chicken fattee

 

keeping to the theme of food that is difficult to photograph in an appealing way, let me share with you the culinary delight that is chicken fattee. this moro recipe, chicken fattee with rice, crispbread and yogurt to give it its full name, is a much-loved favourite of mine.

i think it was one of the first recipes i made from casa moro and is one which i return to regularly. it’s not quick to pull together but the different components can all be prepared in advance (i wrap them in foil and warm through gently in the oven) and work together wonderfully.

it is a great dish for feeding people frugally – one chicken can be stretched to feed eight without any problem. i also think it has a wonderful celebratory feel – i pile it up on a large platter in the middle of the table and tell people to help themselves. my vegetarian equivalent is diana henry’s bulgar and spinach pilaf with labneh and chilli roast tomatoes.

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roasted aubergine and chilli linguine

i had a few aubergines leftover from my halloumi and aubergine parcels. i roasted these for baba ganoush but, when it came to it, after a crazy busy day and a damp journey home, i had a real pasta craving. but no inspiration.

my problem was no tomatoes which is, to me, an obvious partner for aubergine. so, having googled and read through various tomatoey aubergine recipes, i came up with this combination which actually worked really well.

the resulting dish has wonderfully gentle flavours – just the thing for a gloomy london evening. the slow-cooked garlic, slightly smoky aubergine and rich parmesan contrast really nicely with the freshness and zing of chilli and lemon.

i’m sending this over to wiffy at noob cook who is this week’s host for presto pasta nights.

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aubergine parcels of halloumi and rocket with roast garlic and shallot raita

 

so, sticking with the purple love theme, onto aubergines!

i loved this dennis cotter recipe for aubergine parcels of halloumi and rocket with roast garlic and shallot raita. the raita, which also contained lime, chives and mustard seeds, was my favourite part of the dish and i was glad i made extra as i’ve been using it as a dip all week.

this is the first thing i’ve cooked from wild garlic, gooseberries ...and me. all recipes are vegetarian and i think it’s going to be great for thinking about certain ingredients in different ways - adding mustard seeds to the raita really makes it special and there is no way i could have come up with that on my own.

this is the kind of cookery book i really love – the unusual aspects of a recipe mean i often can’t quite imagine what the result will taste like so i have to cook it!

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ready, steady, paperchef!

 

paperchef is a longstanding food blogging event, hosted by owen from tomatilla, which is similar to the british tv show ready steady cook.

a selection of ingredients is provided which you must use (or have a good reason for substituting something similar) and a time within which you have to create a suitable dish.

this month’s ingredients are:

1. smoked fish
2. aubergine
3. chile peppers
4. something that symbolises home

despite being in the middle of a desperate rush to use up everything that could go off before heading off on holiday i decided to get involved.

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warm lamb and aubergine salad with pomegranate

 

one of the things i love about weekends is that you have time to cook things slowly and over long periods of time.

shoulder of lamb is a cut of meat that i want to use more often . it’s good value for money and the meat tastes fantastic, especially if you cook it long and slow. i did a version of this lamb and aubergine ragu using lamb shoulder (which was cooked using the method detailed below) and it was fabulous.

however, despite the chilly weather i wanted to do something lighter this time and was inspired by the nigella lawson recipe for shredded lamb salad with mint and pomegranate (where i discovered this method of cooking shoulder of lamb).

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