The Libaliano Kitchen - Lebanese and Italian Cooking Classes and Recipes from London

Maria Rosario Lazzati Niada

2022-02-03T10:51:00.001+00:00

Today The Libaliano Kitchen lost its taste.

My friend and cooking partner Maria Rosario Lazzati Niada passed away.

Maria was an adventurous, courageous and generous soul. She was an instinctive ambassador to Italian food and culture though she was always curious to see the world. She travelled to Lebanon on many occasions, interested in meeting people, making new friends, and delighting in the food.

She was always busy cooking, and enjoyed sharing dishes with friends and neighbours. You could always see her carrying a bag of food that she would deliver to one person who was sick in bed, to another who had given birth, or to a young student who was new to London. Her dinner parties, were always diverse, full of colour, and taste. She would often say that the essence of food is conviviality and her fare was a natural expression of her generous and lively spirit.

Maria, my friend, I will miss you.

Cooking, talking, and writing about food will never be the same again.

My heart goes to her family, Marco her husband and Andrea her son

Panzanella tiepida - Tepid Tomato and Bread Salad

2017-09-11T17:28:00.000+01:00

Panzanella is a summer salad from Tuscany, made with stale bread mixed with plenty of raw tomatoes, red onions, peppers and cucumber, and dressed with basil, oil and vinegar.

Here I make a tepid panzanella to celebrate the best tomatoes of the end of summer. I add sautéed onions, anchovies, capers, olives, basil and mozzarella to my salad to create a true Mediterranean dish.

To enhance the flavour of the great variety of tomatoes I got from the market, I quick bake them with oregano and garlic cloves, with a drizzle of olive oil.

In the meantime, I sauté two blond onions in little oil for 10-15 minutes on low heat. They will give an extra touch of sweetness to the dish.

As for the bread, I simply use chunks of stale baguette I gently bake for 10 minutes, to have them crunchy. And the salad is done.

The secret: I combine the ingredients at the very last moment, just before serving, to keep their individual taste and texture.

Panzanella tiepida

Tepid Tomato and Bread Salad

700 g mixed tomatoes, roughly chopped
1 garlic clove, halved
1 tablespoon oregano
2 onions, peeled and finely sliced
60 g stale bread in chunks
6 anchovies in oil, roughly chopped
1 tablespoon capers in salt
12 black olives, pitted
2 small buffalo mozzarella, chopped
Few fresh basil leaves, torn
Extra virgin oil
Sea salt
Black pepper

Serves 4
Preparation time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 25 minutes

1. Preheat the oven to 200 C.

2. Line an oven tray with parchment and place the chopped tomatoes and garlic over it. Sprinkle with oregano and salt and drizzle with oil. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes, no longer than that, as you want to get crunchy tomatoes. Remove from the oven and keep warm.

3. Switch the oven off and leave the bread inside for 10 minutes, on an oven tray.

4. Meanwhile, in a pan, heat one tablespoon of oil and gently soften the onions with a pinch of salt on low heat for 10-15 minutes, until soft but not browned. Add water, if necessary.

5. With your hand, tear the mozzarella into chunks.

6. In a serving dish arrange the tomatoes, the bread, the anchovies, the capers and the olives, the basil and finally the mozzarella. Give a good stir and dress with oil, salt and pepper.

7. Serve at once.

Aromatic Broad Bean Spread

2017-06-26T18:01:00.000+01:00

In June, Broad beans or Fresh Lima beans are abundant. Now is the time to pick, shell and freeze some for winter. Of course you can simply enjoy eating the beans dipped in salt or with a piece of cheese, as a nibble, with your drink. If you wanted to go further, these little green treasures are delicious cooked with coriander and rice.

Here in the Libaliano Kitchen we love them creamed and spread on a slice of bread.

Recipe from our book 'Beans and Friends'

Aromatic Broad Bean Spread

Do not skin the beans, they will retain more taste and body.

Spread on good quality bread.

500 g fresh broad beans

75 g Pecorino cheese, grated

40 g pistachios, toasted

25 g basil leaves

50 ml Olive oil

Sea salt

Serves 6 to 8

Preparation time: 12 minutes

Cooking time: 3 minutes

Place the beans in a pan and cover with water.
Bring to the boil and blanch for 3 minutes. Strain and set aside to cool.
In a frying pan, toast the pistachios over medium heat for 3 to 4 minutes.
Place the beans in a food processor and pulse a few times to grind them roughly.
While the machine is still running, add the pistachios, basil and salt; incorporate the Pecorino cheese and finally drizzle the olive oil.
Taste, adjust the seasoning, and serve with bread.

Polpette di pollo - Chicken Boulettes

2017-01-26T13:02:00.001+00:00

I like meatballs because they give me the chance to combine different ingredients, herbs, spices, bread, egg, vegetables, cheese, and the final result is never too 'meaty'.

Chicken boulettes are my favourite ones, so light and delicate. Since I started making my own organic minced chicken, I prepare them quite often. The only trick is to chop the chicken breast into 2 cm cubes and freeze them for 30 minutes. This makes it easy to blend the meat in a blender. Just pulse few time in order to have a coarse mince.

I wanted boulettes with a Mediterranean flavour so I added a red onion, sun-dried tomatoes in oil, balsamic vinegar and parsley. Bread and egg help to keep the ingredients together.

Polpette di pollo
Chicken Boulettes

For the meatballs:
400 g best quality lean minced chicken
20 g bread, crust removed, torn in pieces
Milk to soak the bread
50 g sun-dried tomatoes in oil, chopped
50 g red onion, finely chopped
1 egg, beaten
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
15 g flat-leaf parsley, chopped
Sea salt and black pepper
Plain flour to coat
For the sauce:
2 tablespoons olive oil
100 ml dry white wine
1 ladleful vegetable/chicken stock

Serves 4
Preparation time: 20 minutes
Cooking time: 20 minutes
1. In a small bowl, soak the bread in the milk for 10 minutes. Drain and squeeze.

2. In a large bowl, combine the meat with the bread, the tomatoes, the onion, the egg, the vinegar and the parsley. Season with salt and black pepper. Use your hands to mix all the ingredients thoroughly.

3. Flour your hands. Shape the mixture – about one tablespoon at a time – into balls, with the help of your hands. Coat each one with more flour. Arrange them on a chopping board.

4. In a large frying pan, heat the oil and sauté the meatballs on medium-high heat, until nicely brown all over, for 4 to 5 minutes. Stir and roll frequently.

5. Pour in the wine and leave to evaporate. Pour in the stock and lower the heat. Cover the pan with a lid. Cook gently for 15 minutes, over low heat. Stir occasionally.

6. Serve with any grain you like. Here I serve it with freekeh dressed with basil pesto and sun-dried tomatoes.

Mediterranean Feta, Tomato and Olive tart

2017-01-11T16:38:00.001+00:00

Start the year with simple and tasty foods such as this feta, olive and tomato tart that is warming and delicious.

http://www.claudecooks.com/?p=1087&preview=true

Lentil, Tomato and Aubergine Stew

2016-10-21T18:48:00.000+01:00

We love lentils so much that the first book of our trilogy on pulses was dedicated to this small and ancient ingredient, with 58 traditional and contemporary recipes from the Mediterranean.
Yet, here we are with a new dish, as we keep on exploring different combinations around this easy going pulse. No soaking needed, quick cooking time.

