Stomachs on legs are proud to present

I caught the train to Paris last weekend to visit friends, and was struck again by the decadent approach Parisians have to food. We visited the Saturday morning market on the Avenue de President Wilson in Paris (next to the Palais de Tokyo gallery), where produce was laid out in Bacchanalian abundance. Cheeses, gleaming charcuterie, and piles of wild mushrooms, lobsters and sea urchins.
Avenue de President Wilson, by the way, sounds like the title of a Serge Gainsbourg song.
But Paris has more to offer than traditional fatty cheeses and rabbit terrine.

The most appealing thing to eat on that chilly morning was something labeled as "galette traditionelle Libanaise": the Lebanese breakfast flatbread, manaqish, a cousin of the Australian delight known as meat pizza.

I enjoyed my "galette" smeared with za'atar (mix of wild thyme, sesame and olive oil) - the flavour was breath-fresheningly good. But the winner was my friend's gruyere cheese manaqish - a perfect blend of indulgent Paris luxury and Lebanese flatbread science.

Well now that the Olympics are over people will no doubt be talking about the London ones in four years time. It seems a long way off and a bit premature to be pondering upon, but it seems the London Olympics is already causing the destruction and disruption of local ways of life and cooking in ye olde London town.

This recipe is from a book about the food from inner city allotment gardens which were cultivated by many different ethnic groups but have now been bulldozed to make way for Olympic infrastructure, Moro East. It was a birthday present I received this year and I have been trying a number of the recipes. But I liked this one in particular. It is rich and buttery but not overly so, combining eggs, eggplant, spinach with the earthy musky flavour of saffron and spiked with currents and fresh herbs and nuts. I served it with a pearl barley tabouleh. I felt exotic.




Recipe Kuku Iranian Saffron Omelette
Feeling: Exotic
Taste: Buttery/ Nutty

Whole large eggplant diced (lightly salted for 15 mins then rinsed)
Large bunch of spinach, fresh or frozen (they say fresh)
6 - 8 beaten eggs
Mint - bunch chopped
Dill - bunch chopped
Current or dried fruit (I used craisins) - 2 big handful
Pine nuts - big handful
spring onion bunch
big pinch saffron
Butter - knob
Olive Oil - gulp

Heat large skillet basted with olive oil with deep sides in the oven. Dice eggplant and sprinkle with salt and leave for a while to remove bitterness and then rinse and sautee in butter with spring onions and then add spinach until it has wilted. Mix with herbs with one handful of currents, pinenuts and the rest of the ingredients. Salt and Pepper. Place saffron in small amount of warm water to release colour and add. When your ready to make the omelette, stir in the egg and then pour the whole mixture into the heated skillet. Cook for around 20 mins or until firmish...it's nice if it's not too firm. Sprinkle with more currents and dill and serve.

Shit: Drinking recycled water

Links:

Cracking down on Iranian Nuts

More reflections on the raw and the cooked and the wisdom of Epicurus, the philosopher not the magazine

The history of food: from English Breakfast Tea to Curry Powder

Mapping chicken

River Wolf of Mongolia

Here's the mixed game pie I keep harping on about, from the Broadway Market
in London.

That pie was so bloody damn good. It was the apple of my pie, ah, eye.

It was sold by a nice old fellow with a trestle table, from an award-winning pie-maker who had prepared it herself the night before. (I didn't write down the name unfortunately).

This market has a very nice selection of foods (mostly organic or wild) including yummy Ghanaian stews like okra & pork and a peanut chicken stew (very good and a long queue), some nice 2nd hand clothes and a Japanese lady selling cute knock-offs, some overpriced antiques, old children's textbooks and good-looking bretagne-style crepes, brown and oozing with spinach and cheese.
It's very nice to walk there along the canal from Islington.



This trip to London (stopping off on the way back from Toronto) really changed my opinion about the food offerings of Old Blighty!

Other treats over four days included tasty soda bread from Selfridges supermarket, huge decadent Morrocan meringues covered in pistachios piled up in the window of a restaurant near Angel in Islington, very good lamb tagine, dips and flatbreads from one of three restaurants in Islington all called Gallipoli, and, on the more traditional tip, a YUM sticky date pudding – warm, steamed, light-textured but rich flavoured.

