Lamb Siniyah, a Middle Eastern Lamb Stew

 

Lamb Siniyah or stewed lamb cooked in a pot with a tahini crust are the stars of this delicious Middle Eastern version of Shepherd's Pie. A golden tahini crust replaces the potato topping to perfection. It's rich and comforting and laced with fragrant Middle Eastern spices. Who doesn't love a tasty Shepherd's Pie? Well, I promise you; this dish will exceed your expectations even further. Yotam Ottolenghi has created a very clever recipe here, one of many in his book "Simple".  

Eggplant (aubergine), chickpea, and tomato bake (Musaqa'a)

Do you have eggplants growing at home in your hot Summer garden? If you do, this is the Mediterranean recipe for you. If you also have some tomatoes growing, well you are really on a winner. Otherwise, buy the vegetables all preferably at the local market to guarantee freshness, and then this is the perfect vegetarian dish, or serve it as a delicious side with the meat of your choice. To my friends in the Northern Hemisphere, this is a very comforting Mediterranean style dish to enjoy in the middle of your Winter. It is a cinch to  make.

Chicken and Apricot Tagine

 It's hard to beat a Moroccan style tagine or casserole for flavour and nutritional benefits. This recipe is great for the busy home cook, as once the chicken and onions are browned on the stovetop, all the ingredients are tumbled into a large casserole dish and the meal cooks itself in the oven. It can be served in a beautiful tagine utensil if you own one, or straight from your casserole dish or cast iron utensil, with a light garnish of attractive green herbs.

Budget Friendly and Loaded Sweet Potato Wedges

 

This nourishing dish is a simple, inexpensive mid-week meal with Middle Eastern flavours, or it can have more of a Mexican influence depending on what you substitute or add. It's a recipe that is extremely versatile and only limited by your imagination. I placed the mince filling on a bed of lettuce both for extra nutrition and appearance, however corn chips as a base, yes, I am thinking Mexican nachos now, would really bring this dish to another level if you are cooking for children or extra adults. Who doesn't love  a corn chip? If you are adding corn chips, add some drained sweet corn to the mince or add it separately, and layer it up. Hidden vegetables are very achievable here and always important for our health, I love them. Please see my notes below.

Moroccan Baked Chicken with Fennel and Chickpeas, it's a delicious Traybake

You all know me, and by now you know that I love to prepare a delicious and simple chicken traybake for dinner. It takes a lot of the pressure off when you are entertaining friends, leaving you time to enjoy their company. I love my oven.  Even more, I love a traybake that is loaded with flavour and is very easy to prepare. Moroccan food is packed with flavour from all those heady exotic spices, such as baharat, cumin, smoked paprika, turmeric and ginger. Fresh Fennel, a vegetable which originates from the Mediterranean region, brings its unique flavour to this dish, please don't skimp on it. 

Lime salsa with Sweet Potato Mash

Sweet as sweet potatoes are exactly what their name suggests, lending themselves perfectly to both sweet and savoury cooking. They are in abundance right now, and along with tangy juicy limes also in season, I hope this simple recipe will tempt you to eat and celebrate the beautiful produce in season. Herby lime salsa is the perfect  counterpart to the versatile sweet potato, which is only a distant relative of the normal potato by the way. Sweet potatoes are high in fibre, and their bright orange colour tells us they are also high in the antioxidant beta-carotene and Vitamin A., all supporting our immune function.

When I first tasted this dish at our foodie friends P&J's home, I just loved it, the lime salsa combined with the sweet potato was such an exciting surprise to my palate. It really tickled my taste buds. This dish shines alongside all sorts of foods, Middle Eastern cuisine, humble grilled sausages or a vegetarian or vegan spread. I baked the sweet potatoes ahead of time and kept the mash refrigerated to be reheated later, made the salsa the same morning, which meant the dish was easy to assemble just prior to eating.

Yotam Ottolenghi also suggests that after cooking, we keep the skins, brush them lightly with olive oil and roast them again for about 8 minutes, at 200 deg. C fan forced, and eat them as a crisp-like snack. Waste not, want not. Yes, it's one of Yotam's clever recipes.

Let's cook:-

Preheat the oven to 200 deg. C fan.

