THAI SPICY PRAWNS from the Travelling Hat Recipe Book

Serves 2-3

16-18 medium-size green prawns, shelled but leaving tails

3 medium cubes garlic

1 tps sambal paste

Black pepper and salt to taste

Coconut milk

Lemon

Thai fish oil/Nom pla

½ tin of chopped tomatoes

Butter

Cup Basmati rice

Place the crushed garlic, pepper and sambal in a tablespoon of

butter and cook for one minute, shaking the skillet all the time.

Cool slightly, then throw in the prawns and cook quickly

until pink on both sides. Do not overcook them. Remove to cool.

To the skillet, add a tea-cup of coconut milk, a tea-cup of tinned tomatoes, a

splash of fish oil, and a squeeze of fresh lemon. Stir and heat, but do not boil.

Add the prawns and stir until hot enough to serve.

Serve with boiled rice.

Garnish: chopped coriander leaves.

DELICIOUS CASSOULET FROM THE OSBORNE KITCHEN

PORK AND BEAN CASSOULET: serves 2

500 grm roughly chopped shoulder of pork

1 large onion sliced

3 large cloves garlic

1 green chilli chopped

I 300 grm tin chopped tomatoes

2 medium chorizo sausages

1 500 grm tin white flageolet beans

Cup of chicken stock/other

I tbsp hot Cajun sauce

Add cooking oil to a pan and gently colour the garlic, onion, chilli with the addition of a good pinch of allspice and cumin.

Remove and add the pork pieces, tossing in the hot oil until juices are sealed. Remove.

In an earthenware casserole, tip the pre-cooked flageolet beans, the skinned and chopped chorizos and the pork. Add the tomatoes and juice, the stock, several slurps of Cajun sauce and a squeeze of fresh lemon-juice.

Cook on a medium heat for 2 hours, stirring occasionally.

Serve with khubz Arab bread, or crusty baguette for dipping in the sauce, and a green salad of lettuce, cucumber, pre-cooked and chopped string beans and slices of avocado.

MIDDLE EAST COOKING: lamb baked with lemon-juice & yoghurt

I met many interesting people when I was running my photo agencies - divers, pilots, diplomats, doctors, aid workers of whom some were jolly good photographers. Several who became friends used to pass by if they came to London. I cooked dinner for one recently who enjoyed the meal so much he wanted the recipe ---- it was shoulder of lamb baked with lemon-juice and yoghurt, from my book Middle Eastern Cooking which was first published in 1984.

Quite delicious and so easy to prepare I’ve decided to post it here for anyone else who may like to try it. I prefer to use a shoulder as the meat is usually more tender than a leg.

1 shoulder of lamb about 1 kg (2.20 lbs)

ground rock salt and black pepper

4 large cloves garlic

6 tablespoons olive oil

6 tablespoons lemon juice

6 tablespoons Greek-style yoghurt

Lightly slice the skin of the shoulder. Rub with olive oil, salt and pepper. Insert crushed garlic and pour 3 tablespoons of freshly squeezed lemon-juice over it. Refrigerate 3-4 hours. Remove to warm up prior to cooking in a pre-heated oven 230C/450F.

Heat oil in a roasting pan until it sizzles, then sear lamb on both sides. Turn garlic side up and cook for 30 minutes. Remove, pour over remaining lemon-juice and return to cook at about 200C/392F.

Cook a further 30 minutes, then smear with yoghurt and continue cooking until it forms a golden crust. Baste with juices from the pan and remove when tender. Depending on your own oven, total cooking time should be about 2 hours, or so.

I serve the lamb with boiled new potatoes and a green bean salad with vinaigrette sauce.

Serves 4.

Images: www.copix.co.uk

DAR ANEBAR: AN EXOTIC HOME AWAY FROM HOME IN ANCIENT FEZ

A riad is a traditional house located in the medina - the old residential and commercial heart of ancient towns in Morocco.

A typical riad is a three or four storey building whose thick stone walls enclose a central courtyard open to the sky. Smaller riads may only be the width of the height of a date-palm whose trunks were used as beams. Others owned by prosperous old merchant families have carved cedar ceilings and walls adorned with elaborate plaster-work and zellige tiles. To ensure a family`s privacy there are only tiny exterior windows, but a roof terrace catches cooling breezes and provides a panorama of the skyline.

Many old riads abandoned when their owners left either to seek work or to upgrade to a modern villa, have been bought by foreign investors who have transformed them into luxurious Maison d`Hotes, a trend started by American architect, Bill Willis in the 1960s when he transformed a run-down riad in Marrakesh into an exotic town-house.

More than 500 riads -mainly in Marrakesh, Fez and the lovely coastal resort of Essaouira have now been restored by foreigners using local artisans and drawing on the abundance of crafts sewn, hammered and tapped out in the souqs.

On many trips to Morocco over the years I`ve stayed in a variety of accommodation ranging from the famous Mamounia in Marrakesh to the simple Pension Mauritania in Tangier - even a crumbling funduq once used by wool merchants visiting Fez.

On a recent visit to Fez to collect material for my new book, I stayed at the Dar Anebar, a true "Arabian Nights" style riad which has been returned to it`s former glory by Moroccan businessman Ahmed Azami .

"It was my grandfather's riad and my dream was to restore it, not just for our family use, but so visitors might experience Fassi hospitality in traditional surroundings," said Ahmed as we sipped mint tea in the calm oasis courtyard.

