Friday Night Take-Away - Tamatar Gosht

Eid Mubarak!  Now I'm not Muslim, I'm barely Christian, but that doesn't mean that I can't mark the passing of Eid with a good meal.  I had assumed that, like Christmas, there would be one meal that everybody sits down to with their whole family*.  I asked twitter and was told, in no uncertain terms, that my assumption was wrong.

It turns out that Eid al-Adha, the feast of the sacrifice (big Eid) honours the prophet Abraham's willingness to sacrifice his only son for God.  God stepped in at the last moment and switched Ishmail for a ram, happy that Abraham was willing to do his bidding**.  Because of this, meat is the order of day in Eid meals and everybody has their favourite.

One recuring dish from my twitter research was Chappal Kebabs.  A bit of googling later and a starter was born.  We wouldn't normally have a starter but as it's a special occasion we thought it would be rude not to.  Minced beef, onions, tomato and chillies were all mixed together with numerous spices, formed into patties and fried.  I served them with a fresh Pudina Chatni (mint chutney).

Sadly, I live in a house where lamb is off the menu.  Z isn't keen on eating baby sheep and having had beef in the chappal kebabs we couldn't have beef for our main course.  As this is a celebration meal chicken was also off the menu.  Luckily Z is more than happy to eat older sheep and as mutton is nearly always available on Kirkgate Market I started looking for recipes.

I didn't have to look far.  When I cooked for Pakistan in the Olympic Food Challenge I ended up using one of Sumayya from Pukka Paki's recipes.  I went straight back to her website and found exactly what I was looking for, Tamatar Gosht.  Taking Sumayya's advice I made the curry yesterday so that the flavours could develop.

All I had to do today was reheat the curry and temper it.  I don't have any onion seeds in the house but with mustard seeds on the list I don't think that we missed out too much.  I had planned to make an okra side dish but I'm glad I didn't.  My days of wolfing down pate after plate seem to be behind me.  Besides, tonight was all about sacrificing meat and what better way to do that than to cook it well.

Eid Mubarak to everybody that is celebrating over the next few days.

*dry turkey anybody?
**I remember this story from Sunday School, it still amazes me how close to each other the religions are.

Mousakka

Whilst we were waiting for yesterday's Kohlrabi Gratin to bake we cracked on with the first part of tonight's meal.  The final vegetable treat that Z brought back from Headingley Farmers Market was a rather large patty pan squash.  Like the kohlrabi we have tried to grow these but we have never had any success.  Our courgettes always grew no problem but these yellow saucer shaped versions of the same fruit always eluded us.

The few that we did manage to grow tended to end up in pasta sauces, bulked out by standard courgettes.  Tonight they are replacing pasta.  In fact they are replacing aubergines which replace pasta.  In my mind mousakka is the Greek lasagne, which in turn is the Italian cottage pie.  A mince sauce is the starting block to all three and I always try to make my mince a day in advance.  The flavours intensify and the consistency is much better.

The spicy mince sauce was layered with thinly sliced patty pan squash which I had fried before hand.  The finished dish was then covered in a cheese sauce and baked until the top was golden brown.  Unlike the a bechamel sauce for lasagne, the sauce for the top of mousakka has an egg beaten through it so that it sets during baking.

Unlike aubergine, the squash retains some of its crunch during cooking giving the finished mousakka a much nicer texture.  When we get back to growing our own vegetables again I think we'll give these another go.  They are so pleasing to look at and have a little more versatility than ordinary courgettes.  We did make a little bit too much mousakka but I can't see it hanging around too long before it is eaten.

Olympic Food Challenge: Sudan - Maschi

We are back to Africa for tonight's Olympic Food Challenge, Sudan to be precise.  I'll admit that I didn't do much research into the cuisine of Sudan.  This because the first site that appeared after my google search had a full three course meal, serving suggestions and a potted history of Sudan.

I decided not to go the whole hog and cook all three courses.  We try not to eat too much during the week.  Instead we focussed on the main course Maschi, or Tomatoes Stuffed with Beef.  Unlike the stuffed tomatoes of the 70's these required a little bit of patience as they need to remain intact so hacking the top off was not an option.  I cut a slit in the side wall of each tomato and, using a grapefruit spoon*, I scooped out the contents.  The toms were then filled with a mixture of minced beef, rice and fresh dill.

The stuffed tomatoes were then baked with a tomato and cinnamon sauce.  I was unsure of the dill and cinnamon combination but I'm happy to report that it works.  The Sudanese meal planner suggested a carrot and cabbage salad with parmesan cheese as the side dish.  After fourteen days of quite rich and heavy food, I was more than happy with a salad.  We went for a green salad, including yet more tomatoes and some bread.