Serves four to six as a side

Ingredients:

1 kg orange sweet potatoes washed, skin left on and cut in half lengthways, from top to bottom

60 ml olive oil

5 g basil leaves, chopped

5 g coriander, finely chopped

1/2 garlic clove, crushed

2 large limes, finely grate the zest to get 2 teaspoons, then juice to get 1 tablespoon

salt and black pepper

Method:

Massage the cut sweet potatoes with 1 tablespoon of oil and season with 1/4 teaspoon of salt. Line them up on a high sided baking tray lined with baking parchment, flesh side down, and roast for 30-35 minutes, until very soft. Be careful removing from the oven as some juice will have  come out of the potatoes.

While the sweet potatoes are roasting away, make the salsa.

Put the remaining 3 tablespoons of olive oil into a small bowl. Add the remaining ingredients with a good pinch of salt, and gently stir to combine.

Remove the sweet potatoes from the oven and allow to cool. Remove the skins, they should just slide off easily, or scoop out the flesh. Baking them this way results in a softer vegetable and better flavour. Set aside the skins to use later if you wish. Mash the flesh in a bowl with 1/8 teaspoon of salt and plenty of black pepper until quite smooth.

Transfer to a platter, make dips in the surface of the sweet potato, and spoon in the salsa. Decorate with extra herbs or some sprigs of tarragon.

Serve hot.

The 2nd edition below of Sweet Potato Mash with Lime Salsa.

Warm wishes

Pauline

Microwave Shakshuka Eggs Recipe

Shakshuka, also spelled Shakshouka or chakchouka, cooked  in the microwave oven is a real game changer. One morning, when we were in a hurry for brunch, and I had all the ingredients on hand including some very fresh free range eggs, I decided to experiment with cooking Shakshuka in the microwave.  Whilst this is delicious cooked on the stove top or in the oven it can take at least 30 minutes to cook after the initial preparation, but in the microwave it took inside 3 minutes, with the egg whites set beautifully, and the yolks just how I like them. However even better, the eggs can be cooked to everyone's individual taste, very easily this way in individual serving dishes.

Shakshuka  is a popular dish in Israel, although it is supposed to have originated from Tunisia in North Africa. If you are into having fun with words and pronunciations, Shakshuka is pronounced "shahk-SHOO-kah". This recipe is a riff on my original  Shaksuka with Eggs for a Weekend Breakfast or Brunch, which is cooked in the oven or on the stovetop. You will also find  the complete backstory on this dish at this link. If you've never eaten Shakshuka my friends, I hope you give this a try, as it is a delicious way to eat eggs in a very healthy way as well, and it will transport you to exotic locations beyond our reach at present. Treat yourself to this on the weekend when you can enjoy the preparation and the food at your leisure. Think Shakshuka, and think Middle Eastern. Go as simple as you like with this dish, or add extra ingredients to really rev it up.

Cooks tips:

• Cook up a large amount of the tomato and vegetable sauce, separate it into portions and freeze it to make life easier for when you want to make your shakshuka. Then you will just need to add your eggs and fresh herbs.
•  Substitute cannellini beans drained and rinsed for the tomatoes for a more hearty meal if you don't like tomatoes, or just add some beans to the tomatoes.
• Chickpeas are a great addition as well.
• For a more wholesome dinner dish, and to add more "hidden" vegetables, also add 1/2 a small grated zucchini and 1/2 a grated carrot or 1 finely chopped small eggplant and cook with the capsicum, chilli and garlic for about 5 minutes before adding to the tomato mixture. Increase the width of your microwave bowl if you do this. If the zucchini, carrot and capsicum are grated or chopped very finely, they can be cooked all together at the same time in the microwave with the eggs.
• Add some chopped green olives for even more flavour if you have them on hand, not essential though.
• I hope you realise now just how versatile shakshuka is to make, depending on what supplies are in your pantry. Eggs are generally a staple for most people aren't they?

• 

Ingredients:

This recipe is for one serve, so just double or triple the ingredients for extra serves. This is where it's useful to have a large quantity of sauce already cooked and ready to use if you are cooking for a family.

You will need 2 medium sized microwave safe breakfast or dessert bowls to cook these in the microwave for two people.

 1 tablespoons Extra Virgin olive oil
1/4  red capsicum, deseeded and thinly sliced
1 garlic clove, crushed
1/4 mild long red chilli, sliced finely or a dash of tabasco sauce if you like a bit of heat
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1/2 can diced tomatoes, or organic cherry tomatoes (delicious), or use tomato passata (about 200 ml)
2 large eggs per person
1/2 teaspoon sweet paprika
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground coriander (optional)
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
Tasty grated cheese

( I like lots of flavour, so if you are a bit timid about using spices reduce the amount to 1/4 teaspoon each of sweet paprika and cumin.) 

