Seafood stew with fennel and thyme from Normandy

600 g mussels
2 1/2 chopped onions
250 ml dry white wine
12 parsley sprigs + 1/2 cup chopped parsley
2 tbsp butter
2 cups finely chopped leeks
2 cups diced fennel
clam juice (optional)
fresh thyme sprigs
2 bay leaves
300-400 mg halibut fillets
scallops
250 ml crème fraîche
2 large egg yolks

Put washed mussels, 1/2 of onion, wine, 8 parsley sprigs in a large pot, cover and cook for approximately 5 minutes. Transfer mussels. Strain cooking liquid, discard onion and sprigs. Make 2 cups of this liquid.
Sauté the rest of onions, leeks and fennel for about 7 minutes in butter. Add mussel liquid, 4 parsley sprigs, clam juice, thyme, bay leaves. Simmer for about 25 minutes. Add scallops and halibut and cook for another 4 minutes. Transfer fish and scallops. Discard parsley, thyme, bay leaves.
Whisk crème fraîche and egg yolks, also whisk in 1/2 cup of hot liquid. Gradually stir yolk mixture and cook for 5 minutes. Return fish, scallops, mussels and heat everything for 5 minutes. Stir in chopped parsley and serve.

Food of the World - Cardamom Chicken

This dish has a highly aromatic sauce flavoured with cardamom. The yoghurt makes the sauce deliciously creamy. If you drain youghurt overnight, this makes the sauce richer by getting rid of any excess liquid.

1.5kg chicken or chicken pieces
25 cardamom pods
4 crushed garlic cloves
3cm grated piece of ginger
300ml natural yoghurt
1 1/2 tsp ground black pepper
grated rind of 1 lemon
2 tbsp oil
400ml coconut milk
6 chillies, pricked all over
2 tbsp chopped coriander
3 tbsp lemon juice

Remove seeds from the cardamom pods and crush them in a pestle and mortar. Ina blender mix the garlic and ginger with 50ml yoghurt to make a paste. Add the cardamom, pepper and grated lemon rind. Spread this over over the chicken pieces, cover and leave in the fridge overnight.

Heat the oil in a heavy-based frying pan and brown the chicken pieces. Add the remaining yoghurt and coconut milk, bring to the boil, then add whole chillies and coriander leaves. Simmer for 20-30 minutes. Season with salt and stir in the lemon juice.

Griddled Halloumi with Spiced Couscous

175g couscous
1/2 tsp each cinnamon, cumin and coriander
vegetables, such as tomatoes, courgette, broccoli, sugarsnap peas
300ml hot vegetable stock
250g halloumi cheese
juice of 1/2 lemon
drizzle of olive oil

Mix the couscous with spices in a bowl, pour over the hot stock, then cover and leave to stand for 5 minutes. Heat a griddle pan. Cut the halloumi into 6-8 slices and cookquickly on each side for 2 minutes. Mix the vegetables (griddled courgette slices, steamed broccoli and peas) and tomatoes into the couscous, squeeze in the lemon juice and drizzle with oil. Pile onto two plates and top with the halloumi.

Summer and lazy afternoons

Azuki bean soup

Azuki (or adzuki) bean is grown in East Asia, genetic evidence indicates that the azuki bean was first domesticated in the Himalayas. It is second most popular in Japan after soybean. Azuki bean is commonly eaten as a sweet dish, but this is a savoury dish, recipe of which I found in here. It claims that it helps diminish the appearance of dark circles around the eyes by cleansing the body and it's a great diuretic.

3 cups of azuki beans soaked overnight
2 tbsp of cumin
1 tsp of white pepper
1 tbsp olive oil
2 diced carrots
2 tbsp of finely chopped fresh ginger
3 cloves of garlic
1 large onion
1 lime juice
3 tbsp of fresh chopped coriander leaves

Put the soaked beans into a pot, cover in cold water and bring to boil. Drain the beans, then add fresh cold water again. Simmer for 30 minutes, then add cumin and white pepper. In a frying pan, sauté diced onion, carrots, ginger and crushed garlic until tender. Add this mixture to the beans, cover and simmer for 30 minutes, or until beans are cooked through. During the last 15 minutes only, add salt to taste. Adding the salt any earlier will harden the beans. Just before serving, add lime juice and coriander.

Raspberry cupcakes

No occasion necessary.

250 g raspberries
150 g flour
80 g ground almonds
2 tsp baking powder
100 g sugar
salt
1 egg
250 g butter
+ 1 tbsp of melted butter
1/2 tsp grated ginger
icing sugar

Mix flour with almonds, baking powder, sugar and a pinch of salt. Beat the egg with butter, add ginger and 1 tbsp of melted butter. Add this mixture to flour and mix well. Pour the batter into paper muffin cases and press a raspberry into each cake. Bake in the oven (180C) until golden. Powder in icing sugar.

Spiced carrot soup with coconut cream

1 tbsp olive oil
1 onion
2 garlic cloves
1 small red chilli
1 tsp grated ginger
500 g carrots
1 sweet potato
2 kaffir lime leaves
1 L chicken stock
juice of 1/2 lime
2 tbsp palm sugar
1 tbsp fish sauce
200 ml coconut cream
grated nutmeg

Heat the oil in a saucepan, add the chopped onion and cook for 2-3 minutes. Add crushed garlic, chopped chilli, ginger, chopped carrots, sweet potato, lime leaves and stock. Bring to boil,then reduce the heat and simmer for 20 min.
Allow to cool slightly, take the lime leaves out, then puree in a blender. Return to the pan with lime juice, sugar, fish sauce and gently reheat. Whip cream until thick. Pour the soup into glasses and top with the coconut cream and sprinkle of nutmeg.