St. Martin's Croissants - Rogale Marcinskie - with white poppy seeds filling

St. Martin's Day, 11th of November, is celebrated in a Polish city of Poznan in a particularly tasty way - by eating traditional croissants filled with delicious almond paste and white poppy seeds. Centuries old legend has it, that a Poznan baker had a dream in which he saw St. Martin entering the city on a white horse that lost its golden horseshoe. The very next morning, the baker whipped up horseshoe-shaped croissants filled with almonds, white poppy seeds and nuts, and gave them to the poor.

Now, this recipe might be a bit late, as we are already in December, yet it is worth trying out, especially with Christmas around the corner. Time consuming and detailed, it is true labour of love. Who knows, it might even replace traditional English mince pies...  

So there you have it, my take on...

ST. MARTIN'S CROISSANTS - ROGALE MARCINSKIE (makes 25-30)

INGREDIENTS

Pastry: 

- 400ml of milk

- 1kg of sieved flour

- 100g of sugar

- 420g of butter

- 3 eggs

- pinch of salt

- 20g of fresh yeast 

Filling:

- 500g white poppy seeds

- 170-200g crushed sponges

- 120g sugar

- 4 tablespoons of honey

- 80g of butter

- 90g raisins

- 100g almonds

- 2 tablsepoons of candied orange peel

- 6 eggs

Decoration:

- 150g icing sugar

- lemon or orange juice

- chopped almonds

- candied orange peel

PREPARATION

Filling:

A day before, wash the poppy seeds and boil them for around 30min. Drain and cool. Then grind 3 times. 

Soak almonds in boiling water, peel their skins off, grind them.

In a big pot, melt the butter, add sugar and honey, then chopped raisins, orange peel, almonds. When all is covered in honey, add poppy seed paste. Cook for around 5-7min. Cool. Then add crushed sponges and eggs - one by one, so that the filling does not get too watery.

Pastry:

Put 300g of butter into the freezer. 

Warm the milk up slightly.

Mix the yeast with 2 teaspoons of sugar and 3 teaspoons of flour and 100ml of milk.

Stir, cover with linen cloth and leave to rise for 20min.

In the meantime, whisk eggs and sugar into a fluffy mixture. Melt 120g of butter.

Sieve the flour into a bowl. Add the yeast mixture, eggs with sugar, milk and salt. Then bit by bit add the melted butter. Work the dough using your hands until it's flexible and doesn't stick to your hands.

Cover with linen cloth and set aside for 30min.

In the meantime, grate the frozen butter and keep it is the fridge.

When the dough has grown, punch it a couple of times to get rid off the air. Then work it a little bit and using a rolling pin, form a large rectangle. Spread a bit of grated butter onto 2/3 of the rectangle, leaving 1/3 clear. Fold it into 3 starting with the clear side. Press the dough and roll it into a rectangle again, fold it into 3 again, leave in the fridge for 30min. Repeat the whole process two more times, each time leaving the dough to cool for 30min. You end up with 81 (!!!) layers.

Roll the dough into a long rectangle and cut it into triangles. Spread the filling on each of them and fold starting with the wider side, try to form a croissant resmbling a horseshoe.

Place your croissants onto baking paper covered trays and leave to rest for 15-20min.

Bake in 180 degrees, for around 20-25min, until golden.

When cool, decorate them with icing made with icing sugar and lemon/orange juice. Sprinkle with chopped almonds and candied orange peel.

ENJOY!

Luscious and Fudgy Avocado Brownies

What do you make as a gift for someone's very special birthday? Someone who is concerned with their health and diet but also enjoys their food immensely and knows a hell-of-a-lot about baking?

Well, this year I made them avocado brownies. They are not as shocking as they might sound. They contain no flour, much less sugar and only dark chocolate. Therefore, they're not as bad for you as regular brownies, yet ever so fudgy and delicious.

Here's how I made them:

FUDGY AVOCADO BROWNIES (makes 10-12)

1. Preheat the oven to 180-200 degrees. Take 2 soft avocados and mash them with a fork. Add 3 eggs, 3 teaspoons of vanilla essence and 3-4 tablespoons of milk and mix using a mixer or with a wooden spoon.

2. Melt 200g of good quality dark chocolate in a bowl over hot water. When thoroughly melted, but not super hot, stir it into the avocado mixture. Add around 200-225g of cocoa powder, 1 teaspoon of baking soda and 75-80g of caster sugar. Mix until just combined, add more milk if mixture too thick.

