First fry off 500g of cubed lamb leg on high heat for 5 mins to brown – set aside. In the same pan, reduce the heat and fry 3 large thinly sliced white onions in a tablespoon of vegetable oil for 20 mins or so to…
Category: Middle East
Turkish chopped salad
This is adapted from the book ‘Turkish Delights’ by John Gregory-Smith Feeds a table of 6 as a side. Finely chop and mix the following: 1 red pepper 1 red onion 200g cherry tomatoes 1/3rd cucumber A large bunch of parsley Toss with the following and leave…
Humous
Blend a can of drained chickpeas with a clove of garlic, the juice of 1 (and potentially another half) lemon, 3 Tbsp of tahini, 3 Tbsp good olive oil and a good pinch of salt and pepper. Thin out with a couple of Tbsp of water.
Pickled chilli salsa – Tom Kerridge
For the pickled chilli salsa green pepper 1, finely diced pickled green chillies 8, sliced garlic 1 clove, sliced thickly olive oil 50ml spring onions 8, sliced pomegranate seeds 3 tbsp green olives 10, roughly chopped mint 10 leaves, chopped lemon juice of 1 To make the pickled chilli salsa, saute the green pepper in…
Roasted aubergine with tahini yogurt – Claudia Roden
These aren’t enough for a whole main meal but make a great side. Makes enough for 6-8 people as a side. Cut 4 aubergines into half inch rounds. Season with salt and roast at 220C+ for 20 mins on one side, turn and cook for 10…
Muhammara: Middle Eastern vegetable dip
Roast for an hour at 180C, tossing occasionally 6 garlic cloves, peeled, 2 red bell peppers, stemmed, seeded, and roughly chopped, 1 red chili, stemmed and roughly chopped, 1 red onion, roughly chopped, 1 tomato, roughly chopped. Add the following ingredients and blend to a rough paste 70 grams toasted…
Lahmacun
Adapted from Rick Stein’s Mediterranean Escapes. I’ve made a few changes. The most major one being that I usually don’t bother making the flatbreads anymore, I just use shop bought tortilla wraps, I then cook them for 2 or 3 minutes in a hot oven. So Good.…
Lamb with coriander and honey from Ottolenghi
Serves 2 500 g (French trimmed rack of) lamb In a food processor, blitz: 10 g flat leaf parsley, leaves and stalks 15 g mint, leaves and stalks (or 5g dry mint) 15 g coriander, leaves and stalks 2 garlic cloves, peeled 7 g fresh ginger, peeled…
Pide – Turkish pasties / pizzas
Ideas Caramelised onion and butternut squash Lahmacun Roast peppers and crumbled peynir cheese Spinach and cheddar Prawn bhuna!
Kiymali Ispanak – Spinach with Ground Beef (Turkish)
Serves 4 Using a medium size casserole, sweat 1 chopped large onion, before adding 500g beef mince, a chefs pinch of salt and a small pinch of sugar – cook until lightly browned. Next, stir 2 Tbsp of tomato puree and fry briefly to remove any bitter flavour before adding 2 chopped tomatoes and 100g long grain rice. Stir everything together then…
Aubergine Chermoula – from ‘Persiana’
Heat a couple of tablespoons of olive oil in a largish casserole and add two cubed (about 1 inch cubes) aubergines. Cook until golden brown, sprinkling generously with sea salt flakes half way through the cooking (This allows initial browning for flavour and then later, water release).…
Hurricane’s Puréed beetroot with yoghurt & za’atar (Ottolenghi)
Main Ingredients 900g medium beetroots (500g in total after cooking and peeling) 2 garlic cloves, crushed 1 small red chilli, deseeded and finely chopped 250g Greek yoghurt 1 1/2 tbsp date molasses 3 tbsp olive oil, plus extra to finish the dish 1 tbsp za’atar salt…
Lamb Meatballs with Fig Sauce – Ottolenghi
Serves 4 with rice and plain yogurt… Thanks to ‘The Reluctant House Dad’ who’s version I used to cook this.. http://reluctanthousedad.com/2015/01/27/yotam-ottolenghis-lamb-meatballs-fig-sauce/ Ingredients For the meatballs….. 500g minced lamb 1 onion, finely chopped 10g flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped 2 garlic cloves, crushed ¾ tsp ground allspice ¾ tsp…
Falafel – The secrets to making perfect falafel at home
From making a number of falafel recipes I have figured out some very important steps to making good falafel at home… You should always use dried and not canned chickpeas (soaked overnight). The solid parts of the mixture need to be minced, NOT food processed or they…
Merguez (Moroccan Sausages)
This is adapted from;http://www.dinnersanddreams.net/2014/01/merguez-recipe.html – Its so good I’ve barely changed it but I have doubled the amounts and upped the harissa paste. Ingredients: 500g ground beef 500g ground lamb 2 tablespoon butter, softened 50g-100g harissa paste, up to you A whole head of garlic, minced 1 tbsp. ground…
Markat Hzina (Moroccan Salsa)
This is enough to fill a 1litre kilner jar so is plenty for a gathering of 10+. Salsa is all about tasting as you go, so when seasoning at the end don’t be shy and taste until you get it right. 6 peppers, green/red/orange pepper, roasted…
Rice pilaf with green lentils and caramelised onions
This has been adapted from Zov’s book ‘recipes and memories from the heart’. It is the best side dish ever with most things but particularly with salmon apparently Feeds 8 – 10 as a side, perhaps for a BBQ but also great for a rustic middle…
Kofte Spice Mix
Makes 18 teaspoons – Use about 6 teaspoons per 500g of lamb or beef Mix the 500g of meat with the spice mix, a grated red onion, a handful of fresh mint and another of parsley and a tablespoon of sunflower oil and place, covered, in the fridge for around…
Constantine tagine recipe, Gordon Ramsay’s Best North African Restaurant
By Gordon Ramsay from Ramsay’s Best Restaurant Chefs at Azou prepared this North African dish to compete for the title of Ramsay’s Best North African Restaurant Serves 4 I have left the original recipe below but to be honest some of it is a total waste…