Smoked mackerel pâté

One of the things I look forward to about becoming a famous food writer/humanitarian/film critic/wag, is being able to go on Strictly Come Dancing, Dessert Island Discs and Saturday Kitchen. Saturday Kitchen is a relatively innocuous food programme, but here is just something about James Martin’s sweet-natured demeanour and the haphazard live format that I just completely love. My food heaven would probably be globe artichokes or fresh tuna, and my food hell would be bananas, and any form of mashed up fish: fish mousse, fishballs and gefiltefish just completely make me gag. Call me a bad Jew, but Gefiltefish is just the most vile thing in existence.* All except for the surprising wonder that is smoked mackerel pâté.

As well as being absolutely delicious, smoked mackerel pâté is also incredibly easy to make, and a really excellent thing to make as a starter/nibble when you are hosting. A bit of smoked mackerel pâté, toast cut into triangles and wine will keep guests very happy while you faff about in the kitchen.  

Ingredients

4 peppered smoked mackerel fillets, peel the skin off the back (yuck)

100g cream cheese (I used a reduced fat one)

1-2 tbsp crème fraîche to keep it lovely and light (I used a reduced fat one)

Lemon juice to taste, no more than half a lemon’s worth

Method

Put the smoked mackerel fillets in a large bowl and use a couple of forks to flake them up – under no circumstances use anything resembling a food processor. 

Add the cream cheese, stir in a bit, and then add one tablespoon of crème fraîche. Mix together well. Use your judgement to see how thick it is looking and decide if you want to use the second tablespoon of crème fraîche. 

Add the lemon juice and stir, taste and add more lemon juice if you think the pâté needs it.

Works very well with melba toast – recipe coming soon.

*Unlike Gefiltefest, the London Jewish Food Festival, which is completely wonderful. The fifth annual Gefiltefest is being held at the London Jewish Cultural centre on Sunday the 15^th of June – save the date! 

Wild garlic pesto

The Jewish food festival, Gefiltefest was 2 weeks ago and an absolutely fantastic day. As well as learning about the incredible organisations feeding the homeless and redistributing food here and abroad, hearing about what locusts taste like and gorging on zchug – I reconnected with one of my favourite old teachers and met one of my favourite food writers Marlena Spieler. Spending time with the cooks, food writers and food activists* has ignited my passion for food even more – so expect to be hearing much more from me in future.

An unexpected additional joy if the festival was the masses of wild garlic growing in the beautiful garden of the LJCC. Wild garlic is amazing, kind of like chives turned up to 11. And when you pick it, you can pretend like you are in an episode of River Cottage. It is actually much easier to find then you might think, and can also be bought in Farmers’ Markets if you don’t fancy foraging.

This pesto is really tasty but quite pungent so use it sparingly. I used rapeseed oil and no cheese to keep it a little more pure, but you could of course use extra virgin olive oil and cheese, or whatever else you fancy really.

Makes enough for 4-6 servings, depending on how much oil you use

Bunch of wild garlic leaves – if you are picking them yourself go for about a handful

1-2 tbsp rapeseed oil

1 tbsp pine nuts

A little salt to taste

Optional: hard parmesan-style cheese, grated.

Wash the wild garlic leaves to remove any bugs or badger wee.

Toast the pine nuts in a dry pan over a medium heat until golden and fragrant.

Blitz everything together using a food processor or immersion blender, adding oil until the pesto reaches your desired consistency.

Serving suggestion: emulating my aspirational Queens Park Farmers’ Market yummy mummy, I served the pesto with bulgur wheat, steamed sprouting broccoli and roasted salmon. Accompany with crisp white wine or posh apple juice, and complain about getting planning permission for your grade II listed house.

people have been asking & I feel I need to clarify - this is 2+ portions, I'm not that greedy!

