2 small fennel bulbs, cored and sliced roughly
2 small onions, cut into half moons
1 clove of garlic, sliced
1 small butternut squash, seeded, peeled and cut into ~2 inch pieces
1 small acorn squash, seeded, peeled and cut into ~2 inch pieces
1 can canellini beans
1/4 vermouth
1 cup vegetable stock
4 sage leaves
1/4 teaspoon hot pepper flakes
salt, pepper
olive oil

3 Italian fennel sausages, blanched and fried. (optional)

In a large pot, Saute the garlic lightly in olive oil until it's fragrant.
Add the fennel and onion and saute over a low heat until soft and translucent.
Add the vermouth, and allow to evaporate.
Add the squash, sage, and stock. Increase to medium and cover.
Cook until squash is just under done (~15 minutes).
Add the canned beans, and return to heat uncovered for ~5 minutes.
Season with salt and pepper.

I added cooked sausages to half of this dish because the person I cook for most often is a little suspicious of vegetarian dishes. They add a nice spiciness and some texture, but I don't think they are necessary. It works as a veg dish.

Except, the flavour palate is incomplete. This is missing a bottom note. I think adding some arugula at the very end would take care of it. I'd also replace the vermouth with madeira to get a more earthy flavour.

In non-veg options, I think you could add a couple slices of heavily smoked bacon (cut into small pieces) with the onions and fennel to add depth.

I'll make it again, and tinker with it a little bit.

I adore Nigella. I enjoy her writing and I think her television shows are the perfect blend of food porn, gorgeous woman porn, and expensive heiress lifestyle I can't afford porn. Her taste in flavours aligns pretty closely to my own, and I've always had good luck with her recipes.

Tonight's dinner was a takeoff of a meal she presented in the "Fast Food" episode of Nigella Bites.

Garlic Chicken, Couscous with Yogurt Sauce.

Marinate 8 chicken thighs in a ziploc bag with 3 smashed garlic cloves and a couple of generous pours of olive oil.

Place the chicken in a baking dish and bake in a 400F oven for 30 minutes.
Sprinkle some coarse salt over the chicken and turn the broiler in your oven on to brown and crisp the skin.

Couscous with Chickpeas and Black Currants

1 part couscous (I use about 2 cups)
1 part boiling chicken or vegetable stock.
1 can chickpeas
3 Tbsp black currants.

Combine everything in a bowl and seal with tin foil or a lid. Allow to sit for 7 - 10 minutes.
Fluff with a fork.

While the couscous is doing its' thing...

Finely chop one seeded hot pepper
Finely chop 3 green onions
Chiffonade a small handful of mint
Mix with 1 cup of full fat greek yogurt.
Salt to taste.

It really is fast food. 40 from minutes begining to end (apart from marinating the chicken, which you can start in the morning before you leave for work) and most of that time you are doing nothing.

In the original recipe Nigella grills her chicken, omits the currants, and uses parsley instead of mint in the sauce, but I can't leave anything alone. I need to tinker.

Sesame Ginger Shortribs

Marinate 4 lean beef short ribs in a mixture of:

1/2 cup soy sauce
2 T toasted sesame seeds
1 T sesame oil
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1/4 cup of Chinese cooking wine
1/4 cup brown sugar or 2 T honey
2 t ground ginger, or one 1 inch piece of fresh ginger, minced
1/2 t "rooster sauce" (Sriracha Chili Sauce)

Marinate in the fridge for 2 - 4 hours, turning once or twice.

Bake in a dutch oven with the lid on for 2 - 3 hours in a 300F oven. (until the meat is tender and falling away from the bone)

Remove the ribs, and skim the fat off the liquid.
Transfer the sauce to a small pot and reduce to sauce consistency. Adjust seasoning as required.

Serve with steamed mashed sweet potatoes and steamed bok choy.
Drizzle a little of the sauce over the ribs and the bok choy.

This is a warm, cozy, comfort food kind of dinner. It takes several hours to cook, so best for sleepy Sundays.

Braised Lamb with Cherries

1 - 1 1/2 pound lamb arm shoulder roast
1 small tin of stewed tomatoes
3 cloves of garlic (peeled, whole)
1 bay leaf
1 1/2 cups red wine
2 tsp really good balsamic vinegar
Large handful of pitted sundried cherries
1 T sugar

Brown all sides of the lamb roast in a hot frying pan
Mix the rest of the ingredients in a durch oven with a tight fitting lid.
Add the lamb to the dutch oven, cover.
Cook at 300F for 3 1/2 to 4 hours until the lamb is tender and shreds easily.

I serve this with thyme roasted sweet potatoes, and a green salad with port braised pearl onions. Bread to sop up the sauce would also be nice.

I am trying not to allow things to turn into all cheese all the time here, but somethings are just beyond my control.

