Aug 14, 2011

Birthday Weekends. Chicken Tagine.

On birthday weekends, eating bread and butter pudding with ice cream for breakfast is perfectly acceptable.

I mean it's practically just toast and custard.  Which are both breakfast foods individually.

Do you remember this photo of the Danish Royal Twins back in April of this year?

Well, there they are in August - seven months old.  They're keeping me company in the She Shed  as I have a cup of tea and contemplate just how many Mini Oreos make up a single serve.  Unfortunately, it wasn't the whole cup full.

The Danish Royal family were having some kind of get together which is how Woman's Day managed to get these photos.  Personally, for a 44 page special exclusive of 'Brides and Babies' (!?!?!), I don't think there were enough different photos of Prince Vincent and Princess Josephine.

Image from
The other highlight of the issue though was a photo of Shane Warne's 'new look'.  He's lost so much weight and has gained a perma tan and a penchant for slim fit shirts and chunky gold accessories.  It's not been enough to keep my hand out of the Mini Oreos cup.

For dinner last night, I was inspired by Jamie Oliver's Marrakech travels and made a chicken tagine.

It was the first time I'd cooked with Dutch carrots.  I think root vegetables suit permatan orange much more than adult men.

The recipe also called for dates.  I used these fresh dates which came from the US.  They are stickier and softer than their Middle Eastern cousins but still deliciously earthy sweet.

It's just a suburban kitchen in Sydney, I know, but the air was punctuated with the scent of cumin, ginger and turmeric.

In another nod to cooking and spendy European kitchenware crazed suburbia, the vessel of choice for the tagine was this Le Creuset cherry red casserole dish and not an actual tagine.  Though I was tempted to order one from Kitchenware Direct....

It's a great recipe.  Easy but with a huge wow factor when served.  It is worth the effort of toasting the slivered almonds because they add a nutty savoury flavour to the sweetness of the chicken. Go with fresh dates if you can as well.

I'd better get going.  Busy day planned and we are off to yum cha for brunch today.  Big news, people, Mr SSG has been touched by the birthday spirit and we will be making a timed detour to Ikea.  On a Sunday.  It's going to be packed.  It's going to be loud.

Have a lovely day!


  1. Your tagine sounds divine! Happy birthday SSG, have a lovely weekend. (can't believe you're going to ikea!)

  2. Happy birthday SSG. I enjoy every minute reading your blog. However, I am a bit concerned about this expedition to Ikea. Ensure you eat a very nutritious brunch, beforehand, as we all know that Ikea can be fatal to marital harmony!

  3. The chicken dish sounds delish especially using dates. Very exotic.
    Ikea on Sunday, you are brave SSG.

  4. Yum yum, that chicken tangine looks delicious... as does the bread and butter pudding, and I agree that it's a perfectly acceptable weekend breakfast. I'm naughty and have porridge with custard on weekdays too...

  5. Shane Warne's new look freaks me out, what's going on with him? Anyway I hope you had a fabulous birthday weekend!

  6. Birthday weekends and weekends when hungover break all the "normal" food rules in my opinion...
    As for Shane Warne - massive transformation, in such a short time, ummm, not really sure what else to say!

  7. Happy birthday!!! looks like you had a great weekend and that chicken tangine looks amazing mmmmm xx

  8. It's the weekend for eating tagines! How was yours? I am making one for dinner tonight - from the Food Safari cookbook. I have my fingers crossed it will be delicious. I also made a huge pot of bolognese and a baked passionfruit and lemon slice. I think cooking is my version of nesting at the moment!

    I'm glad you had a lovely birthday. Some of the best birthdays are low key and spent at home. And I fully agree - brown bread and custard are both breakfast foods!

    K xx

  9. Bread & butter pudding for breakfast - its genius!

    I would love to see Shane in the flesh as it were- surely he cannot look this strange. He looks peculiarly sweaty here, but shurely our limp British summer can't have done that to him?

    Enjoy your birthday and get those elbows out in IKEA!xxx

  10. Happy birthday :)

    This is comic genius: 'I think root vegetables suit permatan orange much more than adult men.'




Related Posts with Thumbnails