Jottage from Lancaster - Chicken, Couscous, Honey and Cinammon

We have been out for a day's caching in the Lake District - tackling some of the country's worst bits of road all in the cause of finding a Tupperware box under a stone in some remote location. The weather was supposed to be awful today, but when we woke up to sunshine and blue sky it seemed too good to stay in.


Although we didn't actually walk very far today. It ended up very blustery and, for a while, very rainy, so when we got home lighting the fire was priority. I had been wanting to make Chicken, Couscous, Honey and Cinnamon for ages and as we had a roast chicken last night, with some left overs, tonight was definitely the night for it. I thought it would be a complicated recipe, but it's been very simple. Here is the couscous swelling up on the stove...

Coucous 'cooking'

The 10 minutes while the couscous practically cooks itself is just enough time to pull some nice bits of chicken from the carcass and chop up the nuts. Drop both these into the pan and it's done!


What I ended up with was something slightly sweet, slightly tangy, and very scrumptious. Hugh suggests that it's a nice change from a chicken sandwich, and it would make a lovely picnic lunch. I have enough left for tomorrow and I'm already looking forward to eating it again.

Ready to eat!

Jottage from Lancaster - Tunisian Lamb With Aubergine

Of course I have the River Cottage app. I resisted for a while but then in a fit of indulgence I bought it. I often flick through the recipes but until now I haven't actually made any of them. But returning from a short trip down south I began browsing them half way up the M5 and by the time we were past Birmingham I had a few ideas for meals for the next week and I had even written a shopping list ready for what is becoming a regular off-motorway stop at Waitrose in Sandbach.

So armed with my list I bought everything I needed and along with unpacking from our Easter weekend away I had several bags of fruit, veg, lamb and fish.


I was looking forward to this Tunisian lamb and was rather smug about having all the right spices and indeed all the right ingredients down to the almonds and apricots. But alas, I found that making something from an app isn't as easy as I thought it would be. For a start you have to keep dodging back between the ingredients list and the what-to-do bit and this was confusing enough. And somehow it just wasn't as easy to work out what to do when. 


I browned the lamb and didn't take it out of the pan before adding the onions and garlic. I knew that this was I normally did, but I didn't actually see it on the instructions - at least not until it was too late. Then I couldn't work out when to add the aubergines so I just tossed them into the pan at the end. Or, not quite the end. When I had decided it was all finished I remembered that it had apricots and almonds in somewhere. I was sure that I hadn't seen anything about them anywhere. Only when it had all been merrily bubbling away did I realise that I hadn't scrolled far enough down the ingredients list and I hadn't read to the end of the instructions. Here was the missing Aubergine bit at last, but it was all too late.

So I had all the right ingredients but did all the wrong things with them. But amazingly enough, it's turned out really well. I'm going to add some cous cous and serve it up tonight. There's actually enough for a few night but tomorrow we are having fish from another app recipe. I might take the time to read it all through carefully before I start it this time.



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Jottage from Cambridge - Tristan’s First Birthday Party!

A lot has happened over the past year. The most wonderful thing has been watching my son grow up from being the tiniest dot to a little boy on the verge of walking and, although not quite comprehensible, capable of babbling out consonants. But over the past twelve months, and particularly throughout the six that I have been weaning Tristan, I have discovered what can be done with herbs and spices, I have made pastry, pasties and soups, created mountains of whoopie pies and gone from eating chicken kievs every other week to never going near the ready-made food aisle in the supermarket. The blender, ice-cream maker, yogurt maker and breadmaker, once tidily packed away in their boxes on top of the cupboards, are now always accessible on the counter. My cookery books, and especially those written by Hugh, are now tired-looking and splattered with colourful spills and blobs. Of course I have had the time to cook as I’m not getting home from work exhausted and hungry but it is certainly true that, with Tristan’s arrival, I have wanted to be more creative in the kitchen. 

I had been planning Tristan’s birthday feast for a month at least – anxious that I had six adults, two children and one baby to feed and wanting to show-off a bit. Last year I would probably have chosen a selection of sandwiches, shop-bought quiches and sausage rolls but, with experience to hand, I decided to try and make everything from scratch. The results are shown in the picture below: Chicken and Leek Pasties (River Cottage Everyday), Couscous Salad with Peppers and Feta (River Cottage Veg), Salmon Tart (Ainsley Harriott), and a piece of gammon. Of course nothing was difficult to make (or very expensive) but I thought the spread looked as if some thought had put into it and that, more than anything, I felt proud of myself for.

Not a ham sandwich in sight...

There is a little story behind the birthday cake. My mother set to work on a Mary Berry chocolate cake which, alas, got completely stuck in the silicon tray and fell to pieces. The cake was subsequently used as a base for the little desserts with mandarin oranges and Greek yogurt. She made up the recipe for the second attempt which thankfully didn’t stick to the cake tin, but did turn out quite flat. 

Flat (but edible) first birthday cake.

The cake, however, was for a three year old and a one year old who were oblivious to the fact that it was vertically challenged, and it did taste delicious. I can’t imagine yet what the spread for Tristan’s second birthday will be like, but I will certainly keep up the baking and I can’t wait to try out lots of new recipes for us all to enjoy. 

Tristan at a year old