Greek kofta’s in tomato sauce

Greek kofta's in tomato sauce
 
Author:
Makes: 4 portions
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
 
Ingredients
Greek kofta’s
  • 400 gr minced meat
  • 25 gr milk
  • 12 gr dried bread crumbs
  • 4 gr ground cumin
  • 2 gr thyme
  • 1gr cinnamon
  • 2 gr oregano
  • 2 gr ground coriander
Sauce
  • 2 onions
  • 2 cloves of garlic
  • 1 red bell pepper
  • 1 yellow bell pepper
  • 1 courgette
  • ½ aubergine
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 70 gr tomato puree
  • 800 gr chopped tinned tomatoes
  • 2 tbspn ground cumin
  • 1 tbspn thyme
  • 1 tspn cinnamon
  • 1 tbspn oregano
  • 1 tspn sugar
Instructions
Greek kofta’s
  1. Combine the minced meat with the milk, dried bread crumbs, ground cumin, thyme, cinnamon, oregano and ground coriander.
  2. Make little balls and store in the fridge until needed (can be done overnight).
Sauce
  1. Dice the onion and chop the garlic. Dice the bell pepper and courgette.
  2. Fry the kofta’s in some oil until browned on all sides.
  3. Add the onions and garlic and cook until soft.
  4. Add the bell pepper, courgette and aubergine cook until soft.
  5. Add the bay leaf, thyme, ground cumin, cinnamon, oregano and ground coriander and salt and pepper, all to taste.
  6. Add the tomato puree and cook for a minute before adding the tinned chopped tomatoes. Simmer until the kofta’s and vegetables are cooked. Taste and adjust the seasoning. Remove the bay leaf.
  7. Serve with some cooked white rice.
Stuff to know
It is possible to cook the kofta’s ahead of time and reheat them in the sauce.
A sauce that is too thin can be thickened when you add some corn flour mixed with cold water and bring the sauce to a soft boil.
Add some black or green olives.
Use lamb mince rather than beef or pork if desired.

 

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Winter stew with salsify and carrots, fondant potato, celeriac fritter and sprouts

Winter stew with salsify and carrots, fondant potato, celeriac fritter and sprouts
 
