Potato Salad, with Carrot and Hummus

I usually make my own potato salad (boiled chunks of potato, allowed to cool, and mixed with mayonnaise), but the tub was a bargain price at the supermarket. The hummus was also shop-bought (essentially a chickpea paste). Served with carrot prepared with a rotary grater, which does the job inside a minute. Dressed with a dusting of dried coriander (chopped fresh coriander is better if you have some in your kitchen).

 

Beef and Aubergine Shakshuka

One of those great dishes which can be constituted in a number of different ways. Often served with eggs, which I skipped in this case, since I was not cooking for four people.

I browned 250g of ground beef (minced beef) with a julienned onion for twenty-five minutes at a medium heat, stirring at least once a minute. During which time I made batonned carrot, and added the carrot to the pot. I quartered eight cherry tomatoes, and added those also.

I added 150g of tomato passata to the beef, along with some boiling water and beef stock. Plus three red chillies, and a handful of freshly chopped coriander. Allowed to simmer under glass for 45 minutes.

I cut the aubergine into chunks, and added them to an oven-proof roasting/serving dish, drizzled with sunflower oil. I also added diced spring onion. Roasted in the preheated oven for twenty five minutes at 190 deg C (under a lid).

The dish is served with a garnish of garlic infused yoghurt. I made this with three dessert spoonfuls of yoghurt, finely grating three peeled cloves of garlic into it. Often mixed with a little tahini, which I didn't have to hand, but I had some Moroccan humus, and stirred that in instead (two teaspoonfuls).

Decant the beef into the dish containing the roasted aubergine and spring onion, and spoon the garlic infused yoghurt across the surface. Serve.

Fabulous dish!

Pork Meatloaf Salad, with Hummus

A meatloaf salad, with grated carrot, diced spring onion and half a yellow pepper, with two dessert spoonfuls of hummus. The carrot salad was dressed with olive oil and two dashes of smoked paprika.

The pork meatloaf was made with finely ground pork sausage meat (500g), a cupful of porage oats, one egg, and a whole diced red onion. Cooked in a metal roasting tray for 40 minutes at 190 deg C on the middle shelf of a preheated oven.

Allowed to cool, and cut into six squares.

Cherry Tomato and Hummus Salad

Another simple salad served on a bed of diced iceberg lettuce.

Finely sliced carrot sections, julienned purple onion, and celery were mixed in a bowl with olive oil, a dash of balsamic vinegar, a dash of malt vinegar, fine white pepper, with some oregano and coriander leaf. Allow to stand for forty-five minutes or so in the fridge before serving.

The cherry tomatoes were quartered in another bowl, and dressed in a dusting of coriander leaf.

Serve together with around 150 grams of fresh hummus.

Pepper Salad with Hummus

A fabulous hummus salad, served with diced red and green pepper, deseeded and diced red chilli, chopped carrot and red onion, plus a bistro salad of green and purple lettuce, finely chopped beetroot, and spring onion.

The vegetable salad was soused in a little olive oil and malt vinegar for an hour or so, with a generous pinch of oregano, plus a squeeze of lime juice. Occasionally tossed.

Dress with black pepper when served.

Sweet Potato, Hummus, and Chicken in a Ras El Hanout Salsa

Ras El Hanout is a delicious Moroccan spice mix, made with coriander seeds, cumin seeds, crushed chilli flakes, ground cinnamon,  paprika, ground cardamom, ground ginger, and ground turmeric. I made a spicy salsa for the chicken using this spice mix (one teaspoonful), along with smoked paprika (half a teaspoonful), diced onion, deseeded and diced red chilli, and some tomato puree. 

Served on a bed of hummus (sourced from the local Co-op), with a sprinkling of diced onion (red or white), and accompanied by sweet potato wedges (skins on), roasted in the oven (dressed in some sunflower oil), for around forty five minutes at 190 deg. C.

A fabulous dish, and at last I've found a really effective way to use sweet potato!

Omelette Tortilla, with Sweet Chilli Hummus

I first encountered egg tortillas in 2007, in San Antonio, Texas, which is not so far away from the Mexican border. It is a great way to make a filling meal in a short space of time. It is an analogue to a number of meal formats found elsewhere in the world, and in Britain (Cornish pasties, Scottish bridies, etc.), which wrap food up in some form of bread or pastry.

I've included some earlier versions on this blog in which I used egg as the basis of the filling: Mexican Scrambled Egg Wrap, and Spanish Omelette Wrap.

This one is a little different, in that the commercially available tortilla wraps used were made with an infusion of sweet potato and feta cheese (sourced from Aldi).

I beat two eggs in a bowl, and added about 50 mls of water, which makes the omelette flexible after frying. The omelette (salted, and with a little paprika and white pepper) was cooked in a little butter in an omelette pan. At first at a high heat, but immediately turned down to nothing. After five minutes the omelette was turned, and cooked for another five minutes at the lowest heat (currently I cook with an electric hob which has a high degree of latent heat in the metal hobs. With a gas hob, you don't need to anticipate how hot the hobs will be in advance).

While the omelette was cooking, I smeared the surface of the tortilla with a sweet chilli hummus.

The omelette was then decanted onto the tortilla, the sides were folded in; the ends were sealed, and the tortilla was rolled. The tortilla was cut in two at 20 degrees with a sharp knife. Ready to eat, and delicious!

Sweet Chilli Houmous Dip with Carrot and Celery

Houmous dip from the Co-op, served with carrot and celery batons.

Houmous is made from chickpea flour, cooked with the addition of an emulsifier such as olive oil, and in this case also with some cornflour in the mix. Also with a little vinegar, sugar, crushed garlic, and chilli sauce.

Batoning vegetables is fairly straightforward if you are using a very sharp vegetable knife, and hazardous with one which isn't. Cut both the carrot and the celery into strips, and then divide into three or four.

Potato Salad with Moroccan Hummus

Four components - a potato salad in Mayonnaise, a leaf salad with Iceberg lettuce, red onion, and diced rocket, cooked and chopped green beans (Egyptian dwarf beans to be precise) with Moroccan hummus (chilli and topped with some chickpeas), and finally some peeled tomato mixed with cooked and diced carrot, with cumin seeds, coriander and basil. 

Potato Salad with Moroccan Hummus

The potato, carrot and green beans were cooked a steamer, with the potato and the carrot in the bottom (20 minutes cooking). The beans were in the top half, and were steamed for ten minutes after being topped and tailed. The skin of the tomatoes (3) was cut, and they were blanched in boiling water for three minutes. After which the skin is easy to peel off. 

These ingredients were put aside to cool in cold water. The leaf salad with the onion was prepared (one quarter of a medium size red onion). Dressed in a little olive oil and lemon juice. Allow to stand for fifteen minutes and stir. 

After the vegetables had cooled, the diced potato was mixed with mayonnaise in a bowl. The tomato and carrot mixture was mixed in another bowl with a pinch of cumin seeds, coriander leaf and basil.  Then decanted into a serving bowl, as shown above. The green beans were decanted into a small serving bowl also, and topped with two teaspoonfuls of the hummus. 

Assemble on a plate, and serve. 

Breast of Chicken with Baby Carrots and Hummus

Steamed breast of chicken with carrots, green beans and hummus.

Really easy to do. Baby carrots topped and tailed and placed in the bottom level of the steamer (they were boiled rather than steamed). The breast of chicken was placed in a bowl in the upper tier, along with the green beans. Timed for 40 minutes from the time the water came to the boil, when the chicken and vegetables were added. 

Served with two dessert spoonfuls of hummus. Black pepper to taste. 

Breast of Chicken with Baby Carrots and Hummus