Silk road bulghur salad or transcaucasian delight

The bright colours and bursting flavours of this salad are particularly welcome on a drizzly day. The pomegranate seeds look like jewels, and the dark green of the herbs is accented by the pale green of the pistachios. The flavours and textures combine to make very enjoyable mouthfuls, sharp and sweet, aromatic and savoury, and satisfyingly filling.

The recipe comes from a combination of cooking that I suppose could be called transcaucasian. I’ve been travelling the silk road in my kitchen, I was already familiar with middle eastern and Turkish cookery, and I’ve travelled a little bit further. I suppose you could compare it to tabbouleh.

It is what the French call a salade composée, a mixed salad, or a put together salad. The French make a big deal of such things, although many salads have more than one ingredient, even a green salad.

I’ve been known to complain about long lists of ingredients needed for some recipes, and I hope this recipe doesn’t put anyone off. The ingredients are now easily available in London and many wholefood and supermarkets – pomegranate seeds can be seen alongside sandwiches offered as a lunchtime snack. Currants are traditional standard of the store cupboard, used in old style baking, eccles cakes and squashed fly biscuits. I love their name, evolved from the way the French say Corinth, where they first came from. 

I’m writing this in March, slightly at the end of the pomegranate season this side of the globe. If you are reading this and can’t find pomegranates you can use another sour flavour such as barberries, lingonberries or such, but they won’t give that exploding in the mouth pleasure, rather flavour and a bit more chew. If you can’t find bulghur brown rice would work. Of course if you start substituting too many things then you won’t be making this salad.

I add a pinch of gomasio, which gives an extra dimension. Because sometimes more is more. 

Preparation: 30 minutes

Equipment: chopping board, sharp knife, medium sized bowl

(For cooking bulghur see information at the end)

Ingredients

1 cup (or mug) of cooked wholewheat bulghur

Small bunch  of fresh mint

Small bunch  of fresh parsley

Small bunch  of fresh coriander

3 spring onions

Seeds of small pomegranate (1 cup)

1 tbsp currants

2 tbsp shelled pistachios

Juice of 1 lemon

Juice of 1 mandarin or Satsuma or tangerine

3tbsp olive oil

1 tsp honey

Generous drizzle of pomegranate molasses

Salt and pepper

Method

Chop the herbs as fine as you can

Slice the spring onions as thin as you can

Chop the pistachios – but not too fine

Put the cooked bulghur into medium sized serving bowl

Add the chopped herbs, sliced spring onions and chopped pistachios

Add the pomegranate seeds and currants

Add the lemon juice, olive oil, mandarin juice, honey and pomegranate molasses and stir well and add salt and pepper to taste.

Bulghur

Cook the bulghur as usual or as follows:

Warm one tablespoon of the olive oil in a pan over a gentle heat and add a half cup of bulghur, shaking it around in the pan until it is coated in oil

Add a cup of stock and bring to the boil, and then to a simmer

Put a lid on the pan and cook at a simmer for 10 minutes, covered, then turn off and leave, covered, for five minutes

After this check the bulghur is nice and chewy, and not sticking to the bottom of the pan. There should be no liquid.

NB bulghur can vary hugely, and you may need to adjust the cooking of the bulghur in your store cupboard accordingly

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Fast cooked flattened chicken

I like recipes that work, recipes that you can follow with confidence and get the result that has been described. 

Flattened chicken is one of those. It is a recipe by Marcella Hazan, with a dash of eccentricity by me. It is a spatchcocked chicken with a light lemon and pepper marinade. In itself it's perfect. This weekend I will be trying a variation... hoping not to break the spell.

More to follow. 

butterbean houmous

couldn't wait to eat it

Quickly made, butterbeans mixed some of the cooking liquid, together with a tablespoon of tamari, garlic, parsley, olive oil and lemon juice. Yum

RECIPE

half a tin of butterbeans (around 200g)
1 tbsp tamari
1 clove garlic
handful of parsley (leaves only)
olive oil
lemon juice (from half lemon/1 tbsp)
pinch of salt

Method

I use a stick blender, but you could mash the beans with a fork, or use a liquidiser instead. If you are using a fork, remember to chop the pasley and garlic really fine, otherwise you'll end up with parsley in your teeth and surprising lumps of garlic every few mouthfuls. DON'T go mad with the blender, the beans may become a bit chewy.

