Asian style vegetable & coconut soup (with chicken or tofu)

I mentioned in my last post that we were in Liverpool last week we went to Wagamama . It is one of our favourite places to eat and every time we go to the big city where they have their bar we are always tempted to go and try new things fro their fantastic menu.

I did not even know that  Wagamama  exist, until my sister who lives in Cork told me about it, also it was mentioned by one of London/Manchester placed Polish blogger. I am really grateful for this as probably I still wouldn't know about this place, as since I have moved to UK I have been living in countryside only - full of traditional pubs, but no ethnic bars or big brands. Yes, it is a big brand. Yes, it is commercial. This is fast food, and they cannot guarantee that nibbles will come before the mains or all dishes will come in the same time on one order. And yes - probably this are likely to be smooth versions of Asian (however they say they're inspired by Japanese cuisine I have seen some other inspirations) dishes more suitable for Europeans.      

In this place you will not find individual tables. There are huge wooden tables and benches to sit on and if this place is busy you are likely to be seated next to a stranger. There are no elegant serviettes, napkins or table cloths, but pieces of paper and waiter writes down you order on it.  Kitchen is open to public to yo ucan see chefs using woks. Oh, I forgot to mention - food is fantastic.

Why I like it even this is called fast food? This is fast food made with fresh and my favourite ingredients. Fresh food is being prepared within minutes using traditional Asian techniques and flavours. Also they have gorgeous freshly pressed juices - made with fruit and veg.I have tried many dishes in Wagamama, but I think my absolute number one are soups. This is also a place where I practice my chopstick skills and I am getting better at it!
 

Today I'll show you a recipe for soup that was inspired by hearty bowls of soup in Wagamama, however this recipe is not from their cookbook, that my sister gave me. I will use it another time, today it is time for improvisation. Please don't be scared by the list of ingredients, once they are chopped cooking this soup is very straight forward and takes about 10 minutes. Hope you'll enjoy it.

Serves 2

4 tbsp groundnut or sunflower oil

2 large garlic cloves, peeled and finely chopped

1 small red chilli, seed removed (or leave them for more heat) and finely chopped

1 walnut size piece of fresh ginger, peeled and finely chopped

5 spring onions, roughly chopped (white and green part)

1 red bell pepper, sliced

6 baby corns, halved or quartered lengthwise

6 mushrooms, sliced

handful of fresh coriander, stalks and most of the leaves finely chopped, some leaves saved for garnishing
1 tbsp red Thai curry paste (I used it because I didn't have lemongrass at the time and curry paste contains it, however for vegan/vegetarian!!! check the paste out as most of them contain shrimp paste or fish sauce, but there are some vegan available too. You can use only some lemongrass instead) 

400ml coconut milk

600ml vegetable stock (I had simple, homemade: carrot, celery, swede and leek leaves)

1 chicken breast, sliced finely

150g tofu, diced into about 2 cm dice

4 tbsp light soy sauce

1 tsp of palm sugar 

2 tbsp roasted sesame oil  

1 lime, quartered

300g Asian style rice noodles (or egg noodles for non vegan version, I like to use  Shahe fen, wide type of noodles)
salt

First marinate the chicken and tofu. Place half teaspoon of each chopped garlic and ginger in a bowl with sugar, soy sauce and sesame oil. Mix well and divide into two bowls - place the tofu in one and the chicken in the other. Leave it for about 15 minutes.

Prepare the noodles according to the producer's instruction and divide into two warmed bowls.  Set aside.

Heat half of the oil in wok or large pan and fry the remaining garlic and ginger for about 1 minute. Add chopped spring onion (save some green bits for garnishing), baby corns, pepper, mushrooms and fry for about 2 minutes before adding chopped coriander and curry paste (lemongrass depend on what you are using). Fry for about 1 minute and add the coconut milk and hot stock. Bring to the boil and remove from a heat after about 1 minute. Add some salt if you require. 

In the meantime, when preparing the soup heat the remaining oil in the two separate frying pans. Fry the chicken and tofu until golden, this should not take more than 4-5 minutes so if you not good in multitasking then fry this when the soup is ready - it will not cool down if covered.

