I will not ever never eat an okra
I’m standing in my kitchen slicing okra into julienne strips with my sharpest knife. The hated mucilaginous juices stick to my fingers and the knife in strands. Shudder. I like food – nearly all food – but this slimy vegetable is on the short list of things I never want to eat:
- okra
- mulokhia (slimy spinach much-loved in the Levant)
- stewing meat that has the gelatinous globules of fat or gristle still attached (I was made to eat this at school by the nuns)
- brains
- tripe
It’s a texture thing and even writing this down has me pulling faces.
So I didn’t jump for joy when some delicate little green claws of okra, fresh and slightly furry, arrived in my Bumble Box veg box. This was a challenge.
Resisting the urge to chuck the whole lot in my Bokashi, I asked about a bit:
‘Cook it for a long time and all the sliminess goes.’ Hmmm, I’ve heard this one before – so how come when I’ve tasted it in an Asian curry it’s shiver-makingly glue-some?
‘Pan fry with some spices.’ This was sounding more like it.
And the best one (Eat, Write, Think) ‘Indians love okra and no one ever complains of it being slimy… it’s the way it is a very karmic way of thinking.’ I LOVE this suggestion but I’m too impatient for meditation!
I turned to a recipe by a writer who sounded like she had as deep-seated an aversion to this loathsome veg as I do – Tamasin Day Lewis. Her recipe coats shreds of them in spices and gram flour and deep fries the mucus into oblivion.
Did it work? Yes – no slime at all. Were they nice? Well you know that addictive thing about deep-fried stuff? You take a morsel and think ‘hmmm, that’s ok’ and then another and another. The multi-layered spices mean you may get a taste of ginger, or the sweetness of some onion and you are left with a slightly salty, warm taste. I might add a finely sliced chilli next time (wow, I’m thinking about next time!) These make a very nice nibble with drinks (like cassava chips are) or a crispy garnish for soup or even a vegetable crouton-like sprinkle over salads.
Akri Bhindi or crisp okra – adapted from a recipe by Tamasin Day-Lewis in Good Tempered Food
Ingredients
255g fresh okra
50g onion
25g red or green peppers or a combination
about 1 teaspoon fresh ginger, cut into thin strips
1/2 tsp mustard seeds
a pinch of asafoetida
.75oz/20g salt
1/2 teaspoon chilli powder (or a little more to taste)
20g chickpea (gram) flour
20g cornflour
a little fresh coriander, finely chopped (optional)
Vegetable oil for deep frying
Method
Cut the okra, onions and peppers into thin strips (julienne). Add the dry spices, ginger, chickpea flour and corn flour, and mix well to coat.
Use a deep fat fryer or fill a pan one-third full with vegetable oil. Heat the oil, and test that it is hot enough by dropping a bit of the mixture in. If it fizzes and starts to brown immediately, carefully add some of the vegetables. Do not add all at once or the pan could bubble over. Fry, in batches if necessary, until crisp and brown all over. Drain on kitchen towel. Sprinkle with the finely chopped coriander. Serve.
I bet this is the only okra recipe sent to Fabulicious Food for her fab seasonal round-up of recipes. Do you have a non-slimy okra recipe that you’d like to share? And what’s top of your food aversions?
In my kitchen…
Fig Jam and Lime Cordial is a blog I read very regularly. Celia keeps hens (and even posted a video of them recently), bakes all her own bread using a starter and shares recipes of just the kind of food I like to eat (including custard). Once a month she does a round up of interesting things in her kitchen that month – from a jug of tulips given by a friend to pasta in strange turtle-shell shapes. I love having a poke around other people’s kitchens, even if it is a virtual one.
I just realised that in my kitchen this month there are more than a few unusual food items, including a gift that I had to ask friends to identify as I hadn’t a clue.
So in my kitchen…
Ginger flapjacks given to me by my lovely friend Debi. I’ve ignored her post-it advice as best I can due to their total chewy addictiveness. I need this recipe.