• drain the butterbeans, keeping back a little liquid
• put butterbeans, garlic, tahini, roughly chopped parsley, a couple of slugs of olive oil and blend until smooth, no longer
• add some liquid if it becomes a bit dry
• taste, and adjust salt if you like

amazing olive oil made by friends

you are unlikely to find a better olive oil than the one we received from Paula, Kevin and Alice

Roast Chicken, hot and fast

We moved Sunday lunch to suppertime a while ago. I have to reinstate it in the early afternoon if we have people over. It means that the kids mostly make it home for their Sunday meal, However if they arrive and it isn’t roast chicken, complaints fly, even if it’s the fifth week in a row, or the 9^th. I’d like to say it’s boring, but since Steve is the roast meister, I can’t. I did teach him… but a long time ago now, and truth be told, he’s better at roasting chicken than me now.

The way I learnt  to roast chicken was to cook it hot and fast. The basic calculation is 15 minutes per pound, plus 15 minutes, so a 3lb chicken takes one hour. The only thing that you put in the bird is seasoning, half a lemon, a bunch of parsley, a bouquet garni and/or some garlic, the outside is usually covered with a trickle of olive oil, pepper and salt. The bird needs basting every 15 minutes, and we usually turn it onto its back at some point, to make sure the cooking is even and the breast doesn’t dry out. The oven needs preheating to the hottest it can go, the chicken goes in for 15 minutes at the top heat, and then you turn the oven down a third, for the rest of the cooking. Once it’s cooked for that length of time, you sit it on a board, cover it with foil and let it sit for at least five minutes, to relax and to let the juices flow.  Then carve.

If you think your oven might not be heating properly, check how well it is cooked, by pushing something sharp (skewer is the best thing) and if the juice comes out clear, the chicken is cooked.

It’s Monday, so pictures will have to wait until next week.

Champignons a la grecque

Making mixed starters (or assorted horses dovers^(sic) as they are known at ours)  for a family gathering I returned to an old favourite, champignons a la grecque,  a quickly made cooked mushroom salad. Although I think of this dish as something for the summer, it works very well in the winter, the dressing is lightly acid and softly spicy, and the mushrooms have a fleshy firmness, and stay surprisingly pale. Best of all this recipe is wonderfully simple. It's taken from Elizabeth David's French Provincial Cooking, almost verbatim. Having made a swift stab at trying to find a similar recipe in Greek recipes (in translation, of course), and came up with nothing. So, I'll keep looking, out of curiosity. In the meantime it's a lovely little recipe for a tasty little dish.

It's very nice on its own with a piece of toast, or with some hummous, or as part of a mixed hors d'oeuvres. At this time of year it's a nice and light little something to go with roast meat, hot or cold. 

Cooking notes

Resist the temptation to add more liquid, it really isn’t necessary, even though it looks like there isn't much there.
You can substitute two tinned tomatoes or two large spoonfuls of chopped tomatoes for the fresh ones. It may make extra liquid, but it will reduce down.

On the same basis, it’s worth using a nice olive oil, but not necessarily the best, as it'll lose its body once it's boiled to reduce it.

RECIPE

Large bowl of small mushrooms, around 180g (or large ones cut in quarters)

juice of half a lemon

tsp of coriander seeds

1 tsp of peppercorns, cracked

Large pinch of salt

3 tbsp olive oil

3 tbsp water

2 peeled and chopped tomatoes

·        Shake off/rub clean the mushrooms

·        Put the mushrooms into a bowl and sprinkle with the lemon juice and shake gently, and set aside

·        Put all the other ingredients into a pan and bring to the boil, simmer for a couple of minutes

·        Add the mushrooms and any juice in the bottom of the bowl

·        Bring to the boil, cover and simmer for five minutes

·        Take out the mushrooms and set aside back in bowl

·        Boil the liquid, uncovered until it’s  reduced by half, then pour it over the cooked mushrooms, stirring gently to mix

If you like you can sprinkle a teaspoonful of finely chopped parsley over the mushrooms, or a mixture of parsley and fresh coriander. It adds a little something, and looks pretty.

