Week 73. Jordan. Mansaf.

I’ve failed. I intended on being in a position that when I drew the country Jordan I could do a video blog and cook it with the “celebrity” Jordan (Katie Price). I would have called it “Jordan does Jordan” and it would have gone viral and I would have been picked up by international TV channels as their new Chef and I would have become a judge on Masterchef. Unfortunately, in order for me to attract Jordan I would have need to have a massive following on my blog and she would be chasing me to be involved. Instead I have one man and his dog reading it and Jordan wouldn’t know who I was if I walked up to her and popped one of her enormous fake boobs.

For my few international followers, Jordan is someone who began life as a tacky model at a Grand Prix (hence the name- as she modeled for the Jordan team) and has managed to build on her tackiness, improve it and become the queen of tack. She has had multiple operations to make her look more like Barbie and she drives a bright Pink Landrover. Her most recent husband (I think they married) was Argentinian and couldn’t speak English. She couldn’t speak Spanish. It was a match made in nonsense. She is, however, supposedly a good mother – particularly to her disabled son Harvey – so I will give her credit for that and hence why I wanted to cook this dish with her!

Proceeding without my grown up doll of a guest, I liked the look of the national dish of Jordan *from now on when I mention Jordan I am referring to the country*. Mansaf is the Arabic word for “explosion” so surely something with such a name was going to deliver some real mouth fireworks. The National Dish, Mansaf is usually eaten on a Friday, which in Jordan is a family day.

Cooking national dishes is usually not overly challenging, as dishes eaten by the masses need to be relatively simple as the masses need to be able to cook it. It’s a little different in Jordan and many of the recipes I have research suggest you take into consideration getting some tutelage from an experienced Mansaf Chef before taking it on. What seems to be the major challenge is the use of heated yoghurt and the need to not curdle it. In reality it wasn’t particularly hard, but I did have to follow the recipe extremely closely. The result was a rich (borderline too rich) kebab/ curry like wrap which was fragrant and full of crunch (from the nuts). We loved it, but really missed any chilli hit. I think chilli would have made it an “explosion”.

Here is how I need to do it: (recipe from the YouInJordan website). Makes for about 8 people.

• 2 Kilos lamb, preferably with bones, cut into thick pieces
• 2 cups yogurt
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 1 egg white, beaten with a fork until frothy
• 2 teaspoons corn flour
• ¼ cup clarified butter
• ¼ cup pine nuts
• ¼ cup slivered almonds
• water
• salt
• freshly ground pepper
• 1½ teaspoons turmeric
• ½ teaspoon allspice
• 1 small piece cinnamon bark
• 3 cups basmati rice, rinsed
• Markouk Bread. This can be bought in most major supermarkets, but if you can’t find it use large flat bread wraps. You will need one per person if the size of a dinner plate or two per person if the size of a side plate.

Directions

Place yogurt in a heavy-based pan.

Add frothy egg white, corn flour and 2-teaspoon salt to pan and stir gently just enough to

blend.  It is very important to use a wooden ladle and to stir in the same direction.  So, if you stir to the left, you must continue stirring the yogurt mixture to the left throughout the whole cooking process.  Otherwise, the yogurt will curdle. (Herein lies the challenge)

Place pan over medium heat and stir constantly with wooden ladle.  Heat the yogurt mixture until it begins to boil, stirring continuously in the same direction.  Lower the heat and leave to boil gently, uncovered, for 3-5 minutes until thick.

Place lamb in a pan and cover with cold water. Bring slowly to boil. Skim the surface to remove particles. When well skimmed and boiling, add salt and paper to taste. Cover and boil gently for 30 minutes.

Heat butter in frying pan and add pine nuts and almonds. Fry until golden and remove nuts to a plate, draining butter back into the pan.

Add onion to pan and fry gently until transparent. Stir in turmeric, allspice and cinnamon bark and cook for another 2 minutes. Add this mixture to the boiling lamb.

