Moroccan Style Lasagna

I really like to make good use of my leftovers. No waste. Plus the flavours come out really nice. Last Sunday I roasted a leg of lamb. It was quite big so I had a big portion left. Normally I do a curry. This time I was inspired to do lasagna , I done it before with pork leftovers and it came really tasty. This lasagna tastes a bit like a very mild curry, and it's basically the same ingredients I normally use to make a curry. Good to change and try new things. As I always say keep it interesting.

Moroccan Lasagna

Ingredients

Lasagna sheets
400g butternut squash
300g cooked lamb (you can easily do this with lamb mince)
200g baby spinach
2 onions
2 cloves of garlic
1tsp ground cinnamon
1tsp ground coriander
1tsp ground cumin
300 ml of vegetable or lamb stock
2 tbsp tomato puree'
1 tin chopped tomatoes
Seasoning
Bread crumbs
Olive oil

For the white sauce

Ingredients

450ml of full fat milk
40g butter
40g plain flour
Pinch of nutmeg
Seasoning

Preparation time: 20 minutes
Cooking time: about an hour
Total Time: Over an hour
Serves : 4
Level : Medium

Method

Heat some oil in a pan , add the onions, garlic and butternut squash in the pan , cover and leave to cook slowly for ten minutes, or until everything is soft. Cut the butternut squash into 2cm cubes (approximately) . Add all your spices to the pan stir in and cook for another minute. Add the lamb, (if it's mince brown it all over first). Add the tomato paste, the chopped tomatoes and the stock. bring to a boil and leave to cook uncovered for about 20 minutes. This will give you the time to prepare the white sauce. Melt the butter, and add the flour to it, cook for a minute or so. Add the milk slowly and stir constantly . Heat up slowly until thick enough. Leave a little while on the side. Return to your lamb sauce now, taste it and see if it needs any seasoning. Add the spinach and cover for 3 minutes. It will look like a lot of spinach, but it will wilt away. Uncover , stir and take off the heat.
Start layering your lasagna, first pour a little white sauce on the bottom of an oven proof dish and layer your sheets neatly to cover the base. Now pour some lamb sauce and a little more white sauce. Keep doing this until you fill your dish and finish your lamb sauce. Final layer should be of the lasagna sheets covered with the white sauce and sprinkle over the golden bread crumbs. Put in a preheated oven 190 degrees, middle shelf. Bake for about 35 minutes. Take out and leave to cool for 15 minutes before serving . Serve with garlic bread.

Pork and Bean Stew

Very little needed to cook this meal. But yet the flavours are big. I guarantee that all your family will love it. An affordable family meal. That you will cook over and over again. at first sight it won't look brilliant or the best meal ever, as it's not so colorful. You have to try it to prove me right.

Pork and Bean Stew

Ingredients

500g of pork fillet cut into cubes
1 onion
2 garlic cloves
4 sweet potatoes. ( around 350g)
2 tbsp of smoked paprika
1 bay leave
2 spring of rosemary
Olive oil
200 ml of white wine
800ml of vegetable stock
1 tin butter beans
1 tin haricot beans
Seasoning
1 tbsp plain flour

For the Salad

Ingredients

2 carrots
1/2 a red onion
1 gem lettuce
2 ripe vine tomatoes
1 tbsp of dijon mustard
1 tbsp red wine vinegar
Seasoning


Preparation Time: 15 minutes
Cooking Time : 2 hours
Total Time: 2 hours 15 minutes
Serves : 4
Level : Easy

Method

The stew

Mix the pork with some oil , paprika and seasoning. Leave to infuse for 10 minutes. Heat some more oil in a pot. Brown the pork all over, and just before putting it aside, add the flour to the pork and stir all very well before you put in a bowl on the side. Add a little more oil to the pan , and fry the onion and garlic, while scraping all the flavours off the bottom left from the pork. Add the wine and aliitle more paprika, cook away all the alcohol. Add the drained beans,bayleave, rosemary springs and the pork back to the pan. Add the stock and the sweet potatoes. Stir, bring to a boil , cover and leave to cook really slowly for about two hours. At the end you should have a nice thick stew. Fish out the stalks of the rosemary and the bayleave before serving.