Author:
Makes: 5 portions
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
 
Ingredients
Stew
  • 1 kg stewing meat
  • 50 gr butter
  • 2 onion
  • 2 carrots
  • 3 cloves of garlic
  • 70 gr tomato puree
  • 2 tbspn flour
  • 330 gr beer
  • 300 gr bouillon
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 1 tbspn honey
  • 1 tspn thyme
Fondant potato
  • 10 potatoes
  • 1 tbspn thyme
  • 500 gr bouillon
Vegetables
  • 5 salsify
  • ½ lemon
  • 6 carrots
  • 1 tspn honey
Celeriac fritters
  • 1 celeriac
  • ½ tspn nutmeg
  • 100 gr flour
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 tspn milk
  • 100 gr bread crumbs (panko)
Finish
  • 5 Brussels sprouts
  • 1 salsify
Instructions
Stew
  1. Dice the meat. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Brown in a large pan. Remove and set aside for later.
  2. Chop the onion, garlic and carrot. Sweat off in the meat juices until soft. Add the tomato puree and cook or a minute. Add the flour and cook for a minute. Add the beer, the meat and just enough stock or bouillon to cover. Add the bay leaf, honey, thyme and season to taste. Simmer on a low heat for 90 min or until the meat is tender.
Vegetables
  1. Was the salsify under cold running water to remove the soil. Prepare a pot with cold water and the juice of the lemon. Peel the salsify, cut into 5 cm sticks and plunge in the lemony water to prevent discolouration. Bring to the boil, drain, cool under running water and set aside in the cold water for later.
  2. Cut the carrots in similar sticks. Mix with some oil, season to taste, place on a baking tray set aside for later.
Celeriac fritters
  1. Peel the celeriac and cut into cylinders or sticks. Blanch them in boiling salted water until just cooked, drain, cool under running water and pat dry. Get ready three bowls: one with the flour, one with the beaten egg with a splash of milk and one with the bread crumbs. Dip the croquettes in the flour, shake off the excess, then in the beaten egg and finally in the bread crumbs making sure they are nicely coated. Store in the fridge until needed.
Fondant potato
  1. Peel the potatoes, cut the top and bottom off to make them cylindrical.
  2. Heat a layer of oil in the pan and colour the potatoes on one side. Turn them over to cook the other side. The top and bottom should be brown but the inside will be uncooked. Add the butter, thyme and seasoning. Add enough bouillon to come up two thirds the side of the potatoes. Finish cooking in the oven at 180°C for 30 min or until they are cooked and the stock has reduced.
Finish
  1. Taste the stew and correct if needed the seasoning. If the stew is too thin, mix some corn flour with cold water and add to the stew, allowing it to bind over a low simmer.
  2. Roast the carrots in the oven until golden and cooked.
  3. Heat a pot with oil to 180°C. Clean the last salsify as described earlier but do not parboil it. Using a mandolin, cut the salsify into paper thin strips and deep fry them until golden. Drain on paper towel and season with a pinch of salt.
  4. Deep fry the celeriac fritters at 180 °C in a couple of minutes, drain on paper towel and season with a pinch of salt.
  5. Heat a pan with some butter and honey and reheat the precooked salsify and cook until caramelized and golden. Season to taste.
  6. Remove the outer leaves from the Brussels sprouts.
  7. Place the stew on the plate, put the fondant potato around en finish the plate with the salsify, carrots, celeriac fritters, salsify crisps and leaves.
Stuff to know
Use beef or game for the stew.
It is possible, even recommended, to prepare the stew, fondant potatoes, salsify and celeriac fritters ahead of time. Add the bouillon when the fondants are ready to go in the oven. Reheat the stew, roast the carrots and deep fry the fritters when needed.
Preferably, use panko breadcrumbs for the fritters because they give a better result when frying.
The salsify is a rather unknown vegetable that was quite comment before the second world war but who feel out of grace after the war. Preparing the vegetable is a bit tricky. When peeled, a white sticky substance will be released and the white salsify will rapidly discolor, hence the lemony water. Wearing gloves when handling them is a sound precaution. The vegetable is typical for the winter time.


 

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Lamb stew with apricots and almonds

Lamb stew with apricots and almonds
 
Author:
Makes: 4 portions
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
 
Ingredients
  • 400 gr shoulder or leg of lamb
  • 1 tspn cinnamon
  • 1 tspn ground ginger
  • ½ tspn turmeric
  • 1 tbspn olive oil
  • 2 onions
  • 2 cloves of garlic
  • 2 carrots
  • 1 courgette
  • ½ tbspn ground ginger
  • ½ tbspn ground cumin
  • ½ tspn ground coriander
  • 300 gr vegetable stock
  • ½ tspn honey
  • 16 dried apricots
  • 75 gr whole almonds
Instructions
  1. Dice the lamb and season with the cinnamon, ground ginger, turmeric and salt and pepper to taste.
  2. Heat the oil and stir fry the lamb until coloured.
  3. Dice the onion, garlic, carrots and courgette. Add to the lamb and cook until soft.
  4. Add the ground ginger, ground cumin, ground coriander and honey and cook until they release their flavour.
  5. Add the vegetable stock, dried apricots, honey and whole almonds.
  6. Simmer on a low heat for 20 min or until the lamb and vegetables are cooked.
  7. Serve with couscous and extra vegetables if desired.
Stuff to know
Do not too much stock or the sauce with be watery. If so, mix some corn flour with cold water and add that to the sauce. It will thicken when boiling again.
This dish can very well be prepared in a tajine, a traditional earthenware North-African slowcooker.

 

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