Another highlight was the famous London "foodie" (hate that word) destination the Borough Market
, which is in a very urban setting (under the struts of London Bridge?): we had warm organic apple juice with honey which tasted like apple pie, and bought an artisan brown loaf (I say brown because I'm not sure exactly what was in it,) from the Degustibus stall. Is artisan the most overused and confusing word of the moment? We saw an 'artisan toaster' at Saturn mega electronic store the other day. I'm waiting for the slow food movement toaster....it takes five days to slowly dry your bread into a cracker.

Of course there are still plenty of windows advertising jellied eels or baked beans and chips, too...

Top nosh, geezer.

Nothing like a good pie!!

Hello meat pizza my old friend....I've come to be with you again

I took a walk up Sydney Road today and found myself gravitating towards A1 Bakery's meat pizza...its somewhat of a Melbourne ritual for me, whenever I return I always seem to find my way to A1 for thier ground lamb with chili and lemon on lebanese bread and a spinach triangle....it was, like all good things, exactly as I remembered it

It sounds fantastic when you write it down... but this menu was the budget option.

The above foodstuffs were how I celebrated my birthday on August 2nd in Paris.

Originally I had planned to have a steak-frites meal in a bistro, but it seemed that of the recommended spots, even the Rendez-vous des Chauffeurs (originally a pitstop for taxi drivers) was going to end up costing around 100 euros for four -

So instead, Erik and I wandered down the Rue des Martyrs
to Galeries Lafayette, picking out little things here and there, and ended up at the Luxembourg Gardens for the Moroccan food finale with Rachel, Greg & Tui. It was a fine way to spend a birthday.

BREAKFAST
...(and the only real extravagance of the day) was a deluxe bocadillo sandwich from the Galeries Lafayette food hall.

The El Bocadillo
shop there has two different Iberico sandwiches on offer - Jamón ibérico de Bellota
that they use in their deluxe sandwich is 256 euro per kilo. It was about 12 euros for a few slivers of the ham, or 14 euros when sandwiched between tasty but somewhat unremarkable olive ciabatta-style bread, with manchego cheese made from raw manchega sheep's milk and a creamy tomato sauce.

I think that I did actually have this ham before, at a fancy tapas place in Barcelona, but was too tired or drunk to appreciate the high oleic acorn content... This time, I was impressed with the very soft texture compared to lesser forms of Spanish ham, the extreme pinkish-red colour and glossiness, and the intensification of that marmite-ish musky flavour. It was a waste, really, to eat it in the much-too-large baguette. (I prefer the skinny bocadillos they serve all over Barcelona). I ended up picking out the ham and eating the sandwich seperately.
I am not sure if I would spend 14 euro on this sandwich on a regular basis, say if I lived in Iberia or Paris - the much cheaper bocadillos stuffed with ham can be just as rewarding, even if the ham is a little paler and less pliant - but I was glad to try it. Would definitely recommend, in case anyone else finds themselves in a slightly more cash-flushed birthday scenario, to buy 24 euros worth and eat it from a plate with a glass of wine. Apparently, the owners of El Bocadillo have a restaurant in Paris called Bellota Bellota, where you can do just that.





LUNCH
...was Moroccan takeways for four, and a nice brioche loaf, all from the fancy foodhall at Galeries Lafayette. Unfortunately I didn't write the name of Moroccan place down, but if you are in that food hall it's easy to find.
The great big moist piles of food behind the counter were impossible to resist.
We chose:
- chicken simmered in a stew of rice, peas and tomatoes
- lamb tagine with prunes
- yummy light couscous with saffron
- a tasty oily potato salad with tomato soaked into the potatoes, lemon and something pungent - maybe chopped anchovies?
- amazing, incredibly fresh tabouleh with very large grains, quite firm and a little crunchy

Everything was pungent with the taste of lemon, and very fresh. It was about 30 euros for more than enough food for four. Perfect in the Luxembourg Gardens next to flowers and a pond where children were pushing old-fashioned miniature sailboats with sticks.



Tui bringing me a flower from the garden, which included silverbeet (or mangold?) as a decorative plant.





