♥︎Spicy Moroccan carrots

For ➍-➏
500 g carrots

marinade:

juice of ½ lemon (2 tbs)

3 large garlic cloves

¼ cup fresh parsley, finely chopped

¼ cup fresh coriander, finely chopped

4 tb olive oil

1 ts honey

1 ts sweet paprika

½ ts hot paprika

½ ts ground cumin

½ ts salt

Peel carrots. Cut into 1.5cm slices. Cover with hot salted water. Bring to the boil. Reduce heat and cover. Simmer for 15m. Drain and steam.

Crush garlic with salt to a paste. Thoroughly mix all marinade ingredients in a bowl.

Add warm carrots to marinade. Toss gently to coat

Cover and refrigerate for 1-2 h, stirring occasionally.

♥︎Crunchy tofu with paksoi, leek & mushrooms

For ➍ 

400 g tofu 

marinade: 

4 tbs soy sauce 

4 tbs maple syrup 

1 tbs fresh ginger 

2 cloves garlic 

2 ts sesame oil 

2 ts tap water 

2 ts cornflour 

1 ts Sichuan spices 

wok: 

250 g wok noodles 

300 g paksoi 

2 cloves garlic 

2 shallots or 1 (red) onion 

2 spring onions 

1 stalk leek 

250 g mushrooms 

100 g peanuts or cashews 

½ bunch fresh coriander 

4 tbs fried onions optional, to finish [not heart-friendly]

peanut oil 

salt & pepper 

wok sauce: 

2 tbs soy sauce 

2 ts rice vinegar or balsamic vinegar 

2 ts sesame oil 

Cut the block of tofu lengthwise. Place the slices of tofu on a clean kitchen towel. Fold the towel closed and squeeze out the moisture. Place a weight on top and let it drain for a while. In the meantime, finely grate the garlic and ginger. Combine all the ingredients for the marinade in a mixing bowl. Remove the tofu from under the weight and cut into cubes of 2 cm. Mix with the marinade and make sure all the cubes are well covered. Put  in the refrigerator. 

Cook the wok noodles until al dente. Cook for 1 m less than indicated on the packaging (the noodles will continue to cook in the wok for a while). Save a cup of the cooking liquid to finish the sauce later. Finely chop the shallot and garlic. Cut the leek into fine rings, the pak choi into coarser pieces. Cut the mushrooms into strips. Finely chop the peanuts and coriander. Put everything to one side. Heat a generous dash of peanut oil in a (wok) pan on a high heat. Fry the tofu cubes on all sides until golden brown and crispy. Then remove them from the pan and set aside. Reuse the mixing bowl from the tofu marinade and mix all the ingredients for the wok sauce in it. Set aside. Heat a little new oil in the pan in which you fried the tofu on a medium to high heat. Add the shallot and garlic and fry. Then add the leek, pak choi and mushrooms and fry for a few minutes. Then add the cooked wok noodles. Mix well. Finally, add the wok sauce and a cup of the cooking water from the noodles. Mix well and season with salt and pepper. Serve the wok together with the fried tofu. Finish with fresh coriander, peanuts and fried onions(optional).

Grilled aubergine with pomegranate & pistachio

For ➍
3 eggplants
¼ ts turmeric
1 tbs garam masala
peanut oil
3 tbs pistachios
1 bunch coriander
1 bunch mint
1 pomegranate
2 shallots
1 clove garlic
1 tbs sugar cubes*
3 tbs white wine vinegar
1 tsp pilipili

Peel the garlic and shallots. Chop finely.
Chop the coriander and mint leaves until you have 1 tbs of each.
Remove the seeds from the pomegranate.
Place a saucepan over medium heat and add the shallots, garlic, sugar, vinegar, pilipili and 3 tbs water.
Boil for 1 m, remove from heat and allow to cool.
Stir in the chopped coriander, mint and 3 tbsp pomegranate seeds.
Rinse the salt from the aubergines and pat them dry.
Mix 3 tbs oil with the garam masala and turmeric into a paste and brush the aubergine slices with it.
Heat the grill pan and fry them on both sides in beautiful, black lines.
Arrange them in a baking dish. Sprinkle with oil and continue cooking until the aubergines are soft.
Arrange the slices on a serving dish and spoon the dressing over it.
Garnish with the rest of the pomegranate seeds, mint leaves and coriander.
Sprinkle with pistachios and serve.
Serve as an opener or as a side dish at e.g. grilled lamb crown.

* Replace if necessary by honey. Or replace the wine vinegar with balsamic vinegar for a sweeter taste.

