This cake is Italian American in origin and it’s super moist thanks to the courgettes and the olive oil. Its packed with spices, is dairy free and has a tangy lemon icing. I tweaked it to be a bit healthier with whole meal spelt flour, and added poppy seeds to the icing. It’s perfect with a coffee for breakfast or at teatime… but would make a great birthday cake too.
This pizzetta has it all… parmesan, truffle oil, porcine mushrooms and mozzarella with touch of fresh sweetness from the pea shoots. It’s an Unami fest… They are perfect for a date night or a dinner party as they are super easy to make and really tasty.
I love Lebanese food and tasted manouche for the first time in Covent Garden the other day with my Lebanese friend Ralph at The Lebanese Bakery which is worth a visit if you want proper fresh Lebanese flatbreads. Manoushe is freshly baked flat bread with Za’atar on it and it’s a delicious combination of Middle Eastern flavours with thyme. The bakery put hummus and parsley, rocket and pine nuts on top, but you can have it as is or dipped into baba ganoush with salad. It tastes amazing with any mezze.
These pickled shallots go a pale rose colour from the pink outer bits of the shallot. They are ready in about half a day, so you can start using them fairly quickly. They are sweet savoury with a bit of acidity so they work really well with cheese, in sandwiches, salads, tacos, with burgers and delicious with barbecued food. The list is endless. They are super easy to make too and last in the fridge for several weeks.
I had this delicious beetroot dip in the restaurant Le Pain Quotidien in Marylebone with warm sourdough bread an avocado dip and humus. It was so delicious I had to put it on the blog. Its called caviar because the beetroot looks a bit like caviar when you blitz it in the food processor. It’s super easy and can be serve on roasted rye bread or sourdough with chopped eggs, slices of avocado, swirls of sour cream, capers, chives or whatever you fancy. It’s brilliant for canapés and in sandwiches too or as a dip for crudité.
These delightfully neon pink pickles are a Middle Eastern speciality and a staple in all Middle Eastern households. They are served with falafel, madjadura, humus, kebabs and roast meat or as nibbles with drinks and olives I even put them in salads and sandwiches. They taste salty and vinegary with the flavours that you add to the jar.
This is the easiest most delicious salad which is so fresh and summery and perfect with a bbq or any alfresco eating. The Thai basil give it a slightly aniseedy flavour which works really well. I eat it for lunch with roasted sourdough or for dinners with any of my pasta recipes and the tomatoes taste even nicer if you mix them up with the vinaigrette and onions in advance and leave them in the fridge for a few hours before assembling the salad. If you press on the word vinaigrette in the list of ingredients below it will take you straight to the recipe.
I saw this traditional Israeli sandwich being made on “Somebody Feed Phil” on Netflix and I had to recreate it as it looked so delicious. It’s got fried aubergines, boiled eggs, pickled vegetables, salad and a tahini dressing. What’s not to like? After the Gothenburg (also on this blog), this is my other favourite sandwich – and it’s not called the best sandwich in the world for nothing… It’s usually folded over or the filling is tucked into the pocket of a flat bread, but I’ve made it like an open sandwich so you can see the gorgeous ingredients. I have left Amba sauce out (which is a savoury mango pickle which you can buy online or make yourself but you can add it if you can get hold of it) and I used Sriracha instead of making chili sauce from scratch.
It’s a vegetarian dream.
This recipe uses black Venus rice and truffle oil from Belazu who kindly sent me lots of ingredients to try. I hadn’t cooked black rice before and now I’m a total convert. It’s got a fantastic flavour and texture and looks amazing and combined with the truffle oil it’s a winning combo. You can add parmesan too if you want to. My recipe is Italian comfort food and perfect for dinner with a salad.
Freekeh has a fantastic flavour and texture and it’s even better for you than quinoa, although it’s not gluten free it’s packed with good things if you google it. I wanted to make a warm salad with it with a Middle Eastern vibe that was easy and delicious. I serve it on its own or as a side dish to a main meal and everyone loves it. It’s not gluten free but the freekeh grain is different in structure to standard wheat grain and is tolerated by some people who are gluten free.
