Whenever I eat this sweet potato dish with honey and orange, I am reminded of the city of Casablanca with its sweet smells and the aroma of cinnamon drifting in the air after another very warm day!!
4 – 6 large sweet potatoes 50g butter 62ml brown sugar 62ml honey 62ml orange juice the zest of one orange 2,5ml salt 2,5ml ground cinnamon
Preheat your oven to 190℃. Scrub the sweet potato, cut into chunks and add them to an ovenproof dish. Add the butter, brown sugar, honey, orange juice, zest, salt and cinnamon to a small saucepan and melt together. Pour the mixture over the sweet potato chunks and stir through so that all of the potato is covered in the sauce. Bake in the oven for 30 – 40 minutes or until cooked and slightly charred and the sauce is syrupy. Serve warm.
There is no pan frying involved in making these meatballs as they are cooked directly in the tomato sauce and therefore are wonderfully juicy and aromatic. The recipe yields about 16 large meatballs but may be easily halved.
2 onions, chopped 4 cloves of garlic, minced 2 tins of chopped tomato 15ml sugar 10ml salt 10ml dried oregano 250ml beef stock
Add the onion, garlic and a splash of oil to an ovenproof saucepan and place on medium heat. Cook for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the chopped tomato, sugar, salt, oregano and stock and allow the mixture to simmer slowly while you get on with the meatballs.
Slice the crusts from the bread and place it in a bowl. Pour the milk onto the bread, turning the bread in the milk so that it becomes soggy and start falling apart. Add the beef and salt to the bread mixture and mix with your hands. Push your hand down into the minced meat and squeeze it through your fingers – repeat until the ingredients are evenly distributed.
Scoop a tablespoon-full of the meat mixture into your hands and roll into a ball. Place the meatball directly into the slowly simmering tomato sauce. Keep going until you have no meat mixture left. Sprinkle the grated cheeses onto the meatballs and bake in your preheated oven for 30 minutes. Serve with a crusty bread or fluffy mashed potato.
This cauliflower mash is silky smooth and makes the perfect base for a curry dish or stew. Add some steamed or roasted veg for a complete vegetarian meal.
about 700g cauliflower (one average head) 125ml milk 125ml cream 2,5ml salt 30ml butter
Cut the cauliflower into chunks, including the stalks, and place in a saucepan. Add the milk, cream and salt and bring to a boil – DO NOT LET IT BOIL OVER! Turn the heat down so that the liquid simmers lightly, put the lid on and allow to simmer until the cauliflower is soft enough to insert a toothpick into it easily. Pour the cauliflower-milk mixture into a blender and add the butter. Process until the mixture is smooth and silky. Season with salt, pepper and some more butter. Serve warm with your favourite casserole or as a delicious side.
A galette is simply a free-form French pastry with either a savoury or sweet filling. Easy and quick to make, this mushroom galette is creamy, has depth of flavour and makes a perfect light lunch.
400g puff pastry 125ml cream cheese at room temperature
45ml butter 30ml vegetable oil 500g mushrooms, sliced 3 cloves of garlic, minced 15ml thyme, lightly chopped 45ml port or sherry 250ml mozzarella cheese, grated
Egg wash of 1 egg and 15ml milk, whisked together
Preheat your oven to 200℃. Dust a clean work surface with flour and roll out the pastry big enough to cut a 26cm-diameter circle. Place the pastry circle onto a baking sheet lined with baking paper. Spread the cream cheese onto the pastry with the back of a spoon, leaving a 2cm border of pastry, all around. Set aside.
Heat a heavy bottom pan on high heat and add the butter and oil. (If your pan is not large enough to accommodate all the mushroom at once, add half the butter and oil). Add the mushroom to the pan and fry at high heat so that the mushroom caramelises, about 3 minutes. Now add the garlic and thyme and cook for about 1 minute, stirring occasionally. Spoon this mixture into a bowl to cool and put the frying pan back onto medium heat. Add a splash of oil and cook the onion until soft. Add this to the mushroom mixture. Put the pan back onto the heat once more and add the port, scraping down the pan with a spatula. Scrape the caramelised bits left in the pan as well as the reduced port onto the mushroom mixture.
Sprinkle two thirds of the grated mozzarella cheese onto the cream cheese and pastry. Spoon the cooled mushroom mixture on top of the cheese and finish with the rest of the mozzarella. Fold the 2 cm pastry that extends beyond the filling over and onto the mushroom mixture. Brush the folded pastry with the egg wash and bake the galette for 30 minutes, until the pastry is golden. Serve as an aperitif or as a light lunch.
My Whisk and I 