Spicy Sausages with Harissa & Couscous

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Wow! It’s been such a busy week I didn’t even do my usual Friday round-up. Nevermind… there’s always next Friday.

I’ve been making this sausage and couscous dish for years now, and every time I make it I think I should make it more often. That qualifies it to be put on this blog.

It has such interesting flavours – spicy sausages, lemon, sweet red capsicum, raisins, plus the warm spiciness of harissa paste. You can try making it with different blends of harissa paste and different sausages until you find your perfect combination. I was having a super-healthy week when I made this (read: I was trying to make up for recent over-indulgence), so used the extremely low fat but delicious sausages from The Mad Butcher, but it really is amazing when made with decent gourmet spicy sausages.

Best of all, it takes less than half an hour to make, so is great for weeknights – and if you get fancy sausages, it is very acceptable to serve to guests. If you choose one new recipe to try this month, make it this one!

It’s another winning recipe from my Home Food recipe book – a bargain bin find that has proven to be possibly the best $10 I ever spent at Paper Plus (see also recipes from the same series for Strawberry Mascarpone Slice and Fig, Date & Chocolate Bars).

Spicy Sausages with Harissa & Couscous
Adapted from Home Food 

1½ cups couscous
2 tsp harissa paste, or more to taste (why not make your own?)
2 Tbsp olive oil
2 Tbsp lemon juice
1½ Tbsp finely grated lemon zest
2 Tbsp Italian parsley, chopped
1 chargrilled red capsicum, skinned and thinly sliced (or buy some from the deli)
1/3 cup raisins
enough sausages for four people – I used two each standard size
thick unsweetened yoghurt, to serve

Preheat the grill to high heat for the sausages (you can do them under the grill in the oven, or in a hot pan on the stove top).

Put the couscous in a heatproof bowl, and pour over 1½ cups boiling water. Whack a plate or lid on top, and set aside for 5 minutes.

In another little jug or bowl, mix together the harissa paste, olive oil, lemon juice and zest until well mixed. Add the parsley, capsicum and raisins and set aside to marinate.

Meanwhile, start cooking your sausages – they’ll probably take 8-10 minutes – turn them during cooking so they brown on all sides, and make sure they cook through.

Once the couscous is done, fluff it up with a fork, then stir in the harissa mixture. Place this in serving dishes. Slice the cooked sausages diagonally and scatter on top of the couscous. Serve with a large dollop of yoghurt.

Beautiful!

Bircher Muesli

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Are you a breakfast eater?

I definitely need breakfast every day. I know some people can’t face it, but I flake by about 10am if I haven’t had something filling and delicious. I like muesli or porridge during the week, but a change at the weekend is welcome. I made this bircher muesli a while ago. If you spend a few minutes preparing this breakfast the night before, you don’t have to do anything in the morning… and you’ll feel like you landed a café brunch. And it’s way healthier than what most cafés would serve you.

Fruity Bircher Muesli
Serves 2

¾ cup wholegrain rolled oats (or instant porridge-type ones are fine too)
2 Tbsp pumpkin or sunflower seeds
2-3 Tbsp chopped almonds, skin on or blanched, toasted if you can
1 small apple, unpeeled and grated
¼-½ cup chopped dried fruit (apricots, craisins, dates, prunes, raisins, whatever you like)
½-1 cup low fat yoghurt *
fresh fruit and extra yoghurt, to serve

*how much yoghurt you need will depend on how thick your yoghurt is, and what consistency muesli you like. If your yoghurt is extra thick, try thinning it with water to buttermilk consistency. If it’s quite runny, go with a full cup.

Mix everything (well, except the extras for serving) together, pour into ramekins or serving dishes, and chill overnight. In the morning, just make the coffee, dollop the extra yoghurt and fresh fruit over the muesli, and serve.

Vintage Cooking: Chinese Chews

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When I was at primary school, I would often fill an afternoon baking something with my mum or a friend who had come over (remember, Louise?). But what to bake? We would pull out all the recipe books and pore over the baking sections. We made shortlists. We made shortlists of the shortlists. I think we spent more time choosing than we did baking.

I always, always came to rest on Chinese Chews. But for some reason, another recipe always won out. It may be because we didn’t often have walnuts, dates or crystallised ginger (or all three) in the house. It may be because the tried and true chocolate cake in Alison Holst’s “What’s Cooking” was too tempting. For whatever reason, I’ve wanted to make these for nearly 20 years.