Here we use the small brown lentils from Umbria, Italy along with aubergine, ripe vine tomatoes, red onions and plenty of fresh flat-leaf parsley. A truly Mediterranean dish. The secret: we cook each ingredient in a separate and different way, to enhance their single flavour and texture. We braise onion and lentils together.

We sauté the aubergine in little oil until soft and sweet, and we season it with oregano.

On the other hand, we quickly bake the tomatoes and leave them in the switched off oven for a while.

Once cooked, we gently combine all the ingredients together, with plenty of fresh flat-leaf parsley.

We serve it warm on its own or pairing with any cheese, meat, fish.

Lentil, Tomato and Aubergine Stew

1 large red onion, peeled and chopped

200 g small brown lentils

600 vine tomatoes, halved

2 tablespoons dried oregano
1 medium aubergine, half peeled and diced
500 ml litre water
100 g fresh flat-leaf parsley, chopped
Sea salt and black pepper
1 teaspoon allspice
Extra virgin oil

Serves 4 to 5

Preparation time: 10 minutes

Cooking time: 60 minutes

1. Heat one tablespoon of oil in a medium saucepan and soften the onion with a pinch of salt for 5 minutes on low heat, until translucent.

2. Stir in the lentils and sauté for 1 minute.

3. Pour in the water, hot, and leave to simmer for 35 to 40 minutes, covered, until just tender. You do not want mushy lentils. Stir occasionally with a wooden spoon.

4. Adjust the seasoning and add the spice.

5. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 200°C

6. Arrange the tomatoes over an oven tin, cut-side up. Sprinkle with salt and half of the oregano and drizzle with oil.

7. Bake for exactly 3 minutes. Switch the oven off and leave the tomatoes inside, without opening the door, for 20 minutes. Remove. Leave to cool and chop.

8. In a medium frying pan, heat 1 tablespoon of oil and sauté the aubergine with a pinch of salt for 10 minutes over medium-height heat, stirring frequently. Sprinkle with the remaining oregano.

9. Add the tomatoes and the aubergine to the lentils. Stir in the parsley and drizzle with oil.

10. Serve warm.

Chickpea and Meat Ball Soup

2016-10-09T00:32:00.000+01:00

A perfect soup for a rainy day.

http://www.claudecooks.com/recipes/chickpea-and-meatball-soup/

Red Lentil and Seafood Soup

2016-05-17T19:32:00.000+01:00

I met a charming lady last night who is into grains, Maria Speck, a published and award winning food author. I looked through her excellent book 'Simply Ancients Grains', and I became aware that I often take grains and also pulses for granted; why? because they belong to my daily world, to my own food culture.

In Lebanon and in the Levant in general, more than 50 per cent of the recipes are with grains and pulses. They are the building blocks of a varied and healthy kitchen. People have relied on them for millennia, for sustenance, for growth and for economic development and yet today, if they are seen as healthy, they are still considered frugal. They need not be; they combine beautifully with the most exclusive ingredients, and there's a whole world of compositions that will tempt the most discerning palate.

When I was researching recipes about lentils for our book 'Lentils: traditional and modern recipes from the Mediterranean', I realised that in the traditional Lebanese kitchen, we cooked fish and we cooked lentils, but never lentils and fish together. An idea sprouted, and I worked on building a soup which married land and sea, red lentil soup with fish and seafood. Here is how its cooked.

Red Lentil and Fish Soup

This recipe is in our book : 'Lentils: Traditional and Contemporary Recipes from the Mediterranean', Tamyras, Beirut

Cooking time: 65 minutes

Preparation time: 25 minutes

Serves 6

250 g red lentils

2 celery sticks, finely chopped

3 banana shallots, finely chopped

½ fennel bulb, finely chopped

1 large carrot, finely chopped

500 g mussels

100 ml dry white wine

2 garlic cloves, chopped

1 pinch of saffron, soaked in a little water

1 teaspoon hot paprika

½ teaspoon black pepper

1 tablespoon tomato paste

3 sprigs of lemon thyme

2/3 bay leaves

500 g sea bass, roasted and then flaked

180 g prawns

Extra virgin olive oil

1.3 L water

Sea salt

1. Wash the mussels under running water, trim off their beards and brush to remove sand and grit; leave them to soak in cold water and discard any that are broken or have remained open.

2. Heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a deep pan, and cook half the shallots until soft.

3. Strain the mussels and toss them in the onions for 3 to 4 minutes before adding the wine. Bring to a boil and cook for 2 minutes; reduce the heat and leave to simmer for 15 minutes. By then all the shells should have opened. Discard any that remain closed; take out the meat from most of the mussels leaving a few whole to use as garnish. Set aside both the resulting stock and the mussels.

4. In a separate pot, fry the rest of the shallots until soft, about 5 minutes; add garlic and cook for another minute; incorporate the vegetables. Cook covered over low heat, for 10 minutes.

5. Add lentils, tomato paste, spices and water, increase the heat and bring to a boil. Tie the herbs with a string and place them in the soup. Cook over medium to low heat for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.

6. While the lentils are cooking, place the sea bass in a roasting tin. Fill the cavities with fennel and herbs. Brush with olive oil and sprinkle with coarse salt. Roast in a 180°C pre-heated oven for 20 minutes.

7. When the fish is cooked, peel its skin off and separate the white meat which you will place in a dish and set aside until ready to add to the soup.

8. Incorporate the mussel meat and their liquor to the lentils. Add prawns and allow them to cook for 2 to 3 minutes, until they turn orange. Finally flake the fish into the soup.

9. Serve hot, garnished with whole mussels and sprinkled with parsley.

End of Winter Salad with Bulgur and Lemon

2016-04-07T15:26:00.003+01:00

Bulgur is a legacy from my dearest Lebanese friend Claude, who left for Boston last year.
9 years ago, when we started running Libaliano - Lebanese and Italian cooking courses - in London, I immediately introduced bulgur in my cuisine. Easy to cook and to combine with any pulses and vegetables, bulgur soon became an essential ingredient I always have in my pantry.

Today I felt like having a light lunch after my morning work and before a good walk: I prepared a bulgur salad with vegetables I had in my fridge. No need to do any shopping.

I roughly sliced the leek and the courgettes, as I like to feel their texture.
While the bulgur was boiling in a pan, I sautéed the leek, courgettes and Trevisana salad in a frying pan, one after the other, as they need different cooking times.

Eventually I combined all the ingredients in a bowl, with lemon zest and juice and with a drizzle of olive oil. I loved it.

End of Winter Salad with Bulgur and Lemon

200 g bulgur
1 large leek, trimmed and sliced, green leaves included
2 medium courgettes, trimmed, halved and sliced
350 g Trevisana salad, trimmed, halved, white core removed and shredded
The zest of 1 lemon
The juice of 1 lemon
Sea salt and black pepper
Extra virgin olive oil

Serves 4
Preparation time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 40 minutes

Wash the bulgur and drain it.