Freshly chopped mint and coriander

Method:

Coat a microwave safe breakfast or dessert bowl with olive oil using a pastry brush.

Add the tomatoes, capsicum, garlic, chilli or tabasco sauce. Using a small sifter, sift the cumin, paprika, and salt over the tomatoes for even distribution. Add the ground coriander. Season with the black pepper.

Place 2 large evenly spaced indents into the mixture with the back of large spoon, and crack an egg into each indent. Pierce the yolk of the egg with a skewer  or the end of sharp knife. (This is very important so that the egg doesn't explode in the microwave)

(This dish can  also be baked in the oven in individual ramekins if you have them, by adding some of the tomato mixture to each ramekin and then adding the eggs. )

Sprinkle tasty mature grated cheese and 1 tablespoon chopped mint over the mixture but not the egg yolks. I love grated cheese over my shakshuka.

Cover the bowl with cling film or a plate or microwave lid, and then microwave for 1 minute.

Microwave twice more for 20 seconds each, and then check if the whites are setting. Keep microwaving for 20 second bursts until the whites are set, and the egg is cooked to your individual taste. This could take about 2 minutes all up to cook. My eggs were perfect after 2 minutes.
Two small breakfast bowls should fit into your microwave for cooking at the same time.
To serve sprinkle with freshly chopped mint and coriander, and hot buttered sourdough toast, or to keep to the Middle Eastern theme, serve with Toasted Turkish bread.

Shakshuka is delicious for breakfast, but my preference is to serve it for brunch on the weekend. I also plan to make it for Sunday night dinner next week and I think I will also add a small chopped eggplant to the tomato sauce for extra flavour and texture. Eggplant  will need to be cooked prior to microwaving, it can be steamed very quickly.

This dish is healthy, full of flavour and not expensive to make. I have made a quantity of the tomato mixture to freeze so that next time I want to make it for brunch I can just defrost the tomato base, and add the eggs and make it very quickly. 

Have a wonderful weekend and thanks for dropping by,

Warm wishes

Pauline

Middle Eastern Lamb Siniyah a la` Yotam Ottolenghi

Rich and comforting, one pot stewed lamb with a tahini crust are the stars of this Middle Eastern version of Shepherds Pie. Who doesn't love a tasty Shepherds Pie? Well I promise you, this dish will exceed your expectations even further. Yotam Ottolenghi has created  a very clever recipe here, one of many in his book "Simple".  

Bulgur Wheat with Tomato, Eggplant (Aubergine), and Lemon Yoghurt

The beauty of this Middle Eastern vegetarian recipe is that all of its elements can be prepared in advance, kept refrigerated separately, and then just warmed through and assembled when you are ready to serve it. My friends, I assure you that the bulgur and tomato is delicious enough to eat on its own if you wish. I have a tub of it in the freezer which was leftover, and it will be perfect when I need an easy side dish to eat. However, it is meant to be served with the aubergine (eggplant) and yoghurt as a main dish or as part of a selection of dishes. If you are happy to eat this as a vegetarian dish on its own, it will feed four people, otherwise it will serve at least 8 as a side dish. So easy to make, and I love that this dish can be prepared totally in advance and that it so creatively and deliciously uses up the eggplants (aubergines) which I always seem to have in abundance.

I am always so happy when I have fresh mint growing in a large pot which is the perfect garnish for this meal. Middle Eastern dishes and mint are the perfect marriage. This one could also be served as a side with a curry. It is a variation of another recipe from Yotam Ottolenghi's book, aptly named Simple.

This week I have been doing a lot of cooking with vegetables, which I seem to have accumulated. How do I end up with so many? I'm not a vegetarian by any stretch of the imagination, I adore meat. However Winter is a wonderful time to cook with veggies, don't you think? I'll be sharing my Green Broccoli and Coconut soup with you shortly, it is so good and provides our bodies with a blast of nutrients, is great for the gut, and at the moment I have another batch of Green Cabbage sauerkraut on my kitchen bench waiting to be bottled for processing over the next few days. We are enjoying another cold snap here, well I call a minimum temperature of 7 deg. F. a cold snap, and with Spring just over the horizon, there won't be many more opportunities to make cool weather sauerkraut. This is my recipe for sauerkraut if you are interested in making a batch in the cooler climates.

If you feel challenged at the thought of cooking with bulgur please don't be. It can be used interchangeably with cooked rice, couscous or quinoa and is often used to make tabbouleh. It
doesn't require cooking though, only soaking, as it is a whole wheat grain that has been cracked and partially precooked for your convenience. It is a staple in the Mediterranean region and Middle Eastern countries, often used in grain salads, side dishes, soups, even green salads after it has been soaked. If you can't find it in your supermarket, try a health food shop or an Asian or Indian supermarket. It is nutty and delicious and makes a nice change to the usual grains we cook with.

