from west to east

a while ago, on Facebook, a friend of mine wrote about discovering culinary Turkey.

i ve been interested in 'mediterranean' cooking for quite some time now. not only Spanish, or Italian, or Greek... but, thinking about it, as Rick Stein so aptly described on one of his tv-shows: Mediterranean Escapes, this encompasses a vast vast area from Spain, Southern France, Italy, Greece, to Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, Israel, then Egypt, Libya, Tunisia, Algeria, and Morocco...! if you think about all the different food cultures, it s just mind-boggling.

of course, that mind-boggling aspect could be applied to just one country like India, or the whole of South-East Asia, and the different food cultures in China, Korea and Japan too.

however, i m not an expert, i just like to cook. and i m fascinated by spices and herbs and how people use the ones available to them to turn basic ingredients such as breads, yoghurts, vegetables, meats, etc. into something exciting.

i found a recipe for labne in one of my favorite cookery magazines and wanted to try making it. then i found a recipe for flatbreads with thyme, cheese and honey, and i had been wanting to make a very simple and delicious Moroccan carrot salad too... so i combined the three for a light supper.

LABNE:

INGREDIENTS:

300 gr natural Greek yoghurt
1 large clove of garlic, crushed with a little salt (this is optional)
cheese cloth
fine mesh sieve

METHOD:

mix the garlic with the yoghurt and strain through the cheesecloth and sieve for about 6-8 hours or longer for a firmer consistency.
add whatever herbs u like to make a dip. i added chopped parsley, mint, coriander and some za'atar and olive oil.

THE EASIEST FLATBREADS:
(adapted from a recipe i found on the Smitten Kitchen blog)

INGREDIENTS:
1 3/4 (220 gr) cup of plain flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (120 ml) water
1/3 cup (80 ml) olive oil

METHOD:
sieve the flour, baking powder and salt into a large bowl.
mix in the water and the olive oil.
knead well until it becomes an elastic dough (it will feel very oily, but you won t taste that once baked).
divide the dough into four balls and roll out to rough naan-shaped breads.
bake on a baking-paper lined baking sheet at 230°C for about 10-12 minutes until golden.

please do read the post on Smitten Kitchen, because here i diverted from her recipe, and instead of using the thyme and honey and the cheese, i opted for, you guessed it, a sprinkling of za'atar and sumac.

MOROCCAN CARROT SALAD:

INGREDIENTS:
about 8 to 10 medium-sized carrots
pepper and salt
a good handful of parsley, chopped
2 cloves of garlic, crushed
4 teaspoons pimentón (i used the picante or spicy one)
2 teaspoon cumin seeds (i lightly roasted and crushed them)
vinegar and olive oil

METHOD:
i took the easy road and peeled and sliced the carrots, then steamed them in a covered bowl in the microwave for about 8-10 minutes until al dente.
then i just very lightly mashed them with the garlic, the parsley (and also some chopped coriander because i love it), the spices and added vinegar and olive oil to taste. it should taste lightly sweet and sour.

Bismillah!

i think i will be travelling from west to east more often.

'what s in the fridge?' salads

sunday...

i often read about sunday roasts, the whole shebang, and relaxed lunches stretching well into lazy afternoons.

but at our house, because the weeks are often so hectic, sundays are more about doing, well, not too much, and often, it s about using up leftovers from the previous week when dinnertime comes around.

often, it will be pasta, maybe a carbonara, or garlic, chilli and tomato, nothing too complicated.

last sunday, we had had a little too much of the carbs, and were craving veggies but we weren t quite sure of what we had left in the fridge:

hmm, two half pots of pickled herring filets, some gherkins, capers...
oh, and i had some new potatoes, bell peppers, radishes...

how about a potato and herring salad with radishes then? and a grilled bell pepper with mozarella salad?

Sam made our usual homemade mayonnaise, and the dishes made for a great closure to an 'early-summer-clean'. (i know; YIKES! or should that be; YAY!)

POTATO AND RADISH SALAD WITH PICKLED HERRINGS

INGREDIENTS:

4 filets of pickled herring filets, cut into 2 cm pieces
a bunch of radishes, finely sliced
4 or 5 medium sized potatoes, cooked, cooled and sliced
capers, to taste
gherkins, to taste, chopped
mayonnaise, to taste
pepper and salt
any kind of soft herbs like chervil, chives, mint, dill, pimpernel etc. to taste

METHOD:

combine all ingredients, adjust seasoning and serve with crusty bread and a chilled rosé wine. ;-)

the bell pepper salad is pretty easy to make: just grill the peppers until the skins are blackened, leave to cool a bit, and remove the skin but don t wash the peppers so as not to lose the smoky flavor. then cut into strips and combine with slices or chunks of bufala (yes... it s a she!) mozzarella, olive oil, sherry vinegar and some salt and pepper. add some chopped thyme and basil if you like.

well, dessert was just some strawberries in cranberry/pomegranate syrup with lemony ricotta.

yumm.

(and my leftovers are used up to boot! our contribution to being more conscious about what we buy... and eat...)

ladies nite

every few months or so, three of my friends and i get together to share news, gossip, laughter, pain... and food. we ve known each other since our children were in kindergarten. but i hadn t seen them for a while until about two years ago, and we decided to meet up again more often.

usually we d go to a restaurant, but last night i cooked us a dinner, since one of us had had another baby, and it was just easier and more relaxed this way.

it would have been easy to opt for a pasta, but i just felt i needed a lot of veggies, prepared different ways. recently i d seen a few recipes that just clicked for me: James Martin s grilled scampi with a coriander marinade, Jamie Oliver s courgette salad with bocconcini (mini-mozarella to you & me), Gordon Ramsay s chocolate fondants (or moelleux, as they often say here).

as a starter, i went easy and just flamed a few different colored paprikas until blackened, then rubbed the skin away and was left with softly smoked strips of pepper. these i dressed with olive oil, lemon juice, salt and pepper and some chopped chili and basil leaves.

another starter was a charentais and a honeydew melon, just cut into chunks and served with prosciutto, sprinkled with lime zest and some lime juice.

had to adjust the recipe for the scampi, one of us is not really into coriander, but hey, tastes differ and that s the fun part. so i opted for a marinade of lemon juice, lemon zest, olive oil, grated garlic, grated onion and parsley. just combined these and tasted for extra seasoning, then marinated the little creatures with their heads still on for about 4 hours. the scampi were then griddled and brushed with some chili jam that my mother-in-law had made (which reminds me, i still have to get that recipe from her).

to go with the scampi i thought the green of Jamie s courgette salad (from his book 30-minute meals) with the little soft balls of mozarella would work perfectly.

and for dessert, i just had to try and make this, a chocolate fondant or moelleux! never made it before, and i d seen it fail so many times on different cookery programs, so i was very apprehensive. but my girlfriends, bless them, they would have gone for anything as long as it was something with chocolate ;-)

phew, they came out perfectly... and i really have to thank Gordon Ramsay for his recipe.
i just halved the ingredients and that was just right for four ramekins. all i needed to do was to add some warmed raspberries and a little whipped cream.

once in a while, it s good to get together... and share...