So, I’ve managed to notch up another four recipes in the last couple of days, which, frankly, is about right if I’m ever going to succeed in packing in the fifty-two new recipes in one year. Granted, I started late, but still, somehow I’ve lagged behind a bit recently, and the result is that I think I’ve only got about ten done, with forty-odd to go in under half a year. Ahem. That should prove interesting.

Anyway, of these four, I think I probably liked the spinach thing the best. It goes like this:

Spinach thingy
Ingredients
A wodge of fresh spinach, probably about eight large handfuls (chard would also do really nicely in this, I think, or amaranths)
Two large onions, chopped
A splosh of olive oil
About three cardamom pods, de-seeded
A pinch or so of ground cumin
A good handful or two of sultanas
A large sprinkling of toasted flaked almonds

Then…
Onions and oil in a pot, and fry. When they’ve softened a bit, add the spices, poke about, and then just chuck in the spinach and sultanas. Let the spinach wilt down, and pop the almonds on top. Stick in capacious bowl; retreat; scoff.

Spicy beans and Algerian cous-cous*
Ingredients
Black-eyed beans, a tin thereof
Chopped tomatoes, about ten thereof
A large sploosh of Tabasco
A large pinch of cumin
About ten cloves of garlic
Some marjoram

Then…
Stick the lot in a pan, bring to a nice bubbling simmer, and attempt not to rub your eyes with tabasco-ey hands. When the beans are cooked through (about five minutes or so, if you’re using tinned), you’re done. Yes, that quickly. Meanwhile, sort the cous-cous…

Algerian cous-cous
As much cous-cous as you think your greedy family will eat
About ten unsulphured apricots, chopped up
Zest of two large lemons
A veggie stockcube
A goodly knob of butter
A vigorous grinding of black pepper
Some parsley

Then…
Whack the cous-cous in with enough boiling water to cover it (I find that most packets ask for too much water, and suggest cooking for too long), pop in all the other bits and bats, mix it all abooot, stick a plate over the top and leave it to do its thing. (I also find this true of pasta, rice, bulghur wheat and that other grain which currently escapes me – boiling water, bring back to the boil, turn heat off, wait about fifteen minutes and it’s done.)

Great steaming heaps of this, the beans and the spinach, and you’re in for a minor feastette, without having broken the bank. (Apart from the tabasco; that said, in this particular instance, it is perhaps possible that the aforementioned sauce actually made its way to the car stuffed inside the small girl’s jumper, unbeknownst to me, and was thus, er, free, and only discovered on our return home. Let us draw a veil over this unfortunate criminal turn of events.)

When you’ve wolfed that lot down, you may find your mind wandering off to places sweet and sugary. That being so, my research tells me that a sticky bun might present a very valid conclusion indeed.

Sticky Buns
Ingredients
1 lb strong flour (I used half wholemeal, and half white)
1 tsp quick yeast
4 oz sugar
½ pint milk (I used soya)
4 oz butter
2 eggs
About 6 oz mixed dried fruit

Enough icing sugar and water to make up the right quantity of water icing; in our house, that means about two gallons of it

Then…
Pop (most of) the butter and (all of) the milk in a pan together and warm it gently until the butter melts. Leave that to one side to cool for a little while. Stick the flour, yeast and (most of) the sugar in a large bowl, and beat in the eggs. When the milk/butter has cooled a bit, pour that in, adding the fruit, and mix it all up into a nice sticky dough. Leave it somewhere warm to rise for about an hour and a half, then whip it out of the bowl, add enough flour to make it a kneadable substance and roll it out to about, oh, an inch in thickness. You’re looking for a long thin rectangle here. When you’ve found one (ahem), sprinkle a bit more fruit on, adding the remaining sugar and dotting a few knobs of the remaining butter about the place, before rolling the rectangle up along its longest side, as tightly as you can manage so that you get a really good spiral bun. This quantity made about twelve for me.

On to an oiled tray with them, and back to rise for another twenty minutes or so (or a half-hour if you forget all about them…) before they go into the oven at about 180&deg c for another twenty-minutes-or-so stint (keep an eye on them; some of mine caught a bit where they were near the back right of the oven, which is always the hottest bit in mine). When they’re lightly browned, whip ‘em out and leave them to cool on a nice wee tray. (As someone who is contemplating The Move From Nappies, I shouldn’t really be bandying about the concept of trays and wee, but hey: I live for kicks.)

While they’re cooling, rediscover your rather attractive but long-forgotten icing sugar (a natural pale fawn colour), and realise that it has long since abandoned the dust-like form it once preferred, in favour of that of small-to-medium rocks. Spend the next half-hour bashing the buggery out of it, and forcing it through a most unsympathetic (and thus deeply bouncy) sieve. Add far less water to the unpromisingly small quantity of sugary dust you end up with than you would ever think likely, and behold! water icing. Pour it over the now-just-warm buns, and, if you can, leave it to set a little bit. Alternatively, stuff them down with most unseemly haste, licking your lips, fingers, spoons, bowls and worktops when no-one (who matters) is looking.

* Which is probably about as Algerian as my wheelbarrow, but hey, I approximated, based on the coalition offered by several recipes.

** Oops. I forgot the rice recipe. It’s basically a load of chickpeas, hard-boiled eggs, potatoes, onions, saffron, brown rice, tabasco, garlic, carrots and leeks, all boiled up together over a very low heat for a very long time, with a gorgeous marmitey stock with tonnes of herbs. It’s quite a good ‘un, really. Anyone fancies the sound of that, I’ll pull my finger out and post it properly. If not, it will slide quietly into gentle oblivion.