Let's cook:

Ingredients:

2 eggplants (aubergines) cut into 3 cm chunks (about 500 g)
105 ml. olive oil
2 onions, finely sliced (320 g)
3 garlic cloves, crushed
1 tsp. ground baharat or allspice
400 g very ripe cherry tomatoes or 1 can of drained cherry tomatoes
1 tbsp. tomato paste
250 g bulgur wheat (preferably fine grind)
200 g Greek-style yoghurt
1 small, preserved lemon (25 g) skin and flesh chopped finely.
10 g mint leaves
salt and black pepper
Pomegranate Molasses (optional)

Method:

Preheat the oven to 200 deg. C fan forced.

Roasting the Eggplant
Firstly we need to roast the chopped eggplants. Place them into a large bowl with 4 tablespoons of olive oil, 1/2 teaspoon of salt and a good grinding of pepper. Mix well together with your washed hands, then spread them out onto a large baking tray lined with baking paper. Roast for 35-40 minutes turning over halfway through, until the eggplants are caramelised and soft. Remove from your oven and set aside.

Cooking the Bulgur, Onions and Tomato
Add the remaining oil to a large frypan with a lid and set to a medium-high heat. When it is hot, add the onion and fry for 8 minutes, stirring a few times. It will become soft and caramelised. Add the garlic and Baharat and fry for another minute, stirring until the garlic becomes aromatic.

Add the ripe cherry tomatoes, and mash them with a potato masher to break them up. You might need to warm up the tomatoes first so that they break up easily. If your tomatoes aren't ripe enough to be mashable, use a drained can of cherry tomatoes instead.

Stir in the tomato paste, 400 ml of water and 1 teaspoon of salt.

Bring to the boil, reduce the heat to medium low, cover and cook for 12 minutes.  Add the bulgur, stir so that it is completely coated in the tomato mixture and remove the pan from the heat. Set aside on your bench for 20 minutes, and the bulgur will absorb all of the liquid.


Lemon Yoghurt

In a medium bowl, mix together the yoghurt with the preserved lemon, half the mint and 1/8 teaspoon of salt.

Divide the bulgur between four plates. Plate up with the yoghurt and a serving of eggplant on top, and garnish with a sprinkle of the remaining mint. If you have any pomegranate molasses on hand, I know that a splash of that on top would be the finishing touch, but that is optional.

Serve with a Curry or a Tagine for a perfect dinner.

Thanks for dropping by,

Best wishes

Pauline

Beef and Eggplant (Aubergine) Fatteh Recipe or Middle Eastern Nachos

"You have power over your mind - not outside events. Realize this, and you will find strength".
-Marcus Aurelius

The fresh Mint is still to be added

Fatteh is an Arabic word meaning crushed or crumbs, and often refers to a dish consisting of fresh, toasted or stale flatbread covered with other ingredients. Day old homemade pita bread is often used for fatteh recipes. What a clever creation this dish is, a Middle Eastern version of the universal family favourite, Mexican Nachos. 

Tasty Turkish-Style Tabbouleh

I made this Tabbouleh with quinoa as that is what I had on hand and it needed to be used, however wholemeal  couscous works just as beautifully. Quinoa is a delicious alternative. It's the time for salads here in the tropics, but then salads are popular and healthy anywhere and at anytime of the year aren't they? This salad choice came about as our Lebanese cucumbers have started bearing cucumbers (our first attempt at these), the mint and parsley are going gangbusters, and Mr. HRK with secateurs in hand, drastically pruned back the parsley so rather than let it go to waste, Tabbouleh came to mind. 

I try to base my meal choices on what we have growing or what is already in the pantry, without needing regular excursions to the supermarket for one or two items.

Home grown Lebanese cucumbers

Cooking cakes and sweets is a different matter. There are some items that just need to be purchased when I run out of them, as a cake recipe is pretty exacting.



