Spring lamb braise for an Autumnal day

I have just procured a cook book MALOUF  which totally floats my culinary boat. I love flavours of the Middle East, layers of aromatics and herbs, fresh tasting food with depth and interest;  this book totally clicks into this love.   Of course I always enjoy reading new cook books; though this one really excites me,  want to cook everything. I seem to be drawn to all things Australian at the moment: Greg Malouf the chef and food guru behind this amazing food is originally from Melbourne;  I had worried that I would have to fly to Australia to eat at his restaurant so am delighted that he is currently cooking at Petersham Nurseries  after the departure of another one of my Australian born food heroes Skye Gyngell. petershamnurseries.com

The book is full of recipes for soups such as artichoke, Spanish sausage & roasted pistachio – salads, Sweet and sour aubergine -  fish dishes; Red mullet with golden spices and citrus salad….I mean COME ON!

I have 2 supper clubs next week both with a  lamb braise on the menu;  Spring lamb being so so good at the moment whilst the weather is so so bad thus a braise seemed a good recipe to try. This kind of dish is all about using a small selection of the best quality produce with a  simple cooking technique to showcase the ingredients. Get the best lamb you can.

I often stick true to the original recipe on a first test run unless there is something I want to do differently. The book suggests Turkish red pepper paste, a red pepper based firey sauce but  I substituted with harissa. It also comes served with a ‘cheesy eggplants puree’ which whilst sounds intriguing was not what I fancied for my tea.

Sultans Delight – Lamb Ragout

 Apparently serving 4 -perhaps as a mezze dish though I would say 2

700g cubed lamb – 40g butter  – 2 red onions, diced – 3 cloves garlic, chopped -  2 tsp chopped fresh oregano -  2 vine tomatoes, skinned, seeded & chopped -  250ml chicken stock – salt & pepper

Melt the butter and fry the lamb until browned.

Remove from pan, sweat onions, garlic & oregano for 5 minutes

Add the honey, turn up the heat cooking for another couple of minutes

Stir in harissa, tomatoes, stock, salt and pepper, bring to a simmer slide in lamb

The original recipe suggest a gentle simmer for 1 – 1/2 hours but I prefer to low oven at 150 for the same

Oh lord this is good! Lamb  soft and  full of depth. The honey does come through though balanced perfectly with  tang from the harissa. I served it with a cracked wheat salad though little cubes of roasted potatoes would have worked, also would be good with a blob a tztatziki and soft pitta like bread to juice mop. Simply delicious.

Sweet potato – Erm – Falafel

I am never sure that one should call a falafel a falafel when it does not contain chickpeas or the traditional fava bean as its main ingredient. However for now I subscribe to the ‘yes you can’ as to find a suitable alternative name is not an easy task: ball, nuggets, a rissole perhaps? The latter a word favoured by my Dad and used in lieu of idiot, so thus this does not sit too well for me.

The debate can rage on, however for now falafel it is and sweet potato they are, I should mention that chickpea flour is an ingredient though still……Move on Tina, move on. Sooooooo  I started making these for my stall at Churchill square to have as part of a mezze lunch  box and a smaller snack bag sitting alongside a sumac flat bread, hummus and beetroot tzatziki.  When cooking for outdoor events I give a lot of consideration to dishes that work well served cold; traditional falafels are just so much better hot from the fryer, the mixture tends to seize as it cools becoming dry and moisture sucking! These sweet potato numbers work great cold though I have since served them hot as a vegetarian alternative for my supper club guests. They are delicious, full of flavour and as long as you start in advance are so easy to make.

The original recipe came from one of the Leon cook books. This London based company started in 2004 by Allegra McEvedy has steadily grown over the past few years, taking fast food and throwing it upside down. Their offerings are seasonal, healthy and mostly delicious, preferring baked to fried, almonds to flour and using lots of fresh fruit and veg.   
http://www.leonrestaurants.co.uk/vision/

My main thing to mention before I start sharing this recipe is that the water content of the sweet potatoes will vary enormously so you will need to be flexible with the amount of chickpea flour you use. However don’t be tempted to add too much, especially if you plan to eat them cold as they will turn out too solid. Be brave, keep them soft. Please note that my photos show me making a larger batch

So to make about 18 Sweet potato falafels:

2 large sweet potatoes (700g ish) –Baked in their skins @ 200ᵒ for about 45 min or until tender

120g gram chickpea flour – (garam flour)

2tsp of each coriander seed and cumin seed – toasted and crushed

3 cloves of garlic – crushed

Juice of half lemon

½ teaspoon of each salt and chilli flakes

Large bunch fresh coriander – chopped

Sesame seeds

The potatoes MUST be totally cold before you start. I suggest baking them the day before.

