A great new recipe...

You will remember that back in December our head-chef, Madjid was diagnosed with heart problems and was scheduled to have a triple heart bypass. Well, after a long and worryin wait, Madjid was finally and successfully operated on a week last Monday. I drove him home from James Cook Hospital las Saturday where he is now convalescing before he begins his rehabilitation programme. Another few weeks of gentle exercise and he hopes to be back at work.
Good and speedy recovery, Madjid!

On a lighter note, I didn't know that Muhammad Ali could cook but here is a great recipe of his. I think I definitely would like to try a plateful of this beautiful dish.

Fishing practice...

For two weeks now, since I was picked for the Fish recipe final in Birmingham on 3rd April, I have been practising my fish tagine and the Cod loin compulsory dish.

We've had three lots of tagines and three different versions of Cod loin since I got the news. Good job Karen and I love fish!
I have just about perfected the first dish but I am still playing about with the second. The loin is very firm and doesn't lend itself to baking so I have cut it into medallions, grilled and served them on a tasty tomato and basil sauce with green beans.
My fishmonger must be wondering why we're eating so much fish all of a sudden.
Seven days to go!!

I will post the recipes if the judges like them.

Brain food...

Yesterday, the office phone rang. It was someone from one of the fishmongers we use for our restaurants.

Cynical me thought: "I bet he wants to sell me more fish..."

He asked if I could remember sending in a recipe for the online competition the firm ran back in January.
"Fish and seafood Tagine?"
I remembered casually copying this dish from my website recipe section and pasting it onto the entry form.
He said that I had been shortlisted and asked if I would be available to attend the finals in Birmingham at the beginning of April.
I checked my mobile phone diary. A phone is not just a phone these days, you know!
"I'm free."
"All expenses paid." He added.
"It's a date!"
Once I came off the phone, I began to imagine myself teaching Gordon Ramsay how to cook my dish and watching Heston Blumenthal turn it into a chemical experiment.

I must get started on the acceptance speech...
The above photo is of a Lamb Tagine we serve at Krimo's.

Food Parcels...

Yesterday we had a birthday party.

For starters, I prepared two lots of pastry parcels with "Feuilles de Brick" which are similar to wonton wrappers.

Here are the two recipes:

1-Mix the following: Half a pound of minced prawns, a tbsp of minced ginger and garlic, two chopped spring onions and one egg white. Season well.

2-Mince a quarter of a pound of Chorizo and Goat's cheese each with two tbsps of Pesto.

Place a teaspoonful on the end of a rectangle of pastry (15cm by 5cm) then fold into triangles.

Shallow fry and serve with a simple green salad.

Delicious!

Tagines...

...are getting very popular!



The name, Tagine comes from the terracotta slow cooking vessel used in most of North Africa, Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia.
Before we got a gas hob, my mother did all her cooking on a charcoal burner, which meant that she had to start preparing food very early in the morning.

When I was about 12 or 13, she began sending me to do the daily shopping before going to school. The freshest of meats, fish or vegetables!
By the time we all came back from school at midday, our delicious lunch was ready and waiting.

Nowadays, at Krimo's we prepare our Lamb Tagine in a large stew pan but serve it in the traditional Terracotta dish.




Most of our Terracotta tagines came not all the way from North Africa but from Sedgefield of all places.
I gave Bill Todd of Sedgefield Pottery, a drawing and he happily reproduced dozens of them for us over the years.

Though he really enjoyed making the tagines, due to new commitments, Bill is no longer able to create those beautiful dishes. We have since sourced other firms supplying genuine Moroccan tagines, but being the eternal romantic, I will honestly miss the marriage of Northern artistic ingenuity and North African culinary theatre.

Olives...

They are essentially an acquired taste. Just look at the distorted face of someone who's tasting that funny fruit for the first time. YUK!!!

But, with patience you can get anyone addicted to olives.

Start with the stoneless green ones.
Rinse most of the brine off and chop them into little pieces. Mix them into a salad or rice. This can be a good start on the way to the addiction.

Then, bit by bit, and believe me, it can take a long time, you will succeed. I have on many occasions. It can be an even harder task than getting someone used to charred steaks to eat rare ones. But once someone reaches that stage, there's no stopping them. They will talk about olives in the same way as a wine expert can bore you about obscure Clarets.

Kalamata becomes their best mate!

Olive Stall at Antwerp Market












Spice up your olives...
Buy two jars of whole olives, greens and blacks.
Place the green ones and their brine in a large bowl. Drain the black ones and lightly rinse them in cold water. Add them to the bowl.
Add the following:
1 tbsp of crushed fresh garlic.
1 tbsp of chopped parsley
1 tsp of caraway seeds
1 tsp of chilli flakes
1 tsp of ground cumin
Juice of one whole lemon
Mix well and store in a jar or plastic box.
Top up with olive oil and refrigerate.

Enjoy!