The turkish delight I bought in Turkey was too gooey for my tastes. Caroline, the arbiter of all good things in Istanbul, brought a box of the best. Please come and help me eat this – KP and the girls are not fans – I’m doing rather too good a job single-handedly.
You can buy most things in Dubai, but when something unusual hits the shelves you grab it. I seized this with joy (in Aswaq) planning a seafood sensation, but KP nearly fainted when he saw squink ink pasta. The pleasure of eating tagliolini nero will be mine alone.
Witty and multi-talented Hedonista brought this round for a Come Dine With Me gift – a jar of jam. Not any old jam, but orange and walnut from the Emporio Armani Caffe. So kind, so stylish.
This was a gift from N when she arrived for book club last week. “It was given to my husband, I’m not sure what it is or where it is from but I thought you’d like it. I think it might be cake.” I opened and tried it but was absolutely none the wiser, so took a pic and turned to Twitter. Grace solved the mystery. It’s a Japanese sweet called Yokan: bean jelly squares in different flavours – red bean, honey, white bean & green tea.
So that (and the gingerbread above) is what’s happening in my kitchen this month. Anything in yours that you’d like to share?
Wine drinking in class
Picture by I Komang Swasta
Woo hoo! I’ve just received the news about my WSET level 2 examination and I passed…with distinction. As it is the first examination I have sat in decades I’m delighted. I couldn’t steady my pre-exam nerves with a glass of wine, which was completely at odds to the rest of the course where tasting (and drinking) was part of the lesson.
There is zero tolerance for drinking and driving in Dubai so I cycled to and from the course much to the amusement of the other students.
Picture by David
WSET stands for Wines and Spirit Education Trust and is a qualification with world-wide recognition. The course is held at the Emirates Academy of Hospitality in Jumeirah, Dubai (plus other parts of the world) and there were about 30 of us in class. Most of my classmates worked at various restaurants and bars around town and were looking to further their careers with this qualification. Only R and I had simply applied for the pleasure of taking the course.
Picture by Andreas Levers
It’s not advisable to look back with regret but if reincarnation and time travel is possible could I request to come back as Jancis Robinson please? I took her Wine Course book to Saudi Arabia with me in 1995. Mad you might think (and I’m astonished it wasn’t taken from me at customs) but I knew I’d have a lot of reading time on my hands (albeit no chance to put any knowledge into practise). When Confessions of a Wine Lover came out in 1997 this too was smuggled in with my luggage and I couldn’t believe that anyone could have had a life that perfect in terms of eating and drinking experiences.
Before and since Saudi-living I’ve been lucky enough to taste some pretty nice wines myself. Wine-drinking in Saudi? – well let me just say it goes on, but special it ain’t. I arrived at the course with more enthusiasm than expertise and a few random bits of knowledge thrown together and a few lucky blind tasting results. No previous knowledge is necessary to join the course.
Picture by Andreas Levers
Over the next 10 weeks we went through the major wine producing countries and regions, grape varieties, methods plus a bit about spirits. It seemed to knit the little bits and pieces together; every session was really worthwhile and very enjoyable due to the practical tasting. The WSET systematic approach to wine tasting is a little formulaic but it gave me a reference point for descriptions and assessments of wine. It means that you can link your previous experience of a certain wine with the one you are tasting now and put it in context. The course is called ‘Looking Behind the Label‘ and arms you with some great information when choosing wines. For instance I was looking at Spanish wines in a shop the other day and knew that the terms Crianza, Reserva and Gran Reserva referred to the amount of time they had spent being aged in oak (which obviously has an effect on the taste and price).
This new-found knowledge (and it’s right at the first rung of the wine information ladder) is not something to use to wax on and on about expensive and rare vintages – *friends now sigh with relief*. It’s more about finding wines you like.
I wish I had done this years ago so I’ve signed up again for September. Wish me luck with Level 3 Advanced Certificate ‘Exploring the world of wines and spirits’.
I can’t claim any credit for the beautiful images above (click on them to see the clever people that did).