After lamb has been cooking for 1 hour, remove lid and let liquid reduce until it only half-covers lamb.

When reduced, add yogurt sauce, shaking pan to blend it with liquid. Let the mixture boil gently on low heat until lamb is tender and sauce is thick.

In the meantime, prepare the rice as directed on package.

When the rice is ready, remove all the meat, onion and nuts

from the large pan using a slotted spoon. Set these aside. The pan should only contain sauce/ liquid now.

To serve, place the markouk bread on a serving dish and pour over some remaining sauce (from which you removed the meat) Spread the rice evenly over the markouk bread. Then place the meat pieces on top of the rice. Then garnish with the roasted almonds and pines. Drizzle some more of the remaining sauce on top.

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!

Week 55. Namibia. Magic Lamb.

It’s hardly been above zero degrees for a week, so I thought we would have a barbeque.

Am I mad? Maybe. Am I bored of winter? Definitely. Do I have the option of a deep pit in my garden to bury a leg of lamb in? No.

I drew Namibia this week and looked at the options for dishes to cook which would be relevant, not similar to something I have done before and appropriate for a Sunday night meal. Magic Lamb stood out.

It’s not clear why Magic Lamb is called so, but it is clear that it is a meal for whilst on the go – and on the go in the African wilderness….not Twickenham West London. It seems as though the dish originated with game or bush meat and was cooked in hastily arranged pits dug into the earth and filled with fire. According to the recipes I read the best option is the pit, but having only a paved courtyard for a garden I didn’t really have an option for that so had to throw on a load of layers and get the BBQ out!.

This particular dish lends well to a photo tour of it, so below I explain how I made it. Taste review post photos. Note – I didn’t do a leg of lamb, but shanks – it just worked better for an evening meal for two.

Lamb Shanks

 

I studded each with chopped anchovies, rosemary, pomegranate seeds, garlic and green peppercorns.

Stud the lamb

BBQ the lamb. In zero degrees.

The lamb tasted phenomenal. When I took it out of the foil I was concerned that the half which had been in contact with the grill was burnt, but I made a sauce/ gravy using some lamb stock, peppercorns and rosemary and just sat the shanks in the liquid for twenty minutes. It worked brilliantly and it almost tasted caramelized.

I’m tired right now. I’ve been cooking outside in the middle of winter. In Namibia it might not get cold much, but it bloody does here.

It’s back to the grindstone tomorrow. It’s quite funny; when I started this blog I saw it as my route to the future and I would amass an enormous following. Do you know how many followers I have? 13. I have cooked for 55 weeks and cooked nearly a third of every country in the world….and 13 people read this blog each week. For you 13 I love you. I will be inviting you to my wrap party. I have cancelled Wembley Arena and we are going to The Kings Head.

Week 52. Ecuador. Arroz con menestra

Some stats to start off:

• So far I have done 52 countries
• It has taken 589 days
• I average a blog every 11.3 days
• I should therefore finish after 2208 days
• 2208 days is 315 weeks
• 315 weeks is 6.06 years
• 6.06 years from the day I began is 19th June 2016
• Save the date for the closing party!

It should be May 2011. I should have, ideally, cooked 52 dishes (one for every week) a year after this blog began. I’m way off, but so are my priorities.

I will never let this blog die, I will absolutely reach my goal and I will post most weeks. I won’t, however, care too much about the quality of my writing. It stressed me out somewhat at the beginning and I thought in depth what I needed to write about, how I could be interesting and or funny. I’m over that. I don’t really like writing – not a huge amount. I love cooking and I love seeing this blog grow and the list of countries to cook dwindle, but the actual writing – not so much. I envy people who can just spit out interesting articles day after day, week after week, but I do wonder how taxing it is to think about what to write. For those who do it easily – I salute you.

