http://ironedorchid.wordpress.com & other domestic experiments Mon, 17 Oct 2011 22:02:50 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.com/ http://s2.wp.com/i/buttonw-com.png http://ironedorchid.wordpress.com http://ironedorchid.wordpress.com/2010/05/17/wool-day-2010/ http://ironedorchid.wordpress.com/2010/05/17/wool-day-2010/#comments Mon, 17 May 2010 03:54:33 +0000 Gretchen http://ironedorchid.wordpress.com/?p=384 Continue reading →]]> http://ironedorchid.wordpress.com/2010/05/17/wool-day-2010/feed/ 0 Gretchen wool day 01 wool day 02 guava 03 http://ironedorchid.wordpress.com/2010/02/14/sunday-cooking/ http://ironedorchid.wordpress.com/2010/02/14/sunday-cooking/#comments Sun, 14 Feb 2010 07:07:03 +0000 Gretchen http://ironedorchid.wordpress.com/?p=376 I more or less followed this recipe. The less part being that I didn't have any rosemary so I substituted za'atar instead, and that after an hour at 180 C my chicken was not cooked through, so I put it back for another 30 minutes. I also made a quick gravy with the pan juices while the chicken was resting, and blanched some green beans to balance out the meal. The following Sunday I made pie. Continue reading →]]> http://ironedorchid.wordpress.com/2010/02/14/sunday-cooking/feed/ 0 Gretchen chicken 031 pie 081 pie 074 pie 117 http://ironedorchid.wordpress.com/2010/01/10/quince-duck/ http://ironedorchid.wordpress.com/2010/01/10/quince-duck/#comments Sun, 10 Jan 2010 05:58:54 +0000 Gretchen http://ironedorchid.wordpress.com/?p=363 Continue reading →]]> http://ironedorchid.wordpress.com/2010/01/10/quince-duck/feed/ 0 Gretchen 11 20 06 quince glaze 02 013 http://ironedorchid.wordpress.com/2009/05/25/chicken-vegetable-and-lemon-tajine/ http://ironedorchid.wordpress.com/2009/05/25/chicken-vegetable-and-lemon-tajine/#comments Sun, 24 May 2009 22:40:05 +0000 Gretchen http://ironedorchid.wordpress.com/?p=345 I've been wanting a tajine for a few years now, so it was a no brainer to include a couple of options on our wedding gift wishlist. Unfortunately, the store where we had our list was out of them at the time, but our friend T. ordered one and gave us a jar of preserved lemons and some Tunisian spice mix to be going on with. The problem with shipping tajines is that if they are not padded and packed correctly, they can break in transit, and that's what happened to the first lot which arrived in the shop. Then some arrived, but they were not the ones from the Lombok Pottery Centre, which is what I'd listed and T. had ordered. Last week, at the Wool Day market, I'd stopped at a stall which sold spices and oils and vinegars, and ended up with some Ras El Hanout, which is a traditional Moroccan spice mix. The next day I found out my tajine had arrived, so I took it home after work. I had thought about cooking with it on Tuesday, which I had off, but it took most of the afternoon to season it by soaking until all the air bubbles were gone (about an hour in the sink each for the base and the lid), then letting it air dry, and finally seasoning it by rubbing olive oil all over the inside, and placing in a warm oven for a few hours. (Tajines shouldn't be moved quickly from hot to cold or vice versa, so I put the tajine in a cold oven, which I then turned on and allowed it to heat slowly. When was done I turned off the oven and let it cool before removing the tajine). That didn't leave much time for the type of cooking which needs a long, slow simmer, so I made a quick curry in the wok, and left it until my next day off. In the meantime, I browsed through Morrocan style recipes, and thought about what I might like to cook. In the end I settled on a hybrid between chicken tajine with seven vegetables, chicken with olive and lemon, and chicken with ginger and garbanzo beans (all from Food Down Under) to create a dish with chicken, vegetables, chickpeas (aka garbanzo beans) and preserved lemon. Partly this was because I didn't have the right ingredients to make any of those recipes, but did have some. But I have a pretty good track record when it comes to putting flavours together, so I wasn't worried about exactly following a recipe, and even though it was my first cooking in a tajine, it wasn't the first time I have made dishes which are meant for tajines. This is what I came up with: [more] Continue reading →]]> http://ironedorchid.wordpress.com/2009/05/25/chicken-vegetable-and-lemon-tajine/feed/ 4 Gretchen chicken tajine 02 chicken tajine 01 http://ironedorchid.wordpress.com/2009/05/23/wool-day-mini-splurge/ http://ironedorchid.wordpress.com/2009/05/23/wool-day-mini-splurge/#comments Sat, 23 May 2009 03:50:28 +0000 Gretchen http://ironedorchid.wordpress.com/?p=347 [more] Continue reading →]]> http://ironedorchid.wordpress.com/2009/05/23/wool-day-mini-splurge/feed/ 3 Gretchen fibreworks reds fibreworks silk glenora 2ply polwarth 4ply camelot guava 01