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Posts Tagged ‘Black lime’

Middle Eastern Pasta Bake

Posted in Beef, Food, Lamb, Pasta, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , on 19 August 2025| 1 Comment »

We’re loving Lugma by Noor Murad and this pasta bake is a definate crowd pleaser.

Wine Suggestion: It was a toss up between a rich white and a warm, ripe red like the Condado de Haza Crianza from Ribera de Duero which we ended up pairing with this dish. Rich and deep from the sunshine in Spain, but with an elegance and freshness plus warm spices that make this a great combo.

Middle Eastern Pasta Bake – serves 4 to 6

FOR THE RAGU:

  • 2 tbsp olive oil
  • 1 onion, finely chopped
  • 1 carrot, peeled and finely chopped
  • 1 green pepper, finely chopped
  • 4 garlic cloves, finely chopped
  • 300g beef mince
  • 300g lamb mince
  • 2 cinnamon sticks
  • 3 fresh bay leaves
  • 1 black dried lime, pierced a couple of times with a sharp knife
  • 2 red chillies, pierced a couple of times with a sharp knife
  • seeds from 15 cardamom pods, finely crushed with a pestle and mortar
  • 1 tbsp cumin seeds, finely crushed with a pestle and mortar
  • 2 tsp coriander seeds, finely crushed with a pestle and mortar
  • 1 tsp Aleppo chilli flakes
  • 1½ tsp dried oregano
  • 1½ tbsp tomato purée
  • 1 chicken stock cube
  • 400g tin plum tomatoes, puréed
  • 150ml full-fat milk
  • 20g coriander, roughly chopped

FOR THE PASTA BAKE:

  • 300g rigatoni pasta
  • 125g feta, rouglhy crumbled
  • 125g buffalo mozzarella, roughly torn
  • 25g pine nuts, well toasted
  • 10g coriander, leaves and soft stems roughly chopped

Make the sauce first by heating the olive oil in a large, deep sauté pan over a medium-high heat. Add the onion, carrot and pepper and cook for about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for 2 more minutes. Stir in the beef and lamb mince and cook for 10 minutes, breaking the mince up with a wooden spoon so it is finely crumbled. Allow the liquid to cook off and the mince will start to brown. Stir in the cinnamon sticks, bay leaves, dried lime, chillies, spices, oregano, tomato purée, stock cube, 1 tsp of salt and plenty of black pepper. Fry for a couple of minutes until fragrant, then pour in the puréed tomatoes and 300ml of water. Bring to a simmer then reduce the heat to the lowest setting and cover with a lid. Leave to cook for 2 hours, stirring every 25 minutes. You should end up with a thick and rich sauce.

Pour in the milk, cover and cook for another 25 minutes. Set aside to cool a bit, then pick out and discard the cinnamon sticks and bay leaves. Remove the dried lime, squeezing any juice into the sauce. Add the chopped coriander. You can now use the sauce or stick it in the fridge or freezer until ready to use.

Heat the oven to 200C fan.

Bring a large pan of water to the boil and add 2 tsp of salt. Cook the pasta in the water until al dente. Remove 130ml of the pasta water before draining in a colander.

You will need a baking dish about 23 x 33cm. Add the drained pasta, the ragu and the reserved pasta cooking water and mix to combine. Pick out the whole chillies and lay over the top, then sprinkle over the feta and mozzarella. Bake for 30 minutes or until browned and crispy.

Sprinkle over the pine nuts and fresh coriander, then serve.

(Original recipe from Lugma by Noor Murad, Quadrille, 2025.)

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Bavette Steak with Black Lime & Maple Butter

Posted in Barbecue, Beef, Food, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , on 27 October 2022| Leave a Comment »

A delicious steak recipe from Mezcla by Ixta Belfrage. Ixta fries the steak in a pan over a high heat, we used a barbecue – fabulous flavours either way. You will need to grind about 3 black limes to get enough for the marinade and the butter.

