It hardly seems possible that it is already Independence Day. I am just back from a trip to France (more about that in a future column), where it was hot and crowded, but just as beautiful as ever. As you read this today, please do celebrate our country, despite the conflicts. And cook to stay cool; I offer you no grilling recipes, no pasta salads, not even an ice cream cake.
Instead, I want to share with you what I learned on the plane ride home. I had not heard of MasterClass, the streaming platform that makes it possible for anyone to watch or listen to hundreds of video lessons taught by 200-plus of the world’s best. Whether it be in cooking, writing, photography and myriad other topics, I was impressed by the videos I could watch as I returned home.
For me—and perhaps for some readers of this column, what was most interesting was the cooking. Chefs such as Jose Andres, Thomas Keller, Apollonia Poilane, Alice Waters, Joanne Chang and Wolfgang Puck are available. For a minimal charge, you can watch the video lessons on your smartphone or personal computer, as well as on a smart TV.
To while away the seven-plus hours in flight, I chose to binge on the James Beard Award-winning chef, Yotam Ottolenghi. If you have been reading this column for the past 10 years, you might remember that Yotam came to Falmouth in summer 2015. I spent some time with him and his family, and he graciously came to Highfield Hall, where I was teaching, to help me redesign the kitchen there.
Watching and listening to Yotam is always a great treat, and I learned quite a lot from the half dozen shows I watched. He said that the purpose of his MasterClass is to celebrate “sunny food.” His theme was Middle Eastern cooking, where the climate is indeed sunny and warm. When I first met him, I asked him how he felt about his celebrity status.
“I’m just good with food,” he replied with a slight smile. Now, in the videos, he talks about how he loves to eat, cook and feed people. He is very reassuring about practicing the skill of cooking, which he calls a “multilayered experience.” From these programs, he wants us to learn confidence and to sit and share with others, as “it is food that brings us together.”
To reduce stress, he suggests making a few pantry items, which he calls “flavor bombs.” These will then be available to garnish your dishes and add extra flavor. For publication here, I have chosen a couple of his basic recipes, all of which are excellent to serve on the Cape. He is a great fan of small plates (called mezze or tapas) rather than serving the traditional three-course meals that Europe is known for.
What he loves about cooking, he says, is the transformation of ingredients (such as the combination of coriander and cumin—“a match made in heaven”), and color (which is “part of the joy”). He added that he usually chooses the platters that he will be using first, asking himself, “What will the table look like?”
He opened his first restaurant in London in 2002 with Sami Tamimi, an Arab-Palestinian chef. His own background (Jewish-Palestinian) led to a highly successful collaboration between the two approaches. Over the years, Yotam has developed his own distinct vision of this cuisine, one that’s bountiful and inclusive by design. The result? A chef who loves to “create drama in the mouth,” as he puts it.
That said, here are some ideas for you, as we get ready to enjoy (and endure) the heat of the summer. On the program I watched, he prepared hummus with tahini sauce and garlic confit, then moved on to a pea spread with smoky marinated feta. That’s five recipes in all, and from them you can put together numerous other dishes.
Use the hummus as a pasta sauce. Add the garlic confit to a salad, and use the oil in the dressing. Put the tahini in a pita pocket and add some chopped tomatoes and cucumbers. Garnish your plates with some of the flavor bomb ingredients (strips of lemon on the pea spread, a few sprigs of thyme), always add some feta where possible (“everything is better with feta!”) and remember, he insists, “do not waste anything!”
All of these should be served with pita bread, and perhaps a warm dish, if you would like, of grilled chicken or fish. The tahini sauce on the feta adds a distinctive punch and can be used as a salad dressing by itself. The garlic confit results in a rather “toned down” garlic, and you can adjust the amount of heat in all of these dishes according to your own taste.
Confit Garlic Oil
Pinch crushed red pepper flakes and salt to taste
Combine all the ingredients in a small saucepan over medium-low heat; cover and cook until the garlic is soft and just beginning to color, about 20 to 25 minutes. Leave the lid on, remove from the heat, and set aside for 10 minutes (the garlic will continue to cook in the heat of the oil). Strain the oil into a clean glass jar and spoon in the garlic, thyme and red pepper flakes. Once cool, transfer everything to an airtight, sterilized jar and store at room temperature for several weeks; use in the hummus recipe below.
Tahini Sauce
3 tbsp water, plus 1 tsp, or as needed
Combine all the ingredients except the water in a bowl and whisk to combine; slowly add the water while whisking until the mixture is smooth and easily poured. Taste for seasoning and adjust as necessary. Set aside at room temperature if using soon, or refrigerate in a sealed container for up to 5 days; use in the hummus recipe below.
Smoky Marinated Feta
1 lemon, skin peeled into 6 strips
2½ tsp chipotle chili flakes (or to taste)
1 cup extra virgin olive oil
3 cups diced Greek feta cheese, cut into half-inch cubes
Place a small saute pan over medium-high heat; when the pan is very hot, add the garlic and cook for 3 to 4 minutes, turning halfway, until the cloves are charred. Add the lemon strips and bay leaves and cook for 90 seconds, until lightly charred. Add the chipotle chili flakes and cook, stirring constantly, until well-toasted and fragrant, about 30 seconds. Remove the pan from the heat and add the oil, salt, and paprika. Stir for about 30 seconds to combine. Add the feta to the oil and stir gently so that each piece is coated in oil, then transfer the cheese and liquid to a shallow container. Allow the feta to marinate at room temperature if you will be eating it within a few hours; otherwise, refrigerate it in an airtight container. If using later, take the feta out of the refrigerator an hour before you want to serve it, to allow the oil to liquify. Use in the recipe below.
Pea Spread With Smoky Marinated Feta
1⁄2 cup smoky marinated feta, plus 3 to 4 tbsp oil from the marinade
2½ cups frozen peas, defrosted
2⁄3 tbsp tarragon leaves, roughly chopped
1 tbsp mine leaves, roughly hopped
1 lemon: 1½ tsp finely grated zest and 2 tbsp juice
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1⁄2 tsp cumin seeds, toasted and roughly crushed
Place the peas, tarragon, mint, garlic, lemon zest and juice, olive oil, and a pinch of salt and pepper in a food processor and pulse a few times until you have a coarse paste. Check the seasoning and add more lemon or salt if needed; it should taste very bright and fresh. Spread the pea mixture onto a plate, and top with the smoky marinated feta, being sure to add some of the garlic cloves and lemon strips from the marinade as well; spoon a generous amount of the aromatic feta oil all over the spread and then sprinkle with the cumin before serving.
Velvety Hummus With Tahini Sauce And Garlic Confit
4 cans chickpeas (Spanish or Portuguese, in water), drained
12 cloves of garlic from the confit
5 tbsp plus 2 tsp ice-cold water
1¼ tbsp finely chopped parsley
Fresh thyme sprigs and a drizzle of confit garlic oil around the edges
Place all the ingredients except for the water in a food processor and pulse to puree; blend for 2–3 minutes, then taste; adjust with more salt, lemon juice or garlic if needed. With the machine running, gradually add the cold water (the cold water will react with the chickpeas, creating volume). Process until the hummus is very smooth; it will be runnier than store-bought, but will firm up once refrigerated. To serve, spread the hummus on a flat plate, creating a small well in the center. Drizzle the tahini sauce over the top (using tahini in both the hummus and as a garnish adds a unique contrast in texture). Add two garlic cloves from the confit oil on top for added flavor and garnish with chopped parsley, sprigs of thyme, and a drizzle of confit garlic oil around the edges to keep it from drying out.