DINNER
... was leftover everything, on the highspeed train back to Cologne, with a few notable additions including non-fat petits suisses
(how can it taste so rich with no fat?), which are like tiny, lactic-yoghurty cream cheeses, but with a texture like a very heavy quark; and some cute & yummy little macaron
s from a bakeries on the Rue des Martyrs, about half way down on the opposite side to Arnaud Delmontel (which was closed for summer holidays). Macarons look way too sweet but they are very light and beguiling, made from egg white, almond powder and sugar, and have this great chewiness when combined with a filling. This other bakery was also very good - it really proved to me that it's true what I've read - one doesn't need to go to a top bakery to have a truly delicious macaron. On another day from the same place we had macaron sandwiches with rose cream and raspberries. Of the mini-sized ones I bought for the train, the violet-flavoured one was my favourite.

The matcha-green tea flavoured one which I bought from Sadaharu Aoki
in Galeries Lafayette earlier in the day was nothing to write home about. It was slightly too sweet and had not enough discernible tea flavour. The too-sweet and too-timid accusations seem to be common when it comes to Aoki. If looking for sweets with traditional Japanese flavours, it seems, you are better to try them in Japan. Although the ice cream 'sando-kun' sandwiches on his website look realllly good.

Another addition to dinner was this DELICIOUS hazlenut and chestnut bread from the same bakery which supplied the macarons, with an EVEN MORE delicious rabbit & apricot terrine, from Françoise Le Carrer's charcuterie and cheese shop, Les Papilles Gourmandes. Basically we were walking past and I thought it would be a good idea to try one of the scary-looking terrines. When she (was it Françoise?) described the flavours, this one sounded pretty good, and it exceeded all expectations. Just because something looks like dogfood doesn't mean it won't taste like heaven!

It was about 5 euros for 100 g. And it was the best thing I ate that day. The best thing I've eaten in ages, actually. Creamy-ish, meaty, sweet bits of apricot, just heaven. I actually found this
recipe which sounds rather like the same dish, but more herby.
As the website says, "Terrines are really just a meat loaf cooked in a bain-marie (a bed of water)." A nice way of putting it, though they look crazier and more chunkily-textured than a meatloaf's reassuringly monotone mince appearance.

Les Papilles Gourmandes 26, rue des martyrs - 75009 Paris

Bread crust, and delicious rabbit terrine:



Bread crumb, and delicious rabbit terrine:



Post script: a recent issue of Japan's Madame Figaro Voyage magazine all about 'rediscovering Paris', started with recommendations for guess where? The area may get more trendy, but let's hope, the shops selling dresses for 50 euros and the meat shop with rotisserie chicken don't disappear.

A couple weeks back, Many & Anne were wedded on the terrace of a beautiful wooden building with low hanging eaves, overlooking Wolfgangsee - one of those beautiful mountain lakes that were once the scene of infamous politician's debauchery, across the border from Germany. (This wedding was the reason for our 24 hour stopover in Munich, en route).

After the Protestant ceremony, there was a short break for 'sekt' (German bubbles):



And then the Iranian ceremony began. It was one of the best wedding ceremonies I've seen, rich with symbolism and interspersed with a witty translation into English by the uncle from New York. And full of sweet stuff, quite literally.

The ceremony takes place with a beautiful and elaborately decorated spread on the floor called "Sofreh-ye Aghd". Traditionally Sofreh-ye Aghd is set on the floor facing east, the direction of sunrise (light). Consequently when bride and bridegroom are seated at the head of Sofreh-ye Aghd they will be facing "The Light".



On Sofreh-ye Aghd, the following items are placed:

Mirror (of fate) "Aayeneh-ye Bakht" and two Candelabras (representing the bride and groom and brightness in their future) one on either side of the mirror. The mirror and two candelabras are symbols of light and fire, two very important elements in the Zoroastrian culture. When the bride enters the room she has her veil covering her face. Once the bride sits beside the bridegroom she removes her veil and the first thing that the bridegroom sees in the mirror should be the reflection of his wife-to-be.

A tray of seven multi-colored herbs and spices "Sini-ye Aatel-O-Baatel" to guard the couple and their lives together against the evil eye, witchcraft and to drive away evil spirits. This tray consists of seven elements in seven colors:

Poppy Seeds "Khash-Khaash" (to break spells and witchcraft)
Wild Rice "Berenj"
Angelica "Sabzi Khoshk"
Salt "Namak" (to blind the evil eye)
Nigella Seeds "Raziyaneh"
Black Tea "Chaay"
Frankincense "Kondor" (to burn the evil spirits)

A specially baked and decorated flatbread "Noon-e Sangak" with blessing "Mobaarak-Baad" written in calligraphy on it. The writing is usually with either saffron "Zaffaron", cinnamon, Nigella seeds, or glitters. This symbolizes prosperity for the feasts and for the couple's life thereafter. A separate platter of this flat bread, feta cheese and fresh herbs are also present to be shared with the guests after the ceremony, to bring the new couple happiness and prosperity.