A couple of other wine-related links if you live in the UAE :
The Tasting Class – a range of exciting events around wine plus you can now do your WSET levels 1 and 2 with them. Hooray!
Grapevine (MMI) – special offers, tastings, events for people who like wine.
Dubai Wine Club – informal meet-up group with monthly blind tastings.
Any tips for studying? Any wine experiences you’d like to share? (For non-drinkers, we’re back to food next time).
Picture by Matthew Rogers
Peach melba custard tart – the perfect date
Although the summer temperatures are rising, most of the peaches in the supermarket are still rock solid and without fragrance. Like a lot of produce they are picked underipe and never develop juice or sweetness; some have been sent from Europe and some all the way from the USA. However I spotted a little punnet of six hiding away. There was no country specified so I suspected they’d be ‘local’ which means anywhere from the region. They were a little bit imperfect, the odd bruise here and there but I prised open the plastic lid and sniffed. There was something there that encouraged me to hope and I bought them with a single thing in mind. I had been dreaming about this particular tart since last August when I tore the recipe out of Olive magazine.
I drew the line at fresh raspberries as they are of overdraft inducing price – frozen would have to do. It’s hard to get my kitchen cool enough for the best pastry making now that it’s over 40C outside and my baked tart shape came out a little rustic! Given my recent luck with custard I gave a little wish when it went into the oven. Deep joy when it emerged, the custard set but slightly soft, the raspberries bleeding their tart juice, the peaches looking like fried eggs peeping through their yellow mantle.
I made the tart to serve to a group of really dear friends and thought there might be a slice left to take a beauty parlour shot. But no, you’ll just have to take my word for how picture perfect each slice was. And after all, you feast with your eyes first but that’s not the end of the story.
Peach Melba Custard Tart – adapted from a recipe by Valentine Warner
Ingredients for the pastry base:
175g plain flour
40g icing sugar
75g softened butter
pinch of salt
1 egg yolk (reserve the white for later)
1 tablespoon water
Ingredients for the filling:
4 peaches ripe but firm
285ml single cream (I used whipping cream diluted with milk)
1 vanilla pod, split lengthways
45g caster sugar
2 eggs, 1 whole and 1 yolk
2 handfuls of raspberries
Method – The best way to make the pastry is in a food processor. Place all the pastry ingredients in the bowl and process until it forms a firm dough. Then turn it out and knead lightly before placing in a plastic bag and leaving in the fridge for 30 minutes to rest. Preheat the oven to 200C, and place a solid baking sheet inside to preheat as well. Now roll out the pastry as thinly as possible and carefully line a deep fluted quiche tin with a loose base, 23cm diameter and 4cm deep that you have lightly oiled, pressing the pastry around the base and sides so that it comes about 5mm above the edge of the tin. Then prick the base with a fork and brush it all over with lightly beaten egg white. Bake on the baking sheet on the middle shelf for 20 minutes then, as your remove it, turn the temperature down to 180C (this part can be done in advance).
While the pastry is baking prepare the filling. Slice the peaches in and twist in half. Remove the stones. Put the peach halves in a pan, just cover with water and bring to the boil. Blanch for one minute. Remove with a slotted spoon and when cool enough to handle peel off the skin. Leave to drain.
Pour the cream into a saucepan and scrape in the vanilla seeds and the empty pod. Place the pan over a medium heat and bring to a simmer for 10 seconds. Beat the whole egg and yolk with the sugar until creamy. Whisk the hot cream vigorously into the eggs until thoroughly mixed. Remove the vanilla pod.
Arrange the peach halves, cut-side down, in the pastry case. Dot with the raspberries and pour over the custard. Return to the oven (heat lowered to 150C) and bake for 45 minutes or until the custard is just set (slightly wobbly in the middle). Cool in the tin and then remove.
Feeling peachy? Appreciate your comments.
Perfecting pasta and cooking from a veg box
Freshly made pasta is a luxury – silky soft strands, a little al dente, coated in a sauce. Yes I like caviar, oysters and the finest fillet steak but I would always be happy with simple food made well.
