January 31, 2013

Meltingly soft eggplants with greek yogurt and pomegranate

I never been into eggplants. They were either flavourless or either too oily to me depending on the way they had been cooked.
No, eggplants were not my thing until I gave them another chance two years ago in Istanbul. I tried the Imam Bayildi, braised eggplants stuffed with onion and tomatoes and, served at room temperature. Oh what a fabulous discovery ! The eggplants were just melting in the mouth…
I attended a cooking class to learn how to prepare them. It did not work so well at home but the eggplants definitively came out of my « ugly-taste » foods list !

Not long ago I came across the cookbook « Plenty : Vibrant vegetable recipes from London’s Ottolenghi » by Yotam Ottolenghi. The book cover is featuring such appealing eggplants with buttermilk sauce and pomegranate seeds… I had to try this out !


The original recipe involves as well a condiment call Za’atar, very popular in the Middle East. The lady who was putting the spices and herbs on display could not help me to find this condiment so she call her supervisor.
Originating from Liban, her supervisor was very happy to share with me his recipe.

So here is his recipe for the Za’atar :


  • 100g ground dry Oregano,
  • 21/2 teaspoon Sumac,
  • 50g Sesame slightly toasted on a dry pan and,
  • 1 tablespoon salt.

I know this is a huge quantity of Za’atar for only two eggplants but think of many pita breads, seasoned with Za’atar and moistened with olive oil, you are going to enjoy !




January 09, 2013

Berries swiss roll for Christmas

The Christmas swiss roll cake or Bûche de Noël, as we call it in french is not so much a tradition in our family for Christmas.

After having, smoked salmon on blinis, foie gras on warm toasts, snails with garlic & parsley butter, lobster tails for starter, then turkey with chestnuts and green beans, then salad and cheese platter, we would hardly make it to the rich traditional yule log.
And the Trou Normand itself (Calvados alcohol on sorbet), served after the main course would not have helped. So we were usually going for an iced yule log : passionfruit, coconut and vanilla, if I recall correctly.

This year we went for a lighter dinner so why not to try a version of the yule log with berries for dessert ?


The dinner was not so light as my mom brought cheese and foie gras from France and my sister, the unexpected but very appreciated last minute surprise guest, brought from Russia : cheese as well, caviar, special pickles, gingerbread men, lemon jam, tea, black bread with mustard seeds… and so many other goodies !

We started our Christmas Eve diner with a very colorful cocktail early in the evening and about midnight we were still around the table, having dessert… and opening the last presents ! We have this habit of all opening a gift in between each meal… We like to pretend it is for digestion !

Santa has been very generous this year. We all get spoiled. One of my gift was a new gear for my camera : a fixed lens 50 mm, aperture f1.8. It was then just a piece of cake to get a proper picture of this swiss roll ! Look ! Just look ! Thank you Santa !


We had a fantastic Christmas ! Family, excellent food, tons of gifts, what else do we need ?

We spent the following days wandering around Cyprus. We went back to place I knew already and discovered new places…

Old Town, Limassol
Laneia
Laneia
Loufou
Nicosia
St Hilarion Castle
St Hilarion Castle
Greek Salad
Choulou
Abandoned village
Fish Meze, Zygi
Famagusta
Valva
Kato Drys
Kato Drys

I wish you all a sweet and inspired new year !