3. Scoop the mixture into a greased up tin, smooth out on the top. Bake for about 25min, until set, but not yet dry. Keep them as fudgy as you can.

4. Let the cake cool and then cut into squares. Decorate them as you please.

Still super moist and delicious, yet almost healthy and nutricious, these brownies are a perfect afternoon treat or a gift. Decorate it with Christmas patterns and you have a great Christmas gift for health-conscious foodie.

Courgette and Carrot Spaghetti with Turkey Mince Meatballs

COURGETTE AND CARROT SPAGHETTI WITH TURKEY MINCE MEATBALLS AND MUSHROOM AND TOMATO SAUCE

With so many of us trying to live healtier these days, we are trying to come up with more fun ways of packing our meals with vegetables, at the same time reducing the amount of carbs we consume. Turning courgettes or carrots into 'spaghetti' is one of those ways. You can invest in a spiralizer, the prices of which range from £10 to £40, you can teach yourself how to julienne your veg, or (like me) you can pop in to a nearby supermarket and buy ready spiralized courgettes or carrots. All you need to do is briefly boil them and drain them thoroughly.

For your meatball: mix 500g lean turkey mince with 2 tbsps of breadcrumbs soaked in milk, an egg, chives, salt and pepper. Form little balls and fry them on a tiny amount of rapeseed oil until golden brown.

For the sauce: slice half a red onion, 2 cloves of garlic and some white mushrooms. Fry them on a teaspoon of butter. Add tomato pasata, salt and pepper. Sprinkle with grated Grana Padano.

Enjoy the low carb feast.

 

PULLED CHICKEN AND BEANS with ZESTY SALAD and TORTILLA CRISPS

Pulled pork has become an absolute street-food favourite in trendy London. Pork pibil sandwiches and brioche buns appeared on every market and in every burger restaurant, reaching sky high prices. 

However, this recent culinary hit has its shortcomings: it takes mighty long to prepare ( if you are after authentic pork pubil, it might take as long as 7-8 hours), it being pork, it is not the healthiest or cheapest option.

But the popularity of this simple dish got me thinking whether similar techniques and flavours could not be applied when cooking chicken? Then I found some extra inspiration in the latest issue of Good Food Magazine. And here you have the result; at only around 270kcal and £1.20 per portion

PULLED CHICKEN AND BEANS with ZESTY SALAD and TORTILLA CRISPS

(serves 4-6)

 

You will need:

- 4 halved chicken legs

- Tabasco sauce

- 4 crushed garlic cloves

- 1 sliced large red onion

- 400g can of black beans

- 400g can of kidney beans

- tomato pasata

- chopped parsley and lots of it

- 1 iceberg lettuce

- 1/2 cucumber

- olive oil

- salt

- pepper

- lime juice

- 2 plain tortillas

1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees. Rub the chicken with Tabasco sauce (as much as you can handle), salt and pepper. Mix crushed garlic, sliced onion and tomato pasata with seasoning and pour into a roasting pan. Place the spiced up chicken legs on top. Cover the whole thing with foil and leave in the oven for 60min.

2. After an hour, take it out of the oven and mix the beans into the tomato sauce. Cook for another 25-30min.

3. Prepare the salad: slice the iceberg lettuce and the cucumber, sprinkle with parsley and a bit of salt, drizzle with olive oil and lime juice. 

For the crisps, cut the tortillas into pieces. Spread them on a flat roasting pan and chuck into the oven for 2-3 min, until nicely toasted.

4. Take the chicken out of the oven and shred it with knife and fork. Discard the bones. Mix the meat with beans and tomato sauce. 

5. Serve the chicken on a big platter, accompanied by the zesty salad and still warm tortilla crisps.

Foolproof and Fail Proof Tiramisu Cheesecake

No one prepares a better cheesecake than my mum. A baked one. It never ceases to be a special Christmas or Easter time treat. It's light and fluffy, sweet but not overpowering. She soaks the raisins in vodka or rum overnight, so that they add an edge to it. Sure, sometimes it cracks slightly, nothing that cannot be fixed with a chocolatey, glistening top layer. It never sinks though! Never.

Well, I am not that lucky. I folow my mum's exact recipe and directions. I make sure nothing, no matter how small a detail, is omitted. Yet my cheesecake, even if it grows stunningly during baking, always sinks during cooling. Always.

