Confession: I've never had cream of wheat as a breakfast cereal. I've had it as a savoury curry substrate. And I've used it as an ingredient. But I've never done the hot breakfast cereal thing. So I figured it was time to give it a try.

It came out a bit like cog. Thicker. And obviously more pale and without the corn flavour. But it was pretty similar otherwise. And, honestly, next time I think I'd be inclined to make it with an even higher milk-to-grain ratio next time. Maybe 1/2 c. cream of wheat to 4 c. milk, rather than 3/4 c. cream of wheat.

This was theoretically meant to be made with apricots, cranberries, and almonds. I was all out of dried apricots though, so I swapped in some chopped dried dates instead. I liked it with the dates, but I'd love to try it with apricots sometime too.

Cream of Wheat with Dried Fruit

Slightly adapted from The Big Book of Breakfast by Maryana Vollstedt

Ingredients

• 4 c. milk
• 1/2 c. cream of wheat/sooj
• 1/4 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 1/2 c. chopped dried apricots (or dates)
• 1/4 c. dried cranberries
• 1/4 c. slivered almonds

Directions

1. Combine all ingredients and bring to a boil over medium-high heat.
2. Reduce heat to medium and simmer, stirring occasionally, until cereal reaches desired consistency.

So, full disclosure: I was in a bit of a hurry and kind of messed up this pudding. It still turned out reasonably tasty. It was just very lumpy. Since I just dumped the chia into the milk the night before and didn't both to mix it properly. Not the end of the world. Just not ideal either. So, I guess I should let that be a lesson to me to make sure to mix everything very well before I leave it to soak overnight if I'm ever making this again.

You can mix up the fruit to go with this. The original recipe calls for kiwi, blackberries, fresh apricots, pomegranate, and toasted coconut chips. I think I ended up using kiwi, blackberries, nectarines, raspberries, and toasted coconut. But you could try all sorts of things! I've included some ideas in the variations below.

Chia Pudding with Fresh Fruit

Slightly adapted from The Breakfast Bible by Kate McMillan

Ingredients

• 1 c. oat milk
• 1/4 c. chia seeds
• 2 Tbsp. maple syrup
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 150g blackberries
• 2 kiwis, peeled and sliced
• 4 apricots, sliced
• 75g pomegranate arils
• 20g toasted coconut chips

Directions

1. Combine oat milk, chia seeds, maple syrup, and vanilla and mix well.
2. Cover and chill for 4-24 hours.
3. Divide into four bowls, top each with 1/4 of the fresh fruit and coconut chips, and serve.

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Variants

Strawberry-Banana

Ingredients

• 1 c. oat milk
• 2 Tbsp. peanut butter
• 1/4 c. chia seeds
• 2 Tbsp. maple syrup
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 150g strawberries
• 2 bananas, peeled and sliced
• 20g dark chocolate shavings

Kiwi-Mango

Ingredients

• 1 c. coconut milk
• 1/4 c. chia seeds
• 2 Tbsp. honey
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 2 kiwis, peeled and sliced
• 2 mangoes, sliced
• 2 passionfruit
• 20g toasted coconut chips
• 20g macadamia nuts, chopped

Lemon-Blueberry

Ingredients

• 1 c. almond milk
• 1/4 c. chia seeds
• 2 Tbsp. honey
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1/4 tsp. culinary lavender
• 150g blueberries
• 1/2 c. lemon curd
• 20g slivered almonds, toasted

Blackberry-Melon

Ingredients

• 1 c. coconut milk
• 1/4 c. chia seeds
• 2 Tbsp. honey
• 1/2 tsp. lime zest
• 150g blackberries
• 1/4 cantaloupe, diced
• 1/4 honeydew melon, diced
• 20g pine nuts, toasted

Kiwi-Lychee

Ingredients

• 1 c. coconut milk
• 1/4 c. chia seeds
• 2 Tbsp. honey
• 1 tsp. rosewater
• 150g blackberries
• ~20 lycheefruit, peeled and halved
• 2 kiwis, peeled and sliced
• 20g slivered almonds, toasted

