The luxury of time

Being on holidays gave me the absolute luxury of time last week to cook a three-course meal for lunch, on a Wednesday!  So we're up to the letter 't' in our #abcmeals challenge and there's not too many letters left now.  My first thought once again was straight to dessert.  There was no way I wasn't going to make tiramisu.  This delicious dessert is very easy to create, but can get a little messy when dipping and layering.  The main thing is to not dip the sponge fingers for longer than 2 - 3 seconds, otherwise they will fall apart.  Trust me on that - they will fall apart!

Tomatoes were key ingredients in the other two courses.  Beginning with an easy as pie (or should that be tart?) tomato tarte tatin.  Don't be scared of this, just find a small non-stick oven-proof frypan and deliciousness will be yours in less than 25 minutes.  It's nice on it's own drizzled with balsamic vinegar glaze.  Or you could serve it with a rocket or mixed leaves salad with a simple vinaigrette dressing.

Finally, the tagine I was given, as a birthday present 5 years ago, made it out of the box and onto the stove.  It is a Maxwell Williams 'Microstoven', that can go on my electric ring elements - yay!  Keep an eye out for this range if you don't have gas, as it will mean you can now cook the one pot wonders that go from stove to oven, or just stay on the stove, in things other than oven-proof frypans.

Tomato Tarte Tatin
1 punnet (250g) cherry tomatoes
20g butter
1 tbsp white wine vinegar
2 tsp brown sugar
1 tsp dried basil or oregano
1 sheet puff pastry, thawed 
fresh basil leaves

1. Preheat oven to 220C.  Slice tomatoes in half, season with a little salt and pepper - not too much!
2. In a small oven-proof non-stick frypan (10 - 13cm), melt butter and mix in vinegar and brown sugar, until sugar is dissolved.
3. Place tomatoes cut-side down into pan and pack them in tightly. Sprinkle dried basil or oregano over the tomatoes.
4. Cut a circle from the puff pastry big enough to lay over the frypan.  Place this over the tomatoes and tuck it in around the tomatoes.
5. Bake in oven for 15 - 18 minutes until pastry is puffed and golden.
6. Remove from oven and allow to sit for 3 - 4 minutes, before flipping onto a serving plate.  Garnish with torn fresh basil and serve with a green salad.

Apricot Chicken Tagine (Serves 4)

250g chicken breast, cut into large cubes
250g chicken thigh, cut into large cubes
1 - 2 tbsp harissa (to your taste)
1 onion, halved and thinly sliced
1 clove of garlic, crushed or finely chopped
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp ground turmeric
1 tsp chilli flakes (to your taste)
400g tin chopped tomatoes
125mL chicken or vegetable stock
50g dried apricots, quartered
200g tinned chickpeas, rinsed and drained
1 - 2 tbsp chopped parsley
flaked almonds, to serve

1. Place cubed chicken into a snaplock bag (or small bowl), add harissa and rub/stir to coat.  Allow to marinate in refrigerator for 2 - 3 hours.
2. Heat some vegetable oil over a medium-high heat, in the base of a tagine/casserole dish/heavy based frypan.  Add chicken and cook for 3 - 4 minutes, until sealed.  Remove from pan and set aside, leaving juices in the pan.
3. Add onion and cook for 3 - 4 minutes, until soft.
4. Add garlic and all the spices.  Stir to combine and cook for 1 - 2 minutes, until onion is coated and spices are fragrant.
5. Add chicken back to pan.  Stir to combine and coat with spice mixture.
6. Add tinned tomatoes, stock and apricots.  Season with salt and pepper. 
7. Bring to the boil.  Cover with lid, reduce heat to medium-low and cook for 45 minutes, stirring occasionally.
8. Add chickpeas and cook for a further 15 - 20 minutes, until sauce is slightly thickened.
9. Add chopped parsley.
10. Serve on top of cous cous, with flaked almonds and a dollop of natural yoghurt on top.

Tiramisu
5 eggs, separated
60g (5 tbsp) caster sugar
500g mascarpone
500mL espresso coffee
125mL Kahlua
1 pack (500g) savioardi sponge finger (biscuits)
cocoa

1. Beat egg whites until stiff.
2. In a separate bowl, beat egg yolks with sugar, until thickened and lightly yellow (a lemony colour).  Add mascarpone and beat until smooth.
3. Gently fold 1/3 egg whites into mascarpone mix.  Gently fold in remaining egg whites.
4. Combine espresso and Kahlua, and pour half into a shallow bowl.
5. Lightly dip sponge fingers in espresso mix and line bottom of a 13" x 9" dish lengthwise, to form the first layer.
6. Spread top with half of the mascarpone mixture.
7. For the second layer, dip the sponge fingers in the espresso mix and lay out widthwise.
8. Spread top with remaining half of mascarpone mixture.  Dust with cocoa.
9. Refrigerate for at least 3 - 4 hours, or overnight if you start a day early. 



This is how good it looks if you can leave it overnight




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