Turkish Turquoise .....

Greg and Lucy Malouf have written a few cookbooks, all influenced by the Middle East and North Africa. From what I’ve read Greg grew up in Australia with his Lebanese parents. His childhood exposure to the rich culinary wonders of this region explains his love affair with this part of the world and its cuisine. Greg and Lucy were at one time married, however are now divorced but continue to collaborate when it comes to authoring these wonderful books. Their titles include Saha, Arabesque and Moorish.

When flicking through their cookbooks, you get a feeling that you are actually reading their personal travel diaries, featuring intimate accounts of their adventures complimented by exquisite photography and a recipe or two! Their books provide a wonderful insight into the delights of countries that are often shrouded in mystery, intrigue and in more recent time’s political controversy. The authenticity makes for books that aren’t necessarily your 'mid-week go to' type cookbooks. However, the recipes are well put together and the recipe I’ve chosen this week is from their Turkish delight: Turquoise.

I fell in love with Turquoise as Istanbul is one of the cities on my ‘top 5 places to visit’ list, and this book has lovely section on Istanbul. On page 268 there is a recipe for Puf Borek with cheese and dill - basically crescent shaped pastries that are filled with feta, parmesan and dill.

The real genius of the recipe (in my opinion) is actually the rich Greek/Natural yoghurt pastry. The yoghurt provides a rich, substantial foundation for this flaky pastry and its sourness provides a nice contrast to the salty combination of feta and parmesan filling.

Pastry:
100g thick Greek/Natural yoghurt
125g melted butter (at room temperature)
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 free range egg
220g self-raising flour, sifted
Pinch of sea salt
Finely grated zest of half a lemon

Combine the yoghurt and melted butter, with an electric mixer followed by the egg. Tip in the flour, salt and zest and mix for 5 minutes until silky and soft. Cover and refrigerate for an hour, allowing to firm up.
You then knead and work the dough into a ball, dividing into 2 equal sized portions that can then be further divided into numerous equal portions. I decided to make 4 large Pufs initially. I would recommend that you be the guide as to how many you want to achieve by adjusting the size of each puf. (Bigger for picnics – smaller for canapés etc).

Filling:
Combine 200g feta, ½ cup finely grated parmesan, 1 small onion (grated), 1/3 cup of chopped dill, 1 free range egg, 1 tablespoon of olive oil, zest of half a lemon and black pepper, until smooth.
Your aim is to finish with circles of pastry that can be filled, then folded into a half moon shape, ready for frying or baking – I baked mine on 180 degrees for about 25 minutes.
I serverd the Puf's as a light lunch with a bottle of Rose Moet & Chandon Champagne, and the end result was simply put - Superb!

 

Where MY heart is......

A few years ago I begged my Mum and Dad to send me a copy of Karen Martinis book ‘Where the heart is’. I somehow heard about the book and became obsessed with getting a copy. In a gesture of true parental love Mum and Dad bundled up a box full of Aussie chocolates, cotton treats (…bonds...) with a copy of this book and for a ridiculous amount of money posted it here to me in the UK.

It’s a beautiful book with many Italian inspired recipes and the kind of food photography that make you instantly hungry. Martini manages to convince the reader that she genuinely cooks from her heart and her recipes are unfussy yet deliver intense, substantial results. I chose a green bean recipe from her book and got way more than I bargained for as it delivered not only a perfect accompaniment to beef and red wine, but also a nostalgic trip down memory lane.

When I was a child my grandparents had a beach house in a tiny costal town in the North Island of New Zealand. This was where I spent my summers, indulged as the only grandchild of two people brimming with love. My cousins lived in the house next door, giving our summers a communal flavour. We spent carefree days swimming in the ocean and running up and down long stretches of sand, followed by fish and chips for lunch and nights in sleeping bags under the stars.

My Aunt Brigitte (by marriage) was English and her family well travelled. Through my 7 year old eyes they seemed to be familiar with the whole world. My cousins would tell childlike stories of exotic places they had been and I would drink them up enthusiastically propelling myself into the future when I too would get to visit those places.

Meals always featured fresh vegetables that had been procured from nearby farms or gardens. A common roadside feature along that particular stretch of New Zealand was makeshift stalls where people would sell fresh fruit and vegetables to passers-by. My favourites back then were green beans, and they are still my green vegetable of choice. I loved my grandmothers’ routine for preparation. She would sit down in front of the telly, with a bag of beans and top and tail each bean, letting the discarded tops and tails fall onto newspaper that had been carefully spread on the floor below. The pruned beans were collected in a pot that was half full of water in preparation for cooking, and every now and again I would steal small handfuls of them, as if I were stealing sweets.

I specifically remember one meal where Brigitte made a dish of green beans in delicious tomato sauce, and I remember thinking that it was one of the best things I had ever eaten. I can’t remember what we ate with it, nor can I remember anything else about that meal, yet I have thought about that dish often over the years, wondering what she put in it that made it so good. I’ve tried to recreate it a few times. Sadly, it always ended in disappointment.

However, when I tried Karen Martinis ‘Twice cooked green beans’ I was immediately propelled back in time to that wide eyed 7 year old girl, with dark brown skin and thick kiwi accent, to whom life was literally a beach holiday filled with laughter and fun with my cousins, love from my grandparents and the best green beans I had ever eaten!!

Twice Cooked Green Beans.

Cook 200g of green beans in a generous amount of hot vegetable oil for 2 minutes. Then drain on Kitchen paper.