"Tourists can stay here from EU90 a night. If we are not fully booked, we upgrade at no extra cost. I want people to feel it is their home. They can even go into the kitchen and watch Naima making Berber bread."

Fez is considered the culinary heart of Morocco and Naima's cooking lives up to this reputation. I dined on regal dishes such as bstilla made from flaky pastry stuffed with quail, and lemony tasting tajines using chicken and olives, and lamb cous-cous smothered in toasted almonds. A wine list featured the best of Moroccan wines: even Flag beer for any Australian visitors!

Dar Anebar's five large bedrooms with king-size beds overlook the courtyard. A personal touch is a flagon of argan oil, a nutritive emollient sold in Fez for over a thousand years and recently declared a 'miracle oil' by French cosmetic firms.

"We wound our way through the medina and walked into a world of wonder and warmth," one of hundreds of comment in the Guest-Book, resonated with me after a fall on one of my daily walks through the centuries old souqs.

Down I went among cages of hens, boxes of sardines and baskets of snails as everyone from the butcher, the baker and the candlestick-maker rushed to my aid. Back at Dar Anebar bandages were produced, my shirt was spirited away and washed, and a glass of freshly pressed orange juice was brought to my room.

When I offered to pay, I was waved away and Ahmed himself drove to me to the CTM station to catch my bus to Tangier.

Further information: http://www.daranebar.com

See comments : www.tripadvisor.com

For travel arrangements in Morocco: http://www.olivebranchtours.com

Images from: www.copix.co.uk

DIE EATING WELL

So farewell then Floyd. How we loved your shambolic cookery series. Never without a glass in hand. “Food is life, life is food` you are quoted as saying.

A true bon vivant, Floyd died of a heart attack in Dorset after a final grande bouffe of oysters and partridge washed down with champagne and fine wine.

His death has prompted a flood of `Final Meal` menus from today`s celebrity chefs none of whom can stand in his shadow for entertainment.

Surprisingly many chose simple, evidently memorable childhood meals.

Cookery queen Nigella Lawson and Angela Hartnett, a Michelin star rated talent on the UK restaurant scene, both selected roast chicken. Upping the ante, Michel Roux of the famous French culinary family, chose roast boar.

Starters included beluga caviar (which I ate for breakfast, dinner and tea while researching sturgeon fishing in the Caspian Sea!) and langoustine, a cross between a mini-lobster and a king prawn from the Atlantic, choice of Theo Randall, head chef at the London ICH.

Agree! How could I forget a lunch of Langoustines Royales with a crisp green salad accompanied by a fine Gris de Boulaoune, one sunny day in Casablanca.

Vichyssoise and smoked eel from Enkhuizen in Holland, would also rate a place on my final meal menu along with Thai soft shelled crab and lamb`s brains au beurre noir. But as I couldn`t possibly eat all in one last sitting, I have compressed my favourite foods into a three course menu:

Dozen Dublin Bay oysters

Roast beef & Yorkshire pudding with baked potatoes, pumpkin, fine string beans and Egyptian baby marrow

Buffalo-milk ice-cream with marron glace and blob of Cornish cream

What would be your last menu? Do let us know!

c.Christine Osborne: former critic - Grand Restaurants of the World (Signature Magazine)

Image: Atlantic seafood platter Morocco

Source: www.copix.co.uk

SPICY PRAWNS

EASY-PEASY COOKING

Serves 2-3

18-20 medium-size green prawns

3 large cubes garlic

1 tps sambal paste

Black pepper and salt

Coconut milk

Lemon

Thai fish oil

Chopped tinned tomatoes

Butter

2 teacups Basmati rice

Place the crushed garlic, pepper and sambal in a tablespoon of

butter in a skillet and cook for one minute, shaking all the time.

Throw in the prawns and cook quickly until pink on both sides.

Do not overcook them. Remove to cool.

To the skillet, add a cup of coconut milk, a cup of tinned tomatoes, a splash of fish oil, and a squeeze of fresh lemon. Stir and heat, but do not boil. Add the prawns and stir until hot enough to serve.

Serve with boiled rice.

Garnish: finely chopped coriander leaves.

c.Christine Osborne

Image: The Big Prawn, Ballina, New South Wales

Source: www.copix.co.uk

Delicious lamb dish from an Arab kitchen

Levantine Lamb

4 tablespoons olive oil
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 teaspoon ground coriander
small piece fresh ginger, peeled and grated
900 g lamb, cubed
2 medium onions, sliced
½ large lemon cut into four
pinch of saffron or turmeric
salt and pepper, to taste
75g green olives stoned
100g laban/thick yoghurt (optional)

Heat the oil in a flame-proof pot and add the garlic, coriander, ginger and mix together. Add onions and lamb, stir well until the meat is seared. Add the lemon, saffron or tumeric, salt and pepper and water to cover.

Bring to the boil, reduce immediately and simmer gently until cooked, about 2 hours. Keep the casserole covered during this time, but stir the contents occasionally.

To thicken the sauce, remove the meat and allow the contents to simmer without a lid, as desired. Strain, then stir in the olives. Stir further then return the meat, warm and serve.

The addition of yoghurt makes this dish even more delicious. Just before serving, stir in the yoghurt and simmer, but do not allow to boil.

Serves 4

Christine Osborne: author of Middle East Cooking (Prion)

Image: Levantine Lamb dish with olives

Source: www.copix.co.uk