Mid-East Meatball Meal

Love Piquant Flavours? This meal will deliver them. Serves 4-6.

Ingredients: 350g minced or ground beef and
                    350g minced or ground lamb

1 medium onion chopped in even pieces
2 pieces wholemeal bread cut into squares
2 Tablespoons chopped parsley, mint, dill and coriander,
                       or use  dried dill tips  and coriander flakes.
2 cloves of garlic, crushed.
2 small or 1 large egg.
4 teaspoons ground cumin
4 teaspoons Baharat spice mix/ or 3 teaspoons Moroccan spice and 1 teaspoon of sumac.
1 teaspoon of salt
Lots of ground black pepper.

Put everything except the meat into a food processor, mix well.
Remove and add to a big bowl with the ground meats.
Mix well.
Form mix, by tossing from hand to hand to mould together, into ping pong sized or smaller balls.
Use a dessertspoon as a measure to keep them even in size.
Place in the fridge to firm up for as long as you like, but 20 mins at least.
Some can be frozen at this stage as there are lots of meatballs!

 Gently fry meatballs on all sides to brown- set aside.

Sauce:
Heat 2 Tablespoons  olive oil in large frying pan.
Add 1 chopped red onion
4 thyme sprigs,
2  crushed cloves garlic

Gently sauté onion,  garlic and thyme, add salt and pepper,
Add   3 Tablespoons lemon juice and
2 cups of chicken stock or 1 1/2 cups if not cooking all the meatballs at once
Bring to simmer.
Add  meatballs to sauce.
Simmer 20 minutes lid on.

Meanwhile: blanch broccoli florets or edamame beans- set aside.
Chop 2 teaspoons of parsley, mint, dill, and coriander - set aside

Add the vegetables and a handful of baby spinach leaves. Leave the lid off to thicken the sauce.
Add 2 Tablespoons of capers.

After 3-4 minutes serve. Top with the chopped herbs.

Serve with hummus, and pita breads warmed in the oven.
And, or, couscous with diced cooked pumpkin, for colour. I used wholegrain instant couscous.
Top with pine nuts, toasted if you like. Garnish with dill.

A cucumber and yoghurt salad would be brilliant as an extra.

Tastebud heaven!

Greek Custard Slice-Galaktoboureko

Classic, But Simply Lovely and Simple to Make.
You need a little patience but it's so worth it as it makes 20 pieces.

Make the custard 1 hour before you assemble the galaktoboureko.

Ingredients:
5 cups of milk
1 cup caster sugar or 1/2 cup caster and 1/2 cup Nat-via or stevia granules
1 teaspoon of vanilla paste or 1 vanilla bean, split lengthways, seeds removed
1 cup of fine semolina
20g (3/4 ounce) butter
4 eggs

16 sheets filo pastry
120g butter (4 ounces)
1 tablespoon icing sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1. Stir milk, sugars and vanilla in large saucepan over heat until sugar dissolves, bring to boil.
2. Gradually whisk semolina into milk mixture, whisk over medium heat about 5 minutes or until thickened.
3. Remove pan from heat, stir in the 20g butter. Transfer to large heatproof bowl, cover with plastic wrap, leave 1 hour, beat in the eggs.
4. Preheat oven to 160C or 325F grease deep 25cm x 32cm (10-inch x 13-inch) baking dish
5. Cut filo pastry sheets to size or have a rougher look with a tucked in edge. I took mine straight from the freezer, they were easy to handle and didn't break.

6. Brush 1 sheet of pastry with some melted butter repeat with other 7, placing them one on top of the other in the base of the dish.
7. Spread custard into the filo lined dish.
8. Repeat the brushing with butter on the other 8 sheets and place on top of custard.
9. Score with a knife to mark out squares if you like.
10. Bake about 55 minutes, it should be well risen and firm but not too brown.

MEANWHILE
Make lemon syrup.
3/4 cup caster sugar ( you can add a little honey after you have reduced the syrup, if not sweet enough)
3/4 cup water
1/4  cup lemon juice
zest from 1 lemon, finely grated.
Stir all ingredients in small saucepan over heat until sugar dissolves, bring to boil, reduce heat, simmer 10 minutes. Make sure it is hot when you pour it over the cooked Greek slice.
Cool
Dust with the icing sugar and cinnamon, mixed.
Serve with whipped cream or Greek yoghurt and some black coffee. Love it.

