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As mentioned in Day 86 of The Challenge When I was little I didn't like tapioca because it looked like (and sort of had the texture of) frogs eggs. As an adult I don't necessarily think that comparison untrue, but I have come to appreciate other aspects of it. It was a comfort food my dad made for me. It is creamy and rich and comforting. I had only ever had it plain, but had been wanting to make it, and happened to have a tub of quince slices in the syrup produced from boiling them, so I decided to combine the two and it came out quite delightfully. Ingredients: 3/4c tapioca 1 1/2 -2 c quince syrup (no added sugar, but just from cooking the quince in water) 1-1/2 c milk 1 1/2 tsp vanilla 1/2 tsp almond extract A handful of golden raisins 6-8 slices of quince 1/2 tbsp butter 2 tbsp cinnamon sugar 2 tsp ground almonds To serve: cream, brown sugar, cinnamon sugar, whatever takes your fancy. 1) Cook the tapioca and golden raisins in the quince syrup and milk, vanilla and almond extracts, stirring almost constantly, especially as it thickens, 15-20 minutes until the liquid is absorbed and the grain is cooked and tender. 2) In a small frying pan, melt the butter. Add the cinnamon sugar and cook until it melds with the butter and starts to caramelise. Add the quince slices and the almonds, stirring to coat the quince evenly in the cinnamon caramel and the almonds. 3) Spoon tapioca into small bowls and top with the quince slices. Serve with cream, brown or cinnamon sugar, cocoa spice or plain. This was exactly what I needed, traditional comfort food, but with something else to it too. The only drawback was the almond extract, which was perfect when hot, but then was a little overpowering when it cooled. If you plan to eat this cold, I would cut the almond extract in half or skip it all together.

As mentioned in Day 93 of The Challenge I saw a recipe title for pomegranate and chestnut chicken stew, but we're in lock down and I don't have pomegranates, and lost the recipe so couldn't really follow it (this seems to happen a lot...), so here is my own adaptation. It was scrumptious and I highly recommend it. The tart rosehips balance out the sweet chestnuts well, and the acidity tenderised the chicken. It was also quick to assemble. Ingredients: 2 tbsp olive oil 2 chicken legs 3 onions, thinly sliced 1 - 1 1/2 c rosehip purée (for more info on rosehips see here or here) 500g chestnuts, parboiled and peeled 1/2c pomegranate juice 2 large carrots, chopped a handful of potatoes, chopped some mushrooms, chopped 1 tsp thyme 1 tsp rosemary salt and pepper to taste 1) In a heavy bottomed pan, brown the chicken on both sides. Put the onions in around the chicken and let them cook gently with the chicken. 2) When the chicken has browned, spoon rosehip purée over the chicken, tuck other stew ingredients in around the chicken, and pour in the pomegranate juice and enough water to just cover everything. Season. 3) Bring to a simmer on the stove, then place in the oven at 180°C for about a half hour - 40 minutes, until the chicken is cooked through and tender. We had this with crusty bread. The leftover sauce and juices, thickened slightly, worked well as a spaghetti sauce the next night. The flavours were well balanced and delicate yet rich. I cannot recommend this enough!

As mentioned in Day 84 of The Challenge This is one of my favourite tarts (and for any of you who've been paying attention, I make a lot of tarts). The first time I made it was just before we were going to go away on a trip for a week, so I made mini tartlets and brought them with us so as not to have the onions rot while we were away. Sitting on our (very short) flight all I could smell was the onion wafting down from the over-head compartment... Maybe not my most socially conscious move ever, but by then it was too late. Anyway, they made for a really tasty picnic lunch on our adventures and I've been making this tart, in normal or mini form, ever since. Feel free to omit the tomato or bacon, add spinach, cut the cumin and replace it with some nutmeg or add cheese. All of these options work! Ingredients: 1 pie crust (for pie crust recipe, see here) Half a dozen onions, sliced 100g bacon, sliced 2 tbsp butter 1/4 c flour (scant) 2 eggs 100ml milk 200ml cream (I don't always use cream, sometimes I do it with just milk) 1/2 - 1 tbsp cumin 1 tomato, sliced salt and pepper to taste 1) Line a pie dish with the crust and poke with a fork. 2) Melt butter in a frying pan and fry the bacon with the onions until they are translucent. 3) Mix flour, eggs, milk, cream and cumin. 4) Spread onions and bacon on the pie base. Pour the egg and milk mix evenly over the onions. Place tomatoes on top. Salt and pepper to taste. 5) Bake at 190°C for 25-30 minutes. Serve hot or cold, as a main or a side. It holds its own either way, and I love it! Great finger food for little bit too!