Eventually, I gave up on attempting to equal my mum in the art of cheesecake baking and decided to look for an easier, fail proof and foolproof recipe. I think I finally found one. I've tested it twice on two different groups of friends. Both batches seemed to be extremely popular, so I'm pretty sure I'll be going back to this recipe for:

THE TIRAMISU CHEESECAKE

You will need:

1kg of smooth curd cheese (or ready prepared cheesecake cheese from a Polish shop)

250g Mascarpone

3/4 glass of sugar

3 tablespoons of potato flour

1 teaspoon of vanilla extract or essence

2 eggs

100g of Amaretti biscuits

cup of sweet coffee

cocoa powder 

fresh fruit or mini meringues for decoration (optional)

1. Prepare your cake tin (20x25cm) by lining it with baking paper. Heat your oven to 180 degrees, around 160 with a fan.

2. Mix curd cheese with Mascarpone, sugar, potato flour and vanilla. Then add eggs and mix again.

3. Soak your biscuits in coffee on both sides.

4. Pour 1/3 of cheese mixture into the cake tin, top with 1/2 of coffee soaked biscuits and sprinkle them with sieved cocoa powder. Pour another 1/3 of cheese mixture on top and put out the rest of biscuits covering them with cocoa again. Top with the remaining cheese mixture.

Bake for around 35min.

5. The cheesecake might crack slightly during baking, but it should not matter too much. To avoid bigger cracks, you can place another cake tin filled with hot water at the bottom of the oven.

6. Cool the cake. Before serving, sprinle it with sieved cocoa powder and you can decorate it with fresh fruit, mini meringues, etc. 

All done! ENJOY!!!

Spinach and Cheese Pierogi - how not to scare your non-Polish guests off the Polish food

As a Pole living in London, I like to treat people around me to some of the traditional Polish cuisine from time to time. Even though there are so many of us here, it so happened that in my closest group of friends in London there are very few Polish people. Therefore, cooking Polish food for my guests is always quite exciting, as you never know what they are going to make of it and how they are going to react. Are they going to genuinely enjoy it or eat some out of politeness? Arrrggghhh... The stress!!!

Well, last Saturday we were having a little catch up at my place with some friends and colleagues from work. None of them Polish. I thought it would a good occasion to introduce them to PIEROGI.

Now, I will not be going into details as for Poles pierogi are almost a work of art and one could easily write a trilogy about them. Let me just mention a few basic facts:

- pierogi is a Polish dish, let's get this straight - the Russians or Ukrainians might want to claim it, but all their efforts are in vain as... Pierogi = Poland.

- they come in a wiiiiiiiiide variety of flavours; they can be savoury (with sour cabbage and wild mushrooms, with pork mince and cheese, potatoes, onions and curd cheese, etc.) or sweet (with blueberry compote, plums or sweetened curd cheese ).

- they're delicious fresh straight from the boiling water, or even the next day, fried with a bit of butter

- the sour cabbage and wild mushroom variety is a traditional dish during Christmas Eve celebrations, however pierogi are extremely popular any other day of the year.

Seeing as my guests' knowledge of Polish cusisine is understandably limited, I did not want to scare them off with some of the funkier flavours that only an Estern European palate could appreciate. That is why, I have prepared a very gentle version of pierogi. A good introduction to this fantastic dish. So here you have: 

SPINACH AND MIXED CHEESES STUFFED PIEROGI (around 40-45 units)

1. Prepare the dough. Mix 300g of plain flower with 125ml of hot water, an egg, 20g of soft butter and a pinch of salt. Work until the dough can be formed into a smooth ball. Leave it to rest.

2. In the meantime, prepare your filling. Thoroughly wash and dry 300-350g of fresh spinach. Chop it roughly and wilt it on a wide pan. When cooled, mix it with 150-170g of feta cheese, 150g of ricotta and 150g of grated mozzarella. Add quite a big pinch of garlic powder, generous sprinkle of black pepper and a bit of salt.

3. Divide the dough into small parts, roll it till around 2-3mm thin. Using a glass, small bowl or a round cookie cutter, cut out circles in the rolled dough. Top the circles up with a teaspoon of filling and close them pinching the edges together. Every Polish cook has her own style, so don't try to imitate mine as it certainly is not perfect. Work on your own, individual style instead. 