*An easy way that you can get involved with food activism right now is to join the Enough Food for Everyone IF campaign’s London event in Hyde Park on Saturday 8^th June. World Jewish Relief have organised walking groups and kiddish from several local synagogues so that those who keep Shabbat can also attend  http://www.wjr.org.uk/news/shabbat-walk-for-change-june-8/  

Baba Ghanoush, my way

Here is another ode to the aubergine. A dip of roasted, smoky aubergine and tahini. When I first came across it, its greyish and lumpy appearance wasn’t the most appealing to be honest, but the taste soon won me over. In The New Book of Middle Eastern Food Claudia Roden describes baba ghanoush as “exciting and vulgarly seductive” – possibly one of the best compliments anything could have. People also make a version with mayonnaise, which I hate with a fiery passion. Somehow it transforms this wonder into a sweet, eggy sort of wallpaper paste.

There are infinite ways to make this, and this one is my favourite. And I really do love it. My flatmate Claudie just asked how long it keeps in the fridge, a perfectly valid question, but the answer is that it never lasts long enough for me to find out. According Jerusalem, there is apparently major disagreement as to whether proper baba should have tahini in it, or just olive oil. I am in the tahini camp.

I wrote in the miso aubergines post that I wasn’t sure how aubergines have become such a symbol of Jewish food – but I have done a tiny bit of research and of course Claudia Roden and Yotam Ottolenghi/ Sami Tamimi provide the answers. Apparently, while aubergines were brought to Spain and Italy by Arabs, Jewish people are credited for introducing them because they took them into the countries when fleeing various aggressors and moving and trading among the Arab Moorish and Christian cultures in the 15^th and 16^th centuries.

Ottolenghi/Tamimi writes in Jerusalem:

“Few ingredients have reached the level of veneration achieved by the humble aubergine or have found their way to almost every table in Jerusalem. Everybody loved to be associated with the aubergine – it’s like the local celebrity. The number of people who claim to have invented baba ghanoush, or at least elevated it to the level of fine food, is extraordinary.”

Ingredients:

2 aubergines

1-2 cloves garlic, crushed – you can either use these raw, or fry them slowly in olive oil until glossy and sweet

olive oil

tahini sauce** 

ground cumin – freshly toasted and ground if you have the time, this is however one of the few recipes where I give you permission to use the ready-ground

smoked paprika

lemon juice

salt and pepper

handful chopped fresh parsley – optional but very tasty

Turn the oven to 190-200C

Method:

Prick the aubergines all over with a fork or sharp knife. Put them in the oven and bake for at least 45 mins. You can check on them after this time by pressing them gently with a fork or some other non-finger implement – they should have wrinkled and be soft to the touch. Depending on how hot/pre-heated the oven was, this could take a good hour. This would be a lot more authentic by the way if done on a barbeque. I wouldn’t recommend scorching them over a flame on the hob though – however fun it may be to stick a fork in a pepper and burn it over a flame (terrifying flatmates in the process), aubergines are just a bit too big. And the concept of covering your entire hob in foil and just leaving the aubergines on the rings for half an hour sounds a bit much. Leaving them alone in the oven is just easier.

Once the aubergine is soft and a little collapsed, allow it to cool until it can be handled – this is a hands-on messy bit. Putting the aubergines on a large plate or oven tray, carefully peel away the skin, reserving any flesh that comes away with it. Break the aubergine open a little to allow some of the excess water to drain away – you don’t want a watery baba! At this stage I also remove some of the big clumps of seeds – there is hardly any flesh on them and I just don’t think they are that good. Give whatever flesh is left a squeeze or shake to get rid of any remaining water, and chop the whole thing up – so that it goes a little pulpy in parts.

Add the chopped aubergine flesh to a big bowl with the tahini, garlic and parsley if using. Add about ½ teaspoon of cumin and ¼ teaspoon of the smoked paprika, a few spoons of lemon juice, salt and pepper. Mix well and taste, adjusting the different seasonings to your liking. I like it with a lot of lemon, and sometimes also a little bit of hot chilli powder or cayenne pepper.

I love it with pita, quickly warmed in the toaster – so that the edges are a little charred, but it is warm and soft in the middle. Apparently it goes very well with rye crackers too.

** Tahini: I used to buy this in little jars from health food stores or supermarkets, but over the past few years I have become so addicted to it that I now buy it in 1kilo plastic tubs from local Middle-Eastern stores. I use it whenever I make humous, baba, as a dressing for salads, roasted fish or meat, or as a dip in its own right. I always turn it into a sauce first  – when using the paste ‘neat’ it has too cement-y a texture.