Divide the soup between two bowls with noodles, add chicken to one and tofu to another and sprinkle with some chopped spring onions, coriander and top with lime quarter. Just before eating squeeze the lime into the bowl.

Thyme & lemon chicken supreme, rhubarb reduction and roasted asparagus

My partner mentioned recently that I did not have a plate full of this popular trio of meat/fish, potatoes/or other starch and veg for a long time on my blog. I have to say this is not something that we eat on everyday basis; however this seems to be very popular in many, many homes (both British and Polish!). 

Therefore when next opportunity came I took some photographs of our dinner of meat, potatoes and veg. It was very nice but I thing the pièce de résistance was the rhubarb reduction. 

I love this veg and I am very fortunate to live in Yorkshire known from its delicious rhubarb. There is even something called the Rhubarb Triangle is a 9-square-mile (23 km²) triangle in West Yorkshire, located between Wakefield, Morley and Rothwell famous for producing rhubarb. They use to produce 90% of the world's winter forced rhubarb! Isn’t this impressive? Wakefield is know for its Rhubarb Festival and this is something that I like Brits for – they know how to celebrate small things and don’t need a huge, important reason to party.

We also had Yorkshire asparagus and some British new potatoes. If only the weather was better, I would believe we have the spring in full bloom!

Rhubarb & balsamico reduction

about 150ml 

1 tsp sunflower oil

1 tsp butter

1 shallot, peeled and finely chopped  

walnut size piece of fresh ginger, peeled and grated

2 rhubarb stalks, chopped into 1cm pieces  

1 tbsp dark muscovado sugar  

2 tbsp balsamic vinegar (I used cheap supermarket vinegar)

salt

freshly ground black pepper

Place the oil and the butter in little pan and fry the shallot over a low heat until soft. Add ginger and fry for another minute. Next add the rhubarb, sugar, vinegar and bring it to boil. Stir until the sugar is dissolved and turn the heat down. Add some salt and pepper and simmer until it is reduced slightly, about 25 minutes. Be careful – it can catch at the bottom of the pan, so stir it regularly. It can also spit quite a lot. Next sieve it using very fine sieve and return to the pan. You can simmer this for little bit longer, so the flavour and colour will be more concentrated. Serve warm.

We had some leftover reduction with cheese (instead of chutney) next day and it went together really well.

  

Chicken supreme with lemon and thyme  

Serves 2 

2 chicken supreme breasts  

2 tbsp sunflower oil  

2 springs of fresh thyme, leaves picked

2 tsp lemon juice  

salt

freshly ground black pepper

Heat the oven to 180 C (fan) and line the baking tray with some kitchen foil. Gently lift the sin off the chicken flesh and rub some lemon juice in it followed by some salt and pepper and thyme leaves. Pres the skin back and season with some salt and pepper.

Place the oil into a frying pan and heat. When hot place the chicken breasts skin side down and fry for few minutes until crispy and browned and turn on the other side. Fry for further 3 minutes.

Place the pan fried chicken breasts onto baking tray and loosely cover with kitchen foil. Place in the oven and roast for about 20 minutes, uncover the foil to allow the skin to brown more. After removing from the oven leave the meat to rest for about 5-8 minutes. This is the moment when you should place your asparagus in the oven. 

Roast asparagus with olive and smoked salt 

Serves 2 

8-10 green asparagus spears, wooden parts removed

1 tbsp olive oil

smoked salt flakes

Line a baking tray with some kitchen foil. Place the asparagus onto the tray and cover the tips only with a piece of foil – they are too gentle for the fierce heat of oven. Drizzle with olive oil and wait until the chicken is ready to be taken out from the oven, or place the asparagus about 3-4 minutes before removing the chicken. It depends how long you want to leave the meat for resting. I think 5 minutes is fine, I cover it with piece of foil to prevent from getting cold and in my opinion asparagus doesn’t need more that 5-8 minutes in the oven.  

In the meantime boil the potatoes – however you like them. I boiled mine in skins and peeled just before the serving also I brushed them with some good quality EV olive oil.

Now! How to put everything together:

Slice the chicken into few slices and arrange on the plate. Add some rhubarb reduction (or smear it like some chefs do), potatoes and asparagus. Sprinkle with little smoked salt just to finish off. Serve immediately.