Cranberry-Quince

Ingredients

• 1 c. oat milk
• 1/4 c. chia seeds
• 2 Tbsp. maple syrup
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 2 quince, peeled and diced
• 1 star anise
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 1 c. apple juice
• 1/4 c. sugar
• 250g fresh cranberries
• 1/4 c. raisins
• 20g walnuts, toasted and chopped

Directions

1. Combine the oat milk, chia seeds, maple syrup, and vanilla extract as directed above, mixing, covering, and chilling for at least 4 hours.
2. Meanwhile, combine the quince, star anise, cinnamon stick, apple juice, and sugar and bring to a boil over medium heat.
3. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer, covered, for ~20 minutes.
4. Add the cranberries and raisins and simmer for another 20 minutes.
5. Divide pudding among four bowls, top with compote and walnuts and serve.

Chocolate-Cherry

Ingredients

• 1 c. almond milk
• 1/4 c. chia seeds
• 1 Tbsp. Dutched (alkalized) cocoa powder
• 2 Tbsp. honey
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 400g fresh cherries, pitted and halved
• 20g slivered almonds, toasted
• 20g dark chocolate shavings

We've had a friend from New Zealand visiting us for the past couple of weeks. I wanted to make a pavlova for him while he was here since I never acutally got a chance to try one while I was over there. And, because I'm me, I wanted to try a new flavour combination that I hadn't done before.

I actually ended up making two differen pavlovas in the end. This dried apricot one and a somewhat simpler ginger-lemon curd one. They were both excellent and I keep going back and forth on which one I liked best.

This one was definitely the richer of the two. While the lemon curd in the first recipe used a mix of whole eggs and egg yolks with just a bit of butter, this one uses all egg yolks and the maximum possible amout of butter that they will allow you to emulsify before the whole thing breaks. It's also meant to include a sizeable quantity of both thickened cream and crème fra&icric;che, but I decided to swap those out for some plain Greek yogurt.

I think that the yogurt worked quite well! It still gave it a nice tartness and creaminess without quite as much chance of causing a major coronary event.

Dried Apricot Pavlova

Slightly adapted from Delicious.com.au

Ingredients

Meringue

• 4 large egg whites
• 1 tsp. lemon juice (or 1 Tbsp. verjuice)
• 200g sugar
• 1 Tbsp. cornstarch (cornflour)

Curd

• 8 large egg yolks
• 140g sugar
• 180g unsalted butter
• 1 Tbsp. lemon juice

Other Toppings

• 225g dried apricots, divided
• 200mL verjuice, divided
• 1/2 Tbsp. honey
• 1 sprig rosemary¹
• ~1 c. plain Greek yogurt
• 1/4 c. sliced almonds, toasted

Directions

Meringue

1. Preheat oven to 150°C (300°F) and line a baking sheet with a silicone baking mat or parchment paper.
2. Whisk egg whites with lemon juice at gradually increasing speed until foamy.
3. Add the sugar, 1 Tbsp. at a time, while continuing to whisk at high speed until all sugar has been used.
4. Add the cornstarch and continue whisking until stiff peaks form. Do not overmix.
5. Scoop the meringue out onto the prepared baking sheet and shape into a large cyinder or dome.²
6. Place the meringue in the oven, immediately turn the temperature down to 120°C (250°F), and bake for 1 hour.
7. Turn oven off and leave meringue in warm oven to cool for at least 2 hours or as long as overnight.

Apricot Purée

1. Combine 100g of apricots and 100mL of the verjuice and bring to a simmer over medium heat.
2. Cook for 3-4 minutes, then remove from heat, cover, and set aside to steep for 10-15 minutes.
3. Use an immersion blender or food processor to purée until smooth.

Apricot Curd

1. Combine egg yolks and sugar and cook over low heat, whisking constantly, for 15-20 minutes.
2. Begin adding butter, 1 Tbsp. at a time, while continuing to cook over low heat and whisk constantly.
3. Remove from heat and stir in lemon juice and apricot purée.

Poached Apricots

1. Combine remaining 125g apricots with remaining 100mL verjuice and 1/3 c. of water.
2. Cook over medium heat for 3-4 minutes.
3. With a slotted spoon or spider, transfer apricots to a bowl and set aside.
4. Add honey and rosemary to the liquid left in the pot and bring to a boil.
5. Boil for 4-5 minutes, then remove from heat and pour over the apricots.