To make tahini sauce, put a few tablespoons of tahini in a bowl and add a little water and lemon juice. When you start stirring, the mixture may seize and become grainy, but don’t worry this is normal. Continue adding water and mixing until the sauce becomes creamy. Add more lemon juice to taste along with a little salt, pepper and some garlic. This makes a good salad dressing with a little honey added too. 

*BREAKING GEFILTEFEST NEWS* For next year's festival, there will be two new awards, 'The Gefiltefest Jewish Cookbook Awards'. One will be a public poll for the best English language cookbook, and there will be a panel of expert judges giving a separate award. Any publisher is welcome to submit books relating to any aspect of Jewish food, as long as they are published between May 2012 and May 2013.

Syrian Artichoke and Cheese Casserole

This is a recipe that I tested for the Gefiltefest cookbook. The book is a compilation of recipes from different Jewish chefs from around the world, and I was delighted to be asked to be involved with putting it together. I have written about Gefiltefest and my involvement with it before, in the Aubergines pouched in Miso post.

I think I drove the cookbook organisers a little bit crazy with my pickiness when it came to what recipes I would test – which is all a bit ridiculous seeing as my intention when I started this blog was to stretch myself with my cooking. Sorry about that guys - will be more ambitious in future, and will get over my fear of yeast!

Its funny because I never would have made this of my own volition, but I just love artichokes so much I knew that I needed to give it a go. I was a little hesitant as I usually avoid cooking with so much cheese because, well, so much cheese, and also on a practical level, it tends to split and get all oily and gross. Heston Blumenthal tackled this issue during his TV series ‘How to Cook Like Heston’. Of course I did buy 'Heston at Home' (couldn’t help myself), but haven’t attempted anything from it yet, for obvious reasons. Anyway, you know what? Despite all the so much cheese, and the simplicity of the dish – essentially it’s a big baked frittata/tortilla/Eggah – it was FANTASTIC, and everyone I made it for loved it too. So there.

This recipe is from Gil Marks. He is an award-winning writer, historian, rabbi, and chef, is a leading authority on culinary subjects and Jewish cuisine. His books include Encyclopedia of Jewish Food, Olive Trees and Honey, and The World of Jewish Cooking. I co-own Olive Trees and Honey 
(thanks to Alli), which is a lovely, vegetarian, kosher cookbook. His recipes give an interesting perspective on Sephardic cuisine especially, as I had previously only associated it with non-dairy dishes.

Gil writes:

“Artichokes are popular in various Mediterranean countries, where they are prepared in a wide variety of ways. Among my favorites, is this simple Syrian-Jewish dish. It is both a comfort food, yet capable of serving as an appetizer at parties.”

A note of artichokes: Frozen artichoke bottoms are not the easiest things to get hold of – but certainly so much easier than preparing the artichokes from fresh. I also feel that if you had whole globe artichokes, it would be a bit of a travesty to do anything with them other than eating them whole, leaf by leaf (heaven). After a little bit of research I found that I could buy the frozen bottoms in Yarden – a kosher supermarket in Golders Green. A bag cost about £6.50 and this recipe used about a third of a bag. Very useful if you want to make the stuffed artichokes in Yotam Ottolenghi and Sami Tamimi’s new book Jerusalem, or just add them to a simple pasta dish, or whatever else you fancy.

*Update 23.01.13* I just discovered frozen artichoke bottoms in the Arabic supermarket on Willesden Green High Street (next to the bus stop by Dominos) for £1.89!!!

Serves 6-8

Ingredients

2 tablespoons (approx) olive oil


1 large yellow onion, diced

8 - 9 quartered artichoke bottoms, thawed if frozen

6 large eggs, lightly beaten


3 cups (350 grams) grated Cheddar cheese, or similar.

Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste 
(Gil specifies a teaspoon of salt, but this seemed like a little much for me with so much salty cheese).

Method

Preheat the oven to 175 C. Grease a 2-litre casserole.

In a large frying pan, heat the oil over medium heat. Add the onion and fry until soft and translucent (5-10 mins). Add the artichokes and sauté until nearly tender (5-10 mins). Remove from the heat.