Ingredients:

1/2 cup rinsed quinoa (tri-colour for impact if you like), or wholemeal couscous
150 ml chicken stock for extra flavour, (just water will also work well)
1 Lebanese cucumber, deseeded and diced
3-4 vine-ripened tomatoes, cut into 1 cm dice (I used 4 Roma tomatoes)
3 spring onions, green ends only, finely chopped
1/2 cup mint leaves, rinsed and patted dry
1 cup flat-leaf parsley leaves, or about 1/2 bunch, rinsed and patted dry
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice (not the stuff out of the bottle)
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
Add a crushed garlic clove if you like, but not necessary
*A large avocado cut into 1 cm dice can replace the cucumber

Method:

If using quinoa:- Place the stock in a small saucepan, add the quinoa and bring to the boil over high heat. Reduce heat, and simmer for 10 minutes or until tender to taste. Remove from the heat,and stand, covered, for 5 minutes. Fluff with a fork and leave it to cool.

If using couscous:- Place the stock in a small saucepan and bring to the boil. Place the couscous in a heatproof bowl and add the stock to the bowl. Cover the bowl with a plate or something plastic free (preferably), to store the heat, and stand for 5 minutes. Use a fork to fluff it up and to separate the grains. Season it slightly to your taste, and set it aside until cool.

Gather the bunch of parsley, form into a tight bundle in your hand and finely shred the leaves with a sharp knife.

Do the same thing with the mint leaves.

My coriander in our raised garden is still growing well, so a little bit of that went into the salad as well.



Add the cooled grain, quinoa or couscous to the rest of the ingredients, and mix through gently.



Making The dressing:

In a smallish bowl, gradually whisk the olive oil into the lemon juice and garlic (if using) until it starts to thicken slightly and emulsifies. Stir the dressing through the tabbouleh ingredients and season with a little salt and ground black pepper if it needs it. A little salt will really develop the flavours.

Serving options:
For an easy meal, delicious just with a boiled egg
For a more substantial and complete meal if entertaining, serve with hummus, pitta bread and sliced lamb or lamb cutlets

On a nutritional note, eating salads like tabbouleh is a healthy alternative, as the herbs, parsley, and mint are rich in sources of Vitamin K and C, some beta-carotene, folate and flavonoids.  I feel better already.......

The Aussie Backyard Bird Count

And now for some twitching. We've been participating in the Aussie Backyard Bird Count this past week.  I think today is the last day and it's been great fun. It's too hard for me to take photos of the birds at the same time as I am entering the data into the phone app, however we have submitted 8 Checklists, Sighted 22 species, and sighted 204 birds just in our suburban backyard. So Mr. HRK and I take our chairs to the courtyard late in the afternoon, settle in with a cup of coffee and wait for the birds to start their afternoon pilgrimage to the Bird bath and then back to the Golden Penda tree and the Paperbark tree. We've had a couple of challenges differentiating between species, such as the female Australasian Figged and the female Blue-faced Honeyeater but I think we have given fairly accurate statistics of what we have seen which will paint a picture of the birds in our area for Bird Life Australia.

Highlights for us were: 23 Australasian Figbirds, 1 Black-faced Cuckoo-shrike,1 Nankeen Kestrel, 1 Whiskered Bulbul, 1 Rufous Fantail, 4 Torresian Imperial-Pigeons and 62 Rainbow Lorikeets. Except for the Lorikeets, these are ones we don't see very often.

A light lunch at home, Tabbouleh, stuffed capsicum, and a boiled egg, the lettuce is coming:)

Have a happy week my friends and keep smiling,

Bye for now,

Pauline

Beetroot Hummus, a delicious vegetarian dip

In Australia, Summer doesn't officially commence until December 1st and continues through the three hottest months of the year until the end of February. Here in North Queensland, though, it feels as if Summer has arrived, although by December 1st it will probably be much hotter, unless we receive some much needed rain. I think it's fair to say though that in my part of the world, the Barbecue season has begun, which also involves invitations to Barbecues at friend's houses. Different cultures have different ideas about what to take to a friends house when invited for a BBQ (the Aussie abbreviation for a barbecue), however here in North Queensland, we always ask what the host would like us to bring, which is generally some beer or a bottle of wine, or a salad, or a dessert, or just a dip. Beetroot Hummus isn't just a dip, it is the perfect dip to take and there is a fair chance that not many people there will have already tasted it, not one homemade from scratch anyway.

If I have time, I always make this dip from scratch, which involves buying the fresh beetroot from the Farmer's Markets, boiling them, allowing them to cool and then removing the skins, chopping them up, and whizzing them up in the food processor with the other ingredients. The flavours are earthy and sweet, and the colour is a vibrant rich pink, one of my favourite colours for lots of things. Beetroot hummus can also be made from tinned or bottled beetroot which is fine, but the natural earthiness of the beetroot is slightly camouflaged by the pickling vinegar. Take this to a BBQ or even to a dinner invitation with some flatbread, sourdough bread, chopped vegetables or even crackers, and it will be a winner. I try to keep a batch in the refrigerator as a snack in between meals if we are feeling peckish, as it is very healthy and keeps for a couple of weeks. It also freezes well. I hope you try this recipe this weekend as I know you will enjoy it.

