On the radar...

Jamaican food is another firm favourite of mine, so I'm really pleased to come across this website: http://www.jamaican-recipes.com/index.html.  More on this to come...

Maroque's Yellow Book

I wrote in a previous posting about Maroque (www.maroque.co.uk) who sell North African and Mediterranean ingredients by mail order.  Apart from missing the courier and having to haul ass around the netherworlds of Kings Cross to find the depot, I'm really impressed with them.  Of course, my fun and frolics in trying to decipher the instructions on getting to the depot were not Maroque's fault, but it did mean that by the time I'd got my hands on the goodies, I really, really wanted them to be worth my labours.  By the way, should any of you have the need to find the Interlink/DFD depot in Kings Cross, let me tell you that the map lies, lies, lies.  For a start, it misses off the rather important railway line you have to cross under, and places the depot on the wrong side of the road.  They were friendly and helpful when I got there, so my desire to have a tantrum about their map was neutralised.  So perhaps you want to get them to redeliver, unless you want a tour of Railwayland.  But you might also want to combine it with a trip to the Camley Street Natural Park.  As it was raining to add to my misery, I didn't stop in Camley Street but it looks like a real oasis and worth checking out: http://www.wildlondon.org.uk/Naturereserves/CamleyStreetNaturalPark/tabid/124/Default.aspx


Back to the food.  Maroque have a free cookbook that you can download.  This give you further information on the ingredients you are using, as well as a range of simple-to-follow recipes. 

 

My first attempt was their chicken, green olives and preserved lemon tagine.  I opted for using chicken breasts rather than a whole chicken, but if you are cooking for more than two people, the whole chicken would be suitable.  The chicken tagine is a delight - it's light and flavoursome, and easy to do.  I've served it here with couscous and some courgettes, but it would be great with rice or bread.  

I was jonesing somewhat for Moroccan food later in the week, probably because I knew I'd got a whole load of new treats sitting in the cupboard.  I went for making the Ras-el-Hanout lamb, which is delicious.  I splashed out a bit on a good cut of lamb, which reduced the cooking time slightly, but the end result is mouth-wateringly tender and worth the wait.  This is an incredibly easy dish to make - brown your onions and garlic, seal the lamb, and let it simmer.  Serve with rice.  I bought some Iranian rice seasoning, which worked incredibly well with this.  

Hanane's beans were another winner.  I'd recommend using frozen broad beans rather than fresh ones for this, unless you grow them.  My fresh ones were shop-bought, and required longer cooking in order to get them to be soft and juicy.  This is a wonderful coriander dish, which was a good accompaniment to the lamb, but would also work well with couscous and vegetables.  I did worry that having ras-el-hanout lentils with ras-el-hanout lamb would leave me ras-el-hanouted out, but not so.  The two dishes pick out different notes in the ras-el-hanout, so the two work well together.  The lamb tends to the sweet, whilst the lentils tend to be on the bitter scale.  If you like curry goat or the milder Asian lamb curries, then you will enjoy the lamb dish.

Grilled aubergines in honey and harissa.... wonderful!  This is another simple recipe, simmering the grilled aubergines in a mixture of honey, harissa paste, cumin, ginger and lemon.  This was something I took along to a picnic.  The harissa gives it a real kick - so certainly adjust this to your taste - but there's nothing quite like mopping this up with some bread.  It's very quick and easy to make, and would be good for parties, barbecues and the like as much as it would make a delightful starter.

So... a full thumbs up for Maroque, their recipes and their ingredients.  

Jamie Oliver's toffee apple tart

I went to a picnic in Hyde Park on Bank Holiday Monday, and tried out a couple of recipes, including Jamie Oliver's Toffee Apple Tart, which is from his Jamie's Dinners book.  You can check it out online here: http://www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/fruit-recipes/toffee-apple-tart

The toffee apple tart is simple to make, but if you can't find dulce de leche in your local supermarket, you are going to be spending a LONG TIME making your toffee on the hob.  It is worth it, though.  It also takes a bit of time to get the pastry done, and using ready-roll pastry is always a possibility.  That said, JO's version with its lemon is worth trying.  It's light and flaky, and the lemon really adds a subtle tang.  I cooled it and took it to the picnic, but I think it would also be delicious as a warm dessert, with creme fraiche or whipped cream to go with it.   It's good as a summer dessert but it would also work nicely as an autumnal one.  


Things to watch - I made this a second time for my flatmates, to use up my dulce de leche and the far too many apples I had bought for the first effort.  This I tried with ready roll pastry, which is an acceptable substitute if you want to do this in a hurry, and used granulated sugar rather than icing for the apples. Version two was equally as tasty, but the toffee decided it wanted to make a break for freedom halfway through baking, which made it look like something out of Alien until I popped it.  JO's version will give you baked apples with a glaze on them, but if you want to have an earthier twist on your pommes, use the granulated sugar.


Here's a pic of the finished version, and the kind of sky you should enjoy the tart under...