Chicken baked with fennel, tomatoes and olives

Christmas is gone and I did not have a chance to make my Christmas card for my readers. New Year's Eve is gone and I did not even mention one or two recipes that would perhaps inspire you to make some lovely snacks for this special night. I even thought about my own calendar but it is only an idea in my head, I only managed to select photographs and did not have a slight chance to make it alive. I worried about his for a while but then I thought that there are more important things and I shouldn't really worry about this. Yes, blog is very important part of my life, but time spent with my sister is even more important, especially I gave my blog on everyday basis, but to see my sister is very rare. I did not feel like taking photographs, cooking something new, for few weeks I only cooked things that I already know and like. I fed those who I love and this was most important to me. Now when I am back to blogging I hope you, my dear readers, will excuse me if suddenly I feel like not posting anything for a while and do something else. This year I simply feel like I do not have to do anything. I don't have to force myself. However I want to do so many things.

I hope 2012 will be happy for you and those who you love and care about. I wish you lots of love, joy and happiness. 

Please enjoy my first post in this year - simple, tasty and satisfying dinner. 

Serves 2 

2 chicken breasts, fillets with skin on

1 fennel bulb, cut into 8 wedges

some cherry tomatoes

some whole black olives

some olive oil (I used fennel infused)

2-3 fresh thyme springs

salt

freshly ground black pepper

Place the fennel in an ovenproof dish, drizzle with little olibve oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Cover with some kitchen foil and place in the preheated to 200 C (fan) oven.

Meanwhile season the chicken breasts, heat the frying pan then add little olive oil and fry the breast skin side down until golden. Turn on the other side and fry for about 2-3 minutes. Remove from the pan and place in the oven together with the fennel. Add the thyme springs and bake uncovered for about 8 minutes. Next add the tomatoes and olives and bake for further 5 minutes. Serve immediately on its own or with some potatoes roast in olive oil.

Chicken liver parfaits & best brioche ever

This is one of my favourite things - creamy, almost velvety chicken liver parfait made with a cheap ingredient but almost luxurious. This makes quite elegant (tasty for sure) starter or light lunch, and I definitely recommend a slice or two of brioche to go with this. It has ridiculous amount of butter, almost enough to make you teeth slide on this, but without any doubt this is the best brioche I have made. This recipe by Michel Roux was recommended to my by a friend of mine and after making this brioche I will never look back. I have added some semolina, that did not appear in the original recipe, just to line my tin with something - it is not the best quality equipment so I was little bit concerned that the brioche will not come out easily. The parfaits go well with some cocktail gherkins too.  

Chicken liver parfaits 

Serves 6-10

450g chicken livers, trimmed  
150g butter, plus 50g for the top of the parfaits
1 garlic clove, peeled and crushed
1 shallot, peeled and chopped
leaves picked from 2-3 springs of fresh thyme
splash of brandy
2 tbsp double cream ( I used extra thick, 50.5% of fat)
pinch of freshly grated nutmeg
pinch of ground cloves
salt
freshly grated black pepper

Heat about 30g of the butter in a large frying pan and gently fry the shallots until soft. Add garlic, thyme leaves (save about tsp for topping the parfait) fry for about one minute or so and turn the heat up.

Add the trimmed livers to the pan with the garlic, shallot and thyme and fry on both sides for about 5 minutes. There should not be any blood coming out. Add the nutmeg, cloves and a splash of brandy. Keep on the heat until the brandy evaporates little bit. Remove from the heat and set aside. Let them cool down little bit.

Next tip the livers into a food processor and whizz to a paste, then whizz in the remaining butter and cream. Push the mixture through a sieve - this is boring, but takes about 2 minutes and it is certainly worth for a really velvety texture. Season well with salt and pepper. Divide the mixture between 6 small ramekins and smooth the surface.

Melt the final 50g butter in a pan and let the milk solids settle to the bottom. Place the remaining thyme leaves in the pan and let it infuse for few minutes. Next making sure you skip the milk solids pour a little butter over each ramekin. Chill to set.

To serve, bring the parfaits up to room temperature and you have to serve it with toasted slice of best brioche ever.

