Kale and White Bean Ragout

Kale is in abundance in the garden at the moment. We largely treat it the same as silverbeet and have a great recipe for a bacon and kale pasta (bacon, the great flavour enhancer).

This is based on a recipe from a book by an American chef called Emeril Lagasse. It's very hearty and a great use of the earthy flavoured kale. Tastes even better the next day too.




Kale and White Bean Ragout:

1 bay leaf
2 cloves of garlic, roughly chopped
1 small red onion
1 bunch kale
1 tin cannellini beans
1 400g tin of tomatoes
1/2 cup chicken stock
Olive oil
Salt and Pepper

Heat 2 tbs of olive oil in a large saucepan. Fry the garlic, red onion and add the bay leaf. Cook until the garlic and onion start to change colour, then add the kale and cook for 3-4 minutes. Add the tined beans and tomatoes, together with the stock.
Cover and cook until the kale is wilted and cooked through (about 15 minutes). 
Season with salt and pepper.
Drizzle with a little extra virgin olive oil and serve immediately.

Gingerbread biscuits

These are extremely simple and like all Bill Granger recipes we have tried they are delicious. Bill calls them Iced Jumbles, but we'll just call them Gingerbread Biscuits. We followed Bill's recipe but also added 1/4 teaspoon of freshly ground cloves and extra ground ginger- genius!

Cooking with a 2 year old takes a lot of patience and a fair amount of acceptance that things are going to get damn messy. And that things might not turn out quite like Bill's perfect looking little biscuits.

We made these for a picnic a few weeks ago- they were a real hit!



Gingerbread Biscuits:

60g unsalted butter
160mL golden syrup
2 cups plain flour
1 tsp bicarb soda
1 tsp mixed spice
1/4 tsp ground cloves
2 tsp ground ginger

Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius and line two baking trays with baking paper. In a saucepan heat the butter and golden syrup over medium heat until the butter is melted, then bring to the boil and remove from the heat. Leave to cool for 15 minutes.

Sift the flour with the bicarb soda and spices. Stir in the butter mixture.

Divide the dough into 4 pieces and roll into logs that are approx 2cm thick. Cut into 5cm pieces and place on the baking tray. Cook in the oven for 10 minutes or until light golden. Ice when cooled.

Royal Icing:
1 egg white, lightly beaten
2 cups icing sugar
2 tsp lemon juice
Few drops food colouring

Stir together the egg white and icing sugar until smooth. Add the lemon juice (you might not need the full 2 tsp- adjust to runniness of the mixture). Add a few drops of food colouring.

We also made an eggless version of the royal icing. It sets hard and is a good substitute.

Egg-free Royal Icing:
2 cups icing sugar
2 tsp light corn syrup
1 tsp lemon juice
Food colouring
Mix all ingredients together!

Mustard Cabbage Pickles

We have some very sweet and delicious white cabbages in the garden right now. After 3 weeks straight of eating coleslaw, we looked for more creative ways to utilise this resource. We went to our old faithful, Maggie Beer, and found a recipe for pickled cabbages. It's nice to get back into preserving- we haven't had much to pickle over winter!

This tastes very much like the corn relish we made last summer (they seem to have most of the same ingredients except for corn and cabbage!)  It can be served with cold meats, on sandwiches or on a cheese platter!

Mustard Cabbage Pickles:

 


1 small cabbage (about 1kg)
3 onions, sliced
2 red and 2 green capsicums, chopped
1/4 cup salt
2 cups white wine vinegar
1 cup brown sugar
2 cups white sugar
1 TBS mustard powder
1 tsp ground tumeric
1 tsp ground ginger
3 TBS cornflour
1 TBS celery seeds
1 TBS yellow mustard seeds

Shred the cabbage and combine in a large bowl with the onions and capsicums. Add the salt and mix through. Cover and leave overnight to draw out the moisture.

The next day, rinse in a colander and wash out all the salt. Meanwhile, add the vinegar, brown and wihte sugar in a large saucepan. Stir until the sugar dissolves , then bring to the boil and add the vegetables.
Reduce heat and simmer for 5-10 minutes until the cabbage is soft.

Mix the mustard, tumeric, ginger and flour with 125mL water to make a smooth paste. Stir into the vegetable mixture and stir until the mixture thickens. Add the celery and mustard seeds then pour into sterilised jars. Boil jars in a large pot of water for 5 minutes to seal then remove and cool.

