Turkish lentil kofte
You don’t have to travel in Turkey very far before encountering this dish; it’s popularly served as a mezze. And – here’s a quick language lesson – ‘mercimek’, Turkish for the red lentils, is pronounced ‘mer-ji-mek.’…
Orange-chocolate syrup cake
Love jaffa vibes? Then get on this cake. It’s seriously delicious, with sour cream adding to the overall choc-orange-butter-eggs richness. And, as if 275g of sugar in the batter wasn’t enough, there’s a whole heap more lurking in the syrup plus in the glazed orange situation…
A cabbage salad
We can’t lay claim to this fabulous dish; it’s based on a Palestinian recipe from Joudie Kalla’s stunning book, Balaidi Palestine (Quarto UK, 2018). We’ve tweaked and played with it a bit, amping up the garlic and using a stick blender to emulsify the heck out of the dressing…
Red-wine braised beef with mash and salsa verde
Braising is one of the cornerstone techniques of cooking and once you understand how it works, you can go forth and apply the same, basic method to any suited ingredient, or cut of meat, with confidence. Braising is a wet method of cooking, and meat-wise…
Marmalade roly poly
We dig the name ‘roly poly’ because it sounds as much a weight-gain alert as it does the description of a lovely rolled-up baked pudding. This old fashioned fave really is bloody delicious, straight-forward to conjure and is something everyone totally loves…
Easy jam tart
The shortcake base here is like the LIttle Black Dress for dessert making; it’s no-brainer easy, is deliciously indestructible and is perfect for people who might be challenged in the pastry department (patisserie is a black art, weswear). There’s not much you can do to mess it up and because it’s more cakey than a classic pastry…
Muhammara
This Syrian-Turkish dip-spread is so full of intense flavour, it’s ridiculous. It’s not hard to make but, lest you think charring and peeling capsicums is tedious, it’s their exact sweet, smoky flavours that make this so amazing. So don't be tempted to skip this step. If you have a gas cook-top, just hurl your capsicums straight on the flame whole, then turn them regularly so they char all over…