Going around in circles
What to cook when you're in someone else's kitchen, plus some dark and brooding treats.
This week’s newsletter is coming to you a little later than normal because I’ve been away from home and muddling about in my sister’s kitchen. This has been very pleasant, not least because it’s exactly built for pottering around in while you chat to other people. I was feeling quite pleased with myself yesterday, showing off by chattering away while making what I thought were going to be some delectable pierogi for lunch. Alas, they were lead weights. Mortified, I had to restore my reputation by cooking a dinner delicious enough to make up for them. Here’s what I made.
This is a recipe I made for the Dominion Post back in 2015, a lifetime ago. In fact, I remember making a version to drop off to a friend with newborn twins who are now halfway through high school.
It’s a very handy recipe to have up your sleeve, especially if you’re out-of-town in unfamiliar circumstances or shopping in an unfamiliar supermarket. (Other supermarkets - and their shoppers, come to that - can be a source of much joy and wonder, or despair, don’t you think? Maybe that’s a topic for another time.)
None of the ingredients used here are particularly fancy, but together they make for a rich and comforting dish. There’s plenty of room for substitutions - you can use beef or lamb mince (or a mixture thereof), and finely chopped spinach in place of the herbs. Throw in some pinenuts if you’re feeling flush instead of feta, or skip the feta altogether.
Spiced lamb spirals with feta and herbs
Serves 4
1 1/2 Tbsp oil
1 large red onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
500g lamb or beef mince
1 1/2 tsp ground cumin
1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 cup finely chopped fresh parsley
1/2 cup finely chopped fresh mint
100g feta, crumbled
3 eggs
300ml cream
Salt and pepper
16-18 sheets filo pastry (I use the Timos brand, which has about this amount in a packet)
2 Tbsp sesame seeds
Heat the oven to 180C and grease an ovenproof baking dish - like a lasagne dish, or a square Pyrex or cast iron one.
Heat the oil in a large, heavy frying pan. Add the onion and garlic and cook for 5 minutes or until softened. Increase the heat and add the mince, then cook for another 5 minutes, stirring to break it up, until browned.
Add the cumin and cinnamon and cook for another 2 minutes, then remove from the heat. Stir in the herbs and feta, then tip the mince mixture into a sieve to drain for five minutes.
While the mince is draining, lightly beat the eggs and cream together with a decent pinch of salt and a few grounds of black pepper. Take two sheets of filo and lie on a flat surface, with the short side facing you. Brush with with a little of the egg and cream, then scatter over about a quarter cup of the mince mixture.
Roll up tightly - rolling away from you - to form a long sausage, then coil it into a spiral.
Transfer to the prepared dish and repeat with the remaining mince, cream and pastry. Don't be tempted to put more of the lamb mixture in each roll, they will split.
When all the spirals are made, pour the remaining eggy cream mixture over the top, then sprinkle with the sesame seeds. At this point the dish can be refrigerated for a few hours until you're ready to cook.
Bake for 40 minutes or until golden brown. Serve with something green on the side, like a tangle of rocket leaves dressed with lemon juice and olive oil.
Got leftovers? Cover and chill, then reheat in a 180C oven for about 25 minutes, until a knife plunged into the middle comes out very hot.
Good Things
Dark and brooding telly
If you grew up on a diet of Taggart and Cracker, or have a taste for dark Nordic thrillers, Department Q will be right up your darkened and dangerous alley. Matthew Goode is brilliant as furious and abrasive DCI Morck, a man so furious at life he even parks his car angrily. After surviving a shooting in which a young colleague dies and his best mate is paralysed, Morck gets assigned to work on long-dead cold cases with a cobbled-together team of similarly damaged colleagues. Chaos ensues, etc. While it’s based on a series of Danish crime novels, this Netflix adaptation is set in beautifully grim and brooding Edinburgh. I’ve been blathering on about it all week to everyone I know, but now have to hope they won’t finish watching it before I do.
Dark and brooding chocolate
If you end up in an unfamilar kitchen where you are cooking the lamb spirals above for dinner, then this is great for pudding. But you don’t need to wait for that kind of occasion (or even leaving town). This is like glamorous fruit and nut, just with no nuts. Highly recommended.
Next week on Fancy Butter… the vegetables I promised last time.