Wine Suggestion: Thanks to our friends Tim & Mick, who’ve been travelling recently, we had an excellent Öküzgözü from Turkey which was regal, refined, and a delightful surprise. We wish we could remember the name of the winery as we forgot to take a picture and the bottle recycling was done the next day before we remembered! Full of black cherry, raspberry, and dark mulberry flavours; this was complex and had layers of dark chocolate, licorice, leather, tobacco, cloves, and something slightly herbal and minty, but we couldn’t put our finger on what.

Bavette steak with black lime & maple butter – serves 4

  • 500g bavette steak, cut into 3 equal pieces
  • 300g ripe tomatoes
  • ½ red onion
  • 1 lemon, cut into wedges, to serve

FOR THE MARINADE:

  • 1 tsp fine salt
  • 3 tbsp olive oil
  • 1 tsp Urfa chili flakes (we used a mixture of smoked paprika and aleppo pepper)
  • 1½ tsp ground black lime
  • about 50 twists of black pepper

FOR THE SOY AND MAPLE BUTTER:

  • 40g ghee or unsalted butter
  • 1 tbsp soy sauce or tamari
  • 2½ tsp maple syrup
  • ½ a small clove of garlic, finely grated
  • ¾ tsp ground black lime
  • ¾ tsp Urfa chilli flakes (see above)

Pat the steak dry and put into a large bowl. Add all the marinade ingredients and rub into the steaks. Leave aside for 10 minutes or up to 1 hour (you can do this further ahead and leave in the fridge but make sure you bring them back to room temperature before cooking).

Get your barbecue very hot, then sear the steaks for 2 minutes on each side, you want them dark brown on the outside but rare in the middle. Transfer to a warm plate and rest for 8 minutes, turning over halfway.

While the steaks are resting, slice the tomatoes and onions and arrange on a platter. Sprinkle with ½ tsp flaked salt.

Melt the ghee in a small saucepan over a medium heat. When it is melted and hot, remove from the heat and stir in the soy sauce, maple syrup, garlic, black lime and chilli flakes.

Slice the bavette against the grain and arrange over the onions and tomatoes. Sprinkle with some sea salt, then spoon over the soy and maple butter and serve with the lemon wedges on the side.

(Original recipe from Mezcla by Ixta Belfrage, Ebury Press, 2022.)

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Corn Ribs with Black Lime and Pumpkin Seed Butter

Posted in Food, Gluten-free, Vegetarian, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , on 8 October 2021| Leave a Comment »

Truly original and truly delicious. Try them while we’ve got fresh corn cobs in the shops. Black limes are trendy at the moment but if you can’t find them you can use grated lime zest instead.

Corn ribs with black lime and pumpkin seed butter – serves 4 as a starter

  • 3 corn cobs, husks removed
  • 1.3 litres sunflower oil, for deep-frying
  • 1½ tsp runny honey

FOR THE BUTTER

  • 25g pumpkin seeds
  • 60g unsalted butter, softened
  • 1-2 dried black limes, roughly broken, then whizzed to a powder using spice grainder to get 2¼ tsp (if you don’t have black limes you can substitute grated lime zest)

Preheat the oven to 160C fan.

Spread the pumpkin seeds over a small baking tray and toast in the oven until golden-brown and starting to split, about 10 minutes. Coarsely blitz in a spice grinder (or finely chop) and allow to cool for 10 minutes.

Mix the butter with 2 tsp of the ground black lime, the chopped pumpkin seeds and 1 tsp flaked sea salt to combine. You can make this ahead but remove from the fridge half an hour before you need it.

Cut the corn cobs in half widthways, then cut each half lengthways into quarters.

Heat the oil in a medium, high-sided saucepan on a medium heat. When very hot (about 180C if you have a probe), test by lowering in the end of a piece of corn; it should sizzle but not turn brown immediatley.

Fry the corn in batches for 6-7 minutes, turning a few times until they have curled and turned golden brown. Remove with a slotted spoon and drain on kitchen paper. Transfer the cooked corn to a bowl and toss with the honey and 1½ tsp of sea salt flakes.

Serve the corn on a platter with the butter on the side and sprinkle with the rest of the ground lime.

(Original recipe from Ottolenghi Flavour by Yotam Ottolenghi and Ixta Belfrage, Ebury Press, 2020.)

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