I’m off work today as we have a scan for baby number two. We decided not to find out this time the sex, which for someone as obsessive compulsive as I am was utter torture. I cannot stand the idea that someone knows something I don’t, when I could. We had the situation where the sonographer (bit grumpy, occasionally smiley, very attractive) asked “do you want to know the sex?”. Everything inside me screamed “of course I bloody do – you know and now you need to tell me”, but we had agreed we wouldn’t find out this time so I coughed out “nope”. Her next line was not what I expected. I thought she would just know and would not tell us, but instead she needed to write the type of genitalia on her screen, so asked us to turn our heads away. Both Des and I were looking as different screens which meant I then had the opportunity to easily cheat and just sneak a peek. The agony of not turning was like having my nails pulled out. It pulled at the depths of my self control. I succeeded and I suppose I am proud of myself, but it was horrible. Anyway – I saw no willies or anything close, so I’m pretty sure we are having a girl.

Due to the time off this afternoon I knew it was a day for a blog, so yesterday I drew Ecuador. I spent some time researching the country and was slightly confused what to do as I have done the national dish (Cervice) before, when I cooked Panama. This confusion ended the minute I stumbled across the food blog of Laylita. Ecuadorian food galore. Usually I spend time looking at loads of recipes, changing them, adding in my spin, the spin of others and creating a recipe from scratch. This week I didn’t bother. I just chose one of Laylitas. I invite you to look at her site. It’s colourful and full of great looking dishes. This is clearly someone I would get on with as she clearly loves her cooking.

The dish was fantastic. I rarely get suprised from looking at a recipe and then tasting the results, but this time I definitely was. I have cooked lentils in an Asian dhal form hundreds of times, but rarely have I altered the flavour completely. This did that. The lack of spice heat and the inclusion of saffron (I used instead of traditional achiote) and fresh coriander, made it taste deliciously fresh. The steak was predictably iron rich and buttery rare and this complemented the lentils beautifully. The rice was nutty with turmeric and I decided to add a fried egg as Laylita suggested this is what vegetarians had instead of meat. I had to have both!

It tasted like the innards of the poshest burrito ever made.

I’m not going to give you the recipe – It’s on http://www.laylita.com. I want you to go there and find it.

 

The Half Century. Week 50. Philippines . Caldereta.

I’ve been to The Philippines. In 2005 I was tasked with setting up an offshore Telesales Unit for the company I worked for at the time.  I loved my time there but it was extremely eventful. When the company tried to get my insurance they were shocked to find out it would be £2000 for the week. This, supposedly, was due to an increasing trend of kidnappings in Manila, where I was to travel. The kidnappings rarely made the main press stories as they were usually over within 24 hours. Gangs would capture Western Businessmen and demand $20,000 for the release. As the level of ransom was pitched low, companies paid up. I was ever so slightly nervous I was about to become a statistic. My nerves were not overly calmed when my taxi from the airport locked all the doors and when I got to the hotel I was shocked when security sent a dog through the car and a huge mirror underneath the car to check for explosives. The hotel was stunning and the food excellent but it was tarnished by working -girls frequenting the bar and disappearing upstairs with disgusting, fat, sleezey American men who thought it entirely acceptable to pay to cheat on their poor wives.

I worked UK hours whilst over there, as the call centre would be calling England, so I had to head to work at about 5pm. On the first day I picked up a cab from reception and asked to be taken to a cash machine. It didn’t work so he agreed to charge the fare to my hotel and my room. He also told me he knew exactly where to take me, so I sat back in my locked cab and trusted him. To put things into context; I am just short of 2 metres tall, I am white, I have a shaved head and I was wearing a suit. The typical person on the street was a good 30cm shorter and wearing flip-flops. So, with no money, standing out like a sore thumb and holding a laptop, when I was dropped in the wrong place I am sure you can imagine my rising panic. I span around looking for any signs of what to do when I noticed that the cab had turned right at the junction ahead and was heading back my way – albeit down the next block. I have never run so fast in my life. I leapt onto the bonnet and crashed my hand down onto his windscreen, slapping it until he let me back in. Fortunately it had just been an innocent mistake but for those 30 seconds I was lost and alone I was sure he had just set me up.

