I love seasonings with big impact. Pre-mixed blends such as garam masala, baharat and Chinese five-spice are perfect examples. I don’t mean Aromat. Read the back of the spice blend packs before you buy, because I’ve discovered some are heavily based on salt or have high amounts of sugar, monosodium glutamate or other nasties.
Good spice blends are incredibly handy to have in the kitchen; they can transform bland grains such as couscous, rice and quinoa into flavour-packed meals in minutes. Having them to hand means no last-minute fiddling with spice jars while the dinner rush is under way.
Chinese five-spice is a pungent mixture of star anise, Sichuan peppercorns, fennel, cassia or cinnamon, and clove. It creates the perfect balance of flavours and heats.
A little goes a long way – even a pinch is enough to transform your stir fry. You can dry fry the individual spices and grind them to create your own five-spice mix. It’ll last for several months.
It's an ideal rub for fatty meats such as duck or lamb. I often use it in fish dishes too, particularly when I'm cooking fish en papillote: in a little foil or parchment parcel. I layer loads of shredded vegetables such as leeks, carrots, spring onions, spinach, mint, coriander, basil and ginger, then top with a fish fillet and a light dusting of five-spice. This is delicious with salmon, hake or any fresh meaty fish.
Grilling spring onions is a fun way to serve what can be an underappreciated allium that is usually thrown into dull salads and then left on the plate. One of my least favourite things to eat are spring onions that have been chopped into huge chunks in a salad.
Chunks of onion are never appetising. Spring onions are actually sweet and delicious, and grilling them like this really brings out those qualities. If you’re short on time, just slice a few of the raw onions on the diagonal and scatter over the rice before serving.
My little boys are particularly enamoured with lamb chops. I think the fact that the bone is still attached to the meat brings out the hunter-gatherer in them. They need to really work to get the meat off and they love the sense of achievement when the bone is clean. Dinner time is always a success when there are chicken legs or lamb chops on the menu.
My quinoa cakes don’t get a look-in when there is meat on the table. I try to have a balanced selection of food in our diet, mostly vegetarian, with meat and fish once a week or so. But since the boys have become more vocal and opinionated, our food has changed slightly. It’s a good thing; I love that they have an opinion about what they eat and love hearing what they think of different ingredients.
Recently, however, the two-year-old threw a tantrum due to the scarcity of meat on his homemade pizza. Having surveyed the pizza surface he fell to the floor from his chair, bawling that he really loves meat and his a pizza only has a smattering of it.
Sadly I’m not sure it would have helped matters if I had explained that the meat was a beautiful salami made from black pigs that had been hand-fed acorns by handsome shepherds in the foothills of a Spanish mountain.
FIVE-SPICE LAMB CHOPS: SERVES 4
The five ingredients
- 8 loin lamb chops
- 2tbs Chinese five-spice
- 2 bunches of spring onions (about 12 in total)
- 15g coriander, roughly chopped
- Cooked rice, to serve
From the pantry
- Sea salt
- Olive oil
Method
Mix the Chinese five-spice with a tablespoon of the olive oil to form a paste.
Rub the spice paste all over the lamb chops. Place under a hot grill and cook for three to four minutes each side, depending on thickness.
Meanwhile, trim the spring onions and discard any damaged outer layer. Rub with a little olive oil and place under the grill, turning until nicely charred and curling. This should take only a few minutes.
To serve, scatter the hot rice with the roughly chopped coriander and top with the lamb chops and spring onions. Serve immediately.
- Every Thursday we'll tweet the five ingredients from @lillyhiggins and @irishtimeslife so you can have them ready for Friday. Email givemefive@irishtimes.com with your suggestions for recipes
