Moorish AND Moreish

Apparently, according to the original recipe that I clipped out of a magazine, this recipe makes "distinct nods" to the Moorish culture in Spain. It also makes distinct nods, and emphatic nods, to the Farrar family answer to the stressful nature of the Age of Covid-19, which can best be expressed in the words CARB and LOADING, in whichever order you choose; the message I believe is clear.

Watching not only the number of positive cases in California continue to rise dramatically, but also the positivity rate (which has gone from 4.8% a couple of weeks ago, to 7.4% today), is pretty gut-wrenching. For those of you who don't know, I run a baking business delivering cupcakes and other sweet treats, and business has been very slow in recent weeks. The corporate orders that were probably 60% of my business prior to mid March, have dried up pretty much completely because there are no workers in the office to feed those cupcakes to, no conferences or meetings to cater and no bridal and baby showers to celebrate with a bunch of hungry co-workers. I am fortunate in many ways, as my husband's work is not affected by the current crisis, and the only change for him (and our resulting income) is that he is camped out in my daughter's bedroom as a makeshift office. I am truly grateful for the few orders I am filling for Covid birthdays at home, and still get a joy from delivering cupcakes to an unsuspecting birthday boy or girl, but it doesn't fill my time as much as I wish it would.

My savior has been cooking of a different kind - satisfying that stress-relieving need to carb load by cooking and baking for us as a family. It means a few pounds have been gained here and there around the spare tire region, but it has kept me sane, and I have to believe that mental health is as important as the physical. And as for the physical, our family remains Covid-free, even if we did have a scare and needed to get tested. Moreover, the friend we know who did test positive, has been mercifully symptom-free, and is now testing negative. We are indeed fortunate.

As for this recipe, it is a doozy. I find myself clipping recipes that are a little out of the ordinary, and this one caught my interest because of how it is thickened - with a paste made from sautéed bread, spices and nuts, which is then stirred into the stew. The original recipe called for grilling some manchego cheese on some thick slices of bread as a side, but, since I had WAY too much time on my hands, I opted to stuff some bread dough with a mixture of seeds and Manchego and that is what you see dipping its toes in the stew in the picture below (and yes, that slice of carby goodness is almost as big as my head - don't judge). Either way, you have bread, you have cheese, you have garbanzo beans/chick peas. This is stomach satisfaction and carb-loading stress-relief at its peak, my friends. So load up, stay safe and stay sane.

Moorish Spinach and Chickpea Stew
Serves 4
overzealous recipe clipping  - original source forgotten :-(

olive oil
4 oz stale bread, cut into cubes
2 1/2 oz raw unsalted almonds
2 tsp cumin seeds
1/8-1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
5 black peppercorns, crushed
1 large onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 1/2 lbs roma tomatoes, cored and chopped
2 15oz cans chickpeas (not drained!)
5 oz bag of baby spinach leaves, roughly chopped
Bread with Manchego cheese to serve

1. Heat a pan over medium heat with some olive oil. Add bread cubes and saute for about 3 minutes until lightly browned. Add the almonds and the spices and continue to saute for a further minute. Tip the contents of the pan into a food processor and whizz until finely chopped. Add water until the mixture forms a thick paste. Set aside.
2. Wipe out the pan and then heat some more olive oil. Add the onion and saute until softened and starting to brown. Add the garlic and tomatoes and bring the mixture to a boil. Turn the heat down and let it simmer for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.
3. Add the chickpeas with their liquid, and the paste from the food processor, and stir together, making sure all of the paste is broken down and mixed in, and not clumped together. Bring to a bubble, by which time the mixture should be thickened by the paste. Add the spinach and bubble for just a few minutes until it is wilted.
4. Serve with some bread and Manchego cheese, or the carb of your choice :-)

"Does it have a 'y' in it?"

When asking oneself if today is a good day for pasta, there is really only one answer. Yes. Moreover, if you are asking yourself this question, it is quite possible that you need more help than merely a plate of pasta can provide, since it is always a good day for pasta. Period.

This one is a doozy for those like me, who love eating vegetarian, but could never go the whole way, because of sausage. I mean.... sausage. You can keep bacon - yes, it smells divine, but to be honest, the taste is usually a let-down after the gloriousness of that aroma. But sausage! Oh! Particularly Italian sausage with fennel seeds, browned in a pan so the edges are all crispy and caramelized..... Excuse me while I wipe away the dribble on my keyboard.

Whilst pasta might seem heavy for a summer's evening, I think this dish is lightened considerably by the addition of lemon zest. There is nothing more summery than the fragrance of lemon. Add that to the satisfaction of a bowl of carby goodness and the delicious aroma of the sausage and you've got a dish made for any time of year.

Pasta with Sausage and Chard
Serves 5
Adapted from Food Network Magazine

1lb pasta shapes of your choice
2 TBSP olive oil
1lb Italian sausages, casings removed
6 TBSP unsalted butter
6 cloves garlic, crushed
2 bunches Swiss chard, stems removed and chopped into ribbons (should give you about 5 cups chopped)
2 TBSP AP flour
2 3/4 cups milk (I used 2%/semi-skimmed)
3/4 cup grated parmesan
grated zest of 3 medium lemons, or 2 large (should yield about 2 TBSP)
fresh black pepper
extra grated parmesan to serve

1. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil, and cook the pasta as directed. When draining, reserve 1/2 cup of the cooking water and set aside.
2. Heat olive oil in a large pan over medium high heat and cook sausage, breaking it up into crumbles as it cooks. Let it start to brown before removing from the pan with a slotted spoon and setting aside.
3. Wipe out the pan with a piece of kitchen roll and then melt the butter in the same pan. Once it is melted saute the garlic for a minute until fragrant. Add the chard and stir until wilted (about 3 minutes).
4. Sprinkle in the flour and good stirring for an additional minute before adding the milk gradually, stirring all the time.
5. Bring the mixture to the boil and let it simmer for a minute before adding back in the sausage with the parmesan, lemon zest and some ground black pepper (don't add salt as it probably won't need it because of the saltiness of the sausage).
6. Simmer for 5 minutes by which time the mixture should have thickened slightly. Add back in the pasta and if the mixture needs loosening, add a little of the reserved pasta cooking water.
7. Serve topped with grated parmesan.