Balsamico vinaigrette

For ➋
2 tbs balsamico
2 tbs extra virgin olive oil
½ ts salt
¼ ts pepper or to taste

In a small bowl, combine the dressing ingredients: 2 tbs balsamico, 2 tbs olive oil, ½ ts salt and ¼ ts pepper. Briskly whisk or shake the dressing ingredients together.>In a small bowl, combine the dressing ingredients: 2 tbs balsamico, 2 tbs olive oil, ½ ts salt and ¼ ts pepper. Briskly whisk or shake the dressing ingredients together.
Serve with spinach salad.

Rucola salad

For ➍
100 g rucola
150 g cherry tomatoes, halved
2 scallions, cut into rings
2 tbs chopped walnuts
juice of ½ lime
olive oil

Mix the cherry tomatoes, the spring onions and the walnuts under the arugula. Season the salad with the lime juice, olive oil, pepper and salt.
Serve with endives tortilla, or omelet.

Chicken with curry dressing & steamed vegetables

For ➍
4 chicken fillets
2 ts curry powder
4 tbs sunflower oil
1 bunch carrots, peeled
200 g sugar snaps
½ small cucumber
½ lime
1 ts stock powder
2 scallions in rings

Rub the chicken fillets with salt pepper and ½ of the curry powder. Then brush with 1 tbs of oil. Place the chicken fillets in a steam basket.
Place the carrots and sugar snap juices in the other steam basket. Boil a water in the steam pan. First place the steam basket with chicken on the pan and then put the steam basket with vegetables on it. Put the lid on and steam the vegetables and chicken for 15 m.
In the meantime, cut the cucumber in 2 halves and scrape out the seeds with a spoon. Cut the cucumber halves diagonally into 1 cm pieces. Add the cucumber pieces to the vegetables in the steam pan and steam the vegetables for another 5 m.
Thinly grate the green zest of the lime and squeeze the fruit. In a small bowl, dissolve the broth powder in 10 cl of boiling water. Beat the broth with the remaining oil and curry powder into a dressing. Stir in the lime zest and spring onion and add lime juice, salt and pepper to taste.
Divide the vegetables and chicken fillets over 4 plates and spoon the dressing over the vegetables. Delicious with boiled potatoes.

Lamb Kabouli

For ➍
500 g lamb, cut in small pieces, visible fat removed
300 g white Basmati rice
200 g cooked chickpeas
2 tbs vegetable oil
2 dl stock or water
whole spices:
2 cinnamon sticks
2 whole cardamom pods
3-4 cloves
1 ts peppercorn, lightly crushed
1 large onion, chopped fine
½ ts saffron strands
salt (to taste)
Omani spice mix:
4 cloves garlic, chopped
1 ts fresh ginger, crushed
1 heaped ts cumin seeds
1 heaped ts coriander seeds
1 heaped ts cardamom seeds
2 ts cayenne pepper
½ ts ground turmeric
2 tbs distilled vinegar

Combine all spice mix ingredients in an electric food processor and process until a thick paste is formed, use vinegar sparingly as it can make the overall taste too acidic. Store refrigerated in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks.
Heat oil in non-stick pan. Sauté onions and half of the whole spices. When onions start to brown, add the prepared Omani spice mix.
Add lamb to the pan and mix with all the spices. Add 20 cl stock or water, cover pan and allow to cook till meat is tender. Depending on the cut of meat, it may take up to 30 m on medium heat.
When meat is done, add chickpeas.
Rinse and drain Basmati rice.
Bring 6 dl of water (add a large pinch of salt and remaining whole spices) to boil in another large pan. Add in rice and cook till rice is fluffy.
When rice is done, add lamb in layers and chickpeas into the pot. Cover and remove from heat.
After about 10 m, open pan and carefully mix together the meat and rice.
Serve.

Cinnamon-braised lamb shanks

For ➍
4 cm piece of ginger
4 garlic cloves
100 g golden raisins
1 tbs ground cinnamon
2 red chillies
2 ts ground coriander
20 cl natural yogurt
6 lamb shanks
groundnut or vegetable oil
1 cinnamon stick
2 star anise
1 bay leaf
8 shallots
50 cl chicken stock
sea salt & freshly ground black pepper

Peel and roughly chop the garlic and ginger. Blitz along with the raisins, ground cinnamon, chillies and ground coriander in a food processor. Add the yogurt, and a good pinch of salt and pepper and pulse until just mixed. Make incisions in the lamb shanks and place in a bowl. Rub the marinade into the meat, cover and marinate for a few h or even for a day if possible.
When you are ready to cook the meat, peel and finely slice the shallots. Add a drizzle of groundnut oil to a deep, heavy-based casserole - large enough to hold all the shanks, and fry the cinnamon stick, star anise and bay leaf for a minute. Add the shallots, then turn the heat right down and sauté for 10 m until soft and sticky. Spoon the mixture into a bowl and leave to one side.
Drizzle in a little more oil and turn up the heat. Brown the lamb shanks in batches, reserving any marinade left in the bowl. When the meat is brown on all sides, return it all to the pan with the softened shallots and any reserved marinade. Pour in the chicken stock and bring to the boil. Carefully cover with foil, then cook over a low heat for 3 h, turning the shanks regularly and adding more stock if it gets too dry. The lamb should be tender and falling off the bone.
Remove the shanks from the pan and cover with tinfoil to keep warm. Turn up the heat and let the sauce bubble away for around 10 m until you have a lovely, thick sauce.
Return the lamb shanks to the pot and serve. Perfect with mashed potato or creamed cauliflower and greens, or even steaming basmati rice.