Spanish Chicken with Chorizo

Tasty so Tasty.
Spanish flavours, paprika, chorizo, olives and the rest...

Serves 4.
Bake for 45 minutes plus 20.
Preheat oven to 375F/190C

Ingredients:
8-12 pieces of small to medium sized chicken, bone in.
2 heaped teaspoons paprika, not smoked.
4 tablespoons olive oil
2 red onions sliced
4 garlic cloves- crushed
400g tin chopped tomatoes or whole cherry toms- I used fresh cherry tomatoes from the garden.
2 small chorizo sausages.
12 bay leaves- 4 for cooking the rest for garnish.
5 Tablespoons sherry- I used marsala because I had no sherry.
salt and ground black pepper
12 green, stone in, olives.

1. Coat chicken pieces in paprika then season with salt.
2. Heat the oil and sauté chicken until brown.
3. Transfer to a casserole dish.
4. Add the onions to the pan and sauté until clear.
5. Add the sliced chorizo and garlic, sauté for 2 minutes.

6. Add the tomatoes, 4 bay leaves and sherry- bring to the boil.
7. Pour over the chicken  and cover.
8. Bake for 45 minutes.
9. Remove lid, taste, season and add olives.
10. Cook for 20 minutes more until chicken is tender and golden.

Goes very well with roast pumpkin, roast or boiled potatoes or rice.

Garnish with remaining bay leaves.
Here served with a cabbage, grated carrot and thinly sliced kale mix, cooked in a spoon of butter, a little water with the lid on, for a few minutes.

Serve with a robust white wine or a light red.

" hasta la vista" See you soon.

Date, Bran and Spice Muffins.

Easy to make- Guilt free ( if you stop at 1)
Handy as lunch box items. Freeze them singly or in twos or threes. Just grab on the way to work.
Makes 15 standard size or 9 Texan ( very large )

Set oven to 180C or 350F
20 minutes to cook.
Ingredients:
1 cup plain flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
4 teaspoons of baking powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon cardamom powder if you have it or use 2 of cinnamon.
1/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup stevia/ Natvia or other sweetener. Honey if you like.
2 cups unprocessed bran.
250g chopped dates, scissors make the easiest work of this.
1 cup of rice bran oil
2 beaten eggs
2 cups of milk.

1. Sift flours, baking powder, cinnamon, cardamom.
2. Add sugars
3. Stir in bran and chopped dates.
4. Make a well in the centre, stir in oil, milk and beaten eggs
5. Mix until just combined.
6. Spoon into oiled muffin tins. Fill them almost to the top.
7. Bake 20 minutes at 180C or 350F
8. They should spring back a little if cooked.
9. Cool a little, then encircle with a knife to remove. Icing sugar them before serving. 97% guilt free ha.

Flourless Choc-Nut Squares

Light and tender, handy to have with a coffee, not too sweet or sickly and no flour!
Moist in the middle.
Makes 12.

Ingredients:

vegetable oil spray
100g dark chocolate, broken into chunks.
3 medium eggs, separated.
35g Natvia/ stevia
35g caster sugar ( if you have no stevia use 70g sugar )
75g ground almonds ( meal )
1 teaspoon coffee instant or ground.
25g smashed hazelnuts, nicest if they are roasted, or walnuts-chopped.

Method:
Preheat oven to 180C or 350F/ 160C fan or 320F.
Spray and line a 20cm square cake tin, for square pieces of cake.
Put the chocolate in a bowl and microwave on low 1 min, stir and continue 1 minute apart stirs until it has melted. Don't over cook. You could use the traditional method, put the choc in a bowl over simmering water to melt.
Whisk egg yolks and sugar/natvia until pale and creamy.
Stir in the ground almonds, melted choc, coffee and nuts.
With clean beaters and a clean bowl beat egg whites until stiff peaks form.
Fold the egg whites into the mix.
Pour the mix into the tin, push to fill the edges.
Bake for 16 to 18 minutes or until the surface is slightly springy to touch. Fan bake is quicker, check at 15 minutes.
Leave to cool
Cut into squares and douse with icing sugar.
Make coffee or tea, ha.

