Rose Harissa

This makes plenty, which you can keep in the fridge. I make the main dish very plain so the boy is tempted to have the tiniest dab. To be fair it is very hot. The perfect cure to the Winter blues.

Turn the heating up and get some Khaled on the CD player!

200g red chillies

4 cloves garlic, chopped

Olive oil

 1 tsp caraway seeds

1 tsp ground coriander

1 tsp tomato puree

1 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp cumin seeds

2 tsp Rosewater

A squeeze of lemon juice

Salt to taste

Dry fry the whole cumin and caraway seeds and add the ground coriander. Put the chillies and garlic in a food processor with a little olive oil and whizz until smooth. Add the cumin, caraway and coriander and all the other ingredients. Whizz again. If it’s too loose add a little smoked paprika. If it’s too thick, add more rose water or lemon juice.  A quick taste will tell you which.

I like to make this with a fairly meagre chicken and vegetable stew – carrots, onions, squash and celery dominate with bits of chicken turning up as a lucky treat.  I think that makes it more African. You can of course, be more generous. Use thigh meat, rather than breast.  The stock needs to be well flavoured of course. Serve with fluffy couscous and be generous with the harissa when you do get a bit of chicken.

Use a good brand of couscous – Ferrero is a classic. Dress with olive oil and plenty of finely chopped flat leaf parsley. Chopped black olives on the side is not authentic, but I’m tempted. Sliced tomatoes and cucumber would also cool the heat when your dab of harissa is bigger than you planned.

The boy will be unsure about this. He’ll hope it’s a phase you’ll get over – he’s not used to you giving him anything meagre as far as meat is concerned. Make sure you’ve got a great dessert to follow.

Hopefully you will have some Harissa left over. Keep it in the fridge. It is amazing with lamb steaks. 

Stir Fried Greens in Plum Sauce

This is a Wagamama dish. It’s the perfect lunch for when you both have the day off.

100g dried noodles

1 tbsp oil

150g Broccoli in small florets

1 small onion, peeled and chopped vertically into eighths

3 cm ginger, grated

1 pak choi, leaves separated

2 tbsp plum sauce

1 red chilli sliced

1 tbsp light soy sauce

100ml chicken stock

2 tsp cornflour mixed with 2 tbsp chicken stock

Salt & white pepper

Bottled plum sauce is fine – get a Chinese brand if you can. The chicken stock is easy if you use Knorr Stock Pots, which are a concentrated gel.

Cook the noodles in boiling water sand set aside. A little drizzle of oil to stop it sticking would be good.

This is part of my mission to get Lowell to eat more fresh vegetables. He lives on pizza and lamb bhuna when I’m not with him. The trick is to get him not to notice there’s no meat.

Stir fry the broccoli, chilli and onion In a wok, with a little oil for 2 minutes. Add the ginger, pak choi and garlic and carry on for 2-3 minutes, stirring often.

Add the plum sauce and soy and cook for a further 2 minutes. Add the chicken stock (which should be hot) and the dissolved cornflour, and thicken for 30 seconds. Tip in the noodles and combine everything. Adjust the seasoning.

Eat with chopsticks, knowing full well that Lowell isn’t too confident with them. If he gets noodles down his T-shirt it will have to come off.

Weeping Tiger (Thai Steak)

2 garlic cloves

2 coriander roots, including all the stems

3 tsp fresh green peppercorns

1 tsp Nam Pla (fish sauce)

2 tsp light soy sauce

1 ½ tsp sugar

400g sirloin steak

Jasmine rice to serve

North Eastern Chilli Sauce

1 ½  tbsp  uncooked rice

50 ml Nam Pla

6 tbsp lemon juice

15 dried birds eye chillies, crushed

2 tsp sugar

The pestle & mortar get a good work out in this Thai recipe, as does Lowell who will be working the pestle and mortar.

Rinse the jasmine rice three times in fresh water and then cook in the rice cooker. Meanwhile pound the garlic and coriander until it’s a paste. Place in a bowl with the whole steaks, peppercorns, nam pla, soy sauce and sugar. Rub the marinade in and let it do its work for half an hour.

Toast the rice in a dry pan and when it’s golden, get Lowell back to work with the pestle and mortar until it’s powder. He should give the chillies a quick bash too. Tip into a small serving  bowl and add the nam pla, lemon juice and sugar and mix until the sugar is dissolved. You should have coarse chilli flakes suspended in the sauce.

If it wasn’t Winter, I’d barbeque this but a hot griddle pan will do. Sear the steaks for 3 minutes on each side. Let it rest for a few minutes before slicing against the grain.

Serve with the rice and North Eastern Chilli Sauce. And beer.

