Mackerel teriyaki

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Lamb and bean braise

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Stem Ginger gingerbread

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Shortbread

Shortbread was simpler than i thought it would be.  They were slightly overdone, but that wasn't my fault - i had left tara to take them out of the oven while i ran an errand for her!  I was going to have them with nigella's lemon cream recipe, but somehow we had run out of double cream even though its all i seem to buy these days.  But they were lovely on their own.

- Cream 100g soft butter and 50g icing sugar in a food processor, then add 100g flour, 50g cornflour and a pinch of salt, and process again.
- Remove and mould into a cylinder shape.
- Cover with clingfilm and put in the fridge for 20 mins.
- When firm, slice into 1/2 cm discs and cook in the oven on a baking tray for 20-30 mins, removing when the top is dry.

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Baked caramel apples

A simple pudding for tara and i to have while watching Mad Men.

- Core 2 cooking apples, and stuff with 40g butter and 40g sugar.
- Put in a roasting tin, add 60ml calvados/brandy and the juice of 1/2 lemon, and cook for 50 mins at 180C.
- Remove the apples, and pour the juices into a saucepan.
- Heat up and reduce on the hob to a thick syrup, then add 1-2 tablespoons single cream, and pour this sauce over the apples.


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Chicken stew

Another day, another stew, although this did handily use up the chicken thighs.  It tasted pretty good, but nothing amazing.  I think i'd add a bit more harissa to give it more of a kick.  I used boneless chicken thighs, although nigella also suggests cutting up a whole chicken.

- Pour 3 tablespoons olive oil in a big pot and add 1 teaspoon each of cinnamon, cumin and cayenne pepper, together with 2 finely sliced onions and a pinch of salt.
- Cook for a few mins until soft and then add 12 portions of chicken and fry for a couple of mins.
- Cover with cold water, bring to the boil, skim off any scum, then add 400g tin of chick peas, 1 bouquet garni, a stock cube, 4 unpeeled cloves of garlic, 500g sliced carrots, 4 sliced sticks celery and 2 teaspoons of harissa.
- Cook gently for 1 1/2 hours, and serve with couscous.


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Harissa

This was great to make - much simpler than i thought, although it does take quite a lot of time to de-seed 20g of dried chillies.  I ended up adding a lot more spices than nigella recommends compared to chillis, because it was plenty hot enough for me.

- De-seed 20g dried chillies and cut into thin slices.
- Cover with boiling water and leave to soak for 1 hour.
- Dry roast 2 tablespoons coriander seeds, 1 teaspoon caraway seeds, and 1 teaspoon cumin seeds, in a hot, oil-less frying pan for a few mins.
- Add to a pestle and mortar and grind to a powder, then add to a processor.
- Pound 2 cloves garlic together with a desert spoon of coarse sea salt, then add this to the processor.
- Add 1 tablespoon sherry vinegar and the drained chillies to the processor, then process together.
- Add 2 tablespoons olive oil to the mixture and blitz again so that you have a thick liquid.  If its too thick, add some of the water the chillies soaked in.

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Chicken noodle soup

I had some chicken thighs that i needed to use - originally defrosted for saturday night, but i ended up staying sat night at wittering having gone down to buy a sailing dinghy.  A successful trip though - fiona and i are now the proud joint owners of an RS Vision!  So, after easter lunch at Matt's (great salads - very ottolenghi), i started on a couple of chicken dishes - the noodle soup for supper, and the chicken stew to freeze.  The chicken stew asked for harissa, which we'd run out of, so i had to quickly make some harissa as well.

The chicken noodle soup was not quite how i imagined - a classic jewish feel good soup, i thought, but nigella marinades hers in mirin and sake - not the most jewish ingredients.  It was okay, but i think could be improved upon.

- Mix 4 tablespoons of sake, 3 tablespoons mirin, 1 tablespoon soy sauce, 1 minced clove garlic and 1 dried red chilli.
- Cut 1 chicken breast into strips and marinade in the mixture for an hour.
- Cook 100g noodles and add choi sum or pak choi (i didn't have any green to cook, so just added pea shoots at the end) for the last couple of mins of cooking.
- Heat up 500ml chicken stock.
- Heat 1 tablespoon oil and a few drops of sesame oil in a pan or wok and add the pieces of chicken on a high heat.
- When cooked, pour in the marinade and when its nearly all bubbled away, put the noodles in a bowl, add the chicken stock, top with the glossy chicken, and sprinkle with fresh coriander.
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Pavlova

This was much more successful, although still not perfect.  I hadn't realised quite how simple it was to make pavlova - just whisk eggs and cream and add passion fruits.  Being somewhat suspect of nigella's timings (my oven seems to cook things faster than hers), i didn't cook it for the 1 1/4 hours she suggests, but i think this time, she may be right, as mine wasn't fully cooked through, even though it looked great on the outside.


