Imam Bayialdi

I had this in a Turkish restaurant in Bielefeld for the first time – and I think it was the idea behind the name of the dish, “the Imam fainted” that attracted me to it. It is a lovely way of doing aubergines, it tastes great hot, but also as a cold dish. Oh, and the story where the name comes from is a little confusing, whether it is the taste or the woman who served it that caused the swooning or whether, if you leave the ends on the aubergines it looks like a recumbent imam with the end being the hat, explanations abound.

What you need

• 3 medium-sized aubergines
• seasalt for rubbing the aubergines
• 2 good-sized onions
• 2 – 5 cloves of garlic, a matter of taste, methinks
• olive oil
• 0.3 litres of tomato passata (or more), or the equivalent in fresh tomatoes, deseeded (possibly skinned) and finely chopped
• 1 handful of raisins (not pictured, sorry)
• 1 tsp of “mixed spice” (includes cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg)
• 1 small piece of cinnamon stick
• 1 large tblsp of honey
• oregano (or better Greek rigani) to taste
• 1 lemon (only the juice)
• salt and pepper to taste

What you do

1. Trim the stalks if the aubergines and cut them in half length-wise (there are many different suggestions for other ways of cutting them, by the way), salt the cut generously with sea salt and leave to sit for 30 minutes. This may get rid of the bitterness that some people don’t like in aubergines.
2. In the meantime, quarter the onions and slice them finely, crush the garlic and sauté both in a generous amount of olive oil, stirring without letting it brown.
3. When the onions are limp, add the tomato passata, the spices and the raisins and keep stirring. Add water (or white wine, which I like, but it isn’t traditional!) and simmer gently for the remainder of the 30 minutes.
4. Rinse off the excess salt from the aubergine halves and hollow them out shallowly. Chop the trimmed aubergine flesh and add to the onion mixture. (Preheat the oven to 175 to 200°)
5. In olive oil fry first the flesh and then the skin side of the aubergines till the inside is browned and the skin has gone a bit wrinkly. Wisdom has it that they should then be dried with kitchen paper, but I like their olive oily succulence.
6. Place them in an ovenproof dish.
7. Now add the honey and the lemon juice to the onion mix and make sure it is relatively liquid.
8. Pour it into the hollows of the aubergines and between the gaps, then place the dish in the oven and simmer for as long as you have patience, 20 minutes at least.

Tastes great with some saffron rice.  

Mushroom Stew, Stifatho inspired

This is not exactly a fast dish, but one well worth the effort. I found a number of Greek stifatho recipes that use meat, beef, rabbit, hare, etc, but the suggestions to use mushrooms came from a cookery book with Middle Eastern vegetarian dishes although that version was not quite as daring on the spices front, leaving them out except for salt and pepper and substituting sugar for honey. In some recipes there is also the suggestion to use orange zest (to be removed before serving). Sadly, I didn’t have any oranges, but my sense of imagined taste tells me that it would seem well worth the effort. Like all stews it tastes just as good or even better warmed up, so it is a good bet for guests as you can do it in advance.   

What you need

• 500 gr mushrooms of various kinds (I used button mushrooms and chanterelles) cut into mouth-sized pieces (smaller if mouth sizes are big…)
• 500 gr shallots or small onions peeled
• 1 red pepper, diced
• 5-8 cloves of garlic
• 5-7 cm cinnamon stick
• 6 tbsp good vinegar
• 150 ml red wine (we didn’t because of our Afghan guest and friend)
• 1-2 tsp coriander powder
• 1-2 tsp cumin powder
• 5 cloves or a 1 tsp of clove powder
• 400 g diced tomatoes, passata or tinned (not pictured)
• 1-2 good tbsp. tomato purée
• 1 medium tbsp honey
• dried oregano
• salt and pepper to taste

What you do

1. Fry the mushrooms in olive oil till they take colour, season with part of the garlic crushed, salt and pepper.
2. Add the pepper and continue to sauté until the desired level of tenderness in the pepper is reached. Put aside for adding to the stew later unless you don’t mind limp mushrooms and pepper.
3. Sauté the shallots/onions in generous olive oil until they begin to brown, then add the remaining cloves of garlic, whole or halfed.(about 10 mins).
4. Add the spices and stir until they begin to brown as well. (Sorry about the picture quality)
   At this point you can stir in the mushrooms and the pepper. (alternatively see last point)
5. Pour in the vinegar and wine, if using, otherwise add a little water and the honey.
6. Add the tomato and the tomato paste, the oregano and the honey and leave to simmer for as long "as you can" (an hour is actually a good start) The mixture should just about cover the bits already in the pan.
7. Mix in the mushrooms and peppers about 5 minutes before serving (unless you go for the option of adding them to the onions) and leave to simmer until everything is heated through.

 

I serve this with roast rosemary potatoes, potatoes cut into wedges, roasting in a baking tin with plenty of olive oil and some sprigs of rosemary, seasoned with sea salt and more crushed garlic, turned occasionally. Easy and really rather tasty.

My Flämechüeche (fam-Chüeche ?)

 This is my take on a kind of Alsatian pizza dish (minus tomatoes) called Flämechüeche, which is made with bacon on top. As we sometimes eat fish but usually no meat, I came up with an alternative topping, smoked salmon. The rest, the crème fraîche and the pecorino romano, which is reminiscent of pizza pugliese, came about  because the combination of onions and something with an acidic flavour (usually lemon juice) goes well with smoked fish.

If you have the dough ready, this is a really quick dish.

What you need

• 150 ml crème fraîche
• 80-90 g coarsely grated pecorino romano
• 1 larghish onion (about 120g), chopped or sliced
• 2+ cloves of garlic, pressed
• if necessary a little salt, pepper, perhaps some cheese mix or cajun spice for a bit of punch
• 500 g Italian-style bread (recipe below; also check out the remarks)
• 200 g smoked salmon cut into strips (Alternatively use the same amount of smoked bacon).

What you do

1. Mix all ingredients, the crème fraîche, the pecorino, the onion and the garlic and season if necessary.
2. Roll out 500 g dough to about 35 x 45 cm.
3. 
4. Spread the cheese etc. mix evenly all the way out to the edges of the dough. (If using bacon, about 200g, put it on now.) 
5. Bake in a preheated oven at 200° until the topping is lightly browned.
6. Take out and cover with the strips of salmon, then serve immediately.

Italian-style bread (can be used for pizza or bread rolls)

1 kg flour (See below)

1 tblsp sea salt

4 tblsp olive oil

1 cube fresh yest (42 gr)

ca 450 ml warm water.

For the bread I usually use about half spelt and half flour but it is also possible to use all wheat or all spelt. The amount of liquid differs because spelt absorbs liquid differently from wheat. Although I prefer whole meal most of the time, this bread becomes lighter if you use white flour.

The recipe makes about 3 pounds of dough. What I do not use up right away I usually cut into lumps of 250 g, flatten a bit and freeze with a piece of baking paper between the flattened lumps to prevent the dough from sticking together. This defrosts in next to no time and works great for a quick pizza or a quick F(l)amechueche...