 4. While working through small batches of dough, boil a pot of water with a pinch of salt and splash of olive oil (to prevent pierogi getting stuck to each other). When the water has boiled, cook your pierogi until they float on the water surface. Take them out and dry out the excess of water. Serve immediately with hot melted butter/sour cream/tomato sauce and Parmesan or leave to cool and fry till crispy later.

Trust me, my guests loved them. And I am certain you will enjoy them too.
What are your favourite pierogi fillings?

Protein Packed Dinner Salad

 

CHICKEN BREAST, EGG, COUS COUS, STEAMED VEGETABLES AND WATERCRESS SALAD

This flavoursome yet so so healthy and full of protein salad is filling enough to be served for dinner. It would also make a perfect lunch if you reduce the portion a little bit.

• Cut the chicken breasts into bite sized chunks, season them with your favourite spices (paprika, garlic powder, oregano), coat lightly with rapeseed oil and chuck them into the oven on small roasting pan. Cook for about 20-22min in 190 degrees in the middle of the oven.
• Hard boil a couple of eggs.
• Prepare the cous cous. Simply measure it in a bowl, pour boiling water onto it, until it's just about covered. Leave for 5-7min with a lid on.
• Wash and cut your vegetables. I used asparagus, baby sweetcorn and pickled roasted red pepper. Steam or boil asparagus and corn for about 3 min with a pinch of salt. 
• Fluff up the cous cous, add all the veg, drizzle some olive oil, season to taste and mix throughly.
• Take the chicken out of the oven, peel the eggs and wash the watercress.
• You can either mix everything together, or follow my serving suggestion. It's super tasty anyway!

Perfect Monday night dinner - Lean Steak Mince and Mixed Veg in Tomato Sauce

Loosely inspred by Spaghetti Bolognese or Chilli Con Carne, here is my take on beef mince in tomato sauce, whatever you wanna call it. For added nutrients, I've packed it full of colourful vegetables. Yellow and red bell peppers are in season right now. They come quite cheap, so why not use what they offer? And they come oozing with vitamin C, carotenoids and other antioxidants and anti-inflammatory nutrients. No need to follow an exact recipe. It's very much about what you have in your frindge right now.  So a perfect Monday night dinner then... :)

LEAN STEAK MINCE AND MIXED VEGETABLES IN TOMATO SAUCE 

WITH PASTA

Prepare your vegetabes: chop the onion (I've chosen the red spring onions for their vibrant colour and spicy sweetness), crush the garlic (4-5 cloves), wash and roughly cut your peppers (any colour, I've chosen yellow and red as they are full of antioxidants) and some white mushrooms. Throw in some frozen peas (or fresh if you prefer). Put them all into a large pan and fry briefly until softened. You can choose any vegetables you feel like. Your fridge should be the main inspiration as no one really has time to go shopping on Monday, straight after work. Beware however, that some vegetables (like carrots or green beans) will require longer cooking time. Move the mixed vegetables to a bowl when cooked.

 

Toast the spices (paprika, black pepper, tumeric) on the same pan you used for vegetables, until fragrant. You can add cumin, cinnamon or even a bit of cocoa powder for the chilli con carne flavours, or some basil, oregano for the more spaghetti bolognese feel.

Fry the steak mince on no or very little rapeseed oil until it's brown. Add some tomato paste, tip all the cooked vegetables into the meat. Mix thoroughly. You can add some cream cheese or flavoured Boursin to take the edge of the sour tomato sauce. Season to taste.

Fish and Cheese - breaking the taboo: Oven Roasted Fillets of Hake with Crunchy Courgette 'Chips'

Whilst reading cookery books or watching cooking programmes, I have repeatedly heard this particular rule: DO NOT MIX FISH WITH CHEESE! Chefs all over the world seem to agree that the contrasting natures of the two make it impossible for them to cooperate - delicate and slightly bland fish gets easily dominated by strong and overpowering cheese. Well, being the rebel that I am, I have to disagree. They can work beautifully together, as long as you don't overdo it.

