Spiced lentils with cucumber yogurt, take 2
Posted: November 21, 2013 Filed under: Pulses and lentils, Vegetarian | Tags: Cucumber, Lentils, Spices, Winter, Yoghurt, Yotam Ottolenghi Leave a comment
It was one of the first posts of this blog, long long time ago. Since then, an awful lot has happened: people have walked in and out of my life, some doors have shut and others have opened and Summer might have taken its time to arrive, but it alway did… Yet, for whatever reason, I keep coming back to it, specially in the first days of Winter. Confort food doesn’t get much better than this… Seriously, it is quite easy to do. It requires minimum attention and preparation – just the odd bit of mixing suff here and there. Most of the ingredients are spices and the most sophisticated ones are actually optional.
Spiced lentils with cucumber yogurt (adapted from Yotam Ottolenghi’s column in The Guardian)
Ingredients
For the lentils
- 200g split red lentils
- 1 bunch fresh coriander
- 1 small onion, peeled
- 40g ginger, peeled
- 3 cloves garlic, peeled
- 1 mild green chilli
- half teaspoon of black mustard seeds
- 4 tablespoons of sunflower oil
- half teaspoon ground coriander
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- half teaspoon ground coriander
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- half teaspoon ground turmeric
- half teaspoon paprika
- 10 curry leaves
- 300g ripe tomatoes, peeled and chopped
- 2 teaspoon caster sugar
- half teaspoon fenugreek (optional)
- 1 pinch asafoetida (optional)
- Salt
For the cucumber yogurt
- 150g Greek yogurt (I used regular lactose free yogurt)
- 75g finely diced cucumber
- half tablespoon of olive oil
- 70g unsalted butter
- lime juice
Method
Wash the lentils in plenty of water, drain and soak in 350ml of fresh water for 30 minutes. Cut the coriander bunch somewhere around its centre to get a leafy top half and a stem/root bottom half. Roughly chop the leaves. Put the stem half in the bowl of a food processor, add the onion, ginger, garlic and chilli – all roughly broken – and pulse a few times to chop up without turning into a paste.
Put the mustard seeds in a heavy-based pot and place over medium heat. When they begin to pop, add the onion mix and sunflower oil, stir and cook on low heat for 10 minutes. Add the spices and curry leaves, and continue cooking and stirring for five minutes longer. Now add the lentils and their soaking water, the tomatoes, sugar, fenugreek, asafoetida and a pinch of salt. Cover and simmer for about 30 minutes, until the lentils are fully cooked.
Before serving, whisk together the yogurt, cucumber, oil and some salt. Stir into the lentils the butter, lime juice and chopped coriander leaves, taste and season generously with salt. Divide into bowls, spoon yogurt on top and garnish with coriander.
Slow roasted smoked pork shoulder with chipotle mayonnaise
Posted: November 16, 2013 Filed under: Pork | Tags: Gordon Ramsay, Pork, Roast, sauce, Spices 1 Comment
It was supposed to be a thank-you-for-all-the-love-and-birthday-presents dinner, but it turned out to be a bit of a messy even with an ever changing list of mobile calorie intake units guests. I ended up cooking for 8 (plus blog), when only 6 had confirmed. To make things works, one of the units guests got lost in Dübendorf looking for my flat (true story). It might have been a blessing in disguise: again, I had to fight bravely for the last piece of meat to feed my blog… That good it was. For bonus points, it is super easy to do. You just put it in the stove and (sort of) forget about it. And, happy guests, happy host.
Slow roasted smoked pork shoulder with chipotle mayonnaise (adapted from Gordon Ramsay’s Home Cooking)
Ingredients
For the pork
- 3 tablespoons hot smoked paprika
- 2 tablespoons raw sugar cane
- 4 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed
- 4 thyme sprigs, leaves finely chopped, stems reserved
- Olive oil
- 2.5Kg pork shoulder
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper
For the chipotle mayonnaise
- 300g mayonnaise
- 2 tablespoons of chipotle paste
- 1 teaspoon runny honey
- 1 tablespoon wholegrain mustard
Method
Preheat the oven to 140ºC
Mix the paprika, sugar, garlic and thyme leaves in a bowl. Season with salt and pepper, then add a little olive oil to create a paste. Rub the mixture all over the pork, massaging it into the meat. If possible, leave in the fridge overnight to marinate. If not, you can start cooking straight away.
Roast for 1 hour, then cover with foil and cook for a further 4–5 hours, until the meat is really tender and falling off.
