spicy egg, meatball and tomato tagine (Kefta mkaouara) and a book recommendation

A little while ago I made a bit of an impulse buy of Rick Steins Mediterranean Escapes, a cookbook to accompany the TV series. I had just been watching the TV programme and went and bought the book straight after.The book has recipes from all over the Mediterranean, places such as Sicily, Corfu and North Africa. Rick Steins passion for the food of the region really comes across, his words inspire me to get into the kitchen and cook! The recipes themselves on the whole are easy to cook at home although there are a few more challenging recipes thrown in.
One of the great things is, these are authentic recipes he has collected from his tour of the area. I think what I like best about this book however is the fantastic photography, both of the food and the area it comes from, if the words don't inspire you the photos will!

On to the recipe! A North African dish of spicy egg, meatball and tomato tagine, or as it's properly called Kefta Mkaouara (try and pronounce that!). I was particularly drawn to this recipe as I love meatballs and this puts a different spin on my usual Italian style meatballs and pasta. These meatballs which can be beef or lamb (I used beef but I guess lamb is more authentic) are flavoured with cumin and paprika and are cooked in a tomato sauce flavoured with the same spices, they are traditionally served with flatbread.The meatballs are left to simmer in the sauce and then a few minutes before serving, another unusual twist, eggs are cracked over the top and left to cook! This seemed strange to me but good at the same time.
I served this with pitta bread and vegetables and thought it was fantastic, it looks great too and is so easy I will be doing this again.

The recipe is available here: spicy egg, meatball and tomato tagine

Cheerful tray-baked chicken

I love how bright and colourful this dish is, it looks fantastic and best of all it's really easy. As it's finally warming up a bit now (at last!) I felt like cooking something summery, I had some chicken in the fridge, yet more leftover pesto which seems to keep appearing! and some really good bacon. after a quick trip to the shops i also had a good selection of Mediterranean vegetables: an aubergine, courgette's, tomatoes, mushrooms and olives.

All I did was rub pesto over the chicken and wrap it in bacon. I chopped the vegetables tossed them in olive oil, balsamic vinegar, white wine, a few herbs, salt and pepper. whacked them in a baking tray, put the chicken on top and into the oven on quite high until it was nicely cooked. I basted everything every now and then to stop it going dry and it came out great and so simple.

I served my chicken with couscous and poured the juices from the tray over the top.
This is such a good way to cook and has endless variations, it would be great with fish, or pork chops and any selection of veg that takes your fancy, (try to choose a good selection of colours). Asparagus and fish would be a good combo about now.