As I’m convinced Lowell doesn’t enough veg, I’m adding a side salad of finely sliced peeled cucumber and radishes with grated carrots and a little grated  ginger.  

Fried Eggs with Mozzarella from Basilicata

Sunday mornings are for waking up late, especially if you’re not waking up alone. We’ve had coffee and Lowell is finishing off the papers. We’ll have a late lunch so a brunch dish would be good before we go out.

1 clove garlic, chopped

2 tbsp olive oil

250g Mozzarella sliced

2 large organic free range eggs

Salt & pepper

A few Basil leaves

2 thick slices sourdough bread

This is from Basilicata in southern Italy. It’ s a really easy, relaxed dish you can make with a cup of coffee and Puccini on the CD player. I’m plumping for Manon Lescault. Choose decent Mozzarella – the kind that comes in balls and is soft and milky, rather than the kind that comes in blocks for pizza. Dry the outside on kitchen paper.

In a frying pan, very gently heat the garlic – you don’t want to burn it. Put the mozzarella in, covering the pan with slightly overlapping slices. Gently break the eggs on top. Season with salt and pepper and sprinkle the Basil leaves over.

Toast the sourdough. Fry the Mozzarella and eggs gently until the cheese bubbles and the eggs are done. Use a wide spatula or other implement to get half on each slice of toast.  Serve with more coffee.

Lowell’s hair is still messy from sleep but he looks happy and contented. We’re both enjoying the Ethiopian coffee he brought (we met in Addis Ababa). It will be a good day.

South Indian Potatoes with Spinach & a Salad

South Indian Potatoes

3 tbsp oil

1 tsp brown mustard seeds

½ tsp urad dal

2 dried chillies

15 fresh curry leaves

1 small onion, chopped
1 medium tomato,chopped

2 tsp ground coriander

½ tsp cayenne

1 tsp Garam Masala

450g waxy potatoes in 2cm cubes

1 tsp salt

120ml coconut milk (canned)

Fresh coriander leaves

Spinach with Garlic

675g Spinach

3 tbsp oil

1 tsp cumin seeds

2 cloves garlic in long slivers

½ tsp salt

½ tsp cayenne

North Indian Cucumber Salad

1 cucumber, peeled

½ tsp salt

A few grinds pepper

¼ tsp cayenne

2 tsp lemon juice

6 mint leaves, chopped

Rice

A long ingredient list but this is 3 dishes – 4 if you include the rice. Lowell is up for the weekend and I want to impress him. As well as the above the table should have small bowls of mango chutney and lime pickle (bought). I’m kind of nervous as I haven’t seen him for a few weeks. This is warming but nothing too hot. The potatoes have a sauce, the spinach is dry and the salad is zingy.

Start with the potatoes. It’s a Northern Indian dish so woud usually be served with Naan bread but without a Tandoor oven these always taste too ‘bready’ so we’re having this with rice. I have a new CD with Asha Bhosle singing with Shujaat Khan, so that’s going on. Quite loud.

Heat the oil and add the mustard seeds, dried chillies and urad dal. When it splutters, add the curry leaves and onion. Cook until the onion starts to soften. Add the tomato, ground coriander, cayenne, and garam masala and stir it all through for a minute. Add the potato and 250ml water. Cook for 15-20 mins, until tender.

Lowell’s here – kiss him hello – he’s disoriented by the activity and the music. Pull a beer from the fridge and sit him down. Get him to peel the cucumber , halve it lengthways and slice it on the diagonal.

Put the rice on.

Wash the spinach, chop it and leave it to drain in a colander for a few minutes. In another pan heat the oil and add the cumin seed. When they jump, add the garlic. Stir briskly so it doesn’t catch and burn. Add the spinach, and cover the pan to wilt the spinach. After a few minutes, add the salt and cayenne and remove the lid to boil any liquid off.

Back to the potatoes – add the coconut milk and chopped coriander.  That’s both dishes done.

Help Lowell finish off the salad – Stir in all the remaining salad ingredients and toss well.

Serve on large plates – with the chutney & pickles he’ll have 6 flavours on his plate, all of them strong but nothing too hot. We’ve got into the habit of eating on cushions on the carpet. I want him to think of his time with me as different from everyday. I think I’m getting there. Lowell is in a kissy mood. I needn't have worried. Asha Bhosle has presided over hundreds of Bollywood movies, I light a coconut incense stick in the bedroom. I light it as much for her as for us.