I don’t know what I expected them to be – that’s half the fun of recipe books with no photos, you have no pre-conceived idea of what they should be or look like. Turns out their like a chewy, short cross between a cake and a slice. Sort of like a brownie but much lighter and   not made with chocolate.

They’re not actually a family recipe, as most of my vintage cooking posts. These are from the Edmonds cookbook that almost everyone has. They’re a lovely wee weekend bake. As with many of these old recipes, what makes these “Chinese”? No idea.  Could be the inclusion of exotic ingredients such as dates and ginger?

Chinese Chews
from Edmonds Cookery Book

2 eggs
1 cup brown sugar
75g butter, melted
1 tsp vanilla
1½ cups plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
pinch salt
½ cup rolled oats
¾ cup chopped dates
¾ cup chopped walnuts
¾ cup crystallised ginger

Preheat the oven to 180°(C). Line a 23cm square cake tin (or I used a brownie pan).

Beat eggs and sugar until well mixed. Add butter and vanilla. Into a large bowl sift flour, baking powder and salt. Stir in rolled oats. Pour egg mixture into the sifted dry ingredients. Add dates, walnuts and ginger. Mix well. Spread mixture into prepared tin. Bake for 30-35 minutes, or until cooked. Cut into squares while still hot.

Friday’s Favourite Five

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Friday once again, yusssssssssssssss. I’ve been drooling over all sorts of sweet treats this week… and that reminds me, if you’re a blogger, make sure to enter Sweet NZ this month!

David Lebovitz - Chocolate-Prune Cake. This looks gorgeous – and I think the inclusion of prunes makes for a very sophisticated cake.

After Taste – Lemon Biscuit Slice. This one is a classic!

Couscous & Consciousness – Baked Figs with Walnut Tarragon Cream & Rocket Salad. Gorgeous title right? I wish I had access to figs that didn’t burn a hole in my wallet…

Cupcakes & Cashmere – Strawberry Tart. Summer seems a long, long way away. But save this recipe up in the meantime. Such a perfect-looking tart!

Made By Mike – Peanut Butter – Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies. This is a new-to-me blog. These cookies just scream American-ness and I’d like to make them. Just cos.

Have a great weekend everyone! I wish the food show was on for a second week in Wellington. So, so, so much tasting. And the infomercial people talked me into buying a steam mop and some shammies. I think I might use the steam mop, and I better find a use for the shammies before I eat my own conscience.

I like to think I’m a reasonable, skeptical, analytical kind of person who scoffs at infomercials on TV. How did they do this to me???

Please, please, somebody post a comment on how awesome steam mops and/or shammies are.

Red Prawn & Mango Curry

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I bought myself Nigella Express from Cook the Books on a weekend jaunt to Auckland last year. I haven’t made loads from it yet, but as is my usual experience with Nigella Lawson’s recipes, every one that I’ve tried has been delicious.

This is a really easy little curry that cooks up quickly and is super tasty, plus it’s pretty healthy so ticks all my boxes. I’ve adapted the recipe below to allow for ingredients more available in New Zealand and picked the healthy substitutes where possible. Fingers crossed Nigella doesn’t mind my sharing it with you. If you like it, I recommend you pick one of her beautiful books up!

Red Prawn & Mango Curry
Serves 2
Adapted from Nigella Express

1 Tbsp canola oil (or if you prefer, a spritz of cooking oil spray)
1 spring onion, finely sliced
1-2 Tbsp red Thai curry paste, to taste
200ml light coconut milk
1 cup reduced-salt chicken stock
2 tsp fish sauce
350g kumara or pumpkin*
200g frozen prawns, thawed
1 tsp lime juice
150g mango cubes**
3-4 Tbsp chopped fresh coriander
rice or noodles, to serve

* I used pumpkin, and I think I zapped it in the microwave for a couple of minutes before starting the curry to speed the process up.
**I used a fresh mango, but I think (drained) canned mango would also work

Heat the oil in a wok or large frying pan, and fry the sliced spring onion for a minute, then add the curry paste. Whisk in the coconut milk, chicken stock and fish sauce, and bring to the boil. Tip in the pumpkin or kumara (possibly microwaved, as per above). Simmer, partially covered, for about 15 minutes, or until tender.