In a pan, cover the bulgur with 600 ml of cold water and bring to the boil. Add 1 teaspoons of salt and cook until tender, approx 20 minutes. Drain.

In a frying pan, heat 2 tablespoons of oil and add the leek with a pinch of salt; sauté for 3 minutes on medium heat. Cover the pan, lower the heat and cook for another 3 minutes.

Add the courgettes and cook, uncovered, over medium-high heat for 5 minutes, stirring frequently. Lower the heat, cover and cook for another 2 minutes.

Add the Trevisana salad and cook on medium heat for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Adjust the seasoning and remove from the heat.

In a serving dish, place the bulgur over the bottom. Stir in the vegetables and toss to combine.

Dress with 2 tablespoons of oil and the lemon juice. Toss to coat.

Sprinkle with the lemon zest and serve warm.

Fish Kibbeh

2016-03-21T20:35:00.000+00:00

Kibbeh, kibbe, kebbeh or kubbah, which ever way you pronounce it, is traditionally composed of meat mixed with burghol. Those who know it, love it.

For christians all over the world, the week preceding Easter is packed with significance and associated with fasting and abstinence. In Lebanon many people will not eat meat which they will replace with legumes, vegetables and fish.

If you want to make a little fish go a long way, turn it into kibbeh.

Fish kibbeh with caramelised onions and walnuts

In order to get even layers of kibbeh, divide them into handfuls and flatten each batch next to the other. Dip your fingers in water, to smooth the surface and make it into one uniform layer.

For the kibbeh:

500 g white fish fillets - I used cod

200 g fine burghol

100 g fresh coriander leaves, chopped

1 large onion

Grated zest of 1 lemon

½ teaspoon black pepper

5 tablespoons olive oil

For the caramelised onion base:

2 large onions, sliced

1 orange zest,

1 lemon zest,

¼ teaspoon saffron strands

¼ teaspoon white pepper

60 g walnuts

½ teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons olive oil

Serves 6,

Preparation time: 40 minutes,

Cooking time: 50 minutes

Pre-heat the oven to 180°C.
To prepare the onion base use two separate bowls, one for the orange zest and the other for the lemon zest. Cover each with boiling water and blanch for 3 minutes. Strain and set aside leaving them separated until ready to use.
Soak the saffron strands in two tablespoons of hot water for 5 minutes.
Peel and halve the onions. Holding the onion flat side down, slice it thinly against the grain.
Heat 2 tablespoons olive oil in a heavy based pan. Add the onions and cook on medium to low heat until they begin to brown.
Add the salt and pepper.
Spread the walnuts onto a baking sheet and toast in the hot oven for 7 minutes. Transfer to a bowl and reserve.
Stir the saffron water into the onions on high heat to reduce. Remove from the heat and mix in the orange zest. Adjust salt and pepper to taste.
To prepare the fish kibbeh, puree 1 onion in a food processor.
Cut the fish into manageable portions and drop them into the creamed onion while the food processor is running. Continue to blend until the mixture is soft and slightly sticky.
Whizz the coriander into the fish and finally combine with lemon zest, and black pepper; transfer to a mixing bowl.
Rinse burghol in cold water and strain it in a sieve. Squeeze out excess water with your hands.
Work burghol into the fish mixture. At this stage you can either pulse it through the food processor, or simply knead it like dough. The mixture should look uniform and evenly smooth.
Oil a 25 cm round ovenproof dish.
Divide the kibbeh in two portions. Spread the first part evenly onto the base. Arrange the caramelised onions and walnuts on top.
Now cover with a final layer of kibbeh mixture making sure it is of even thickness.
Wet your hands to smooth the surface. With a kitchen knife, cut 6 equal triangles inside the circle. Make crisis cross indents onto the surface of each triangle.
Brush the surface with the remaining olive oil.
Bake for 30 minutes or until the edges and the surface are golden.
Remove from the oven and leave to cool down to room temperature.
Serve with salad.

Pendolón

2016-02-02T23:30:00.000+00:00

Food is culture. Recipes are more than a list of ingredients, they also speak about different ways of life and values.

Pendolòn, for instance, is a tangible memory of the past, when people used to work in the fields for long hours, bringing their food from home. Peasants’ life was hard, when lunch was a short break to boost people's energy with inexpensive but nourishing food. Pendolòn (which literally means ‘dangling’) is a kind of polenta from the Lamon region in Veneto. Made with borlotti beans and potato, and enriched with pancetta and onions, it is a nutritious and filling meal that peasants used to carry with them to the fields. As it dangled from their shoulders, they called it pendolòn.

The recipe is in Beans & Friends, the latest book on pulses Claude and I wrote together.

Here we enjoyed bringing to life the creativity of the Italian cucina povera, which could transform plain ingredients such as beans and potatoes, into a tasty and fulfilling meal just by dressing it with crunchy pancetta and onions. It is a heavy lunch for our time, but still delicious.

250 g dry borlotti beans
1 carrot, roughly chopped
3 medium blond onions
1 celery stick
2 bay leaves
1 kg baking potatoes, washed, skin on
160 g pancetta slices, chopped
40 g butter

Preparation time: 30 minutes plus the beans’ soaking time
Cooking time: 110 minutes
Serves 6 to 8

In a large bowl, cover the beans with cold water, and soak overnight.
The next day, drain and rinse.
In a pan, cover the beans with fresh water, bring to the boil and cook for 10 minutes. Drain, return the beans to the pan and cover with boiling water. Add the carrot, 1 onion peeled and quartered, the celery stick and the bay leaves. Season with salt and simmer, covered, for 40 minutes until tender.
Drain the beans, discard the vegetables and the bay leaves and keep 2 ladleful of the cooking water.
Meanwhile, in another pan, cover the potatoes with fresh water and bring to the boil. Leave on a simmer for 40 minutes until tender. Drain.
Finely chop the remaining onions.
In a frying pan, heat the butter and gently sauté the pancetta with the onions on low heat, for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally with a wooden spoon. Keep hot.
In a food processor, mash the beans into a coarse paste, adding some of their cooking water, if necessary; mash potatoes with a ricer.
In a large pan, mix beans and potatoes together and heat.
Stir in the pancetta and onion; cook on low heat for 4 to 5 minutes, stirring continuously with a wooden spoon until you get a dense paste like polenta. Season with salt and pepper.
Arrange the pendolòn in a large dish, and let it set few minutes before serving.

Tony, profession, window cleaner, enjoyed eating Pendolón when we were testing the recipe

Chickpea and Pumpkin Stew

2015-11-08T02:31:00.000+00:00

In autumn, along the roads of the Bekaa valley in Lebanon, street sellers stack hundreds of pumpkins of all colours and sizes under make shift tents.

With no Halloween tradition, the Lebanese pumpkin is never carved, it serves its natural purpose: to feed and satiate. Inexpensive, filling, and with a long shelf life, it is is a popular ingredient in the regional kitchen.

