Tunisian Turkey with Carrot & Coriander Purée

Ok, so the dish is about as Tunisian as Sidney Greenstreet's fez in "Casablanca" (one of my top-five favourite movies). A time to use up little bags of things in the freezer: a while ago I made the mistake of taking out  a red block of what I thought was chopped tomatoes, only to find it was (home-made) carrot and coriander soup. This time it was intentional. My geography is not that good so I'm not even sure if they grow carrots anywhere in North Africa but the flavours were, in my own opinion, spot on.

Soften a handful chopped onion and  one of mixed peppers in butter and oil, add a handful of diced turkey (or chicken) and a small handful of diced aubergine.  Colour slightly and add  2 tsp crushed garlic, 1 heaped tsp paprika,  1 tsp each of ground coriander and cumin,  a pinch of chilli powder and 1 tsp ginger puree. Stir in 200ml carrot & coriander puree/soup followed by 1 tsp lime cordial and 1 scant tsp sugar. Mix in a  handful cooked chickpeas and 2 diced dried figs, heat through - bubbling vigorously if the sauce is too thin - and serve.

I had rice but this would work equally well with couscous.

Pot-roasted Belly Pork, Oriental Barbecue Sauce and Vegetable Fried Rice

I had four pieces of meat all to myself - it seemed a bit greedy at the time but this batch of pork was fattier than usual and I had to leave some. I served the barbecue sauce more like a Western gravy rather than cooking the meat in it.

Preheat the oven to hot and  a wok to smoking. Sear the meat on all sides, fat side first,  and put in closed casserole dish. Deglaze the pan with 100ml of water mixed with 2 tsp Soy and 1 tsp sweet chilli sauce. Add to the casserole and cover.

Cook on high for 30 mins, lower the heat to medium and turn the meat. Cook for further half hour.  in the meanwhile cook your rice - generally, I always use Basmati - in lighly salted water; rinse when cooked. 

The Oriental, Barbecue Sauce is one I've been making for about 25 years, and which I've featured before: Sauce Recipe

For the vegetables I used a small sliced carrot (blanched first), some broccoli florets, a few quartered mushrooms and a handful each of mixed peppers and chopped onions. Soften the veg in a wok and add 1 tsp crushed garlic and 2 tsp Soy.

Remove the lid from the pork casseole and whack the heat up to full again. Stir in the rice into the vegetables with 1 dstsp Sesame oil, and shake the pan to cook.

Serve as artfully as you like, with the sauce - still steaming in my picture - poured over the meat.

 

Tuna Tapenade Tribute

Very fishy: one round of classic smoked salmon and cream cheese, together with an open sandwich of my tapenade-inspired paste. The original that I developed uses black olives (more authentic) but today I used stuffed green ones.

Method:
Mix together half a tin of tuna chunks, 5 chopped olives, 1 scant tsp garlic puree, 1 tsp finely chopped red chilli pepper, 1 scant tsp lemon juice, 2 dstsp olive oil and 1 tsp mayo. Blend with the back of a spoon.