Pasta with broccoli

We spent a wintery afternoon with a good friend whipping up some delicious hand made pasta- these tasty orecchiette. They are rolled by hand and the ear shape is made with your thumb. Here's a link to a recipe for the pasta and instructions...

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Orecchiette-with-Chickpeas-242012

Rustic looking, so everyone knows you made it yourself!

To make a simple and delicious broccoli "sauce" to go with your amazing handmade pasta (or your shop bought pasta!)
Orecchiette with broccoli:

Our super fresh looking home grown broccoli

Broccoli (1 large head or 2-3 smaller bunches) include the stems and cut into small pieces
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped.
2 red chillies, finely chopped.
3 anchovy fillets
Finely grated rind from one lemon
1 cup of coarse bread crumbs, make from crusty bread
Pecorino cheese
Olive oil

Boil a large pot of salted water. Add the broccoli stems (which need longer to cook), then add the florets after a few minutes. When cooked remove from the water. You can use this pot of water to cook your pasta in.

In a seperate pan, fry the breadcrumbs in 2 tablespoons of olive oil until golden. Remove from the pan. Add more oil then add the garlic, chillies and crushed up anchovy fillets (which really just add a delicious saltiness). Add the drained broccoli pieces, then add the lemon rind.  Remove from the heat.

When the pasta is cooked, drain and add to the broccoli. Stir through a generous amount of pecorino cheese and add a drizzle of olive oil and pepper.

Melbourne Late Winter Garden

Another rainy Melbourne winter is almost at an end, the bulbs are in full bloom, the buds of the stone fruit are about to burst into colour and I am finally picking some winter vegies!!

We also  put in a little fairy garden for our daughter, which she is just loving.

The snow peas this winter year have been a winner. We are picking handfuls on a daily basis and they get consumed before we even get a chance to cook them. Our little one just points at them demanding that we get her "pea, pea". 

I put in a Japanese variety this year called Yukomo (Giant Snow Pea) along our fence line. This is the largest of all the snow pea varieties i have grown and they produce a beautiful purple flower. Both tasty and ornamental but be warned, you need to have a high trestle (my peas this year grew over 2 1/2 meters high) and you will need to tie them up, to protect from any winter winds. Worth it to see the fam enjoy them !

The broccoli I usually grow is an Italian variety called De Cicco, which I find has the sweetest flavour- a favourite of mine and a surprise to our dinner guests. Once we pick the main head, the side shoots then produce for a good 4 months later (what some people call broccolini).

Here are some photos just as the broccoli was forming a few weeks back;

We will shortly post a yummy home made broccoli pasta recipe, made with a friend of ours on yet another rainy day.

The winter greens have also taken off and we have picked some chinese Kale to use in stir fries. There's also cos lettuce and plenty of raddichio and Florence fennel salads. I just love the deep red colour of the raddichio (above) we grow. I an not sure of the variety as I got the seeds off my grandfather. 

We also grow a large Mustard Giant Red (mustard green)- not to eat it as it's way too spicy (like eating raw horseradish) but can be used to spice up salads. We have used it in a potato salad. But it is just beautiful over winter and so fast growing, easy to grow and self sows in abundance (beware!).

Homemade Pumpkin Ravioli with Currants and Pine Nuts

We have cheated here and used wonton wrappers from our local Asian grocery store instead of making our own pasta. It's a more than capable substitute.
The filling is made from roast pumpkin, and we served the ravioli with a buttery raisin and pine nut sauce.

Ravioli:
2 cups pumpkin
100g feta
1 egg, beaten
Packet of wonton wrappers
Fresh herbs (e.g. oregano, chives)

To make the ravioli, roast the pumpkin on a tray with a light drizzle of olive oil in a moderate oven until tender (don't let the pumpkin brown too much).
Mash the pumpkin and leave to cool. Finely crumble to feta and combine with the pumpkin. Season with pepper (we didn't add salt because of the feta). Add your fresh herbs.
Fill the wonton wrappers with 1/2tsp of filling. Brush the edges with a little beaten egg then pinch together to seal.
Cook the ravioli in a large pot of boiling water in batches. Boil for 4-5 minutes and gently remove with a slotted spoon and drain well.

To make the butter sauce:
Roast 1/4 cup of pine nuts in a large heavy based saucepan until the start to change colour, then remove them. Add 100g butter to the saucepan and fry until butter turns brown. Return the pine nuts and add 1/4 raisins to the butter. Spoon over the ravioli and eat whilst hot.

