Coconut, Lentil and Spinach Stew

I've been hen doo-ing in the Lake District, a beautiful house full of over excited girls in food fancy dress... My costume was a piece of streaky bacon, a giant one made of foam that made me laugh every time I looked in the mirror, until the early hours when I couldn’t really see in the mirror... There was a fried egg, a giant pea pod, a lobster, a pig (organic obvs) jelly beans, diet coke, a can of Spam, the list goes on... It made for a very entertaining evening fuelled by much wine and a big house to bash around in...  

I had an excellent time, although I still feel tired and a bit emotional, staying up till the early hours doesn't seem to agree with me as well as it used to. I need comfort food in quiet rooms with blankets and nice people....  

I found this recipe on The Traveller's Lunchbox blog originally, I think they adapted it from someone else and I changed it a bit from theirs, so it's origins have changed along the way, but I imagine it has been delicious in every form. They call it a soup, mine is more of a stewy dal type thing I think... A delicious spiced coconut stew full of lentils and soft spinach.

 

Start with the lentils, 275g of green or puy lentils, rinse them, then add to a pan with 1 litre of chicken stock, a big sprig of thyme and 1½ teaspoons of turmeric. Bring it to the boil and simmer gently with a lid on till the lentils are soft, about 20 minutes, add more stock if needs be...

 

While the lentils are cooking heat a big knob of butter in a frying pan and sauté 1 large diced onion with a big pinch of salt until it is very soft, for about 12 minutes. Then add 2 cloves of finely chopped garlic, ½ teaspoon of ground cardamom seeds, ¼ teaspoon ground cloves, ¼ teaspoon of ground cinnamon, a pinch of ground nutmeg and fry for another 30 seconds. Then scrape this spicy onion mix into the lentils.

Finally add a whole tin of coconut milk and a small bag of spinach, stirring till it wilts into the warm stew. Simmer for another 10 minutes or so and check if you need salt and pepper as it is cooking.

This will sort you out if you find yourself deep in winter at the end of March or a delicate hen do patient, both of which I am currently inflicted with...

 

Middle Eastern Supperclub by James Byrne

I have admired James Byrne's photography for quite a while now. I came across his blog by chance and have really enjoyed his photos of all things North East and culinary for some time. So when he emailed me to book a place on one of my supperclubs I was secretly pretty pleased; excited already to see his beautiful photos of my little dining event. He didn't disappoint either... You can see a few of the photos below, for the full post with more photos click here and for lots of other lovely photos see his blog Fish Chips and Mushy Peas.

Some thoughts on Pickling...

I've been experimenting with preserving food for a while now, salting, curing and pickling. I've found that when preserving your own food pickling is a good place to start, it's relatively easy, quick and cheap. I've dabbled with curing and salting, salami and fish, and have future plans for brasola and bacon.

Pickling embraces each of the seasons, but also defys them as it allows you to eat things all year long. Fresh sharp zingy young vegetables remain so delicious pickled and there is a pickle to suit nearly every meal, whether meat, fish or cheese... Fridges were a luxury as little ago as the 1950's so things had to be stored for future use in increasingly inventive ways. The necessity to preserve and not waste is one we could learn some lessons from these days, with statistics suggesting recently that up to 30% of food finds it's way to our bins rather than our tables.

Pickled fish, herring or cured gravadlax, dill pickles, sweet cucumber pickles... Pickling and preserving are both very prevalent in Scandinavian dining. Something that is very on trend at the minute. A combination of the influence of furniture giant Ikea, the crime fiction of Henning Mankell and successful TV shows such as The Killing and Borgen have raised the profile of Scandinavian culture in the past few years. Winter fashion has gone a bit Scandi recently with fur-lined boots, and cable knit, Nordic patterned jumpers, while in the culinary world with Noma in Copenhagen being acclaimed the World's Best Restaurant in 2012 their style of cooking is influencing chefs worldwide.

 

'Secrets of Scandinavian Cooking…Scandilicious' by Signe Johansen is current on my reading list. Signe grew up in Norway and now runs a blog about cooking, baking and living with Scandinavian flair. She also runs the 'EatScandi' Brunch & Supper Club. I'm looking to improve my Smörgåsbords and I think she may have some tips...