As mentioned in Day 91 of The Challenge We first discovered this in out Taste of Persia cookbook by Naomi Duguid a few years ago, but it has since made it into our repertoire. I make it with all sorts of different ingredients, switching up both the toppings and the herbs which are mixed into the yogurt. In this iteration we used thyme, but I like it with mint too, or a mix or herbs. It is also topped nicely by some sumac in addition to the herbs. The topping used here was beets, but carrots, spinach or other vegetables work too. Sometimes I crispy fry the onions instead of sautéing them, thus adding another layer of texturing. Really, this is one you can play around with and make your own. As with many of the recipes I've adopted over the years, it started out Persian, but I don't know how recgonisable it would still be to a Persian. That doesn't stop it being good though! Ingredients: 1 large beet, chopped 1 kg Greek Yogurt 2 tsp thyme A pinch of salt pepper to taste 1 1/2 tbsp olive oil 1 onion, chopped A handful of almonds 1) Drain the yogurt through a cheese cloth for at least an hour. Mix with thyme, 1 tbsp olive oil, salt and pepper. 2) Roast the beets at 180°C for 20-30 minutes until tender. Dry toast almonds in a pan until lightly browned. Sauté onion in remaining olive oil until translucent. 3) Spoon thickened, seasoned yogurt into two bowls and top each with the beets, onions and almonds. Serve. It is as simple as that. It is a beautifully simple lunch, very satisfying, light and yet filling. I love this and only don't have it more often because I am too lazy to think ahead and drain the yogurt sometimes...

As mentioned on Day 79 of The Challenge Fondue is traditional here, and as old as our dear Alps. There are many different ways of making, from varying the cheeses and number of cheeses, to changing the cooking liquid - wine, cider, beer, water - or adding other ingredients - herbs, saffron, truffles, tomatoes. This is my favourite variant, pretty much the one I learnt from my father. I always make my in a cast iron enamelled caquelon as is traditional here. Always drink something either hot or acidic and non-carbonated -wine, juice, tea, NOT coke or water- with a fondue to avoid a stomach ache. As for what to dip, whatever takes your fancy and goes well with cheese. Traditionally, it tends to be bread, potatoes and pickles, but nowadays anything goes. We tend to also dip apples, charcuterie, tomatoes and onions. I have friends who dip pineapple as well. The choice is yours! Calculate about 150-250g of cheese per person (take into account who you are cooking for and what kind of appetites they have). I usually split the difference and make it about 200g per person. I make my fondue with local Swiss cheeses as much as possible, but when living in the UK I did make some half-way decent fondues with cheddars. The trick really is to balance mature and creamy cheeses to get the right texture and taste. And as with any recipe, taste and tweak as needed to suit your preferences. And for anyone not aware of the rules, it a man drops his dippable in the fondue, he buys the next bottle of wine, if a woman drops hers, she owes each of the men at the table a kiss on the cheek. Ingredients (for a 3 person fondue): 3 cloves of garlic 200g Gryuère, grated 200g Appenzeller, grated 200g Vacherin Fribourgeois, grated 1 -1 1/2 tbsp corn starch 1 1/2 -2 c white cooking wine (to be adjusted as needed) a shot of Kirsch Pepper (lots and lots of pepper) For dipping (your cubes need to be pretty big, about 2-2.5 cm): Crusty bread (eg baguette), half a loaf, cubed with a bit of crust on each cube 1 apple, cubed 300-500g of baby potatoes, boiled until al-dente (they need to be cooked, but not fall apart when you stab them) 1 onion, cut into eighths to make large sections for dipping charcuterie of your choice pickles Methylated spirits -(the kind you would take camping) for the flame under the caquelon - sterno gel does not burn hot enough. 1) Using your hands, mix your cheeses and corn starch thoroughly. To a certain extent, how much corn starch to use needs to be gauged by feel. The cheese needs to be coated but not feel gritty. Add a little more if it seems necessary. 2)Using your thumb or the heel of your hand, crush the garlic in the bottom of the caquelon and rub the bottom and sides of the pot all over with it. Most recipes then tell you to discard the garlic, and I suppose that if you are allergic to it that is what you should do, but as a normal human, I recommend leaving it in. The garlic cooking in the cheese magma is beautiful when you happen across it and a real treat! 3) Light your methylated spirits (being careful not to light the table on fire as you do so) and place the caquelon over the flame. Pour about half the wine into the caquelon and allow it to heat gently over the flame. Once it is a little warmed, add the cheese in handfuls, stirring well. 4) Add the kirsch, and pepper generously. Stir with a wooden spoon in a figure of 8, making sure to stir the bottom of the pot as well. As the cheese melts, add the rest of the wine. Make sure not to add too much though as you don't want it swimming. You want just enough for the cheese to melt smoothly. When it is ready, it is ready NOW. Don't let it sit as it will burn on the bottom. Dip any combination of dippables you want, and enjoy. (Tip: the bread is less likely to fall off the fork if you stab in crust last onto your fork). When all the cheese is gone, scrape up the crispy bit on the bottom, the religieuse, and share it out. It is arguably the best bit! EDIT: We have recently started dipping lightly steamed broccoli. Not what you might call traditional, but it works!

