Aubergine with Pomegranate

As ever, i have to make something special for tara when i'm having meat.  And of course, i have to eat meat more often these days because there's loads of meat recipes in nigella's book!  a good excuse, i know.

- Slice 2 aubergine's lengthways about 1/2 cm thick.
- If using a griddle (which i did) brush with olive oil, and if a frying pan, heat some olive oil in a pan.
- Fry on a high heat for a few minutes either side until the outside is crispy and inside soft.
- Remove and place on some kitchen towels.
- Halve a pomegranate and remove most of the seeds by hitting the outside with a wooden spoon.
- Arrange the aubergines on a plate and squeeze the juice of the remaining pomegranates in the shell over them.
- Sprinkle with salt, handful chopped mint and the pomegranate seeds.

Mmmm aubergine, the king of vegetables...

Panchphoran Aloo

I cooked this to go with the previous duck and with tara's aubergine with pomegranate and it seemed to work.  It's hard not to burn the potatoes in the frying pan, but the crispy bits add to the flavour.

- Dice 900g potatoes into 1cm cubes and fry in some oil until half done, on a high heat to begin with, then a low heat.
- Add 1/2 teaspoon each of red chill powder, turmeric, fenugreek seeds, nigella seeds, black mustard seeds, cumin seeds, fennel seeds and some salt.
- Stir regularly to stop the potatoes from catching and stop cooking when the potatoes are done.
- Garnish with fresh coriander.

Duck with Orange Salsa

The uncooked salsa (i assume salsa is always raw?!) really lifted the roasted duck - its a salsa to always bear in mind whenever you cook duck, particularly as its so easy to make.  Nigella suggests duck breasts but i used a duck leg which worked just as well.

- Slash the skin of 4-5 duck breasts, sprinkle with soy sauce and cook for 20 mins on a rack at 200C.
- Meanwhile, peel 2 oranges (i used clementines) and slice into small chunks.
- Finely chop 1/2 red onion and a fresh chilli, and add to the oranges, along with a good clump chopped coriander and 1/2 as much mint.
- Sprinkle with salt and squeeze 1/2 lime over it.
- Take the duck out of the oven and add the salsa.

I cooked this back in camden, together with the panchphoran potatoes and the pomegranite aubergine for tara, and it all seemed to work together.

Clementine Cake

Having accidentally made Queen of Puddings instead of this clementine cake a few weeks ago, i thought i'd make this now for Marni's 5 week birthday.  Actually, i made the chocolate pudding for marni's 5 week birthday, but it was so awful, i made this as well!  This was more like it - if Marni could eat as well as suck, she would have loved it.

- Boil 4-5 whole clementines in a pan for 2 hours, then drain, cut each in half and remove the pips.
- Pulp everything in a processor.
- Beat 6 eggs and add 225g sugar, 250g ground almonds, and 1 teaspoon baking powder.
- Mix well and add the pulped clementines.
- Pour the mixture into a buttered/lined 20cm tin and cook for 1 hour at 190C.
- You may need to cover the top after 40 mins to stop it burning.

Nigella calls it the easiest cake she knows, but you wouldn't know it to taste it - delicious.  By the way, that's 50 recipes down - a pretty good start if i say so myself - deserves a glass of champagne!

Seven Minute Steamed Chocolate Pudding

Easily the worst thing i've cooked so far.  It's cooked in a microwave, which rang alarm bells immediately, and seeing as we don't have one at home, i thought i'd better cook it at wittering, where surprisingly, there is one.  The ingredient list sounded nice, but putting everything in a bowl and then into a microwave for 7 mins, sounded dodgy - and it was.  I didn't have any clingfilm so i used baking parchment, which is maybe the reason it didn't work - however, i'm not going to try it again to find out!

- Grate 250g dark chocolate into a food processor and process together with 120g of butter and 100g brown sugar until combined.
- Add 1 teaspoon vanilla essence, 125ml double cream, 40g flour, 1/2 teaspoon baking powder, and 3 eggs and process until smooth.
- Put into a buttered pudding basin, cover with clingfilm and cook at 100% for 5 mins in a microwave.
- Pierce clingfilm, cover with a plate and let stand for 10 mins.

Good luck!

Quinces Poached in Muscat

Quinces aren't around outside november/december, so i had to grab my chance this year to cook with them and am i glad i did - they were truly amazing.  As you can see from the picture, the quinces go from rock-hard and white/lemon in colour, to a soft gorgeous pink and taste delicious.