Meanwhile, make the chipotle mayonnaise. Combine all the ingredients in a bowl, season with salt and pepper and mix well.
Once the pork is cooked, cover it loosely with foil and set aside to rest for up to 1 hour. Serve with the smoky mayonnaise.
Baked asparagus with a paprika and yogurt sauce
Posted: June 12, 2013 Filed under: Eggs, Vegetables, Vegetarian | Tags: Asparagus, Dairy, Spices Leave a comment
Said it once: I don’t even like asparagus… But, it just seems right to test the The 10 best asparagus recipes from The Guardian one by one. This one is very easy, very tasty and very filling. Just the kind of stuff you want to eat over lunch with shredded chicken or a bit of rice, if you are feeling vegetarian. For the benefit of the bikini season, I have omitted the butter the original recipe called for. It is not as creamy, but still delicious.
Baked asparagus with a paprika and yogurt sauce (recipe adapted from the The 10 best asparagus recipes’ column from The Guardian)
Ingredients
- 900g asparagus, trimmed (and scraped if using white asparagus)
- ½ tsp sugar
- 300ml yoghurt
- 1 tsp plain flour
- 1 large egg yolk
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp paprika
- ½ tsp sugar
- 25g fresh breadcrumbs
Method
Preheat the oven to 200 oC. Wash and drain the asparagus thoroughly. Simmer for 5 minutes in boiling water and drain. Pat dry with kitchen paper and arrange in a large, greased oven proof dish.
In a small bowl, mix together thoroughly the sour cream or yoghurt, flour, egg yolk, salt, paprika and sugar. Pour this evenly over the asparagus. Sprinkle the breadcrumbs over the top and then dot with small knobs of the butter. Bake in the oven for about 15 minutes or until the top is golden.
Beetroot soup with hazelnuts, spring onions and goat cheese
Posted: May 17, 2013 Filed under: Soup, Vegetables, Vegetarian | Tags: Beetroot, Goat cheese, Nuts, Spices 1 Comment
“So, Burntsugar…”, said B. “How do you make this soup?”. “Well, it is not too difficult.”, I answered. “You pick a spread recipe from last Ottolenghi’s book, then decide to use boiled beetroot instead of roasted and finally get a watery yoghurt instead of a drained one.” B. looked a bit worried, but proceeded to eat its portion and lick the bowl as this had been a perfectly executed dish. Truth to be said, what could have been a really bad day in the kitchen, ended up with a delicate and colourful dish much to the delight of my mobile calorie intake units guests. On the next episode of beetrootgate…
Beetroot soup with hazelnuts, spring onions and goat cheese (adapted from Yotam Ottolenghi and Sami Tamimi‘s Jerusalem)
- 500g cooked beetroot (pay attention not to pull the vinegary ones from the shelf)
- 2 garlic cloves, crushed
- 1 small red chilli
- 250g yoghurt
- 1 1/2 teaspoon maple sirup
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 tablespoon za’atar
- salt to taste
- 2 spring onions thinly sliced
- 15g toasted hazelnuts, roughly crushed
- 60g of soft goats cheese, crumbled
Method
Peel the beetroot and cut it in chunks
Place the beetroot, garlic, chill and yoghurt in a food processor. Blend it until you obtain a smooth paste.
Transfer to a large mixing bowl and stir in in the maple sirup, olive oil and za’atar and 1 teaspoon of salt. Taste and add more salt if necessary.
Transfer into small serving bowls (or glasses) and scatter the spring onion, hazelnut and cheese.
Serve at room temperature.
The lamb tajine cook off: The Hairy Dieter’s take
Posted: May 13, 2013 Filed under: lamb, Vegetables | Tags: lamb, Middle East, Spices, Tajine, The Hairy Dieters 1 Comment
After The Spicery and The Laughing Lemmon, now is the turn of the Hairy Dieters. Again, the same basic ingredients: lamb, spices and fruits. But, it also had chickpeas and tinned tomatoes. And it was sweet. Very sweet… probably one spoon of honey too much for my taste buds. All in all, it was delicious and filling. In fact, a lot more heavy than the other version even though it had much less fat. Don’t take me wrong – it was delicious. It is the comparison with the Laughing Lemnon’s which it makes it sound like a bit pedestrian.
