Cook up a world of flavours – recipes from the Middle East and Mediterranean

This is more of a description than a recipe, the idea being to cook a grain, add vegetables and then cheese for a quintessentially Mediterranean meal. Farro salads have become part of my repertoire, in any season.

READ MORE:
* Four different dishes, made in three delicious ways
* Recipe: Cloudy Kitchen’s Carrot Loaf Cake
* Recipes: a feast with new-season nuts

ROASTED PUMPKIN & SHALLOTS, TOASTED HAZELNUTS & SOFT CHEESE

Serves 3-4

Ingredients

700-800g butternut pumpkin, chopped into 3cm cubes

3 french shallots, peeled, with the roots left on, then quartered lengthwise

½ tsp salt

2 rosemary sprigs

250g farro

⅓ cup hazelnuts

Zest and juice of ½ lemon

1 tsp white vinegar

200g soft cheese, such as goat’s cheese

1½ tsp balsamic vinegar

Method

Preheat the oven to 200C.

Put the pumpkin and shallots on a large baking tray with ½ tsp of salt, 2 tbsp olive oil and the rosemary sprigs. Toss to coat the vegetables, then arrange on the tray so they’re not overlapping. Roast for about 30 minutes, or until the shallots are soft with some brown edges.

Remove the shallots and, if necessary, roast the pumpkin for another 10-30 minutes until soft with some brown edges.

Meanwhile, cook the farro in a saucepan of boiling salted water according to the packet instructions; this usually takes about 30 minutes. Drain the farro, place in a large bowl and toss with about 1 tbsp olive oil, so it doesn’t dry out.

Toast the hazelnuts in a hot frying pan for a few minutes until lightly browned and fragrant. Remove immediately so the nuts don’t burn, leave until cool enough to handle then coarsely chop.

Add the toasted hazelnuts to the farro with the roasted pumpkin and shallots (discard the rosemary). Toss with the lemon zest and juice, white vinegar and another 2 tbsp olive oil, then season to taste with salt and black pepper.

Pile the salad onto a shallow platter. Crumble the cheese into large chunks over the salad and drizzle with the balsamic vinegar; of course, another drizzle of olive oil never hurts.

People used to make these patties only in summer, the season of courgette abundance, when they hollowed out courgettes to make dolmas/dolmades; their name, kolokythokeftédes, literally means “kofta of courgettes”. If you can resist eating all of them while making them, you could prepare the patties a day or two in advance to take on a summer picnic or barbecue.

KOLOKYTHOKEFTEDES

Makes about 12 patties

Ingredients

500g courgettes

2-3 tsp salt, for salting the courgette

200g feta cheese, crumbled

Handful of chopped dill

1 spring onion, thinly sliced

2 free-range eggs

½ cup plain flour

Method

Coarsely grate the courgettes into a bowl. Rub and squeeze the courgette with the salt, to help release its water, and leave for 15-30 minutes. Drain off the excess water then squeeze the courgette pulp to make sure it’s all quite dry, as this is the secret to delicious kolokythokeftédes.

In a clean dry bowl, mix the courgette pulp with the feta, dill, spring onion, eggs and a sprinkling of black pepper. Sprinkle the flour over and gently mix through until just combined; it’s very important to not overwork the batter.

Heat 2-3 tbsp of olive oil in a frying pan. When sizzling hot, dollop in about 2 tbsp of the batter and flatten with the back of a spoon. Fry a few patties at a time over medium-high heat, flipping them midway to make sure both sides are golden; it only takes a few minutes for each batch to cook. Repeat with the remaining batter, adding more oil to the pan as needed.

Serve immediately, possibly with some fizzy (Greek) wine, and perhaps some tzatziki.

Cake is a relatively new Western addition to the sweet-loving Iranian palate. My own childhood memories are filled with freshly baked homemade cakes and small sweets. In homage to those days, here is a simple yoghurt cake that my mum made most often. The date frosting, however, is inspired by the warm and earthy sweets of southern Iran. You can use the date frosting for other purposes: spread it on pancakes, swirl it through yoghurt – or eat it by the spoonful.

SIMPLE CAKE WITH DATE FROSTING

Makes a 20cm cake

Ingredients

4 free-range eggs

120g sugar

1 cup full-fat yoghurt

100ml sunflower oil, seed oil or melted butter

Zest of ½ orange

1 tsp baking powder

½ tsp baking soda

1 tsp ground cinnamon

2/3 cup wholemeal flour

1 cup plain flour

Date frosting

300g dates, pitted

1 cup hot water

½ tsp ground cinnamon

¼ tsp salt

30g butter

¼ – ⅓ cup walnuts, coarsely chopped, to garnish

Method

Preheat the oven to 170C.

Line a 20cm cake tin with baking paper. In a large bowl, whisk the eggs vigorously with the sugar using electric beaters, until the mixture doubles in size and becomes a light, foamy cream.

Whisking a little more slowly, gradually incorporate the yoghurt, then the oil, with the orange zest.

In another bowl, mix the baking powder, baking soda, a pinch of salt and cinnamon with the flours.

Gently add it to the egg mixture, folding in slowly.

Pour the batter into the cake tin and bake for 40 minutes, or until the top is golden and a toothpick comes out clean from the middle of the cake. Remove from the oven and leave to cool in the tin for about 15 minutes. Remove from the tin onto a wire rack and leave to cool completely, so the frosting will glide on more easily.

Date frosting: Soak the dates in the hot water to soften them for 10-20 minutes, depending on how hard the dates are. Drain the dates, reserving the soaking water. In a food processor, blitz the dates with the cinnamon, salt and half the soaking water, until you get a very smooth paste (or you can sieve this later). If needed, add more of the soaking water one tablespoon at a time.

Transfer the smooth date cream to a small saucepan. Add the butter and keep mixing with a rubber spatula over very low heat, making sure the cream is not sticking to the pan. When the mixture is smooth and homogeneous, transfer to a bowl, leave to cool completely, then chill in the fridge.

When the cake has cooled down, use a rubber spatula to spread a thick layer of the frosting on top of the cake; it doesn’t need to look neat or a certain shape. Sprinkle the walnuts on top. Consume within a couple of days.

Note: Instead of wholemeal and white flour, you could use 1 2/3 cups plain flour.

This is an edited extract from Pomegranates & Artichokes by Saghar Setareh, Murdoch Books, $55