A rare dessert and dinner from a packet

 

Back to the old grindstone today, I knocked off a bit early to split and stack some wood, important businesses here, nothing more boring that not having the right wood for the coal range when you want it to crank. Tuned into the announcement delivering up a few more days of home improvements on Vogel St. I can’t even look at my bus and contemplate the opportunities it offers.

 

I have a recipe to share, I have not cooked it today but it is fully worthy and I reckon dinner is a bit boring.  There is a dude call Yottam Ottolenghi, I had a book called Jerusalem for some time, it is a cracker, then I got my hands on flavour, it is a step above the first book, entirely vegetarian and the rave reviews come from everyone who has given any recipe a go. Wikedstep made iceberg wedges with smoky aubergine cream for dad last week and I think it scored a 10! So this recipe is an adaptation on a the butternut and sage galette recipe, I had doubled the pastry and dreamed this up. The spiced pear recipe comes from the Digby Law Pickle & Chutney book, if you have this book never let it out of your sight as it is now out of publication and it is gold. My friend Margaret and I often bottle pairs form her tree, she looked at this recipe and said no way it has too much sugar, I made it anyway and now she is a convert. The dessert dukkah comes from a very good book called Spice by Natasha McAller. So this is kind of reliant on you having made the effort to bottle pears, and make the dukkah, but I am sure fresh or tinned will do with the spices added. And you could test adding some sugar to a shop dukkah and see how it goes. Excellent is the only word I can use to describe it, even if I must say so myself.

 Spiced Pear, Cheese and Sage Galette

 For the dessert Dukkah

1/8 t fenugreek seeds1/2 a cinnamon stick broken into chips

1 T flax seeds

2 t coriander seeds

1 t cumin seeds

½ t caraway seeds

25g pecan

25g almonds

40 g pumpkin seeds

2 t raw sugar

1 t salt flakes

¾ t vanilla powder (I omitted this)

 First toast all the nuts you can do it on a tray in the oven , cool and slice. Roast the pumpkin seeds in a pan, cool. Combine all three in a mortar and pestle and coarsely grind. The toast the spices one at a time as they will all have different toasty times, including the cinnamon chips. Once cool you can grind each one in a spice grinder. Mix all ingredients together and bingo you have dessert dukkah.

 For the Pears

2kg ripe pears

4 C white wine vinegar

A long stick of cinnamon

1 T cloves

Peel and quarter the pears, fire the rest of the ingredients in a large pan and bring to the boil, add pears and poach until tender. Pack into hot clean jars top up with the liquid and seal.

 For the Pastry

100g plain flour

30g wholemeal flour

20g quick cook polenta

1 ½ t caster sugar

¾ t flaky salt

1 T finely chopped sage leaves1/4 ground black pepper

20ml olive oil

80g coled, cubed unsalted butter

60 ml iced water

 Mix the first 8 ingredients together, then rub in the butter though, do not overwork you still want some lumps of butter. Add the water and mix in it will be quite sticky, transfer to a well floured surface and roll out to a 28x18 cm rectangle. Fold the long ends in to the centre and roll out again, then fold the short ends in, the fold into a square. Use your hands to shape into a ball, wrap in cling film and pop in the fridge.

 For the Filling

1 small agee jar of spiced pears

20g blue cheese

40 g washed rind cheese

A small tub of mascarpone

2 T brown sugar

A small tub of mascarpone

Ice cream

 Drain the pears slice them and put them in one pan with the juice in the other, add 1 T of brown sugar to each. Warm the pears up, meanwhile mix the three cheeses together. Once the pastry is firm roll in out to the size of a large dinner plate again on a well floured surface, transfer to a baking tray. Spread the cheese mix over the middle leaving about 50cm empty around the edge. Lay the pears on top and fold the edges into the middle a bit.

Cook at 220 degrees for about half an hour, meanwhile reduce the pear syrup until it is thick. Once cooked slide the galette onto a serving plate, put a big dollop of icecream in the middle, pour over the syrup and sprinkle with dukkah an serve. It is pretty rich so probably feeds 6. Now you have got to here, you are probably thinking bugger all that, but I promise you it is worth the effort!

 

Righto now I have almost burnt the dinner twice while cooking and typing, here is today's offering. I had a packed of that pre-assembled couscous with dried fruit in it on the shelf so decided to give it a whirl tonight. Supplies were low so I was down to 3 parsnips, half a leek an onion in the vegetable department. This turned out surprisingly well, I would make it again although no guarantees on success if the couscous was different, no detail on the packet on what spices were in it, of course. I have added smoked chicken but somehow it vanished after I got it out of the packaging and before it went in the pot. The preserved lemon was an afterthought, I ready Chelle’s FB post last night regarding their chops and decided it was just the thing, I have a massive jar of them that I think I made during last year’s lockdown. The balance of sweet, sour and chilli was really good! You could use any vegetables on top.

Moroccan Couscous with Preserved Lemon and Roasted Parnsips

To serve 4

1 packet Moroccan couscous

6 parsnips

A leek

An onion

A chilli

4 cloves of garlic

A handful of currants or sultanas

400g smoked chicken, thinly sliced

One preserved lemon

Oil

Mint leaves

Peel and slice the parsnips, spay with oil sprinkle with salt and fire in a hot oven to roast.  Meanwhile finely slice the leek, onion, garlic and chilli, sauté in a some oil, add the couscous and stir to coat it in the oil. Add 2.5 cups of water, bring to the boil and simmer for 7 minutes. Add the currants, chicken and lemon keep warm for a further 7 minutes. Pile onto a bowl, put the parsnips on top and sprinkle with the mint leaves. Over & Out!