Toby's Easy Pad Thai

10 large raw king prawns

3 tbsp oil

175g dried flat noodles

2-3 cloves garlic, chopped

½ tsp chilli flakes

2 eggs beaten

2 tbs Nam Pla (fish sauce)

2 tbsp tamarind water

2 tbsp sweet chilli sauce

1 tbsp palm sugar

4 radishes, sliced

50g roasted peanuts, coarsely chopped (or bashed with a rolling pin)

4 spring onions chopped on the diagonal

50g bean sprouts

2 tbsp roughly chopped coriander

Lime wedges to serve

I promised my friend Toby to work out a version of Pad Thai that he could make with ingredients he could find without going to a specialist store. A word on these first:

The perfect noodles are rice noodles called Banh Pho, but any flattened noodles will do. Tamarind water is made from soaking a lump of concentrated tamarind paste in warm water and straining it. At a push lemon juice could stand in. Sweet chilli sauce should be easy enough. If you can’t get palm sugar use demarara or brown sugar instead. The fewer substitutions the better but it should still be good. You can get Nam Pla (fish sauce) everywhere these days.

Toby is new to Maria Callas but the drama would be great for cooking something epic like this. He just needs to concentrate on cooking and not sashaying up and down to Casta Diva because he recognises it from the Gaultier commercial.

Take the heads and tails off the prawns and peel them. Heat up some oil and gently fry the heads, tails and shells for a couple of minutes to infuse the oil with prawn flavour. Strain and save the oil.

Get a pan of water on. When it boils drop in the noodles and take off the heat so the noodles sit in the boiling water for 4 minutes or so. Check they are done, and then rinse with water to remove starch and toss through gently with a good few drops of oil so it doesn’t all stick. Sesame oil would be ideal but I’m bearing in mind we’re going with easy to source ingredients this time.

Now it all gets a bit quick, so concentrate Toby. Crank up the volume on the Callas CD. Heat the prawn infused oil in a wok or large frying pan and add the garlic, chilli flakes and prawns. Stir fry for 2 minutes – no longer unless you like rubbery prawns. Pour in the beaten eggs and stir fry until you get something resembling scrambled eggs. Again don’t over do it.

Lower the heat and add the radish, sweet chilli sauce, nam pla, tamarind water (or lime juice), sugar and the noodles. Toss for a minute to combine. A pair of chop sticks or a fork to lift the noodles high into the air will help get it all covered in the sauce.

Add the peanuts, spring onion, beansprouts and coriander and give one final toss.  Serve in bowls with the lime wedges to squeeze over.

This isn't quite authentic. It really should contain dried shrimp and Thai preserved radish, but it will be good. It’s easy quick and fresh. I’d listen to the rest of the CD but Toby will want to watch something dreadful on Sky TV. The food, if not the viewing, will be uplifting.

Chicken & Green Mango Sandwiches

1 chicken breast

4 slices sourdough bread

1 sour green mango, cold

1 large carrot

½ tsp Nam Pla (fish sauce)

2 tsp rice wine vinegar

Juice of 1 lime

1 tbsp mayonnaise

1 tbsp oil

This has a deliciously sharp taste. He is unlikely to be able to put his finger on it however.

Poach the chicken breast. Simply add to a pan of boiling water and then turn the heat off, allowing it to cook in the cooling water.

Peel the mango, slice thinly and then cut each slice into matchsticks. Shred the carrot.  The mango should be pale and hard. Mix in a bowl with the nam pla, lime juice and vinegar. Add more lime juice if it doesn’t taste bright enough.

Heat the oil in a frying pan and quickly heat the chicken.  Slice it thickly and place on 2 slices of bread, spread with mayo. Top with the sour green mango dressing and the other slices of bread.

He liked Vietnamese Banh Mi. This isn’t that but it does seem to nod towards it. Put it in his backpack before he goes out. It’s guaranteed he will mention it will when he comes home.

Spaghetti with Tomatoes, Capers & Courgettes

350g Spaghetti

400g Courgettes

3 tbsp salted capers, rinsed

250g Cherry tomatoes, halved, saving the juice

2 dried red chillies

2 tsp dried oregano

2 cloves garlic, chopped

2 tbsp white wine vinegar

2 tbsp fresh oregano, roughly chopped

Extra virgin olive oil

It’s a weekday night, it’s January, it’s cold. He’s tired, cold and grumpy, so supper is going to have to be simple and quick.

Put the tomatoes in a bowl with their juice, add the capers and garlic and crumble in the chillies. You have the choice of listening to the news on Radio 4, or listening to him grumble. Get the radio on quick. Add the dried oregano, 3 tbsp olive oil and the vinegar. Mix lightly.

Get the spaghetti on to boil until al dente. The sauce is very simple so it’s essential that the pasta is perfect. There’s no thick, rich sauce for it to hide behind.

Slice the courgettes into 1/2 cm coins and then each coin into ½ cm batons. Fry until lightly browned. When the spaghetti is done, add it to the tomato mixture and then stir in the courgettes. Scatter with the fresh oregano – if you can’t get it, use parsley or basil instead. Drizzle with olive oil.