Sudan managed to win a silver medal in Men's 800m at the last Olympics in Beijing.  So far they have not managed to repeat their success.  We will be repeating the Maschi in the future, so I hope they can take solace in that.

*what else would you use?

Spaghetti Bolognese

I'm now gearing up for the Olympic Food challenge, which I have set for myself and eleven other intrepid bloggers.  The challenge starts on Wednesday, so tonight and tomorrow we're falling back on simple recipes and using up fresh ingredients that we won't need over the next few weeks.  Tonight it's spaghetti bolognese.

I say it's spaghetti bolognese, but in reality it's spaghetti with a minced beef and vegetable tomato sauce.  To make life even easier for myself I made the sauce yesterday.  We all know that day old sauce tastes better whether it is a stew, pasta sauce or curry.  This was no exception to that rule.

Moussaka

When planning our meals for this week Z announced that she would like to make a moussaka for our evening meal tonight.  I can only assume that having an aubergine in the fridge over the weekend got to her.  The aubergine is one of my least favourite vegetables but by the time it is fried, smothered in spicy mince and topped with cheese, it's not too bad.

As I'm still working on the late shift at work, Z and her mum had all the fun in the kitchen.  Following this recipe, Z made the mince yesterday and finished off the layering and baking today.  Making the sauce in advance meant that it had time to mellow and for the flavours to develop.  Z then tweaked the seasoning, more or less doubling the spice quantities in the recipe, before slamming it into the oven.  All that was left to do was make a side salad and enjoy.

Chilli Con Carne

Last night, whilst roasting the vegetables for our meal, Z kept herself busy by making a chilli con carne for tonight's meal.  There are two main reasons why she did this.  The first was the fact that she was in the kitchen anyway and once the vegetables were in the oven she had some time on her hands.  The second is that chilli always tastes better the following day.

Beef mince, onions, celery, peppers, mushrooms, kidney beans and a tin of tomatoes made up the bulk of the chilli.  The spice came from dried chilli, smoked hot paprika and Tobasco*.  Dried oregano was also added for its depth of flavour.  By the time Z came to reheat it for tonight's meal it had come together to form a delicious meal which had a chilli heat that grew with every mouthful.  The day's rest really helped the flavours come together and Z cooked so much, we now have left-overs for the freezer!

*other hot sauces are available

Spaghetti and Meatballs

This morning, after dropping R off at nursery, I decided to cook our evening meal.  I miss cooking and the late nights at work are depriving me of the opportunity, so I grabbed this one with both hands.  I needed something that I could cook to completion but that wouldn't be harmed by being left and warmed up again later.  For some reason we had two packets of mince in the freezer so I pulled one of those out and got thinking.

I fancied pasta and spaghetti bolognese was the obvious choice, but that wouldn't slake my thirst for cooking.  Using the same ingredients I decided to make meatballs.  I started with the sauce, frying onions, garlic and celery until soft in olive oil.  I then added a glass of red wine, tomato purée, dried basil and oregano, a pinch of chilli flakes and finally a couple of tins of tomatoes.  I let this cook away for about an hour and a half before taking it off the heat.  I then blended it into a smooth sauce and set it to one side.

With the sauce made I turned my attention to the mince.  I like my meatballs to be relatively un-messed about with.  All I added to the mince was some fried onion, basil, oregano, salt and pepper.  Because I had the time I even fried off a bit of the meat so that I could test the seasoning.  Happy with the flavour I rolled golf ball sized lumps of meat and dropped them straight into the sauce.  I then cooked the whole lot together on the lowest flame possible for a couple of hours, turned off the heat and went to work.

When I got back home, Z had reheated the meatballs, saving some for R's tea tomorrow, and cooked some spaghetti.  All that was left was to serve the spaghetti and meatballs and grate some parmesan cheese over the top.  I now only have a couple of days of non-cooking before the weekend.  It is meant to be a weekend of food in Leeds but I don't think I'll see much of the Food Festival. We'll just have to wait and see.

Beef Burgers

It's Easter Monday and that's a bank holiday! Bank holidays mean only one thing, a barbecue.  However, the weather gods have not smiled kindly on the UK today, so plans of cremating meat products have been knocked into a cocked hat.

Perhaps a little prematurely, we purchased the where-with-all for making burgers at Cornucopia on Friday and therefore our path for this evening was set.  We bought a packet of mince from Manor Farm Beef with tonight in mind.  Even Chris the farmer said that they often turn their mince into burgers by simply seasoning them.  Who am I to argue?

Salt and pepper is all that we added to the beef before dry frying the burgers and letting them rest in the oven.  We topped them with emmental, a couple of rashers of bacon and served them with skinny fries and gherkins.  The only thing missing was the smoky taste you get from barbecue cooking, but that will have to come later in the year.