Best Brioche EVER 

makes small bread tin

35 ml lukewarm milk
7.5 g fresh yeast  (or 3.5g dry active or 4g instant)
250g all purpose flour
half tsp salt
3 eggs
175g soft butter
1 tbsp caster sugar

some more butter, for a tin
some semolina
beaten egg, optionally

Place the yeast and the milk in a mixing bowl and leave them for few minutes. Next mix them with the flour , salt and eggs until you have quite firm, elastic dough.

Meanwhile using a hand mixer beat the sugar with the butter and next add spoon by spoon of this buttery cream to the dough and mix all the time on a low speed. When last spoon of butter dis incorporated  mix for a little while on the higher speed, then cover the dough with a clean cloth and leave it to prove. It will take about 2-4 hours in a room temperature however I left it in the cold kitchen overnight. After first proving remove some air bubbles but do not be tempted to do this with a punch like with most breads - this dough is too sticky. Use spatula to remove some air. At this stage the dough can be moulded to the shape you like (individual brioches or one brioche in a tin).

Prepare the tin - butter is and sprinkle with little semolina, then shake the excess of semolina.  Place the dough in the tin and cover with a cling film. Leave it to prove again - I left mine in a fridge for whole day and removed from a fridge for about one hour before baking. It can be kept in a fridge up to 24 hours.

Heat the oven to 180C (fan). Brush with some beaten egg for a shiny finish. At this stage you can make a cut in the brioche to prevent the cracking, I was afraid that it will collapse when I do so, so I skipped cutting and my brioche did not crack too much. Bake until golden and the wooden toothpick comes out of it clean.

Remove from the oven, leave in the tin for few minutes and then remove it from a tin to a wire rack and leave it to cool down completely before slicing. Toast before serving but be careful - due to a high content of butter it burns easily, so watch the toaster.

Chicken livers with sherry & mustard mash

I sat in Italian restaurant having a plate full of delicious coratella and I thought to myself – offal, so tasty and so underrated. I decided that when I come back from holiday I will start to cook more offal dishes, depends on what I will be able to get at the local butchers. As I said several times before I thing we should use as much as possible from the animal that was killed and not waste any single bit that is edible. I love British black pudding, it's Polish version – kaszanka or Spanish – morcilla. I make real beef stock using beef bones that I get from butchers for free, otherwise these would go to waste. In many top class restaurants you will find some dishes made from cheap cuts of meat such as pig’s head. 

When I came back from holiday I came across a offal cookbook "Offal: The Fifth Quarter" , but I still wait for the price drop or at least for some more enthusiastic reviews. What made me to decide to cook some more offal dishes? First of all at the moment I am little bit fed up with any meat I eat – I have tried so many recipes and yes, they are tasty, but not surprising and offal is like unexplored planet to me. Secondly it is my ambition to learn how to cook offal – I will not learn how to do it?! And lastly I think it is not a big deal to buy beef fillet for around £20 per kilogram and cook tasty meal. It is a big deal when you buy the chicken livers for £1.29 and cook such a tasty dinner that you will not even think about beef fillet at all. 

I found new issue of “Good Food” magazine very helpful as it has lovely chicken livers recipe using dry sherry – I never tried it before and have to say when I finished I was really pleased with the result – extremely tasty dinner for around a pound a head. 

Chicken livers with sherry

Serves 2

about 50g butter 

2 medium onions, peeled and sliced  

about 400g chicken livers

50ml dry sherry

100ml chicken stock  

salt

freshly ground black pepper

Melt half of the butter in a frying pan and add the onions. Fry over a low heat until soft, for about 15 minutes. Remove from a pan into a bowl and set aside. Add the remaining butter to the pan and turn the heat up.

Wash the chicken livers, dry with paper kitchen towel, season with salt and pepper and add to the pan. Fry on both sides for about 3 minutes. Next add sherry, bring to the boil and leave it to bubble for about 30 seconds. Add the fried onions, stock, mix and leave it to boil for about 2 minutes, let the sauce to reduce little bit.

This way the bigger livers will stay pink in the middle, the smaller ones will be cooked but still soft. I served them with wholegrain mustard mash and after I took picture I realised that I have some Polish sour gherkins in brine left –they went perfectly with sweetish livers.  