Assembly

1. Once everything is cool, top the pavolva with the Greek yogurt followed by the apricot curd. (Or do it the other way round and put the curd on first if you prefer.)
2. Add the poached apricots on top and then drizzle with the syrup.
3. Sprinkle with toasted almonds and serve.

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¹ I didn't have any fresh rosemary, so I just used a generous pinch of some that I'd dried myself the last time I did have fresh rosemary. ^Back
2 I recently learned that pavlovas are not actually supposed to have a hollow in the centre to hold all the toppings. They sometimes end up that way because they're slighly underbaked or because they can't support the weight of the toppings that have been added, but they are not (typically) actually meant to be like that. This was news to me as I've been deliberately making bowl-shaped pavs for years now! I guess maybe next time I can give the traditional shape a try. (Although TF is somewhat dubious about the traditional shape and its ability to hold all the tasty toppings.) ^Back

I wanted to make some smoothie bowls for breakfast, but the recipe called for granola. I considered buying some ready-made granola, but home-made granola is always so tasty and it's not that hard to make, so I opted to go that route instead. There were even a bunch of granola recipes in the same book as I was using for the smoothie bowl recipe. Convenient!

Since the smoothie bowls called for both (chia) granola and toasted almonds, I opted to make this almond granola and just use a bit more of it rather than preparing toasted almonds separately. The recipe also calls for flax seeds (which is what I used this time around), but those could easily be swapped out for chia seeds if you wanted "chia granola" as the smoothie bowl recipe calls for. That said, I think I'd be inclinde to swap out the flax for sesame seeds next time. Sesame and apricots make a great combo!

Almond Granola with Apricots

Slightly adapted from The Breakfast Bible by Kate McMillan

Ingredients

• 2 c. old-fashioned rolled oats
• 3/4 c. slivered almonds
• 2 Tbsp. flax or sesame seeds
• 1 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 1/2 c. brown sugar
• 1/3 c. honey
• 1/4 c. coconut oil
• 2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 3/4 c. dried apricots, chopped

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 150°C (300°F) and very lightly grease a rimmed baking sheet.
2. Combine the oats, almonds, flax/sesame seeds, cinnamon, and salt and mix well.
3. In a small pot, warm the brown sugar, honey, coconut oil, and vanilla and heat, stirring occasionally, until smooth (3-4 minutes).
4. Pour the sugar mixture over the oats and stir to combine.
5. Dump the mixture onto the prepared baking sheet and spread into an even layer.
6. Bake at 150°C (300°F) for 30 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes.
7. Remove from oven and allow to cool.
8. Break granola into small pieces and mix in apricots.

I finally got (most) of the dried fruit needed to make this salad. I say "most" because it calls for dried pears which I've never even seen before! I figured I'd just sub some dried apples, but they're apparently on the "do not order" list at the local Bulk Barn right now, so that was a bust. In the end, I ended up lightly oven-drying an apple and an Anjou pear and using those in my salad and I think that worked quited well!

Winter Cabbage and Dried Fruit Salad

Slightly adapted from Vegetable of the Day by Kate McMillan

Ingredients

• 500g (~1/2 a head) red cabbage, shredded
• 1/2 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 1/4 tsp. black peppercorns, ground
• 5-6 Tbsp. red wine or apple cider vinegar
• 5 dried apricots, chopped
• 5 dried figs, chopped
• 5 dried prunes, chopped
• 1-2 dried pears¹, chopped
• 1 dried apple, chopped (optional)
• 1 tart apple, julienned
• 1-2 Tbsp. olive oil
• 1/8 tsp. cumin seeds, ground
• 1/8 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 1/2-1 tsp. sugar
• 2-3 Tbsp. walnuts², chopped (optional)

Directions

1. Toss the cabbage with the salt, pepper, and vinegar, cover, and let stand at room temperature for 2 hours (or overnight in the fridge).
2. Add the apricots, figs, prunes, dried pear(s), and dried apple (if using).
3. Add the fresh apple, olive oil, cumin, cinnamon, 1/2 tsp. of sugar, and the walnuts (if using).
4. Taste and adjust sugar, salt, pepper, vinegar, and oil as desired.