Italians understand this and can be quite dictatorial about which sauce goes with which type of pasta. On the other hand, Italian restaurants often embrace the highest form of culinary theatre, showing-off with gusto. Oversized pepper pots and zabaglione made at the table come to mind.
I was invited to a lunch for the launch of Dine Dubai at Caffe Florian in Dubai International Financial District which combined the two – pasta and drama. There was lots of fresh pasta (for starter and main – a little odd?) and the latter course was prepared in a hollow shell of Grana Padano, sprinkled with truffle oil and covered in shavings of black truffle. Tossing the pasta and grating on the truffle was carefully orchestrated and most enjoyable to watch.
The flavours were wonderful – the musky earthiness of the truffle with the tang of the cheese. But…and I feel a bit churlish criticising a free lunch, the texture of the fresh pasta, especially given the provenance of the restaurant, left me wanting. I made a mental note to give my neglected pasta machine an airing.
When I looked at my veg box I ditched an idea for a flights of fancy blue-cheese and fig-filled pasta; you have to use the ingredients you have or watch them languish in the fridge. Basil, potatoes and beans were in abundance so my choice was pasta Genovese. Even with making fresh pasta and pesto this doesn’t take long to make especially when you have some enthusiastic child teen labour in the kitchen to help with the kneading. It’s the ultimate one pot cooking too. My bonus is that everyone in my family will eat it – a victory indeed.
And the result? Blowing my own trumpet here but it knocked the socks of the thicker, chewier CF version – my tagliatelle were fine, smooth and silky just how we like them. Excellent green beans are part of the Bumble Box at the moment and they were far tastier than the flown-in Kenyan variety especially combined with fresh, organic basil.
If you want to try the Caffe Florian version (and black truffle isn’t a regular ingredient in my kitchen) there is 20% off with a Dine Dubai card. More details here.
If you are inspired to make your own pasta there is a festino of recipes for the Monthly Mingle. Juls from Jul’s Kitchen is a self-confessed pasta maniac and she extolls us “get over your fresh pasta fear, roll up your sleeves and enter the Italian way of life.”
Pasta Genovese – for 4 people
Ingredients – pasta
400g pasta flour (I used Doves’ Farm)
4 large eggs
pinch of salt
Ingredients – pesto
Large bunch of fresh basil (if using the pots you will need at least two)
Small handful of pine nuts, lightly toasted (use a dry frying pan)
A sliver of garlic (about a quarter of a clove)
Extra virgin olive oil
Small handful of grated parmesan cheese
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Ingredients – Genovese sauce
Two medium potatoes (about 200g), peeled and cut into chunks
Large handful of green beans
Parmesan cheese (for sprinkling)
To make the pasta: Place the flour and salt on a work surface (you could use a bowl but it’s easier this way) and make a large well in the centre. Break the eggs into the well and use a fork to lightly beat them. Incorporate a little flour from the edges of the well, a bit at a time, whisking all the while. Gradually incorporate more and more flour. When the mixture is no longer runny you can bring in all the flour. Use your hands or a dough scraper (my favourite method). Scrape and turn the shaggy dough until it starts to form a ball. Knead it for about 10 minutes until smooth. Let it rest in the fridge for about 30 minutes then cut in half. Keep one half covered in cling film or a damp tea towel (you can see from the pictures that my dough got a bit dry at the edges). Flatten the ball of dough with your hands and either roll out as thinly as you can or put through a pasta machine on the largest setting a few times. Fold the dough into the middle and roll through again until smooth, then gradually reduce the width of the rollers until you have a thin, smooth, even sheet of pasta. Continue with all the pasta then cut into sheets. Dust each sheet with flour, fold in half lengthways, then lengthways again and again and cut into even chunks (it got too dark in my kitchen for photos but you can see how here). Loosen the rolls into nests.
To make the pesto: Use a food processor (my small Braun is ideal) and blitz the basil, pinenuts and garlic in bursts until cut small (alternatively grind in a pestle and mortar but you will get a more pulpy result). Add the cheese and blitz once or twice to combine. Stir in the olive oil to make a fairly loose sauce without being runny. Season to taste.
