Serves 2

• 2 chicken breasts, cut into strips
• 2 or 3 tsp of zatar (a mix of thyme, marjoram, oregano, sumac and sesame seeds)
• 2 garlic cloves
• 1/2 tsp seasalt
• 1/2 tsp hot smoked paprika
• 1 tsp cranberry jelly (don’t ask why – it just worked!)
• squeeze of lemon juice
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tsp agave nectar, or other sweetening agent
• 1/4 onion

Pound the garlic and salt into a paste and add all the other ingredients. Mush up into a thick gloopy paste, which you then smother over the chicken meat. Leave it marinade for as long as you can, then fry in olive oil on a high heat to begin with with a quarter onion cut into thick slices. Reduce the heat and turn the chicken to ensure it is cooked all the way through.

We had this with warmed pitta bread, salad, couscous, home-made hummus and falafels. Utterly divine.

It feels like summer is almost here, so while I was tidying up the garden I got a lamb stew on the go. It’s a bit like this one that I made a while back, with a few twists.

For the stew:

• 500g lamb
• 400g tin tomatoes
• harissa paste
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 tsp smoked paprika
• 6 – 10 dried apricots
• salt & pepper
• half an onion
• a few garlic cloves
• 4 small carrots
• water

Put the oven on at about 170C. Cut the lamb into big chunks – about the size of a piece of meat that you’d say ‘ooh lovely’ if it was served to you in a posh restaurant, but secretly you’d be disappointed. Rub a couple of tabelspoons of harissa paste, salt & pepper all over the meat and leave to marinate at room temperature for an hour or so.

In a casserole dish, quickly brown the meat, add the onion thickly sliced, garlic and whole carrots. When it’s looking brown all over, add the tomatoes and a can and a half of water. Add the apricots, halved, and bay leaves. Put in the low oven for a couple of hours, topping up the water after an hour if required.

For the cous cous:

• 250g cous cous
• salt & pepper
• 1 tsp vegetable stock powder
• dash olive oil
• half a teaspoon of sumac

Cover all the ingredients with boiling hot water, stir & leave until cooked.

For the roast veg:

• 1 red pepper, chopped
• 1 red onion, quartered
• 12 cherry tomatoes
• sliced butternut squash, skin-on
• 1 aubergine, diced

Coat the veg in olive oil, salt & pepper and roast along with the stew – keep an eye on it to make sure it doesn’t catch.

This was lovely in the garden with a glass of cold Riesling, with fish for the pescatarians. The lamb was sweet & spicy & melty. Delicious.

Serves 4. You will need:

• 200g cous cous
• 2 x 400g tins chopped tomatoes
• 2 x teaspoons harissa paste – more if you like it hot
• 2 x large teaspoons of garam masala ground spice mix
• 1 x 400g tin of chickpeas
• 1 very large or 2 medium onions
• 1 large clove of garlic
• 3 chicken breasts
• 2 handfuls of chopped dried apricots

Chop the onion and fry in a little olive oil with the garam masala spice in two separate pans. The spices should cook a bit and flavour the oil. After the onion has cooked a bit add half the chopped garlic to each pan. Add a teaspoon of harissa paste to each pan and give a good stir.

Cut the chicken breasts into strips and add to one pan, stirring so they get coated with the spices and cook all over. Add one third of the drained, rinsed chickpeas to the chicken, and then put the rest (two thirds) in the veggie pot.

When the chicken strips look cooked, add a handful of apricots and a tin of tomatoes to each pan, season with salt & pepper, top up with a little water if needed, put lids on and simmer for half an hour or so. Make the cous cous up by following the instructions on the packet – I just poured on boiling water to slightly more than cover the cous cous in a bowl, left it for 10 minutes and fluffed it up with a fork.

Give everyone two large spoons of cous cous and put the stew on top – serve with a dollop of yoghurt if it’s extra spicy, or and / or some chopped coriander leaves.

It was delicious. The veggie one ended up much spicier than the meat one for some reason – I must have put more harissa in it. I’m having the leftovers with Turkish flatbread for my lunch tomorrow. Can’t wait.