Wholegrain mustard mash

Serves 2

5 medium potatoes, peeled, boiled and drained

tbsp of butter

2 tbsp of wholegrain mustard

50ml milk

Mash all the above until smooth and serve immediately.

Chicken, butternut squash & date tagine

I have to admit I was inspired by several Moroccan recipes when making this dish, however I still do not have a traditional tagine dish and often wonder if it would work in ordinary European kitchen. Do you, dear readers, have this dish and use it in the oven or on the hob?

This dish is very easy to make and you can relax in total laziness while waiting for the dinner and smoke a pipe with bored facial expression, making those rings with a smoke. If long you use chicken on the bone the flavour will be more intense but you will wait longer for a dinner. I do not smoke a pipe and wanted this dinner quickly so I used boned chicken thighs.

Serves 3-4

4 tbsp of neutral olive oil
6 chicken thighs fillets (skinless) 
2 onions, peeled and cut into wedges
2 garlic cloves, peeled 
2.5cm piece root ginger, peeled
2 tsp ground cumin
2 tsp paprika
1 tsp harissa paste
juice and zest of one lemon 
large handful of fresh coriander - leaves and stalks
1 cinnamon stick
400g tin cherry tomatoes (or chopped tomatoes)
about 12 dates, stoned
about 350g butternut squash, peeled, seeds removed and chopped into large chunks
salt
freshly ground black pepper

First prepare the spicy paste. In a food processor place: one onion, garlic, ginger, most of the coriander leaves and all coriander stalks, lemon zest and juice, 2 tbsp olive oil, harissa, cumin and paprika. Mix until smooth.

Heat the oven to 180 C (fan).

In large ovenproof dish with a lid heat the remaining olive oil, season the chicken thighs with some salt and pepper and fry on both sides until slightly browned.  Remove from the dish and set aside in a bowl.

Add the whole paste to the pan and fry for about minute or two, next add the onion, squash and tomatoes. Rinse the food processor with some water and add to the pan - you will get all that remains and flavour into the dish and make the sauce less thicker. Next add the chicken with all the juices from the bowl, put the dates on the top, add cinnamon stick and cover. Bring to the boil and place in the oven.  Keep in the oven for about 40 minutes. Chicken on the bone, needs about 60 minutes.

For a change I served it with a quinoa, not a couscous, sprinkled with the remaining coriander leaves.

To be quite honest - it was very tasty, however in this kind of dishes I prefer the prunes or dried apricots. Even some raisins. However tried it yourself with different dried fruits to decide which is your favourite one.

Chicken, avocado & tomato salad

This salad is perfect when the weather is good, it is quite warm outside and you don’t feel like cooking or eating. Perhaps when you go for a picnic or a bike ride and do not know what to prepare for your re-fuelling snack. It is great to take with you to work, and have on your lunch break. It tastes as good with cold or hot meat, therefore very practical, also for those watching their figure, but do not want to fade away from hunger. This salad has good carbohydrates, healthy fat and some protein. More importantly it tastes great.

Serves 2

For the  salad:

2 avocados

juice of half lemon or lime

10-15 cherry tomatoes, halved  

handful basil leaves, torn if big

2 spring onions, chopped

few green asparagus, wooden bottoms removed, rest halved  

2 skinless boneless chicken breasts, slightly bashed on the thicker end  

2 tbsp sweet paprika

1 tbsp smoked paprika  

1/4 tsp chilli powder

salt

freshly ground black pepper

2 tbsp olive oil  

For the  dressing:

4 tbsp olive oil

2 tbsp cider or white wine vinegar  

freshly ground black pepper

salt

Mix all the dressing ingredients together and set aside.

Boil the asparagus in salted water for about 3 minutes, drain and leave to cool down in cold water, then dry and set aside.

Cut avocado in half, remove the stone and take the flesh out of the skin. Drizzle with lemon juice so it doesn’t become dark and dice. Mix with tomatoes, spring onions, basil, asparagus and dressing. 

On a plate mix sweet and smoked paprika, chilli, salt and pepper and toss chicken breast in the spices until covered all over. Heat a frying pan, add the olive and fry chicken on both sides. Timing depends on chicken breast size. Medium doesn’t need more than 4-5 minutes one side and then 3-4 minutes on other side, so it doesn’t become dry. Remove from the pan, set on a chopping board and leave it to rest for about 5 minutes. 