Beetroot, Orange and Feta Salad

Time to get cooking again after the winter hiatus, which was largely dominated by colds and flus and a memorable trip to Bairnsdale!

A few weeks ago we cooked up this delicious beetroot, orange and feta salad. We initially made it with lemons and limes and without the addition of the yoghurt-feta dressing. We found it a bit sour for our liking. We add feta to just about anything (probably because we buy it in 1kg buckets and we love salt). The end result is a fresh, earthy salad with Middle Eastern flavours.

1 bunch baby beetroots
1 clove garlic, finely crushed
Juice of 1 lemon
1/4 cup olive oil
1 cup rocket leaves
1/2 orange
1/2 lemon
100g feta
1 cup thick yoghurt

Roast beetroots in a medium oven for about 30 minutes until they are tender  (wrap them in foil first).

Whilst beetroot are cooking whisk garlic, lemon juice and olive oil to make a dressing. When beetroot are cooled enough to handle peel them, cut into large wedges and add to the dressing. Season well with salt and pepper.

Peel the citrus fruits and remove all membranes. Using a sharp knife carefully segment the fruit.

Mash the feta and whip it into the yogurt to make a thick dressing.

Arrange the rocket, beetroot and citrus fruits on a plate. Drizzle with the yoghurt dressing.

Broccoli and Cheddar Soup

The inspiration behind this soup came from a restuarant we ate at last weekend. We didn't even eat the soup there- it was just on the specials board. But I have been thinking about the soup all week (yep, life is pretty exciting for us).
The final product didn't disappoint. Creamy, rich and tasty, but you definately need lots of bitey cheddar cheese to add lots of flavour.


Broccoli and Cheddar Soup:
6 tbs butter
3 tbs plain flour
1/2 cup cream
1/2 cup milk
4 heads of broccoli (stems and florets seperated)
1 onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
 6 cups chicken stock
2 cups of grated strong cheddar cheese

 Chop the broccoli stems into bite size pieces.
In half the butter fry the onion and broccoli stems for 4-5 minutes.
Add the garlic and fry for a further 2-3 minutes.
Add the chicken stock and boil until the stems are tender (about 15 minutes).
Meanwhile, melt the remaining butter and add it to the plain flour to make a thick paste.
Add the cream, milk and butter/flour paste into the soup, whisking to combine.
Add the broccoli florets (these are added now so they don't overcook and lose their colour).
Cook until tender (another 5-10 minutes).
Blend together either in a food processor or using a sick blender.
Add the cheddar cheese and stir to combine whilst still hot.

Walnut and Parsley Pesto

This is an autumn/ winter version of pesto and a little less full on in flavour than your usual basil and pine nut combination.

It also helped make a small dent in our parsley forest! This recipe actually makes about 2 cups of pesto, but it can be frozen by putting any unused portion into an ice cube tray and covering with cling wrap before putting in the freezer.

There are various versions around of the same thing- some with lemon rind, with or without garlic and cheese. Here's our version:

1 cup shelled walnuts
2 cups fresh parsley
1-2 cloves of garlic
100g pecorino cheese
Olive oil

Put all ingredients into a blender or food processor and add enough olive oil to achieve a wet consistency.

Chocolate and Almond Cake

This is a great simple chocolate cake, but the secret lies in the texture. The chocolate is processed to fine chunks, and leaves the cake really moist but also nice and chewy. 
We also ground our own almonds to make the almond meal, adding extra crunch.

Chocolate and Almond Cake:

200g unsalted butter
200g dark cooking chocolate
4 eggs, seperated
170g caster sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
250g ground almonds (almond meal)

Preheat oven to 170 degrees. Grease and line a 24cm baking pan with non stick paper.
Melt butter and set aside to cool.
Process the chocolate in a food processor until finely chopped but still retaining a little texture.
Place egg yolks, sugar and vanilla extract in a bowl and beat until thick and creamy.
Fold in the chocolate, butter and almond meal.
In a separate bowl beat the egg whites until soft peaks form.
Gently fold in the chocolate mixture. Spoon into the prepared pan and smooth over the top.
Bake for 50- 60 minutes, or until just firm to the touch.
Leave to cool in the pan then serve dusted with cocoa.

