falastin bySami Tamimi and Tara Wigley : InterviewFOR EVENING STANDARD

Falastin is the sequel to Sami Tamimi and Yotam Ottolenghi’s best selling cookery book Jerusalem.

Eight years on and Tamimi returns to Palestine with co-author Tara Wigley to explore the region further and to celebrate all Palestine has to offer.

Falastin shares a bounty of vibrant recipes grounded in history and tradition as well as dishes that showcase the bold and modern Palestinian culinary scene.  No cookery book collection is complete without it.

Here our foodie columnist Anna Barnett chats to Sami and Tara about their favourite recipes, the ingredients they couldn't live without and the restaurants they'll be rushing back to once the lockdown is over.

Where do you spend the most of your time?

Sami: Acton, in my kitchen.

Tara: Clapham, in my kitchen!

Was there a lightbulb moment when you knew you wanted to work with food?

Sami: I spent my childhood peeking around the door to the kitchen to catch what my aunties and sisters were doing and saying and cooking. When I wasn’t being shooed away from the kitchen I was being invited into it to eat, which I was very good at. As soon as I could, I got a job working in the kitchen of a big hotel in West Jerusalem. I started at the sink, washing dishes, and very quickly moved onto cracking eggs for breakfast service. It was love at first crack and I never, ever looked back.

Tara: I spent 10 years in publishing before realising that I wanted to switch words for food. I was making a big lunch party with a friend and she said ‘cripes, can you imagine doing this [catering] every day’ and my brain just went ‘tick, tick, tick: yes I completely CAN!!!’. I went to cookery school and then got going from there. Little did I know that I didn’t need to lose the words, though, and that I’d get to combine my love of writing and my love of cooking and eating all in one job.

What inspired you to write Falastin and who should buy it?

Tara: This is the book that Sami has wanted to write his whole life. This is his love letter home to the people and family he moved away from so many years ago but for whom he cooks for, really, every day. This is the sister book to Sami and Yotam’s bestselling Jerusalem, published 8 years ago, taking the reader further into the cooking, people and place of Palestine. Anyone who loves hummus, tahini, lemon juice, olive oil or green chilies should buy this.

As well as having over 100 recipes – traditional and contemporary – there are also a lot of stories in Falastin – stories of the people and places in Palestine today – so this is also a must for anyone who wants to read and know more about this patch of the world.

What ingredient could you not live without?

Tara: Lemons, shatta, olive oil, coffee.

Sami: Lemons, shatta, olive oil, coffee. And bread!

What’s your ultimate cooking hack?

Tara: A pathological inability not to instantly double or triple or quadruple a recipe, even when I’m cooking for one. The freezer is constantly full and the next meal is constantly ready.

Sami: I’m not always a good planner when it comes to cooking at home, which is the opposite of work where nothing left for doubtful. Although I cook at home everyday, I would always leave it to what comes in the mood. So I guess my ultimate hack is to relax and open the fridge and see what happens!

Which recipe from the book should we head to for a quick no-fuss, mid-week meal?

Tara: I’m a big batch cooker so I’ll often make a big pot of, say, the tomato and cardamom stew which is in the book with the prawns and coriander pesto. Once I have my tomato base, I’ll just have that during the week: poaching some cod in it and wilting in some spinach or adding a jar of butterbeans or using up cooked chicken. It’s super versatile: you can dot it with feta or olives or whatever you have around. And I’m rarely without a bowl of babaganoush sitting at the ready.

Sami: Probably the bulgur and aubergine pilaf from Falastin with a spoonful of yoghurt and a good helping of Shatta. As it’s quick, delicious and comforting.

Tell us your three favourite restaurants to eat out at?

Tara: My favourite thing to do in London is jump into the London Fields lido for a swim and then eat out at Bright afterwards. In my dream world (the one where I don’t do the school run and don’t have three kids) I would do this three times a week! Locally to me, I love Soif, in Clapham, and then in town I like The Barbary and Parsons on Endell Street.

Sami: My favourite things to do in London is to go for a long walk with my dogs (Reg and Bea; they are French bulldog) in Chiswick House Gardens and then stop for a bit at The Carpenter’s Arms in Hammersmith, it has a changing menu and a cool atmosphere.

I like to go for dim sum with friends at Gold Mine in Bayswater on Sunday morning and then have walk at Kensington Park or along Regent canal.

What's your ultimate failsafe and impressive dinner party dish?

Tara: Failsafe will always be a chicken dish where I can marinate the chicken a day or two in advance and just pop in oven. The chicken Marbella in Simple, for example, of the chicken with lemon and za’atar in Falastin. And then the little gem salad with burnt aubergine, smacked cucumber and shatta is my current obsession from Falastin. All the elements can be made in advance and then assembled when needed.

