Moroccan Lamb Tagine

Rob's sister Sarah brought this brilliant Tagine Dish for us back from Morocco.
I tried it out at the weekend and made a Lamb and vegetable Tagine. The falvours were soooo tasty.
A Tagine Dish is a shallow, round earthenware glazed pot with a tall, conical lid like a chinese coolie's hat, that traps the steam rising from the stew cooked in the bottom and prevents the stew drying out during the lengthy cooking time.



Moroccan Lamb Tagine Recipe

- 1kg shoulder or leg of lamb, cut into large pieces
- 1 Onion, chopped
- 3 garlic cloves, crushed
- 1 large red pepper,sliced (I used a green pepper as I didn't have a red one)
- 1 tsp ground ginger
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon chili
- 600ml (1 pint) vegetable stock
- 1 tablespoon clear honey
- 375g okra (I didn't have okra so replaced it with courgettes)
- 75g whole blanched almonds
- salt and pepper



Method:
1- Put the lamb, onion, garlic, pepper, ginger, cinnamon, chili, stock and honey into a heavy flameproof casserole (or traditional tagine dish) and heat to just on simmering point.
2- Cover tightly and cook for about 1 and a 1/4 hours, stirring occasionally.
3- Add the okra (courgettes) and almonds. Cover the casserole (tagine) and cook for a further 15 minutes.
4- Season to taste and serve with couscous or rice and salad.

Xmas Tree Sponge Cake

I baked this sponge cake for our friends Katie and Michael's Chrismas party last night.
I wanted to give the cake a seasonal touch so I cut out a Christmas tree shape, then rolled out some green icing and cut out the same shape.

I spead jam over the cake then added the icing ontop (the jam helps the icing stick onto the cake).
Then using red icing, I created mini balls and cake decoration.
The mini xmas pictures are edible too :o)



Sponge Cake Recipe:
I used double these quantities as I wanted a BIGGER cake, but for a round cake this is what you would need:

125g butter, softened
250ml white sugar (I used castor sugar)
3 large eggs
500ml cake flour
15ml baking powder
2.5ml salt
5ml vanilla essence
100ml milk
50ml water

Method:
- Cream the butter and sugar together with an electric mixer until light and fluffy.
- Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.
- In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder and salt. Add this to the creamed mixture, along with vanilla essence, milk and water.
- Mix with a wooden spoon until smooth.
- Spoon into deep 20cm or 23cm greased cake pan (I used a bigger pan so I can cut out the xmas tree shape)
- Bake in preheated oven at 180c for 45-60 minutes until golden in colour (45 minutes was enough for mine).
- Cool on cooling rack, then split the middle and fill with strawberry jam (if required).

Left Over Pieces of Cake:
I decorated the left over pieces of cake with chocolate icing, smarties, mini eggs and dolly mixture.

Fruity Coconut Oat Bars

Rob and I went to Katie's xmas party last night. I baked a xmas tree cake (see my blog). I also baked a healthy option........ fruit flapjacks. There were very tasty and disappeared very quickly at the party.

Fruity Coconut Oat Bars Recipe:

125g butter, melted
90g rolled oats
110g sultanas
45g coconut
50g chopped dates
10g chopped glace cherries
75g self-raising flour
110g caster sugar
1 tablespoon honey
1 tablespoon golden syrup



Method:
- Grease 23cm square slab cake pan, place strip of baking paper (grease-proof paper) to cover base and extend over 2 opposite sides.
- Combine all ingredients in a large mixing bowl and mix well.
- Press mixture into prepared pan (I used a potato masher to press the mixture down firmly)
- Bake in moderate oven (180c) for about 20 minutes or until golden.
- Cool in pan, refrigerate before cutting.
- ENJOY :o)

Would You Like a Slice of Apple Pie?

Recipe:

FOR THE PASTRY:
- 350g/12oz plain flour, plus extra for dusting
- pinch of salt
- 175g/6oz butter, diced, plus extra for greasing
- 75g/3oz caster or icing sugar, sifted
- 1 egg, beaten, plus 1 egg for brushing
- 3 tbsp milk

FOR THE FILLING:
- 4 large cooking apples
- a bit of sugar
- 1 tbsp lemon juice



METHOD:
1- For the pastry, sift together the flour and salt. Rub the diced butter into the flour until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs.
2- Stir in the sugar.
3- Add the beaten egg into the mix , then slowly add the milk until it begins to form a dough.
4- Cover dough and chill in fridge for 30 minutes.
5- Peel apples and cut into thin slices.
6- Preheat the oven to 180C
7- Grease a baking dish or pan.
8- Roll half the pastry and shape into a circle. Place at bottom of cake pan. Add apple silces and a little sugar (depending how sweet you'd like it), and the lemon juice.
9- Roll the other half of the pastry and place on top of the apple. Seal the edges.
10- Prick the pie with a fork or knife in a few places, brush with the extra egg and place in the oven. Bake for 40 minutes.
******** ENJOY :o) **********