Arrange the vegetables on a plate, top with sliced chicken breast, sprinkle with some more pepper and some basil leaves.

Sweet & sour chicken

To all working-class people!

A spectre is haunting Europe - spectre of plastic, artificial food! Rotten Western countries has overpowered us with quick instant dishes, ready made sauces from the jars, even East very often betray us - I bet your local Chinese take away add some magic powder to their meals. Also they contain massive amounts of sugar and salt! We would be able to feed all members of proletarian movement with those amounts!

Those who have been reproached with the desire of loosing few inches in their waists in new year should stop buying take away dishes and start to cook their own classic Cantonese dishes at home.

Let the take away bars tremble! You have nothing to lose but your chains. They have great amount of taste to win.

Lovers of sweet and sour dishes of all countries, unite!

Happy New Year to all my readers!

Right, after this ridiculous introduction inspired by one of the most absurd things I have ever read* please let me invite you to my kitchen for an absolute Chinese classic dish, that most of you probably know and like, however I am not sure if you know hoe to cook it from a scratch at home. It is worth as much effort as it takes to cook it - it is tasty, and you know what you eat and it only takes less than 30 minutes to make.

The recipe for sweet and sour sauce comes from "Foolproof Chinese Cookery" ** by Ken Hom, that contains easy to make, step by step everyone's favourite Chinese recipes. It goes nicely with chicken, prawns or pork. It is also up to you to decide what vegetables you want to use - those that I used today, or perhaps thinly sliced carrots, exotic mushrooms or water chestnuts.

Serves 2

tbsp groundnut oil
fresh ginger, a walnut size
2 garlic cloves
4 spring onions
2 small chicken breasts
red bell pepper
green bell pepper
tinned bamboo shoots, 120g drained
piece of fresh pineapple (I used a quarter of small one, you can use tinned instead, but in my opinion fresh is more tasty)
salt
black pepper

For the sauce:

150ml good quality chicken or vegetable stock
2 tbsp Shaoxing rice wine or dry sherry
3 tbsp light soy sauce
2 tbsp dark soy sauce
1 ½ tbsp tomato puree
3 tbsp rice vinegar or cider vinegar
1 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp corn flour (starch) or potato flour blended with 3 tbsp water

Prepare all the ingredients so they are ready to stir fry: peel and finely chop the garlic and ginger, slice the spring onions diagonally, deseed peppers and slice into strips, thinly slice the chicken breast, cut pineapple into bite size chunks.

Heat the oil in a wok or deep pan and stir fry over a high heat the ginger with garlic and half of spring onions (I save the darker, top parts for garnishing) for about 30 seconds. Add the chicken breast stir fry until seared. Next add the peppers and bamboo shoots, season with salt and pepper and meantime prepare the sauce.

Mix all of the sauce ingredients except the corn flour and set aside.

After about 5 minutes of frying the vegetables with chicken add the pineapple and fry for another minute or so then add the sauce and bring to the boiling point. Add the corn flour blended with water, mix well and cook for about 30 seconds - the sauce should be thick after this time, so remove it from the heat.

Serve with boiled rice and sprinkled with some spring onions.

* The Communist Manifesto, originally titled Manifesto of the Communist Party (German: Manifest der Kommunistischen Partei)
** I believe my sister Miki didn't have bad intentions when she gave me this book of which title contains the word "foolproof", ha, ha! I have made a very good use of this book and would recommend it to anybody wanting to cook easy Chinese dishes at home.

Moroccan style chicken & sweet potato mash

Following my recent recipe for harissa I am going to show you a whole dish that you can cook for dinner using this hot chilli sauce. My choice was quite obvious and natural - a dish inspired by North African cuisine.

When we went to Morocco last year we were delighted with everything we tried. The food is fantastic, mouth watering, aromatic and spicy - I don't mean hot, but it has a lovely aroma and flavour coming from different herbs and spices. Sometimes we did not have to do anything but close our eyes and breathe this lovely aromas in. It was enough to get close to the culinary ecstasy.

