Posted on by Myfrenchkitchen

Vegetable tagine à la Thursday.

On Thursday evenings I have life figure drawing class and I get home late. A vegetable tagine is always a good choice on these evenings. I make it earlier in the day and reheat it for a late dinner. I’m ravenous when I get home! Serve with a simple fluffy white rice(ok, go more heathy with full grain or wild or some other grains, but I prefer the stark whiteness of white rice ). 

Vegetable tagine a la Thursday.

  • Three courgettes
  • Four large spring onions with the greens
  • One large red bell pepper
  • Four carrots
  • four tomatoes
  • Two potatoes
  • A handful of green beans
  • can of chickpeas
  • A handful of petit pois(fresh or frozen)
  • A cinnamon stick
  • olive oil
  • Cardamom pod
  • Juniper berries 
  • Two teaspoons of curry masala
  •  Flatleaf parsley
  • A tablespoon or two of dry roasted almonds
  • About two cups of vegetable stock
  1. Wash and chop the vegetables into chunks.
  2. Mix together the spices in a mortar and pestle (except the cinnamon stick), along with some olive oil.
  3. Sautee the chopped onion with the spices.
  4. Add the carrots and potatoes and sautee for a few minutes.
  5. Add the vegetable stock and cinnamon stick and bring to a simmer for about 10 minutes.
  6. Add the tomatoes and bell and simmer until the vegetables are tender.
  7. Add the chickpeas, green beans and and turn off the heat.
  8. Taste for seasoning and adjust.
  9. Serve in a tagine, sprinkle with the fresh petit pois, the roasted almonds and finish off with flatleaf parslay.
  10. Serve with white rice or couscous.

   Serves 4 people

 

…I’ll draw, you pose…

Posted on by Myfrenchkitchen

Oven baked lemon chicken with herbs

With our weather being somewhat cooler and the rain pouring down constantly, our bones are in need of some warmer nourishment. The grey skies whispered lemon chicken. So we had the old classic, lemon chicken with herbs. An ever popular meal, so easily done in the oven and sliced at the table, which leaves you with ample time to indulge in that book you just glance at every time you speed past it.

Oven baked lemon chicken with herbs

Do I need to give the recipe?

  • Take a chicken, clean it. Flee into your garden and cut herbs to heart’s delight…tarragon is a must. Lemon cut into chunks is a must. As is some butter, salt and pepper and two or three shallots. Then just stuff the chicken with all ingredients, rub with olive oil and season with salt and pepper.
  • Bake in a 180 deg. C oven for about an hour or until you have clear juices running when piercing the chicken into the thick flesh of the thigh next to the bone, normally the part which takes the longest to cook. Turn the chicken over and drizzle often with the pan juices.
  • In the meantime prepare some vegetables. I used green asparagus, of which I snapped the ends off and some cherry tomatoes. Clean and dry them.
  • When the chicken is done, remove from the pan and cover with foil on a serving platter. Skim off the excess fat from the pan.
  • Arrange the asparagus in the pan and roast at 200 deg. c until nicely caramelized. Add the tomatoes 10 minutes before the asparagus is done and roast until the tomatoes start shrinking.
  • Serve on the platter alongside the chicken, drizzle with the pan juices and serve the rest of the sauce on the side.

*for more about herbs and it’s uses, see “In my herb garden”

…the more you pick, the better I grow…

This is an entry for WHB, whith this week’s host being Wandering chopsticks.