- Fill a bowl of water with cold water and a squirt of lemon juice to put the quinces in and stop them turning brown.
- Peel 4 quinces, quarter and core them, putting them into the water and keeping the peelings/cores.
- Add 700ml muscat, 300ml water, 500g sugar, 1 stick of cinnamon, 2 bay leaves, 4 cloves, 3 cardamon pods and 6 peppercorns to a pan and bring to the boil.
- Put the peelings and quinces in an ovenproof dish, pour over the wine, cover and cook at 150C for 2 1/2 hours.
- Remove from the dish, strain the syrup into a saucepan, and reduce for a few mins.
- Serve the quinces with the syrup poured over them.

Nigella warns about over reducing the syrup and creating quince toffee, which of course, i did!  In fact, the syrup i was left after 2 1/2 hours in the oven, didn't need reducing at all once it had cooled a bit.  I do however now have quince jelly which is delicious on toast.  So i suggest taking half the syrup out, to have with the quinces, and creating quince jelly with the rest.  You can always increase the quantities for the syrup to have more of both.

Aubergine Moussaka

This is a great recipe - a good moussaka with a lebanese theme according nigella.  I think the addition of the chick peas makes it a bit more middle eastern, as does the use of pomegranate molasses.  However, given that i was at wittering rather than home in london, this was a bit tricky to find.  I had to use dark sugar with a squeeze of lemon as a substitute which seemed to work.

- Peel 500g aubergines in lengthways stripes, cut into 1.5cm cubes and saute for a few mins in 3 tablespoons olive oil.

- Remove to a dish covered in kitchen roll.

- Add 2 more tablespoons olive oil and saute 1-2 thinly sliced onions and 10 cloves thickly sliced garlic for about 5 mins until soft.

- Add 150g chickpeas (don't use the whole 200g tin or they will dominate) and cook for another 5 mins.

- Add 1 1/2 tablespoons pomegranate molasses and return the aubergines to the pan.

- Peel and quarter 500g tomatoes and add to the pan together with 1 1/2 teaspoons salt, 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon, 1/2 teaspoon allspice, 1/4 teaspoon black pepper, and 200ml water.

- Bring to the boil, cover and simmer for about 1 hour.

- Serve sprinkled with parsley or coriander.

We had this a couple of times, once with the couscous, which didn't really do the moussaka justice, so the second time, i made some fresh chappatis which were perfect with it.

The chappati recipe i got, not from nigella, but from a guide on a 2 day camel trek in the Great Thar Desert in India.  In the middle of the dunes, he got out a small bag of flour, added a bit of salt and water to it, and gently kneaded it for a few mins.  Then he flattened it out as thin as possible into small chappatis, heated a metal pan over the fire until very hot, then cooked them without oil for a couple of mins on each side.

I have used this method of making bread many times since, and its as easy as bread making gets.  Whether or not, you've ever made bread before, i suggest you give it a go.

Fine Pasta with Crab

Along with the dover sole and king prawns that we bbq'ed, we also bought a couple of crab from the fisherman's hut in east wittering.  It makes a perfect seaside lunch for 2.  

- Gently cook 1 chopped clove garlic, 1/2 finely sliced red chilli, 1 tablespoon coriander, grated zest 1/2 lime and 2-3 finely sliced spring onions, until soft.

- Add 35g brown crab meat, 150ml white wine and simmer for 10 mins until quite a thick texture.

- Cook some 150g linguine.
- Just before the pasta needs draining add 60g white meat to the brown meat, together with another tablespoon coriander, the zest of the other 1/2 lime and a squeeze of lime juice.
- Add about 1 mug of the pasta to the sauce, then drain the pasta, add to the crab and sprinkle with parsley.

The chilli gives a lovely bite, and the cooking of the brown meat, gives it a great strong flavour that is missing from some crab dishes - a great recipe.

This recipe also reminds me that with nigella's cooking, you really to have quite a lot of white and red wine on the go - best stock up on some cheap wine otherwise it gets expensive!

Mushroom Ragout

While Ian, Annabel and I had the lamb, i made this mushroom ragout for Tara.  The key is obviously in the mushrooms you use. I used large portabello mushrooms which give a lovely meaty texture.  This has a good depth of flavour.

- Saute 1 finely chopped white onion, 1 red onion and 2 stalks of thinly sliced celery in a pan with 1 teaspoon olive oil and 1 tablespoon butter.
- When they begin to soften, add 3 chopped cloves garlic, some salt and pepper.
- As the garlic and onions brown, add 90 ml red wine, 35 ml marsala, a bay leaf and 1/2 teaspoon thyme.
- Simmer gently until the wine boils away.
- In a separate pan, saute 800g mushrooms in 2 teaspoons olive oil and 2-3 tablespoons butter.
- Add some salt and a pinch of cayenne pepper.
- When they colour, add 85ml red wine and 40 ml marsala.
- Allow the wine to cook down, then add the onions.
- Melt 1 tablespoon butter in a pan, add 1 tablespoon flour and stir for a few minutes while it browns.
- Then whisk in 500ml hot vegetable stock.
- Add this sauce to the mushrooms, add 3 tablespoons parsley and simmer for a further 10 mins.