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¹ The original recipe calls for 5 dried pears! That seems like an insane amount to me. Maybe they meant 5 slices of dried pear. I ended up putting in 1 pear and 1 apple (plus the fresh apple) and that seemed about right to me. So, I think 2 dried apples/pears total is probably about right. ^Back
2 Normally when ingredients are listed as "optional", I always add it. But in this case I actually thought it would be nice with just the cabbage and fruit without the nuts. ^Back

This recipe got significantly overhauled by symbol. As written, there's too much broth for our quinoa, so that got reduced; the spices got tweaked and oil reduced, too.

For the final "drizzle with oil" step, the original recipe calls for ¼ C of olive oil. We had just made this tagine, and it produced lots of grease; we ended up skimming off about ¼ C of the sauce, of which maybe ¾ were grease. I've approximated this with schmaltz here. If you want to keep it vegetarian, use a reduced quantity of olive oil.

Moroccan-Spiced Roasted Vegetables and Quinoa

Dish of the Day by Kate McMillan (p. 50)

Ingredients

• 3 large parsnips (or 6 small ones), peeled and cut into 1cm pieces
• 2 large carrots (or 4 small ones), peeled and cut into 1cm pieces
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• ½ tbsp cumin seeds
• 1 tsp ground turmeric
• ½ tsp ground cinnamon
• ¼ tsp ras el hanout
• salt and pepper to taste
• 3 tbsp grease + 1 tbsp other sauce bits
• 1½ C chicken or vegetable stock
• 1 C quinoa, rinsed
• ¼ C dried apricots, quartered
• 3 tbsp slivered almonds, toasted
• 2 tbsp chopped parsley
• 2-3 tbsp schmaltz or other oil for drizzling

Directions

1. Toss parsnips and carrots with oil, cumin, turmeric, cinnamon, ras el hanout, salt, and pepper.
2. Arrange on a baking sheet and roast at 400°F until vegetables are tender and starting to caramelize, 35-40 minutes
3. Meanwhile, bring the broth to a boil in a medium-sized saucepan.
4. Add the quinoa, cover, reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer until the liquid is absorbed, 12-15 minutes.
5. Transfer quinoa to a large bowl. Top with vegetables, apricots, almonds, and parsley.
6. Drizzle over schmaltz and serve.

Beef Tagine with Fresh Apricots

I was originally planning to make the apple and prune version of this tagine. But then I got to the grocery store and they had local nectarines on sale. And I momentarily forgot that the apricot version wanted apricots and not nectarines. So I got a bunch of nectarines and didn't get the prunes and figured I'd just make that version. Then I got home and realized my mistake. But I already had the nectarines, so I figured I'd just go for it anyway. Nectarines and apricots are basically the same fruit, right?

Beef Tagine with Fresh ApricotsNectarines

Slightly adapted from The Food of Morocco by Paula Wolfert

Ingredients

• 2 Tbsp. unsalted butter
• 2 Tbsp. olive oil
• scant 1/8 tsp. saffron threads, crushed
• 3/4 c. hot water¹, divided
• 1 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 1/2 tsp. black peppercorns, ground
• 3/4 tsp. ground ginger
• 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon, divided
• 1 shallot, grated or finely minced
• 1kg beef short ribs (braising ribs), cut into individual ribs
• 500g stewing beef, cut into 4-5cm chunks
• 2 Tbsp. chopped fresh cilantro
• 1 onion, halved and sliced
• 3 Tbsp. honey
• 4-5 fresh nectarines², quartered and pitted
• 1 Tbsp. sesame seeds, toasted

Directions

1. Set your tagine on a heat diffuser and melt the butter and oil over medium-low heat. (I tried out an induction cooker for this and set it to 600W.)
2. Pour 2 Tbsp. of the hot water over the crushed saffron.
3. Add the salt, pepper, ginger, and 1/4 tsp. of the cinnamon to the saffron water. Let stand for 1-2 minutes.
4. Pour the spice water into the tagine along with the shallot and mix well.
5. Once the spices have warmed through, begin adding the beef. Try to make sure each piece gets coated in the buttery spices.
6. Add the remaining water along with the cilantro, cover, and simmer for 2.5 hours. Check on it every half hour or so to turn the meat, remove any bones that have come loose, and make sure it's neither boiling over nor boiling dry.
7. After 2.5 hours the meat should be very tender and falling off the bone. At the point, add the onion, cover, and simmer for another 30 minutes.
8. Stir in the honey and remaining 1/4 tsp. of cinnamon.
9. Cook, uncovered, for another 30 minutes.
10. If possible, transfer the meat to a serving dish leaving the sauce in the tagine. Add the apricots/nectarines to the sauce and continue simmering until just heated through. Then pour the sauce and nectarines over the beef. Otherwise, just place the nectarines on top of the beef in the tagine, cover, and simmer for another 10-20 minutes until heated through.
11. Sprinkle with sesame seeds and serve.