The rest of my time in Manila was fantastic. I loved the evening thunderstorms and monsoon downpours, the people were tremendously accommodating and the food was delicious. I ate a lot of noodles whilst I was there, but I have always remembered a beef stew I had which blew my mind. Deep rich meat but with flavours of Asia. I haven’t tried to make it until now.

Not the type of dish you would imagine from Asia, Caldereta draws on Spanish influences but has the twist of soy and chilli which you might seem more appropriate. Spain had great influence in the Philippines from 1550 until the beginning of the 20th Century FYI.

It’s very simple to make and works best with slow cooked cuts of meat (see previous post).

Here is how I made my 50th dish!

• 500g Beef Shin
• 1 Onion
• 5 Carrots
• 2 Cloves Garlic
• 3 Bay Leaves
• 2 Large Potatoes
• 1 TBSP Soy Sauce
• 2 Pints Water
• 1 TBSP Chilli Flakes
• 150G Liver Pate
• 1 TBSP Tomato Puree
• 1 TBSP Chilli Sauce
• Salt and Pepper to Taste

Begin by browning the onion and beef together in oil. This will take about 10 minutes. At that point add half the soy sauce and the garlic.

Add in the water and the bay leaves and then let it all simmer for at least two hours.

Once the meat is starting to soften add the chilli flakes, chilli sauce, tomato puree, pate, potato and carrot.

This needs to stew for about another hour and then everything will be thick and soft. If you like you could add some spring onion or chopped white onion now just to add some texture back.

Finally grate some strong cheese over the top, sprinkle with chilli flakes and drizzle with some olive oil.

Week 46. Libya. Sharba Libya.

Yes there is a crisis happening in Libya right now, an uprising, a coup, a smash and grab job….but those fighters – they gotta eat!

It was a complete chance (I know I said that last week too) that I drew a very relevant country but what the hell, I wasn’t going to redraw just because you might think I’m doing a cheeky one to make this blog a bit more interesting/ on trend.

Thinking about what I was going to cook I had just one absolute rule I imposed on myself. No bloody Cous Cous. I know I cooked it when I did Tunisia in week 24  but I just find it hard to get too excited about and whilst a good tool for soaking up juice, it just ultimately bores me silly. I found Sharba Libya and initially wasn’t going to do it as it is another North African Soup (see Morocco) but it is very different to anything I have done before.

Sharba Lybia is really interesting and to many the National Dish. Probably the only soup I’ve had with Lamb in it, it also has pasta, mint, aromatic spices and a lot of heat.

Here’s a little step by step showing how I made it:

Ingredients:

• 200g Diced Lamb
• 1 Large Onion
• 4 Ripe Tomato
• 150g Chick Peas
• Handful Parsley
• Garlic
• 1 Red Chilli
• 250 G Orzo Pasta
• 2 TBSP Tomato Puree
• 3 Tsp Turmeric
• 1 Tsp Ground Nutmeg
• 1 Tst Ground Cloves
• 1 Tsp Ground Coriander
• 1 Tsp Ground Cumin
• 1 Tsp Ground Black Pepper

Make sure the Chick Peas are pre cooked.

In a heavy pan cook the onion for 5 minutes in oil

Add the Lamb and cook for a further 5.

Add the spices, garlic, diced tomato, chopped parsley, chilli and tomato puree

Add a couple of pints of water and let it all sweat for half an hour or so. Then add the pasta for another 15 minutes.

Season and serve. Add the mint as a garnish. Done. Nice. It is delicious and filling. It’s also low fat. It’s worth an hour of your time and I think there is a 7 out of 10 chance you would make it again off your own free will.