That’s it.

My mixed starters included mushrooms a la grecque, celery remoulade, sliced cooked beetroot and sliced cucumbers, roast veg, green salad. For meat lovers I included some mixed salami.

salad dressing with moving pictures

The recipe is this, if you can't hear me. Dressing, or vinaigrette if you prefer. My kitchen isn't really that dark, but it is that old fashioned looking. No microwave.

1 clove garlic (peeled)
salt (preferably maldon) hearty pinch
pepper several good grindings
1 tbsp red wine vinegar

3 to 4 tbsp best olive oil


with some extra writing about it here

houmous

I ate houmous on Samos, but only once, as part of a mixed plate. I was so greedy I didn’t really concentrate on the flavour and texture. I love chick peas, and often make houmous at home. It ends up much smoother than the stuff you buy ready-made, and cheaper. You can also adjust the flavours as you like. It’s worth having a jar of tahini in the cupboard anyway – that’s the sesame paste used with the chick peas.

I’ve given up on food processors too, it makes washing up more complicated. I just use a stick blender.

Recipe

Ingredients

1 can chick peas (400g)

1 peeled clove garlic

2 tbsp virgin olive oil

2 tbsp (heaped) tahini paste

Lemon juice (to taste, fresh is best but you can use bottled, approx 2 tbsp)

Hearty pinch of salt

Method

• Blend everything together until you have a smooth paste.
• Allow mixture to sit if possible, as the garlic flavour deepens.

I like to serve it draped with a drizzle of the best olive oil and a tiny sprinkle of sweet paprika.

Eat

Great with toasted pitta bread, toast or crackers. I like it on a plain digestive sometimes.

Use leftovers to stir into soup or hot rice.

Variations

Add cumin and fresh coriander or roast peppers and sundried tomatoes to the blend.

Greek Salad

I've just come back from Samos, staying in a sweet house in a hill village called Vourliotes. To get there you drive up a vertiginous and winding road, with spectacular views, overlooking steep and rolling hillside, peppered with vineyards, olive groves and scrubby forest punctuated by pencil thin cypresses and occasional houses. Greek salad is served in all the village tavernas, and in every taverna on the island. Of course some are better than others, but it seems impossible to ruin a dish this simple, so long as the ingredients are good. In London I've always been served this dish with the feta cut into small pieces, but on Samos the cheese is laid on top of the veg in a big slab, sprinkled with oregano and then olive oil is poured over it. The onions are very sweet, and the amount used varies considerably, they are not simply red onions, but red onions will do. I'm going out to find the ingredients... well I will when the weather gets a bit warmer, because I don't think it'll taste the same in the cold and wet.

Recipe

Ingredients

two large ripe beef tomatoes
1/2 large cucumber
1/2 bell pepper
1 sweet onion
1 large slice feta cheese
1 doz greek black olives, stones in

1 large slice feta, about 1.5cm x 10cm x 7cm

1/2 tsp dried oregano

1 pinch salt, a few good grindings of black pepper

4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 tbsp red wine vinegar

Method

• Wash all the veg.
• Remove the tough stalky bit at the top of the tomatoes and cut into eight segments.
• Finely slice bell pepper across (all seeds and stalk having been removed)
• Cut the cucumber in half lengthways and cut into slices
• Peel onion, cut in half and slice
• Mix all together in a bowl with the olives
• Mix together 3 tbsp olive oil and vinegar with salt and pepper and pour over sliced vegetables
• Put slice of Feta on top of the dressed veg, sprinkle with dried oregano and pour over last tbsp of olive oil

Serve with crusty (if possible Greek) bread

Eat straight away

NB
If you find the Feta a bit salty, let it soak in water or milk before using it. Drain and discard liquid before using.

salad dressing - a lift on a winter's day

I had salad as usual yesterday, green leaves with the family dressing. Absolutely great on a grey day. The garlic is good for you and at the moment I seem to love anything that is that vibrant spring green, and lettuce hits the spot.

Try it.

salad dressing recipe