Cooking for friends brings me a lot of pleasure. I research recipes, shop for fun ingredients and think about what I want to drink with the meal. I start imagining the house filled with friends, clinking wine glasses and the aromas of some masterfully prepared meal. In reality, I often find myself running back and forth between the computer where the recipe is and the kitchen where something is burning (usually nuts) and catching bits and pieces of conversation.
Easy one pot meals avoid this phenomenon to a certain extent and I rate a recipe highly if it tastes great, but also allows me to chatter away. This week I made a North African Fish Stew that I cut out of a recent Food and Wine. It came together very easily and I never once had to ask Deirdre or Amie to repeat their gossip!
http://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/north-african-fish-stew
The recipe calls for the Moroccan spice blend ras el hanout so I just combined nutmeg, ground ginger, all spice cinnamon and a few other spices that were hanging around. The sautéed raisins crisp up with the cashews for a delicious salty sweet combination that pairs nicely with the mild fish and couscous. The only downside to fish recipes is I don’t do fish leftovers so it’s meant a lot of cereal for lunch this week!
For banana lovers, here???s a cool http://bananapedia.com site where you can watch different video recipes and you could simply apply them. Have fun!
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