I need to think about how to blog next week as I’m away on a Stag Weekend. Masculine things. I’m not sure if the Groom knows what he is doing, or whether he reads this blog, so I better keep it under my hat but it will be Prehistoric for sure. Picture twelve men who are not in their 20s anymore, drinking like they are and staying up to hours us parents never see unless we are getting up for the day. We will love it…until Sunday when we are curled up on the sofa shivering whilst we watch TV and crying when Dot on Eastenders can’t find her house keys. This is where us rancid men choose to take ourselves and we love it. See you then.

Week 44. Dominican Republic. La Bandera Dominica. The flag!

I should probably put tonight into context. It is 31 degrees after a crappy July and we are not prepared. People still have duvets on their beds, they have their jackets on them, their umbrellas in their bags and they are hot. Very hot.

I traveled home from work tonight on a tube and then a bus and I just got hotter and hotter until I was convinced people could see sweat seep through my suit trousers. They probably could. I couldn’t care less.

I am, right now, sat on the sofa in shorts and a vest, glasses on and with some seriously heavy music on my Ipod. I am going to write this week up in a Stanton Warriors (look them up) trance. Last night I saw the weather forecast and decided that the blog post tonight was going to be linked to salad so looked up online a remaining country with a salad as a national dish. I struggled until I found Dominican Republic, and then naively emailed the ingredients to work and forgot about it. What I didn’t consider – stupidly – is that this dish is 4 bloody dishes and they all take some time.

Today as time got away from me and I upped my speed home and allowed the sweat to pour off my face, down my tie and onto the burning pavement, I realised it was going to be a challenge.

Hold on…..I need to pour a drink.

And continue. It was a good tune, so I needed a vodka tonic. The theory behind La Bandara Dominica is that it looks like the national flag. Check out the national flag – it is red and blue – and this dish isn’t in any way blue, but I went with it. It consists of two stews (one bean and one chicken) a salad and rice. All the components were relatively simple to cook, but together they tasted complex. It tasted fresh. I liked it.

I’m far too tired to write the ingredients out this week, but check out this link for what I have done. http://yhoo.it/porwkL

In summary, it is very hot tonight, the dish doesn’t look like the Dominican flag but it tastes good. Make it if you have some time on your side and I would suggest making it for a big day-time party by tripling the ingredients and slapping it on a table.

I’m off for a cold shower….with my banging music.

See you in a couple of weeks – I am off to the South of France on holiday.

Week 43. Tanzania. Ugali and Stew.

I love golf. Not just a little bit  - but almost much as I love my wife and son. Something happens to me when I play it and I just reach a point of thorough relaxation that nothing else can do for me. I could have weeks and months of pent-up deep-seated frustrations and then in one 4 hour blast of golf they are all gone. I don’t really know why it does it for me, it’s not like I’m even that good, but everything feels so far away from having to work, slog, worry about money, do my ironing, unblock the drains etc. This weekend I haven’t been able to play, but instead I have immersed myself into The British Open from the safety of my house. The weather has been horrific and the brave multimillionaires have done so well to battle through. I just wish I was in their shoes. Darren Clarke winning was just perfect considering the fact that he has had such a tough few years……and that I bet on him and won £87.20.

How does The British Open make it onto a food blog? It’s being played at Sandwich in Kent! I like golf and I like sandwiches…..and to make it even more spooky, and Tim my great mate lives in Kent! Crazy shit.

Before I get onto this week’s food I need to discuss Jalapenos and how your body can take certain levels of spice. I thought you just build your tolerance over a number of years but what I didn’t know is that you can take a sudden, random and major step back. I am a Jalapeno hound….I eat them like sweets and get through an absolute minimum of 2 jars a week. I always buy “Discovery” Jalapenos (the green ones) as they are by far the best. Not only are they fiery and eye watering, they also hold their crunch which is so important and so lacking in the competition. The first time I tasted a Discovery Jalapeno my eyes watered, my tongue watered and I had to stop, but I now often eat four at a time and think nothing of it…..until this week that is! I can’t eat them this week. They haven’t changed (I checked) but my tongue won’t have any of it and burns with every bite. WTF? If anyone knows how or why you can  have sudden change in spice tolerance I would very much appreciate your feedback!

