Another slice of pure joy from Leon 2. This Greek-inspired family recipe is a delight, and I particularly enjoy the use of macaroni as a carb. The tiny pasta tubes bring out the kid in me. The original recipe called for dried mint but I tend not to use it and went for the mostly authentic dried oregano instead. And we haven’t even mentioned the lamb: rich, soft and sweet. Try instead of a roast one week, it’s almost zero maintenance. I served mine with some steamed Savoy cabbage and it was wonderful.
PS. I recommend not falling asleep halfway through cooking – it does need the occasional baste!
Put the onions in a baking tray and mix with the tomatoes. Fill one of the tomato tins with water and slosh that in too. Poke the lamb all over with the tip of a sharp knife. Break the garlic into bits and stuff into the holes, then cram some torn mint on top. Pop this on top of the tomato mix, season like billy-o and slam in the oven.
Cook for about 3 - 4 hours, or until the lamb is tender. Baste frequently to make a lovely cakey crust on the lamb, and you may need to add water from time to time to stop the whole thing drying out.
About 20 mins before the end of cooking, throw in the macaroni and oregano, stir about and put back in the oven. Continue to add water through this cooking time as necessary.
Serve by hacking the lamb into chunks with a big scoop of tomatoey onion pasta.
If you’re a regular reader of this blog you might notice I do a lot of things “from scratch” (I really hate that phrase, like a badge of snobbish one-upmanship), because I enjoy it and I like knowing what goes into my dinner. In my time of course I’ve used pasta sauces and the like, and they range from OK to pretty good to truly vomit-inducing (usually ones that involve mascarpone).
I wouldn’t usually blog about such a jar but I happened to use a Seriously Good pasta sauce. These are Gordon Ramsay-devised with a 10p donation to Comic Relief for each jar sold. And no, Gordon doesn’t get a penny. There’s a bunch of flavours, and the one I used happened to be cherry tomato & balsamic. Peering over the ingredients list on the label is very surprising: you can pronounce everything. And I can buy all of them in any supermarket. That’s very reassuring.
I chucked it in a pasta bake with some chorizo and courgette, and it was lovely. Well worth a try – certainly if you find it on promotion, as it was in my local Sainsbury’s. At least bask in the glow of making a small donation to a good cause 🙂
Seriously good pasta bake (serves 4):
400g fusilli
100g chorizo, roughly diced
2 large courgettes
1 jar Seriously Good cherry tomato and balsamic sauce
Cheddar cheese
Some basil leaves, shredded
Splash of balsamic vinegar
Preheat the oven to 180°C.
Get a pan of salted water on to boil and cook the pasta according to the packet instructions. Get on with the rest of the recipe and when ready, drain until needed.
In a large oven-proof pan, heat a little oil and add the chorizo. Cook briefly until it starts to colour on all sides, then add the courgette.
Continue to fry for 3-4 minutes, tossing frequently so the courgette gets coated in the rich chorizo juices and is starting to turn tender.
Add the sauce, then refill the jar half-full with water. Sloosh it around to gather up the dregs of the sauce and pour into the pan. Bring up to the boil and then add the drained pasta. Make sure everything is well-mixed and pop into an oven for ten minutes, or until the tops of the pasta sticking out are starting to turn dark-brown.
Scatter the basil over the top, grate some cheddar over and sprinkle with balsamic. Grind a little black pepper on top and a swirl of your best extra virgin olive oil, then return to the oven for a further minute or two, until the cheese has melted. Serve piping hot.
I love being invited to barbecues, especially for the social aspect. But I do experience a twinge of disappointment when it’s just sausages and burgers from Iceland on offer. All food does taste better outside it’s true, but it’s nice to have something a bit different. How about a whole lamb? How about a whole chicken?
I’ve used Jamie Oliver’s recipe for barbecue sauce from Jamie at Home here, and it’s an absolute cracker. The kicker is the orange juice, it really makes it. Do give it a whirl, it’s amazing. I decided to brine the chicken as I’m bit obssessed with it lately, but you can skip this if you want. You get the tenderest meat from it though.
