Showing posts with label fruit. Show all posts
Showing posts with label fruit. Show all posts

Thursday, 5 October 2017

Comfort Food: Lamb Tagine recipe

In my September In Review video I mentioned that I have been loving making (and eating) lamb tagines. I have written up my recipe - please see below. My apologies for the lack of photos - the many times I have made the tagine, the ravenous hordes have descended before I have had the chance to take nice photos...



This recipe serves four or five hungry people.

Ingredients:

1kg lamb neck fillet
1 large onion, diced
2 cloves of garlic, crushed
2 tsp ground cumin
2 tsp ground coriander
1/2 tsp hot chilli powder
1/2 tsp ground turmeric
a few strands of saffron
2 small cinnamon sticks
1 lemon, unwaxed
500g of passata
150g dried apricots
125g dried pitted dates and/or sultanas
1 pint of lamb stock, or the water the lemon was boiled in
50g shelled pistachios
50g flaked almonds


Method:

1.     Pre-heat the oven to 150C (for fan-assisted ovens)

2.     Boil the lemon in a saucepan of water for 20 minutes, remove carefully and dice up the whole lemon while removing the seeds. Put the diced up lemon in a dish to use later. You will also want to retain the water it was boiled in for later...

3.     Dice the lamb neck and fry in a large oven-proof (and lidded) casserole dish over a very hot heat. Once the meat has browned, remove it from the casserole dish and set aside.

4.     In the same casserole dish you browned the lamb in, add the onion and garlic with some oil and start to sweat this down.

5.     Once the onion and garlic have started to soften, add all the spices (except the cinnamon stick and saffron) and stir over the heat to release the flavour.

6.     Add the lamb back in after a few minutes and stir the meat into the onion and spice mix, so that everything is thoroughly coated.

7.     You will now want to add your chosen liquid and also the passata. If your chosen liquid is lamb stock, then add the few strands of saffron to the stock before you pour over the meat. If you prefer, you can simply use the leftover lemon-y water from Step 2 and add the saffron to this. Stir!

8.     Add in the cinnamon stick, all the fruit (including the lemon) and the nuts and turn up the heat until the liquid is at a simmer, and let it bubble for a few minutes on the hob.

9.     Once the mix has bubbled away nicely for a few minutes, put the lid on the casserole dish and pop it in the oven for between 2 and 2.5 hours.


10.  Serve with a scattering of fresh coriander, rice, couscous or a green salad and watch the tagine magically disappear.

Let me know if you make this recipe - did you change anything? Are there any other recipes you make that are great comfort food meals?

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Thursday, 12 December 2013

A Healthy Start to the Day - Breakfast Granola/Muesli Recipe

I adapted this recipe by merging a few different ones I found online at a time when I needed a muesli-like breakfast whilst knowing that I’m not a fan of normal mueslis and this is what I came up with. This recipe is great if you want to try out an easy recipe at home that doesn’t require too much time and energy spent on it. This cereal is healthy, sustaining and delicious and ingredients can be swapped if you have a particular aversion to any of them or a hankering for something else. This granola is also great for mid-afternoon snacks instead of crisps or biscuits.

My very delicious morning bowl of cereal!
Ingredients

  • 2 tbsps. rapeseed oil
  • 125ml agave syrup
  • 2 tsps. vanilla extract
  • 300g porridge oats
  • 50g sunflower seeds
  • 4 tbsp. sesame seeds
  • 50g pumpkin seeds
  • 100g flaked almonds
  • 100g dried berries (as sugar and preservative free as possible)
  • 50g desiccated coconut

Method

  1. Preheat your oven to 150 C if you have a fan oven or 160 C if you don’t.
  2. Mix the oil, agave syrup and vanilla in a large bowl. Add the remaining ingredients, omitting the dried fruit and coconut, and mix together well making sure that the mixture is fully coated in the syrup etc.
  3. Tip the granola onto two baking sheets (this is important so that the cereal mix can get nice and brown and crunchy) and spread evenly.
  4. Bake for 15 mins, then mix in the coconut and dried fruit, and bake for 10-15 mins more.
  5. Remove from the oven and allow to cool before storing in an airtight container.

This mixture should last well for up to a month. It is yummy with milk or natural bio live yoghurt and can be mixed with fresh fruit for extra flavour and benefits.