Over Christmas Ocado launched its first Scandinavian Christmas Shop as "Scandinavian food has seen a massive rise in popularity across the UK this year and we like to be ahead of the trends." Top sellers were Nyakers pepparkakor – traditional Swedish ginger biscuits and the traditional Scandinavian favourite, pickled herring. It isn't that difficult to make it yourself if you're feeling adventurous... I imagine Sarah Lund sits eating pickled herring whilst wearing chunky knitware all the time, well, when not running into dark basements in pursuit of armed killers...

So I thought I would share my two favourite pickles, one easy, one a bit more complicated, Sweet Cucumber Pickle, a delicious sharp sweet crunchy pickle and Pickled Rollmop Herring, soft spiced pickled fish that is fresh and delicious. Click on each link for the full recipe.

I've also been experimenting with pickled grapes to go with cheese, pickled apples, and am keen to try some pickled garlic and lemons soon.

Beef Meatballs with Broad Beans, Lemon and Herbs

I spent some time in London last week... It was a flying visit to catch up on what was going on down there in shops, restaurants and galleries. Have a look at some new pop-ups, architecture, interiors, handbags... I was quickly calculating how many meals I could fit into the short time I was there. I loved Upstairs at the Ten Bells, my favourite of the weekend I think, elements of secret dining above a packed Spitalfields boozer, amazing food, lovely people, beautiful cosy dining room... tick.

Other highlights were Ducksoup in Soho, a seat in the window and a glass of red wine saw me in holiday mode pretty quickly. They had a turntable by the door, daily hand written menus and lovely booze list on wipe down white ceramic tiles - octopus with paprika and capers was great, a duck egg you had to peel with mayonnaise and sumac to dip was cute and tasty... Venison with potatoes, olives and aioli at the Canton Arms in Vauxhall hit the spot for lunch, and a piece of morcilla with soft red peppers and a little fried quail's egg at Morito would do me right just about now...

Before stuffing myself silly in London I had been immersing myself in Ottolenghi's book Jerusalem, much like every other food blog I read it seems. But these meatballs were just a bit too lovely to not tell you about for the sake of being different... Delicious fresh, lemony and herby, a nice contrast to my usual lamb meatballs, cooked in a lovely fragrant broth with broad beans, garlic and spring onions. Definitely my best Jerusalem experiment so far...

 

These amounts will serve 4 people. Start with the meat ball mix; 300g of minced beef and 150g of minced lamb, I got mine from Charlotte's Butchers, a cute little butchers newly opened in Gosforth. Add the mince to a bowl with a finely diced medium onion, 120g of breadcrumbs, 2 tablespoons each of chopped parsley, mint, dill and coriander. Add 2 cloves of finely chopped garlic, 1 tablespoon of ground cumin, 2 teaspoons of chopped capers, 1 beaten egg and 1 tablespoon on Baharat spice mix. You can buy this or you can make it...

 

I made myself a little jar by bashing together a mix of spices in a pestle and mortar: 1 teaspoon of black peppercorns, 1 teaspoon of coriander seeds, 1 small cinnamon stick, ½ teaspoon of cloves, ½ teaspoon of ground allspice, 2 teaspoons of cumins seeds, 1 teaspoon of cardamom seeds and ½ a teaspoon of ground nutmeg. Grind it all to a powder...

Roll the mix into meatballs the size of a ping pong ball and then fry them in batches in hot olive oil, until they are brown all over. I did mine in 2 batches for about 5 minutes each. Then remove them all from the pan and wipe it clean and add 2 tablespoons of fresh olive oil. Then sauté 4 sprigs of thyme, 6 cloves of garlic sliced and 8 spring onions cut into 2cm pieces for about 3 minutes. The recipe calls for 350g of blanched broad beans, half shelled and half unshelled, I couldn’t get any so added a tin of broad beans at this point. Also add 1 ½ tablespoons of lemon juice, 80ml of chicken stock, ¼ teaspoon of salt and lots of black pepper and cook for ten minutes on a low heat.

 

Return the meatballs to the pan and add another 420ml of chicken stock and simmer for 25 minutes. I found the meatballs soaked up a lot of the sauce so don’t worry if it seems a lot. You can also cook them to this point and reheat them later if needs be. Just before you serve them add a handful of chopped mint, dill, parsley and coriander, a tablespoon of lemon juice and a handful of fresh blanched peeled broad beans if you have them.

I served the meatballs with some steamed rice, they are delicious and sticky with a fresh tasty broth full of lemon and herbs. It is a lot of ingredients as Ottolenghi recipes often are, but is definitely worth the time and effort, I'll be making them again asap.