If you are a regular reader of my page you will remember that a few months back I went with a friend to a Moroccan restaurant for lunch one day and fell totally in love with Moroccan food  . . .  exotic North African food which is big on flavour, aroma and spice. 

 

A Tagine is a type of a Moroccan stew which has been named after the clay pot it is traditionally cooked in. Wide and round at the base with a lid that is tall and tapered at the top with a small circular opening which is designed to return  a lot of the condensation to the bottom of the dish, resulting in a stew which is rich, moist and luscious.  You can of course replicate this effect by adding a paper cartouche to an ordinary flame proof casserole dish with a lid.  

  

A cartouche is merely a circle of crumpled grease paper with a hole cut out of the centre.  It works just as beautifully.  Today I used my Le Creuset casserole dish with a cartouche.

 

Some of the flavours traditionally used in Moroccan food would be things like cinnamon, cumin, turmeric, ginger, coriander, saffron, mace, nutmeg, cloves, fennel, anise, cayenne, fenugreek, caraway, black pepper and sesame seed . . .  so think warm spices, sweet spices, fragrant spices  . . . 

 

Their food can also be characterised by the use of dried fruits and citrus, which when combined with meat, fish or poultry, and the warm fragrant spices makes for a wonderful combination . . . 

 

You will also find sauces which are frequently thickened by using ground nuts.  Wholesome and again  . . .  flavourful.

 

This dish today uses chicken thighs . . .  traditionally you would use bone in and skin on thighs, but all I had was the boneless, skinless ones, because we try to eat as lean as we can.  They worked fine.

 

Along with the chicken thighs . . .  I have used ground cumin, cinnamon, ginger and paprika . . .  along with salt and black pepper  . . .  very aromatic.

 

The sauce also contains finely chopped onion and ground almonds  . . .

 

Whole dried apricots provide a sweetness that goes very well with the chicken and other flavours  . . . 

 

I always buy the natural ones for the most part, which haven't been treated with sulphur  They are not as bright orange and jewel-like as the other ones, but they are filled with untainted flavour  . . .

 

Just use what you have  . . .  I am thinking a handful of prunes would also go very well.

 

A handful of chopped mint goes in along with the apricots . . .  adding a lovely flavour as well . . .  mint is a really under-used herb.  Its quite common to serve it with lamb, but it goes very well in this dish.

 

Our house smelled lovely while this was cooking . . . 

   

I served it with some cooked brown basmati rice, but couscous would be much more traditional.

 

If you are a family that usually opts for a Chinese or an Indian meal on Saturday nights, I challenge you to try Moroccan for a change!  I think you will be pleasantly surprised! A flat bread would be nice with this to help sop up all of that delicious gravy! 

 

With Saint Patrick's Day being on Sunday I thought it would be fun to make a smaller batch of Irish Stew for the smaller family.  This recipe will serve 3, or 2 people generously.  Or two people on the day and one with the leftovers the day after. 

  

Its a simple and yet attractive stew, using simple methods and simple ingredients, because lets face it . . .  the Irish were basically a very poor people, a humble people, without artifice, and many did not have stoves or ovens, but cooked over an open fire on the hearth.

 

This is a recipe I adapted from one I found in this book.  It is originally meant to feed four people generously.  This is a great book by the way.  I have had it for a few years now and every recipe tried has been a real winner. Its from the Love Food people.

 

All you need for it is some stewing lamb  . . .  you could use neck fillets if you wanted to, I just used cubed stewing lamb I got at the shops.  British or Welsh lamb is not quite in season yet, so suspect this was NZ lamb.

 

There is no browning or faffing about with the meat, which also lessens the fat calories.  You just season and dust the cubed lamb with flour and lay it in the bottom of a heavy casserole dish. (I used my medium sized Le Creuset.)

 

Once the lamb is in the bottom, you layer on diced onion and sliced carrots.  I like to lightly season each layer. 

 

Once you have those layered in, you cover the top with wedges of potato.  I used two medium/large potatoes, peeled and cut into wedges.  I got kind of fanciful when I layered them on top. I thought it looked quite pretty. 

 

Finally you just pour over a mix of hot stock and dried thyme. The recipe called for beef stock.  If I do it again, I will use chicken stock. I thought some of the integrity of the lamb was lost by using beef, but that may just be me.

 

After that you just cover it up tightly and let the oven do the work.  Go read a book, do some knitting, housework, whatever  . . .

 

The recipe didn't call for it, but about 15 minutes before it was done, I took it out of the oven and brushed the potatoes with some butter, then popped it back into the oven at a higher temperature. It browned the potatoes up a bit, which I thought was a nice touch. 

 

This was a really lovely stew.  I am thinking if you didn't have lamb, you could do beef or pork in the same way, probably even chicken would be good done this way. 

  

This is something I have done with stew since I was a child.  I like to mash the potatoes up a bit and dab some butter on them. (Don't judge me.)  Its really good that way.  I also love sweet pickles with stew, but those don't exist over here, so I just think about how good they used to be and settle for what I have.

 

Todd had the leftovers today for his dinner and he said it tasted even better than it had the other day when I made it.  That is often the way with stews. They seem to taste better upon "ripening" overnight.  Yum!  I think the Irish would approve!

 

Simple Simon met a Pie Man going to the fair, said Simple Simon to the Pie Man, let me taste your ware.  Said the Pie Man to Simple Simon, show me first your penny.  Said Simple Simon to the Pie Man, Indeed I have not any." 

Such a sad verse I think!  I can remember reading this as a child and feeling very sorry for Simple Simon.  Pies have always been one of my favourite things!