In hot olive oil cook 1 large brown onion (chopped), 3 bay leaves, 2 cloves of garlic (crushed) and 1 chilli(chopped) for about 5 minutes. Then stir in 2 tablespoons of caster sugar, and 2 tablespoons of red wine vinegar, salt and pepper (to taste), followed by a cup of tomato passata. Simmer for a further 3 minutes and then mix the green beans through the passata mixture.  

Profiterole Pancakes ….

We had a group of friends over for dinner a few weeks back and I decided to consult one of my many Donna Hay Magazines to get some dessert inspiration.


When I found an article on Profiteroles the decision was made. I used to make profiteroles quite regularly and thought they would be a good way to end a meal for nine people. I decided I would keep things simple, filling them with whipped cream and topping with a chocolate sauce made from double cream and melted dairy milk chocolate. My mouth began to water at the prospect!


Soon after starting I realised that the key ingredient in this recipe was time.


Why?


Because it all went horribly wrong and the only thing that saved me was that I had factored in enough time to come up with a contingency plan!!!


My Profiteroles ended up looking like pancakes and smelled far to ‘eggy’ to be appetising. I took a photo of my ‘work’ in front of the magazine picture of what it was supposed to look like.

As you can see, the result was definitely more pancake than profiterole. I blame two things


1 - I was using a new 3 ply steel pot that retains heat very well. In this instance it proved to be a bad thing as when making profiteroles you combine butter and water in a saucepan and when the butter has melted completely, you pour sifted flour into the saucepan and mix, combining and cooking at a reasonable speed.


In my case, the saucepan was too hot and the flour cooked almost immediately. I had to take the mixture off the heat to stop from burning, however because of the retained heat this didnt work as well as I had hoped. I then started mixing furiously in an effort to slow the cooking/burning process and my guess is that I overworked the mixture. I don’t know exactly what that meant for the final product in scientific terms – but it wasn't good!


2, The ingredient ratio was off. After the event I compared the recipe I used in the past to this new recipe and it appears to me that the egg to water/butter/flour ratio was not quite right. In this recipe there seems to be too little water/butter/flour to too many eggs. I have nothing to base this on but my gut instinct... and the fact that my profiteroles seemed to emit an overwhelming eggy note as opposed to the faintly reconisable hint of egg that good profiteroles posses!


Again, I wonder at the scientific explanation, but I cant help but think that all these eggs proved to be too heavy thus making it impossible for the mixture to achieve the height necessary to result in a bulbous pillow of delicate choux pastry as opposed to the flat, uninspired pancakes I ended up with.


Needless to say, time allowed me to clean up, dispose of the evidence and come up with the idea of serving ice cream in martini glasses with a selection of decadent liquid toppings with which to douse the ice cream - Baileys, Grand Marnier, Coffee Sambuca, chocolate sauce (mentioned above) and freshly brewed espresso.

The evening ended with lots of laughter and a few stirring karaoke ballads, and my ice cream induced high made me forget all my Profiterole pancake woes!!

Random things I love about cooking and entertaining

There are a few food/cooking/entertaining related things I love, and thought I would share them.


Frying Pans… There is nothing more enjoyable than cooking with a good quality frying pan. When I have the luxury of time, I prefer stainless steel as opposed to non-stick as I think it makes for a nicer cooking experience, making you rise to the challenge of making sure you’ve got the heat perfect so as not to end up with everything sticking to the bottom!!


Oversized white serving dishes… There is something I love about the ‘exaggerated’ effect of oversized serving dishes. Fill them up to make a meal look hearty and abundant, or leave space to make the meal look minimalist and well arranged. I love the serving dishes to be white so you can match with red table settings* in winter to make the table look decadent and indulged and blue table settings in summer to create a summery yet cool and fresh look.


* (candles, napkins, and placemats etc)


Long stem wine glasses… For those of you who know me well I am devoted to long stem glasses - Wine has to be served in Long stem glasses. Nothing lets a good wine down more than short stem glasses… that’s a fact!!


A good apron… I love the convenience of being able to wipe dirty hands on your apron when cooking. The apron I have at the moment is black, with roomy pockets and a band of red chillies across the middle. It was a gift to a friend of mine from his Mum…. He thought it looked to feminine and so I inherited it … Years later I sent him a Manly blue Butchers apron – It’s so long he tells me it looks like strapless dress on him …… I now question the femininity of the chilli apron


Scented candles… Good quality scented candles provide subtle background notes that infuse pleasant scents throughout the house. They also get rid of the nasty ‘post cooking’ smells that sometimes linger!! Some of my favourites are Aveda, Diptyque, I Coloniali and Durance.


Citrus fruit centre pieces… Dark brown wooden bowls filled with lemons and limes or a glass bowl filled with Clementine’s – preferably with leaves still attached, make a great change from flowers.


Champagne to start… It’s never too early (or late for that matter) to serve Champagne, or anything else that sparkles (Cava, Prosecco, Soda or Mineral). Champagne at the start of a evening is the perfect way to kick off a good time with friends. It whets the appetite and loosens the tongue.


Lighting… I’m a lighting girl and as such ALWAYS prefer dim, atmospheric lighting. Bright lights tend to be too confronting yet dim lighting relaxes and elicits good conversation. The warmth created by a flickering candle also creates an atmosphere that enhances good eating – and I am a devotee of twinkley lights. Both indoor and out.


Background music… (this is going to sound corny) Music is the blank canvas upon which good conversations are painted. Music allows people to feel comfortable, sets a mood and allows for conversations to flow freely. At the moment I am addicted to the Vicky Christina Barcelona soundtrack – It’s evocative and features Spanish guitar that makes you want to travel to Spain and theorise over subjects such as Gaudi, Rioja and Paella (both the dish and the pronunciation of the word!)