Steam it and substitute it to meat in a vegan kibbe rich with mellow spices. For a hearty soup, cream it with chicken stock; if you crave a thick stew, add some beef and a few potatoes and braise it in tomato sauce.

Having moved to the US a few months ago, I experienced Halloween and its fanfare for the first time. Preparations started slowly over the month of October. Shops and homes began displaying haunting decorations or cobwebs, giant spiders, ghosts and grimacing pumpkins. Charmed at the idea of a pumpkin patch, I went to a farm and came back laden different pumpkins, gourds and squashes. I thought I would use them as decorations on my table until it was time to cook them. This was simple, for it happened according to the weather and to my mood. On a cold day I turned them into soup. On a warm day I served kibbe at room temperature and finally last weekend during Halloween night, I made a big and filling stew with chickpeas.

As a cook I find it difficult to dissociate a pumpkin, however radiantly glowing, from food and it got me thinking about the fate of the hundreds and hundreds of that lined the city streets.

Chickpea and Pumpkin Stew

1 leek

2 carrots

2 celery sticks

850 g or 2 cans of cooked chickpeas

600g pumpkin, acorn squash or butternut squash or a mixture of all three ( weight after peeling and trimming)

2 teaspoon cumin

2 teaspoon ground coriander

2 teaspoon smoked paprika

3 bay leaves

1 teaspoon dried oregano

Sea salt

40 parsley, chopped

To serve

Plain yogurt

1 crushed garlic

Olive oil

Heat olive oil in a deep, heavy based pan and sauté the leeks for 1 minute.
Add the crushed garlic and sauté on medium heat for 1 more minute.
Finally add the carrots and celery which are cut into 1 cm rounds sauté until they begin to change colour; lower the heat, leave to cook 5 minutes.
Add the spices and mix them with vegetables, the heat will release their aromas.
Add the chickpeas and 800 ml vegetable stock or water. Add the saffron strands and bring to a boil, lower the heat; simmer covered for 10 minutes.
Add the pumpkin cubes, mix and leave to simmer for 15 minutes or until tender.
Take two ladlefuls of soup mixture and cream in a blender.
Return to the soup to give it a smooth texture.
Just before serving, stir the chopped parsley in, it will add fresh fragrance to the stew.
Serve plain or with a dollop of garlic yogurt.

Pasta con broccoli alla Siciliana

2015-11-01T16:22:00.000+00:00

If you happen to order Pasta con broccoli in Sicily, you will get delicious cauliflower pasta. Do not blame the waiter, he is perfectly right, as in Sicily cauliflower is called broccoli, while the light green broccoli (Romanesco broccoli) are cauliflower and the dark green ones (the traditional broccoli) are ‘sparacelli’. A bit confusing, but the language enhances the independence of this beautiful island.

Whatever you call it, pasta with seasonal vegetables is a popular dish in Italy, with plenty of variations and inspirations. It is the perfect example of cucina povera: inexpensive, traditional, healthy.

The sweet and sour pasta with broccoli (cauliflower) alla Siciliana is made with raisins, pine nuts, anchovies and saffron. I like to prepare it with short pasta, such as maccheroni, but both bucatini and spaghetti would work as well.
Remember to keep the cauliflower al dente and to add the saffron at the very end. You will preserve its full flavour.

Pasta con broccoli alla Siciliana
Cauliflower and Raisin Pasta

350 g maccheroni
1 large onion, finely chopped
1 cauliflower, about 800 g
50 g raisins
50 g pine nuts
6 anchovy fillets in oil
15 g saffron
2 tablespoons extra virgin oil
Sea salt and black pepper
Extra virgin oil

Serves 4
Preparation time: 15 minutes
Cooking time: 35 minutes

Soak the raisins in hot water for 15 minutes. Drain and pat dry.
In a pan, sauté the pine nuts without any fat for 4 to 5 minutes until just golden, stirring frequently. Transfer to a bowl; do not leave them in the pan, as they would keep on cooking, even off heat.
In a large frying pan, heat 2 tablespoons of oil and sauté the onion with a pinch of salt on low heat for 10 minutes, until translucent.
Stir the anchovies into the onions and cook until dissolved, 2 to 3 minutes.
Divide the cauliflower in florets and boil them in plenty of salted water with a good pinch of salt for 5 minutes. Drain and keep the water for the pasta.
Add the florets to the onion along with two tablespoons of their cooking water and leave to cook on low heat for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Dissolve the saffron in 2 tablespoons of hot water and add to the cauliflower sauce. Stir well.
Cook pasta in the cauliflower water until al dente. Drain, reserving one ladleful of cooking water.
Add pasta to the cauliflower, stir in half of the cooking water and sauté for 2 minutes on high heat. Sprinkle with pine nuts.
Serve at once, with a drizzle of oil.

Spicy Roasted Cauliflower Florets

2015-10-29T00:12:00.000+00:00

"Move over broccoli" here comes cauliflower.

For a number of years now, food articles about this brassica point to the revival of a vegetable often boiled and over-cooked, and discarded as being ordinary, smelly, and uninteresting.

The common cauliflower is white but it can also be orange, green or purple. Each boast different health benefits and all are good to our digestive system and wellbeing. They are low in fat, high in fibres, and possess many vitamins. Raw, you can crunch them as a filling snack; you can also cook them in many delectable ways.

At home in Lebanon, we deep-fried the florets. No batter, just as they were. They came out soft on the inside with crispy bits on the outside. We dipped them hot in a tangy, garlicky tarator sauce.

I have to admit I like this simple variation. However, I try avoiding frying food; on the one hand I do not like the lingering smell in my home, and on the other, it is not so healthy.

In Boston where I am currently living, autumn has set in. The air is crisp and foliage is bright with rusty, golden colours. This makes me want to change my eating habits. I only wish I had a fireplace to roast chestnuts.

Warm and coloured spices, which I tend to leave on the shelf in summer, are sneaking back into my food. I swathed my florets with a mixture of aromatic and fiery seasonings and roasted them in the oven with a drizzle of olive oil. They came out soft and yet they retained enough crunch to help forget that they were once thought of as soggy and limp. I ate them with a yogurt, garlic and herb based sauce.

Spicy Roasted Cauliflower Florets

1 medium to large cauliflower

½ teaspoon smoked paprika

¼ teaspoon ground cardamom

¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg

1 teaspoon sumac

1 teaspoon black pepper

1 teaspoon cumin

¾ teaspoon Aleppo pepper

1 teaspoon sea salt

For the sauce:

400 g plain yogurt

½ garlic clove, crushed

1 teaspoon aleppo pepper

2 tablespoons tahini

Preparation time: 15 minutes

Cooking time: 35 minutes

Serves: 4 to 5 persons

Wash and trim the cauliflower and pat dry on kitchen paper.
Separate the florets and place them in a deep bowl.
Mix all the spices together in a small bowl and sprinkle them over the cauliflower. Toss the florets into the spice powder until evenly coated.
Transfer them to an oven dish and drizzle about 2 tablespoons of olive oil over them.
Roast for 35 minutes in a preheated oven at 180°C
While the vegetables are cooking prepare the yogurt sauce.
Using a whisk, mix together tahini and yogurt until smooth and well blended. Mix in the crushed garlic together with 1 teaspoon salt.
Finally, combine the sauce with the chopped parsley.
Spoon the yogurt in the bottom of a dish and arrange the florets in the middle.