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Variations

Lamb Tagine with Prunes and Apples

This version can also be made with beef if desired. Or the above version can be made with lamb. Mix and match as you see fit.

Ingredients

• 3 Tbsp. unsalted butter, divided
• 2 Tbsp. olive oil
• scant 1/8 tsp. saffron threads, crushed
• 2 3/4 c. hot water, divided
• 1 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 1/2 tsp. black peppercorns, ground
• 3/4 tsp. ground ginger
• 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon, divided
• 1 shallot, grated or finely minced
• 1.5kg bone-in lamb shoulder, cut into 4-5cm chunks
• 2 Tbsp. chopped fresh cilantro
• 450g pitted prunes
• 1 onion, halved and sliced
• 4 Tbsp. honey, divided
• 4 tart apples (eg. Granny Smith)
• 1 Tbsp. sesame seeds, toasted

Directions

1. Start as above with 2 Tbsp. each of butter and oil in a tagine over medium-low heat.
2. Proceed through the next four steps as directed above.
3. Once the meat is in the tagine, pour 2 c. of the remaining hot water over the prunes and set them aside to soak.
4. Pour the remaining water over the meat and add the cilantro.
5. Cover and simmer for 2 hours, checking on it every 30 minutes or so to turn and remove loose bones as above.
6. After 2 hours, add the onions, then cover and simmer for another 30 minutes.
7. Drain the prunes and add them to the tagine along with 3 Tbsp. of the honey and 1/4 tsp. of cinnamon.
8. Simmer, uncovered, for 30 minutes.
9. Meanwhile, quarter and core the apples (leaving the skin on).
10. Melt the remaining Tbsp. of butter with the honey and a pinch of cinnamon.
11. Add the apples, cut-side-down, and sauté until soft and glazed (~3 minutes).
12. Transfer the meat to a serving dish, pour the sauce over, then decorate with apples. Or, alternatively, place the apples on top of the meat and serve directly out of the tagine.
13. Sprinkle with sesame seeds and serve.

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¹ The original recipe called for adding hot water to "almost cover the meat". For me, this was the 2 Tbsp. used in the spice water mixture + 1 c. But I found the resulting tagine very soupy. Maybe that is as it should be. But I think I would prefer a less soupy result next time so I've reduced the water quantity somewhat here. ^Back
2The original recipe called for 900g of fresh apricots, "pitted and cored". I weighed out 900g of nectarines. This worked out to be 7 nectarines for me. I managed to fit four of them into the tagine before it was in imminent danger of overflowing. So I've written up this recipe to reflec that. If you want a fruitier final product (and have a larger tagine than I do), you may decide that you want to use more nectarines/apricots than this. ^Back

We were supposed to be having "Indian" burrito bowls for dinner last night. But it wasn't until I went to start preparing them that I remembered that we were all out of bell peppers. With that plan out the window and only about an hour 'til dinner, I began frantically searchig for a replacement meal.

Conveniently this socca could be made entirely with pantry staples and freezer ingredients. It's not the heartiest of meals, but it was sufficient for us for the evening. And, added bonus, the Kidlet absolutely loved it!

I think this would be good with a little honey and olive oil drizzled over the filling just before serving, but it was plenty good as it was.