Cinnamon Hot Rack of Lamb

Cinnamon and lamb don't sound good bed-fellows, but this dish was great.  So good, ian, annabel and myself had eaten most of it before remembering to take a photo!

- Mix 1/2 tablespoon cinnamon and 1 tablespoon chilli oil.
- Rub over the meat, place on a baking tray and cook for 30 mins at 220C and the meat should still be pink.
- Let stand for 5 mins and serve.

Simple but delicious.  As you can see, we had it with the couscous and some mushroom ragout that i made tara.

Treacle Tart

This was much more successful, although i slightly overcooked it, so it was nice and chewy as nigella says it should be, but perhaps 10 mins per mouthful is a bit much even for toffee lover!  I exaggerate of course, but i should still have listened to tara when she told me it looked done.  But being faithful to nigella, i gave it another 5 mins.  Nigella and her cooking times - what can i say!

- Make the pastry as before, using 100g plain flour, 50g butter, a few tablespoons iced water and 2 tablespoons lemon juice, but leaving out the icing sugar.
- Roll out to line a 20cm flan dish and put in the fridge for 30mins.
- Heat 225g golden syrup in a pan and when runny, add 60g white breadcrumbs and the zest and juice of 1/2 lemon.
- After 5 mins, stir in 3 tablespoons double cream and add the mixture to the pastry case.
- Cook for 25-30 mins at 180C (nigella says 15 mins at 200C then 15 mins at 180C).

It was delicious and would have gone great with vanilla ice cream, but the freezer was broken at merula, so no ice cream for us.

Couscous salad

A week without internet access and it looks like i haven't been making much progress.  In fact the opposite is true - a week at west wittering, and the main thing i did was cook!  Although not many of nigella's recipes require a bbq on the beach, i was still able to tick off 9 recipes.  Now all i have to is write them up.  Here goes:

Couscous salad was easy to do but a bit disappointing - not sure i need a nigella recipe to tell me to add tomatoes, red onion and cucumber to couscous - and the end result was okay.

- Put 200g couscous in a bowl with 1 teaspoon of salt, add 250ml boiling water, and leave covered for 15 mins.
- Fluff up with a fork, and add 6 tablespoons olive oil, 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar, and pepper.
- Blanch, peel, de-seed and dice 6 good tomatoes and add this to the coucous, along with 1 small chopped red onion.
- Add 1 diced cucumber and a chopped bunch of parsley and salt/vinegar to taste.

As you can see, pretty unexciting.  It went well though with the dover sole and king prawns that my brother bbq'ed on the main beach at west wittering.

Cambodian Hot and Sour Beef Salad

There were some lovely crisp flavours in this recipe, and what is great about Cambodian and Vietnamese cooking is the raw-ness of the cooking and the ingredients.  I don't think though that grilling the beef, complements the other flavours - next time i would definitely sear the beef in a pan.

- Cook 225g fillet steak - Nigella says grill but I say sear in a hot pan.
- However you cook it, thinly slice the beef and keep the juices from the cooking and slicing..
- In a bowl, mix 1 tablespoon fish sauce, the juice of 1 lime, 1 teaspoon sugar, 1-2 red/green chillies and 1 finely sliced shallot.
- Add the beef juices to the sauce and pour over some rocket and lettuce leaves.
- Add the thinly sliced beef.

I think i slightly overdid my beef on the grill, which i think is also part of the problem with grilling.  Overall however, a simple tasty way of enjoying beef.

Queen of Puddings

I had planned to make a clementine cake for Marni's 4 week birthday, but i started on the wrong recipe (they are on the same page!).  By the time i'd added orange blossom water and caster sugar to breadcrumbs, it was too late.  But am i glad i did - it was a triumph.  So good, that Tara and I just had 3 helpings each for our dinner.

- Put 150g breadcrumbs (or brioche crumbs) in a bowl with a desert spoon caster sugar, zest of 1 orange, and 2 drops orange blossom water.
- Heat 575ml milk and 40g butter in a pan until hot but not boiling, then add to the breadcrumbs.
- Leave to steep for 10 mins, then beat in 5 egg yolks.
- Pour the crumb custard into a buttered oval oven dish and bake for 20-30 mins until custard is set on top, but may still be runny underneath.
- Heat 3-5 tablespoons marmalade in a pan, add 2 teaspoons golden syrup, stir and then pour over the custard.
- Whisk 5 egg whites until stiff, whisk in 60g caster sugar, then fold in another 60g.
- Cover the pudding with the meringue mixture, sprinkle with sugar and cook for another 20 mins until meringue is browned.

