The Hackney Butchers Association

170g lamb, (minced) 1/2 large red onion 2 good pinches of ground cinnamon 2 tbsp toasted pine nuts Salt & ground black pepper Chopped parsley A sprinkling of paprika Serves 4 Prep time: Buy Hummus, or make some by blitzing a tin of chickpeas with olive oil, lemon juice, tahini, crushed garlic, salt and pepper. Add a little at a time until it tastes how you like it... I usually make mine without tahini. Not authentic I know!.. but it still tastes great. Over a low-medium heat, fry the onion in 3 tbsp olive oil until golden & sweet. Remove from the pan, and stir in the ground cinnamon. When ready to eat, get the pan hot, and add the onions & their oil followed by the lamb. Stir it about to break up & when crispy, add the pine nuts & season with salt & pepper. Put the lamb on top of a small plateful of the hummus & sprinkle over the paprika & parsley. Serve with toasted pitta bread. A little goes a long way, so you can get away...

Eaten with some fried fish (Huss and Ling) yesterday, accompanied by piles of home-made flatbreads, Baba Ghanoush, Dukka, and Fennel/Feta Kofte.  Damn good it was too!  This tarator has got a lovely nutty/garlic and lemon/parsley flavour.  It's surprisingly light.  This recipe came from Silvena Rowe's awesome book "Purple Citrus and Sweet Perfume.  It came out a little dry, so I added a good drizzle of olive oil over the top just before serving to loosen it up.  It was loved by everyone. Tarators come in many varieties.  This one is Turkish.  In Albania it takes the form of a cold soup, in Iran there is a similar dish called the brilliant sounding "Ab-Doogh-Khiar" an iced yougurt soup with leek & mint (sounds interesting). Many countries use yogurt instead of water, and leave out the nuts.  In fact, it's hard to see what the common link is apart from the name! Takes 5mins, makes enough for eight decent portions. RECIPE BELOW:

I was reminded recently about Beetroot Hummous (thanks Leila).  I had been meaning to make some for a while. A lot of recipes seem to mix roughly equal amounts of cooked beetroot and chick peas, with the usaual culprits, garlic, olive oil, tahini & lemon juice.  For maximum flavour use left-over roasted beetroot.  All well and good... but the recipe here is even better!  This recipe is quite different, the flavour comes from lots of toasted cumin & walnuts & garlic.  The slight bitterness of the walnuts with the sweetness of the beetroot makes a great balance.  This is rounded, delicious stuff. It looks amazing too.  It's insanely colorful as seen in the picture above. This has to be tried! RECIPE BELOW:

This is a fantastic way to spruce up lentils.  This is a satisfying dish with bags of flavour, it's very more-ish.  It has lots of cumin, coriander (cilantro) and garlic, so it's always going to be good!  Thankfully there is a little leftover of this batch for tomorrow. Phew.  It reheats really well, so can be made in advance and warmed up before serving.  Once cooked it will lst in the fridge for a few days. We had this tonight with some pan-fried fish, some beetroot, walnut & cannelini puree and some green beans.  It was awesome, if I do say so myself!... Don't forget to season it well at the end of cooking, it massively brings all the flavours to life. Oh, and if you know of any great lentil recipes please leave a comment below.  I'll try them out and post the results.  Thanks. FOR RECIPE CLICK BELOW:

Mix the best cooked butter beans you can get with : olive oil, lemon juice, chopped parsley, garlic. Season with salt & pepper. Or add finely chopped red-onion, a splash of good balsamic vinegar, very finely chopped rosemary, olive oil & a good pinch of hot paprika. Or Diced cooked chorizo & parsley. I'm getting hungry... Must eat soon...

250g fresh red chillis, halved & de-seeded 5 cloves garlic 100g coriander 100g flat leaf parsley 1 tsp ground cumin a pinch of ground cardamon 1 tsp sea salt 1 tsp freshly ground black pepper 2tbs olive oil Briefly blitz the chillis with the garlic. add the other ingredients & blitz again until you have a textured paste. This keeps for up to a week in a sealed jar in the fridge. You can use it to dip bread into, or to add a bit of zing to grilled meats etc.

1 tin Chickpeas, drained & rinsed 50ml Tahini paste Juice of 1/2 lemon, or to taste 1 garlic clove, peeled & crushed sea salt Blitz the chickpeas & tahini in a food processor until smooth. Remove and put in a bowl. Stir in the lemon juice and garlic & season with sea-salt & pepper. Add a bit of water if it's too thick and already lemony enough. Sprinkle over some sweet paprika & chopped flat-leaf parsley. Delicious!

Salad: 500g raw beetroot, peeled & very thinly sliced 2tsp lemon juice 2tbs olive oil small handful parsley Dressing: 100g shelled pistachio 2tbs finely chopped parsley 1 dsp finely chopped mint 1 dsp lemon juice 1 tsp caster sugar 7 tbs olive oil 1 tsp zemon zest 4tbs water 1 tsp orange blossom water (optional) Serves 4 as part of a mezze. Blitz the dressing ingredients briefly in a food processor, nuts first. Then season to taste. Dress the beetroot & parsley leaves with the lemon juice & olive oil. When ready to eat, spoon over some pistachio dressing. This comes from the mighty Moro's. Everything they make is amazing. I've had a few disasters from their cook books if i'm honest. I probably did something wrong! Their restaurant is still my favorite. I love it!