To make pasta Genovese: Put a large pot of water onto boil (and warm a serving bowl in a low oven). Add the potatoes and simmer, test after 10 minutes – they should be almost cooked, add the beans and cook for about 3 to 4 minutes (depending on the size of bean). Add the pasta and bring back to the boil for 3 minutes. Drain in a colander placed over a bowl. Put the pesto into the serving bowl with the drained pasta mixture and some of the cooking water. Everything should be coated with the sauce. Serve with extra black pepper and parmesan cheese.
P.S. When I was finishing off this post an email popped into my box from Leek Soup having a rant about restaurants, farmers markets and making her own fresh buckwheat pasta. Serendipity as they say and I’m so tempted by Dina’s gorgeous recipe while my machine is out!
Could you live without pasta? My family couldn’t. What’s your favourite? Appreciate your comments.
Souffle suspense – Come Dine With Me Dubai (part 3)
The bar had been set to vertigo inducing heights by H‘s asian fusion restaurant-style presentation menu and S‘s exotic multi-layered spicy menu. Now it was my turn to host Come Dine With Me. Oo-er!
Normally when planning to have friends over for a meal, I sit in a comfy chair with a stack of cookbooks and take my time to get the right balance of tastes, textures and outright yumminess of the food. For reasons which now escape me, I planned my Come Dine With Me Dubai menu in about five minutes flat and once it was submitted there was no going back. Apart from the fact I had never cooked two of the recipes before (and got them randomly from the internet) I forgot to think whether they would be photogenic. Argh – school girl error – I was cooking for FOOD BLOGGERS!
This was my menu:
Mushroom soufflés
Fish wrapped in banana leaf with coriander, chilli and coconut milk (served with rice and sugarsnap peas)
Mango, raspberry and passionfruit trifles
I also made two types of bread rolls (one with mustard seeds and one with basil and rosemary) and some rose creams.
Drinks: ‘Saudi champagne (apple juice and sparkling water with fruit and mint), Laurenz V Singing Grüner Veltliner and Kilchoman 2010 summer release malt whisky (shamelessly bribing J).
Thinking I should not walk too perilous a tightrope I tried the soufflés earlier in the week. They tasted great but two out of four on the same baking tray collapsed to pancake proportions. Not reassuring. In fact my anxiety mounted because of this – if they flopped there would be close-up photographic evidence. Argh once more.
My house was not the oasis of calm that the other venues had been; KP was leaving for golf, the dogs were giving their usual waggy, licky welcome and the teens were coming in from various activities and started foraging. Avid Masterchef and CDWM watchers, they kept whispering “how’s it going?” and “do you think you’re winning?” When I replied negatively to the latter they urged “come on Mum – this IS a competition”!
The kitchen god was watching over me and the soufflés not only held their shape but looked rather nice. I put a little truffle oil in salad dressing for the rocket to go with the mushroom flavour. I breathed a huge sigh of relief at this point and started to enjoy myself a lot more. The CDWM-ers are such good company and it’s such a luxury to natter over a long lunch.
To be honest, I would have used a different fish for the next course but local sole was the best I could get, however it was sparklingly fresh (sadly hammour stocks have declined so much it seems impossible to get now) . This mixture of Thai flavours with coconut milk (including lemongrass from my garden) steams the fish inside the leaf and as you unwrap it the aromas are released in a burst of ginger, coriander and lemongrass. I personally love this combination so I hope my Come Dine With Me-ers did too (although the camera did not love it!).
S had to travel out of the country unexpectedly – we all missed her but it did mean I could sneak a bit of marsala into the trifles. I used fresh mangoes in the pudding as they are in season right now but wondered at my sanity as I was making custard – my culinary bête noir. Once more the fates were in my favour – after spooning most of the creamy vanilla custard over the trifles I couldn’t resist scraping the bowl.