I would recommend Moroccan cuisine to any food lover, but it is better to try dishes from small restaurants or meals made on streets or markets as it taste better than safe menu prepared for an average European tourist in hotels. This is how you get a true local taste.

I haven't got a traditional tagin dish but I have prepared something inspired by North Africa cuisine with some Moroccan influences. I like when aroma of the spices fills up our cottage, especially when it is cold outside. It brings the warmth to our hearts and stomachs.

I have found a recipe in "Good Food", October 2010 issue, but I have changed it, so this is how I made it:



serves 2

2 chicken breasts, skinless, boneless(you can use any chicken pieces with bones, but it will take longer to cook it)
1 level tsp harissa
2 tbsp neutral olive oil
1 onion, peeled, halved and sliced
1 garlic clove, peeled and finely chopped
1 large tomato, peeled, deseeded and roughly chopped
about 200ml vegetable or chicken stock
8 whole dried apricots
handful whole, black olives
tsp honey
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
salt
freshly ground black pepper

some chopped parsley or coriander to garnish

Spread the harissa over the chicken and leave it in a fridge to marinate for whole day or at least for two hours before cooking.

In a pan heat 1 tbsp olive oil and fry the chicken on both sides until seared. Remove from the pan and set aside.

Heat the remaining oil in the pan and fry the onions for about 3 minutes, until slightly softened and add garlic. Fry for another minute or so, next add tomato, stock, honey, cinnamon and return the meat into the pan. Add apricots, season with some salt and pepper, cover and simmer for about 15 minutes. Next add the olives and simmer for another 5 minutes.

Serve sliced with some sauce and

Sweet potato mash

serves 2

2 large sweet potatoes, peeled and diced roughly
salt
pinch of freshly ground nutmeg
1 tbsp neutral olive oil

Boil the potatoes in a pan of salted water until soft. Drain well, return to the pan with oil and nutmeg and mash until smooth.

I served it sprinkled with some chopped parsley but I think some fresh chopped coriander would be even better.

If you are looking for something else inspired by Moroccan cuisine click here.

My favourite roast chicken

Inspired by Jamie Oliver.

Serves 4

1.5kg chicken
2 tbs olive oil
salt
freshly ground black pepper
whole lemon
handful of fresh thyme
2 bay leaves
3 celery sticks
2 onions
2 carrots
whole garlic bulb

Take the chicken out of the fridge for at least 30 minutes before roasting - it will bring the meat to the room temperature and make the roasting easier.

Preheat the oven to 250 C.

Wash the carrots, there is no need to peel them, just chop them into about inch pieces. Chop the celery stick, peel the onion and quarter, divide garlic into cloves and leave unpeeled. Place all the veg in a roasting dish.

Rub the olive oil into the chicken and season with salt and pepper.

Place the lemon in a microwave for about 10 seconds on the high power, then prick carefully with a knife and put the lemon inside the chicken’s cavity, with the bunch of thyme (save few springs for later) and bay leaves. Place the chicken on the top of the vegetables.

I always place the chicken breast side down first as all the juices will keep this particularly dry part of chicken quite moist when roasting. I turn it over for about lat 30 minutes of roasting.

Place the chicken in the preheated oven and immediately turn the heat down to 200 C. Roast for about 1 hour 30 minutes. If the veg become bit dry and start to burn add few tablespoons of water into a dish.

When cooked, take it out of the oven and set aside to rest for about 10 minutes – you can cover the bird with piece of kitchen foil. Meat tightens up during cooking and resting allows it to relax, release some of the meat juices and results in a soft tender meat.

P.S. If you can manage to eat it all, take the breast meat off the bones or cut out the legs and place in the pan together with all the roasting juices and vegetables. Next day just reheat it over a low heat. The cold leftovers are also great with salads or sandwiches.

In similar way I roast chicken pieces – legs, thighs or drumsticks, but I put some quartered lemon together with a veg, and sometimes add different herbs.

