Robin Ellis

Described as ‘street food‘ in Yotem Ottolenghi’s cookbook Jerusalem, this is a marriage of simple ingredients made in heaven–i.e., chickpeas and cumin go together like a horse and carriage.

I have some small leaf spinach in the fridge which needs to be eaten and Meredith’s still on the detox.

Spinach salad–I’m thinking.

No bacon though–one way to liven up raw spinach.

No feta/goat’s cheese either–another.

Nuts–yes, some cob nuts or walnuts roasted would do it.

Then I remember spotting Balilah street food in the book.

Eureka! Well, overstated perhaps, but turns out to be a good idea.

Dress the spinach leaves beforehand and add a pile of Balilah to the green expanse and you have a simple but delicious lunch.

450 gms cooked chickpeas–from a bottle preferably, but tinned [canned] if not

4 tbs spring [scallions] or red onions–sliced thinly

1 small lemon–peeled and de-pithed; then sliced as thin as possible with a sharp knife. Take your time–it’s worth it to get the freshness without too much tooth-grinding tartness at one bite

2.5 tsp ground cumin

3 tbs olive oil (best quality possible)

salt and pepper

Drain the chickpeas from the jar/tin and reheat them gently in a little water (to keep them from drying out as they are warmed).

Drain, put in a bowl, add the olive oil and turn the chickpeas over in the oil.

Add the onion, cumin, lemon, salt and pepper and mix thoroughly.

The spinach

3 good handfuls of young, small-leafed spinach (usually more tender for  eating raw)–washed and spun dry and laid out in a large salad bowl

The vinaigrette:

Pulp a peeled garlic clove in a pinch of salt.

Mix in half a teaspoon of Dijon mustard.

Add a tablespoon of red wine vinegar and mix to a paste.

Add three or four tablespoons of olive oil.

Whisk together.

Pour a couple of tablespoons over the spinach and turn it over thoroughly.

Add the pile of Balilah to the centre of the green sward.

Serve.

Good to be back!

A winter soup to welcome the New Year and re-open the blog, which has been virtually on hold while Healthy Eating for Life got launched.

Not a great “looker” this soup, so Madame La Photographe added a touch of parsley.

Making this is a lovely long process, something to do on a cold rainy afternoon–like today.

Not a lot of work involved–most of the time the soup chugs away on its own on top of the stove .

Adapted from the inimitable and recently deceased Marcella Hazan, it sometimes features cooked sausages*–not here though.

Meredith is on a short de-tox regime–though she said not to worry about the ounce of smoked bacon that helps deepen the taste.

I’m writing this while it chugs.

4 tbls olive oil

1/2 a medium onion–chopped

2 garlic cloves–chopped

1 oz/25 gms smoked bacon–diced

1 lb/450 gms red cabbage–quartered (core sliced off) and roughly sliced

1 celery stick–chopped

3 medium tomatoes (tinned are best this time of the year)–chopped

1 tsp fresh thyme

1.25 pints stock–I use organic vegetable stock cubes

1.5 tsp salt

500 gms/18 oz cooked white beans (jar or tinned [canned]) drained–a rough figure depending on the tin/jar.

• Heat the oil in a large saucepan and sauté the onion, garlic and bacon until they start to color–about twenty minutes.

• Add the tomatoes, cabbage and celery and mix thoroughly.
• Allow the cabbage to soften completely–about 30 minutes.
• Add the salt and stock, stir in and cover the pot.
• Cook this on a very low heat, this is the chugging stage (you’ll hear it chugging!), for two hours– longer if you like!

• Then add half the beans–puréed–and stir them in.

• Cook on for ten minutes to heat them through before adding the rest of the beans.

Stir them, cover the pan and let it chug-chug for 10 to 15 minutes longer.

Now the authentic Italian bit!

• Lightly color two peeled and crushed garlic cloves in four tablespoons of olive oil.

• Off the heat add a teaspoon of chopped fresh rosemary.

• Pour the oil through a metal sieve into the soup and let it absorb the flavors while it cooks a further ten minutes.

* The sausages, if using, are browned in a separate pan and added, cut into chunks, after the main two hour “chug”!