The Salad

Grate the carrots. Roughly chop the gem lettuceand the tomatoes finley chop the onion, and combine it all in a salad bowl. In a seperate bowl add the mustard and the red wine vinegar together, with some seasoning. Stir in with your salad well so eveything is well flavoured.

Serve the salad along side your stew with some bread to mop all the sauce off your bowl .

Spaghetti Bolognese

I don't cook a lot of pasta , it's not so favourite around my house, but I was brought up with pasta. It was always a favourite for me, I was happy to eat pasta everyday . Pasta hasn't really got a big flavour to it. So you need a bit of ingredients to go with it and give a nice flavour , bulk it up and make interesting. You can cook it with pretty much anything. I think this traditional dish gives it all the flavors one can think of. I normally cook a big batch of it as it takes hours to cook. And freeze half of it , for another time. Just put a label and date on it and make sure you use it up within a month. Brilliant for when having a busy day , or maybe a lazy one ;)

Bolognese Sauce

Ingredients

500g of minced beef
2x tins of chopped tomatoes
2 onions
2 carrots
2 cloves of garlic
3 celery sticks
4 rashers of streaky bacon
1 tbsp tomato puree'
1 tsp oregano
1 tsp ground cinnamon
Olive oil
Seasoning
100ml of warm beef stock
1 spring of thyme
1 bay leave
Worcester Sauce

For the Spaghetti

200g of pasta
Parmesan
20g of butter
Olive oil


Preparation Time: 15 minutes
Cooking Time : 1hour 30 minutes
Total Time: Nearly 2 hours
Serves :6
Level: Easy

Method

Chop all the vegetables.I normally grate my carrots. It makes it easier for the kids to eat, You know kids sometimes can be picky and if they don't now it's there , then they'll eat it. Heat some oil in a pan big enough, for all your ingredients. Put all your vegetables in the pan and leave to cook for 10 minutes on a low flame, you don't want to caramelize your onions. Put the bacon and the mince in and turn the heat up. Brown all over . Add a good splash of Worcester sauce, Or wine maybe if you prefer. If I'm honest in a dish like this I see it a waste adding wine. Cook well and reduce by half. Add all your herbs and spices. Give it a good stir and cook for another minute. Add the tomatoes, the puree', the stock and a pinch of sugar. Bring to a boil and leave to cook for an hour 30 minutes.

Boil the spaghetti and drain. In the same pan melt the butter with a little oil.Take off the heat. Add the spaghetti back to the pan and cote well with the butter. Sprinkle a little Parmesan . Serve your spaghetti with the bolognese sauce and more Parmesan.

Side Root Vegetables (to serve with roast dinner)

We all love a roast dinner. But it's nice to keep a little interesting, vary the vegetables that you serve long, or maybe use the same ones and give them a little twist. Today I done a leg of lamb. But didn't put any work in that to be honest. I chucked it in the slow cooker first thing in the morning, and leave it too cook on medium for six hours. You can never go wrong , with any meat. So I had space in the oven for all the veggies then. Even time to play around and make different flavours.

For the Parsnips

Ingredients

5 big parsnips cut in quarters and lengthwise.
2 heaped tablespoons of plain flour
50g of Parmesan cheese
Seasoning
Olive oil

For the Carrots

5 big carrots
2 tbsp maple syrup
Thyme leave picked
50g Butter
Seasoning

For the Potatoes

8 big potatoes peeled and halved
2 table spoons of goose fat
2 springs of rosemary (picked and finely chopped)
Seasoning
Olive oil

Preperation Time: 45 minutes
Cooking Time : 1 hour
Total Time: Nearly 2 hours
Serves : 6
Level : Medium