This week I cooked Tanzania and researching the food there, it was clear that I had to cook Ugali. The issue with Ugali and me presenting a blog post is that they are effectively tasteless round balls of starch. I couldn’t get very excited about writing about them. I decided, therefore, to cook a traditional dish which could be eaten with the balls. Ugali are made from cornmeal and even when seasoned provide a mass which serves little purpose bar filling you up and costing very little. I absolutely understand why cornmeal must be a staple in Africa but I need to decide whether this blog is a sympathetic look at the economic history of a country and why it might be very poor and that the staple foods are intrinsically linked to the average wealth, or the fact that this is a food blog of food I want to eat – and Ugali, to my palate, are completely tasteless. I wouldn’t wish to have to rely on eating it (unless I cooked it badly or incorrectly) but I can understand why some people must. I decide to make a Tanzanian stew to accompany the Ugali and the stew was (after researching) a very typical British stew but with a cup of coconut milk and a sprinkling of Tumeric. It tasted delicious and when taking a chunk of Ugali with each mouthful it really worked as the sauce soaked into the cornmeal and gave it some texture.

I wouldn’t eat Ugali again unless I adapted them somewhat, but I would be interested to know if anyone has and if I have got this completely wrong and that it does taste great if cooked differently. I don’t want to rubbish a cuisine or dish, but my Ugali were rubbish.

Recipe:

Ugali:

• 4 Cups Water
• 2 Tsp Salt
• 2 Cups Cornmeal.

Boil the water with the salt. Add the cornmeal and constantly stir for 10 minutes or until in 1 large ball. Wet your hands and mould them into balls. Done.

Tanzanian Stew:

• 1 White Onion
• 1 Large Potato
• 500G Stewing Beef
• 1 Red Pepper
• Tbsp Paprika
• 1 Cup Chopped Toms
• 2 TBSP Tom Puree
• 1 Cup Coconut Milk
• 1 Tsp Chopped Garlic
• 1 Tsp Chopped Ginger

Cook off the onions and beef in hot oil for a few minutes without burning. Add the garlic and ginger for a minute. Add the paprika and then the rest of the ingredients bar the chopped toms or tomato puree or coconut milk. Cook for 3 minutes and then add everything else. Cook for 1.5 hours on a gentle heat or until the beef is tender. Season at the end.

Week 42. Morocco. Deep lentil soup w/ Merguez

I have tried to work out how many Merguez sausages I have eaten in my life. We have always eaten them in the South of France and I think I have been there 15 times. On average we have spent two weeks a visit and if you total the number of days it is 210. We ate Merguez every single night on the BBQ and as they are thin sausages I would estimate I ate 5 a night. I’m up to 1050. In addition I have probably bought Merguez in the UK 20 times and eaten 5 on each occasion – so I believe I have eaten 1150. If each sausage was 20 cm long that means if all the merguez I have ever eaten were laid out in a line we would be reaching 210 metres. Put that into context. If laid on a running track it would go half the way round and Usain Bolt would take 20 seconds to run the length of my sausage line! No wonder my stomach is a washboard covered in a layer of sausage fat!

I’ve eaten so many of the  beef (sometimes lamb) sausages as they are wonderfully spiced. I love how they drip with chilli oil as you cut into them and whoever makes them rarely holds back on the spice. Bloody brilliant they are.

I wasn’t aware until recently that Merguez weren’t actually French (I just assumed) and were actually North African, so when I drew Morocco this week I had to get them into the dish somehow.