And yet another lesson hard learned - i put the mixture too close to the top of the oven and bizarrely, the meringue rose a bit into the grill, so that when i pulled it out, the lovely brown crispy topping was left behind!  Very annoying, and not something i will not do again.  I put it back under the grill to crisp up the top, but the meringue peaks i had created were lost forever...

Fish Pie

I made this a while ago, but forgot all about cooking it until i came across it again today.  I do remember being slightly disappointed by the flavours.  The main reason i think is that nigella doesn't suggest using smoked fish, which i think is a mistake.  I do like the mini stock method that you make at the start, which i'm sure you could use with a lot more recipes.

- Heat a carrot, cut into 8 lengthway pieces, a bouquet garni, and a pinch of salt in 125ml water and 125 ml white wine.
- Bring to the boil and let let cool.
- Cook 1kg potatoes in salted water and mash with 80g butter.
- Put 225g cod fillets and 225g haddock in the carrot water, bring to a simmer and poach for 3 mins.
- Remove the cod and haddock, add 225g salmon fillets and poach for 3 mins.
- Add the salmon to the cod and haddock, strain the water (keeping in the bouquet garni) and make up to 450ml with single cream.
- Melt 45g butter in a large saucepan, add 4 tablespoons flour and a pinch of mace.
- Cook for a few mins, then take off the heat and slowly stir in the 450ml cream mixture.
- Put back on the heat and keep cooking for about 5 mins until thick, add 0.25g saffron and cook for another 5 mins, then remove the bouquet garni.
- Butter an oven dish, add the fish, broken up, pour over the saffron sauce, mix up and add the mash potato.
- Grate over some nutmeg and cook for 20-30 mins at 190c.

Restrained Mushroom Risotto

A low fat version of Nigella's mushroom risotto, but almost too low fat.  I found myself, for the first time, thinking i might have to supplement the amount of butter suggested, rather than halve it!  10g butter is suggested in the recipe, but i used 20g in the end, as there wasn't enough to coat the rice, which i think is the unlying point of risotto.  However, it's still quite a low fat version, particularly when compared to her Pea Risotto, but still has a great depth of flavour, if not the extreme silkiness from using more butter or cream.

- Melt 20g butter and 2 teaspoons olive oil in a pan and gently fry 1/2 onion.
- After a few mins, add 200g mixed sliced mushrooms and cook for a further few mins.
- Stir in 125g arborio rice and cook for 2 mins.
- Add 60ml vermouth or white wine and allow to bubble until absorbed.
- Add a ladleful of stock from 375-400ml hot stock (either mushroom stock or stock with 10g porcini added)
- Cook until absorbed, add another ladle, and so on, until add the stock is used up and the rice is just cooked and creamy.
- Stir in 2 tablespoons parmesan and sprinkle with parsley.

I also added a slice of lemon on the side, because i think a squeeze of lemon is generally delicious with risotto and added at the end, lifts the whole dish.

Beef Stroganoff

A deliciously simple and quick recipe.  It's particularly good if you use really good fillet steak.  Nigella recommends cooking the steak through, which i did, but i reckon if you like your steak rare, then cook the steak for less time.

- Gently fry 1 large finely chopped onion in 30g butter and a drop of oil.
- Add 30g more butter and when melted, add 225g sliced mushrooms, and cook for 5 mins.
- Grate some nutmeg and add some pepper.
- Stir well and remove to a plate.
- Add another 30g butter with some more oil, and turn the heat to high.
- When the butter's hot, stir fry 750g beef fillet, cut into thin strips.
- Return the mushrooms/onions to the pan, add some more nutmeg, 1 teaspoon dijon mustard, and 200ml creme fraiche.
- Season, and sprinkle over some paprika.

Fried Prawn Cakes

These turned out okay, but somehow just managed to miss the mark. They were a bit floury and lacked a bit of bite. I reckon adding some chilli to nigella's recipe would lift them. She also recommends having them with mayonnaise, but they were better with just lime juice squeezed over them. I only had cooked prawns, which maybe meant they lacked the flavour that would come from using fresh raw prawns.

- Mince 250g raw prawns and put in a blender together with 1 clove garlic, 2 chopped spring onions, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 50g flour, 4 teaspoons sherry and 2 tablespoons of water.

- If you want to add some bite, add some cayenne pepper or a finely chopped chilli.

- You should have a firm mixture that can be spooned into a frying pan.

- Fry in olive oil for 1-2 mins on each side depending on their thickness.

- Eat with some lime juice and chopped coriander.