Please bear with me because this is complicated (for you) and exhausting (for me):
The young red hens must be separated from the black hen to be fed; she bullies them relentlessly, preventing them from eating. It is imperative, however, that they eat with the white hen who calms and protects them. The barking dog must be kept at a distance as he is inclined to fluster eating hens, potentially causing indigestion or choking. The oldest horse (who roams the grounds because everyone is bothersome in his book), must also be kept away from the hens, even the belligerent black one, as he would not hesitate to stomp and blow air through his nostrils with intent to gain access to more grain. He is temporarily condemned to the tool shed (yes, really :-)), while the hens eat in the tack room. For all of this to be achieved, the black hen must be repeatedly chased, the dog restrained from shredding his lead and Texas, the extremely wilful old horse, prevented from either breaking the tool shed door down or harming himself on the chainsaw. Thankfully the cat, having no doubt pulled an all-nighter, is asleep somewhere and therefore not a problem.
I find the fragrant aroma of tagine cooking very calming , which is why I make it on a regular basis 😉 Is 9am too early for brandy?
Ingredients (serves 4):
3 tablespoons of olive oil
2 medium onions, chopped
4 cloves of garlic, peeled and crushed
8 chicken thighs
2 orange, peeled and roughly chopped (2cm)
6 medium-sized carrots, peeled and cut into 2cm pieces
150g chickpeas, precooked
1 teaspoon fresh ginger, grated
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon turmeric
1 teaspoon coriander
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Bay leaf
500ml chicken stock
Fresh coriander to serve
There is a mixed Moroccan spice you can buy called Raz el Hamout, which combines all of the above spices and sometimes more. If you have some, you may use it in place of the separate spices.

Things aren’t looking good: I had a conversation with a plastic bag this afternoon. Obviously not a conversation in the strictest sense of the word —  more of a mad monologue if precision is called for. My neighbour covers her scarecrow with a plastic bag to protect it from the rain. Which, come to think about it, is pretty random;  If her aim is to hoodwink the birds, then why not a raincoat? Birds may be somewhat mentally-challenged, but I’m sure they know that people tend to wear raincoats and not plastic bags in the rain. Anyway, rushing along the track, blinded by the sun, I thought the plastic bag was my neighbour, which probably isn’t very flattering. But then again, who cares what somebody who shoots the breeze with a plastic bag thinks?
The spices in curry are packed full of antioxidants, which are, amongst other things, very effective at helping the brain to function properly 🙂
Ingredients (serves 4)
500g raw prawns, peeled and rinsed
Juice of half a lemon
3 tablespoons of coconut oil
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
2 onions, chopped and sliced
3 cloves of garlic, crushed
150g tomato purée
1 tin of sliced mango
250ml fish or chicken stock
1 teaspoon of freshly grated ginger
3 lime kaffir leaves
1 teaspoon turmeric
1 teaspoon curry powder
1/2 teaspoon chilli powder (or a fresh chilli, finely chopped)
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 cup of frozen peas
Squeeze the lemon juice onto the prawns and set aside. Melt the coconut oil in a deep frying pan or casserole and gently brown the onions, garlic and cumin seeds. Once the onions are translucent, add the mangos, tomato purée, stock and spices and bring to a gentle boil to reduce the liquid. Add the peas and cook for about 15 minutes. Add the prawns and cook for a further ten minutes. Serve immediately with basmati rice.

It’s exhausting being me; in the aftermath of Bonegate, I have to mediate another potentially explosive situation. Every year the delicate decision of when to put our Christmas tree up presents itself. On the one hand I have Léo, a ten-year-old boy, extremely talented in the practice of strategically ‘fighting his corner’, and on the other I have Hugo, a four-year-old dog, exceedingly accomplished in the induction of overwhelming guilt. The space the tree occupies is usually dedicated to Hugo’s ‘throne’ and apparently a tastefully decorated tree is not compensation enough for the upheaval and attendant inconvenience of temporary relocation.
So every night until the tree goes up, I have to listen to the interminable list of my son’s friends that already have their tree in place. And once the tree is finally up, I have to deal with a distressed labrador, his head bowed in seriously under- medicated silent reproach, sitting in a chair in an undesirable location.
Neither Léo nor Hugo are big fans of this cauliflower dish. More fool them – it’s delicious!

Ingredients (serves four to six):
1 cauliflower
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons chickpea flour
2 teaspoons chia seeds
1 teaspoon chilli flakes
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Preheat the oven to 180C. Cut the cauliflower into ‘florets’ and blanche in salted boiling water for five minutes and then drain. Mix the seasoning with the chickpea flour. Toss the drained cauliflower florets in olive oil and then the chickpea flour mixture. Add to a roasting tin with the remaining olive oil. Roast in the oven for about 25 minutes or until golden.
 

