Happy New Year! Here we are at the spring equinox already … where does the time go? If only I had been hibernating. I might have avoided the cough, then the cold and loss of taste that accompanied them both. And the weight gain! 😱 I ate my way through them both because my mother always said “feed a cold and starve a fever”. I definitely had no fever. And of course I always do what I’m told. So, telling myself the next thing I ate would taste nice I munched. And munched. And munched. But it could have been cardboard (not that I’m in the habit of eating cardboard!).
So, today the sun is shining, my taste has returned and all is good in my little world. I’ve even made a few new dishes. I’m trying to clear out some cookbooks – I read somewhere that if you found one that you hadn’t cooked from, pick a recipe and if you enjoy the result, keep the book. Good thinking! I’ve had the book New Feast (modern middle eastern vegetarian) by Greg and Lucy Malouf for quite a while and never cooked from it. Why? Who knows, as it reads well. Egyptian breakfast beans with feta, lemon oil and green chilli relish was the dish I chose. No relish as I had no pickled chillies.
It was a lovely combination of chickpeas, broad beans, tomatoes and spring onion. It was also served warm. The olive oil and lemon juice dressing was gently warmed and the spring onions gently cooked along with a spicy garlic paste (garlic, salt, cumin, chilli, black pepper). When they were soft, everything else was added. Five minutes warming, a good sprinkling of parsley, some crumbled feta and it was ready to go. First night I ate it on its own and next day for lunch I had it on sourdough toast with a fried egg on top (without the feta).
It looks like this book is a keeper as I loved this salad and I’ve already made something else (equally delicious) which I’ll save for another day.