Pickled Herring Salad

Pickled herring is a Scandinavian delicacy and enjoyed further afield throughout Europe and Russia.

I absolutely adore pickled herrings, a taste I picked up travelling in Sweden. Back in Blighty, a good resource is IKEA.

Let's dress up some fish ...

Lettuce, tomato, cucumber and egg are perfect accompaniments and you can serve your herring simply with an arranged salad.

You could stack them up and garnish with a prawn, or two, and a short slice of red onion. Make each stack unique with a different flavour - celery salt over one, paprika over another and tumeric over another.

You could make up sauces with those flavours from mayonnaise or soured cream to pour over.

Likewise, a vinaigrette of Scandinavian lingonberry and apple vinegar with some colourful gourmet cold pressed extra virgin rapeseed oil with chopped parsley and dill spooned over gives a nice sharp tang.

Either way, serve with Scandinavian or Russian Vodka, or Brennivín.

Skål!

Harissa Chicken

Harissa is a Tunisian spice paste made from a blend of chillis, garlic, herbs and other spices.

Rose Harissa is a gourmet paste that has the inclusion of rose petals, giving a deep colour as well as offsetting the unnecessary burn of the chilli.

The result? One seriously flavoursome paste which retains a good kick!

There are a number of recipes that you could follow to make your own Harissa, but they're all pretty much grinding down chillis, garlic, herbs and spices down in a pestle and mortar, adding in rose petals, grinding some more and softening it all up with oil.

I buy mine. I like the Belazu brand: "Rose petals are one of over forty spices added to give this paste its unique aroma and complex, yet unmistakably spicy, taste. Harissa was originally a staple of Tunisian cooking but is used throughout North Africa as a seasoning or condiment. It has a hot kick to it but the rose petals in the sauce provide a unique balance to the chilli heat."

Harissa can be spread over meat and roasted, added to soups and stews, spread over flat bread, the options almost limitless.

Here, we're going to combine it with yoghurt and marinate some chicken ...

Prepare the previous day.

Cut a couple of chicken breasts or thighs into pieces and place in a dish, cover with natural yoghurt that has been mixed with a couple of tablespoons of harissa and leave overnight to marinate.

The yoghurt will tenderise the chicken resulting in a soft, sumptuous dish.

Roughly chop an onion and place into an oven proof dish, spooning the chicken and yoghurt over.

Cook in the oven for 20 minutes at 200C.

Serve out over cauliflower couscous - heads of cauliflower grated and dried out slightly in the oven.

Baked Chilli Tortilla

Requiring both tortillas and a bechamel sauce, this dish relies heavily upon sorghum flour.

Sorghum flour is produced by grinding the seeds of amaranth grass from the flowers.

Seed - that's the important word. As a food source, it is used extensively on the Indian sub-continent, and as a potential paleo food source, it is gluten-free and has a lower phytate content and a lower lectin content than traditional grains.

First, let's get the Chilli con Carne going: Chilli Con Carne or Texas Chilli

Second, make up some tortilla following my recipe here: Sorghum Tortilla

Third, make up a bechamel sauce.

Bechamel is the simple combination of butter, flour and milk and heightened with a touch of nutmeg.

Melt some butter in a pan - a centimetre slice off the end of a block of butter will do just fine.

Sprinkle some flour into the butter and whisk. Still sloppy? Add more flour. Once the flour balls up and looks as if you should discard it and try again, pour in a little milk and whisk ... a little more milk, still whisking and a little more, until the sauce has come around to a thick sloppy sauce. About half to two thirds of a pint of milk is required. Spice with a little nutmeg.

Wrap the Chilli Con Carne in the sorghum tortilla and place into an ovenproof dish.

Pour over the bechamel sauce.

Sprinkle grated cheese over and commit to a pre-heated over set to 180C for about 20 minutes to cook through, soften the tortilla and melt the cheese.

Serve out and enjoy this thick, comforting meal.