Aubergine and Tomato Soup

2015-06-09T23:28:00.000+01:00

Soups are my favourite dish, the comfort food which best inspires my creativity. I could live on soup and I cook one almost everyday.

Today I propose a summer soup, with both baked and sautéed vegetables. It is a combination of different textures, full of Mediterranean summer flavours. As a final touch, I add chickpeas and fresh basil.

Aubergine and Tomato Soup

1 aubergine, approx. 300 g

500 g ripe tomatoes

3 garlic cloves, halved

1 tablespoon oregano

1 large red onion, peeled and finely sliced
400 ml vegetable stock
1 bay leaf, torn

150 g cooked chickpeas

A generous handful of fresh basil leaves, torn

Sea salt and black pepper

Extra virgin oil

Serves 4

Preparation time: 10 minutes

Cooking time: 50 minutes

Preheat the oven to 170 C.
Line a baking tray with parchment.
Halve the aubergine, sprinkle with salt and oregano and drizzle with oil. Arrange it on the tray, cut side down, and with a sharp knife, make a few cuts on the skin.
Halve the tomatoes, place them on the same tray, sprinkle with oregano and salt and drizzle with oil. Add the garlic.
Bake the vegetables for 30 minutes. Remove from the oven and leave to cool.
In the meantime, in a pan, heat 2 tablespoons of oil and sauté the onion with a pinch of salt on low heat for 10 minutes, covered.
Skin the aubergine and roughly chop it along with the tomatoes. Stir the vegetables, garlic included, into the onion and sauté for 1 minute. Pour in the stock, add the bay leaf and leave to a simmer for 15 minutes, lid on.
With a hand blender, blend the vegetables into a coarse puree. Combine the chickpeas and cook for another 5 minutes. Adjust the seasoning.
Add basil, drizzle with oil and leave to cool.
Serve warm.

Sweetheart Cabbage and Tuna Salad

2015-02-18T17:40:00.001+00:00

The sweetheart cabbage is a beautiful vegetable, which enhances our winter table with its fresh and delicate green. It is so sweet and tender that we like to serve it raw, finely shredded and simply dressed with lemon, extra virgin oil and a touch of mustard.

When combined with few Mediterranean ingredients such as tuna, anchovies, black olive, capers and parsley, the sweetheart cabbage becomes a hearty salad. We serve it either for lunch or as a light supper.

Sweetheart Cabbage and Tuna Salad

1 medium sweetheart cabbage, 400 g
160 g tuna in oil
6 anchovies in oil, chopped
1 teaspoon capers in salt, roughly washed
10 black olives, pitted
The fresh juice of half lemon
A good handful of flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped
3 tablespoons extra virgin oil
1 teaspoon mustard
Sea salt and black pepper

Serves 4
Preparation time 15 minutes

Tear off and discard the outer leaves of the cabbage. Halve it and remove the core. With a sharp and heavy knife, finely shred the halves crosswise. Arrange it in a large bowl.
Drain the tuna and flake it with a fork. Add it to the cabbage.
Stir in anchovies, capers and olives. Sprinkle with parsley.
In a small cup make your vinaigrette by mixing together salt, pepper, lemon, mustard and oil. Tatse and adjust the lemon and the mustard.
Dress your salad at the very last moment and arrange it in a serving dish.

Dried Fruit Tartlets - Mince pies with a Mediterranean Flavour

2014-12-24T17:12:00.001+00:00

Happy Christmas!

There are things that I never thought I’d miss in London until I decided to move to Boston: the large pile of Sunday papers that we read throughout the week; the long chats with neighbours who never step into the house regardless of my many insistent ahla w sahla; Tony my window cleaner, and the furtive glances of people on the tube. I will also miss the festive streets, which become suddenly quiet over the two days of Christmas, as I will miss the fuss over mince pies, the little buttery crusts filled with mincemeat, a fruit and spice mix which are traditionally served at Christmas but now seem to appear on supermarket shelves earlier and earlier in the year.

I had a taste of my first mince pie in 1976, between two skips of the ‘hoky coky’, at a Christmas party in the student hall. I was uneasy eating a sweet pastry with meat, despite the fact that at home we often garnished our minced meat pilau with sultanas and flavoured it with fragrant spices such as allspice, nutmeg, clove and cinnamon. As soon as I bit into it I realised that there was no meat at all. It took me a while to fully savour their sweet spicy flavour.
Why are they called mince pies? The fact is that 17^th century recipes list minced mutton and beef suet as ingredients mixed with raisins, orange rind and spices; sugar was only introduced and in the 18^th century.

(More on the history of mince pies in ‘Sweet delight: a brief historyof mince pie”.)

Throughout the years I have learned not only to love a mince pie but also to include it in my Christmas menu, often as a sense of belonging and a token of affiliation to my adopted home. I am now in Lebanon getting ready to celebrate Christmas; usually I would skip mince pies in favour of Lebanese sweets, but this year I decided bake some and give the filling a Mediterranean twist.

Dried fruit tartlets

For the pastry:

300 g plain white flour

150 g butter

80 g icing sugar

2 egg yolks

1. Cut butter and sugar together in short pulses in a food processor.

2. Combine one egg yolk at a time.

3. Incorporate the flour and process until it all comes together as soft dough.

4. Shape it in a ball and wrap it in a plastic film.

5. Refrigerate for one hour.

6. Dust a rolling pin with flour and roll out the dough until very thin, about 2 mm.

7. Cut out into rounds and place them delicately in a mini pie tin.

8. Roll out again to cut star shapes.

9. Fill each tartlet with a teaspoon of fruit mix, top with a star and bake in a pre-heated oven at 180 C for 15 minutes.

For the fruit and spice mix:

50 g dried figs, chopped

160 g currants

100 g cranberries

250 g raisins

1 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1 teaspoon ground allspice

1 small apple grated

50 ml eau de vie

The grated zest of 2 mandarins

300 g butter

1. Mix all the ingredients except for the butter and leave to macerate in alcohol for a couple of hours.

2. Gently melt the butter on low heat

3. Add the spices and incorporate the butter.
Mix and transfer to jar and leave in the fridge until ready to use.

Radicchio and Mozzarella Tart

2014-12-03T16:22:00.005+00:00

Radicchio is an Italian winter salad, which comes in different shapes.
The three most popular ones (all from the North Eastern of the country) are named after the place they were originally grown. The Radicchio di Chioggia is round, like a head of cabbage in shape, and with dark red leaves. The long Radicchio di Treviso come in two varieties: the Precoce (the first in the season) is a compact bunch of long fleshy leaves, whereas the Tardivo had splayed leaves and tough crunchy ribs.

We love them all, we buy what we find in the market (mainly the round one) and we cook them in different dishes such as risotto, ravioli, polenta and tarts.

Here we like to pair radicchio with the sweet red onion, which balances the bitterness of this beautiful salad and enhances its warm and deep red.
We add the mozzarella at the end to keep its full flavour and delicate consistence.

