Nistisima

I was recently drawn to the beautiful book by Georgina Hayden: Nistisima which focuses on fasting foods; foods that are inherently vegan due to fasting rules.  If fact nistisima is the Greek word that translates as Lenten, or fasting, foods.  Georgina Hayden explores the cuisine of Mediterranean and beyond; from the Greek Orthodox fasting recipes to the Coptic Christians in Egypt, the Maronites in Lebanon and Syria  to Orthodox communities in Russia and Eastern Europe... the book is truly dazzling in the range of vegetable, grain and legume recipes and it is going to be my go to book for delicious meals for many years to come.

 Eat to live, not live to eat.

Socrates (469-399 BCE)

Georgina Hayden starts the book with this quote and at first I did not understand the meaning; it seemed to convey that the act of eating was just to function which to my mind is very depressing. The author explains that 'Socrates meant something deeper: that food should be nourishing; energy to power our lives.' Certainly her recipes are full of flavour and I want to try each one...relish the tastes and indeed nourish my life.  I suppose I am eating to truly live and these recipes are providing some delicious ways to do that.

I decided to try a Lebanese recipe arnabeet; deep-fried cauliflower with tarator alongside a Greek-Cyprian recipe for spiced courgettes that Georgina Hayden's own yiayia (grandmother) Maroulla would cook along with with some salad of watercress and radish and some fresh French beans straight from our garden.

The arnabeet was a simple recipe which I slightly changed from being deep-fried cauliflower to air fried cauliflower... I simply par boiled the cauliflower florets and then tossed in olive oil and smoked paprika and fried in the air fryer for about 10 to 15 minutes. The tarator was a mix of tahini, crushed garlic and fresh lemon juice and plenty of seasoning.  Once the cauliflower is cooked plate up, sprinkle with sumac and drizzle the tarator on top.  Sprinkle parsley on top.  This is the way that I am going to be cooking cauliflower from now on... so delicious.

The second recipe that I tried from 'Nistisima' was for Maroulla's spiced courgettes; a delightful dish of fried onion, galic and courgettes with Lebanese seven-spice and dried chilli flakes... you need to cook this long and slow to get this unctuous dish.

Remember to leave some leftovers.. it is great the next day!

Fairuz - Ana Indi Haneen