a passion for food and cooking inspired by travel, family and friends
H is also for Holidays!!! We are a week into Summer break and feeling very ready for a break of our own. My mum has arrived and spoilt the kids thoroughly with amazing and exhausting outings to Kidzania and Ski Dubai to meet the Penguins while we are at work….
It is Ramadan. We have really been enjoying some amazing Iftar meals around Dubai and look forward to a couple more before Eid. We have sampled traditional Lebanese in a fancy hotel, a modern feast of mezze and rotisserie chicken with chips in a funky art space and are looking forward to a modern arabic fusion spread on the weekend. We are so spoilt for amazing flavours these places have to offer.
Goat is as traditional as turkey is for Christians at Christmas. I had never cooked goat and had only eaten it as part of a middle eastern traditional meal.
It is probably most similar to Lamb, but has a slightly different taste. It is more lean and so easily can end up dry and tough.
I love slow roasting meats; you can flavour it with any number of spice mixes or keep it super simple. It takes little effort but produces maximum flavour and is an impressive meal for guests.
I had intended on a middle eastern flavouring for this goat served with a spiced cous cous but then saw a recipe to use tandoori spices using a yogurt based marinade. Not only does the yogurt help keep the goat moist but also tenderises the meat.
The butcher talked me through the cooing and kindly prepared it for me, removing the outer sinew and cutting the leg at the joint and putting deep slashes in which allows for the meat to be easily pulled apart – it is traditional to eat it with your hands in many cultures.
It had been a big week at work so the fact that I prepared some roast meat was a big feat. I then cheated and called the local indian and ordered a basket of assorted naan / roti / paratha breads and with the pull apart roasted goat meat made for a really tasty mea, served with a simple cucumber and mint yogurt sauce / raita.
Ramadan Kareem.
This year Ramadan starts on 18th June and finishes on 17th July for Eid (my birthday!!). During this month working hours reduce, school hours are reduced and synced across the city (insert nightmare traffic). The daylight hours in public are significantly quieter and the evenings after dark are one big party every night of this holy month. I am looking forward to enjoying a few Iftar feasts with friends where hotels set up amazing tents and serve a huge banquet of traditional fare….
Everyone has a preference. Scrambled, Poached, Fried (sunny side up, over easy ), boiled. For some reason I always feel at ease with my kids if they have an egg, nothing else in their diet for that day matters, I know they have had a good dose of goodness. This is one versatile ingredient, putting aside soufflé, angel food cakes, pavlova and anything requiring an egg to make the recipe work. …
A slight delay, I know, but I had to disappear for a few days to fly to Sydney to meet my beautiful new niece. 3 days in Sydney, and worth every minute, so I don’t mind the delay or the challenge of weekly blog posts for the next little while eek! I’m pretty sure I like duck, I know its not everyone’s thing. I LOVE duck pancakes peking style and duck confit is just heaven in every fatty, melting mouthful. …
If I am to accomplish this alphabet of recipes by end of 2015, I need to lift my game, on average posting 3 recipes a month!! C was a bit tricky for me, I had promised a classic cheesecake to my sister who’s name also starts with a C and is my daughters namesake. But in all honesty, I am trying to be a little healthy and I made this next recipe a few weeks back for a friends photo shoot in the desert and it was so yummy I had to share. I will make a cheesecake soon.
I love Ottolenghi, I own all of his cookbooks (one signed), have been to his cafes in London and I am very envious of my mum who went to see him talk about his fascinating travels.
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