I stumbled across a very fun and healthy recipe and after altering it a bit, I came up with this little treasure:

 

OVEN ROASTED FILLETS OF HAKE WITH CRUNCHY COURGETTE 'CHIPS', ASPARAGUS AND CREAMY PESTO

• Make the crust: mix a handful of grated Parmesan with a cup of fine breadcrumbs, salt and pepper.
• Rub 4 fish fillets with a little bit of olive oil and cover it with the breadcrumb mix.
• Cut 2 courgettes into 'chip' like shapes, rub them with crushed garlic and cover with the remaining breadcrumb mix.
• Prepare a flat roasting pan by spraying it with a very thin layer of olive oil and lay the fillets and courgette 'chips' on it. Roast in around 190-200 degrees for 20-25min.
• For the creamy pesto you can either make your own one, or if it's a week night use a shortcut and mix the ready made one (Always buy fresh pesto! It's much tastier than the one from the jar. I especially recommend the fresh green pesto from Waitrose) with a teaspoon of natural yoghurt (or cream if you're feeling naughty). 
• Serve the fish and 'chips' with boiled but still crunchy asparagus or even mushy peas.

And if you're feeling brave, then here's many more recipes breaking the taboo of fish and cheese not going together: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/06/02/fish-and-cheese_n_5417507.html

Have fun!

 

The tale of the Saturday night dilemma and spicy chicken and mushroom and peas stir fry

Last night I was dealing with an age-old Saturday night dilemma: home cooked dinner or takeaway? When I asked my husband about his opinion, he said: 'Home cooked, please...' As lazy as I felt, it did flatter me and I quickly came up with this beauty:

SPICY CHICKEN WITH ASIAN MUSHROOMS, PEAS AND PAK CHOI 

STIR FRY

• Season your chicken (I used thighs, by far my favourite part of chicken as they are deliciously tender and always juicy) with ginger, paprika, garlic, black pepper, ground chilies, salt and a pinch of.... cinnamon (!!!) 'Cinnamon?' you ask. Yes, cinnamon, as it gives the chicken a bit of spice and some delicate sweetness. Be careful with it though, as you're not making an apple pie after all. Whack the chicken into the oven and roast for around 40-45min, as it is on the bone.
• Prepare the glaze and the sauce. For the glaze, mix 1/3 cup of chicken stock, 1 tbsp of honey and 2 tsps of soy sauce. For the sauce, mix: 3/4 cup of chicken stock, 3 tbsps of soy sauce, 3 tbsps of honey, 1 tbsp of rice vinegar (or apple cider vinegar if you don't have the rice one) and 1 tsp of corn flour. Set both concoctions aside.
• Fry the washed mushrooms on a bit of oil until they let out their water. Then add the glaze and cook until almost all liquid is gone. Place the mushrooms in a bowl and set aside.
• Toast your spices: ginger, garlic and chilies, add some chopped spring onions, peas and Pak Choi. Cook for 2-3min. 
• Add the mushrooms and pour in the sauce. Cook until the sauce thickens.
• Take the chicken out of the oven and plate up. Sprinkle with toasted sesame seeds.
• Bob's your uncle!

Now there's nothing left to do but to put your feet up and put the Netflix on while the husband does the dishes...

Chicken breast chunks and mixed veg parcels with Parmesan and rosemary parsnip chips and gem lettuce salad

Came home from work today and all I had in my fridge was lots of vegetables and chicken breast chunks. Not really feeling like cooking up a stir fry, I came up with and idea of throwing everything into one bag and chucking it into the oven, so that I had spare time to get on with other things. And I think it worked. This simple and cost effective recipe will help you use up veg that could otherwise be left at the back of your fridge, forgotten until it goes bad and save you some valuable time. As messy as it looks, it was delicious. 

What is more, there is nothing bad in it for you. It is full of nutrients and vitamins and packed with protein.

CHICKEN BREAST CHUNKS AND MIXED VEG PARCEL WITH PARMESAN AND ROSEMARY PARSNIP CHIPS AND GEM LETTUCE SALAD

• Marinate the chicken breast chunks in your favourite herbs and spices. I used paprika, basil, black pepper, garlic and a bit of salt.
• Get your parsnip chips going: cut raw parsnips into chunks and par boil them briefly.
  
  Then spread them on a flat roasting pan, sprinkle with rosemary, rock salt and parmesan and drizzle with olive oil. Roast in 200 degrees for about 30min, or until golden.
  
• In the meantime prep your vegetables. Almost any veg would do. This time I used cauliflower, green pepper, asparagus, green beans, courgette and mushrooms. Cut them into bite sized chunks.
• Prepare your baking paper by cutting out heart shaped parcels.
  