Chicken, orange and caramelised shallots páté & roasted beetroot and horseradish relish

For páté
(makes a large loaf tin or two small loaf tins)

1kg chicken legs
2 small carrots, peeled
few celery stick
3-4 dried porcini mushrooms
5-6 whole black peppercorns
1 bay leaf
2-3 whole allspice
300g pork or chicken liver, cut into 2 inch pieces
approx. 30g butter
300g boneless streaky pork, cut into 1.5 inch pieces
2 shallots, peeled and finely chopped
pinch of sugar
zest of one orange (make sure you zest the orange part only, the white one is bitter)
stale white bread roll
50ml brandy
pinch of freshly grated nutmeg
salt
freshly ground black pepper
3 eggs
10-12 thinly cut slices of streaky bacon or pork back fat

Place chicken legs in the pan together with the carrot, porcini mushrooms, celery, allspice, peppercorns and bay leaf. Cover with water and simmer over a low heat for about 1.5 hour.

Fry the liver in the half of butter in the pan until browned, remove from a pan and place in a bowl.

Using the same pan fry streaky pork pieces without any extra fat until slightly browned. Remove from the pan and place in the bowl together with liver.

Still using the same pan fry the shallots in the remaining butter over very low heat, until caramelised but not browned. Add pinch of sugar for last 5 minutes of frying.

Drain the chicken legs together with vegetables. Save the carrots, peppercorns, porcini mushrooms, and let chicken to cool down slightly. Remove the skin and bone the chicken. Place meat together with orange zest, carrots, mushrooms, peppercorns in the bowl together with liver and pork.

Soak bread roll in some stock that was produced when cooking chicken, remove any excess of liquid and place in the bowl.

Mince all the ingredients three times using meat mincer, season with salt, pepper and nutmeg, add brandy, egg yolks and mix thoroughly with your hands.

Whisk the egg whites with pinch of salt until they stiff and fold gently into the meat mixture.

Line big loaf tin with bacon or slices of pork back fat, so they slightly overhanging the tin, fill it with a meat mixture, level with a spatula and cover with the overhanging bacon.

Cover the tin with a kitchen tin foil, place in bigger dish filled with hot water (about ¾ of the size of the loaf tin). This is called bain-marie, which is a type of preparation used for protecting dishes requiring gentle heat from the fierce heat of the oven.

Bake for 1.5 hour in preheated oven (180C), uncover and bake for further 10 minutes until the top is golden. Remove from the oven, let it cool down and leave in the fridge overnight before serving.

It goes very well with some homemade beetroot and horseradish relish.


For relish
(makes 2 x 200ml jars)

8 small beets, roughly the same size
1 tbsp olive oil
salt
freshly ground black pepper
few drops of lemon juice
about 8cm piece of fresh horseradish

Place washed unpeeled beetroots in ovenproof dish, drizzle with olive oil and bake for about 40-60 minutes, or until soft in 180C, and then leave it to cool down.

Peel the horseradish and finely grate in a food processor. You can use grater but it will upset your eyes and nose.

Peel beets, grate finely and mix with horseradish, lemon juice. Season with salt and pepper and leave it in the fridge overnight. After night in a fridge it will not be as sharp and hot, so you can add some more horseradish and leave it to rest for another 12 hours.

Chicken with oranges and black olives

My version of dish also known as "Spanish Chicken". From "Healthy One-Pots" by BBC "Good Food" magazine.

Serves 4

4 skinless chicken legs (often I use thigh or breast fillets, as it is much quicker to cook boneless meat)
2 tbsp olive oil
2 onions, peeled and sliced
2 red peppers, deseeded and sliced
2 garlic cloves, chopped
400g tin of chopped tomatoes
handful of black olives (I prefer with stone and not from a brine, you can use any you like)
1/2 tsp cayenne
1 tsp dried mixed herbs (I think basil, thyme, sage and oregano go well with this dish - combination of two of them will do)
1 orange, unpeeled, washed and cut into eight segments
salt
freshly ground black pepper

Fry the chicken in heavy based pan in olive oil over a high heat until brown. Remove from a pan and set aside, then fry the onions, garlic, peppers. After 5 minutes add chicken, tomatoes, spices and herbs, season, cover and simmer gently for about 40 minutes if using chicken with bones; fillets need about 10 minutes only. If using fillets add oranges to the pan straight away, otherwise add them after about 20 minutes of simmering.

Next you need to add olives - they need to be cooked for about 5 minutes. Season if necessary and serve i.e. with cuscus. You can garnish with some fresh herbs.