Radicchio and Mozzarella Tart

Pâte brisée (short crust pastry):

200 g white flour

1 tespoon sea salt

100 g cold butter, diced

20-30 ml iced water

Filling:

30 g raisin

1 large red onion, finely sliced

500 g radicchio, trimmed and finely chopped

1 tespoon fresh thyme leaves

2 tablespoons homemade breadcrumps

200 g ricotta

2 tablespoons Parmesan cheese

1 mozzarella, diced

1 teaspoon dried oregano

Sea salt and black pepper

Extra virgin olive oil

Serves 6

Preparation time: 70 minutes

Cooking time: 45 minutes

1. Place the flour and the salt into a food processor and pulse to combine.

2. Add half of the butter cubes (the colder the better) and pulse 4 to 6 times. Then add the remaining butter and pulse few times until you get a coarse mixture.

3. Add 10 ml of ice cold water to the food processor and pulse a couple of times. Then add more water slowly, 1 tablespoon at a time, pulsing after each addition, until the mixture just starts clumping together.

4. Place the mixture on a smooth surface and quickly knead it to just bring the dough together. Wrap in cling film and refrigerate for 1 hour.

5. Meanwhile, make your filling. Soak the raisin in tepid water for 10 minutes. Drain, pat dry and set aside.

6. In a frying pan heat 1 tablespoon of oil and sauté the onions with a pinch of salt on low heat for 5 minutes. Add radicchio and cook on low heat for another 5 minutes, stirring frequently. Season with thyme and salt and leave to cool.

7. Preheat the oven to 180°C.

8. In a large bowl, place the radicchio mixture and incorporate raisins, ricotta and Parmesan. Mix with a fork to combine.

9. Place the refrigerated dough on a smooth and floured surface and roll it out to a 40 cm rough circle, larger than your tin.

10.Arrange the disk on a 24 cm tart tin. Gently press down the dough over the bottom of the tin and leave the extra pastry over the borders.

11.Sprinkle the dough with breadcrumbs and arrange the radicchio and ricotta mixture on top. Roughly wrap radicchio with the extra pastry.

12. Bake for 40 minutes.

13. Dice the mozzarella and season with salt and oregano.

14. Remove the tart from the oven and cover with mozzarella.

15.Serve at once.

Pappardelle with pumpkin and radicchio sauce

2014-11-26T19:29:00.004+00:00

The pumpkin season cheers up our winter dishes. With its bright colour and its delicate taste, pumpkin could enhance our soups, pasta, risotto, tarts, salads, side dishes and puddings. What a versatile ingredient!

Today we pair the sweetness of the bright pumpkin with the bitterness of the purple radicchio. Both ingredients belong to the traditional Italian cuisine of the North, but we combine them in a new way: we add red onion and raisin to intensify the mild taste of pumpkin and soften the crunchiness of radicchio. Fresh thyme is the perfect seasoning.

Pappardelle with pumpkin and radicchio sauce

250 g egg pappardelle

100 g pumpkin, skinned

25 g raisin

2 large red onions, finely sliced

500 g radicchio

A sprig of fresh thyme

Extra virgin olive oil

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Freshly grated Parmesan to serve

Serves 4

Preparation time: 15 minutes

Cooking time: 40 minutes

Preheat the oven to 180 C.
Slice the pumpkin and arrange it on an oven tray. Sprinkle with salt and bake for 15 minutes, until tender. Peel and dice it.
In a bowl, soak the raisin in tepid water for 15 minutes. Drain and pat dry.
Meanwhile, in a large frying pan, heat 1 tablespoon of oil and sauté the onions on low heat with a pinch of salt for 10 minutes, until translucent.
Finely chop the radicchio and add to the onions. Cook for 10 minutes on low heat, stirring occasionally. Season with salt and pepper.
Add the pumpkin and the thyme to radicchio and onion mixture and keep warm.
In a pan, bring plenty of water to the boil. Add salt and cook pappardelle as directed (from 5 to 7 minutes). Reserve 1 ladleful of cooking water and drain.
Add pappardelle and the reserved water to the radicchio mixture. Drizzle with oil and toss to combine.
Serve at once with a sprinkle of Parmesan, if you like.

Porcini and Aubergines

2014-09-13T19:40:00.002+01:00

What a great excitement finding porcini mushrooms in the wood is! My favourite are the small firm ones, with their brown caps standing out from the undergrowth. Picking porcini mushroom is a joy both for my eyes and my palate.

The porcini’s abundance this season has been a delightful inspiration for my cooking. I enjoyed preparing various classical dishes with plenty of porcini, such as homemade tagliatelle, ravioli, risotto, polenta, and scrambled eggs. However, I also became adventurous by exploring unusual combinations to enhance the flavour of such a noble mushroom.

Porcini mushrooms and aubergines make a perfect couple. Both ingredients have a delicate taste and texture and become complementary once together: the mushrooms bring a touch of wildness to the aubergines’ sweetness.

Aubergine Ravioli with Fresh Porcini Sauce

Make this sauce when porcini are so fresh that all they need is salt, olive oil, garlic and rosemary.

For the pasta

200 g white flour, preferably 00

2 large eggs

A pinch of salt

For the filling

2 medium aubergines

100 g ricotta

1 egg yolk

1 teaspoon fresh rosemary leaves, finely chopped

Sea salt

Nutmeg

1 beaten egg

For the sauce

600 g fresh porcini mushroom, cleaned and sliced

2 garlic cloves, peeled and halved

A sprig of rosemary

Sea salt

Freshly ground black pepper

Extra virgin olive oil

Freshly grated Parmesan to serve

Serves 4 to 5

Preparation time: 45 minutes

Cooking time: 60 minutes

Filling

Preheat the oven to 180°C.
Arrange the aubergines on an oven tray and with a sharp knife make few cuts on the flesh. Bake for 30 to 40 minutes, until tender. Remove from the oven and leave to cool.
Peel the aubergines, arrange the flesh in a bowl and mash it with a fork. Mix in the ricotta, the yolk and season with salt, rosemary and nutmeg. Set aside.

Ravioli

1. Place flour, salt and eggs into the food processor (use the plastic blades, if you have them) and pulse until you get coarse dough.

2. Knead the dough for 3 minutes, until it becomes smooth and elastic.

3. Wrap the dough with the cling film and leave it to rest for 20 minutes in the fridge.

4. Put a small piece of the dough into a pasta machine and roll it out on the second to the thinnest setting. It is best to use each sheet as soon as it is ready, before starting to use the rest of your dough.

5. Fold the the strip of pasta in half lengthways to make a crease down the center. Unfold. Using the crease as a guide, brush one half with beaten egg, then place a teaspoonful of the filling at 3 to 4 cm intervals in 1 row along the side of the crease.

6. Fold the other half of the pasta over the top. With your fingertips, press gently around each mound of filling to seal the dough and to push out any pockets of air. Cut into squares with a pastry wheel.

7. Place the ravioli on a clean tea towel, making sure they do not touch. The ravioli are now ready to be cooked. Alternatively, leave to dry on the tea towels, turning over occasionally, until the dough has dried out completely.

