West African cuisine takes centre stage in Maria Bradford's home cooking, featuring a spiced rack of lamb with a crust of peanuts and herbs, and hand pies made from plantain pastry filled with feta and onion. These dishes draw inspiration from night-time meat vendors in Freetown, Sierra Leone.
The lamb is coated in a spice mix of nutmeg, black cardamom, scotch bonnet flakes, ginger, garlic, onion powder, smoked paprika, salt and roasted peanuts, then pressed with a butter and breadcrumb crust. It is roasted at 220C for 20-25 minutes and served with a tomato and tarragon salad.
The hand pies use yellow plantains roasted until soft, then mashed and mixed with flour and salt to form a dough. The filling combines caramelised onion and crumbled feta. The pies are deep-fried and accompanied by a slow-roasted tomato salsa with scotch bonnet and coriander.
Bradford notes that tomatoes are integral to West African cooking, often forming a base for sauces with onions, chillies and spices like nutmeg and cumin. The recipes aim to recreate the bold, fiery flavours of Sierra Leonean street food.
