Recipes from Spice Journey, by Shane Delia

RABBIT STEW WITH SULTANA GREMOLATA

Serves 6

1 whole white farmed rabbit (about 800g)

60 ml olive oil

2 cinnamon sticks

¼ tsp ground cloves

1 tsp ground turmeric

½ tsp ground cumin

½ tsp ground coriander

2 brown onions, diced

3 tbsp light brown sugar

1 tsp salt flakes

1 tsp malt vinegar

3 tbsp tomato paste

750ml dry red wine

Sultana gremolata:

1 baguette

2 tbsp ghee (or clarified butter), melted

80g pine nuts, toasted

100g sultanas

small handful flat-leaf parsley, leaves picked

zest of 2 lemons

Break the rabbit into large chunks or ask your butcher to do this for you. Season with salt and freshly ground black pepper.

Heat two tablespoons of the olive oil in a flameproof casserole dish over high heat. Add the rabbit pieces and cook for a few minutes on each side until evenly browned. Remove the meat and set aside.

Add the spices, onion, sugar, salt and malt vinegar to the dish and cook for a few minutes until the onion has softened. Add the tomato paste and stir through, then return the rabbit to the dish, add the wine and cook for about 15 minutes until the sauce has thickened.

Add enough water to cover the rabbit, place a lid on top, and simmer for about 1½ hours or until the meat comes away from the bone. Remove the rabbit from the dish, gently pull the meat away from the bones and discard the bones.

Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 180C.

To make the sultana gremolata, put the baguette in a food processor and blend into a coarse crumb. Transfer the crumb onto a baking tray and pour over the ghee, coating evenly. Cook for 8 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from the oven and, while still hot, mix through the pine nuts, sultanas, parsley and lemon zest.

Divide the rabbit between six serving bowls and top with the sauce. Drizzle over the remaining oil, sprinkle over the sultana gremolata and serve.

CHOCOLATE AND PISTACHIO M'HENCHA

Serves 8

200g dark chocolate

350g pistachio nuts

130g palm sugar

pinch of saffron powder

1 tablespoon ground ginger

115g butter, melted

8 sheets filo pastry

Put the chocolate, pistachios, palm sugar, saffron, ginger and two tablespoons of the melted butter in a food processor and blend until finely ground (see note).

Preheat the oven to 180C. Line a baking tray with baking paper.

Open out the sheets of filo, keeping them in a pile so they don't dry out. Take one sheet and brush with a little melted butter.

Take lumps of the chocolate nut paste and roll into fingers. Place them end to end on the top sheet of filo, then roll the filo up into a roll the thickness of your thumb, tucking in the ends. Repeat with the other filo sheets, until the filling is used up.

Press the filo rolls together from both ends, like an accordion, to relax the pastry before coiling it to make eight small coils on the prepared baking tray.

Brush some extra butter over the pastry, then bake for 30 minutes or until golden and crisp.

Note: Filling can be made a day ahead of time and refrigerated until required. You can substitute different flavours for the filling, such as almonds, hazelnuts and walnuts.