Mushroom sauce

With a damp cloth, wipe the porcini mushrooms, and scrape the impurities with a paring knife. Cut them right through the middle, and slice them lengthways.
Heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil and sauté the garlic on medium heat, for 1 minute.
Season the porcini with a sprinkle of salt, and toss for 2 minutes on medium heat. Reduce the heat, and continue sautéing the porcini, stirring frequently until they are tender to the bite, 3 minutes.
Stir in the rosemary, and adjust the seasoning.
Cook the ravioli in simmering salted water, for 4-5 minutes. To drain, scoop out with a slotted spoon and shake of excess of water.
Place in a warmed serving dish, drizzle with oil and toss gently to coat with the porcini sauce.
Serve at once with a sprinkle of Parmesan.

Mastic and Rose Water Ice Cream with Pistachios- Bouza Ashta

2014-07-27T18:54:00.000+01:00

'Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens
Bright copper kettles and warm woollen mittens
Brown paper packages tied up with strings
These are a few of my favourite things…'

For no particular reason, I have been silently singing this tune for a whole day.
I c a n n o t get rid of it.
It’s annoying; it’s a bit like a fly you try to shoo away, but comes back buzzing next to your ear. ‘these are a few of my favourite things’
‘Brown paper packages tied up with string’?
Come to think of it, I do like the thought of presents, although not many come with string and brown paper packaging nowadays.
What about 'whiskers on kittens', how do I feel about those? Frankly I do not see why I should get excited about kittens’ whiskers at all, although a tiny playful cat is definitely on my list of favourites.
'Bright copper kettles' are beautiful, but oh gosh, so impractical! 'Raindrops on roses' are cliché, and 'warm woollen mittens' can be itchy, so, what are my few favourite things?

If I were to compile my own list and I would spare you the singing, I would start with Bouzet Ashta - Arabic ice cream with mastic.
When summer begins in Beirut, ice cream fridges pop up onto pavements, displaying assortments of ice creams and sorbets. Pistachio, apricot, rose water, melon and mulberry are but a few of the many flavours. My very favourite, is bouzet ashta, a milky ice cream made with mastic or miske and topped with pistachio.
Before the unrest in Syria, whenever we went to Damascus, we went to Bakdash, an institution of a shop, which served the best pistachio coated ice cream. Bakdash, which fed generations of Damascenes, makes its ice cream with salep – sahlab - and mastic, to give it an elastic texture and flavour it with rose water. Whenever you entered the shop, there were rows of men beating the ice cream with a wooden mortar while someone else was shaping the compact mixture and coating it with pistachios.
In his book Saha, Greg Malouf reports that one of the ice cream makers told him that 'Bakdash pounds its way through ten tonnes of ice cream every week' and that 'in the old days' they had to bring ice from the mountain, to cool the ice cream. This gives me visions of truck loads of ice being deposited on the souk's pavement, while people milled about taking the sight for granted.

Flavouring the ice cream with mastic gives it a particularly fragrant taste. A resin, which comes from the mastic tree or Pistacia lentiscus, mastic seeps through the tree bark and coagulates into drops, which are then collected. These are also known as the ‘tears of Chios’ because the shrub is cultivated on the Aegean island of Chios.
Mastic has been around for thousands of years; Herodotus chewed it; it appeared in De Materia Medica where it was believed to have therapeutic properties and the Ottomans used it in cosmetics. In Lebanon, people believe that it clears the breath and helps with digestion; in the kitchen it is used to flavour sweet and savoury dishes.
Mastic flavour is strong; it's a bit like biting into a pine tree. You have to be careful with the amount you use; a few ‘tears’ are enough.

Bouzet Ashta
Mastic ice cream

This home made ice cream is in fond memory of a happier more peaceful Damascus.

500 whole milk
100g double cream
100 g sugar
3 tablespoons corn flour
3 mastic pearls
1 tablespoon rose water
3 tablespoons pistachios, chopped

Preparation time: 5 minutes
Cooking time: 8 minutes
Serves 4

1. Place milk, cream and sugar in a deep pan over medium to low heat, stir to dilute.
2. To pulverise the mastic: freeze it for 15 minutes add a 1/4 teaspoon sugar and then crush it with the mo in a circular motion until the mixture looks like fine sand.
3. Add to the milk and cream mixture.
4. Have a balloon whisk ready; just before milk comes to a boil, add corn flour, while stirring vigorously with the whisk, to prevent lumps from forming.
5. Add rose water and stir.
6. Cook on medium to low heat for approximately 8 minutes; keep stirring. Stop when the mixture thickens.
7. Transfer to a glass bowl to cool before freezing, keeping the whisk handy.
8. Every few minutes give the mixture a stir with the whisk to stop a film from forming on the surface.
9. When the milk mixture is cooler, place it in the ice cream maker and churn until set.
10. Transfer to the freezer for half and hour before serving with chopped pistachios.

Chocolate and Parmesan Cake

2014-05-20T13:25:00.000+01:00

A salty chocolate truffle is almost impossible to resist. The combination of contrasting flavours molds an intriguing taste where opposites, salty and sweet, become complementary.

Last week I decided to invent my own salty chocolate cake. What a challenge!

Using chocolate bars with a touch of salt produced a mild result, without the salty twist I had in mind for my cake. Then I thought, why not add one generous tablespoon of a precious sea salt to the chocolate mixture? It turned out with a slightly bitter taste. Eventually I found the solution: Parmesan cheese. It is both salty and mild with its cheesy taste, close to the butter, but far from the chocolate. The perfect element.

I served my new recipe to my friends last Saturday afternoon, with strawberries and blueberries. Nobody detected the secret ingredient, but everybody appreciated the original taste.

Chocolate and Parmesan Cake

200 g 70% dark chocolate

200 g unsalted butter

200 g caster sugar

4 large eggs

Vanilla Extract

60 g freshly grated Parmesan

1 teaspoon baking powder

Serves 8 to 10

Preparation time: 15 minutes

Cooking time: 30 minutes

1. Melt the chocolate and the butter in a bain-marie, or in the microwave. Stir using a metal spoon and leave to cool.

2. Preheat the oven to 180°C with fan.

3. Butter and flour a 22 cm springform cake tin.

4. Whisk together eggs, sugar and vanilla until you get a thick creamy consistency. It should take ten minutes or so.

5. Add the chocolate cream to the egg mixture and blend together with a metal spoon.

6. Incorporate the cheese and the baking powder, mixing gently with a spatula.

7. Spoon the mixture into the prepared cake tin and bake on the middle shelf of the oven for 30 minutes.

8. Leave to cool in the tin for 20 minutes, then turn out on to a serving plate.

9. Serve with berries and single or whipped cream, if you wish.

Inspirations from the Markets

2014-05-03T14:08:00.003+01:00

What a gastronomic adventure strolling around the street markets is. The vegetable and fruit stalls define the regional cuisines, outline the change of the seasons and inspire new recipes.

Last week I was in the South of France where I enjoyed the explosion of the asparagus and strawberries season.

