Moroccan recipes are some of my favourites. In Paris there are lots of great Moroccan restaurants to choose from. Even the Parisian markets often have a tagine or a chicken bastilla. A chicken bastilla is a delicious parcel of chicken, slivered almonds and other wonderful ingredients, it is wrapped in filo pastry. If you ever see these for sale you must buy some because you are in for a taste sensation that you will always remember. I bought a bastilla at a market near Hotel De Ville in the Marias. I fell in love with it straight away, so many textures and flavours in the one bite.  I will put the recipe up another time but it does require a lot of work. You can serve these meatballs with cous cous or quinoa if you prefer a bit more protein in your diet.

Recipe

Ingredients

• 500g lean minced lamb
• 1 finely chopped onion
• 2 garlic cloves crushed
• 2cm chunk root ginger, grated
• 1 tsp of chilli power
• 2 tsp ground cumin
• 1 cinnamon quill
• 2 tsps of tumeric
• good pinch of saffron threads
• olive oil
• 2 pieces of preserved lemon
• 2 x 400g tins plum tomatoes
• 200ml chicken stock
• ½ bunch coriander, chopped

HERB COUSCOUS

• 200g couscous or quinoa
• 50g butter
• 350ml chicken stock, boiling
• ½ bunch coriander , chopped
• ½ bunch parsely, chopped
• 

Method

• 1. Put the lamb, onion, half the garlic, half the ginger and half the spices in a bowl and season well. Mix (clean hands are best) and form into little meatballs (you’ll make around 30).
  2. Heat 1 tbsp olive oil in a large non-stick pan and add the meatballs in batches, frying until browned all over. Scoop out, then add the rest of the garlic, ginger and spices and cook for 2 minutes. Add the tomatoes and stock and season. Simmer for 10 minutes, then add back the meatballs and cook for at least another 20 minutes until sauce is thickened. Stir in the coriander. Save some coriander for serving to sprinkle on
  3. To make the couscous put in a bowl with the butter and some seasoning. Pour over the chicken stock and cover with glad wrap. Leave for 10 minutes. Stir the herbs through and serve with meatballs. If you choose quinoa, you must wash the quinoa first, thoroughly and then gently simmer win the chicken stock and butter until softened. Add herbs before serving

  

1 Comment | In: Gluten Free, Meals | | #

With Autumn here and winter approaching, Rhubarb starts to appear at the markets and in fruit and vegetable shops. I love Rhubarb. I make a great Apple and Rhubarb crumble with duck eggs. However I will have to show you that another time. Rhubarb is quite easy to grow and has a long history of growing along rivers in China. The leaves are poisonous.

Sometimes we drive up to Mount Tambourine and go to the markets there. They have wonderful fruit and vegetable stalls with Avocados and Rhubarb everywhere. This is also where I find plenty of duck eggs. It’s always cooler up in the mountains which makes a nice change after Brisbane. I used the same recipe for the tart base as I did in my last post for the Citron Tarte.  Here is the recipe for you.

Rhubarb Tart

Pastry or Pate Sucrée

Ingredients

175 grams of room temperature unsalted butter

125 grams of icing sugar

60m grams of almond meal

2 large eggs

1 egg yolk

1 vanilla bean

1 pinch of salt

350 grams of plain flour

Directions

Scrape the seeds out of the vanilla bean.

Place the butter and icing sugar in a bowl and mix with your hands, until it has the texture of breadcrumbs.

Add eggs and vanilla and mix with your hands again. Sift flour and mix together until it forms a balls then place in baking paper and rest in the fridge for one and half hours.

Place in a 170 degrees preheated oven for twenty minutes or until golden brown. Then rest until at room temperature then fill with filling.

Rhubarb and Frangipane fillling

Rhurbarb

Ingredients

1 Bunch of Rhubarb

1 cup of sugar

2 cups of water to cover rhubarb

I teaspoon of vanilla bean paste

Directions

Wash and cut a bunch of Rhubarb into 5cm long pieces.

Place water in saucepan with 1 cup of castor sugar and heat until melted.  Add the teaspoon of vanilla paste and then place rhubarb in the syrup and cook until tender. Rhubarb cooks very quickly so keep an eye on it. Drain syrup off the rhubarb and allow to cool.

Frangipane

125g unsalted butter softened

125g icing sugar

1/ 1/4 cups of almond meal

40g plain flour

3 eggs

3 tablespoons of cooked rhubarb.

Directions

Beat the butter until very soft. Add the icing sugar, ground almonds and flour and beat well. Add eggs one at a time and beat until fully incorporated. Mix 3 tablespoons of Rhubarb into frangipane

To assemble the tart

Place the frangipane mixture inside the tart, smooth the top and place the cooked rhubarb on top of this and press gently into the mixture.

Place in the 170 degree oven for 30 to 40 mins or until frangipane is golden.

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I am late posting this week as I have been struggling a little to find inspiration since I returned from Paris.

Life is so different for me here. I am not thrilled by the produce for sale in the local shops and I have to make a special effort to go to a market to find inspiration. Really I know that I am meant to be in Paris, it is the only place in the world I feel as if I almost belong.

When I was living in the Marais I often walked down to Jacques Genin’s patisserie, which I have written about before. He really is an “Artiste” and his boutique café with chocolates, patisseries and tea is one of my favourite places to visit. I was lucky enough to meet him and if you would like to read about that here is the link. He is very well known for his Lemon Tart. The pastry is thin and crisp and the lemon is so tangy and sweet. When I visited the last time before returning, I bought his book Le Meilleur De La Tarte Citron.  It is written in french but luckily I can understand it. I followed his instructions and made the tart. The pastry  makes enough dough for several tarts so I have two to fill later. I found the recipe a little moist, but this could be because our weather is so humid and I’ve added extra flour to compensate.

I have done my best to translate the recipe so you can have success with it too. However if Jacque Genin reads this and would like me to change something just let me know. Note I made a few mini lemon tarts too. This would make a great Easter Dessert.

Recipe

Pate Sucrée

175 grams of room temperature unsalted butter

125 grams of icing sugar

60m grams of almond meal

2 large eggs

1 egg yolk

1 vanilla bean

1 pinch of salt

350 grams of plain flour

Directions

Scrape the seeds out of the vanilla bean.

Place the butter and icing sugar in a bowl and mix with your hands, until it has the texture of pastry.

Add eggs and vanilla and mix with your hands again. Sift flour and mix together until it forms a balls then place in baking paper and rest in the fridge for one and half hours.

Place in a 170 degrees preheated oven for twenty minutes or until golden brown. Then rest until at room temperature then fill with filling.

Ingredients for Lemon Filling

The juice of 6 lemons

The zest of one lemon

3 large eggs

170 grams of castor sugar

200 grams of unsalted butter

Directions

Incorporate the zest of one lemon with the eggs and sugar and mix with a spatula. When mixed add the lemon juice. Transfer to a saucepan and stir over a low heat until the mixture starts to thicken. Sieve the mixture and then let it cool to 45-50 degrees. Now add the melted butter and mix with an electric mixer. Place in the refrigerator for 3 hours.

When cool use your spatula to place the filling in the tart. Enjoy.

No Comments | In: Desserts | | #