Spinach risotto, apple cake and Chicken

Sorry again for the long wait. I have just been really busy, plus our internet is not working like it should be which doesnt help. But I have been cooking!

This is the 'Apple and Walnut Cake' from Nigella Lawson's How To Be A Domestic Goddess. Except after making all sort of substitutions I had really made Anna del Conte's Torta di mele. But what's for certain is that the cake is absolutely delicious! Doesnt really come across in the picture, but trust me, it was lovely. This is an excellent way of using up apples past their best.
The way I made it:
100 g raisins boiled in 75 ml water until water has evaporated (drain though in any case!)
150 ml vegetable oil
200 g caster sugar
2 eggs
350 g plain flour
1 tsp cinnamon
1 1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1/2 tsp cream of tartar
1/2 tsp salt
450 g apples, peeled, cored and cut into small cubes
Zest of 1 lemon

20 cm springform cake tin, buttered and floured.

Preheat oven to 180'C/Gas 4.

Beat oil and sugar together with an electric mixer, then add the eggs one by one. Fold in dry ingredients with a metal spoon, then stir in apples, lemon zest and raisins. This will be quite a stiff batter. Spoon into prepared tin and smooth the top and bake for 1 hour. Do check towards the end. Let the cake stand in the tin for about 10 minutes before transferring to wire rack. Lovely eaten that day, but even nicer the next!


This spinach risotto is yet another recipe from Ursula Ferrigno's Truly Italian and yet again it was yummy!



Roast Chicken with Sumac, Za'atar and lemon.

This recipe came from Ottolenghi, the cookbook. Very nice book (very very nice baking chapter should you be interested!). Flavourful dish, although we felt it could have done with some sort of sauce.

I'm still trying to figure out how to make the pictures come where I want them to be, so please bare with me. Also.. I do appologise for the quality, viritually no daylight in grey wintery Northern England to take nice pictures, so I kind of have to move the food where there is a little bit of light. One is also lucky enough to get a glimpse of the bin in the background here.

I love pilaou and recently I made channe pilaou (chickpea pilaou) from black chickpeas. It's only I and little Miss 1 who are keen on this because Master 10 does not care for rice that has been fiddled with (plain boiled thank you) and hubby doesn't jump for joy because 1) there is no meat and 2) meat has been replaced with chickpeas (or beans/veg/etc). But I adore this and can eat a large plateful with salad and mint chutney (fresh mint, fresh coriander, greeen chillies, onion, more salt than you think - mix it in a blender/processor and mix a small amount with natural yoghurt. The rest can be frozen and you can break a piece off whenever you need it and dissolve in yoghurt).



Channe Pilaou
225g basmati rice (ideally soaked for 30 minutes prior to cooking)
1 tin chickpeas (any kind)
3 tbsp vegetable oil
1 onion, cut into half moons
4 -5 cloves of garlic, minced
3 cm piece of ginger, finely grated
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 cinnamon stick
5 cloves
5 black peppercorns
5 green cardamoms, bruised
1 black cardamom
1 1/2 tsp Maldon sea salt
Stock powder (such as Marigold) to taste, or salt if you dont wish to use stock powder)

Method:
1) Fry onion in oil until it starts to brown
2) Add garlic and ginger and fry for about 30 seconds, making sure the garlic does not burn. Now add the whole spices and fry for a minute.
3) Rinse the tinned chickpeas in water and add them to the pan along with 100 ml water and the Maldon salt and cook until water has evaporated.
4) Now add the drained basmati rice and pour over water so it just covers the rice and chickpeas. Bring it to the boil and turn it down to a simmer and cook for 10- 15 minutes. Keep an eye on it though, you dont want it to stick to the bottom of the pan.
5) When the water has evaporated, turn the heat off and let it cook in it's own steam for 5 -10 minute with the lid on. This will make the rice nice and fluffy.
6) Check seasoning and serve with salad and chutney.


Leftover chicken suggestion:

Yesterday I made a all in one herby chicken dish, which had vegetables and chicken cooked together in the oven with herbs and garlic. It gave us some leftover chicken and I always use leftover chicken for sandwhiches, even if it is in a curry, I pick the chicken pieces out and transform them into something that can go inbetween slices of bread. This time was no exception, but it needed some spicing up.

I'd say this was probably about 250 - 300 g chicken. I added 3 tbsp mayo, 1 tsp Tandoori Masala, pinch of salt, good grinding of pepper, 1/2 tsp chilli pepper flakes and a small handful of fresh coriander. If I was to eat this at once I would have added red onion and tomato, but since this was for hubby's lunch today I didn't want any soggy tomatoes and I thought I'd spare him for raw onion breath at work. The result was really yummy!