Cauliflower Soup

Cream of anything soup sounds pretty daggy- like something that should come out of a packet.

This is a very simple and quick recipe and a great way to use up one of our favourite vegetables.  When we tried to get our daughter to taste the "cauliflower" recently she tried to sniff it, as if it were a flower. I thought this was very abstract of her! Unfortunately, she still refuses to eat any.

Cream of Cauliflower Soup:

25g Butter
1 1/2 tbs olive oil
2 brown onions, finely chopped
1/2 head of cauliflower, chopped
1 1/2 cups chicken stock
1 cup full cream milk
1/4 cup cream

Melt butter and olive oil together. Add the onions and cook gently for 2 minutes (don't let them brown up). Add the cauliflowe and fry for a further couple of minutes.

Add the stock and milk and bring to the boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 15 minutes. Puree the mixture in a blender or with a stick blender. Return to the pot and add the cream. Season with salt and pepper.

We added some crusty garlic bread to satisfy our carb cravings.

Poached Quinces

It is a tragedy that we have gotten to the 2nd last day of Autumn before posting this! Quinces have such a unique taste but are only in the shops for a short time of the year. Last year our neighbours dropped off 2 large bags of quinces from their trees, which we used to make quince paste. It seems this year they have acquired a taste for them, because they dropped off no bags.


To make poached quinces (use about 4-6 medium sized quinces):

Peel and core the quinces. Keep the peel and offcuts with the seeds- place these in a kitchen chux and tie it up with string.

Quarter the qinces and place in a large pot. Cover with water and add about 1 cup of sugar.

Add a stick of cinnamon and 6 whole cloves. Add the chux with the seeds and peel to the water too.

Simmer at very low heat for a very long time. Cooking the quinces very slowly and the inclusion of the peel and seeds helps the quince change colour from yellow to a deep golden red colour. We cooked ours over about 3 hours at a very gentle heat, stirring occasionally.

Serve with some syrup and custard!

Dried Apples

Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall had this to say about Autumn apples: "There are culinary compensations for cooler days and darker evenings, not least the abundance of apples and pears. Raw but ripe, they beg to be munched, sucked, crunched and slurped. And when we've had our fill of the naked fruit, baked, poached, puréed and sautéed. And there's always time to toss some into a pie or crumble."

The pink lady apples we have picked from our own tree are not only sweeter than those bland  apples that can be bought all year round, but they have the most amazing crunch!

We have made quite a few apples dishes this Autumn. These dried apples are always a good way to use up excess. We now dry them in the oven, because when we tried baking them in the sun our daughter found the trays and took a bite out of every single one.

To dry the apples, wash and clean them well. You can peel them if you like (we didn't).

Core them and slice into thin rings (best thickness is about 3-5mm).

Cover a baking tray with al-foil and lay out the apple. Place in a pre-heated oven at 100 degrees Celsius.

Cook for an hour, then leave to cool in the oven overnight. If they are not dried enough repeat this process the following day (and again the following day).

They are supposed to last quite a few weeks in an airtight container, but they are always gone within a few days in our house, so we can't verify this!

Sri Lankan Pumpkin and Cashew Curry

Pumpkins are insanely cheap and great at the moment. We used one of our home grown butternut pumpkins, which was probably picked a bit early, as it wasn't as sweet as we would've liked. We have a similar recipe for a broad bean curry, and you could probably subsitute just about any vegetable you like.

Sri Lankan Pumpkin and Cashew Curry:

450g pumpkin

1 small onion, finely chopped

2 garlic cloves, finely chopped

3 green chillies (deseeded and finely chopped)

½ cup raw cashews

8 curry leaves

½ tsp fenugreek seeks

½ tsp turmeric

350mL can coconut milk

1 tsp salt1 tsp black mustard seeds

Squeeze of lemon juice

Cut the pumpkin flesh into 2.5cm cubes and place in a large saucepan with all the remaining ingredients except the lemon and mustard seeds.

Bring to the boil then simmer gently for about 15 minutes, until the pumpkin is just tender.

Grind the mustard seeds in a mortar then mix into the curry. Simmer for a further 5 minutes. Add a squeeze of lemon juice just prior to serving.

Jerusalem Artichoke Soup

The flowers and stems on the Jeresalem artichokes have now died off, which means the crazy potato-like/ artichoke like vegetable is ready to pick and eat.

They look like this after you pull them out of the ground and you just have to scrub the skin to clean them.

