MOROCCAN LAMB...

I just got the BBC Foods app and went browsing and found this very simple recipe. I only added one more ingredient to it and it was delicious. I really am a lazy fellow and i put the on to cook, watched an episode of Chopped and came back and voila...

1 Kg Lamb

1 Tablespoon Ground Cinnamon

1 Teaspoon Tumeric

1 Tablespoon Paprika

Salt & Pepper

2 Cans of Chopped Tomatoes

Garlic

Chopped Parsley

2 Tablespoons Vegetable Oil

Chop lamb into 1 inch pieces (i always like to have a bit of bone 'cos that's where a lot of flavour hides). Season with salt, pepper and garlic and set aside for about an hour.

Add oil to hot pan or pot then add lamb and brown on all sides for about 5 minutes.

Add spices and stir and allow to cook for another minute until aromatic (i love the sound of that :D).

Stir in chopped tomatoes, one can at a time.

Taste for seasoning.

Cover and turn down the heat then go do as i did and watch tv for an hour, come back and stir every 15 minutes or so.

Take off the heat and garnish with chopped parsley.

Serve up with rice, couscous or even pasta. We had it with pasta and it was amazing!!!

STUFFED CHICKEN BREASTS WITH CREAMY MUSHROOM SAUCE...

This meal needs some overnight prepping, unless of course you're not big on brining your chicken. I read up about brining and found everything to be true. Especially in recipes that you have to sear then oven roat or grill your meat, you meat could end up really dry especially if you over cook it. Brining infuses moisture as well as flavour and leaves you meat moist. 

Everything else is pretty straight forward...even though it may seem to have a lot of ingredients, just stick with me.

6 Boneless Chicken Breasts

1 Cup Cream Cheese

1 Cup Chopped Spinach

1 Cup Chopped Button Mushrooms

1 Can Cream of Chicken Soup. (Yes, you can totally re-purpose these.)

2 Eggs

2 Cups of Flour

1 Teaspoon Corriander

1/2 Cup White Wine

1/4 Cup Vegetable Oil

1 Tablespoon Sugar

1 Teaspoon Thyme

Salt & Pepper

3 Bay Leaves

1 Tablespoon Ground Peppercorns

Garlic and Ginger

1 Onion

Toothpicks

Lay your chicken breast on a flat surface ad get a sharp knife to butterfly it with.

Placing one palm on top of the breast, slit the side in the middle so you have two (almost) equal halves and open up. Cut one side too thin and you will have your stuffing bursting out. make sure not to cut it all the way through.

Do this to all 6 breasts.

In a big bowl add a teaspoon of salt, sugar, peppercorns, bay leaves and coriander and cover with 3 cups of boiling water. Stir it properly and allow the water to stand until it has cooled down completely.

Stir again thoroughly then add the chicken breasts. Cover with cling film and pop into the fridge for 8 - 24hours.

Day 2 of cooking, mix cream cheese, spinach, half your mushrooms, salt and pepper in a bowl and set aside.

Break eggs into a bowl and whisk.

Pour flour into another bowl, season with salt, pepper, garlic and ginger and set aside.

Place another tray at the end to end this assembly line.

Bring out chicken breasts from brine and pat dry with paper towel. DO NOT RINSE.

Scoop in some of your cream cheese mix. Don't over stuff or you will be unable to seal it.

After scooping paste in, use a couple of toothpicks to "stitch" the chicken shut.

Take each piece of chicken through the assembly line. Start with dunking chicken in eggs, then dust in flour, then place on a tray for about 10 minutes so the flours sets on the breast.

Turn on your  oven.

Pour about a little oil, just to glaze the cover of the pan, into a frying pan/skillet and place a few breasts at a time for about 3 minutes on each side. Do not over crowd your pan.

Transfer chicken breasts to an oiled oven tray and pop in a medium oven for 10 - 12 minutes on each side.

In the same pan, add another tablespoon of oil and when it heats up, your onions.

Allow onions to sweat down then add mushrooms.

Season with thyme, salt, pepper, garlic and ginger.

Cook down on medium heat for another 3 minutes.

Pour in wine and stir to de-glaze pan and add cream of chicken sauce.

Turn down heat to lowest and allow to reduce until the sauce thickens up.

Don't forget to allow chicken to rest for about 5 minutes before cutting into it when you get it out of the oven.

Serve with basmati rice.

DIG IN!

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SEARED SOLE...

Sole is a very lean fish, so it absorbs your marinade very quickly and cooks through in less than 10 minutes, you have to be careful when prepping or eating this fish because it has a lot of really tiny sharp bones especially near the tail.

For this recipe, my sole is going on top of Chinese Fried Rice

2 Skinned Sole
Salt & Pepper
Garlic
1 Teaspoon Onion Powder
1 Teaspoon Dried Oregano
1 Teaspoon Apple Cider Vinegar
2 Tablespoons Lemon Juice
2 Tablespoons Sunflower Oil
1 Teaspoon Butter
2 Slices of Lemon
Chopped Parsley

Mix all the ingredients together except the oil, butter, lemon slices and chopped parsley, to make a paste and rub it all over your sole.

Cover with cling film and pop into the fridge to marinate for at least 1 hour.

Add your oil and butter to a large skillet/frying pan (the butter will keep the oil from burning and add flavour to the fish).