As it’s my house this week sadly you don’t get to snoop – I’m not going reveal my own dark secrets am I? A did spend quite a bit of time taking photos in odd places though.
Next week we lunch at A‘s. All the menus have been strikingly different and A always puts her own unique twist on recipes.
You can see a round up off all the Come Dine With Me Dubai posts here (including how Ginger and Scotch got on) and read the recipes I was inspired by here. See you at A‘s.
Fresh tomato and basil focaccia
When I bought some focaccia from Baker & Spice the other day I knew I just had to make some at home. With a truss of organic tomatoes on the vine, a punnet of slightly over-ripe cherry tomatoes and a fragrant bunch of basil, all locally produced and from the market, I had the best ingredients.
I wanted a slightly more substantial and tastier base so played around with a mixture of flours. It gave me the rustic look and more earthy flavours I was looking for. Making focaccia is pretty easy and a loaf like this is huge on the wow factor. I really like the feel of the silky dough when you push your fingers in to make the distinctive focaccia dimples. Warm from the oven, it’s so satisfying tearing off a hunk to eat with cheese or to dip in olive oil and balsamic vinegar. If I’ve got a bunch of friends round for supper I like to serve a big bread like this and some Italian wine.
Michelle from Utterly Scrummy Food for Families is hosting this month’s Fresh From The Oven Challenge and asked us to share our favourite savoury bread recipes that can be served at either picnics, BBQ’s, or just make sandwiches a bit more interesting. The tomato and basil focaccia definitely ticks all these boxes.
Tomato and basil focaccia – Inspired by River Cottage Handbook No.3: Bread by Daniel Stevens and Jamie’s Kitchen
Ingredients
350g strong white bread flour
150g wholemeal bread flour (you can use all white too)
5g dried yeast
7g sea salt plus extra for sprinkling
About 325ml warm water
Extra virgin olive oil
Two handfuls of tomatoes (on the truss if possible)
4 bushy stems of basil
Method
I use a free-standing mixer with a dough hook (my KitchenAid). You can knead this by hand quite easily but the dough is quite sticky.
Put the flour, yeast, salt and water in the bowl and mix until combined. Add a tablespoon of oil and knead in the machine for about 10 minutes until smooth and silky.
Tip out the dough, wash the bowl, dry it and rub the insides with a little oil. Shape the dough into a rough round shape, tip back into the bowl and flip it over so slightly coated. Cover the top with cling film and leave until doubled in size (about an hour).
Stretch the dough out on the work surface into a rough rectangle and put into an oiled baking tray (about 25 x 35 cm). Smooth the dough right into the corners, it will need a bit of encouragement to stay there. Cover with oiled cling film or a clean tea towel for about half an hour to rise again. Put the oven on to heat up to 250C
Dig your fingers right down to the bottom of the risen dough to make a dimpled surface. Put the tomatoes in a bowl, coat with some olive oil and season with some black pepper. Arrange the tomatoes on the bread, tear the basil leaves and scatter over the top and drizzle with olive oil letting it settle into some of the holes. Sprinkle with salt.
Put it into the oven for 10 minutes and then turn down the heat to 200C for a further 10 minutes. Carefully give the base of the bread a little tap to check that it’s cooked through. Serve warm on it’s own or with some runny soft cheese like Mont d’Or.
Moreish meatballs – Come Dine With Me Dubai (part 2)
Eagerly setting out for round two of Come Dine With Me Dubai, with tummy rumbling and a tiny vestige of the previous night’s over-indulgence remaining, the first challenge was to negotiate Jumeirah Lakes Towers. Another fairly new area of Dubai is distinguished by one of the strangest road systems i.e. all one way. If you miss your turning you have to go all the way round in a circle.
Anyway, expectations were high as I stepped into immaculate blogger S‘s immaculate apartment with a fantastic view out over Jumeirah Islands. She thrust an elegant champagne flute of chilled mint lemonade into my hand and immediately apologised for not having the greatest set of cutlery. Her family mainly eat with their hands so a canteen of posh knives and forks is a bit superfluous. I couldn’t have cared less. As she is the creative force behind the hugely popular Sips and Spoonfuls I came prepared for another lovely lunch.