Lamb tajine (adapted from Dave Myers and Si King’s The Hairy Dieters: How to Love Food and Lose Weight)
- 750gm lamb shoulder
- 2tsp ground cumin
- 2tsp ground coriander
- 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1tsp hot chilli powder
- 1 tbsp sunflower oil
- 2 medium onions halved and sliced
- 2 garlic cloves peeled and finely chopped
- 400gm can chopped tomatoes
- 400mls cold water
- 3tbsp runny honey
- 400g tin of chick peas drained and rinsed
- 1 lamb stock cube
- 75gm no soak apricots,halved
- salt and freshly ground black pepper
Method
Trim the lamb of any hard fat and cut into rough 3cm chunks, season all over with salt and pepper.
Mix the cumin, coriander, cinnamon and chilli in a bowl.
Heat oil in the tajine until is piping hot. Add the lamb, onions and garlic and stir fry over a high heat for 1 minute until lightly coloured.
Sprinkle with the spices and cook for 1-2 mins more, tossing constantly until you have a fragrant aroma. Tip the tomatoes into the casserole dish, together with the cold water, honey and chickpeas. Add the stock cube over the top and stir well.
Bring to a simmer, stirring couple of times. Cover with the lid and let cook with low heat for 60min. Open the lid and drop in the dried fruits and still well. Put back the lid and let it cook for another hour, or until the lamb is tender.
Kohlrabi salad
Posted: March 18, 2013 Filed under: Salad, Vegetables, Vegetarian | Tags: Kohlrabi, Middle East, Salad, Spices, Yotam Ottolenghi Leave a comment
To my great dismay, I realized too late I have no Irish specialty to post on St Patrick’s day… After pondering for a few seconds, I decided to go for something green instead. All I had on the store was this Middle Eastern dish, found in Yotam Ottolenghi and Sami Tamimi‘s Jerusalem. A very unlikely combination, but nevertheless green enough. Happy St Patrick’s day!
Kohlrabi salad (adapted from Yotam Ottolenghi and Sami Tamimi‘s Jerusalem)
- 3 medium kohlrabies (about 750g)
- 80g Greek yoghurt
- 70g sour cream
- 5og thick double cream
- 1 small garlic clove, crushed
- 1 1/2 teaspoon lemon juice
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 2 tablespoon of finely shredded fresh mint
- 1 teaspoon dried mint
- 1/2 teaspoon sumac
- 20g Nüssli (Valerianella locusta)
Method
Peel the kohlrabis, cut into 1.5cm dice and put in a large mixing bowl. Set aside and start making the dressing.
Put the yoghurt, sour cream, double cream, garlic, lemon juice and olive oil in a medium bowl. Add salt to taste and a generous portion of freshly ground black pepper. Whisk well.
Add the dressing to the kohlrabi, followed by the fresh and dried mint, and halt nüssli, Gently stir and place on a serving bowl.
Drop what is left of the nüssli and sprinkle with sumac.
Orange and date salad with orange flower and cinnamon syrup
Posted: March 9, 2013 Filed under: Dessert, Fruit | Tags: Dates, Orange, pomegranate, Spices, Sugar, The spicery 2 Comments
… and this was what we had for dessert. Recipe is here, but without the spices it won’t work.
Lamb tajine
Posted: March 6, 2013 Filed under: lamb | Tags: Couscous, lamb, Middle East, Spices, Tajine, The spicery 3 Comments
What started with a Laughing Lemon’s cooking lesson ended up with K. and B. giving me a tajine, which eventually became very handy to try the January kit of The Spicery: a lovely lamb tajine with apricots and almonds. The Spicery – do not confuse with spice rack – is the word for the place where spices are made or stored. It is also an online shop which sells freshly ground and blended spices – really top-notch stuff. Or, puts together kits and sends them together with their recipes. I have to say I was bit skeptical when I heard about his. After 5 munches into this lamb tajine, I had to agree this was one of the best ones have ever had. If you want to try, the recipe is here. To make it work, you will really need the spices…
Sweet spiced duck breast with beetroot and ginger relish
Posted: January 15, 2013 Filed under: Duck, Vegetables | Tags: Betroot, Duck, Spices, Yotam Ottolenghi 1 Comment
The moment I saw this Yotam Ottonlenghi’s alternative Christmas menu, I knew I had to do it. It didn’t take too long to convince three mobile calorie intake units friends to join me in cooking duck for the first time in years this journey. Lucky ladies – it was probably the best meal I cooked this year… As usual, Yotam instructions were so precise that even duck seems easy to cook.
What I could not anticipate was the several dishes of beetroot which followed this one. After an unfortunate chain of events, otherwise known as #beetrootgate, I ended up with a lot – and when I say a lot I really mean a lot – of beetroot in the fridge. Enough to keep this blog busy for the next couple of weeks…
A big thank you to T., my suffering sous-chef for this menu.