We cooked up this lovely Jerusalem Artichoke Soup with Horseradish Quenelles. It's from a cookbook of ours called Saturday and Sundays which is full of beautiful recipes and pretentious ways to enjoy them (e.g. light supper after the opera, slow brunch whilst sailing). It was suggested you might enjoy this soup as a supper with a game of backgammon! But beware the impact of a huge amount of jerusalem artichokes on your belly!

The quenelles are a bit involved, but are a nice addition to the soup.

Jerusalem Artichoke Soup with Horseradish Quenelles:

For the quenelles:
2 egg yolks
1 tbs of melted butter 
1/4 cup creamed cottage cheese
1 tbs horseradish sauce
1/4 cup fresh white breadcrumbs
finely grated rind of 1/2 lemon
1/4 cup chopped chives

For the soup:
500g Jerusalem artichokes scrubbed
1/4 cup lemon juice
1 tsp salt
300mL cream
1 tbs butter
4 tomatoes, peeled and chopped
1 clove of garlic
Parsley to garnish

Slice the artichokes thickly and add to a saucepan with the lemon juice, salt and enough cold water just to cover. Bring to the boil and simmer until tender (15-20 minutes). Drain and cool.
Meanwhile, melt the butter in a saucepan- add the tomato and garlic and cook gently until the tomato has broken up. Puree with the artichokes and cream. Add extra boiling water if the texture is too thick.


To make the quenelles, whisk the egg yolks with melted butter until frothy; stir in remaining ingredients. 
Heat 5cm water until simmering in a deep frypan. Shape quenelle mixture using 2 tablespoons and gently lower into the water. Cook for about 10 minutes.

Serve soup with cooked quenelles and garnish with parsley.

Spicy Pork Noodles with Cucumber

This is like an Asian spaghetti bolognaise. We discovered a dish similar to this at China Bar, and used to eat there just for this. Then we found 2 recipes that I have copied into my recipe book. Every time we make it we can't remember exactly which recipe we used last time, so the end result is always slightly different.

Here's one recipe (hopefully the best one!)
 

Sauce:

2 TBS brown bean sauce

1 TBS Hoisin Sauce

1 TBS Shaoxing wine

1 ½ cups chicken stock

Pork:

80mL vegetable oil

5 spring onions chopped (green and white parts separated)

2 cloves of garlic

300g minced pork

500g fresh noodles

1 Lebanese cucumber, julienned

Mix all sauce ingredients together.

Fry the onion (whites) and garlic in oil for 30 seconds, then add the minced pork. Fry until brown.

Add the sauce mixture. Simmer for 5-10 minutes until the sauce thickens. 

Season to taste with 1-2 tsp white sugar.

Cook the noodles in boiling water according to the packet instructions. 

Just before serving stir through the green parts of the spring onions and serve over noodles with cucumber.  

Japanese Pancakes

These used to be our food court staple, until we realised they were so easy to make at home. The secret is buying okonomiyaki sauce, which can be easily found at your nearest Asian grocery store.

To be honest, this is probably not quite the most authentic version of okonomiyaki, but when you drizzle anything in that mayonaise and sauce, it's close enough for us!

1/2 cabbage shredded

1 carrot shredded

2 zucchinis shredded

1 green onion shredded

1 egg

¾ cup of water

1 cup flour

Mayonnaise

Okonomiyaki sauce

Add shredded vegetables to flour, egg and water. Shallow fry in vegetable oil and serve with the mayonnaise and sauce.

Orange and almond cake

We found this recipe online whilst looking for gluten free desserts. We have a few kilos of fresh almonds to get through, so spent an afternoon shelling nuts and cooking this up for our gluten free friend!

The use of the whole oranges sounds bizaare (like 80's microwave cake recipes), but gives the cake a deep orange flavour. And because we ground up our own almonds the cake had a crunchier texture than processed almond meal (like poppy seeds but no need to spend the next few hours picking them out of your teeth!!!)

2 oranges, scrubbed and roughly chopped (with skin)

5 eggs, separated

200 g caster sugar

225 g ground almonds

sifted icing sugar 

Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Grease and line a 23cm springform tin.

Cut oranges into quarters, remove pips and place in a saucepan with 2 tablespoons of water. Place over low heat, cover and cook for 30 minutes until the orange is soft.

Once cooked, puree the orange into a smooth paste (e.g. food processor).

