Item List

Marinate chicken with lemon zest, bay leaves, rosemary, cinnamon, and a good splash with olive oil for at least an hour before cooking or overnight even better.

Chicken with Olives, Capers and Figs

Adapted from a Maggie Beer recipe. You could make lots of substitutions on this recipe and it will still be delicious.

Pork and Veal Koftas

If you can't buy pork and veal mince, just buy pork mince and beef mince separately and then combine them. The mixture freezes well either cooked or uncooked, so make a batch.

For the sauce: Whisk together all the ingredients.

Prepare all the vegetables in small enough pieces to stir fry.

Heat a wok or wide based pan. When hot, add the sesame seeds and cook for a minute or two until they colour. Tip out onto a plate for later.

Heat olive oil in the wok/pan and stir fry the vegetables starting with onion and then garlic, ginger and then the veggies which take longer to cook (eg carrots, eggplant). Gradually add the other vegetables according to their cooking times- (eg bok choy and mushrooms last).

Boil the kettle and pour boiling water over the noodles in a bowl. After 2 minutes, drain in a colander.

Add cooked pork to the hot vegetables. Add noodles and sauce and toss the whole lot together in the hot pan.

Serve onto plates, piling up in a 'nest'. Garnish by sprinkling with sesame seeds and fresh coriander sprigs.

Pulled Pork Ponzu Noodles

This was a quickly made dish using some leftovers of pulled pork. You could just as easily use cooked chicken strips, pieces of fish, prawns, squid or tofu/tempeh. My recipe for ponzu sauce comes from Genius Kitchen.

Cook onion and garlic in a little olive oil until onion os soft. Combine the onion with the rest of the stuffing ingredients in a bowl.

Rinse the chicken under cold water. Pat dry, inside and out.

Stuff both cavities in the chicken with the stuffing mixture. Secure the openings with toothpicks to stop it falling out. Tie the legs of the chicken together and tuck the wings under.

Now place the chicken on a wire rack in a heavy baking tray.

Combine the spices and spread this mixture over the chicken. Cover the chicken with lightly oiled foil.

Bake at about 170 C for one and a quarter hours. Remove the foil and bake for a further 30 minutes until the chicken is well browned and tender.

Spiced Roast Chicken with Corn Stuffing