Combine the eggs, cheese, salt, and pepper. Stir in the artichokes.

Spoon the mixture into the prepared casserole. Bake until golden brown (35 to 40 minutes).


5.  Best served warm, also very good at room temperature. If you run a knife around the sides of the casserole, it will turn out onto a plate very nicely.

Variations


1. Reduce the eggs to 3. Combine 1 cup (145g) all-purpose flour and 1 teaspoon (5 ml) baking powder, then stir in 1 cup/240 ml milk. Stir into the egg-cheese mixture.


2. Add 1 teaspoon (5 ml) dried oregano and pinch of red pepper.


3. Substitute 570g blanched chopped broccoli or spinach, excess water drained out.

4. Hannah, who is actually a little bit Syrian, said that you can also make it using some kind of cottage cheese/ ricotta instead of all the cheddar, making the whole thing a lot lighter. Presumably much more subtle a flavour though.

With foodie love and thanks to Gefiltefest for encouraging me in all things foodie and social action-y, for giving me this recipe, and letting me post it.

Aubergines poached in Miso

A few weeks ago I had the privilege to be a volunteer at Gefiltefest, the Jewish Food Festival. Now in its third year, the festival encompasses all things Jewish and foodie; it is multi-denominational with an ethical/ sustainable ethos. Through the course of volunteering I met some incredible people, including an 87-year-old camp survivor with buckets of energy who spends her time creating food redistribution networks, and a guy who brews his own booze to barter with people for scrap at building sites.  

I also co-presented a session about Ruchot Community Café – a non-profit kosher, vegetarian café, based around ethical food choices and sustainability, run entirely by volunteers. I am normally pretty shy so this was a massive deal for me, but it went really well. My main pitch went something along the lines of the Jewish mother concept of ‘FOOD=LOVE’ or rather, “I will feed you because I love you, and if you love me you had better eat.” Somehow I think a lot of us have lost sight of the LOVE, and having a grassroots community where the people are empowered to take ownership of the source of their food and what they are going to do with it, is a really good place to start. Please message me if you are interested in learning more about Ruchot Community Café, or want to get involved (grassroots communities exist for those who take part).

The logo of Gefiltefest is an aubergine. I’m not really sure how, but aubergines have become as firmly entrenched in Jewish food culture as chicken soup and latkes – somehow if you don’t know at least 100 ways to cook them, you aren’t really a Jewish cook.  I am sure that someone with a better knowledge of Jewish law/history could come up with something about the aubergine’s versatility, or the way it has travelled throughout the world, but I am more concerned with this – they are TASTY!

This dish is a variation on the Korean aubergine recipe mentioned in my previous post in the section about the Madhur Jaffrey vegetarian cookbook. I had forgotten about how nice it was until I started flicking through the book again. The original recipe was quite involved, and so in my typical lazy style I have simplified it – still really delicious though.

Serves 2 or 3 as a side dish, multiply as needed

Ingredients

1 aubergine, cut into whatever shape takes your fancy (mine were rectangles about 4cm by 1.5cm)

1 onion, preferably red, sliced into thin rings

1 clove garlic, crushed quite finely

100ml hot water

2 heaped tsp miso paste (it doesn’t seem like a lot but miso is powerful stuff and the taste really comes through. I used a golden yellow one – the dark brown ones tend to be stronger, so use your own judgement for quantities)

2 tsp soy sauce           

2 tsp sake (dry rice wine)

2 tsp sesame oil

¼ tsp cayenne pepper

Flavourless cooking oil

Heat the oil in a large frying pan (that has a lid) and start frying the onion and aubergine pieces on a medium-ish heat, turning every now and again to make sure that the onions aren’t sticking and everything is getting a good colour. After 5-10 minutes, add the garlic.

While the aubergine is frying combine the rest of the ingredients in a bowl or jug and mix well.

After the garlic has been in the pan for a couple of minutes, add the sauce. Give everything a stir, put the lid on and turn the heat down to a simmer. Let this cook down for at least 30 minutes, stirring every now and again. It is ready when it has cooked right down, the sauce is thickened and the aubergines are gloriously silky and sweet.