I’ ve just got back from a trip to Georgia, the delicious details of which will no doubt feed my imagination, and these pages, atsome point in the future. That visit was immediately followed by asad couple of days in Israel, where Iattended a shiva, the Jewish week of family mourning after a death.
Onboth occasions, I ate a lot. In Georgia, the levels of generosity and warmth, both in restaurants and in people’s homes, were astonishing, with massive feasts of traditional dishes and local wine, followed by more food and more wine, followed by stories and sometimes a song and a dance. Meals went on for hours, food being both fuel and the main topic for conversation.
What I ate in Israel, meanwhile, was quietly deposited in the kitchen by mourners as they arrived. Spiced meatballs with couscous, savoury pies, chopped salads and lots of cakes were handed out with little fuss and consumed almost discreetly. It was all delicious and abundant, made and servedwith affection, butit was never the focal point.
These two very different eating experiences did, however, have onething in common: both were entirelywithout structure. Food wasserved and enjoyed in a constant stream, and with no sense of urgency. This timelessness – anage-old way of dining and one where time is just not an issue – is anattitude to which we should all aspire whenever we eat, on happy occasions, sad occasions and everything in between.
Today’s recipes are just the sort ofsmall, meze-style dishes that create a meal with no official beginning, middle or, crucially, end.
Sweet and sour farro
Spelt and unpearled farro are both good substitutes for the pearled farro, but they need an overnight soak first and take longer to cook: 45 minutes, as opposed to 20. Serves six.
2 red peppers
2 yellow peppers
1 red chilli
30g tamarind from a block of pulp (ie,not the ready-made variety)
500ml chicken or vegetable stock
1 small dried ancho chilli, torn into 4cmpieces
200g pearled farro
Salt and black pepper
15g mint leaves, roughly chopped
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 tbsp maple syrup
100g creme fraiche
1 tbsp olive oil
Heat the oven to its highest setting. Put the peppers and chilli on a medium oven tray lined with baking paper, roast for 10 minutes, then transfer the chilli to a medium bowl. Roast the peppers for 15-20 minutes more, until most of the skin has blackened, then add to the chilli bowl and cover with clingfilm. Once they are cool enough to handle, remove and discard the skin and seeds from both the peppers and the chilli, then cut the peppers into 1cm-wide strips and finely slice the chilli.
Put the tamarind in a medium bowl and cover with 300ml of warm water. Using your hands, crush the tamarind and separate its seeds, then strain the liquid into a medium saucepan (discard the seeds) and add the stock. Bring to a boil, then add the ancho chilli, farro and a teaspoon and a quarter of salt. Turn down the heat to medium-low, cover and simmer for 15-20 minutes, until the farro is cooked but still has a little bite. Drain the farro over a medium bowl, to reserve the liquid, then return the liquid to the pan (you should have about 350ml left) and put the farro in a bowl. Cook the liquid on a medium heat for about 10 minutes, until reduced by half, then pour over the farro and leave to come down to room temperature.
To serve, mix the mint, peppers, chilli, lemon juice, maple syrup and a generous grind of pepper into the farro, then spread out on a platter and dot with spoonfuls of creme fraiche. Drizzle with oil and serve.
Baby peppers stuffed with chard and mozzarella
Bags of mixed baby peppers, 5-6cm long and in red, yellow and orange, are available from most supermarkets (they’re sometimes labelled “chiquino”). They vary in size, so use more or less of the filling as required. Serves four to six.
2 tbsp olive oil
1 large bunch swiss chard, trimmed, stalks and leaves finely sliced
Salt and black pepper
2 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed
2 mild red chillies, deseeded and finely chopped
2 tsp dried oregano
30g pine nuts, lightly toasted and roughly chopped
50g pecorino romano, finely grated
80g mozzarella block, roughly grated
500g mixed baby peppers (ie, about 20baby peppers)
Heat the oven to 200C/390F/gas mark 6. Heat the oil in a large saute pan on a medium-high flame, then fry the chard, a quarter-teaspoon of salt and a generous grind of pepper for 15 minutes, stirring often, until the stalks are soft and starting to brown. Add the garlic, chilli and oregano, fry for another minute, then take off the heat. Leave to cool, then stir in the pine nuts and both cheeses.
Cut out a little V from the stalk of each pepper down almost to the base (reserve the bits of flesh for soup or salad), then scoop out and discard the seeds. Fill the peppers with the chard mix (you’ll need about 20g in each), then lay them cut side up on an oven tray lined with greaseproof paper. Roast for 18-20 minutes, until the peppers are soft and caramelised, then leave to cool for 10 minutes and serve warm (if you want to get ahead, they are also good at room temperature).
Skordalia
My take on the famous garlicky Greek dip. Serves six.
6 garlic cloves, unpeeled, plus 1 small garlic clove, peeled and crushed
5g thyme sprigs
1 lemon, skin thinly shaved (use a potato peeler), plus 4tbsp lemon juice
100ml olive oil, plus 2 tbsp extra
220g flaked almonds
80g crustless white bread
10g preserved lemon skin
Salt
Put the whole garlic cloves, thyme, lemon skin and 100ml olive oil in a small saucepan on a medium-low heat and leave to simmer gently for 20 minutes, until the garlic is soft. Remove from the heat, leave to cool to room temperature (about 20 minutes), then strain the oil into abowl. Discard the thyme and lemon, then peel the garlic and add the whole cloves to the infused oil.
Put 20g almonds and the two extra tablespoons of oil in a small saucepan and cook on a medium-low heat for five minutes, stirring occasionally, until the nuts are golden brown, then turn off the heat. Blitz the bread and the remaining almonds to a fine crumb in a food processor, add 220ml cold water, the lemon juice, preserved lemon, the cooked and raw garlic, and blitz again. Slowly incorporate the infused oil, then stir in a half-teaspoon of salt and blitz again, until creamy and smooth, though still slightly textured from the nuts.
Spread the skordalia out on a platter or six plates, creating a thick rim around the edge, spoon the nuts and oil into the centre, and serve.
Burnt aubergine with tahini, cucumber and pomegranate
Don’t add the cucumber until just before serving, because the salt in the aubergine will make it release water. Serves four.
4 large aubergines (about 1kg in total)
1 tbsp olive oil
½ small garlic clove, peeled and crushed
Flaked sea salt and black pepper
¼ cucumber, peeled, core and seeds removed, flesh chopped into 1cm cubes
¼ tsp pomegranate molasses
40g pomegranate seeds
¾ tsp urfa chilli flakes
5g picked mint leaves
For the tahini sauce
40g tahini paste
2½ tbsp water
2 tsp lemon juice
¼ tsp pomegranate molasses
Put a griddle pan on a high heat and ventilate the kitchen. Once the pan is very hot, lay in the aubergines and grill for 45 minutes, turning them once or twice, until the aubergines are smoking, the skin is charred all over and the flesh within completely soft. Transfer to a bowl and, when they’re cool enough to handle, peel the aubergines and discard the blackened skins. Put the flesh in colander, leave to drain for an hour, then squeeze out as much liquid as you can: you’ll end up with about 450g of flesh. Put in a bowl and mix in the oil, garlic, half a teaspoon of salt and plenty of pepper.
Whisk all the ingredients for the tahini sauce with a pinch of salt.
To serve, stir the cucumber into the aubergine and spoon into a shallow bowl. Drizzle the sauce over the top and sprinkle with the pomegranate, urfa chilli and mint.