Ingredients:

450g freshly cooked, cooled, peeled and chopped beetroot, or tinned or bottled chopped beetroot
400g freshly cooked chickpeas, or  tinned chickpeas
2 garlic cloves, roughly chopped
1 tablespoon tahini
1 tablespoon lemon juice (or 2 for more of a tang)
2-3 tablespoons Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Method:

Place the cooled and chopped beetroot, chickpeas, tahini, lemon juice and garlic in the food processor bowl and whizz up until thoroughly mixed to a paste.

Keep the motor running and slowly add the olive oil though the chute of the bowl. The mixture will thicken up and become smooth and start to develop some shape from the blades. Add a little more oil and lemon juice if it is still too thick.

Season with salt and pepper to your taste, mix again and spoon into your serving bowl.

Serve with warm sliced Turkish bread or Sourdough bread.

 I like to garnish mine with black and white sesame seeds and chopped parsley.

For more hummus recipes see:
Home made chickpea hummus
Parsley hummus

Add some pickled zucchini as well to the platter for extra pizazz.

What do you like to take to a BBQ if you are invited to one, and has your BBQ season started yet?

Hoping you have an enjoyable day in your part of the world, and keep smiling.

Best wishes,

Pauline

Slow Cooker Beef, Spinach and Prune Tagine

When I was precooking the combination of onion and garlic with the fragrant spices in this dish, the cinnamon, cumin, turmeric and ginger, my mind drifted to our holiday a few years ago in amazing and exotic Granada in the south of Spain, just over the Strait of Gibraltar from Morocco which is still on my bucket list by the way. The Moroccan style foods we ate in Granada were delicious including the tapas, and have probably given me the taste for Tagines and spicy vegetable accompaniments. Then I wandered to the famous spice markets in Istanbul, Turkey where the aroma from the piles of colourful spices are intoxicating. For my friends reading this who don't like eating dates in their food, and there are a couple, I actually think they could be left out of this dish but definitely keep the prunes.. There is enough going on without them. 

Couscous Salad with Fresh Mint, Coriander, Parsley and Feta cheese

I made some healthy Couscous to accompany a Beef Tagine I was slow cooking, and then as happens in my kitchen, I thought the couscous looked rather boring and bland so I started adding ingredients from what I had and this is what I ended up with. I now had colour on the plate as well as a nutritious side dish.This salad is delicious, versatile and the  simple dressing gives it a nice zing. A dressed grain salad will keep well for a few days in the refrigerator, whereas a dressed green salad is often limp and inedible the following day. Couscous  salad can stand alone for lunch, or is a marvellous accompaniment to a spicy or Middle Eastern style dinner. Other vegetables can be added as well, such as sliced zucchini or sweet corn, after all it is basically a salad. I remembered this idea from a recipe I found here quite a while ago.

I picked this bunch of gerberas this morning from my garden which bring sunshine into the house. They really need breaking up into smaller plants, but now I can't bear to do it whilst they are flowering. I hope they make you feel happy as well.

With Summer approaching here in the Southern Hemisphere I will be making this easy Couscous meal on a regular basis. In the Northern hemisphere though, it can also be a healthy addition to accompany hot meals.

Serves 4-6.

Ingredients:

1 cup Wholemeal couscous

1 1/4 cups boiling water

1 cup of finely chopped coriander

1/2 cup finely chopped parsley

1/2 cup finely chopped mint

1/2 red onion, chopped very finely

1/2 cucumber chopped very finely

1/2 red capsicum, chopped very finely

3 tablespoons toasted pine nuts

2 tablespoons finely crumbled feta cheese (optional)

Dressing:

1/4 cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil

1 tablespoon honey or agave syrup, slightly warmed up so it is runny

Juice of 1 lemon and the zest

Good pinch of cumin.

Method:

Pour your couscous into a large heatproof bowl, add the boiling water and rest covered for 5 minutes. Remove the cover and fluff up with a fork.

Toss the finely chopped vegetables through the couscous and then add the herbs,  mixing through lightly.

To make the dressing, add the ingredients including cumin to a small glass jar, screw on the lid and give the jar a good shake. You could also use a small whisk to mix it all together. This isn't a complicated dressing so shaking it up in the jar works fine. Add a little salt and pepper to taste if you think it needs it. If this is being served with spicy foods I don't think it will need it.

