Baked Chicken

1 onion, grated
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 lemon, juiced
120ml olive oil
2 tsp paprika
2 tsp tumeric
1 chicken, jointed
Salt and pepper to taste

Mix everything together, cover and marinade overnight in the fridge. Bake at 180 degrees centrigrade for 40 minutes or until cooked.

Lunch With My Sisters

I had my sisters over for lunch today. I made:
* Baked chicken
* Spinach and feta filo pie
* Rice
* Garlic Pitta Bread
* Greek salad
* Chocolate fondue

Really Nice Brussel Sprouts

1 large knob butter
1 onion, finely chopped
4 rashers bacon, roughly chopped
500g Brussel sprouts, sliced
1/2 ladel hot chicken stock
salt/pepper to taste

Melt the butter in a pan, add onions and fry over a medium heat until softened. Add bacon and continue frying. Add the brussel sprouts, stirring for a few minutes, add the chicken stock and season. Cover the pan and cook for a about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally until the sprouts are tender but not soggy, adding more stock if necessary to prevent sticking or burning.

I Love Fruit Curd!

I'm not a big fan of bread so I've been eating my curds with yoghurt.

Orange curd and Greek yoghurt:



Banoffee curd and Greek yoghurt:



Next time I see some cheap passion fruits in the market I'm going to get some to make passion fruit curd!

Banoffee Curd

4 ripe bananas
550g light brown sugar
125g butter
4 eggs

Mash the bananas into a large heatproof bowl (I pushed them through a sieve but I'm sure it would be okay if you didn't). Mix in the sugar. Place the bowl over a pan of simmering water. Add the butter until it's melted, mix in the eggs. Simmer until cooked, stirring regularly. Pot into sterilised jars.

Yields 4 jars.

I decided to try making banoffee curd because I love banoffee pie. The recipe called for dark brown sugar but I was worried it would be too strongly flavoured so I decided to use light brown sugar instead. It's quite sweet so next time I may try reducing the sugar. So far I've had it on toast (yum!) and I have some Greek yoghurt in the fridge which I'm sure it'll be delicious with.

Simple Lamb Stew

1 kg lamb shoulder, cut into slices or large cubes
2 tbsp oil
1 onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, chopped
1 can tomatoes
150ml red wine
2 tsp dried rosemary
gravy granules

Heat oil in a pan, brown the lamb in batches, transferring to a heatproof dish. Fry onions and garlic, when beginning to brown add red wine and bubble. Add tomatoes and rosemary, bring to the boil. Pour over the lamb. Add boiling water to cover lamb. Cover the dish, bake at 160 degrees centrigrade for 2 hours. Check halfway through to make sure it's not dried out. Remove from oven, stir in some gravy granules until you have a thick gravy.



I used bone in lamb but you can use boneless, if you prefer. I like bone in because the lamb stays in one big piece, whereas boneless tends to disintegrate.

Here I have served it with baked sweet potato and wilted spinach. It was perfect comfort food for a cold, winter evening. You can serve it with mash or with rice.

Tomato, Avocado and Olive Salad

1 handful baby spinach leaves
1/2 tomato, chopped into cubes
1 small avocado, peeled, chopped into cubes
Olives



The olives I used were a mix of green and black, they also had some peppers, garlic slices and capers mixed in. As the olives were in olive oil I didn't bother to add dressing to the salad. I served it with Honey Mustard Chicken.