• Now fill your parcels with a portion of the marinated chicken breasts and the prepared vegetables. Arrange the filling in the middle, leaving enough paper on the edge to wrap it up later. Add a bit of salt and pepper to taste and drizzle with the smallest amout of olive oil. 
• Then wrap them tightly with the filling-free paper edges so that they look like giant pasties or dumplings and arrange on a flat roasting pan.
  
  
  
  
  Put them into the oven together with the roasting parsnips and cook for around 20-25min.Now prepare the gem lettuce salad: boil the corn on the cob with a bit of butter and salt, when soft, cut it off the cob. Saute the gem lettuce leaves on a large pan. Sprinkle with sweet corn and drizzle with fresh pesto and yoghurt dressing. Add a tomato for colour.  
•   Serve everything hot.
  
  
  
  
  

Sweetcorn and cottage cheese pancakes with caramelised bananas and crispy bacon

For the last month or so, I've been testing some recipes from Jamie Oliver's latest book 'Everyday Super Food'. 
Although I am not hoping to lose as much weight as Jamie (gosh, he looks great, doesn't he?!), I do need to try and live healthier lifestyle.
Jamie's book seems to be a great tool helping me with it.
It's packed with wonderfully colourful, healthy and quite simple recipes, you just don't know where to start!
Well, couple of Sundays ago, I've decided to break our weekly tradition of preparing a Full English Breakfast and decided to give these little bad boys a try:

SWEETCORN AND COTTAGE CHEESE PANCAKES WITH CARAMELISED BANANAS AND CRISPY BACON

As this meal has (once again) heavily inspired by Jamie's recipe, I will send you straight to his website. Do check it out and if you fancy, buy his latest book as it's definitely worth the money.

http://www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/pork-recipes/healthy-cheese-corn-pancakes/ 

One small step at a time (in my case swapping the Full English for cute sweetcorn pancakes on a Sunday) will gradually make a massive difference.

#JamieOliver #EverydaySuperFood

 

Eggy Bread with Balsamic Strawberries and Greek Yoghurt

There seems to be an ongoing discussion concerning the difference between Eggy Bread and French Toast. Whether it's about the 'poshness' of the name, the technique, the combination of flavours, I am not sure... In fact, call me blasphemous, but I believe the recipes for both of them are interchangeable.

My husband, however, hinted that French Toast is more about the sweet breakfast treat, whereas Eggy Bread is much more savoury. Well, as it was him who prepared it as a Saturday afternoon snack (I love him so much, you know...), we're going to go with the English name. Believe me when I tell you, that despite the strawberries, it is very much a savoury dish. Also, don't be scared of the strawberries-vinegar combination. It really works. So here you have:

EGGY BREAD WITH BALSAMIC STRAWBERRIES AND GREEK YOGHURT

(Serves 2)

Eggy Bread:

2 thick slices of wholemeal bread
2 eggs

pinch of salt

pinch of pepper

2 tbsp milk

Strawberries:

handful of quartered ripe strawberries

splash of balsamic vinegar

Pour the balsamic vinegar onto chopped strawberries and leave to 'marinate'.

Whisk eggs with salt, pepper and milk.

Soak both sides of your bread in the eggy mixture.

Heat up a drizzle of olive oil or a bit of butter on the pan.

Fry the soaked bread on both sides until golden.

When dishing, cut the slices in halves, scatter the balsamic vinegar strawberries on top.

Serve with a dollop of natural Greek yoghurt.

Shout out to Jamie Oliver for inspiration with this recipe!

Maple and Balsamic Glazed Lamb Chops with Feta and Pear Couscous

MAPLE AND BALSAMIC GLAZED LAMB CHOPS WITH COUSCOUS

This is hardly my idea (this dinner has been heavily inspired by the wonderful Lorraine Pascale), so (as much as I am tempted to) I will not be taking 100% credit for it. Instead, I'll send you to check out her recipe on the BBC website:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/maple_and_balsamic_26200  

I have, however, twicked it a bit to add flavours that are more to my taste.

I have swapped thyme for lots of rosemary. Rosemary and lamb, does life get any better than that?

I've added feta AND PEAR to the couscous.

Instead of almond flakes, I've toasted pumpkin and sunflower seeds (for those healthy oils and ever so important fiber).

Lastly, I've decided to serve it with asparagus and some fresh watercress for a shot of vitamins and the visual effects. And it does look STUNNING, if I say so myself. :)