Sweet spiced duck breast with beetroot and ginger relish (adapted from Yotam Ottolenghi’s column in The Guardian)
Ingredients
For the duck
- 4 duck breasts, 800g in total
- 1 tsp ground star anise
- ½ tsp ground cloves
- 2 tsp sunflower oil
- Salt and black pepper
For the beetroot relish
- 6 medium beetroots, peeled and sliced 1mm thick
- 300ml red-wine vinegar
- 200g caster sugar
- 1 tsp flaked chilli, or more if you like it spicy
- 15g peeled ginger, finely grated
- 1 tsp black mustard seeds
- 4 sprigs fresh thyme, plus extra for garnish
- 2 bay leaves
- 6 Sichuan peppercorns
Method
Score the duck breasts in three or four parallel lines on an angle across the skin, taking care not to cut through to the meat. Place them in a medium-sized bowl and add the star anise, cloves and oil. Rub the spices into the duck so the breasts are well covered, cover the bowl and refrigerate for an hour or two.
Meanwhile, make the relish. Mix all the ingredients in a large saucepan and add a teaspoon and a half of salt. Bring to a boil and stir to dissolve the sugar. Reduce the heat to low, and simmer for 40-50 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the beetroot becomes tender, the liquid thick and all but reduced entirely. Remove from the heat and set aside somewhere warm.
Heat the oven to 200C/390F/gas mark 6, and heat a large, heavy-based frying pan on medium heat. Add half a teaspoon of salt and a quarter-teaspoon of black pepper to the duck breast bowl and mix well. Place the breasts skin side down into the hot pan – you won’t need any oil because of the amount of fat in the duck skin – and cook for four to five minutes, regularly spooning out the fat that’s released into the pan. If the skin is getting too dark too quick, lower the heat a little.
Once the skin is a dark golden-brown and crisp, turn over the breasts and sear on the flesh side for three minutes.
Transfer the breasts to a baking tray and finish cooking in the oven for about three minutes, until cooked to medium. Remove from the oven, cover with foil and leave to rest for five minutes.
To serve, slice the breasts on an angle and lay on a plate. Spoon some beetroot relish on to each breast and pour over a little of the syrup. Scatter a few thyme leaves on top and serve immediately
Lentil soup with caraway and minted yoghurt
Posted: January 3, 2013 Filed under: Soup, Vegetarian | Tags: Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, Lentils, Soup, Spices 1 Comment
What else to eat on the first day of the year, but a fragrant lentil soup to bring you good luck? For best results, eat it while standing on you right foot on top of a stool and holding a piece of gold in your hand. Wearing a bright red piece of clothing is an absolute must. When you are done with the soup proceed immediately to eat 12 grapes or raisins. Superstitious, me? Absolutely not – it is just my brain doing its job.
Lentil soup with caraway and minted yoghurt (adapted from Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall ‘s River Cottage Everyday)
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons of olive oil
- 2 onions roughly chopped
- 2 carrots roughly chopped
- 2 teaspoons coriander seeds
- 2 teaspoons caraway seeds
- 2 garlic cloves crushed
- 350g red lentils
- 2 liters of water or vegetable stock
- 5 tablespoons of yoghurt
- 2 tablespoons of finely chopped mint
Method
1. Heat the oil in a saucepan, until it is pipping hot. Then add the onions and carrots, and season with salt and pepper to taste. Cover the pan with a lid and let the vegetables sweat until they have soften, stirring occasionally
2. In the meanwhile, toast the coriander and caraway seed in a small frying pan. Grind them a fine powder using a mortar or a grinder (it is not strictly necessary to do this, but it will help to get a more fragrant soup).
3. Once the vegetables are soft, add the ground spices and the garlic and let them fry fir a couple of minutes.
4. Add the lentils and mix well, until the lentils are covered with olive oil.
5. Pour the stock in the lentils and bring to a boil. Then reduce heat to medium-low, cover with a lid and let it simmer, stirring occasionally, until lentils are soft (about 15–20 minutes).
6. With a hand held mixer, purée until smooth. Add more water or stock if too thick.
7. Put the pan back in the stove and season to taste with salt and pepper. If necessary add the remaining spices. Let it simmer gently for about 5 min more.
8. To finish, whisk yoghurt and the mint. Put a dollop on top of the soup in each serving bowl
Lucie Loves Food 