European
Whole-wheat Wrap Pizza
Who doesn’t love pizza? Here is a healthier, whole-wheat, lower-carb version. A wrap mimics an ultra-thin pizza base, and is fuss-free and delicious.
European
European
Middle east
Preserved lemons
This is pure magic.
If you have a lemon tree or too many lemons on hand – this is one of the simplest, and most unusual things you can do with lemons. Once you’ve made your first batch of pickled lemons, you’ll never go back.
Pickled lemon rind is smooth, lemony and not at all bitter; mild enough to be eaten raw and powerful enough to add a punch of drama to cooked dishes. We always have a jar of these sitting at the back of a cupboard waiting to impart their magic to whatever we feel like cooking.
Middle east
Pickled jalapeno chillis
Pickled chillis are wonderfully crunchy, tart and spicy, and can be thrown in with almost any savoury dish or salad.
There are a million ways of pickling chillies, this is one of the quickest, and lasts forever in the fridge.
Middle east
Socca with sabzi khordan, roast tomatoes and sardines
Socca is a flatbread made from chick peas, and is absolutely delicious, and very easy to make – recipe here.
Sabzi khordan is a persian side salad of fresh, sharp herbs, but here we put it as a part of the main course, and it rises to the challenge beautifully.
This is a perfect light lunch if you are entertaining and want to impress, but don’t want to do too much effort 🙂 It’s basically a salad, pancakes and sardines, but like everything in life, it’s not what you cook, but how you cook it that matters.
European
Socca (chickpea pancakes)
Socca, or farinata, are thick chickpea pancakes from southern europe. This recipe uses raw soaked chickpeas instead of flour for a wonderfully deep flavour and texture that goes well with almost any savoury or sweet dish.
These are meant to be thick and substantial, not thin like a crepe.
Middle east
Sabzi Khordan
This was a revelation when I discovered it – Sabzi Khordan is a simple herb salad, eaten as a side or a palate cleanser, full of sharp flavours, exciting and unusual.
This goes exceptionally well with a rich, fatty main meal, the sharpness cuts through the meatiness with perfect ease. With that said, it works as a “side salad” to most other lighter dishes as well, and it’s simplicity makes it very versatile.
Middle east
Roast harissa tomatoes with lentil rice pilau
Harissa, tomatoes, lentils, yoghurt… These are ingredients that fill me with excitement whenever we decide to cook with them. Simple, cheap, unpretentious, they shine if you give them a chance.
This recipe is adapted from a wonderful book by Diana Henry called Crazy water, pickled lemons – grab it if you see a copy, its very exciting.
This pilau (or pilaf) makes a wonderful vegetarian main course, served with some socca and hummus, or as a side to a sunday roast.
The harissa recipe I’ve used here isn’t spicy at all, but feel free to beef it up if you like a bit more oomph.
Middle east
Rose harissa (mild)
A mild harissa?? Blasphemy I hear you saying. But trust me on this, once you discover how wonderful and subtle the flavour of harissa really is, without the chilli overpowering everything, you’ll never go back.
This recipe has a hint of rosewater in the background, a very moroccan invention, and is wonderful with almost savoury dish.
This includes the lazy mans version, using canned tomato paste, but if you want to be more authentic then roast a red pepper or 2 in the oven, peel, seed, and use instead of the tomato.
Indian
Homemade coconut milk with soy lecithin
Coconut milk is a staple in south east asian cooking, is super delicious and actually very easy and cheap to do at home!
Coconut milk is used in Indian, thai and Vietnamese dishes, such as this recipe.
You need a powerful blender, a cheesecloth, and (optional) some soy lecithin (or another emulsifier). The soy lecithin helps maintain the emulsion, and makes the whole thing more resistant to splitting when it boils. You can do it without the emulsifier, but you have to be much more careful when boiling the milk.
Middle east
Bulgar and spinach pilau with mint, lemon and rare…
This pilau is a super-easy throw-together one-pot dish discovered on a busy weeknight, but such an incredible feast of subtlety, it will surprise and delight you mouthful after mouthful.
A wonderful take on classic ingredients, serve this alone with a blob of yoghurt for a simple weeknight supper, or have it as part of a middle eastern feast with falafels, baba ganoush, grilled meat, spreads, flatbread and mint tea.