Moroccan lamb stew with apricots, almonds & mint

I know that stews are not the most photogenic of dishes, but I could not resist sharing this one with you.  I made it few weeks ago for Sunday dinner and fell in love with it. This is one of those dishes that are perfect for cold winter evenings or grey rainy days to warm you up and comfort you.

A funny thing was that whilst I was making this dish, all I could think of how this would have been a lovely thing to make in my midnight blue Le Creuset cast iron casserole dish that my father gave me (but it would have been a bit too heavy to bring with me all the way from London to Singapore), so I'm really looking forward to the next winter that I'll be spending back home as then I'll get to make this in my lovely new casserole. I've never made anything in that casserole and this would have been a perfect first dish for it... Enough about my love for my new casserole, back to the lamb.

Something that I really appreciate about stews is that they actually take so little time prepare and whilst they're cooking you can do something else, and as a student this extra bit of time is invaluable. Also, with most of them, the longer you cook them the more tender and delicious they become (so feel free to let your lamb stew for longer than 60 minutes at first, but don't extend the last 30 minutes after adding apricots as otherwise they'll just dissolve). This was my second time to cook lamb and at first I was a bit sceptical as to how it would all turn out, but in the end it all worked out fine - the lamb just fell apart and was so tender. I had the leftovers for lunch the following Monday and to be honest, it was even better on the second day (but most of stews are). The second time I had it with quinoa and I can assure you that it was really nice both with brown rice and quinoa.

So, this is one quick and easy, but at the same time, delicious recipes - the fruitiness of apricots, combined with almonds and mint create a really warming and exotic combination to go with the lamb and for a split second make you forget about the cold and rain and make you feel like you're somewhere in Morocco....


Ingredients
(Serves 4)
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 550g lean lamb, cubed
- 1 onion, chopped
- 2 garlic cloves, crushed
- 700ml lamb or chicken stock
- Grated zest and juice of 1 orange
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 1 tsp clear honey
- 175g dried apricots
- 3 tbsp fresh mint, chopped
- 25g ground almonds
- 25g toasted flaked almonds
- Salt
- Pepper
- Brown rice (or quinoa or couscous) to serve

Directions
Heat the oil in a large casserole and add the lamb and cook over a medium-high heat for 3-4 minutes until evenly browned, stirring often. Remove the lamb to a plate and set aside.

Place the onion and garlic into the casserole and cook on a gentle heat for 5 minutes until softened. Then return the lamb to the pot, add the stock, zest, juice, cinnamon stick, honey, salt and pepper. Bring  it to boil and then reduce the heat, cover and simmer for 1 hour.

Add the apricots and 2 tbsp of mint and cook for further 30 minutes until the lamb is tender and prepare the rice (or quinoa or couscous). Stir in the ground almonds to thicken the sauce. Serve with remaining mint and toasted almonds scattered over the top.

Recipe from BBC Good Food

 

Chicken & nectarine salad

As I've told you before I'm not a huge fan of our university food and so whenever I have to spend long days there I tend to make myself a boxed lunch (or dinner). I've been trying out quite a few recipes lately (some of which have made to this blog) and this one really stood out - even my fiancé really liked it. It's very easy and quick to make and I absolutely love the lime and olive oil dressing as it adds a nice zing to the whole salad. I generally tend to eat my salads without any dressing or olive oil, but this is just divine.

Whenever people think of salads they tend to imagine a bowl of tasteless green stuff that no-one really likes, but everyone eats because it's considered good for you. Trust me, this is not one of the boring salads.It is very fresh and fruity and makes a perfect meal for those hot days when you want something light yet filling. The combination of chicken, nectarines and sour lime juice is unbelievably nice - they balance each other out and end up creating a mixture of tastes that just goes perfectly together.

It is great as a starter or a light meal or as said before - it makes a perfect boxed lunch. It stays nicely in the fridge for two days and is a perfect addition to your lunch recipes. Feel free to use normal cabbage or ice berg lettuce instead of womboks (or any other green leafy salad as long as they have a mild taste).

Ingredients
(Serves 4)
- 2 chicken breasts, cooked
- 3 womboks
- 4 nectarines
- Juice of 4 limes
- 1 tsp olive oil
- Salt
- Pepper

Directions
Firstly prepare the chicken. I seasoned my chicken breasts with salt and pepper, wrapped them into foil and roasted them in the oven for 30 minutes.

In the meantime, wash and dry wombok and apricots and cut them into small strips.

When the chicken is done, let it cool for few minutes and then shred the breasts into small stripes.

Place all the ingredients in a big bowl and mix well.

Mix together the olive oil and lime juice, pour over salad, mix well and serve immediately.

PS! If making this for your lunchbox, divide the salad up between 4 boxes. Then prepare the dressing, but divide it up between 4 small boxes and pour over the salad just before serving. This way you'll avoid making the salad soggy.