Socca with Kale, Pistachios, and Apricots

Slightly adapted from The Complete Vegetarian Cookbook by America's Test Kitchen

Ingredients

Batter

• 1 1/2 c. chickpea flour
• 1/4 tsp. coarse sea salt, ground
• 1/2 tsp. black peppercorns, ground
• 1/2 tsp. ground turmeric
• 1 1/2 c. water
• 3 Tbsp. olive oil (plus more for frying)

Filling

• 1 Tbsp. olive oil
• 1 onion, chopped
• 2-3 clove garlic, minced
• 3/4 tsp. cumin seeds, ground
• 1/4 tsp. coarse sea salt, ground
• 3 allspice berries, ground
• 300g chopped kale (or Swiss chard/silverbeet)
• 3 Tbsp. finely chopped dried apricots (~6 apricots)
• 2 Tbsp. pistachios, chopped
• 1 tsp. wine vinegar
• pepper, to taste
• 1 Tbsp. honey (optional)
• extra olive oil, for drizzling (optional)

Directions

Socca

1. Combine chickpea flour, salt, pepper, and turmeric and mix well.
2. Stir in water and olive oil.
3. Heat a little olive oil (1-2 tsp.) in a 20cm (8") skillet over medium-high heat.
4. Once the oil is hot, pour in ~1/2 c. of the batter and cook until the underside is browned 2-4 minutes.
5. Flip the socca and cook until the other side is done (1-2 minutes).
6. Remove from pan, add another teaspoon or two of oil and repeat the cooking process with the remaining batter.
7. If desired, keep the socca warm in an oven preheated to 95°C (200°F) while you prepare the filling.

Filling

1. Heat oil over medium heat.
2. Add onion and cook for ~5 minutes.
3. Add garlic, cumin, salt, and allspice and cook for another 30-60 seconds.
4. Add kale and apricots and cook until wilted (~5 minutes).
5. Remove from heat and stir in pistachios and vinegar.
6. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
7. If desired, drizzle with honey and additional olive oil.
8. Top socca with kale mixture and enjoy.

Back to Edmonds for another quick bread. This seemed pleasingly simple to make and sounded appealing, so I figured I'd give it a go. I think it'd be really interesting to try the apricot variant at some point too. I feel like I might want to swap out some of the other ingredients if using apricots though. Hmm... maybe I'll make a few notes on that below. This date version came out pretty nice. I think I'd probably double the vanilla next time though and bring it up to 1/2 tsp. rather than 1/4 tsp. Adding some other spices might not go amiss either. I might try tossing in 1/2 tsp. of mixed spice next time as well. Not that it's not tasty as is. It just feels like it's missing something.

Date Loaf

Slightly adapted from Edmonds Cookery Book

Ingredients

• 1 c. chopped dates
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1 Tbsp. salted butter
• 1 c. boiling water
• 1 c. brown sugar
• 1 c. chopped walnuts
• 1 egg
• 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 2 c. soft (plain/standard/cake) flour
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. mixed spice (optional)

Directions

1. Combine dates, baking soda, butter, and boiling water. Stir until well-combined and butter has melted. Set aside for an hour.
2. Add sugar, walnuts, egg, and vanilla to date mixture and beat well.
3. Sift in flour, baking powder, and mixed spice (if using). Stir until just blended.
4. Pour into greased and floured loaf tin.
5. Bake at 350°F (180°C) for 45-60 minutes.
6. Cool in tin for 10 minutes before turning out.

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Variations

Apricot Loaf

Edmonds just suggests making apricot loaf by substituting apricots for the dates in the date loaf recipe. I think that would be fine, but I feel like dates go much better with brown sugar than apricots. Initially I was thinking of just using granulated sugar, but then it occurred to me that honey might go particularly well. Honey is sweeter than granulated sugar though and I think granulated sugar already tastes sweeter than brown sugar, so I think considerably less honey should be used in this recipe. Honey also browns faster, so it may need to be cooked for longer at a lower temperature.

Ingredients

• 1 c. slivered dried apricots
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1 Tbsp. salted butter
• 1 c. scalded milk
• 1/2 c. honey
• 1 c. slivered almonds
• 1 egg
• 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 2 c. soft (plain/standard/cake) flour
• 1 tsp. baking powder

Bake at 325°F (160°C) for 60-75 minutes.

Vegan

Ingredients

• 1 c. chopped dates
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1 Tbsp. oil or margerine
• 1 c. boiling water
• 1 c. brown sugar
• 1 c. chopped walnuts
• 1 flax egg
• 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 2 c. soft (plain/standard/cake) flour
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. mixed spice (optional)

I've mostly been turning to my ATK Complete Vegetarian Cookbook for dinner recipes lately. And I've been pretty happy with that. I suddenly got a craving for Moroccan though, so I figured maybe it was time to bust out the tagine cookbook. Squash is in season and on sale right now and I have sweet potatoes left from the gratin that never got made, so a squash and sweet potato tagine made for a natural choice.

