.uk/2013/12/week-44-office-party-leftovers-and.html

9. Canapes and nibbles

http://lizsleftovers.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/nibbles-from-nothing.html


10. Don't forget the humble toastie-now back in vogue in gastropubs and restaurants.

www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/wordofmouth/2014/mar/13/breville-toastie-toasted-cheese-sandwich

I'm sure you've got plenty of ideas of your own- how about sharing them here as a recipe swap?

Mouclade- and other shellfish dishes

I do love mussels. They would be my desert island food of choice (which is probably quite sensible really as they are likely to be swimming around somewhere close by wherever I am marooned.)

I love their smell, their texture, their taste, their versatility - and their price.

They are still an inexpensive seafood - that you can make into a variety of dishes. I bought a bag at my local fishmongers for £3.70- and this is what I did with them.

Firstly, I wanted to make a mouclade or mussel stew with a curry cream sauce. Normally, I prefer moules marinieres as I think the addition of cream often makes the sauce too thick and cools it down too quickly. I'm pleased to report that this didn't happen with this recipe.

For the mouclade you will need:

250g mussels per person
1 onion finely chopped
1clove of garlic (minced)
Parsley stalks (chopped) for sauce and parsley leaves (finely chopped) for garnish
1 glass dry white wine
2 tbsp single cream
2 tsp curry powder or paste

First, wash the mussels in several changes of water and then scrub them with a scouring pad to remove any grit from the shells. Discard any which are open (and don't close when you manhandle them) and any which are damaged.

Pull off their little beards and place the mussels in a colander.

Soften the onion and garlic in some olive oil in a large heavy based saucepan. (I use the pan of my pressure cooker). Pour in the wine and add the parsley stalks and bring to the boil.

A minute or two more on these

Shoot in the mussels and cover with a lid or plate.

Cook on a moderate heat for 4-5 minutes, then give the pan a good shake and open up to see if the mussels are all open. If not, give them a minute or two more.

Meanwhile, mix the cream with the curry powder or paste until all the grains are dissolved.

Ladle the mussels into bowls, pour over the cream and curry mixture and garnish with chopped parsley. Serve with bread and lime wedges to squeeze over.

Mouclade

Pour the leftover mussels into a plastic container and allow to cool before covering and refrigerating. They will need to be eaten over the next 2 days.

The next day- either have them as a starter with a drizzle of persillade over each one as here. (Persillade is a garlicky sauce made from garlic cloves, olive oil, parsley and a little salt pulsed together in a blender or smushed in a pestle and mortar- I'm not specifying how much garlic as that is entirely up to you.)

Heroes in a half-shell

Or make them into a seafood pastotto.

This is my own invention of a pasta risotto- using orzo or pasta shaped like rice/oat grains (called avoines in French).

You will need:
70g-80g of pasta per person
your remaining mussels pulled out of their shells (but keep a few in their shells for garnish)
any cooking liquor from the mussels
1 tin or jar of chopped tomato with chili
1 onion (finely chopped)

Begin, as usual by softening the onion in some olive oil. Add the pasta to the frying onion and stir to absorb the oil.
Add a good glug of tomato and the cooking liquor from the mussels.
Stir (and keep stirring) to absorb the liquid. Add more as you need to.

Taste the pasta- it needs to be the soft side of al dente before it is ready.
When it has reached this stage, stir through the mussels to warm them in the pasta.

Serve in bowls with the reserved mussels as garnish.

Seafood Pastotto

Other recipes on the blog featuring shellfish are shown below with a link to the blog pages where the recipes can be found.

                               

                                    http://lizsleftovers.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/fritto%20misto

                                http://lizsleftovers.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/smoked%20salmon                

http://lizsleftovers.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/crab%20cakes

                                    http://lizsleftovers.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/veggie-makeover.html


So there you have it- seafood recipes that taste like a million dollars- but you won't need to shell out that much to make and enjoy them!