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Cod with clams

The cod and clams as the main course to our easter meal, was more successful, but still not amazing.  Waitrose had littleneck clams, which i don't think were nearly as delicious as the Palourde clams from M. Rascal in primrose hill.

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Prawn and aubergine crostini

I am not in danger of over-using "delicious" with this recipe.  Prawn and aubergine together did not bode well to begin with and there's nothing in this recipe to suggest that they will ever make it to the altar.  It was quite frankly revolting and a waste of good tiger prawns that had come all the way from Kalimantan in Borneo, a place i know a lot about courtesy of Marinah, and a place i've got very close to on my trips to northern Borneo.  However, they couldn't salvage this dish.  If you would like to prove me wrong, here's the recipe:

- Cook an aubergine in an oven for 1 hour at 200C, then remove and leave to cool.
- Scrape the flesh into a sieve to drain any excess liquid.
- Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil and add 1 clove finely sliced garlic and 1 chopped dried red chilli.
- Cook for a couple of mins, then add 150g raw tiger prawns, and cook for another couple of mins, until they turn coral colour.
- Remove from the heat and put everything into a processor.
- When the prawns are chopped, add the aubergine and give another quick pulse.
- Serve sprinkled with chopped coriander (we also added seasoning and lime juice, which improved it, but still horrible!)

PS I've just remembered that this was my second attempt - at the first attempt, the aubergine literally exploded in the oven with a bang.  I pricked this one a few times to stop this happening.  I've just googled "exploding aubergines" and i'm not the only one it would seem.  I've never cooked an aubergine like this so i found out the hard way - nigella doesn't mention it.

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Marinaded leg of lamb with garlicky potatoes

I cooked this for myself for lunch the other day - not exactly a low fat lunch, but then i've got 8 weeks to get fit for the GR20 trek across corsica.  It is though, the kind of thing that would be just perfect to eat in a mountain hut after a hard days walking.  We can but dream!  However, if there does happen to be some lamb for sale, with some potatoes and garlic, extra virgin olive oil, some rosemary, pepper and an unwaxed lemon, then we are sorted, providing or course that we can wait 30 hours for the marinade!

- Put a large leg of lamb in a plastic bag together with300ml olive oil, zest of an unwaxed lemon, 4 squashed cloves of garlic, 2 sprigs of chopped rosemary, 6 peppercorns and 2 kg of potatoes, cubed.
- Leave to marinade for up to 30 hours (i managed an hour).
- Put the lamb into a baking tray and the potatoes into another, then cook the lamb for 45 mins and the potatoes for 1 hour at 200C.

Simple but very tasty and filling for about 6 people.  I cooked just enough for me obviously, not the full 2 kg potatoes - that would make the gr20 tricky.

Pistachio crescents

100 recipes left to go!  Shame the pistachio crescents were not more of a highlight - they were dry, crumbly and just a bit tasteless.  Nigella says cook for 25 mins, but after 15 mins, they were overcooked, so i have suggested 15 mins on a lower temperature.  To try and make them less dry i have suggested a bit more butter, and to add a bit more taste, a drop of almond essence.

- Toast 75g shelled pistachios and grind in a processor.
- Beat 75g butter with a wooden spoon until creamy, then add15g icing sugar and keep beating.
- Add 45g plain flour, 3 drops almond essence and a pinch of salt, and stir well together.
- Beat in the ground pistachios - it will mix and come together eventually.
- Roll a tablespoon of mixture in your hands, and form into a crescent.
- Bake for 15 mins at 150C, removing when the tops are firm, then sprinkle with icing sugar.

We had these with a delicious Nespresso coffee - yes, we cracked and got one! The coffee is just too good, particularly the milk frother which makes that creamy flat white style milk.
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Onion mush

I made this the other night for dinner to have with the steak and kidney pie and it was okay, but nothing amazing.  Nigella said she has it on toast, but not sure this is for me.  For onion lovers though, one to try out.

- Slice 1kg onions thinly, preferably using a processor, and cook on a very low heat in 4-5 tablespoons olive oil.
- Spirnkle some salt over, then add 100ml marsala and 75ml boiling water.
- Cover with tin foil, only just above the surface of the onion, forming a tight, low lid, then add the real pan lid.
- Cook on a very low heat for 2 hours, checking after 1 hour.
- When sticky and cooked, turn up the heat to cook off any remaining liquid.

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