Sephardic Supper - Ottoman Style Braised Meat with Cannellini Beans

 

 

This recipe is from the most beautiful cookery book I possess - and cookery books are often a work of art these days anyway really, but this one really is beautiful. It's that beautiful that I don't want it splattered with ANYTHING. If you saw the state of some of my 'go to' cookery books, with little notes and the evidence of messy cooking, well, in one way it's quite reassuring of a wonderful collection of recipes, but when I cook anything from this book, it's positioned at the other end of the room from the cooker, for fear that it being any nearer will result in it being in line of a random splatter or mucky fingerprint.

 

 

 

So, I maybe should tell you the name of this cookery book seeing as I have bigged it up in such a way. It's called 'Stella's Sephardic Table' and I spotted it in a book shop a few years ago just before Christmas. It was a revelation - not only was my ego interested as the cover bore my name, but its gold lettering and its origins on the Greek island of Rhodes, coupled with visions of antique maps, and elaborate scroll like writing had me hooked. I wanted it from Christmas, but it was too late to do much about it, so I asked for it for my birthday instead and lo and behold, I was very, very fortunate. (Thank you Phill! xx) 

I should probably also say that this is the biggest cookbook I have ever owned. Big and beautiful.

Anyway, I shall cut to the chase. Seeing as the days are getting colder and I am a big fan of a one pot wonder, I was really tempted by this wonderful recipe which hints at warm, exotic origins and can blip away doing its thing whilst I am doing my thing. I sometimes think I should rename this blog 'One Pot Wonder' because there are so many of them on this blog, but I would find it hard to find anything more satisfying to sit down to after a cold day outside.

 

Ottoman Style Braised Meat with Cannellini Beans, adapted from 'Stella's Sephardic Table' by Stella Cohen

 

Serves Lola, Finn, Mum and Dad and three others

 

Ingredients:

 

2 tbsp. olive oil

1kg of braising steak cubed or other stewing cut, cubed or cut into bitesize pieces

1 marrow bone (probably optional, available from butchers, Waitrose or Ocado, which is where I got mine)

1 large onion, finely chopped

1 leek, washed, white part only, sliced

1 celery stalk (and leafy top, if you like) sliced finely

1 bay leaf

2 sprigs of parsley

500ml chicken stock

Two tins of cannellini beans

1/2 tin chopped tomatoes

1/4 tsp sugar

1 sprig fresh thyme

1/4 tsp red pepper flakes

freshly ground black pepper

1 tsp sea salt

1/2 tbsp. fresh lemon juice

 

Method:

 

 

 

Heat the oil in a large, heavy based pan over a medium high heat. Add the beef and cook in batches. I put the marrow bone in to and kept it in the pan to leech its wonderful bone marrow into the pan as the beef browned. When the beef is browned, remove to a plate.

 

 

 

 Now add the onion, the leek, the celery, bay leaf and parsley sprigs to the pan. Cook until everything is softened and picking up the beef residue from the pan. Return the browned beef to the pan. Add half the stock and bring to the boil. Cover the pan, reduce the heat and allow to simmer gently for an hour or so, or until the meat is tender. Keep checking and add hot water if necessary.

 

Stir in the beans, the tomatoes, sugar, thyme sprigs, red pepper flakes and pepper. Pour in the remaining stock and bring to the boil once again, cover and reduce the heat and simmer for about 30 minutes, but keep checking.

 

Ten minutes before the end of the cooking time, add the salt and lemon juice and discard the herbs. It might be that you want to thicken the sauce and if that is so, remove the lid and increase the heat so that the sauce reduces. When it is at the consistency, taste and adjust the seasoning if necessary.

 

 

 

Serve in huge bowls!

 

 

 

 

A Trifle Late for Christmas, but maybe it will do next time around!! Baileys and Banana Trifle

 

 

Of course, if I was any good, I  would have made this from scratch, but considering I am not on Bake Off or Masterchef or something, and I am, in fact, a frazzled mother of two who wanted to do more than she had time to, this trifle is 'assembled', but honestly, it is not the worst for it. It is, frankly, scrumptious and I don't care that I didn't make it. It saved the day when I realised that my plan to have a trifle on my Christmas buffet was seriously not going to happen in time. Forgetting to start the night before was the reason everything went to pot. I should start to leave myself lists everywhere so I have a fighting chance of being organised.

 

So, all of the ingredients I got at the supermarket. The exertion on my part consisted of whipping the cream (by proxy, of course; out came the trusty Kenwood), peeling a couple of bananas, opening a tin of conny onny (Carnation) caramel and locating the Baileys in the drinks' cupboard. A quick assembly job and a grating of chocolate over the top and you are good to go. And your guests will be extraordinarily grateful for, I repeat, this is scrumptious!!

 

The original recipe is from the BBC Good Food website. I made a 'super trifle' and instead of serving them in individual glasses, I made one big affair for people to take as little or as much as they want. One must never be stingy with trifle. I also used whipped double cream instead of extra thick because I wanted something pliable enough to pipe, and they had none left in the supermarket. Grrrrr. I also, because it was a big trifle dish, upped the quantity of cream, caramel and brownies, because you cannot have enough of any of those if you ask me!

 

Bailey's and Banana Trifle, adapted from BBC Good Food Website

 

Ingredients:

 

600ml double cream, whipped to a stiff peak

7 tbsp Baileys

400g chocolate brownies (I got the ones that you can often get from in store bakeries)

3 bananas, sliced

500g pot vanilla custard

one tin of carnation caramel (or dulce de leche)

50g chocolate, grated

 

Method:

 

Whip the cream with 1 tbsp Baileys, and set aside.