Batata harra (Lebanese spiced potatoes)

For ➍
2 tbs canola oil
6 potatoes, peeled & cut into medium cubes)
4 tbs cooking onions, finely chopped
2 ts garlic, minced
2 shakes cayenne pepper (or to taste)
16 tbs (cup) fresh coriander, finely chopped
¼-½ ts ground coriander
fresh ground black pepper, to taste
sea salt, to taste
6 tbs olive oil
1 ts lime juice, freshly squeezed

Heat canola oil and fry medium size cubed potatoes until crisp.
Remove onto a paper towel lined plate.
In another pan, heat olive oil and add finely chopped onion, minced garlic, cayenne, ground coriander and finely chopped coriander, sauté, then add the potatoes, sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste.
Mix well and add lime juice.
Serve with garlic sauce. Or as a side dish for marinated chicken.

Pad krapow gai (Thai basil chicken)

For ➊-➋
250 g skin-on chicken thigh
2 ts oyster sauce
1 ts dark soy sauce
½ ts sugar
2 tbs vegetable oil
9 g garlic (1 very large clove), roughly chopped
5 g Thai chilli peppers (2 peppers), roughly chopped *
1 large egg 20 grams
holy basil

Remove the skin and any fat from the thighs and chop into small pieces and set aside.
Cut the thigh meat into 1 cm pieces.
Measure out the oyster sauce, dark soy sauce, and sugar into a small bowl so that it's ready to add to the stir fry.
Prepare 2 frying pans, 1 for the egg and 1 for the chicken.
Put the chicken skin and fat into one pan and 2 tbs of vegetable oil into the other.
For the pan with the chicken skin, turn the heat onto medium-high and render out the fat, stirring from time to time to prevent burning.
When the chicken skin is browned and starting to crisp, turn up the heat to high and then add the garlic and chili peppers and saute until fragrant (about 30 s).
Meanwhile, turn the second burner onto high heat and heat until the oil is shimmering and hot.
Add the chicken to the first pan with the garlic and chili peppers and stir fry until the chicken is cooked through.
Break an egg into the second pan and fry, spooning some oil onto the egg to help cook the top surface from time to time.
Add the sauce mix to the chicken and continue stir-frying until the sauce coats the chicken evenly. Turn off the heat and toss the holy basil together with the chicken on the plate immediately.
Top your pad krapow gai with the the fried egg.

*: 2 Thai chillies will make this basil chicken fairly spicy, if you don't like a lot of heat, either cut back on the chillies, or smash (but don't chop) them so you can pick them out after cooking. If you want to make this crazy spicy, just add more chillies.

pak choi @ wok

For ➍
700 g pak choi or baby pak choi
1½ vegetable or peanut oil
1-2 tbs cloves garlic, finely minced
1 ts grated fresh ginger
3 tbs broth or water (or 2 tbs broth/water + 1 tbs wine)
salt to taste
½ teaspoon sesame oil

Trim the pak choi stem end. Cutting the thick stem off will ensure that the pak choi cooks evenly. Separate out the leaves, keep the tender center intact and clean under running water. Drain.
Finely mince garlic and grate fresh ginger with a microplane grater. Grating the ginger helps break up the tough fibers.
Place wok or frying pan on your stove and pour in the cooking oil. Do not heat yet. Add the garlic and ginger to the cold oil.  Turn the heat to medium-high. Let the ginger and garlic gently sizzle in the oil.
When the aromatics become fragrant and light golden brown, add the pak choi leaves. Toss very well to coat each leaf with the garlicky, gingery oil for 15 s. Pour in broth, water or wine.
Immediately cover and let cook for 1 m.
Season with salt and drizzle a bit of sesame oil on top.

