Recipes for Cook

Anissa Helou is a food writer, journalist, broadcaster and blogger.  Born and raised in Beirut, Lebanon and Syria, she knows the Mediterranean as only a well-travelled native can. She is the author of numerous award-winning cookbooks including Offal:The Fifth Quarter; Modern Mezze; Savoury Baking from the Mediterranean; Mediterranean Street Food; Street Cafe Morocco and Lebanese Cuisine, which was a finalist for the prestigious Andrew Simon awards and chosen as one of the Los Angeles Times favourite books.  Anissa has just launched Koshari Street  an Egyptian inspired street food experience, in London and plans to launch others very soon.

It seems there were many different souks in Beirut when Anissa was a child, but this chapter is all about the street food sold there. Recipes include Omelette Sandwiches, Camel Kebabs, Sesame Galettes and Iranian Saffron Ice Cream.

This chapter starts with a couple of versions of Fattush, one of my favourite salads, I made Las Salinas Fattush or Bread Salad. There are a number of fish and seafood dishes and a Lebanese Steak Tartare made with lamb.  As you would expect there are various versions of Hommus (Hummus) and labneh, strained yogurt, dips.  There are a wide range of recipes, both meat and vegetable based: Turkish Kebabs sit alongside Stuffed Aubergine Fatteh.

 Chapter 5 - At the Bakery

Anissas memories are of home bakers preparing their own fillings or toppings to take to the bakery to be  combined with the bakers own dough and baked in the Bakery oven. This chapter contains recipes for everything from Pide, a soft oval bread that Turks eat most frequently, to Borek the most ancient type of Mediterranean savoury pastries made with filo pastry.

The sweet recipes of the Levant are something really different including Macarun (Aniseed Fritters) and deep fried Kellage, a favourite for Ramadan feasts.  As Pistachio nuts are a favourite of mine, I have bookmarked the Balluriyeh or Sweet Pistachio Pie and also like the look of the Sesame Cookies and Fragrant Shortbread Biscuits, neither of these recipes require any unusual ingredients and look simple to follow.  The chapter closes with a recipe for Mango Ice Cream, a fittingly exotic dessert which is also simple to make. 

An excellent glossary with full details of the particular ingredients of Levantine cookery. Some ingredients get up to half a page of description, others a short paragraph.

 

Take one vine leaf, cut and discard any stem and lay it flat on your work surface, smooth side down the the stem end nearest to you.  Arrange 1/2-1 1/2 teaspoons of stuffing, depending on the size of the leaf, in a thin raised line along the side of the leaf facing you.  The line should be thinner than your little finger, set about 1.5 cm  (5/8 in) either side.  Fold each side over the rice, in a line that slightly tapers toward the bottom , then fold and tuck the top edges over the stuffing and roll from the stem end, neatly but loosely in order to leave enough  space for the rice to expand during cooking

Place the rolled leaf, loose edge down, over the lamb chops, on one side of the pan.  Continue filling, rolling and arranging the vine leaves, side by side, lining the sides of the pan first and making one layer at a time, until you used all the leaves.  If you have any leftover stuffing.  put in a small pan, add an equivalent amount of water and cook for 20 minutes to serve on the side. 

Pour some, or all, of the reserved stock over the rolled leaves until they are barely immersed.  If you do not have enough stock, add water.  Add a little salt, bearing in mind the saltiness of the vine leaves, and shake the pan to swirl the water and dissolve the salt.  Put an overturned heatproof plate over the leaves, to stop them from unrolling during cooking, cover the pan with lid and place over a  medium-high heat.  Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat to medium and let the pot bubble gently for 50 minutes.  Add the lemon juice and cook for another 10 minutes.  It is a good idea to test one vine leaf, before you take them off the heat, to make sure the rice is properly cooked.  Remove form the heat and leave to sit, covered, on a work surface for about 10 minutes.

The traditional way of serving this dish is to turn out the contents of the pan onto a serving platter as if it were a cake, and this why you need a pan with straight sides.  Youll also need to wear heatproof gloves while performing this operation.  First pour to the cooking juices into a bowl while holding back the stuffed vine leaves using the plate covering them.  Remove the plate and place a big round, flat serving platter over the top of the pan. Hold it firmly against the pan with the flat of one hand.  Slide the pan slowly over the edge of the work surface and put your other hand underneath it.  Lift the pan off and quickly turn it upside down, then slide the platter onto your worktop and slowly lift the pan off to uncover a cake of cooked stuffed vine leaves topped with the juicy lamb chops.

Alternatively, you can spoon the rolled leaves out, a few at a time, and arrange them in neat layers in a serving dish, putting the lamb chops on top or all around them.  Baste with some of the cooking juice and serve immediately with a bowl of yoghurt.