Lamb and Olive, Chickpeas and spinach with honeyed sweet potato

Naomi is 51!! Rather than go out for lunch on Sunday a group of us celebrated here with a morrocan based main course followed by limoncello plum tart and very rich chocolate torte for those who had room afterwards curtesy of Jane MH.

Lamb, Olive and Caramelised Onion Tagine
Nigella Lawsons Lamb, olive and caramelised onion tagine was made using 3-4 sliced red onions gently fried in olive oil with a couple of teaspoons of sugar added once the onions are soft rather than the jar that Nigella has in her list of ingrediants.

Along with the honeyed sweet potato and chickpea dish below this was served with

• a pile of couscous that had a large handful of coriander, chopped, and seeds from large pomegranate stirred through it
• bowl of greek yoghurt that had crushed clove garlic and half teaspoon of dried oregenao mixed into it and olive oil drizzled over it.

Chickpeas and spinach with honeyed sweet potato
Not sure who was the original creator of this recipe. There are a number of similar recipes on the internet. The below is based on photocopy given to me by a chum with slight variations (as normal!).

500g sweet potatoes peeled and sliced 2.5cm thick pieces
700ml water
50g butter
4tbsp honey
salt

400g tin chickpeas, drained
2bsp olive oil
1 onion finely chopped
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp coriander seeds
1tbsp tomato puree
400g tin chopped tomatoes
1tsp sugar
1.5 tsp ground cumin
100g baby spinach

Put sweet potatoes, water, butter, honey with pinch of salt into wide saucepan. Bring to boil and simmer until sweet potato is close to tender. If there is large amount of liquid (which there always is for me) remove sweet potato with a slotted spoon and reduce the liquid to a sticky consistancy. Gently turn sweet potato back into sauce and keep warm.

In the meantime/in parallel - fry onion and seeds in oil until onion is golden brown. Add tomatao puree and cook for a minute stirring constantly. Add tinned toms sugar and ground cumin. Cook for 5 mins on medium heat then add spinach and chick peeas and season with salt and pepper. Cook for a further 5 mins and then check and adjust seasoning.

Serve with the sweet potatoe slices arranged on top of the chickpea and spinach mixture. Decorate with some coriander leaves



Now to find out which recipe Jane used for the limoncello and plum tart!