Method

Potatoes

Preheat your oven on 200 degrees. Peel and chop all your vegetables. Start with the potatoes best, as they are the ones that take longer. Boil some water and put the potatoes in, boil until you can prick with a fork but not break. Strain and leave to steam dry in the colander for 5 minutes. In the meantime in an oven proof dish scoop out to heaped tablespoons of goose fat and in the dish. Put in the oven to melt. Take it out of the oven very carefully. This will be all bubbling and splashing. Add the potatoes to the dish . Cover in the goose fat and drizzle over some oil. Sprinkle the fine cut rosemary over , season and in the oven to bake for an hour. Or until the potatoes are brown all over. Half way through the cooking, take them out and turn them, so they have color all over.

Parsnips

Now for the parsnips, boil in some boiling water for about 3 minutes. Drain and leave to steam dry in the colander for 5 minutes. In a separate bowl mix the flour , Parmesan and seasoning together. Mix and coat well the parsnips in the flour mixture. And pile neatly flat next to each other in an oven proof dish. Bake in the oven with the potatoes on the top shelf for 45 minutes.

Carrots

Boil the carrots in some boiling water, until cooked to your desired likings. I like mine a little crunchy. Not too much thou. Drain and leave to drain and steam dry. When ready to serve put in a pan of melted butter and a splash of oil. Reheat and drizzle with the maple syrup , sprinkle the thyme leaves , season and serve.

Hearty Beef and Ale Stew

Very easy to prepare. It does take quite a lot of time to cook, but not much mess in the kitchen, or time to do it. Just chop some vegetables, chuck it all in a big pot and leave to cook for hours. I thing nothing beats a stew in these wet, cold winter days. You could even bulk it up a little with some dumplings. I'm not making them today in my stew, I went for an easier option, chop some fresh crusty bread, spread with a lot of butter and dip in your stew.

Beef and Ale Stew

Ingredients

3 carrots
2 celery sticks
1 big onion
2 cloves of garlic crushed
500g of stewing beef (cut in cubes)
500ml of ale beer
1 tin chopped tomatoes
1 tbsp tomato puree'
300ml of beef stock
2 bay leaves
2 springs of fresh thyme
Olive oil
2 tbsp of plain flour
Seasoning


Preparation Time: 15 minutes
Cooking Time: 3 hours
Total Time: £hours 15 minutes
Level: Easy
Serves two

Method

Chop all your vegetables. Leave all cut a bit chunky. As the stew will take hours to cook , you might end up with nothing in there, as it all melts and goes really tender. So if you leave it all a it chunky you can see the bits of carrots on your spoon , while eating. Put everything in the pot with the oil thyme and bay leaves. Leave to soften for about 10 minutes. In the meantime, season your meat. Now in with the meat and brown all over. When the meat is brown, add the flour and cook for another two minutes. Now it's time to add the ale, the chopped tomatoes and the puree. I add a pinch of sugar at this stage. Stir all well and add the beef stock. Bring everything to a boil and season. Put on a very low flame, cover and leave to cook for three hours. It will all look really liquidy at this stage, and a big portion. Bu this will all shrink away and thicken too. At this stage you can even decide to cook it in a slow cooker instead. The only difference is that you need to half all your liquids. The stock and the booze. Because it won't evaporate in there, therefore the result will be too liquidy for a stew.
Serve with warm bread and enjoy.

Chilli Con Carne

Who doesn't like a chili, that kick in your dinner. Well I know I do. I am a chili freak. I don't really feel the heat anymore. Luckily enough both my kids are OK with it. So I don't have any problem with spicy dinners. You can always avoid to put a chili in, maybe just a little a powder to give that light chili kick. Well a dollop of sour cream and guacamole works just fine with me.

