Lemony chicken curry

8 cloves garlic

1 large knob ginger

1 deseeded red chilli 

Blitz these three with a tablespoon of water.

add:

1 tablespoon of tomato puree

Put about 2 tablespoons cooking oil in a pan -- put this on a gentle heat and add:

1 small cinnamon stick 

4 cloves

Sizzle the spices for 1-2 minutes.  Then add 

2 bay leaves 

Remove all the spices from the oil and pour about half the oil into a small dish -- put this to one side.

Cut into bite sized pieces:

4 chicken thigh fillets

Brown the chicken with 2 or 3 teaspoons of ginger, garlic, tomato and chilli paste.  Put it in a bowl.

Add the reserved oil to the pan, and the rest of the ginger, garlic, tomato and chilli paste.  Fry this for 30 seconds then add

1 1/2 medium onions, finely sliced

Fry this for a further 2 minutes or so, then add 

1 tsp ground coriander

1 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp ground fennel seeds

2 strips of lemon zest

A dash of water (to form a sauce)

Cook the sauce for a couple of minutes until it's coming together. Then add

leftover cooked potatoes

frozen beans

1 green pepper

the browned chicken pieces.

Simmer for 10-20 minutes until the chicken is cooked and your rice is ready

butternut squash stuffed with beef

500g beef mince
1 large onion
1 stick cinnamon
olive oil
2 anchovy fillets
1 large glass shiraz
2 tsp colmans mustard (i.e. made mustard from a jar)
rosemary
lemon zest
lemon juice
salt
pepper
1 butternut squash

Fry the onion with the rosemary until soft.
meanwhile dry-fry the beef in a couple of batches in a frying pan,
along with the finely chopped anchovy.
Add the meat to the onions and throw in the cinnamon stick.
Deglaze the frying pan with half the wine, add this to the mixture.
Add a little water and cover with a lid -- simmer gently for about 30 minutes.
Season with mustard, salt and pepper.
At this point, reduce the rest of the wine by half in the frying pan.
stir a little of the meat mixture into the reduction and return this
to the rest. Add a squeeze of lemon and a few bits of finely sliced
lemon zest (only a little). Allow the mixture to rest for some time,
off the heat.

Bake the squash, whole, for about 20 minutes (until it's easy to slice)

Cut in half lengthways and scoop out the seeds. Scoop out some of the
flesh along the length of the squash, to make room for the meat
stuffing mixture.

Reheat the meat and pack into the squash halves. Put the stuffed
squash into the oven at about 200'c in an oven dish, with a splash of
water in the base. After about 15 minutes the meat on the top should
have started to brown -- cover with some foil and cook until the
squash is tender.