Adapted from AWW "Low Fat Kitchen"

Valentine's Day strawberries

When it comes to romantic food it is difficult to go wrong with strawberries, chocolate and whipped cream (and not forgetting a nice bottle of champagne) and as this is our very first Valentine's Day as an engaged couple (he popped the question 5 days ago while we were on a long weekend break in Bangkok) I thought of treating my fiancé - love the way it sounds - to a romantic and relaxed evening at home.

For the main course I made simple homemade pizza and for dessert I went with the timeless classic. To be honest, I'd been looking at dessert recipes for months now to see if I could find anything special, but the choice hasn't been anything as good as one would have thought. Although we both love cakes (especially cheesecakes) it's quite pointless to make a cake that is meant for 12 as it will simply go off before we'll manage to eat it all. And on the other hand I needed something that I could make in advance as I'm coming home from a quite late lecture and I won't have time to prepare a dessert that will make few hours to make. So faced with all these problems I decided to go with the simple yet classic (and a bit of a cliche) option to serve strawberries. The more I thought of the idea the better it sounded - it can be made ahead, it looks delicious, tastes really nice and it's meant to be eaten with your fingers, meaning that the whole process can be very romantic as well.

So, long story short, this is a perfect treat for the loved one for any occasion you want them to feel special. Experiment with different chocolates and different flavours - sprinkle some nuts or cookie crumbs and drizzle with some (salted) caramel. I do realise that it is not a recipe per se, but it just looked so pretty that I could not resist sharing it with you.

Ingredients
- 450 fresh strawberries, washed, dried and leaves removed
- 200g white chocolate
- 70g dark chocolate
- Silver balls or other sprinkles for decorating
- Whipped cream, optional

Directions
Place the white chocolate in a bowl and put it over a pot of hot (nearly boiling) water and let it melt. Do the same with dark chocolate. In the meantime, wash and dry the strawberries.

To decorate dip most the strawberries into white chocolate and place on a plate covered with baking parchment (to prevent them from sticking). Sprinkle some of them with silver balls and drizzle other ones with dark chocolate and leave some plain white. Place another sheet of baking parchment on a separate plate and put the remaining strawberries there. Drizzle them all with dark chocolate and decorate some with silver balls.

Leave to set for a bit and then place them in a nice bowl and serve. If you wish, serve with fresh whipped cream on the side. Enjoy!

 

Salted caramel swirl cheesecake pots

Today I'm sharing something sweet with you for a change. I'd love to state that salted caramel is the new big thing but I'd be lying. It's been around for quite a while and ever since I tried it the very first time I've been in love. Laduree salted caramel macaroons, Artisan du Chocolat salted caramels, salted caramel latte ice-cream from Cold Stone Creamery, Charbonnel et Walker Sea Salted Caramel truffles ... This list could go on and on. The combination of sweet and salty is something that everyone I know has fallen deeply in love with. And trust me, once you try it there's no going back.

I've made the salted caramel macaroons three times now (I'll share the recipe with you soon), but today I want to share a recipe of a cheesecake incorporating salted caramel. I tried looking for recipes only for salted caramel cheesecake, but all the ones I found weren't what I was after and so after the countless hours I spent on the internet I decided to improvise. After making the Chocolate swirl cheesecake it hit me - just substitute the chocolate for generous amount of salted caramel and voila! And that's exactly what I did (in addition to serving the cheesecakes as individual portions).

This smooth and creamy cheesecake makes a perfect end for dinner or just to have as a treat on its own - perfect for any occasion and you can't go wrong with this combination.

Ingredients
(Makes 8 servings)
- 175 caster sugar
- 450g soft cream cheese (Philadelphia)
- 1 vanilla pod
- Juice of 1 lemon
- 175g creme fraiche
- 475g double cream
- 8 digestive biscuit
- 25g butter, melted

- 340g caster sugar
- 280ml double cream, room temperature
- 80g lightly salted butter
- 220g unsalted butter

Instructions
Start off by making the biscuit base. For that, crush the digestive biscuits into small crumbs and mix together with the melted butter. Mix well and then divide between the 8 small glasses or bowls you intend to serve the dessert out of.

Then make the salted caramel. To make the caramel, place the 340g caster sugar in a heavy bottomed pan and allow to melt without stirring. Once you have nice golden caramel (the darker it gets the more bitter it becomes) add the salted butter, double cream and unsalted butter. Mix well and then set aside to cool.

For the filling, mix the caster sugar, cream cheese and seeds from the vanilla pod together. In another bowl whisk the lemon juice with the cream and creme fraiche to soft peaks. Then fold everything together.

To assemble, place a layer of cream cheese filling on the biscuit base, then drizzle with a layer of salted caramel and repeat it until you have three layers of both. Then place a knife through each pot and mix the layers through nicely (but do not smudge the colour). Chill in the fridge for at least 5 hours before serving.

Cheesecake filling taken from Chocolate swirl cheesecake recipe from BBC Goodfood