Challenge Update: What with getting sick and staying on top of things with a ten month old playing bumper trollies as often as he can, it's been a little while since I posted a challenge update, but that doesn't mean it hasn't continued! Still going strong with some new, some old and some experimental dishes, of sweet, savoury and soupy varieties. Here they are, recipes to some will be following soon (if there is one you might be particularly interested in but that I haven't posted a recipe for, just shoot me a message!). In terms of soups, we had a Butternut and Chestnut Cream Soup. I had seen the title of the recipe somewhere, got excited and then couldn't figure out where I had seen it and so made it up. And I am so glad I did! It was most tasty. We also had an old favourite, our Onion Tart for lunch, which is quick and easy but always satisfying. Another easy but tasty lunch is our take on a Persian Beet Borani. For mains, we tried a new twist on an oldie, making a Croûte au Fromage with apples, following a recipe my dad found, and it was delightful. We will definitely be revisiting that one! We made old stand-bys of chilli and Thai(ish) green curry. The new addition was the Rosehip and Chestnut Chicken Stew, which is delectable and I highly recommend! Dessert-wise, we played around some more with the new Orange-Date Cookie recipe, trying variations, and also made Quince Tapioca Pudding. I hope you enjoy these! As ever, comments are welcome...

As mentioned in Day 79 of The Challenge This was a hunch that I decided to follow and I am delighted I did. Both rosehips and pumpkins are in season just now and we have quite an abundance of both at the moment, so I decided to pair them up. I love traditional pumpkin pie (and will be making one soon), but wanted to try something different first. We had this with a dollop of plain yogurt and a sprinkling of cinnamon sugar. Ingredients: For the crust:(you can use a store bought crust if you want, but this is also very quick and easy, I promise! It is better if you have a half hour to let it chill before rolling it out, but it still works if you don't) 3/4 c flour 1/2 c cold butter, cut into pieces 1/4 c (approximate) milk 1 tsp of cinnamon sugar 1 small pumpkin, cut into 1.5cm thick arcs 2 c rosehip purée (made by simmering in boiling water then passing through a food mill or a sieve) 2 tbsp honey 1 tsp tandoori powder a pinch of salt 2 tsp cocoa spice 2 tsp of cinnamon sugar 1 tbsp butter, cut into pieces 1) To make crust, mix flour and salt. Cut in pieces of butter and mix together with fingertips until it forms a crumb like texture. Add water and mix with a fork, then knead into a soft dough. 2) Wrap in cling film and chill in the fridge for 30 minutes. 3) Roll out the pastry and line a pie dish with it, and stab it with a fork. 4) Mix the rosehip purée with the honey, tandoori powder, salt and cocoa spice. Spread on the pastry base. 5) Arrange the pumpkin on the rosehip mix, then sprinkle the cinnamon sugar and dot with the butter. Bake at 200°C for 35-40 minutes. This came out very well and just as I had pictured, except for the pumpkin I picked. It was less sweet than many of the others we have had recently. With the non-sweet pumpkin, the tart was tasty but it couldn't seem to decide whether it was lunch or dessert. My husband declares though that pumpkin or no he would eat an entire tart of the rosehip mix. It is quite an adult flavour (Not for a kid's birthday party, nor, it would seem, for my little sister), but a subtle and satisfying interplay of flavours.