 

 

 

In a pretty trifle bowl, place the brownies, broken up if need's be. Drizzle with the remaining tbsps. of Baileys.

 

 

Top with the sliced bananas, custard, caramel sauce and Baileys cream. (I decided to pipe the cream over the top... you don't have to!)

 

 

 

When ready to serve, grate chocolate over the top.

 

Can be made a few hours ahead

New looking blog, same old blogposts - Roasted Lamb Chops with Roasted Vegetables and Harissa Sauce

 

 

My poor little blog, how I have neglected you.

 

I don't know how people who actually work for a living blog regularly and do all the other things that need doing. It is not that I haven't been cooking and therefore have nothing to talk about, because I have. And whilst every other food blogger in the history of creation is giving us virtuous recipes, because it is January and everybody is on a diet, no doubt, (this might be an over generalisation) I might decide to post all about the calorie laden amazingness that happened in December, because it suits my subversive nature and because I am a crap food blogger who, if she was less crap, would have blogged all about these yummy things before Christmas so she could have been helpful to her readership. But I didn't, and I am not. It is, what it is.

 

Anyway, I am going to try to pay my blog a little bit more attention this year and my first action was to shake things up a little. I had, in my mind, a vision of a blog that had clean lines, beautiful photography, exuding a sense of elegance, etc. and as you can see, I failed. I like my handwriting font though, and for some time yesterday there was no blog as I spent two hours trying to remove a background from my blog. And then I had the idea of a slideshow... I am really lucky that there is still a blog to speak of.

 

Anyway, to the food. This is easy and soooooooo delish. I bought a tray of lamb chops from the ASDA for a bargain. A BARGAIN!!! They were throwing them out and as regular readers will know, I am not fussy. I bunged them in the freezer and forgot about them, until I discovered them on Christmas Eve whilst I was desperately trying to rearrange the freezer to fit some more food in. I thought, I will cook them And I did. I put them in an ovenproof pan and generously scattered some of my Christmas herbs (thyme and rosemary) over them, plenty of salt and pepper, a couple of glugs of olive oil, bit of a massage, job done. Then I raided the huge amount of vegetables that I had bought for ONE MEAL: (Why do we shop at Christmas like we are expecting the end of civilisation?) some carrots, some parsnips, a couple of red onions, a couple of cloves of crushed garlic, a couple of humungous potatoes; I peeled those that needed peeling, chunked them up, threw them in a roasting tin and scattered thyme, rosemary, salt and pepper and splashed over some olive oil. I put the meat and the vegetables in at the same time, but took the meat out about 10 minutes earlier than the vegetables to allow the meat to rest and to make some kind of sauce from the juices in the pan. I drained off quite a bit of the fat, added a lamb stock cube and 200ml of water and allowed the sauce to bubble away merrily. Once it had reduced, I tasted it, and you know when you taste it and add seasoning but it isn't quite enough. That was where I was at. Then, I spied a jar of harissa paste on the side which I had used a few days previously and because it is me, hadn't put it away. In for a penny, in for a pound, I heaped a teaspoon in and stirred. Transformation.

 

I can't begin to tell you how good this sauce tasted when put with the lamb chops and the vegetables. I know you shouldn't 'Mmmmmmmmm' your way through a meal that you have cooked, but, you know....

 

Roasted Lamb Chops. Roasted Vegetables and Harissa Sauce

 

Serves Lola, Finn, Mum and Dad

 

Ingredients:

 

Six lamb chops

1 - 2 tsp chopped rosemary and thyme

salt and pepper

1 tbsp. olive oil

 

For the potatoes

 

two parsnips, peeled and cut into chunks

two carrots, peeled and cut into chunks

two red onions, peeled and quartered

two crushed cloves of garlic

two large potatoes, peeled and cut into sixths

1 - 2 tsp chopped rosemary and thyme

a generous amount of salt and pepper

2 tbsp. olive oil

 

For the sauce

 

The juices and residue from the lamb chops

a lamb stock cube

200ml water

1 heaped tsp of harissa (or to taste).

 

Method:

 

Preheat the oven to 180c.

 

 

 

Arrange the lamb chops in an ovenproof pan/roasting tray.

 

 

 

Scatter the herbs, the seasoning and the oil over the chops and ensure the chops are evenly covered.

 

 

 

Prepare the roasted vegetables as advised above. Put them into a baking tray and then add the herbs, the seasoning and the oil. Mix the vegetables so that they are evenly coated in the herby, seasoned oil.

 

 

 

Put the meat onto the top shelf of the oven and cook for about 30 minutes or to your liking. Put the vegetables on the middle shelf. The vegetables will take longer to cook.

 

Once the meat is done, take it out and put it onto a plate and cover with foil. Put the vegetables up onto the higher shelf and increase the temperature to 225c. Keep an eye on them so they don't burn.

 

 

 

Drain as much of the fat as you can from the pan that you cooked the meat in. Break up a stock cube into the pan and add 200ml of water, scraping the bits off the bottom of the pan with a wooden spoon. Allow the sauce to boil until it reduces by half, or to a consistency that you prefer. Taste and adjust the seasoning if necessary.

 

Place a spoonful of harissa into the sauce and mix it in. Taste the sauce.

 

 

 

By this time, the vegetables should be ready. Serve the lamb chops with the vegetables with some of the sauce drizzled over.