Chicken K'dra

One more argument to add  to the correlation between smell and memory may not necessary. Everything which needed to be said has been said, even proven, here is why:

"the olfactory bulb is part of the brain's limbic system, an area closely associated with memory".

 

But if there was one smell which could define childhood, for me it would be that of grilled peppers. One whiff of it and I am back in my grand-dad's flat among the hubbub of a Moroccan family and Chicken K'dra bubbling in a large pot with powerful flagrances of clarified butter and cinnamon.

 

I love this dish which really calls for a whole chicken but can be made with breasts or even better tights, it's certainly neater than to have to fish for the meat among the bones when dishing it out.

 

 Chicken K'dra

 

Ingredients

60g clarified butter or ghee
1 chicken (approximately 1.4kg), jointed into 8 pieces
1 cinnamon stick
3 large onions, finely sliced
2 to 4 pinch of saffron, soaked in 2 tbsp of hot water for 5 min;
300ml chicken stock or water
One large can of chickpeas
Bunch of fresh flat-leaf parsley, chopped
Freshly squeezed juice of ½ lemonSalt and ground black pepper

Method
Place the saffron in a little warm water and reserve
1. Melt the clarified butter in a large saucepan and add the onions. Cook until softened. Add the Chicken pieces
 2. Add the chicken stock, saffron and cinnamon stick to the pan and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to low and simmer, covered, for 45 minutes.
3. Drain and add the chickpeas and cook for a further 15 minutes or until most of the stock has evaporated.
Serve with a slice of lemon and couscous



Fish Friday: Maple Ginger Oven Baked Salmon

There is a chef in the world of chefs whom I admire greatly. Thanks to @MitchTonks ' books I learnt enough about cooking fish so that I have no fear going out there and experiment on my own.

This guy can teach anything, give me a side of salmon and Tonks' "Fish Easy" and I'll cure it, the salmon not the book.

I learnt, for example that fish continues cooking once off the grill or off the oven and that if you ever have a fish larger than 1lb, you shouldn't try to wedge it in a pan as oven is the best method for cooking a large fish.

When it came to prepare a couple of salmon slices, I was ready, off they went in the oven but not before getting

The glaze treatment:

Home cooking is not only what you can do, it's often  depends on what you have in the pantry. Maple syrup isn't part of everyday essential but keeping a bottle indoors is very useful, for desserts but also for savouries and brilliant when it comes to glazes.

To balance things up a sweet glaze will need a kick. In this recipe chilli and ginger provide the necessary heat. Lime and soya will give the acidity required to cut through the fatty taste of the salmon.

Have a go and let me know

Ingredients

2 Salmon fillets     
4tbsp of maple syrup      
2tbsp of soy sauce     
1/2 lime juice and zest
1 clove of garlic
1 inch of ginger
chilli flakes to taste (replace with powder if necessary but make sure it has a kick)

Method

When cooking fish in the oven, it's "best to start by preheating the oven to maximum. Add a few glugs of good olive oil to a heavy roasting pan." advises Tonks.

Mix all the ingredients in a bowl, place the fillets in a dish.
Pour the marinade on the fish
Place the fillets in the roasting pan, careful at this stage it will be hot.
Lower the temperature to 230C/mark8 and cook for 10 to 15 minutes
if you have the time you could marinate the salmon in the glaze first.








 

Give-Away #29 : Abra-Ca-Debora 6 packs of Delicious Pancakes

This give-away is now closed & the winner is Sarah #13

There is something about Shrove-Tuesday which I find really appealing. It's a no pressure type of festival and this year it will be even more so with the help of Abra-Ca-Debora "a cook with the magic touch and who has lots of kitchen tricks up her sleeve".

 

Though it's not very complicated to prepare pancakes from scratch, no one will deny that it's even easier to open a packet of ready made ones, of course, only if they were to be as good as the ones you could rustle up yourself, and Abra-Ca-Debora's are....... 

All you need to do is to think about which topping you are going to use with your Abra-ca-Debora pancakes. Mine will definitely be caramelised bananas.

You could win 6 packs of delicious ready-made pancakes as follows:
2 packs of

and...2 pack of

There is more, 2 packs of these small portions lovelies for which there are lots of recipes on Abra-Ca-Debora's site

 

The deadline is 4th February 12.00 so that you'll have your prize in plenty of time for Tuesday 17th February - Happy Shrove Tuesday -

And now for the rules. Good luck.
For one entry: Leave a comment with your favourite pancake topping
For a second entry: Follow me on Twitter @solangeweb, and leave a comment on this blog to let me know. If you are already following on twitter, please, leave a comment so that your second entry is recorded.