Pasta alla Norma ( eggplant and tomato pasta)

Aubergine or eggplant has a delicious smoky flavour and can substitute, in texture, for meat.
This is vegetarian fare but you can easily add a lovely fried chicken fillet, especially with lemon, as a complement.
Easily made and budget friendly, with a touch of difference. Guest-worthy but wholesome.

Serves 4 for lunch or 4 for dinner with accompaniments like a meat, a salad and a crusty loaf.

Ingredients:
1 large eggplant, cut into 2 or 3 cm cubes
6 tbsp olive oil
2 cloves of garlic, crushed
400 g passata or 1/2 can of tomatoes and 1/2 a jar of pasta sauce
1 tbsp tomato paste
1 teaspoon chilli paste or 1 red chilli, seeds removed
300-350 g wholewheat spaghetti or rigatoni
small bunch of basil. ( you could add 1 teaspoon of dried basil if you can't get fresh )
cherry tomatoes (optional)
salt
1/2 cup grated romano or parmesan cheese.

Fry the garlic gently in a little oil then add the passata or alternatives, the paste and chilli and a few chopped basil leaves.

Simmer gently for about 30 minutes, add a little water if it gets too thick

Meanwhile, chop the aubergine/eggplant and fry in the olive oil  until golden. You will need to do this in 2 batches.
Add the second batch of fried eggplant to the first and simmer slowly until it is soft, use a lid to help this process.
When cooked, about 25 minutes, add the eggplant to the tomato sauce.

At the same time as the 2 previous steps, put on a large pot of boiling water, add 1 teaspoon of salt.
Add the pasta when boiling, it will take about 13 minutes for wholewheat.
Time this to be ready when the sauce and eggplant are cooked.

You can make the sauce ahead of time and reheat it.

Add the eggplant to the tomato sauce.
Drain pasta and add a little of the pasta water to the sauce.
Combine with the pasta, basil leaves, cherry tomatoes (halved)

Plate up or place in a serving dish.
Top with the cheese.
Put salt and ground black pepper on the table for people who like it.

Serve with a  gutsy white like a sauvignon blanc.

Healthful Last-Minute Simple Christmas Cake.

Hey, it's not too late.

This cake is quick and easy, good enough to give as a gift, tasty enough to want to make two!
It only needs one day to cool and then it's ready to devour.
Bonus: contents are nutritious and wholesome.

Serves 20.
Ingredients:
125g butter or low fat spread
1/2 cup dark-brown sugar
1/3 cup golden syrup
2/3 cup rum/ sherry/ brandy/ port/ marsala or a combination (  I didn't have enough rum so topped up the 2/3rds with marsala and brandy essence as my rum was white and lacking that great Christmas flavour. But you do need the fortified stuff.
1 teaspoon mixed spice
1 and 1/2 cups of sultanas
1/2 cup chopped prunes
1/2 cup chopped dried apricots
1/2 cup glace cherries coarsely chopped or you could use cranberries if you don't have the cherries.
1 cup currants
1 cup pitted cooking dates, chopped.
2 eggs lightly beaten
1 cup wholemeal flour
1/2 cup almond meal ( ground almonds)
1/2 cup white flour
1 teaspoon of baking powder.
small packet of slivered almonds (or whole blanched)
apricot jam if you want to glaze it.

1. Preheat oven to 130C
2. Line base and sides of a 20cm round or square cake tin with 2 layers of baking paper.
 Let the paper stand 5 cm above the top edge of the tin
3. Place butter or spread, sugar, 3/4 cup of water, golden syrup, mixed spice, all the fruit and half the alcohol in a large saucepan.
4. Bring to the boil then reduce heat and simmer for 2 minutes.
5. Remove from heat, let it cool.
6. Stir in the beaten eggs and flours and meal.
7. Spoon mix carefully into the tin, smoothing it a little.
8. Decorate with nuts, pushing them gently into the mix a little way.

Bake for 1 hour 45 minutes, test with a thin skewer, mine was done at that time but some ovens vary, it may need up to 15-30 minutes more.
Remove from the oven and brush top with the remaining alcohol.
Cover the hot cake in tinfoil, tightly and leave until completely cool before removing from the tin.
Then wrap it in the foil again.

You can microwave, to warm, a little apricot jam to make the top shiny ( brush it on gently)

Have a very HAPPY CHRISTMAS!