The national dish of Morocco is Tagine in a dish like this:

I don’t have a Tagine though, and time-frames meant I wouldn’t be able to get one, so I looked past the obviously traditional and found that they are used less often than you would think and instead good wholesome soups are popular. I would usually make a wholesome soup in Winter in the UK and Morocco doesn’t have a winter as we would know it (their winter is about the same temperature of our summer) but it didn’t seem too strange eating it in the warm. The addition of the Merguez on the top was all mine, but it worked and turned it into more of a stew. It’s a great dish.

I need to say Happy Birthday this week to my wee man. Henry Jones was 2 yesterday and we took him to Hardrock to give him a Guitar overload which worked a treat (despite the aggressive Norwegian Bar “Lady”). It might be a glorified fast-food joint, but there is no denying it is a lot of fun and Henry loved it – especially as he was up until 11pm.

Before the recipe, I have done the draw for the next country and I will be cooking……Tanzania.

Recipe:

• 2 Chopped Onions
• 2 Cups Red Lentils
• 3 Sticks Celery
• 2 Cups Lentils
• 4 Garlic Cloves
• 2 Chillies (I got hot ones)
• TBSP Paprika
• TBSP Tumeric
• TSP Cinnamon
• TBSP Salt
• TBSP Cumin
• 6 Tomatoes
• Large bunch fresh Coriander

Sweat the onions for 10 minutes and then add the cored and diced tomatoes, chopped chillies and garlic. Cook for a few minutes and then add the spices for 3 minutes. Add the lentils until you are stilling what seems to a glutinous blob. Add 4 cups of water and the coriander. Set it on a low heat and keep adding water if it needs it. The lentils will be ready in about 20 minutes. I added 4 cooked and chopped Merguez sausages on top.

Week 40. Australia. Meat Pie.

Here are some facts which tie me to Australia.

• An Australian called Jasmine once lived in our box-room. She never unpacked and the room was so small I think she used the lid of her suitcase as her duvet.
• I worked in Sydney during the 2000 Olympics and my job was to make sure people in a pub didn’t pass a series of spots on the pavement. They, of course, couldn’t see the spots as they were standing on them so I was paid to argue.
• I once swam in a Crocodile infested river in Darwin by mistake. I lived.
• I caught a fish and dispatched it in Brisbane only to be told it was too small to kill and “unless you feed it to that bloody Pelican I’m going to fine you mate”.
• I ate a lot of food at a lot of sporting events in Sydney…..and this has dictated tonight.

When thinking about what dish to cook for Australia I started with what I thought people would expect people to me to make. Kangaroo, Croc, Wallaby, Snake etc etc. However, when I thought back to my time there, the unusual dishes were associated with the travelling population rather than Australians. Instead I wanted to cook something I saw Aussies eating.

Aussies bloody love sport and so do I, so we shared a lot of time together in arenas across the country – and the food I saw more than ever was pie. . In the UK we eat a lot of pies whilst in stadiums, but one thing we don’t tend to do is pop a dollop of Tomato Ketchup on top using a special dispenser  – which is to my knowledge still exclusive to the southern hemisphere. It is so very clever. A sauce designed especially for a pie!

The brilliance of this dispenser means you can buy a pie at a footie match (all pies must be made to be no bigger than a handful) and add sauce with one quick snap.

I bought aluminium dishes (the ones you get takeaway curry in) and made the pies in these as they were perfectly handsized. I rubbed each dish in butter and then lined them in shortcrust pastry. I added the filling which I will detail below and then added a puff pastry top which I fused to the shortcrust with an egg wash. I then brushed the top with butter and ground pepper.  I baked for 30 mins and it was done.

Meat mix (for in the pie – and this made 2 pies):

1 large onion

500 g mince

1 tsp Vegemite

1 Cup Beef Stock

1 Large Squeeze Ketchup

2 TBSP Worcester Sauce

Gently fry the onion for 3 mins in a tbsp of oil. Add the mince for 5 mins or until lightly brown. Add the stock, ketchup and Worcester Sauce and let it all cook for 5 mins. Add a pinch of salt and all done.