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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