moro top ten: grilled onion salad with yoghurt

“we are very fond of this salad – velvety, sweet and smoky, it is quite a combination”

another recipe from moro east, and a dish that i served alongside the roast chicken we had with fried spiced cauliflower. i wasn’t really sure what to expect from this – it’s described as a salad and i didn’t know whether it would be a substantial side dish or not. it turned out to be more of an accompanying sauce to everything else – a moorish take on bread sauce  perhaps, in the context of the meal i cooked.

so, how did i get on?

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moro top ten: fried marrow with caramelised butter, mint and yoghurt

 

“whenever the challenge of making something with marrow presents itself, perhaps you, like us, tend to shudder – however, please consider this dish that is delicious with roast chicken or lamb”

having made hot and sour marrow soup, the rest of my marrow was used up in this recipe from moro east. it’s a simple recipe – the marrow pieces are fried in caramelised butter and then topped with a yoghurt dressing that has been spiked with garlic, cumin and a little mint.

so, how did i get on?

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roasted vegetables with a saffron yoghurt dressing

 

i’ve made this ottolenghi salad twice in the past couple of weeks, most recently alongside couscous-stuffed lamb, and have really loved it each time.

the original recipe just uses roasted aubergines but i think you can use other roasted vegetables as well (or instead) quite easily – i added courgettes (griddled rather than roasted) each time and this worked really well.

what makes it special is the garlicky saffron yoghurt dressing and the freshness and crunch that comes from sprinkling the finished dish with pomegranate seeds and toasted pine nuts (in fact, eating the final spoonfuls, which usually include an abundance of pine nuts and pomegranate, was something that friends did each time i served this dish!).

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nigel’s top ten – potato pancakes with dill and yoghurt sauce

 

these little cheesey potato cakes are served with a herby yoghurt and described by nigel slater as “a vegetarian answer to the fishcake” which, as you can see, was not how i viewed them.

the grated potatoes are mixed with crumbled feta, grated carrot and dill plus egg to bind. this felt a bit austere as a meal  so i decided to do them as a breakfast, with smoked salmon to add a bit of luxury.

so, how did i get on?

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radish tzatziki

there is one vegetable which is unlikely to ever grace this blog – cucumber. it is my one absolute, total and utter dislike and despite trying it over the years, usually exhorted by people telling me how bland and flavourless it is (they lie!), i now avoid it as much as possible.

thankfully this doesn’t require too much effort and even a dish such as tzatziki, where some would say cucumber is essential, can be adapted. this radish version is a good alternative and a sharply flavoured grated apple can also used to good effect.

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