And last but not least, the small prints:
Each entry will be verified.
This giveaway is open to UK residents over 18 only. A single winner will be chosen by a randomiser and the prize will be sent directly by Abra-Ca-Debora

Chestnut & Quinoa Stuffed Butternut Squash

 

Update : Proud - this post won the Spice Trail Challenge themed my body is a temple -see round up here loads more healthy recipes.

#No Meat Monday or Meat Free Monday are initiatives part of a movement going back to early 2000 which aims at gently limiting our meat consumption on a regular basis. It's also a way of introducing vegetarian recipes in our diet or for vegetarian an opportunity to be exposed and explore different ingredients.

 

This recipe makes use of chestnuts, quinoa and pomegranate seeds. Three delicious ingredients which are often overlooked as they are unusual. What I call "curious ingredients"

 

Personally, I love chestnuts. A little bit annoying  that they make a brief appearance  at Christmas time only. I'd like to see more of them on menus. Of course, there is a "little" inconvenient: they are difficult to prepare. But where there is a will... there is a call for vacuum-packed chestnuts.

 

Quinoa which I associate with Gwyneth Paltrow's because there was a lot of nauseating  hype  around the tiny nutty tasting grain when she promoted her cook-book. For that totally irrational reason and for a while, I refused to try out quinoa, a silly thing to do as it's really full of flavour. This pulse is slightly expensive but it's really worth a try.

 

Pomegranate a favourite in Middle-Eastern cuisine always peps up recipes. Once the fruit is opened the seeds can be used in salads or as snacks. Which leads me to this recipe found in Morrison's magazine and adapted.

It originally uses 2 butternut squashes which is quite a lot, one only was plenty for 2 people but I kept all the other ingredients the same so it's packed with flavours. You might be left with extra stuffing, note that it's delicious on its own, warm it up the next day, that's lunch taken care of. 

 

Chestnuts 'n Quinoa Stuffed Butternut Squash

Ingredients

1 medium butternut squash, halved (see last paragraph of the post)

2 tbsp olive oil

1 large onion, chopped

2 cloves garlic, finely chopped

200g ready-prepared vacuum-packed chestnuts, roughly chopped

2 tbsp fresh sage, chopped

1 tsp ground cumin

½ tsp ground cinnamon

2 tbsp cranberry sauce

125g quinoa

2 tbsp shelled pistachios, roughly chopped

75g pomegranate seeds

Fresh coriander leaves

 

Method

1. Heat the oven to 200°C/180°C fan/Gas 6. Scoop the seeds out of the squash and score the flesh. Place cut side up on a baking tray, drizzle with half the oil and season. Cook for 40-45 minutes.
2. Heat the rest of the oil in a frying pan and cook the onion until softened. Stir in the garlic and chestnuts, cook for a minute then add the sage, cumin, cinnamon and cranberry sauce and cook for another 30 seconds.
3. Put the quinoa into a pan and cover with water. Bring to the boil then simmer for 15 minutes. Drain and stir into the onion mix with the nuts and all but 1 tbsp of the seeds.
4. Once the squash are done, scoop out the flesh leaving just the shell. Chop the flesh and add to the quinoa mixture, then spoon back into the shells and bake for 10 minutes. To serve, scatter with the remaining seeds and coriander.

As this recipe is really popular with Pebble Soup's readers, I am sharing it with my favourite bloggers' challenge

This month the theme is challenge is Temple Food… as in my body is a temple. I think this recipe will fit right in.

7/1/15

It felt like a page of my book of beliefs was being  violently torn out. A book which advocates tolerance, freedom of thoughts and speech in our democratic societies. There are no words to describe the murders at Charlie Hebdo yesterday.

But this morning there was this

 

and I knew that the words will appear and that millions of people will  rewriting the page.

2014 : What a Year That Was

Once more you have made a year very special. Readership increased by 70% which resulted in Pebble Soup ranking 28 in December. I've been working with some wonderful people and shared some great recipes with you. In 2014, I pluck up the courage to make my writing more personal.

 

Because of its popularity, Pebble Soup attracted more and bigger brands in turn  allowing  for better give-aways,  I was delighted to share with you, some of the products which I was sent for review and I intend to continue doing so in 2015.

 

Consolidating on the previous year, I wrote food articles for Great British Chefs and travel pieces for Trip Reporter on a regular basis.  The cherry on the cake came with my very own food column in The Greenwich Visitor. There were some great commissions from national newspapers and each time I shared with you, what happened "behind the scene" .

