Week 65. Botswana. Chicken In A Hole.

When I grow up I want to be a pickpocket/ urban thief. When people are on trains with their young families I want to sneak up to them and steal their most important things. I don’t care about the fact that it will leave them moneyless and with no phone to call people to help. I don’t care that they look like nice people and that their children are with them and dependent on them. I just love stealing. When I do steal I love the fact that I get about a twentieth of what the goods are worth and that I will accept that money readily as I have a drug habit I need to keep fuelled. I love the idea that the people I steal from will be about to go for Tapas in Barcelona, excited about it being their last night away and I revel in the thought that I am about to ruin their night and tarnish their whole trip which was before I came along incredible. I love what a great bloke I am.

So – last weekend we got done.

We were having such a great time and then it all got ripped away from us. Our last day which we planned to spend shopping and on the beach was filled with Police station visits. It was crappy and it was something which hundreds of people experience every day in Barcelona. I love the city but they need to address this problem. We were prepared and guarded the bag and the phones and money was in a zipped pocket, but they were better. I think they leant a bag against us and they had their hands through a hole in the bottom of the bag and into our bag. I think they used a cute baby in a pram as a ploy and I hate them for putting a bad spin on a great break. Fortunately, being the glass-half-full people we are in a crisis (most of the time) we managed to have a great night after, and drunk more Sangria than we would have and put more Tapas away than I thought we would. We laughed it off until we got back and I wrote a list of what we needed to do to sort things out. It’s a pain, but we didn’t get hurt and on that basis we need to get over ourselves a bit and move on.

We got back to the UK early this week and the weather came back with us. It’s been amazing and as a result the BBQ has been used – albeit after an experience I had yesterday. Listen carefully, as this might happen to you someday and this information will be useful. When I turned on the BBQ yesterday I could hear the gas (we are posh) coming out and the ignition was clearly lighting, but they wouldn’t combine. I couldn’t understand why. Eventually I decided to dissect the underneath and take out the gas pipes. As I did I was sprayed with fat and oil (cold). The pipes which take the gas from the canister to the grill were full of fat from previous barbeques and therefore the gas couldn’t travel up to the top. It was rank, it ruined a shirt and a pair of shorts I was wearing but I fixed it like a mechanic and I was proud and I deserved the nod of the head my wife gave me when I returned in, covered in oil, to say the BBQ was back working!

Botswana was chosen this week and they have a dish called Chicken In A Hole. It is supposed to be placed into a pit dug in the sand and placed on burning coals, and would be used in a community which had no cooking machinery….but I had nowhere to dig a hole so I used the newly mended barbeque as an oven.

 

The premise is a whole chicken, filled with onion and garlic (also shoved under the skin) and the covered in spices and wrapped in cabbage and then foil before baking. I read different opinions as to what the spice mix should be, but settled on it being largely paprika and coriander based  with Cumin.

I can only assume the cabbage is used to moisten the chicken throughout the baking as it softens and seeps liquid into the chicken. The result was utterly delicious. The chicken tasted poached and was moist all the way through, It was so simple and should I live in a desert or not have an oven I would make it all the time. We had it with salad as it’s hot outside, but it would be equally as nice with cous cous or rice.

Make it, and vary the flavour with things you love. It’s fun and delicious.

Right – I’m off to phone my phone carrier and ask why I still don’t have one back!

Week 59. Algeria. Meatball Tagine & Coriander Salad.

I’m not allowed a Tagine. Our house is too small apparently and our cupboards are full of cooking equipment I “use once and then forget about”. It’s a fair comment and living in a two up two down terraced house in London there isn’t a lot of room for anything. When I have my huge Victorian house with the island kitchen and tri-fold doors which open onto the vast garden I’ll get me a tagine and I’ll impress at dinner parties by using it as the centerpiece and unveiling the food by lifting off the chimney.

Living in London in your 30s means for most that you have to live in a pretty small house. For what we paid for our house, with one downstairs room, you could buy a 4 bedroom house in the country but I wouldn’t want it any differently – especially with my love of food. Within 3 miles of my kitchen there is a Thai Supermarket, a Chinese Supermarket an Indian Supermarket and a generalist supermarket with African and Caribbean sections. There is a Polish shop at the end of my road which covers food from most of Eastern Europe and if I need anything from Sweden I go to Ikea. I learned once in Holland that their dish Hotchpotch is called so as it is a many different ingredients all thrown together in the same pot and they all combine to produce one wonderful result. I see the food scene in London very much on the same lines. We have British cuisine in the background but on top of that we have world cuisine and we can tap into it whenever we please.

I drew Algeria this week and the Meatball Tagine stood out.  For those who is not sure what a tagine is, here is a pic.

Without having Tagine and cooking a dish which required one, it meant I needed to improvise, so I used my casserole. Instead of constantly checking during the cooking process, as I usually would, I put the lid three quarters on and let it steam away. It produced a decent dish.

I love meatballs in most forms. There’s something about the texture which improves the overall taste somehow. These meatballs were the best I have ever made. It’s a big statement but they contained some really bold flavours which didn’t overpower and the undercurrent of harissa is wonderful. I would usually eat meatballs in a thick sauce and put them with rice or pasta, but with this dish there is not much sauce left at the end of the process and I ate it in a flatbread with homous and a fragrant coriander salad. It was rich, spicy, floral, meaty and fresh all at the same time. It’s brilliant food for when you have people round but you don’t want to sit all around the table in an smart dinner party way. You need to eat this with your hands and it’s quite messy.

I often get comments from people who have read this blog which say “that looked great, I really should make one of your dishes”.  All I would say in response, is perhaps you should, but if not then definitely cook something this week which is completely new for you. You will probably like it, it will certainly teach you something and overall you will be a better cook for it.

Meatball Tagine.

• 500g Beef Mince
• 1 Tbsp Paprika
• 2 Cloves Garlic
• 1 Tbsp Cumin
• 1 Tbsp Turmeric
• 2 Tbsp Chopped Fresh Parsley
• 5 Tomatoes (skinned)
• 2 Tbsp Harissa
• 2 Shallots
• 2 Cups Water

Mix the beef mince with the Paprika, Garlic, Cumin, Turmeric and Parsley and divide into about 10 large balls. Add in salt and pepper to taste.

Heat some oil in a frying pan. Roll the balls all around just until they are browned all over and then set them aside.

In a casserole gently fry the shallots for 5 minutes and then add the chopped tomatoes and the harissa. Gently fry for another 5 minutes and then add the water and bring to the boil. Add in the meatballs, stir and then put the lid on the casserole, turn the heat down to a gentle simmer and leave it for 30 mins with one stir half way.

Coriander Salad

• 1 Diced Red Onion
• 1 Diced Cucumber
• 5 Handfuls of Chopped Coriander
• A drizzle of Lemon Juice

Combine!