The Family Cook Book

Last night I came home to a fantastic healthy dinner from Yotam Ottolenghi .... well Lisa and Martha actually ....  but inspired by his book Jerusalem.  As I may have mentioned before we are a bit obsessed with Tabbouleh, and making it properly. The key is in the proportions, particularly the amount of parsley. Both dishes feature separately elsewhere on this blog but I really liked them together , hence the post. This is a really healthy and delicious combination. btw  If you cant be bothered to make the sauce then just drizzle the burgers with plain yoghurt and sprinkle over a bit of sumac. Turkey and courgette burgers Makes 4 servings (about 12 burgers) Ingredients For turkey burger 500g minced turkey (I think chicken would be good too) 1 large courgette, coarsely grated 1 spring onion, thinly sliced (I had to use a red onion but it worked ok) 1 medium free range egg 2 tbsp chopped mint 2 tbsp chopped coriander 2 ga...

The conversation here at krow towers swings between football, golf and food with a little bit of work thrown in for good measure. Todays subject was fabulous recipes from Morito and Will mentioned the recipe for Patatas Alinidas. I am so sad that I knew exactly the recipe he was talking about but I haven't cooked it yet. I will do now. Heres the recipe ... along with Moro saffron rice, which he was also raving about. Ingredients 4 medium (cyprus) potatoes (about 750g), unpeeled Salt Half a green pepper, very finely chopped Half a small red onion, very finely chopped 2 tbsp red wine vinegar, with a pinch of sugar 175ml extra virgin olive oil 1 tbsp finely chopped flat-leaf parsley Smoked sweet Spanish paprika Method Add the potatoes to a pan of cold water with 2 tsp salt, bring to the boil and simmer for about 30 minutes, or until soft. Place the pepper, onion and vinegar in a bowl and put to one side. Remove the potatoes from the pan and leave in a colande...

Yet another Morito recipe. This combination of skinned chicken breasts with tahini flavoured greek yoghurt, black onion seeds, coriander and Chilli is an example of Sam and Sam Clark at their best. It's hard to pin down the origins of this recipe but it tastes absolutely brilliant. Creamy yoghurt with just enough of the tahini and lemon to give it that middle eastern vibe, then the pop of the coriander, chilli and black onion seeds add  a little kick and a bit of texture. I barbecued the meat but you could just as easily have done it on a griddle or a heavy non-stick frying pan. The biggest compliment I got on this dish was that it tasted just like the restaurant's version ... and as Peter and Natasha had been to Morito and had it that very day, the comparison was pretty fresh. For the record I also cooked the sublime  Chicharrones de Cadiz  and mechoui lamb chops which rather controversially we had with the River cafe's brilliant roast potatoes from Lucca ..... n...

If you follow my blog you will know how much I love Moro and its little sister Morito. The restaurants are both brilliant and all of the cookbooks are a constant source of inspiration. the recipes not only work really well but there are always surprising new combinations to discover. In this case its prawns with avocado mojo. Prawn and avocado as a combo is obviously as old as the marie rose cocktail sauce hills but this is like a punchy prawn meets guacamole via the Canary Isles. If you don't know what Mojo is heres wikipedia's entry Mojo  ( Spanish pronunciation:  [ˈmoxo] , from  Portuguese   molho   [ˈmoʎu] , meaning "sauce") is the name, or abbreviated name, of several types of  sauces , varying in spiciness, consisting primarily of  olive oil , salt, water, local pepper varieties (called  pimienta  in the Canary Islands),  garlic ,  paprika  (called  pimentón  in Spain),  cumin  or  cor...