A basket of decorated eggs and a basket of decorated almonds, walnuts and hazelnuts in the shell to symbolize fertility.

A basket of pomegranates and/or apples for a joyous future. Pomegranates are considered heavenly fruits and apples symbolize the divine creation of mankind.

A cup of rose water extracted from special Persian roses "Gol-e Mohammadi" to perfume the air.

A bowl made out of crystallized sugar "Kaas-e Nabaat/Shaakh-e Nabaat" to sweeten life for the newly wed.

A scarf or shawl made out of silk or any other fine fabric is held over the bride and bridegroom's head throughout the ceremony by various happily married female relatives (mostly bride's close family members). It looks so pretty.

Two sugar cones "Kalleh Ghand" made out of hardened sugar are used during the ceremony. These sugar cones are ground together above the bride and bridegroom's head (over the scarf held above their heads) throughout the ceremony to shower them in sugar (symbolizing sweetness and happiness). Many's aunt did the grinding, she is a jewellery expert and dynamite on the dancefloor.



A cup of honey is used symbolically to sweeten life. Immediately after the couple is married they each should dip one pinky finger in the cup of honey and feed it to the other one. This part was very cute. Below you see them exchanging rings, just before pinky-dipping:



A needle and seven strands of colored thread to figuratively sew up the mother-in-law's lips from speaking unpleasant words to the bride! The shawl that is held above the couple's head throughout the ceremony is sewed in one corner by the needle and threads.
After the preliminary blessings and a few words about the importance of the institution of marriage, the master of ceremony confirms with both the parents or guardians that they indeed wish to proceed with the ceremony and there are no objections. Then the master of ceremony asks the mutual consent of the couple. First the bridegroom is asked if he wishes to enter into the marriage contract, then the bride is asked the same question. Once the bride is asked if she agrees to the marriage, she pauses. The question is repeated three times and it is only at the third time that she will say yes. To make the bridegroom wait for the bride's answer is to signify that it is the husband who seeks the wife and is eager to have her and not the other way around!

Traditionally after the ceremony while the bride and groom are still seated the bride is showered with gifts, usually expensive jewelry, and all she receives is hers. The bridegroom does not receive many gifts. He only receives one gift from the bride's parents/guardians. When all the gifts are presented to the bride the wedding ceremony is officially concluded.


A copy of Koran "Ghoraan-e Majid" (the Moslem's holy book) opened in the middle and placed on the spread. This symbolizes God's blessing for the couple. Traditionally "Avesta" the ancient Zoroastrian holy book was present during the ceremony and readings were made from it. Eventually Koran replaced Avesta after Iran became a Moslem nation.


There were an assortment of sweets and pastries shared with guests after the ceremony. The assortment usually includes: Sugar coated almond strips "Noghl", Baklava (a sweet flaky Persian pastry "Baaghlavaa"), Mulberry-almond paste made in the shape of mulberries "Tout", Rice-flour cookies "Noon-Berenji", Chickpea-flour cookies "Noon-Nokhodchi", Almond-flour cookies "Noon-Baadoomi", and Honey roasted almonds "Sohaan A'sali".

Delicious powdery perfumed cookies:


Mother of the groom, lips intact:


Caramel, pistachio & almond clusters:






Baaghlavaa:


Mini lederhosen:



Before they enter their home, the bride kicks over a bowl of water placed in the doorway. The water spilled on the threshold represents enlightenment, happiness, and purification for their new house. A friendly competition starts with the bride and groom as the bride tries to enter her house while stepping on her husband's feet. This act makes the bride the boss in the household.

After a months research, I have come to the opinion that if the US and the UN want to really tighten the screws on Iran they should look at sugar sanctions. In a country where alcohol and promiscuity is outlawed people overindulge in what they can - sugar. Iranians love sweet stuff, given that it is hot here and there is a lot of desert they particularly like cold sweet stuff. Rose water is the key ingredient to much of the desserts here, you can drink it, soak cake/biscuits in it and pretty much add it to anything with sugar.

