Labneh is a beautiful soft cheese simply made from strained yoghurt that can be eaten with pretty much everything but which is an especially good friend to rich and spicy mezzes. The first time I tasted it I was sat at a little linen-covered table on the edge of a vegetable garden in Amirim, an entirely vegetarian organic…
Category: Mezzes
Small plates for the sharing table
Shuk Ha’Carmel Pea and Mint Falafel with Tahini and Lemon Sauce
“Wait. You’re telling me that you have never – NEVER! – eaten falafel?” he exclaimed, narrowly missing the turning onto Boulevard Rothchild as we made our way to dinner one impossibly hot and humid evening in downtown Tel Aviv. “No!” I replied, “I have never – NEVER! – eaten falafel!“. He looked at me with that…
Levantine Labneh with Green Harissa, Roast Cherry Tomatoes and Dukkah
The nearer to Christmas it gets, the further East I travel for recipe inspiration. I suspect that this is greatly influenced by the boxes of dates we used to be given as a child. You may know the ones I mean, the box had a lacy paper lining and a bright label depicting the three…
Spanish Roast Potatoes with a Golden Lemon Aioli
This is an absolutely lovely side dish for an autumnal Sunday lunch and is my decidedly Mediterranean take on the standard roast potato. Here, the potatoes are new and coated in a sumptuous mix of olive oil, tomato paste and fiery smoked paprika. It is inspired by a dish I first came across in La…
Revithada, Greek Slow-roasted Chickpeas with Rosemary and Bay
Paros is calling me. It seems as if every magazine I open lands upon an image of the out-of-this-world beautiful Greek island sat within the glittering Aegean Sea, a radio presenter name checked it late last week and, this weekend, a postcard fell out of an old Greek cookery book upon which I had written…
Santorini Tomato Keftedes with Feta and Wild Oregano
At the beginning of my adult life, I spent a lot of time exploring the Greek Islands. I did pretty much all of them from Paxos and Corfu to the North to Santorini and Rhodes in the South. I was drawn to the azure sea, the oregano-covered mountains, the tiny beaches, the glamorously bearded Greek academics…
Shuk Ha’Carmel Green Herb Falafel
“Wait. You’re telling me that you have never – NEVER! – eaten falafel?” he exclaimed, narrowly missing the turning onto Boulevard Rothchild as we made our way to dinner one impossibly hot and humid evening in downtown Tel Aviv. “No!” I replied, “I have never – NEVER! – eaten falafel!“. He looked at me with that…
Shuk Hummus with Zhoug and Chopped Pistachios
Machane Yehuda market in Jerusalem was the first full blown Middle Eastern market I ever visited and, for me, it was an absolutely mind-blowing experience with over 250 vendors and stall holders inviting me to sample their beautiful chaos of fresh fruits and vegetables, bread, pastries and halva, cheeses, nuts and seeds, herbs and spices all piled…
Pera Garlicky Spinach with Yoghurt and Biber Salçası
After a bone-chilling day we literally fell through the doorway of Asmalı Cavit, a treasured wooden-fronted traditional meyhane in the centre of Pera in Istanbul. Here, the walls are lined with photographic portraits of people from a more glamorous age alongside vintage posters promoting wine, long forgotten theatre productions and the seaside resorts that were…
Greek Feta, Romano Pepper and Tomato Saganaki
In Greece the term saganaki is a term used to describe a variety of small dishes made in a traditional two-handled frying pan. The name comes from the Turkish word sahan meaning a copper dish. Very often, the term is used to describe cheese cooked this way – namely kasseri, kefalotyri, kefalograviera or another firm Greek…