 

All in all 2014 was a great vintage at Pebble Soup and I have high hopes for 2015. Thank you so much for dropping by regularly.

 

I wish you a wonderful 2015, may your dreams come true.

 

Solange with love x

 

Here a few 2014 highlights

In January, I had to face up to my Gingerbread Men addiction. February's Kiwi Muffins recipe was extremely popular. March was cold but didn't stop a  inspiring visit to Vienna for Trip Reporter. In April, I worked with Mustard Maille to create a Salmon and Dill Verrine.

During spring and summer, I attended a class at the Ateliers des Chefs where to my amazement, I baked macarons, a triumph on the other end entering #Tuscanycookoff was a disappointment, rules changed at the last minute, I since heard that could be reported and I think bloggers should be more forceful with these matters.

Volunteering in Greenwich park Queen's orchard and Bringing vegetables back home boosted creativity, you particularly liked another muffin recipe, this time: chocolate and beetroot. Last but not least a few chefs cooked us breakfast and lunch.

 

 

The rest of the year went slightly crazy with developing recipes for magazines and travelling for articles and if it's anything to go by, 2015 will bring you recipes from Canada, Greece, Turkey among other things.

 

Chicken/Turkey with Vanilla & Maple Syrup Wrap

When this post will be published, Christmas won't have happened yet but at Pebble Soup we'll have already eaten the left-overs. Did we get a Tardis for Christmas? sadly no.

I accepted a mission.
Mission Deli, as in the Wraps were looking for new recipes for their web-site blog. The perfect opportunity to try a Vanilla 'n Maple Syrup Glaze. Of course it has a hint of sweetness but the vinegar cuts right through it and the end product is like nothing else. You've got to try it. 

It's tasty and healthy perfect for Boxing Day and hopefully you'll make it again in the new year.

Vanilla & Maple Glazed Chicken/Turkey

 

PREPARATION: 10 MINS

SERVES: 2

COOKING: 20 min

 

INGREDIENTS:

300g free range chicken goujons or left over turkey

Freshly ground salt and pepper

½ fresh Orange or 50ml of juice

75ml Maple Syrup

1 ½ teaspoons Taylor and Colledge Vanilla Bean Paste

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 tablespoons red wine vinegar

1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme

¼ teaspoon dried chilli flakes
1 wrap per person + salad or spring onions, mashed avocado any green which takes your fancy.

 

METHOD:

 

Season the chicken/turkey with salt and pepper and fry it in a little hot olive oil so that it browns. If you are using the chicken you need to cook it through which should take about 8 mins. If you are using the turkey you just need the colour.
 

Meanwhile, combine maple syrup, vanilla bean paste, orange juice, olive oil, vinegar, thyme and chilli in a small bowl and whisk until well combined.

Pour the mixture over the chicken and let it reduce for 10-15 minutes. Keep an eye on it, when it glaze the meat, it's ready

 

LAST STEP
Serve on a plate immediately  drizzling it generously with the pan juices so that dinners can make their own wrap. I've used mashed avocado and lamb lettuce to add to the wrap but anything which takes you fancy or is in the fridge will do nicely.
 

Christmas in Avignon

Going to Avignon earlier this month, made me realised how much unnecessary pressure we put on ourselves in the Anglo-Saxon world. When there,  on several occasions, I mentioned, "Black Friday" just to be met with a look a complete incomprehension.

It was the start of the second week in December and shops had just started displaying their Xmas goods. Les Halles - the largest intra-muros food market- wasn't showing any sign of Christmas yet. 

One peculiarity of Les Halles in Avignon is its wall, 30m x 11,50m, set up by botanist Patrick Blanc. It has a sophisticated irrigation system, as you can imagine, being in the south of France. Growing vertically is an interesting concept. A Pebble Soup's guest blog post which is still very popular was written about this subject matter, Urban Eden in the Sky

Traders mentioned the Christmas tradition of the 13 desserts, symbol of Christ and the 12 apostles. The 13 desserts traditionally end the "big supper" on Christmas eve before midnight mass. 

Though there are variations, it's often green melon kept safe in straw since harvest, apples, pears, grapes, nuts , figs , oranges, mandarins and nougat. There is jam, "focaccia" and mulled wine too.

Of what I have seen tradition has evolved a little and the fruits are often "confits".

Another outlet which should not be missed when strolling in the papal city is Aline Géhant's, a chocolatiere with a real talent for soft but strong flavours. Her chocolates infused with star-anise (badiane) or lavender are unique.