Separate the eggs and whisk the whites until stiff peaks form, then add half the caster sugar- whisk for a further minute. In a separate bowl, whisk the yolks with the remaining sugar until thick and creamy (about 2-3 minutes).

Whisk the orange mixture and ground almonds into the yolk mixture. The gently fold the egg whites in, using a large metal spoon. Place in the prepared tin and cook for 50 -55 minutes.

Leave to cool in the tin.

Serve dusted with icing sugar.

Fennel Seed Biscuits

These are quick and easy to make and thanks to their high salt content, they're extremely addictive! They are slightly sweet and can be served with a cheese platter, although mostly ours get eaten whenever we walk past them.

If you don't like fennel flavour I made a batch of them this week with dried rosemary which was equally delicious!

Fennel Seed and Marsala Rings:

3 cups plain flour

¼ cup caster sugar

1 ½ tablespoon baking powder

1 tablespoon fennel seeds

1 teaspoon sea salt flakes

1/3 cup sweet marsala

½ cup extra virgin olive oil

1 egg yolk

Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Lightly grease a baking tray.

Combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, fennel seeds and sea salt in a bowl.

Combine the marsala, olive oil and 1/3 cup water in a bowl and whisk to combine. Add to the dry ingredients and stir until a dough forms.

Turn the dough out onto a clean surface. Roll into 10cm long logs and form each log into a ring. Place on the prepared tray.

To make a glaze, combine the egg yolk with a tablespoon of water. Brush the rings with the glaze and bake for 20 minutes. 

After 20 minutes reduce the temperature to 150 degrees and bake for another 15-20 minutes. Cool on a wire rack.

Tagine Week: Algerian Okra and Potato Tagine

We have to credit this amazing recipe find to Travis and Yvette- who have been insisting that this would change the way we saw okra.

I had a hard time convincing Frank to try it. Our last attempt to cook up okra was fairly bland and revoltingly slimy! But we have seen the light- okra is amazing. I thought we were onto something when I spotted an elderly woman stealing Okra from Coles a couple of weeks ago. If it's worth stealing then there must be something we've been missing.

So, many thanks to Travis and Yvette for steering us in the right direction (and for the Algerian spice mix and preserved lemons).  Soaking the okra helps with the texture and this combination of flavours was so unusual but very refreshing. We'll definately cook this over and over again.

Here's the link to the recipe:

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/16/health/nutrition/16recipehealth.html

Tagine week: Eggplant and Pumpkin Tagine with green chillies

Now that the evenings are much cooler, we have dusted off the tagine and gone a little overboard with it.

This is a hearty vegetarian tagine, prompted by our pile of delicious butternut pumpkins and late season eggplants and zucchinis (although of course we used tromboncino).  This is a bit of a staple recipe in our house whenever we have too much of any of these vegies (usually this time of year).

Eggplant and Pumpkin Tagine with Whole Green Chillies
 

Sauce:

100ml olive oil

2 large onions, finely diced

3 cloves garlic, crushed

1 heaped TBS coriander seeds

1 heaped TBS cumin seeds

1 heaped TBS caraway seeds

1  TSP ground allspice

2 TSP sweet paprika

1 TSP chilli powder

1 TSP ginger powder

2 x 400g tins chopped tomatoes

6 long green chillies

1 TBS honey

600ml water

Vegetables:

1 kg pumpkin diced

2 small eggplants

2 small zucchini

100mL olive oil

150g cooked chickpeas

100g black olives

Greek yoghurt (to serve)

Use a mortar and pestle to grind coriander, cumin and caraway seeds to a fine powder. Sieve to remove husks. Mix with other remaining spices.

Heat oil in frying pan, sauté the onions and add the garlic- fry until browned. Add the spice mixture to the frying pan and cook for a further 2 minutes.

Add tomatoes, chilli, honey and water and bring to the boil. Lower the heat and simmer uncovered for 45 minutes.

Preheat oven to 200 degrees Celsius.

Bake the pumpkin in the oven for 15 minutes.

Cut the eggplant and zucchini into medium sized chunks. Salt and leave for 20 minutes. Wipe off excess water and sauté in olive oil in batches.

Add all the vegetables, chickpeas and olives to the tomato sauce. Add more water if the sauce is too thick. Bring sauce to the boil, season with salt and pepper. Serve with couscous and plenty of thick Greek yoghurt.