Category: Moroccan

Leftover Moroccan Lamb cous cous

September 3, 2015

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I want to share this recipe with you before the week is over as this week is all about promoting British Lamb week, ( 1st Sep-7th Sep 2015 ) something I feel very passionate about. I wrote this recipe for my column last month but I feel that now would be a right time to be reminded of it.

Here below is what I originally wrote:

Sometimes on a Sunday if the weather isn’t too hot then we will have a roast of some kind and if we are even more lucky it may even be lamb. Normally we go for a breast of Lamb as its cheaper however I bought this particular shoulder of lamb as it was reduced right down from £19 to £6! Bargain! An offer too good to be missed.

Because this lamb was so big for my partner and I its great for creating other dishes from it and thats what I am showing here. Sometimes the leftover recipes are the best.
So for this time of year cous cous is a lovely light alternative to have and I have included the lovely British courgettes being right in season at the minute to add a lovely texture, colour and added sweetness to the dish. Give leftovers a chance, it may even be better than the first dish was.
Leftover Moroccan lamb cous cous:

 

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Ingredients:

Cooked shoulder of lamb ( Could use shanks, breast or leg if you wanted )
1 tsp was el hangout spice ( widely available in most supermarkets or online) I use spice kitchen’s blend.
approximately 200g cous cous
1/4 tub of chicken stock gel pot
1/4 litre of boiling water
Sea salt and cracked black pepper to taste
3 tbsp Rapeseed oil
1 tbsp mild curry powder
small handful of almonds sliced
few sprigs of fresh mint finely chopped
few sprigs of fresh coriander finely chopped
1 courgette sliced into half moons
half a small green pepper diced
half a small red pepper diced
Half a red onion finely diced
1 clove of garlic finely chopped
Thumb nail size of fresh ginger grated
1 tsp ground coriander (Spice Kitchen)
1 tsp ground cumin (Spice Kitchen)
1 tsp ground cinnamon (Spice Kitchen)
Method:

Take your cold cooked lamb and marinate with a little rapeseed oil and the ras el hanout.

In the meantime take the cous cous and cover with approximately 1/4 litre of boiling water with the chicken stock added so it just covers the cous cous and cover with foil.

Fry off your courgettes in a little rapeseed oil and after a minute or two add your peppers and cook until starting to colour and soften. Add in the garlic, ginger and chillies and cook for a further minute or two.

Stir in the ground coriander, cumin and cinnamon, add in the lamb and stir allowing the lamb to warm up. Season to taste

Stir the cous cous with a fork, add a drizzle of rapeseed oil and the cous cous should be light and fluffy. Add the curry powder a little salt and pepper if need be and pop in your chopped coriander and mint.

* Add the Lamb mixture into the bowl of cous cous, mix all through and serve.

 

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Spicy Butternut Squash Hummus (East Meets West)

October 10, 2014


Some time back, ooh a few months ago now, I was approached by the Chinese company Lee Kum Kee to do some recipe development Work for them.  I am always passionate about Oriental and Asian food in general so I was keen to know what they wanted.  They wanted me to help out with Recipes regarding an “East meets West” Theme. Something that would later go into a Cookbook, some neck tags and any other promotional material regarding this.  I love a good task on hand and felt that this would challenge me, as my first thought was you should never “fusion” things too much? Surprisingly,  I was proved wrong, in this case anyway…by myself! 
  I don’t normally show much of my Recipe development work but I feel this is very interesting to see how Chinese sauces can be mixed with another cuisine. I won’t post all of them, just the ones I feel stood out the most.  Now, because this was a few months back, some ingredients may not be in season anymore, but certainly squash was a good starter point as, well we see a lot of those in October hey?! 
  You will see a few of these recipes of mine “pop” up so I will put in brackets (East Meets West) so you will know it is from this Project.



Spicy Butternut Squash Hummus:


Ingredients:

–  1/2 Butternut Squash copped into inch squares
–  2 Tbsp Lee Kum Kee Chiu Chow Chilli Oil
–  1  Garlic Bulb split through the middle to create 2 halves to roast.
–  1 Tbsp of Rapeseed Oil
–  200g of Tinned Chick Peas
–  1 Tbsp of Lee Kum Kee Sesame Oil
–  A squirt of Lemon Juice (Fresh)
–  1 Tsp of Ground Cumin
–  Salt and Pepper to season
–  Fresh Coriander for Serving

Method:

–  Preheat your oven to 190c.

– Place the Butternut Squash into a baking tray and drizzle over the Chilli oil. Place next to it (in foil) the Garlic bulb in two halves, drizzle over with Rapeseed oil, close up like a Parcel and Roast both in the oven for 20 minutes or until soft.

–  Allow the Squash and the Garlic to cool.