Chili Con Carne

Ingredients

1 tin chickpeas
1 tin kidney beans
1 tin chopped tomatoes
1 onion
2 garlic cloves
2 small carrots
2 celery sticks
1 red pepper
1 chili (deseeded if you don't want to much spice)
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground chili

For the rice

1 cup of rice
2 knobs of butter
A drizzle of olive oil
Half the juice of a life
Seasoning

For the Jacket potatoes

2 jacket potatoes
Seasoning
Olive oil
Rosemary
A clove of garlic

Preparation Time: 30 minutes
Cooking Time: About 1 hour
Total Time: Over an hour

Method

Get all the ingredients ready. In a hot and sizzling pan fry the mince. This is done separately because of all the fat that comes out form the meat. Therefore it won't thicken well enough for you. When the mince is ready cooked, pick it up with a slotted spoon and put a side for a while. Remove all the fat from the pan. Add some more oil to the pan and add the onions . Soften for five minutes and the carrots and the celery. Cook away for another five minutes before adding the red pepper, the chili and the crushed garlic. Now add all the spices. Mix it all well and fry for 3 more minutes, or until all combined. Now drain the kidney beans and the chickpeas and into the pan with the rest of the vegetables, alongside with the chopped tomatoes. Fill the tin of your tomatoes with water and in the pan it goes. Stir it all and bring to boil. Leave uncovered and simmer on a low heat for about 45minutes to an hour , you want all the water to evaporate. If you think it' dry before taking time to cook away, add another splash of water to it. You want to cook well ,to release all the flavours.
For the jackets, stab all over and put in a microwave proof bowl. Add all the ingredients and cover with cling film. Put in the microwave for 15 minutes. Check them by stabbing them with knife before serving them. You want to make sure they are well cooked before you serve it.
For the rice , put it in a pan with all the ingredients and cover with water. Cover and cook for about 13 minutes, until all the water is evaporated.

 

Chicken and Chorizo Paella

This is a Spanish dish. I quite like to cook different cuisines . Makes dinner interesting . Well this dish is normally served with clams or some sort f other fish.  won't be adding any sort of seafood to my paella. But feel free to do it if you like it. I am not a fish eater at all. i know coming from a Country like Malta , surrounded by fish and lots of heritage about fisher man villages. But I just don't like it , not even the smell of it.

 

Chicken and Chorizo Paella and Bruschetta

For the Chicken and Chorizo
Ingredients

6 chicken legs on the bone

1 chorizo sausage, sliced
3 rashers of bacon

1 large onion finely chopped

3 garlic cloves, crushed
2 red peppers chopped
3 chillies seeds removed
2 tsp smoked paprika
1 litre warm chicken stock
300g paella rice
Oil

For the Bruschetta
Ingredients

1 ciabatta loaf
Olive oil
Cherry tomatoes
Red onion
2 garlic cloves
Mixed herbs

Preparation Time : 30 minutes
Cooking Time: 1 hour
Total time : 1 hour 30 minutes
Serves: 3-4
Level : Medium

Method

Get it all ready , so you won't forget anything . Well ideally you cook this in a paella dish. I don't have on so I used a big deep pan. Start browning by browning your chicken all over, and set aside. In the same pan fry the chorizo until nice brown and crisp all over, add the bacon half way so you crisp it as-well. There will be some vibrant colors in your pan and the smell in your kitchen , divine. Lower the heat and add the onion until soft about 3 minutes. Add the crushed garlic and cook for a further minute. Now the peppers paprika and chillies. Give it all a good stir, and return the chicken back to the pan. Simmer for 25 minutes. Add the paella rice , stir and cover tightly. Keep an eye on it as the water will be all absorbed and it might catch a little.

 

 

 

For the Bruschetta

Method

Cut the ciabatta loaf into little strips, rub it with a garlic clove , drizzle with some oil , sprinkle some mixed herbs and put in the oven for 6-8 minutes. In the meantime, chop your cherry tomatoes in quarters and finely chop the onion , put in a bowl with a drizzle of oil and seasoning , and serve along side with the bread and the Paella.