I have been eyeing up various packets of Ras-el-Hanout spice mix for what has been a quite ridiculous length of time.

I was terribly tempted to get some and then find out what to do with it, but knowing how quickly spices lose their best, I decided to go about it the other way around.

Hence, I’ve been looking at various recipes that involve the mix and quietly learning what the possibilities are.

The end result came about rather more quickly than I anticipated as hubby returned home from a shopping jaunt proudly brandishing a packet of Ras-el-Hanout.

I’d love to tell you what’s in this pack, but unfortunately the manufacturers are keen to keep the knowledge to themselves and haven’t provided a list.

Which does make me a tad worried as to whether we’re sprinkling our chicken with desiccated camel dung, but I have put my faith in “the Authorities” and hope that they did their work properly when authorising it for sale in the U.K.

However, I can tell you that it definitely contains cinnamon, clove and cumin. As to what all the other flavours are, well that’s up for conjecture.

My first go at using the spice mix was a casserole/tagine of sorts. We definitely enjoyed it, as it gave me the confidence to try the second dish where the spice mix is rather more the star of the show.

It involves sprinkling a chicken breast with the spice mix and then pan-frying. You then use the spicy oil to cook up a delicious sauce, involving onions, garlic, honey, lemon, chicken stock and coriander. Served up with sweet potato mash and oven-baked tomatoes, it really was glorious.

Interestingly, I also ventured into one of our local butchers for the three chicken breasts required. The cost came to rather more than I’d have wanted to pay, but having seen the size of the things once they were cooked and tasted the vast difference between that and frozen supermarket slop, it was definitely worth every penny.

My next dish of note was a Moussaka. Now you’re probably thinking, “what’s special about that?” and I can tell you that not only was it made with minced lamb from our local butcher, but also it wasn’t made with the ubiquitous cheese sauce that slathers most “Moussaka” dishes these days.

I had looked and looked for a recipe that echoed the Moussaka I would get from the little Greek Restaurant that used to be by the side of the County Hall in Kingston Upon Thames, many many moons ago.

That version didn’t carry a cheese sauce, it had a creamy eggy mixture that sat so well with the aubergines and lamb and was far nicer than coating everything in a claggy cheese sauce.

After a quite exhaustive search, I settled upon a recipe from Lotte Duncan. Although I can’t help but think that the onions she is used to getting wherever she lives, have got to be way smaller than the onions I’m used to getting – as no way was I putting five of the things into this recipe!

The minced lamb came from our local butcher (Spring Fields Catering Butchers) and was minced to order. When I put it into the hot pan to brown, the overpowering smell of sheep quite knocked me backwards.

However, that was soon replaced by a more rounded lamby smell that had my mouth watering. It was really quite remarkable, the difference between that lamb mince and the sort that comes from the Supermarket. Yes, it was slightly more expensive by about 80p or so, but the quality was far superior.

This Moussaka recipe not only didn’t include the cheese sauce, but also left out the potato that seems to have infested most Moussaka recipes. The aubergine slices I cooked in the oven, drizzled with oil, so as not to use the degree of oil that would be required to pan-fry them. With a layer of aubergine, then the lamb mince mixture (which had been cooked in red wine and herbs), then more aubergine, a layer of sliced tomatoes and a lamb stock/tomato puree mix poured over, it made the kitchen smell extremely interesting.

After 30 minutes of oven baking, you add the final flourish of an egg/cream mixture and return it to the oven to finish baking.

If I was to tell you that the three of us ate very well from it for dinner last night, and the remainder disappeared while I was at work today and son was at school, you’ll get some idea of how well received it was. It truly is a rare thing for hubby to tuck into leftovers – and to clear the plate, is unheard of.

That’s the ultimate objective – to provide good healthy food and have it enjoyed.