Dover sole salad

For ➍
4 Dover sole fillets (or another white fish)
100 g baby spinach leaves
150 g celeriac
1 lettuce
1 zucchini
1 red onion
a handful of chervil
4 dl vegetable stock
2 dl walnut oil
olive oil
vinegar
thyme & bay leaf
salt

Select the inner leaves of the lettuce, wash and spin dry. Wash a few sprigs of chervil and the spinach leaves. Let them dry.
Cut ½ red onion into rings. Take a large bowl. Mix the vegetables.
Peel the celeriac. Cut into small cubes. Cut the other ½ onion finely and fry in olive oil, add the celeriac cubes and moisten with broth. Season with salt, thyme and bay leaf. Let the celeriac gently simmer.
Mix fine, sieve and finish with walnut oil. Cut the zucchini lengthwise into thin slices. Rub the slices with olive oil and grill briefly on both sides. Season with salt.
Pat the sole fillets dry, dipping slightly in olive oil and grill on a hot grill. Turn after a few s a quarter. Season with salt.
Put a pile of mixed salad on a plate. Arrange the warm courgettes and sole fillets. Finish with some sauce.

Red grapefruit, avocado & fennel salad

For ➍
3 large ruby red grapefruits (or 5 oranges)
4 tbs macadamia oil (or a cold-pressed nut oil or olive oil)
1 tbs lime juice
2 ripe avocados, peeled, pitted & sliced
1 large or 2 small fennel bulbs, sliced thinly
1 very small handful mint leaves, julienned (or coriander or basil)
sea salt & freshly ground black pepper
1 ts cracked coriander seeds (optional)
fennel fronds for garnish

To section the grapefruits or oranges, cut the peel from the top and bottom and stand each upright on a cutting board. Cut down from top to bottom along the peel to remove it and expose the flesh. Cut along each side of the membranes to separate the segments, and place the segments in a large bowl, along with any juice that you can squeeze out of what remains (sometimes it helps to carefully cut the grapefruit directly over a bowl). Set aside a few tbs of the juice to mix with the oil.
In a small bowl, whisk the oil with the lime juice, a few tablespoons of the grapefruit juice, and a generous pinch of sea salt. Place the sliced avocado in a bowl and pour some of the dressing over it, tossing very gently to coat.
Add the fennel, the remaining dressing, and the mint to the grapefruit and toss well. Gently combine the avocado with the grapefruit and fennel and divide among serving plates.
Season with salt and pepper to taste, sprinkle with cracked coriander, if using, and garnish with fennel fronds.

Lime vinaigrette

For 75 cl
2 egg yolks
1 ts mustard
juice of 2 lemons, zest of 1 lime
2 tbs ginger syrup
10 cl vegetable stock
50 cl grape seed oil
10 cl lemon or grape oil
salt

Mix egg yolks with the mustard, lime juice and zest in the blender. Add syrup and ginger stock. Leave the blender running at medium high setting and gradually pour in a thin stream of grape seed oil and lemon to bind the vinaigrette. Season with some salt. Pour the vinaigrette into a clean, dry bottle.

Chilled it can last 4 days.

Serve with scallops & sea vegetables.

Champagne vinaigrette

For ➊➏ servings
1 sweet-tart apple, peeled & shredded
15 cl Champagne (or white wine) vinegar
1½ ts fresh ginger, very finely chopped
1 ts lemon zest
1 tbs lemon juice
¼ t ground black pepper
½ ts salt
40 cl light olive oil

Place all ingredients in a jar. Shake until the dressing is well blended.

Alternately, you can vigorously whisk the ingredients in a small bowl until they are completed incorporated.

tip: cooking lamb fillet in the oven

Preheat oven to 180°C. Line a baking tray with non-stick baking paper. Combine the anchovy, garlic, rosemary, thyme and extra virgin olive oil in a small bowl. Season with pepper.
Place 1 lamb backstrap on a clean work surface. Use a sharp knife to make a horizontal cut, about three-quarters deep, in the side of the lamb (don't cut all the way through). Open the lamb to sit flat. Spread with one-third of the anchovy mixture. Fold to enclose the filling. Use unwaxed white kitchen string to tie at 2 cm intervals. Repeat with remaining lamb and anchovy mixture.
Heat the olive oil in a large non-stick frying pan over high heat. Cook the lamb for 1½ m each side. Transfer to the prepared tray. Bake for 10 m for medium or until cooked to your liking. Cover with foil and set aside for 5 m to rest.
Remove the string from the lamb and thickly slice to serve.

tip: using olive oil

use
extra vierge olive oil
-sauces, salads, tapenades at low temperature
-dangerous for frying

French extra vierge olive oil
-best for mayonnaise and vinaigrettes
-milder taste than Italian extra vierge

vierge olive oil
-basic oil for warm but not too high temperature
-cold sauces, salads, tapenades
-combinations with vinegar

pure olive oil
-grilling, pan-frying and braising of fish, meat and vegetables

olive pulp oil
-suitable for deep frying at very high temperatures
-for quick searing of meat
-suitable for jarring vegetables

Read more tips.