I made this recipe last night. Its the fifth in my Dhruv Baker Cook-athon. Its funny but cooking five dishes in a row from one book is a bit like listening to a whole album rather than just being on shuffle the whole time, you start to get a sense of what the artiste has got to 'say'. I really liked this recipe, and I think I can start to see how Dhruv's use of spices is intended to add depth of flavour to his dishes. He tends to layer them through the process which in this case gives flavour rather than just heat to this very simple curry  (this also made the dish appropriate for my dear wife's continuing convalescence too) We had it with kachumber salad and Nushi's fabulous dahl. S erves 4 ingredients 2 tbsp vegetable oil 6 cloves 4 green Cardamom pods 1 cinnamon stick 2 onions, finely chopped 4 cloves garlic, very finely chopped 4cm piece fresh ginger, peeled and very finely grated 1 tsp turmeric 4 tsp ground coriander 2 tsp ground cumin 1...

I've done this recipe before but I had forgotten how good it is! I also got just the right size piece which   Was substantial enough to cook so that you got that combination of char and pink but was small enough to be able to turn without breaking. I also managed to get the skin off in two pieces to crisp them up on the grill as Jamie recommends ingredients • 1 x 1.5kg side of salmon, scaled and pinboned • zest and juice of 1 lemon a bunch of fresh herby fennel tops or basil, leaves picked and finely chopped • olive oil • sea salt and freshly ground black pepper • 1 cucumber, peeled lengthwise at intervals • 300ml natural yoghurt 1 fresh red chilli, deseeded and finely chopped • a small bunch of fresh mint or oregano, leaves picked and chopped • extra virgin olive oil The original recipe I love cooking big pieces of fish on my barbecue, but you must use a medium-hot part of the barbie – if it’s too hot, you’ll crisp the skin before the inside is cooked. Start the fish...

My role as a carer meant that I had plenty of time on my hands this weekend. So, very unusually for me I decided to make a cake, and as I was on a Dhruv Baker cook-athon I decided to cook Lemon drizzle cake from his excellent book Spice. The cake was delicious ... I made a one big error, one small one and I have one observation. My big error was forgetting to line the tin with greaseproof paper which made extracting the cake without any damage impossible! my small one was not making enough holes in the top to let the syrup in ... my wives tip was to use a fork rather than a skewer My observation, I didn't really get any coriander coming through. However the cake was bloody delicious, really light with a lovely lemon flavour. Ingredients 180g unsalted butter, softened, plus extra for greasing 250g caster sugar 3 eggs Zest of 3 lemons and juice of 2 lemons 250g self-raising flour 1 tsp baking powder 120ml whole milk 100g granulated sugar, plus extra to sprink...

The second dish I cooked this weekend for my poor, poor, post-operative wife from Dhruv Baker's book Spice is a really lovely gently spiced prawn curry. We just added some shop bought poppadums and nan. It was delicious but if I was be a tiny weeny bit picky I would add just a touch more heat, Mrs Cook would however disagree, she loved it just the way it is. Once again the recipe was very easy. Ingredients 500g prawns - shelled and deveined 2 tablespoons vegetable oil 1 tablespoon unsalted butter 2 sprigs fresh curry leaves (I could only get dried) 1 teaspoon black mustard seeds ½ teaspoon fenugreek seeds 1 onion finely chopped 1 teaspoon ginger ½ teaspoon chilli powder 1 teaspoon coriander powder 1 teaspoon turmeric powder Half a tin of tinned chopped tomatoes 100ml chicken or fish stock 1 teaspoon tamarind paste 400ml coconut milk Salt to taste Instructions Heat the oil in a saucepan and add half the curry leaves, the mustard seeds, the fe...

This weekend I have been at home looking after Mrs. Cook as she recuperates following an operation. I had plenty of time on my hands and could do little to help her recover other than be at her beck and call. Cooking for the unwell is one of those time honoured traditions that has been much better preserved in other cultures. Whilst flowers and chocolates are great, the arrival of chicken soup or dhal (thanks Nushi) combines a special combination of love and nutrition. So I decided that I would while away some of the time cooking Lisa some comforting dishes to help her on her way to recovery. It also gave me the opportunity to cook some recipes from a recent addition to my cookbookshelf which is Spice by the excellent Dhruv Baker. I cooked a cake, a curry and first of all his most excellent take on kedgeree, which ought to be very high on the list of comforting recovery recipes. It was really easy to make and absolutely delicious, the use of risotto rice works particularl...