Drain the prawns and run them under the cold tap if you need to get any last bits of ice off. Add them to the pan, letting the sauce come back to the boil. When it does, add the lime juice and mango and cook for another minute or two, until the prawns are cooked through.

Serve over noodles or rice and sprinkle with chopped coriander.

Low(er) Fat Gingerbread

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Baking is perhaps my favourite way to spend a Sunday afternoon, specially in autumn and winter. I love being able to take my time mixing, baking, filling, icing, decorating. And full baking tins somehow make starting the working week a little bit easier.

I made this gingerbread a few Sundays ago. It didn’t turn out quite as dark as I’d like (I’m still thinking about this black, sticky gingerbread from 101 Cookbooks), but the recipe is definitely a keeper. The demerara sugar gives it a kind of crunchier texture than plain old white or brown sugar, and the ginger sprinkled on top makes for a delicious crusty edge.

I lowered the fat in it by replacing butter with fruit purée and low-fat spread. It’s still high really in sugar, so you couldn’t call it exactly healthy… but it is better than a lot of gingerbread recipes out there. I baked it as a cake, but I’m also thinking about halving the recipe and making it into a loaf.

I recommend it for a grey weekend afternoon. By the way, if Mother’s Day slipped past you this year, it’s not too late! You can make this for an afternoon tea for your mum ;)

Low(er) Fat Gingerbread
Loosely based on a recipe in Food magazine

3½ cups flour
1 Tbsp ground ginger
½ tsp cinnamon
½ tsp mixed spice
1 Tbsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1¼ cups demerara sugar
75g low fat table spread
½ cup treacle
½ cup golden syrup
100g fruit purée*
½ cup milk
2 eggs, lightly beaten
¼-½ cup crystallised ginger, finely sliced

*either bought apple sauce or pie filling, or I suggest homemade apple purée. You could also try mashed banana.

Preheat the oven to 180°(C). Line the base and sides of a square or round tin – I made this one in a 20cm square tin, but this cake was probably too big for it. I’m planning on using my 23cm round springform next time.

Sift the flour, ground ginger, spices, baking powder, baking soda and salt together. Stir in the sugar and make a well in the centre.

Microwave the spread gently until it has JUST melted (it’s fine if there are still a couple of lumps of unmeltedness), and stir in the treacle and golden syrup. Stir in the fruit purée too. Beat in the milk and eggs. Pour into the dry ingredients and stir to make a smooth batter. Pour it into the prepared cake tin and sprinkle the crystallised ginger over the top.

Bake for about 70 minutes, until a skewer comes out clean. Leave it in the tin for 20 minutes before turning on to a rack to cool.

Friday’s Favourite Five

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After my slightly morbid post on Wednesday I thought I should bring you something cheery to brighten the mood.

Firstly, it’s Friday! That means only a few hours until wine time and the weekend. And the Food Show’s on in Wellington this weekend; even better. I’m planning in earnest this year, last year I couldn’t carry all my things back to the car. I’m thinking that a backpack, although geeky, will be the way forward this time. Maybe I’ll see you there?

Secondly, I have found some excellent posts from various blogs for you. How about:

101 Cookbooks – Rhubarb & Rosewater Syrup – Rhubarb from my market is pretty good at the moment. I’ve been stewing it with brown sugar to have on porridge at the weekends, and I had a rhubarb fool in mind for this weekend. Might pick up an extra bunch to make this syrup, what do you think?

Something Else to Eat – Lazy-Cook Dinner for One – I think this meal looks such a nice little dinner, as Anne puts it. I find pork kind of dry on its own, but love it with apricots. Winner!

Sweetapolita - La La Lavender & Lemon Cloud Cupcakes – this is a bit la la, but these cupcakes are really cute. And I love the lavender and lemon colour combination. Could be a good mother’s day present if you haven’t already got that sorted!

Two Spoons – Clean out your nutella jar, and have your hazelnut hot chocolate too – cute idea from Zo! And you can spot her in Taste magazine this month too!

Raspberri Cupcakes – Tim Tam Cake – I came across this via Cake Girl Abroad, so some credit should go there, too! This looks truly incredible. Great idea and brilliant execution!

Have a lovely weekend, hope the weather is good wherever you are!