S‘s roots are Tanzanian so she was bombarded with questions from us about each dish from the start. S‘s menu:
- Smoked Meatballs on a Salad Bed With Tamarind Dressing
- Coconut Chicken Curry With Coconut Scented Rice
- Tiramisu
Poor S was not feeling very well, but submitted gamely to the grilling about how the meatballs were smoked and what the spices were. A small smoker with charcoal and a lid, a bit similar to when oud is burnt, was used to permeate these morsels with a subtle flavour that overlayed an array of other tastes none of which dominated. They were salty and spicy combined with the sweet/sour taste of the tamarind and fresh, lemon on the crunchy salad. Shame that S just picked at hers while we all wolfed ours down.
The chicken was rich and thickened with coconut cream. I adore chicken on the bone because it tastes better, but my family are very squeamish, so I liked that we helped ourselves to this dish (with light fluffy rice) …again and again. The little chapatis were home-made. This style of cooking takes time with many stages – it’s the kind of food you eat and feel lavished with attention.
We took a break and while H took full advantage of S‘s super relaxing reclining chairs, I had a little snoop with my camera – after all I couldn’t let you all down could I? There wasn’t a shoe in sight!
Apologies are owed to J as we lapsed into a conversation about child birth – as the only man there he bore this with tolerance. He looked a lot more comfortable when we got onto writing, fast cars and kitchen knives.
We just found room for the tiramisu presented in martini glasses (but alcohol free). How did S get the top perfectly dusted with cocoa powder and none on the stems? I forgot to ask. A cup of tea, boiled ‘Indian-style’, was really welcome. With the sunlight streaming through the windows we made our exits (all planning a little snooze I’ll hazard).
Well done to S for putting on a feast while feeling distinctly below par. With the standard at sky-scraper level I feel increasingly nervous. Next week is lunch chez moi.
You want me to dish the dirt? Oh alright then:
Behind those perfect pics...
When I grow up I want to be a food blogger just like Mummy...
P.S. Are you thinking moreish or Moorish?
A brush with a new market and two ways with basil
Organic veg boxes, homemade jams and chutneys, fresh crusty bread and croissants and beautiful fairy cakes displayed and sold in a stylish way that the French do so well. All this at the Dubai Garden Centre.
I’ll cut to the chase here. In the the next installment of where to buy local, fresh, organic fruit and vegetables in the U.A.E., Bumble Box has arrived. The brainchild of Sonia who has been working tirelessly to get something off the ground since the Nazwa farm shop closed, “I am a mother of three children, I am passionate about this, I will work for free”.
Bumble box has an exclusive contract with the Mazaraa organic farm in Abu Dhabi to supply the produce for their new box delivery scheme. There are two sizes of veg box (small 80 AED and large 130 AED) crammed full of whatever is in season and they will deliver in certain areas too.
Sonia hopes to bridge the gap between the customer and the farmers so they can plan and grow in sufficient quantity the items there is demand for. For instance we were only able to taste the melons, strawberries and passionfruit as there were not enough to buy, and they were sweet, juicy and delicious. Hopefully with this partnership there will be greater supply next year.
Other stalls included Crumbs, a French bakery and cafe (located opposite on the Sheikh Zayed Road), who sold really good bread and pastries. “The chef is French, the flour is French,” enthused the man on the stall in a very thick French accent.
Cooking ID were selling home-made preserves ranging from apricot jam to tapenade and some little chocolates too. The chocolate was Belgian but the sellers were French and so were the cooks.
Finally Scrumptious – Anna who home-bakes with organic free-range eggs, had the most beautiful array of cupcakes. A bit of a juxtaposition against the veg boxes as my friend Foodiva pointed out. She was getting a lot of interest from the throng of Mothers with toddlers.