However, it was the ‘endiviette’ - a tiny yellow chicory salad – that attracted my attention in Valbonne’s market. For the first time in my life, I tasted the sweetness and tenderness of the young endive, which becomes slightly bitter and crunchy when it grows. A true delicacy.

In Via Tabacchi, Milan, I enjoyed the abundance of the Mediterranean produce: from the last Sardinian spine artichokes, still delicate and tender,

to the first Ligurian trombetta courgettes, so sweet and firm. Finely sliced, they are the perfect ingredients either for a frittata or for a last-minute pasta sauce.

I came across boxes of splendid courgette flowers, ready to be coated in pastella and fried,

and bunches of barbe del frate, delicious just blanched and dressed with a light vinaigrette.

But for me the new entry was ‘sivoni’ , a wild herb from Apulia, similar to the dandelion, on the market for only one month. It is both the seasonal and local produce which make spring cooking unique. Chatting away with a farmer, I discovered that Sivoni e fave bianche (sivoni and dried broad beans) is a traditional spring dish from Apulia. It sounds delicious.

Back in London, today in the local farm market I found the wild garlic leaves, which add a special flavour and body to any ordinary salad.

Torta Pasqualina

2014-04-20T17:13:00.000+01:00

Torta Pasqualina, the popular pie from Genoa, is traditionally served on Easter day as an appetiser. Usually prepared with several layers of homemade thin sheets of pastry – sort of phyllo -, the pie is stuffed with vegetables, ricotta, Parmesan, marjoram and eggs. The Swiss chard is the main ingredient but you can find different versions of the dish with both chard and artichokes or with only artichokes. Each family has its own recipe in Genoa. A true inspiration.

My Torta Pasqualina

In my recipe I replace the original phyllo pastry with the brisée, which I find easier to make and lighter to eat. Finally, I add fresh green peas to the chard to enhance the sweetness and the colours of the new season, whereas the heart-shape tin would highlight the feast's celebration.

For the pastry:

300 g white flour ‘00’

150 g cold butter, chopped

A pinch of salt

50 ml very cold water

For the filling:

1 large onion, finely chopped

500 g young Swiss chard, washed and drained, stalks removed and chopped, leaves roughly cut

250 g fresh green peas, shelled

250 g ricotta

30 g freshly grated pecorino

30 g freshly grated Parmesan

4 large eggs

¼ teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg

A good handful of fresh marjoram

1 yolk

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Extra virgin olive oil

Serves 8

Preparation time: 60 minutes

Cooking time: 75 minutes

1. In a large bowl, place flour, salt and butter and with the tips of your fingers quickly mix the ingredients together. Mix in water and rapidly knead to smooth dough. Wrap it in cling film and leave to rest in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.

2. In a large frying pan, heat 1 tablespoon of oil and soften the onion with a pinch of salt on low heat for 10 minutes, stirring from time to time, until translucent.

3. Stir in the chard stalks and cook covered for 5 minutes. Add the chard leaves and sauté for another 5 minutes until the leaves have wilted and the stalks have softened. Increase the heat and cook, stirring frequently, until the water has completely evaporated. You want the mixture to be dry. Remove from the heat and set aside to cool a bit.

4. In a small pan, bring 500 ml of water to the boil and cook the peas for 5 minutes. Drain and stir into the chard.

5. Place the vegetables in a large bowl. Incorporate the cheeses, the nutmeg, 1 egg and the marjoram, a good pinch of salt and a generous grind of pepper. Mix together.

6. Preheat the oven to 180°C.

On a floured work surface, roll out 2/3 of the pastry into a thinly circle (35 cm diameter). Transfer to a round (22 cm) spring-form cake tin with 5 cm high sides.

Spoon in the filling and with the spoon create three egg-sized holes. Break an egg into each hole. Roll out the remaining pastry to a small circle (22 cm) and lay on top. Twist the edges to seal, brush with the yolk and prick a few times with a fork.

9. Bake for 50 minutes until cooked and golden.

10. Leave to cool for 15 minutes before serving.

Chickpea Fatte / Fattet Hummos

2014-04-10T15:01:00.001+01:00

A few weeks ago, I received an email from a lady called Catherine, telling me that she bought both Lentils and Chickpeas, cooked many of the recipes and was pleased with the result. She also kindly offered to share her own chickpea tips, which help make them more digestible. I followed her instructions and found them useful.
Here is what she said: (obviously she bought the French version):

'1. On peut les amener à ébullition quelques minutes dans leur 2e eau de trempage, puis écumer, les égoutter, les rincer, et les remettre à cuire définitivement dans une 2e eau salée.

2. J'ajoute un petit morceau d'algue kombu (3 cm environ) à la 2e eau de cuisson, en plus du sel. C'est une algue qu'on utilise en cuisine japonaise (pour la soupe miso par exemple). Elle ne donne pas de goût aux pois chiches mais apporte des minéraux et est réputée pour les rendre plus digestes.'

This is roughly what it means:

1. Change the water once while the chickpeas are soaking and bring them to a quick boil in their soaking water; skim the froth, strain, rince and place them back in the pot to finally cook in fresh salted water.

2. The second trick is to add 3 cm piece of Konbu seaweed. An edible sea kelp, it is rich in minerals; while it will not alter the taste of chickpeas it will make them more digestible.

Thank you Catherine for sharing these tips.
Here is a recipe from our book and one of my favourite traditional dishes, fattet hummos.

Fattet Hummos

Chickpea fatte

Chickpea fatte is a flavoursome meal, which you can prepare, ahead and then put together at the very last minute. It is a good as a starter or as one-pot meal while it is also brilliant as a side dish to meat and poultry.

For the chickpeas:
400 g cooked chickpeas
1 teaspoon cumin, ground
3 cloves garlic, crushed

Arabic bread, grilled

For the yogurt dressing:
150 g plain yoghurt
½ tablespoon tahini
1 clove garlic, crushed
Extra virgin olive oil
10 g pine nuts, toasted

Preparation time: 20 minutes
Cooking time: 15 minutes
Serves 6

Place the cooked chickpeas in a saucepan with a small amount of water, about 100 ml or less as you do not want the mixture to be runny.
Add 3 of the crushed garlic cloves, cumin and olive oil, mix well and leave to simmer on medium to low heat for 10 to 15 minutes. Taste and adjust the seasoning
Split the Arabic bread and brush it both ways with olive oil. Place under a hot grill for about 2 minutes on each side until crispy and browned. Cool and leave in airtight container if you are do not plan to use it immediately.
Toast the pine nuts in a pre-heated oven at 180°C for 6 to 7 minutes until they turn a golden brown colour.
Now prepare the yogurt and tahini dressing, which you can keep in the fridge until ready to use. Crush the garlic with salt; add it to one tablespoon of olive oil and the tahini. Combine this mixture with yoghurt. Taste and adjust the seasoning. Reserve.
Take a deep serving dish and arrange the chickpeas first.
Break the grilled bread in pieces and scatter them over the chickpeas.
Finish off with a layer of yogurt and tahini mixture.
To garnish, scatter the pine nuts, dust with paprika and drizzle with olive oil.