Toss the dressing through the couscous and add the pine nuts.

Add the crumbled feta if you are using that. 

This is now ready to serve or store it in the refrigerator.

This will keep well, covered in the refrigerator for 5 days but it won't last that long.

I hope you are having a fabulous weekend wherever you are. I did a lot of cooking on Friday, so we are eating mostly leftovers this weekend, which just keep improving in flavour, and it makes for a nice relaxing weekend. I'll be ready to start cooking again on Monday. Do you sometimes like to have a weekend off from cooking as well?


Best wishes,

Pauline.

Slow Cooker Chicken and Date Tagine

Do you want a quick, slow cooked meal for a tasty, aromatic and easy mid-week family dinner? This one only requires browning off the chicken pieces, and then all the ingredients are placed in the slow-cooker bowl for 6 hours and dinner is ready when you arrive home. I've served this with wholemeal couscous which is also very easy to prepare. As people eat with their eyes first, if you have an earthenware Tagine dish by all means serve it up in that if you really want to impress, and leftovers improve in flavour for the next day.

Parsley Hummus, Gloriously Green and Delicious.

 Our Parsley is growing very well in the raised garden at the moment, however once the humidity and then the rain arrives, it will probably die off as it has in previous years. So I am "making hay whilst the sun shines", or parsley hummus whilst the parsley thrives. 

Classic Chickpea Hummus from Scratch

Hummus is a wholesome snack made from cooked chickpeas, mashed up and mixed with lemon juice, tahini, olive oil and some cumin. Because of the density of the protein rich chickpeas I make hummus in small batches as it mashes up a lot better. I cook up a whole packet of chickpeas after soaking them overnight in a large bowl filled with water. Bring a large saucepan of water containing the chickpeas to the boil, then simmer them until they are tender, for about an hour,  or until a couple of shells are just starting to separate from the chickpea. Drain and reserve the water they were boiled in.

Measure out 2 cups of cooked chickpeas, and make a batch of hummus, freezing it in a small container.  Keep making batches until the all the chickpeas are used up. It will also keep for a week in a sealed container in the frig. I always reserve some cooked chickpeas and keep them in the refrigerator to have in salads or to use in frittatas, tagines, stews, Indian curries and soups. I try to keep a few batches in my freezer on reserve, as then I always have a quick and nutritious dip on hand.



Ingredients:

2 cups well-cooked chickpeas, plus liquid they are cooked in (7 tablespoons of liquid should be enough) (reserve a few cooked chickpeas for garnish)
4 tsp. tahini
1 large or 2 small cloves garlic
1 teaspoon ground cumin
Juice of 1 lemon or around 4 tablespoons
6 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
Chopped fresh parsley for garnish
Sweet paprika for garnish
Salt and freshly ground pepper

Method:

Put the chickpeas, tahini, garlic, cumin, lemon juice and half the chickpea cooking liquid in the blender and begin to blend it. When the chickpeas are broken down, add the olive oil in a steady stream down the chute and then add the rest of the chickpea liquid until you have a good consistency.

Add a little salt and freshly ground pepper and taste it to see if it is to your liking. Sometimes I add a little extra lemon juice for extra flavour.

Serve drizzled with olive oil and sprinkled with paprika and chopped parsley.

Hummus is always delicious when served with a cheese platter and nibblies. I often take it with crackers when we visit friends to enjoy with a drink and when they realise it is homemade from scratch they are generally very appreciative, and it tastes really good. In fact it seems to improve in flavour after it sits in the refrigerator for a couple of days.

If you are a bit time poor, hummus made from canned chickpeas will still taste good. It is good nutritious food.

Best wishes

Pauline

Shakshuka with Eggs for a Weekend Breakfast or Brunch

Shaksuka is a popular dish in Israel, although it is supposed to have originated from Tunisia in North Africa. I ordered an Italian version of this dish for breakfast, or something very close to it, in the Yarra Valley at a wonderful little Italian cafe in village Healesville, called Essenza. It is only an hour from Melbourne.

Pomegranate Chicken and Burghul Salad

A warm delicious chicken salad that takes no time to prepare at all, adorned with fresh and pretty pomegranate  seeds, is just the answer on a hot summer's day. This is the perfect addition to your salad repertoire for an easy Summer meal. Serve it with a crisp, cool green salad and everyone will think it took more time than it actually did to prepare. The chicken meat needs to be rested for 10 minutes before combining with the salad ingredients. Chopped pistachios or roasted pine nuts are the perfect Middle Eastern garnish to set the scene. I used pine nuts because the pistachios had mysteriously disappeared from my pantry, however next time pistachios will be on the plate.