I bought a large veg box because I wanted lots of tomatoes and it contained cherry, plum and beef toms. I wish the Bumble Box market would sell loose goods too though. One onion is not going to see me through the week and they didn’t have any eggs or laban for sale.
Having already bought basil at the Souk al Bahar market the day before and getting more of it in my veg box I had to do something quick. Pesto was the obvious choice and I also made a salsa verde with lots of basil (although without anchovies as KP detests them). This is such a versatile sauce which goes really well with grilled fish, steak or a dressing on salad. I drizzled it over my organic tomatoes with some chopped spring onions. The bunches of basil, put in a small vase of water, scent my house with spicy fragrance more beautiful than flowers. No picture of the salsa verde as it was eaten so quickly – boom, boom.
Salsa Verde (I’m sure you have a pesto recipe but contact me if you don’t)
Ingredients – adjust the quantities of herbs to taste
big bunch of basil
half a bunch of mint
half a bunch of parsley
1-2 cloves of garlic
1 tablespoon of grain mustard
2-3 tablespoons of capers (rinsed)
extra-virgin olive oil
juice of half a lemon
sea salt
freshly ground black pepper
Method – Whizz all the ingredients except the oil and lemon juice together in a blender. Slowly pour in about 6 tablespoons of oil and blend again to make a creamy emulsion. Add lemon juice, taste and adjust seasoning.
Apologies to all who understood my dreadful pun – I couldn’t resist!
If you went to the market what did you think? Love to hear where your favourite place to shop is if you are farther afield.
The Emperor’s new clothes
Ta da! A new look and a new name. What do you think?
End of beach hike in a sandstorm.
There were many rejects before I plumped on Walking on Sunshine. Sadly ‘Best foot forward’ and ‘Pereginations’ were already taken. Walking in Sunshine is what I do most of the year and Walking on Sunshine is exactly how it feels when I am striding across a hill, wind in my hair, looking out on a fantastic view.
You may be hearing the Katrina and the Waves song in your head as you read those words but not me. It’s the Eddy Grant version that takes me back to the 80′s (or even the Rockers Revenge remix). Katrina was just too squeaky clean for my liking (and a bit annoying).
Handpainting with children in the Shatila refugee camp
I first started sharing my thoughts here with a very fixed purpose in mind – training, fund-raising for and documenting a challenge for charity along part of the Lebanon Mountain Eco Trail. It’s just over a year since I returned from that trip and I loved it, particularly hiking through the beautiful countryside. It was a fantastic experience, life-changing in a quiet way and among other things it made me want to keep writing about my passion for walking.
Mostly I just walk my two dogs – Border terriers called Hazel and Rosie – in my neighbourhood in Dubai. It’s thinking time for me and as an inveterate nosey person I like the pace that enables me to peek into open gates, stare up at mosque towers and observe the varied inhabitants out on the streets (sometimes with a camera).
On my morning walk
Dubai is a vibrant and energetic city but I do miss energetic walking in the countryside so much sometimes it aches. I’m lucky enough to escape to Europe over the scorching summer with a few other trips near and far too. This is the place to share my favourite journeys, a few thoughts and observations…all from a pedestrian viewpoint whether at home or away.
I just thought I’d put a few waymarkers up about the terrain and the direction I’m heading so you can decide whether you want to stay and come along with me or say farewell.
My sister with walk book in hand
It was the Gulf for Good 10th anniversary party last week and I started to think seriously about doing another challenge in 2012. So the trials and tribulations of getting fit enough and what I find when we get there is definitely on the cards. With the region undergoing so many changes due to the ‘Arab Spring’ I might look back on some previous trips too. Plus I’m itching to try out some more walks from my sister’s book as well as my favourite lonely and dramatic routes on Dartmoor this summer.
I won’t be bombarding you with posts but if you’d like to hear from me more often and have an interest in food, I blog over at My Custard Pie too.
Thank you for coming this far – massive and heartfelt thanks to everyone who has read, subscribed, commented and given the most amazing encouragement over the past year and a half. You got me up a few hills I can tell you, as well as over that 10km finish line.
My Custard Pie 