Whole barbecued chicken (serves 8):
2kg chicken, the best you can afford
1 heaped tablespoon cumin seeds
1 heaped tablespoon fennel seeds
5 cloves
A bunch of thyme, leaves picked
A bunch of rosemary, leaves picked (keep a sprig back for later)
Zest and juice of 1 orange
1 bulb of garlic, broken into cloves and peeled
4 heaped teaspoons paprika
6 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
150ml tomato ketchup
8 tablespoons olive oil
10 bay leaves
Prepare an 8% brine solution. Dunk the chicken in it and soak for at least 6 hours.
After this time, remove the chicken from the water and spatchcock it. To do this, cut down the backbone with kitchen scissors and wipe the innards down. Place it right way up and apply a little pressure to the breast, cracking it slightly. It should open like a book. Spear it in place with two skewers crossing over. The spatchcocking will cook it quicker and the skewers keep its shape while it cooks. If you have time dry the chicken out uncovered in the fridge overnight.
Preheat the oven to 180°C. To make the marinade grind together all the spices with some salt and pepper. Chop the herbs and orange finely and mix that in. Add the rest of the ingredients and mix thoroughly. Smother the chicken all over with the marinade and bung on a baking tray in the oven. After it’s been in the oven for 30 minutes, light the barbecue.
Cook the chicken for an hour or until the internal temperature reaches 74°C. (For best results, use a meat thermometer).
Transfer the whole chicken to the barbecue and sear it well one side. As it cooks use a rosemary sprig to baste it with leftover sauce from your tray. Flip it over and when done, leave to rest on a plate. While it rests, pop the baking tray on the barbecue and let the heat sizzle the leftover marinade and get stickier. Pour this into a jug and serve with the chicken. I recommend plonking on the table and letting everyone have at it like vultures!
I’m quite a fan of pilaff-style dishes and this Ottolenghi feast is no exception. Tasty as always, though I’m not entirely convinced all three carbs are essential: lentils, noodles and rice? I’d drop either of the first two and probably not notice. To round it out I also wanted some veg so I bunged a few green beans in and they provided a satisfying fresh crunch.
Koshari:
300g green lentils (I used tinned to avoid the dull and lengthy cooking process)
200g basmati rice
40g unsalted butter
50g spaghetti, broken into 4 cm pieces
400ml vegetable stock
½ teaspoon grated nutmeg
1 ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
4 tablespoons olive oil
2 white onions, halved and thinly sliced
Handful of green beans, cut into 4cm pieces
For the tomato sauce:
4 tablespoons olive oil
2 garlic cloves, crushed
2 red chillies, seeded and finely diced
Tin of tomatoes
370 ml water
4 tablespoons cider vinegar
3 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons ground cumin
Handful of coriander leaves
For the sauce, heat the olive oil in a saucepan, add the garlic and fry for 2 minutes. Add the rest of the sauce ingredients apart from the coriander. Bring to the boil, then simmer for about 20 minutes til slightly thickened. Remove from heat, stir in coriander. Season to taste with salt, pepper, more coriander if you like. Keep it hot or leave it to cool – either will work with the hot kosheri.
To make the kosheri, melt the butter in a large saucepan. Add the raw noodles, stir and continue frying and stirring til the pasta turns golden brown. Add the rice and mix well. Now add the stock, nutmeg, cinnamon, lentils, and season. Bring to the boil, cover and then reduce the heat to a minimum and simmer for 12 minutes. Turn off the heat and leave the lid for a further 15 minutes.
Heat the olive oil in a large frying pan, add the onions and saute over medium heat for about 15 minutes til dark brown. Boil or steam the green beans until knife tender and add to the onions. Stir around so they absorb the oniony oil.
To serve, lightly break up the rice with a fork and then add the lentils and most of the onions, reserving a few for garnish. Taste for seasoning and adjust accordingly. Pile the rice high on a serving platter and top with the remaining onions. Serve with the tomato sauce.