Challenge Update: As ever this week, there were some old favourites, like the Honey-Mustard Glazed Chicken and Fondue, and new recipes like the Pumpkin Ginger Soup, the Butternut Bulgar Pilaf or the Carrot and Quince Soup. Some were experiments pure and simple, like the Apple Corn Muffins or the Pumpkin and Rosehip Tart. I say recipes, but they were all unwritten, only imaginings and musings of my own, sometimes shot through with inspiration from my dad, hubby or sister, and all tasty, although some could use a bit of tweaking.

As mentioned in Day 74 of The Challenge Have I mentioned that it's pumpkin season? Once or twice maybe... Here is a another new twist on pumpkin soup. This time it was smooth rather than chunky, but sweet and gingery. Tasty and warming, it made for an excellent lunch. Ingredients: 1 small pumpkin, chopped 2 parsnips, chopped 2 carrots, chopped 2 onions, chopped A 6 cm chunk of ginger (approx), peeled and diced 1 tbsp olive oil 1/2 c vinegar 1/2 c red cooking wine 1 tsp urfa biber (Turkish black chilli) 1 tsp fenugreek seeds Salt and Pepper to taste 1) Heat oil in a heavy-bottomed soup pot and sauté onions with the fenugreek seeds until the onions are translucent. Add ginger and cook for a few minutes until fragrant (you should be smelling the fenugreek by now too!) 2) Add the vegetables to the pot and cook for a couple of minutes before adding enough water to just cover the vegetables. Simmer until the vegetables are tender (I put my pot in my Wonderbag slow cooker once it had come to a simmer and went out for a walk in the meantime.) 3) Blitz the soup until smooth. Serve with crusty bread. So tasty and a beautiful variant to the traditional pumpkin spice soup. The carrots and parsnips add some sweetness and the ginger brings a nice heat, while the fenugreek (yes, more adventures in fenugreek exploration!) brings a warm fragrance to the soup. I do like the traditional one, but this one will be sticking around too.

As mentioned in Day 77 of The Challenge These were experimental, and came out very well. I wanted bread to go with our lunch. But we were out of bread, so I was going to make baking powder biscuits. But I was out of butter, so I decided to make corn muffins, but then realised that I had used the last of the eggs and milk already. So I made corn muffins with what I had - Apple sauce and apple juice instead of the eggs and milk. They were a bit sweeter than normal, and a little moister, but they worked! Ingredients: 1 c flour 1 c cornmeal 2 1/2 tsp baking powder 1/4 c sugar 2 eggs 1/4 c sunflower oil 3/4 c apple juice 3/4 c apple sauce 1) Mix together the dry ingredients. Gradually add the wet ingredients, mixing well to prevent lumps. 2) Spoon into muffin cups or into a prepared cake tin. 3) Bake at 200°C for 25-30 minutes. These worked very well? They are certainly more sweet than savoury, and worked best with just butter, no jam or chutney really did justice or had its own justice done on these muffins, but they were tasty never-the-less. In future, I might use a little less apple sauce, and probably cut the sugar a little. Definitely worth a try for a bit of variety though!