Eat cross legged on big cushions on the living room floor. Make sure you’re facing each other. A few candles and some Mendelssohn String Quartets will also help. You’re lifting a simple meal into something special.  A small bowl each of bitter salad leaves with slices of cucumber and a few olives, dressed in olive oil and lemon juice would be good on the side too. He’s extraordinarily handsome by candle light. You should do this more often.

Tiger Bites Pig (Gua Bao)

Hakka Pork Belly

650g pork belly rashers, skin on

2 tbsp oil

1 tbsp dark soy sauce

2.5cm ginger cut into matchsticks

1 tbsp Sichuan peppercorns

1 tsp cornflour mixed with 1 tbsp water

Sauce

2 star anise

100ml veg stock

4 tbsp light soy sauce

1 tbsp Xiaoshing rice wine

2 tsp wine vinegar

Pickled Cucumbers

½ cucumber sliced lengthways and finely sliced

1 tbsp rice vinegar

1 tbsp Mirin

Pinch each of salt and brown sugar

The Burgers

5tbs roasted peanuts

2 tbsp

1 tbsp rice vinegar

4 frozen Mantou buns

Small handful chopped coriander

It’s Chinese New Year and this is a treat for the young man. Whilst there are a lot of ingredients, the end result is a sort of burger. He’ll appreciate that as much as the fact that it tastes like nothing he’s ever had before. A CD of Qin music will ensure your kitchen has an aura of calm throughout.

Bring a pan of water to the boil, and simmer the pork for 30 minutes. Dry thoroughly on kitchen paper.

Add all the sauce ingredients to a bowl and stir well.

Heat the oil in a wok until almost smoking and add the pork and dark soy. Cook for a minute or so on each side. Dark soy is aged longer and has a mellower flavour than light soy, which is saltier. Have an adventure in a Chinese supermarket, but take your boy with you - chances are you'll want to buy more than you can carry home on your own.

Place the pork on a heatproof plate that will fit inside a bamboo steamer. Put the wok back on the heat and add the Sichuan peppercorns and ginger and finally the sauce. When it boils, pour over the pork.  Place the steamer over a pan of boiling water and steam for 1 hour.

Remove the pork and cut into pieces. Reduce the sauce in a small saucepan, adding the cornflour. Pour over the pork pieces. This would be great as it is with rice and a green vegetable, but you have promised your boy burgers. So, on we go. You should have plenty left over anyway.

Put everything for the pickled cucumbers in a bowl and allow to marinate for half an hour. Crush the peanuts with a pestle & mortar and add the sugar.

  

Mantou buns come from the freezer in Chinese supermarkets. They are white, even when cooked, and are fluffy and slightly sweet. Get a bamboo steamer going over boiling water and steam for 15-20 mins, until warmed through.

Split the buns and place some pickled cucumber inside and top with a piece of pork belly and a drizzle of sauce.  Sprinkle on some crushed peanut and some coriander leaves.

It’s called Tiger Bites Pig as the split bun looks like a tiger’s jaws devouring the pork. He’ll like the name and he’ll love eating it. This isn’t exactly healthy but at least you know what has gone into it. And it’s nice to celebrate Chinese New Year with a dish he has definitely never had before. The fact that he loves it enough that he tells you he loves it is a clear bonus. Even if he doesn't say it,those big brown eyes will tell you all you need to know,

Suspicious Lentil & Curried Egg Sandwiches

How horrible does this sound? But actually they taste amazing. This will make 2 sandwiches. My advice is: don’t tell him what’s in it in advance. Just wait until he’s hungry and hand him one.

2 eggs, hard boiled

2 ½ tbsp mayonnaise

2 tsp curry powder

4 tbsp cooked puy lentils

A few raisins

4 thick slices bread, preferably the kind with poppy seeds cooked through it

A handful of flat leaf parsley

Salt and pepper

If you’re using tinned puy lentils rinse them very thoroughly and dry slightly in paper towels. Puy lentils are the firm, green French ones with a nutty flavour. You can’t substitute other kinds. If you can’t source them, just leave them out.

Roughly chop the eggs and mix well with the mayo, curry powder and salt and pepper. Stir in the lentils and raisins. Butter the bread and top one side with the egg mix. Top with the chopped parsley and the other slice. Press down. Repeat to make the other sandwich. Wrap in Clingfilm and chill if you’ve made them ahead of time.

Take your boy to the British Museum. When you’ve worn him out buy him a takeaway coffee and give him his sandwich. For many reasons this is best had on a park bench outside. It’s no less good for that though. These sandwiches are very tasty. Consider it a success when he wants to go back to the museum after lunch. Surely he deserves the chocolate brownie you secretly picked up in the coffee shop. His face lights up - your whole being lights up.