Impressive, for me, would be something which requires cooking when my buddies have arrived as I’m much more relaxed if I can cook in advance. So, something like the fritters in Falastin or the Sayyadieh, the fisherman’s dish. The ultimate impressive dinner party dish is the Maqlubet, the upside down savoury rich and meat dish. The whole thing needs to get inverted from its pan onto a platter just before serving. Impressive. And terrifying!

Who is exciting you in the world of food right now?

Tara: I’m all about the cookbooks. I’ve loved reading Alison Roman’s latest book – she has good vibes.

Sami: I like Samin Nosrat, from Netflix show Salt Fat Acid Heat, there is something about her energy and her cooking.

Who has influenced you and your approach to food the most?

Tara: Yotam and Sami, no question, and the team in the Ottolenghi test kitchen: Ixta and Noor and Verena – they’ll all culinary goddesses. Food writing-wise, I love reading Niki Segnit, Nigella Lawson, M.F.K Fisher, Nora Ephron, Felicity Cloake and Sam Sifton, at the New York Times. They all wear their immense knowledge about food so lightly and share it with such levity and laughter. I want to be with them in the kitchen.

Sami: Having been part of the Ottolenghi family, there are always a few people that I personally get inspired by. My sisters, Sawsan and Kawthar, cook the best Palestinian home cooked food you would ever want. I like also Nigella too, Paula Wolfert​, Anissa Helou, Naomi Duguid and Claudia Roden.

baby gem lettuce with burnt aubergine yoghurt, smacked cucumber and shatta 

This works well either as a stand-alone starter or as part of a spread or side. It’s lovely with some hot smoked salmon or trout.

‘Smacked’ cucumbers sounds a bit dramatic but, really, it’s just a way of bruising them so as to allow all the flavour to seep through to the flesh. Thanks to Craig Tregonning for this salad.

Serves four generously.

Ingredients:

5–6 baby gem lettuces (500g), bases trimmed

11⁄2 tbsp shatta (red or green) (see page 73) (or rose harissa, as an alternative)

1⁄2 tsp Urfa chilli flakes (or a small pinch of nigella seeds or black sesame seeds, as an alternative)

Salt and black pepper

Aubergine yoghurt

2 large aubergines (500g)

35g Greek-style yoghurt

1⁄2 a garlic clove, roughly chopped 11⁄2 tbsp lemon juice

11⁄2 tbsp tahini (25g)

Smacked cucumber

1 regular English (i.e. not a small Lebanese) cucumber, peeled, sliced in half lengthways and watery seeds removed (180g)

25g parsley, roughly chopped 25g mint leaves, roughly chopped 1⁄2 a garlic clove, roughly chopped 50ml olive oil

Instructions:

Getting ahead: Make all the elements well in advance, here, if you like: up to a day for the cucumber and the aubergine yoghurt, and the shatta needs to be made in advance, so you’ll be all set here.

Playing around: Some crumbled feta on top works very well, and if you don’t have the Urfa chilli flakes, just use a pinch of black nigella seeds or some black sesame seeds.

There are two ways to chargrill the aubergines: on an open flame on the stove top, or in a chargrill pan on an induction hob followed by 10 minutes in a hot oven. See page 335 for more detailed instructions. Once cooked, the scooped- out flesh should weigh about 160g. Place this in the bowl of a food processor along with the yoghurt, garlic, lemon juice, tahini and 1⁄2 teaspoon of salt. Blitz for about a minute, until completely smooth, then set aside until needed.

Prepare the cucumber by placing each half on a chopping board, cut side facing down. Using the flat side of a large knife, lightly ‘smack’ them until bruised but still holding their shape. Cut the cucumber into roughly 1cm dice and set aside.

Clean the food processor, then add the parsley, mint, garlic, olive oil and 1⁄4 teaspoon of salt. Blitz for about 2 minutes, scraping down the sides a couple of times if you need to, to form a smooth paste, then add to the cucumber. Set aside for at least 20 minutes (and up to a day in advance if kept in the fridge) for the flavours to infuse.

Slice each head of baby gem lengthways to make 8 long thin wedges (per lettuce). When ready to assemble, arrange the lettuce on a round platter, overlapping the outer and inner circle to look like the petals of a flower. Lightly sprinkle the wedges with salt and a grind of black pepper, then splatter over the aubergine yoghurt. Spoon over the cucumber, drizzle with the shatta, sprinkle over the chilli flakes and serve.