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Anissa Helou's Middle Eastern cookery demostrations at the Leighton House Museum, London

By Ozlem Warren on November 7, 2011 in A Slice of England, Uncategorised 3

Last Thursday, I had the pleasure to attend the wonderful food writer and the cookery author Anissa Helou’s -www.anissas.com- Middle Eastern cookery demostrations at the Leighton House Museum, London. She kindly shared with us her extensive middle eastern ingredients and explained us how they are used in classic dishes. A very informative class, learned a great deal on especially Persian cuisine – it was also wonderful to sample the delicious Turkish dried apricots and sumac berries!- Anissa will continue to be the chef-in-residence at the Leighton House Museum on November 10th and 17th for more demonstrations on Middle Eastern cuisine. Delightful and very informative sessions, if you can make it. For more info, please visit http://www.nourfestival.co.uk/courses1.php

Braised Red Cabbage with Onion, Apples and Pomegranate Molasses (or Balsamic Vinegar)

By Ozlem Warren on November 1, 2011 in Uncategorised, Vegetables Cooked in Olive Oil 7

I love getting fresh, seasonal produce delivered to my door (even better if you can grow yourself, of course) and the surprise element of it. I try not to check what will be delivered in my veg box that week and enjoy getting a surprise. I can be quite traditional (and perhaps boring) going for the same/similar vegetables when I shop, so an unusual veg appearing in my box is inspiring and gets me out of my comfort zone.

I got organic red cabbage, lovely cooking apples and red onions last week- I don’t recall buying red cabbage before and it was nice to experiment with it. Thanks to the recipe provided by Abel&Cole; for inspiration, I came out with this recipe. Pomegranate molasses add a wonderful, sharp sweet and sour flavor to the cabbage, and a good balsamic vinegar does a wonderful job if you can’t get the pomegranate molasses. The marriage of caramelized red onions, Bramley apples and the red cabbage is just heavenly. Beautiful, vibrant colors and a sensational taste. We enjoyed it with grilled fish, grilled meat and as a side to pasta dishes. Easy, healthy and delicious, really worth trying. You can prepare ahead of time, and the leftovers can be frozen successfully, joy to the world:)

Serves 6-8
Prep time: 15 minutes Cooking time: 1 1/2 hrs

1 medium red cabbage, quartered, cored and thinly shredded
1 onion, peeled and thinly sliced
3 cooking apples (like Bramley apples), peeled, cored and thinly sliced
1-2 tablespoons demerara sugar
2 tablespoons pomegranate molasses thinned with 1/2 cup – 4 fl oz water
or
3-4 tablespoons balsamic vinegar with 3 tablespoons water
2-3 tablespoons olive oil
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Preheat the oven to 350F/ 180°C

Mix all the ingredients in a large baking tray (make sure they are not higher than a finger deep) Loosely cover with foil.

Bake for about 70-90 mins. Check at about 60 minutes, stir and taste. Cover and cook for a further 20-30 minutes, until the cabbage is tender, juicy and sweet. Season with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper.

Once cool, the cabbage can be kept in fridge and reheated. It can also be frozen. This wonderful dish goes very nicely with grilled fish, sausages, roasts, fried eggs or with any sautéed vegetables.

Afiyet Olsun!

Madeira Cake with Chocolate Sauce

By Ozlem Warren on October 26, 2011 in Cakes and Desserts, Uncategorised 4

It was our cake bake to raise funds for my son’s class a couple of weeks ago, and I baked the Madeira cake with a little twist. Madeira cake is a lovely simple sponge cake, and it was used to be served with a glass of Madeira wine – today it makes an excellent accompaniment served with tea or coffee. It is best to eat the cake fresh, when it is soft and light.

My little twist to this cake was the addition of a little chocolate sauce over the top – to tempt children (and adults!) for the cake bake. The result was delicious, and the cake disappeared pretty quickly! I hope you could have a go sometime, children enjoy decorating with the cake with the chocolate sauce too.

Serves 6-8
Preparation time: 20 minutes Cooking time: 1 hour

225 gr/8oz plain flour, sifted (and extra 2 tablespoons of flour with the eggs)
5ml/1teaspoon baking powder
175gr/6oz butter, softened
175gr/6oz caster sugar
Grated rind of half a lemon
3 eggs
30ml/2 tablespoons milk

For the chocolate sauce:
100gr/4 oz good quality milk or dark chocolate
10ml/2 teaspoons cocoa powder

Makes 1x7in (17.5cm) round cake

Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas Mark 4

Grease and line a 17.5cm (7in) round tin. Mix together the flour and baking powder. Beat together the butter, sugar and lemon rind until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, adding 2 tablespoons of flour with the last two. Fold in the remaining flour, and then gently mix in the milk. Turn into the prepared tin and bake for about 1 hour until a skewer comes out clean. Remove from the oven and turn out on the wire rack to cool.

One of the best and easiest ways of melting chocolate is to melt it either in a bain marie or in a bowl over a pan of hot water. Make sure the bowl fits securely over. Break the chocolate into chunks and place them and the cocoa powder in a bowl, sitting over a pan of hot water. Stir until the chocolate is completely melted. Set aside to cool.

Pour the sauce over the top of the cake and make a pattern with prongs of a fork and leave to set.

Afiyet Olsun,

And a here is a photo from Devon, from the lovely seaside town, Sidmouth. We were there at the weekend; the English coastline is beautiful and it was very relaxing and peaceful.

Special Note: My heartfelt thanks to you all, who expressed their concerns and good wishes for the devastating earthquake at the eastern part of Turkey. It is heartbreaking, and one would hope no more casualties. Prayers and good wishes go for all the folks there, to have the strength to keep going and keep the hope alive.