Peel and mash the flesh along with all the other ingredients. Put in the fridge to firm up for about an hour. Once chilled you are wanting to end up with a not too stick mass that is kind of ball-able. If you find you don’t have this then stir in more chickpea flour a little at a time and pop back into the fridge for another 15 minutes.

Once you are happy that you can roll them, do exactly that dividing the mixture into large walnut sized pieces and sprinkling them with sesame seeds to coat. Place on a well sunflower or olive oiled baking tray and bake for 10 minutes @ 200ᵒ then turn and bake for a further 5 minutes.

That is it! As mentioned these make for fantastic picnic feed, are great in pitta with all the salady bits, good hot with rice and a spicy chickpea and tomato sauce….versatile little erm rissoles.

Who eats all my pies?

All is coming so nicely together with my new food business. I have been selling a changing salad ‘lunch box’which this week was Piedmonte roasted Pepper with sweetcorn fritters and a rocket salad with sourdough and parmesan crumbs. There are a selection of £1 ‘snacks’ including Aubergine 2 Ways on a Crisp Pitta, savoury pasties with creative vegetarian fillings  at Churchill Square on Wednesdays and curries with salads and chutneys at Upper Gardner Street market on Saturdays. 

I am not a vegetarian yet CanTina is a vegetarian business and what started by chance is now something I am very pleased with and proud of. I love cooking this kind of fare and have been getting some wonderful local produce and using and tweeking some great recipes.

One of my weekly staples that is always well received is the butternut squash and feta pastries. It is one that I have modified from the fantastic Moro cookbook and use often at my stalls and for other events. Essentially the pasty is a flat bread dough which needs no proving so is a simple as can be.

I have added some crushed cumin seed to the dough which I think works well but apart from that the recipe is pretty much as is….Oh and I always make the butternut filling a day in advance to allow it time to cool.

To make about 6 or 7
Filling
1 small butternut squash, peeling and sliced into even pieces
1 tbsp Olive oil
½ tsp fennel seeds
½ tsp coriander seeds (crushed)
¼ tsp chilli flakes
Sea salt and pepper
100g crumbled feta
1 good tbsp of picked fresh thyme
2 tbsp toasted pine nuts (optional)

Dough
220g Strong Bread Flour
100ml warm water
½ teaspoon dried yeast
2 tablespoons olive oil
Sea salt and ½ teaspoon of cumin seed (lighty crushed)

1. Put the SQUASH into a bowl with 1 tbls OLIVE OIL, 1 tsp FENNEL SEED, 1 tsp CRUSHED CORIANDER SEED, ½ tsp CHILLI mix with your hands then spread on a tray and roast in a hot oven until tender  – about 20 minutes. Leave until completely cold

2. To make the dough mix the flour, salt and cumin together.  Separately mix  yeast into the water until it dissolves, stir in the olive oil. Combine the dry and wet and mix until you form a dough…..knead for about 5 minutes until smooth and elastic.

3. To make the pastries take a walnut sized piece of dough and roll out to form a disk about 3mm thick. Add a blob of the butternut (about a pudding spoon), a teaspoon of feta and a sprinkling of thyme and pinenuts. Dampen the edge with water and form a triangle by pinching the edges together.

4. Bake the pastries in a hot 220°C oven for about 15 minutes until lightly browned.

I always serve these with yoghurt flavoured with cumin and smoked paprika and some of the pineapple chutney that I am included on here.
If you fancy eating these but can’t be bothered to make them then come and see me at any of my markets. Oh and I also make them for events and parties!! Plug Plug Plug

A Delicious Pineapple Chutney

The word chutney comes from the Hindi word chanti which is traditionally a relish made from fruits and spices, this one is a delicious mix of the fruit and spices perked up with cider vingear and toned down again with Demerara sugar. I have been making it to accompany curries that I have been making and selling at Upper Gardner Street market. I am sure it like most preserves this would mellow with age however it is equally good served within a few days. Luckily as I am neither organised or patient enough not to tuck in.

Preservation methods if followed carefully seem to be very simple. I always had a bit of fear attached to jam and chutney making though recently have been making some great relishes and the fear has flown.

Ingredients
To make 1 large and 1 small kilner jar you need 2 pineapples, 3 bramleys, 2 tsp turmeric, 2 tsp mustard seeds, 200ml cider vinegar, 300g Demerara sugar, 6 star anise, 8 cloves and 3 cinnamon sticks.

Method
In this recipe the ingredients are all prepared by measuring, weighing and chopping then simply place in a pan and brought to a boil and simmered until soft and pulpy which takes about 45 minutes to an hour.

Jar Prep
Wash in soapy water your jars and dry in a very low oven
Ladle your pulp into the clean jars.

This works with curry, cheese, cold meats and would according to Miss Lawson make a good coronation chicken.