Harrissa Spiced Lamb Burgers AND Chipotle Beef Tacos

Whoa logging back in after over a year and I had these saved on draft! I'm assuming it's because I had taken some photos to go along with the post but I suspect I might have deleted them by now so here you go anyway! Tasty foods.



DOUBLE HEADER THIS WEEK FOLKS!

Double BOOYUMS!


Over the last few years I have really started to discover lamb and how flexible it can be as a main dish. You can have it in one of it's more traditional way, with the traditional jar of mint sauce on the side.
But I enjoy finding more interesting ways of eating lamb, and I find that lamb mince is one of the more flexible options at the moment.

Greece-y and Delicious!

Helloooo everyone! Apologies for the silence but I have been away on holiday in Crete! But do not fret! I tried some fabulous food, I have some wonderful pictures to share and I brought back a Cretan Cook book to share some lovely recipes with you!

Hersonissos Beach

Oh where to begin??? (apologies this might be a long entry, it includes some entries from my Cretan cook book)

Chicken Tagine with Almonds and Apricots

I've only made tagine once before and I thought it was too sweet a recipe, but that also might have been due to the fact that I put more honey in then it asked for. Since getting my Le Creuset I've been looking for more and more recipes that I can use it for and tagine are great for this! Again, despite the fact that was a big recipe, I only managed to fill it half way. 


The smells that came from the kitchen during this cooking process are the best I've ever smelled. Sweet and spicy and sexy all at once. 

Butternut Squash and Cavalo Negro (Black Kale) Lasagna

Nom nom nom, this sounds interesting! 


I've been neglecting my blog for some time now and I realised, 'Hey! I'm unemployed, I really have no real reason to neglect it now do I??'


Although I couldn't find black kale so I just used the curly green stuff. Kale is sort of like a cross between spinach and cabbage....sort of.  I also substituted regular lasagne sheets for green (spinach) ones for that extra bit of fun! (picture below in case you're confused!)

I some how doubt it was made in Italy, maybe the box was.....

More Autumnal

Here are some more recipes that I've made over the last new months, but have neglected to post! Most of these are from my Good Food Healthy Recipe app. 

Roasted butternut Squash 

Ingredients:

2 small butternut squash

garlic cloves

3 tbsp olive oil

chilli flakes

1 tsp thyme, chopped

1-2 courgettes, cut into little chunks

1-2 red peppers, cut into little chunks

2 small or 1 large red onion chopped

200 g cherry tomatoes

50 g pine nuts

100 g goats cheese

1 tbsp bread crumbs

1 tbsp parmesan

1 tbsp parsely (dry or fresh)

Lamb Stuffed Aubergine (Sort of)

So yesterday I was craving something lamby....and auberginey and one of my favourite dishes from a local Turkish restaurant is spiced lamb mince in baked aubergine shells. So I googled the two main ingredients and came up with this recipe from BBC Food Good. I read the ingredients, and also the comments and many people commented that the recipe wasn't flavourful enough, so I took up some of their suggestions and went for it. I'm also not a huge fan of aubergine skins, so I did bake the shells, but purely for presentation (and I wish now that I would have remembered to take a photo before we devoured the dinner!)

Feliz Navidad

Merry Christmas!!


It's been a fairly decent Christmas break so far despite that fact that we are celebrating it on our own. It's much like the first year we arrived in the UK and couldn't afford to fly home for Christmas, although like last year we have been held hostage by the Home Office. But it's not the same, we are in our own flat, in fact we are currently in 'ownership' of two flats, in two different cities, I wish it was because the second flat was somewhere sandy and hot, but not quite! We are in limbo at the moment, but that's for another post. We also have Ollie this time, which we didn't have four years ago, which makes for a more pleasant Christmas, and we don't feel quite so alone, because we are our own little family this time around! 

yum lamb

The new diet means I haven't been as adventurous as of late but I had to share this tasty concoction. 


Minty lamb burgers, with grilled halloumi and thousand island dressing.  Yummers!!!


Do it!!

Oh mmmyyyyyyyyyy! Too good for words!

Moroccan Burger with minty apricot salsa = fabulous!

Ingredients:
500 g minced lamb
2 tsp harissa (I could not find any!!! so I just used cayenne pepper)
4 bread rolls
lettuce
tomato
mozza cheese

curried shrimp with couscous or rice

Preface: Mrs Parker, yes you. I know you're not a shrimp eater, I would suggest you change the shrimp for salmon or another fish that won't easily break up such as monkfish. Monkfish would be a fabulous substitute!

The best thing about this recipe is that it took almost NO time to prep and cook!!

Crab Cakes with Sweet Potato Chips

Here's a great low carb recipe, if it wasn't for the sweet potato chips we had on the side :)


Ingredients:

• 200 grams crab meat
• 150 grams cod or haddock (or other white fish)
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 1/2 tsp of dried crushed chillies
• 1 stalk of lemongrass peeled and finely chopped
• 1 tbsp finely grated fresh ginger
• 2 tbsp chopped fresh coriander
• 1 egg white
• salt and pepper
• sunflower oil for frying
• 2 sweet potatoes, chopped into chips and seasoned
• sweet chilli sauce for dipping

Thursday - Tagine! Butternut Squash, Shallots, Carrots and Prunes

This recipe doesn't call for cous cous as a base, but I think it's really important because this is a VERY rich and a very filling dish! It's also the first time I make a tagine, and I realised, you don't need a tagine dish to do it! I just used a really good pot with a solid lid and it was fine.

Enjoy!

Wednesday = Spaghetti with asparagus, mint and chilli

I've just recently started eating pasta again, but I didn't want to go back into just eating the same ol plain spaghetti with a heated up jar of tomato sauce poured on it. I wanted something more interesting, healthier and lighter. I found this recipe in a fantastic vegetarian recipe magazine. It was absolutely lovely, but I think next time I'll use half the amount of chilli.

Tuesday = Chilli Pork in Lettuce

I've never really been one to make anything mince pork related but the more Asian style dishes I make the more comforable I am with it.

This dish is fabulous!! If there are only two of you you won't need any side dishes, but you could easily feed at least four people with a side of spring or egg rolls!

Monday = Minty Salmon & Sweet Tater Fish Cakes

Ingredients:
500g leftover cooked potatoes mashed (I used sweet potatoes instead because I find salmon too strong a taste so I wanted to mask it a wee bitty! Also it's better if the taters are cooked the day before and have time to cool and get nice and starchy.
418g can drained salmon (I poached fresh salmon and used that instead)
140g frozen peas defrosted
handful of mint leaves roughly chopped
1 tbsp spoon of tartar sauce (I forgot to buy some so I just mixed mayo and relish together!)
flour for dusting
olive or veggie oil for shallow frying
lemon halves to serve