13th Jan - The Weekend is here!

I like to cook on a Friday night to celebrate the start of the weekend. Not my  main cooking day, as that is reserved for Saturdays, but one to find things in the cupboard/freezer and have an inventing session.

Today I decided to make use of another of my Christmas presents - this beautiful and useful tagine.

I found some chicken breasts on the bone in the freezer and decided to use these, along with various other stock cupboard things that were available. I did have to stop on the way back from the school run this morning though to buy fresh coriander. I addicted to this, and see it as essential when I'm cooking spicy food.

One of my favourite shops is Akram Stores in Southsea. I always ensure I stock up on preserved lemons when I visit, as they are far cheaper than buying them in the supermarket. Another addictive flavour, and I always add it to Moroccan inspired stews - I quarter the lemons and remove all flesh, then finely chop the skins. I used two in todays stew.

Other flavourings I added to the onions, ginger and garlic were lightly toasted and then crushed cumin and coriander seeds. dried crushed chillis and some saffron strands. The harissa paste will be added to some reserved cooking liquid and served seperately for those who like added heat.

The stew prior to going in the oven - I guess it will take around 45 minutes to cook. I've also added a tin of chick peas, and some black and green olives. I was going to add butternut squash cubes too, but ran out of space. Also toyed with the idea of dried apricots, but decided it was olives or apricots and the olives won.

This will have to be served with cous cous - my cupboard contained the normal variety, but also a box of giant cous cous, so both have been prepared, and I've mixed them together.  I'll microwave to reheat once the stew is cooked through. The difference in size can be seen below - the giant cous cous is not far off looking like tapioca, and from an initial taste, possibly not worth the extra cost over supermarket standard cous cous.

Diet cooking wise, the only added fat in the cooking was a couple of teaspoons of extra virgin olive oil to fry off the onions at the start - I think this adds flavour, so not too worried about a small amount. A few weeks ago I would have added loads of butter to the cous cous when reheating, but have not added anything at all this time. 

It feels like a decadent meal, but all in all, I think this is probably pretty low in fat, and if it tastes as good as the smells coming from the oven at the moment should be one to repeat.