–  Squeeze out half of the garlic cloves into a Blender or Processor along with the Butternut squash.

–  Add the rest of the ingredients and Blitz to a smooth Paste. You may need to add a touch  more lemon juice, salt or oil to get the correct consistency.

–  Serve with some Warm Pitta Breads, an extra drizzle of Sesame oil and fresh Coriander on the Hummus. (You could even try my Flatbread recipe which is under my Spiced Moroccan soup recipe)

"Sunshine In a Bowl" For Food Friday on BBC Radio Leicester

March 23, 2014

So about a few months back now. Ben Jackson from BBC Radio Leicester asked me to join their team of Foodie-Maniac Food Friday Cooks.  Straight away I Jumped at the chance!   I immediately couldn’t wait to get on the show! 

  Now I’ve already been on the show which aired on the 7th of March. That was with Ed Stagg who was filling in for Ben that day. I did a “revamped” version of my Chicken and Veg pie, which I will put on here soon.  
  I first wanted to Share with you the dish which I did this Friday just gone, the 21st of March.  There’s a few reasons why I chose to do this recipe. Firstly, was that it was using up things in the fridge and store cupboard ingredients. Second was its great for people who have colds at the moment! It seemed to help Ben’s out a bit! And Finally its healthy and Cheap! Ok that was four… 
This is my Thick Spiced Moroccan Soup with Garlic Flatbreads.  It got a nickname of Sunshine Soup!  

   If you would like to have a listen to me doing this recipe with Ben, take a look here…

BBC Radio Leicester with Ben Jackson and Me on Food Friday 21st March 2014.

Thick Spiced Moroccan Soup (Sunshine soup) with Homemade Garlic Flatbreads:



Ingredients: (Serves 4)

Soup:

– 1 Tbsp Olive Oil
– 1 Onion Diced
– 2 Small Celery sticks chopped including leaves
– 3 Medium sized carrots peeled and chopped roughly
– Sweet Potato, Peeled and Chopped into rough chunks. (I used a white variety from Asian stores which is purple on the outside but you can use the Orange variety.
– Half  a Butternut Squash chopped into rough chunks.
– 1 tsp of Ground Coriander and Cumin mix (I used a company called Spice Kitchen for most of the dry Spices)
– 1 tsp of turmeric, (Spice Kitchen)
– 1 tsp of Chilli Powder,  (Spice Kitchen)
– 1 tsp of Garam Masala,  (Spice Kitchen)
– A Thumb Size amount of fresh Ginger finely chopped or grated if you prefer.
– 1 large clove of Garlic finely chopped
– A 3 cm piece of Cinnamon bark,  (Spice Kitchen)
– Just over half a tin of chopped tomatoes (250g) 
– 1 tbsp of Tomato Puree
– 1 Chicken Stock cube/Gel pot or Veg if Vegetarian
– In total about 500ml of water added to the Soup a bit at a time.
– 150g of Pre cooked Pearl Barley
– 250g (just over half a tin) of Butter beans
– 2 Handfuls of Fresh Spinach
– Chopped Fresh Parsley.
– Salt and Ground Black Pepper 


Garlic Flatbreads:

– 200g of Plain Flour
– Warm Water just to bind
– Salt and Ground Black Pepper
– Sprinkle of Garlic Powder for each Flatbread.


Soup Method:

– Fry off  the Onion in the Olive oil.
– Add your Celery, Carrots and Sweet Potato and start to sweat down for about 5 mins.
– Then add your Butternut Squash to the Soup mix and stir through.
– Add your Dry spices, Ginger and Garlic and cook for a further 5-10 mins to allow the spices to coat all the Vegetables. 
– Next to go in are the Chopped Tomatoes, Tomato Puree, Butter Beans and stock with about 300ml of water to cook down for a further 10 mins. 
– Add your Pearl Barley and allow that to simmer away nicely whilst you get on with the FlatBreads. Always check in-between  if your soup needs a bit more water adding.

Flatbread Method:

-Take your 200g of Plain Flour, add salt and pepper and start to add a drop of warm water to it to bind to form a firm dough.
– Knead the dough only a couple of times.
– Stretch out into a thick sausage-like shape about 2 inches in width and divide into 5 parts.
– Roll the 5 parts of dough into a ball, add a sprinkle of your Garlic powder, roll again and then Roll out your dough as thinly as possible with a Rolling Pin on a lightly floured surface. 
– Heat up a dry frying pan and once the Pan is very hot add your flatbread dough. You will then start to see it puff up and brown.
– Repeat the process with all the other dough balls.

– By now your soup will be ready to add the Spinach and any other seasoning required.
– Blitz your soup only with a few pulses as it needs to be thick.
– Add your fresh chopped Parsley. 
– Voila! Ready to Dunk in with your FlatBread!