Cinnamon recipes.

Three delicious, savoury recipes showcasing the 'Christmas' spice.

Meatballs in Tomato & Cinnamon Sauce

Serves: 3-4, Preparation time: 10 minutes, Cooking time: 55 minutes

Add a cinnamon stick to a tomatoes and you’ll get a rich, unctuous sauce you’ll be able to smell wafting through the house, just crying out for a couple of homemade meatballs to be dropped into it before being simmered for a while, until all of the different flavours have had a chance to meld together.

I do eat pork, but I come from a Jewish family so it is my first instinct to make my meatballs exclusively with beef: of course you can add some pork mince into these if you’d prefer, but I think the beef, another perfect partner to cinnamon, works perfectly on its own.

For the Meatballs

• 400g (14 oz) beef mince

• 3 tbsp panko breadcrumbs

• 1 large egg

• 1 tsp flaky sea salt

• 1/4 tsp dried oregano

• 1/4 tsp dried sage

• light oil

For the Sauce

• 1 brown onion

• 1 cinnamon stick

• sea salt

• 2 large garlic cloves

• 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon

• 4 tbsp port or red wine¹

• 1 x 400g (14 oz) tin chopped tomatoes

• 1 tsp golden caster (granulated) sugar

• freshly ground black pepper

• roughly chopped flat leaf parsley, to serve

• wholewheat couscous, to serve

1. To make the meatballs, place the beef in a large bowl and measure in the panko, egg, herbs and salt. With clean hands mix everything together until just uniform, and form the mixture into roughly 16 balls, just larger than a walnut. You’re aiming for about 4 meatballs per person.

2. Heat just enough oil to cover the bottom of a large frying pan over a high heat (the numbers on my hob go up to 9, and I usually fry my meatballs on 8) and fry the meatballs in batches until brown all over. Remove from the pan to a kitchen paper lined plate to soak up any excess oil.

3. To make the sauce, finely chop the onion and add it, along with another generous glug of oil, a good pinch of sea salt, and the cinnamon stick, brown in half, to another large lidded frying pan or a shallow casserole. Reduce the heat to medium and gently fry for 10 minutes or so until the onions are just starting to colour.

4. Peel and thinly slice the garlic, stir it into the onions and cook for another 5 minutes until translucent. Add the ground cinnamon and cook for a further minute before adding the port or red wine, and allow it to bubble away, deglazing the bottom of the pan as it cooks down.

5. Stir in the chopped tomatoes as well as a splash of water, just enough to wash any extra tomato juice out of the can. Stir in the sugar as well as a generous amount of seasoning before adding the meatballs. Stir to coat in the sauce and raise the heat to bring it to the boil. Then, clap on the lid, reduce the heat to low, and allow to simmer for 20 minutes.

6. Remove the lid and allow to cook for a further 10 minutes to reduce the sauce. Season to taste and serve scattered with flat leaf parsley and alongside wholewheat couscous, if liked.

---

Grated Carrot Salad with Cinnamon, Coriander & Pistachios

Serves: 4, Preparation time: 20 minutes, Cooking time: 5 minutes

I know it probably has something to do with all the new cookbooks I usually spend the week between Christmas and New Year reading but the moment we’re done with Christmas dinner I’m ready for something fresh, bright and vibrant. This year what I’m sure I’m going to be craving is this salad. It’s got brightness from freshly squeezed lemon and orange juice, and a slight North African flavour from the cinnamon and coriander that adds warmth to this bowlful of humble, yet vibrant carrot.

It keeps very well for a few days in the fridge, too.

• 550g (1 lb 3 oz) carrots

• 1 tsp coriander seeds

• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

• 1/2 tsp flaky sea salt

• 4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

• 1 tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice, plus extra to taste

• 1/2 tbsp freshly squeezed orange juice

• 60g (2 oz) pistachios

• 30g (1 oz) pack fresh coriander (cilantro), leaves only

1. Peel and grate the carrots on the largest hole of your box grater. Transfer to a large bowl.

2. Toast the coriander seeds over a medium high heat in a dry frying pan for a few minutes until they are fragrant and starting to pop.² Transfer to a mortar and pestle and pound until they’re broken up, but still have some texture.

3. Add the cinnamon, sea salt, oil, lemon juice, and orange juice, and whisk until combined.

4. Roughly chop the pistachios, then the coriander. Add them, along with the dressing to the carrots and toss well. Season to taste with more lemon juice and sea salt if needed before serving.

---

Caramelised Onion & Cinnamon Rice

Serves: 2, Preparation time: 5 minutes, Cooking time: 20 minutes

This spiced rice recipe - initially topped with burnt onions - has made it’s way to me via my best friend’s kitchen, from her parents British Pakistani home. I’ve softened the onions into quick caramelisation - easier for me to watch while I’m cooking whatever I’m serving this with - and adapted it so that you don’t need the accuracy of heat a gas stove provides in case you, like me, don’t have one. With it’s gentle spices it is not too much of one thing, but if you had to put your finger on it, the sweet, comforting tone of cinnamon is it’s predominant flavour.

Happily because of my adaptations it is easily scaled up (don’t bother scaling it down, it is delicious cold for lunch the next day with a dollop of yogurt and a dab of mango chutney) to feed a crowd, and if you’d like to make this vegan, leave out the butter and just use more oil, which is how the recipe came to me in the first place.

• 120g (4 1/4 oz) white basmati rice

• unsalted butter

• light oil

• 1 small brown onion

• 1/2 tsp flaky sea salt, plus extra to taste

• large handful mixed nuts (I used pistachios and cashews)

• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

• 1/4 tsp cumin seeds

• 1/4 tsp ground turmeric

• juice of 1/4 lemon

1. Cook the rice in a pan of boiling, salted water for 12 minutes. Drain and leave to sit in the sieve for at least 5 minutes to steam.

2. Meanwhile, heat a knob of butter and a glug of oil in a medium frying pan set over a high heat. Peel and thinly slice the onion into half moons and add to the pan along with the salt. Cook for 8-10 minutes until soft, golden, and very browned.

3. Roughly chop the nuts and add them to the pan, cooking for a few more minutes until they start to colour. Remove half the mixture from the pan to use as a garnish.

4. Add the spices and cook for a minute more until aromatic before stirring another knob of butter into the pan, followed by the rice. Stir until the rice is coated in the spice mixture and remove from the heat. Add more salt if needed.

5. Serve on a platter squeezed with the lemon juice and topped with the reserved onions and nuts.

1. Port adds a beautiful richness to this sauce, and as it is Christmas you may well have some open. If so, use it here. If not, as port once open tends to spoil too quickly for my liking red wine would make a fine substitute.

2. I’m actually a fan of raw, un-toasted pistachios as I think they absorb the dressing better, but if you prefer yours toasted you’ll want to do them at this stage.