I had the most amazing (over priced) steak with oooey gooey sauce today. In point of fact, J had the steak with ooey gooey sauce, and I had lamb, but the sauce was so good that I couldn't stop myself from dipping my bread in it when he wasn't looking.

After some culinary investigation, conducted entirely in a foreign language, I think I can say with some authority that Sauce Au St. Marcellin contains:

St. Marcellin cheese
Creme Fraiche
Veal Stock
and Black Pepper.

That's right, cheese AND creme fraiche, served over beef. All the excess you could ever need on a single plate, and oh so good.

Everyone needs a little taste of the mediterranean now and then.

8 Chicken thighs (bone in, bone out, skin on, skinless - your choice)
1/2 to 3/4 cup large green pitted olives
3 Oranges
1/2 Lemon
A small handful of slivered almonds
A few threads of saffron.
1 or 2 tablespoons of honey

Brown the chicken lightly, and set aside.

Roughly chop the olives.
Peel and roughly chop two oranges
Slice the lemon thinly (skin on)

Toss the above, plus the almonds into a casserole dish with a lid (or a dutch oven)
Add the chicken.

Soften the saffron in a cup or two of warm water.
Mix the honey in with the water and saffron.

Add to the dish. Use enough water to come about halfway up the chicken.

Cover and cook at low heat (250) for 1 and 1/2 to 2 hours until the chicken is cooked and the meat is starting to fall apart.

Ladle off any excess liquid. You can reduce it and add it back to the dish if you want to. On lazy days I don't bother.

Serve with rice, yogurt, with diced apple or grapes cut in half sprinkled over.

The apple/grapes are important here. The olives are pretty strong and earthy, and without the hit of sweetness this dish can be unbalanced and kind of overwhelming.

Wild Mushroom Risotto with Seared Quail

2 minced shallots
1 minced garlic clove
Leaves from 5 stems of thyme
2 Tables spoons Sherry
1 1/2 cups Arborio Rice
Chicken stock or Mushroom (a couple litres)
2 or 3 cups various wild mushrooms, cut into pieces
1/2 to 3/4 cups parmesan cheese

3 boned quails. (I would give instructions on boning quail, but I bought unboned quail for the first time this week, and when it came time to bone them I realized I had no godly idea how to do it. )

1 tablespoon brown sugar.

Marinate the quail in a couple glugs of olive oil and the brown sugar and the leaves from two stems of thyme. Set aside.

Sweat the shalots and garlic in some olive oil and butter.
Toss the rice and mushroom pieces in the shallot butter mixtures u ntil evenly coated.
Add the sherry and reduce by half.

Add ladles of chicken stock and stir the rice regularily (some people would say constantly. I say, who has time for constantly?)

Continue until rice is al dente and coated in a thick starchy sauce.

When the rice is almost done, pan sear the quail, carmelizing both sides. Move to a 400 F oven to finish.

Add the parmesan cheese to the risotto and stir until melted.
Finish with a knob or two of butter (entirely optional)
Season to taste.

Remove the quail from the oven and slice into two pieces.

Ladle the risotto into bowls and stack 3 quail halves on top of each bowl.

This is one of my favourite dishes. It's easy but incredibly tasty, and perfect for a foggy fall day. And - it's impressive. People think yo've done something exotic when really all you've done is stir the rice.

Nigella's Slow Cooked Chicken

Chicken (I used 6 thighs, but her recipe calls for a whole chicken cut into pieces)
2 lemons cut into eighths
1 head of garlic broken into cloves but not peeled.
Thyme (recipe calls for fresh, I didn't have any on hand, dried worked nicely)
Olive oil and some white wine.

Toss the chicken, lemon pieces and garlic cloves in olive oil to coat. Sprinkle with thyme and some black pepper.

Sprinkle some white wine over (3 or 4 tbsps.)

Cover tightly with foil and bake in 160 (350f?) oven for 2 hours.
Remove foil and turn oven up to 200 (420f?) for another 30 minutes.

The chicken was fork tender and the lemons were roasted and carmelized and very mellow tasting.

(courtesy Nigella Lawson)

Isabelles Amazing Asian Chicken

In a large pot put:
2 cups brown sugar
1 1/4 cups soy sauce
1 1/4 cups rice wine
2 cups chicken stock
3-4 star anise
1 cinnamon stick
6 or so thick slices of ginger (no need to peel it)
couple of tsp szechuan pepper corns (or just plain black ones)

bring this to the boil, turn it down and whack in the chicken, breast side down. Put on the lid and leave it for half an hour. Turn the chicken over and cook for another half to three quarters of an hour, depending on the size of your chook.

Take the chicken out, cover it in foil and leave it for 20 mins.

Take out a couple of ladles of the cooking liquid and put it in a smaller pot and bring it back to the boil and reduce it until it's thick to make a sauce to pour over the chicken, once you've cut it up and stuck in on some rice.

It's really nice served with chinese greens cooked in a little sesame oil, sesame seeds and oyster sauce.

(courtesy Isabelle