Unfortunately pomegranates are seasonal, and we are seeing less and less of them in the supermarkets now in the Tropics. The seeds can sometimes be found packaged in plastic boxes  in the fruit section, just like the blueberries and raspberries.

We have a  1 year old Pomegranate tree growing in our garden, and we have high hopes for that tree, no pressure though.

Let's cook:

Ingredients:

8 skinless chicken thighs

Marinade:

2 garlic cloves
1/2 green chilli
3 tablespoons pomegranate molasses
1 tablespoon olive oil

Salad:

1 1/4 cups couscous or burghul
1/3 cup chopped fresh mint
1/4 cup chopped flat-leaf parsley
1/2 cup (75g) currants
Splash of pomegranate molasses
1/3 cup (50g) pistachios, chopped, or browned pine nuts
Fresh Seeds from 1/2 pomegranate

Method:

Combine marinade ingredients in a bowl. Add the chicken, cover and refrigerate for at least 3 hours.

Cook the burghul or couscous according to the packet. Fluff it up with a fork then stir through the mint and parsley, currants and molasses. Let your head go with the mint and the parsley for extra flavour.

Cook the chicken thighs: 

Heat a frying pan over high heat, add the thighs and cook on one side for 3 minutes or until golden. Turn over and quickly brown the other side. Then roast them in a preheated oven 180 deg. oven for about 20 minutes or until cooked right through.

Allow the chicken to rest, then shred the meat into bite-size pieces.



Transfer the burghul salad to a serving platter and top with the chicken, pistachios and pomegranate seeds.

This recipe was adapted from one I found by David Herbert when he was having a quack in the Weekend Australian newspaper magazine, ha, ha. It looked good to me. Thanks David, delicious as always.

Serves 4.

How do I love food? Let me count the ways....

Thanks for dropping by,

Best wishes

Pauline

Pomegranate Flavoured Baba Ganoush

The silly season of parties has started for some in the lead up to Christmas, which often means taking a plate or a dip to share. I have made this seriously delicious eggplant or aubergine dip a couple of times now, and the last batch kept in the refrigerator for nearly two weeks. It actually improved in flavour over that time. The pomegranate molasses and mint give this a distinctive Middle Eastern flavour. It is essential though to use freshly picked eggplant for the best result.  This recipe comes from the amazing Maggie Beer's Recipe for Life Book, a worthwhile purchase, and when I saw this list of ingredients including mint and pomegranate molasses I had to try it.

I have also frozen a couple of containers full, minus the pomegranate seeds as it makes quite a lot, and these will be great over Christmas, with the pomegranate seeds providing a festive garnish when needed.

Ingredients:

Serves 6-8

2 large eggplants or smaller eggplants such as Japanese or White to the equivalent of 600-800g.
1/3 cup (90g) unhulled tahini
1 clove garlic, crushed
1 tablespoon pomegranate molasses
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1-2 tablespoons lemon juice
Sea salt flakes and freshly ground black pepper to taste
1/3 cup (80ml) extra virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons chopped flat-leaf parsley
2 tablespoons chopped mint
Seeds of 1/2 pomegranate for garnish

Method:

Preheat your oven to 250 deg. C. (fan forced)

Place the eggplants on a baking tray and roast for 20 minutes or until the skin has blackened and blistered and the flesh is soft.  Remove them from the oven and set aside on a tray to cool. When cool enough to handle, peel off and discard the skin and scoop the flesh into a colander. Leave the flesh to drain for about 10-15 minutes.

In your food processor, process the tahini, garlic, molasses, cumin, lemon juice, salt, pepper, and olive oil until smooth. Add the eggplant and the chopped herbs and pulse until just combined. Check the seasoning, then transfer to a serving bowl.

To decorate, garnished with pomegranate seeds scattered over the surface of your baba ganoush. Serve with Lebanese bread, biscuits, or  barbecued broccoli as Maggie Beer suggests.

I also have an easier and more economical recipe for Baba Ganoush on my blog, but it is still a very tasty version. It is  essentially minus the pomegranate, molasses and mint and you can find that recipe  here. It just depends whether or not  you want to invest in a fresh pomegranate and some pomegranate molasses and show off over the Christmas season a little which can be fun and is always appreciated.

Best wishes

Pauline