We had a ten-month old labrador bitch to stay for the weekend; a real doll.  My husband, who can never resist a doll, invited her based on the assumption that such chaos would ensue, I would give him a break from my constant whining for another dog (yellow labrador girl puppy, not that I’ve given it any thought or anything :-). Anyway, ha ha! Big miss on his part. There is nothing like the satisfaction of having a sleeping labrador on either side of your feet in the evening. I do admit that the frenzied partying beforehand was slightly more wearing but, all things considered, all this weekend did was make me even more entrenched in my opinion that owning fewer than two dogs should be illegal 😉
This was concocted whilst dodging eight furry and frenetic legs in the kitchen. Never let it be said that I’m not a skilled multi-tasker. It is full of beta-carotene, making it an excellent dish for the winter. Beta-carotene enhances the immune system by increasing the number of infection fighting cells. It also helps protect the respiratory tract. Foods rich in beta-carotene include sweet potatoes, carrots, mango, apricots, kale, spinach, turnip greens, winter squash, collard greens, cilantro and fresh thyme.
Ingredients (serves four)
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon coconut oil
4 chicken thighs
1 onion, thinly sliced
3 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
6 mushrooms, peeled and sliced
1 mango, peeled and sliced
4 carrots, peeled and cut
2 sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks
2 green chillies, chopped
1 tablespoon of peeled, grated fresh ginger
1 cinnamon stick
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
3 teaspoons cumin seeds
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground  black pepper
200ml chicken stock
Preheat the oven to 150°C. Take a medium-size casserole dish and fry the onion, garlic, mushrooms and chicken in the olive and coconut oils for a few minutes, until they start to brown. Add the seasoning (cumin seeds, salt, pepper, ginger, turmeric, cinamon stick…) and continue to brown stirring frequently to avoid sticking. Add the carrots, sweet potato, mango and chillies and then the chicken stock. Bring to a gentle simmer, stir and put the casserole in the oven for about two hours, checking from time-to-time that there is enough liquid. The result should be tender and just beginning to caramelise.

This is the sort of dish that is even better a day or two after it’s made, which is just as well really as I had no time to prepare lunch, having spent all morning chasing our Houdini horses. They escape more regularly than I like to admit – let’s just say that they are well-known by everyone within a 5 km radius and by the town ‘Mairie’.
Ingredients (serves 4)
250g dried red kidney beans (soaked overnight and boiled for 10 minutes)
500g minced beef
2 tablespoons of olive oil
2 medium onions, chopped
2 cloves of garlic, crushed
6 tomatoes, blanched and skinned
1 red bell pepper (cut into strips)
4 chilli peppers (sliced)
6 mushrooms, peeled and sliced
2 tablespoons of tomato purée
2 glasses of red wine
250ml beef stock
1 sprig of rosemary and 2 bay leaves
1 tablespoon Worcester sauce
1 square of 80% dark chocolate
Seasoning to taste : sea salt, black pepper, chilli powder
Preheat the oven to 150°C. Pour the olive oil into a medium-sized casserole dish and heat. Add the onions, garlic, mushrooms and mince and brown well, stirring around a bit. Once browned, add the bell pepper, the chilli peppers and the tomatoes and continue to cook until gently simmering. Add the tomato purée, the kidney beans, Worcester sauce, seasoning, stock, red wine and herbs and bring back to a simmer. Cook in the oven for about two hours, checking from time-to-time that there is enough liquid. Add the dark chocolate, stirring well to melt, just before serving.
May be served as a standalone dish, like soup, or with coleslaw and green salad.

Every year at about this time I become a born-again (and again, and again) vegetarian. My ideology coincides with the start of the French hunting season and usually lasts two or three weeks; Fickle is my middle name!
This vegetarian chilli is so good that it actually makes you wonder why you would ever bother putting meat in it at all. From a nutrional standpoint, it’s certainly not lacking. Beans in general are high in fiber, protein, antioxidants, vitamins and minerals. Black beans have plenty of folates, kidney beans are a rich source of manganese and vitamin K and white beans are full of molybdenum. Finally, beans are low on the glycaemic indew, which makes them both healthy and diet-friendly.
Ingredients (serves 6)
1 onion, chopped
3 cloves of garlic, crushed
1 red pepper, cut into strips
2 chilli peppers, cut into strips
1 large carrot, peeled and cut
1 courgette, sliced
5 mushrooms, peeled and sliced
3 tablespoons’ olive oil
110g dry black beans (you can also use pre-cooked but make sure to drain and rinse well)
110g dry white beans (you can also use pre-cooked but make sure to drain and rinse well)
110g dry kidney beans (you can also use pre-cooked but make sure to drain and rinse well)
1 tin of tomatoes (400g)
250ml vegetable stock
1 glass of red wine
2 bay leaves
Sea salt, pepper, paprika, chilli powder
Pre-soak and cook the beans if using the uncooked variety.
Brown the onions and garlic in a medium-size casserole until golden. Add the mushrooms, courgettes, carrots, red pepper and chilli pepper and continue to brown. After about five minutes, add the red wine and simmer gently for a couple of minutes. Then add the tomatoes, beans, stock and bay leaves. Bring back to a gentle simmer and add the seasoning. Stir well and cook in a medium oven (about 175°C) for an hour. You can cook for longer than an hour, but will probably need to add more fluid. Check from time to time anyway, as the beans soak up quite a lot and may need to be rehydrated. This is also good cooked in advance and reheated.
Delicious served with brown basmati rice and a crisp green salad.