When the oil is hot, add sole. Do not move it around, just add it to the oil and leave it be for 3 minutes. Gently flip over and allow it cook for another 3 minutes.

Cover your pan, turn down you heat and leave it be for another 2 minutes.

Serve with your rice, garnish with chopped parsley and  a twist of lemon and enjoy a mildly tangy and full bodied flavourful meal.

:)

LOCAL FISH PEPPERSOUP...

Fish peppersoup is quite honestly my go-to lazy me food and that's because there are no frills to it, just dump it all  all in the pot and go watch a 30 minute show. Come back and plate up.

Once again i'm gonna need some of my Igbo sisters to help me out with the english names of some of these spices. If you can't find them, just ask for peppersoup spices/mix in the market.

Croaker (Scaled, Gutted and Cut up)

Salt and Pepper

1 Tablespoon Each of Grated Garlic & Ginger 

1 Onion (Chopped)

Alligator Pepper

Efura

Uda

Scent Leaves and Uziza Leaves (Chopped)

Clean out your fish properly and place in a pot.

Efura is a kidney bean looking spice with amazing flavour. Roast it over an open flame or on a dry pan on the burner until it blackens and releases an amazing aroma. Take the outer skin off and add it to the dry mill of your blender (or mortar) together with alligator pepper and the uda seeds.

Blitz it till coarse and pour over fish. 

Add salt, pepper, garlic, ginger and chopped onions. Easy on your pepper and ginger if you're not to good with spicy food because both the uziza and scent leaves that you will be adding later will bring in some more heat. 

Add 4 cups of water (or enough to come up almost to the level of the fish), cook over low heat for 30 - 45 minutes depending on the size of the chunks of your fish.

I like to cook it over low heat because it gives all of the different flavours enough time to marry together and get properly infused into the fish.

Add chopped uziza and scent leaf. Allow to cook for another minute then take off the heat.

Serve as is or with a bowl of white rice or as i have recently learned, pounded yam... who would've thought...

PORK RIB SALAD...

Hungry? Trying to lose weight and don't think a measly salad will fill you up? JUST ADD MEAT! In my case a cave man sized slab of pork rib. Uga uga!

750grm Prok Ribs

1 Teaspoon Tumeric

1Tablespoon Apple Cider Vinegar

1 Tablespoon Olive Oil

Salt & Pepper

1 Teaspoon Onion Powder

1 Teaspoon Pork Seasoning or 1 Seasoning Cube

1 Teaspoon Crushed Garlic and Ginger (each)

Lettuce

Tomatoes (Sliced)

1 Carrot (Shredded)

Pork Ham (Torn into Bits)

Sesame Seeds

Pre-heat your oven with the grill setting.

With a sharp knife, poke holes into your pork rib and set in a bowl.

In another small bowl, bring all of your spices together with the olive oil and vinegar to make a paste and smother the pork with it and massage your meat, making sure to get it all into the little slits you made.

Transfer to and oven tray and pop in the oven for 45 minutes (depending on the size of your ribs), checking and turning it every 10 - 15 minutes.

While you meat is oven grilling, tear up your vegetables for your salad and arrange on your plate.

Take out pork and allow to rest for 10 minutes. before cutting into it or it will bleed out (well no bleed bleed, that's just a term, it'll lose all its juices and begin to dry up fast).

Cut in between the bones of the ribs and arrange over your salad. Make a simple salad dressing by scooping  whatever oil has run off the pork as well as the spice, add another teaspoon of olive oil, teaspoon of vinegar, pinch of black pepper and salt (if needed). Mix and pour over pork salad.

Add a sprinkling of sesame seeds and serve.

INDIAN CURRIED GOAT WITH PEPPERCORNS...

Like food with a kick? Hot and spicy? You'll love this.

Using curry powder instead of the leaves will give you an entirely different flavour...

1 Kg Goat Meat

1/4 Cup of Vegetable Oil

1 Onion Chopped

2 Onions Sliced

1/4 Cup Plain Yoghurt

1/2 Cup Fresh Curry Leaves

1 Teaspoon Sugar

2 Tablespoons Peppercorns

2 Tablespoons Ground Coriander

1 Tablespoon Ground Tumeric

1 Teaspoon Ground Ginger

1 Tablespoon Garlic Powder

1/2 Cup Tomato Paste

Salt and 1 Seasoning Cube

2 Cups of Water

Heat 1 teaspoon of vegetable oil  in a pot  and add the chopped onions when the oil is hot. Allow it to cook until soft and translucent. Transfer the onions into a blender and add curry leaves and peppercorns into the same pot.

Cook for about 3 minutes or until the leaves have wilted down and looks like its almost about to burn. Add coriander and allow to cook for another 30 seconds.

Add the contents of the pot to the blender and add half a cup of water and blend.

In the pot, add the remaining oil and toss in the sliced onions and sugar, allow them cook together for about one minute. The sugar will caramelize over the onions giving it a sweet taste. Add garlic and ginger and cook down for another 2 minutes.

Add all the other spices, tomato paste, blended curry and peppercorn paste, yogurt (yogurt will tone down the spiciness especially for people who may not be able to handle it, you don't have to use it if you think you don't need it) and goat meat. Season with salt and 1 seasoning cube. Add the remaining water, turn down the heat and allow to cook slowly until meat is tender. Add more water if/when required.

Serve with basmati rice and fried ripe plantain.

Namaste!