Sweet Potato & Squash Tagine

From 150 Best Tagine Recipes

Ingredients

• 2 Tbsp. olive oil
• 2 Tbsp. butter
• 2 onions, chopped
• 4 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 Tbsp. ras el hanout
• 2 c. cubed sweet potato
• 1 c. cubed squash¹
• 1/2 c. orange juice
• 2 c. cooked chickpeas
• 1 c. dried apricots, slivered

Directions

1. Melt butter with oil over medium heat.
2. Add onion, garlic, and ras el hanout. Cook until onion has softened.
3. Add sweet potato, squash, and orange juice.
4. Bring to a boil, cover, reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer for 45 minutes, adding more liquid as necessary.
5. Add chickpeas and apricots, cover, and simmer for an additional 10-15 minutes.
6. Serve over couscous with condiment of choice. (I recommend chermoula, harissa, tamarind-date chutney, or cilantro-mint chutney.)

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Variations

Vegan

Ingredients

• 1/4 c. olive oil
• 2 onions, chopped
• 4 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 Tbsp. ras el hanout
• 2 c. cubed sweet potato
• 1 c. cubed squash¹
• 1/2 c. orange juice
• 2 c. cooked chickpeas
• 1 c. dried apricots, slivered

¹ I used a white swan squash for this. I'm sure butternut or delicata would also work well. The recipe also recommends turnip in place of squash. ^Back

Murghi Jardaloo (Apricot Chicken with Potato Straws)

This curry was okay, but I wasn't blown away by it. Given that there are so many spectacular curries available to either buy or make, I doubt we'll be revisiting this one. I'm including it here mostly for completeness (and in case anyone else has a different take on it and wants to try it out).

Murghi Jardaloo

Slightly adapted from 660 Curries

Ingredients

• 8-10 dried apricots
• 1/2 c. boiling water
• 2 Tbsp. ghee
• 1 onion, halved and sliced
• 2-3 Tbsp. ginger paste
• 4 cloves garlic, sliced
• 4 fresh Thai chiles, sliced (with seeds)
• 1 (1.5kg) chicken, skinned and cut into pieces
• 1 Tbsp. bin bhuna hua garam masala
• 1 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 1/4 c. white vinegar
• 2 Tbsp. chopped jaggery
• 2 c. potato sticks (either home-made or store bought)
• 2 Tbsp. fresh cilantro

Directions

1. Pour boiling water over apricots and set aside to soak.
2. Fry onion, ginger, garlic, and chiles in ghee over medium-high heat for about 5 minutes.
3. Add chicken, garam masala, and salt and lightly brown the meat.
4. Add apricots and their soaking water.
5. Add vinegar and jaggery and deglaze the pan.
6. Bring to a boil then reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer, turning chicken occasionally and basting with sauce for ~25 minutes (or until chicken is cooked through.
7. Transfer chicken to serving platter, pour sauce over top, top with potatoes, sprinkle with cilantro, and serve.

Basil-Apricot Chicken Salad

This was so good! Although I think it could've used even more basil. Still, very tasty and extremely easy! Thank you once again, Cook's Country.

Basil-Apricot Chicken Salad
Slightly adapted from Cook's Country August/September 2015
3/4 c. mayonnaise
2 Tbsp. lemon juice
1 Tbsp. Dijon mustard
1 shallot, minced
1/4-1/2 c. fresh basil, chopped
1/2 c. dried apricots, chopped
1/4 tsp. coarse sea salt
1/2 tsp. pepper
1 (900g) rotisserie chicken
1 head red or green leaf lettuce

1. Combine everything but chicken and lettuce in a large bowl.
2. Separate the skin and the bones from the meat of the chicken. Shred the meat and add it to the bowl. Stir to combine.
3. Put a few lettuce leaves on each plate. Spoon some of the chicken mixture onto the lettuce. Drizzle with a little olive oil if desired. (I didn't feel it needed the extra oil.)