Cookbook Challenge 2013 - Week 9

There were some delicious meals in our house this week, and my trusty friend Ottolenghi may have cropped up more than once – his dishes are just far too tasty! My first new dish was Pan-Fried Sea Bream with Harissa & Rose from Jerusalem. I’ve used rose water in some baking recipes but have never cooked with it like this before and I have to admit to being a little sceptical, I don’t like things to taste of perfume. I used sea bass instead of bream, but this was more to do with what I can get my hands on locally rather than a personal preference. For once I actually checked the recipe a few hours before dinner time as I had a feeling that there may be some marinating involved – lucky for me that I did, or we would have been eating at midnight. Now I’m not a big fan of currants in dishes but I thought I’d follow the recipe completely since it was my first time and I’m glad that I did, the sweetness that they added was a really nice contrast to the spicy harissa sauce. I actually enjoyed this dish a lot more than I thought I would, mainly due to my scepticism about currants and rose water, and I think this will definitely feature again in our house. I served it with couscous and some steamed greens - there's more than enough flavour in the dish itself so you don't need anything overly complicated to accompany it.

Next up I returned to The Geometry of Pasta to find a recipe using tortiglioni (my husband refuses to consider this a different shaped pasta because the grooves are simply in a different direction to those on rigatoni, well he may have a point…but don’t tell him that!). I chose Tortiglioni alla Norcina, which is basically Italian sausages cooked in cream. Pasta is always a relatively easy meal to prepare and this one was no exception – however there wasn’t a lot of colour to this dish, it was mild beige which never really looks appetising does it? To counter this I sprinkled liberally with chopped parsley before serving (not technically in the recipe, but looked much more pleasing to the eye).

My final recipe of the week was taken from Ottolenghi’s Mediterranean Feast, one of the best food shows I have seen for a while. There were so many recipes I have to try from this series but first I opted for Beef Shakshuka with Smoked Aubergine. I didn’t fancy charring the aubergines (and the rest of my hob at the same time) so I popped the aubergines under the grill to soften. The rest of the dish can all be done in one-pan, something my husband is always grateful for (being the official dishwasher of the house) and it is very simple to prepare. Halfway through cooking I have to say it didn’t look overwhelmingly appealing, tomatoes and mince with a couple of eggs baked into it – but when I’d dotted it with the tahini sauce, and scattered sumac and parsley over the top it suddenly looked beautiful. I served it simply with some crusty bread, and I don’t think I’ve ever known a dish to get so many compliments from one person – I think my husband like it! It was absolutely gorgeous, the sumac added a zingy citrus burst and the tahini sauce was lovely and creamy against the spicy beef mixture. All-in-all a super way to end the week!

 

Recipe Count: 29
Target: 52