Iranians also like to eat carrots and cucumbers as fruits. Two curious combinations of this is the very popular carrot juice with rose water (or vanilla) ice cream, or thin flat bread (lavash) with carrot jam and cream. In one small take away joint, one man was so intent on imbibing his carrot and ice cream juice as quickly as possible that he managed to spill much of it on his pants and had to leave immediately.

A more classic example of Iranian sweets is plain cake soaked in sugar and rose water syrup so that the cake is moist, syrupy and delicious. Another is the nice take on neopolitan icecream with a 3 flavoured ice cream (made from rice flour) slice with chocolate, vanilla and banana, a hint of rose water throughout and pistachios.

Click here to read about imitation beer in Iran

Although not as much as these guys

But I have been cooking up a middle eastern desert storm lately

Last Friday I made this seriously labour intensive but very yummy chicken, mint, burghul and yoghurt soup with chili cumin sauce



Recipe from Gourmet Traveller but adapted by me

Chicken Stock
- a chicken carcass, a whole chicken or 2 chicken breasts or whatever
- onions say 2 chop in half skin on, it doesn't matter too much at this point
- celery stalks
- half a head of garlic
- 1 - 2 chilis halved lengthways
- 1 cinamon quill
- 1 - 2 cloves
- 1/2 a lemon
- water

Make stock or you can just get premade chicken stock and a flavour with the lemon, garlic, cinamon and cloves and chili and then poach a couple of breasts in the stock by bringing it up to boil adding the breast, put on a heavy lid, take off the heat and leave the breasts to cook for say 40 mins...
If making stock from scratch remember to start from cold water and wash chicken well to get a nice clear stock.

Once chicken is cooked shred it and put aside. Strain the stock if it is a bit scumy.

Now make the chili sauce
30 gms of dried chilis deseeded and then hydrated in water (be careful and don't touch your eyes or anything when doing this)
Pulse the hydrated chilis with 3 cloves of garlic, 1/2 cup of olive oil, 1 tsp each of ground corriander seed and cumin and a big pinch of salt.

Assemblage of Soup
Pulse/ Blitz 2 tbspns/ big gulp of olive oil, 1 onion, 2 cloves of garlic and 2 tspns of dried mint (or fresh) into a paste
Soak 100 gms of burghul (cracked wheat) in water until soft
Combine 500 gms of plain yoghurt, 1 beaten egg and 1 tbspn of cornflour in a little bowl
Fry onion paste until fragrant 5 mins or so and add stock (around 4 - 5 cups of stock) bring to the boil then simmer
Once simmering add your yoghurt mixture slowly while stirring and let simmer for 10 mins (do not boil)
Add burghul, salt to taste, squeeze of lemon juice and shredded chicken
Garnish with shredded fresh mint and some thinly sliced chili (optional)


Then Abla Amad's lamb shanks with chickpeas and rice



Recipe - inspired by Abla made tastier by me

Soak 1/2 cup of chickpeas overnight
In a heavey based pot fry lamb shanks until brown on the outside
Add some onion, leek and garlic (1 onion, a leek or more and a good amount of garlic 4 cloves perhaps) and fry until soft
Cover with some chicken stock and add chickpeas, bring to the boil and then simmer on low heat for 1 - 2 hours
Add rice maybe 1 - 2 cups depending on how many people you want to feed, add salt, 1 teaspoon of ground cumin, 1/2 tspn fresh ground pepper and 1/2 tsp of allspice (plus a bit more)
With the lid on continue to simmer until rice is cooked
Stir through some butter (optional)
Serve with yoghurt and the chili sauce you made for the soup

You can add carrots at the onion stage and lentils at the rice stage also


Later on this week I made zucchini fritters from recipe in newly acquired Greg Malouf's Saha book accompanied by babaganoush, tabouleh and humus.



And then I also made some felafels to freeze as quick study dinners. I can give you the recipes if you like

My job would be easier if I could get hold of an Ol'eb Felafeler - a felafel maker in plain English.

I had a look around on the web for one and found this gold felafel maker - for the arab who has everything



If this is too flashy for your liking you can instead go to the Jerusalem Depot online and pick up a plain stainless steel one, along with a pair of "down with the people" rootsy Biblical Sandals - it all adds to the authenticity you know. Although you probably couldn't wear them when making felafels if you owned the souless monster that is the Felafel Robot, safety factor aside, mass produced felafels and biblical sandals just don't go together .