  

Everyone in my family is the same.  If it is between two crusts, sitting beneath a crust, or sitting on top of a crust . . .  we are ALL over it! 

 

Largely due in fact to  my mother's ability to make really fabulous pies, sweet or savoury.  We loved the sweet of course . . .  but we were also very fond of her savoury pies.  I don't think we had a roast dinner when I was growing up that wasn't followed by a tasty pot pie later in the week. My mother had the God given ability to make leftovers taste brand new and just as yummy, if not more yummy than the original dinner! 

 

I like to think I have somewhat inherited that ability in that I, too, can create wonderful things from leftovers.  Take for instance this delicious beef stew I made the other night.  My Todd really loves a stew, and I do also.  Sometimes I put potatoes in the stew, but he really likes potatoes on the side as mash, so more often that not I will do that.

 

So anyways I made a pretty basic stew for us for tea one night last week, using only beef, carrots, parsnips, onions, celery and swede/turnips/rutabaga . .  . leaving out the potato because Todd wanted mash.  I had in mind to serve it on two nights as there are only two of us . . .  so once again a perfect opportunity for me to make something tasty from leftovers.

  

This stew is pretty fabulous, and you an double it to serve more people if you would like.  Stews are pretty simple dishes to do and they basically (after the initial browning of the meat) cook themselves.

 

I had in mind the night after to make a simple Pie for us to enjoy, using the leftover stew.  Pretty basic really.  It was not hard.

 

I made my own pastry for it, but you could use any store bought ready rolled short crust pastry you can get.  Even puff pastry is pretty special. 

 

For myself I prefer to use my Butter Lard Pastry.  It is a beautiful pastry that always comes out very flaky and delicious.  There is something very magical and flavourful about pastry that is made with both butter and lard.  In my opinion it can't be beat! 

 

Of course I had not put any potatoes in my stew, and I wanted some in my pie. I always have tinned new potatoes in my store cupboard, which are perfect for things like this, or even just for making fried potatoes. 

 

I warmed the stew gently and added a bit of boiling stock to loosen it a tiny bit. You don't need much.  You just don't it to be really thick.  You want it a bit juicy. 

 

Then I stirred in the sliced potatoes, gently folding them into the stew so as not to break them up too much.  After that I just poured the stew into a baking dish and topped it with my pastry.  I like to get really fancy when I do a meat pie crust.  I always make fancy cuts in it and in this instance I cut out some extra pieces and stuck them on top to decorate it a bit.

 

You can brush it with some beaten egg (1 small egg, 1 tsp water) which really glazes it up nicely. Or you can brush it with some milk.  Heck, you can even just leave it alone.  All are great.  It just depends on how fiddly you want to be.

 

Then you just pop it into a hot oven (200*C/400*F/ gas mark 6) and bake until the filling is bubbling away and the pastry is crisp and golden brown.  Easy peasy.  Everyone is happy.  Obviously for a pie for two people, you will only need half the pastry.  Just wrap and freeze the other disc for another time.  For a pie for more people you can use the whole recipe and just roll it out to cover your casserole dish.  I served this with some coleslaw.  I am not bragging, but . . .  okay maybe a little bit  . . .  it was some tasty!  And it was just leftovers.  I love it when that happens!  No waste here! Happy days! 

 

One of my favourite television shows, long before I even dreamt of moving over to the UK was a British soap opera called Coronation Street.  I started watching it when I was still at school and had no idea that I would one day be living in the North West of England in a brick terraced house.  Funny how life turns out!

 

It was a show my Aunt Freda loved as well.  One of its charms for me was the gritty reality of it.  Not very many people on it were wealthy  . . . no were they drop dead gorgeous, like in the American soaps.  Plus they had jobs that they worked hard at . . .  for the most part they were ordinary working class folk.  I believe it is the longest running soap on television in the world. 

 

A lot of the social life in the show centred around the Rover's Return Pub, which also let out rooms as a B&B on occasion.  True to life there.  Most communities over here have their own "local" as a pub is lovingly known as, and they are truly gathering places and the heart of the community in most cases.

 

As a pub/local the Rovers Return also served some simple food.  Mostly sandwiches, potato chips, nuts and salty snacks,  in addition to the drinks  . . .  but also one of the most famous and popular things on their menu was Betty's Hot Pot.

 

Betty Turpin was a barmaid in the Rover's Return and Betty's Hot Pot was her signature dish.

  

Hotpot is a very regional Lancashire dish consisting essentially of meat, onion and potatoes left to bake in the oven all day in a heavy pot and on a low heat. Originating in the days of heavy industrialisation in Lancashire in the north west of England, it requires a minimum of effort to prepare. 

 

 

The type of meat to be used in a true Lancashire hotpot is a matter of some controversy, with many being of the opinion that it should be lamb (with optional lamb kidneys) and some thinking it should be beef. As much food can be added as will fit in the pot, so it is very easy to increase the quantities to serve more people as desired.

 

We like it with lamb, and today I actually decreased the amounts to create a dish perfectly sized for two people. It worked out very well.

 

I had posted it originally here,  some ten years ago, but thought it would be a good idea to update the recipe with North American measurements, and with nicer photos.  I believe it was one of the first recipes I posted on here, so an update was long overdue!

 

One thing remains true and constant about this dish and that is this . . .  it is simply delicious.  Humble, yet  . . . it almost tastes gourmet . . .

  

It is culinary proof and a testimony to the fact that it really is the simple things in life which bring us the most pleasure!

 

This is comfort food in it's most basic, purest form.  I like to serve it with a green vegetable on the side, but many serve it with red cabbage, which is quite traditional, as is some crusty bread to mop up all the juices!  Bon Appetit!