In January anyway holiday gluttony (or perhaps a little earlier), I at all times need to go for one thing lighter. I typically look to the Jap Mediterranean for inspiration, counting on very vivid flavors with spices, recent herbs, lemon and olive oil.
I used to be craving a red-red beetroot salad made like the one I attempted in Istanbul a couple of years in the past, and an enormous plate of herbed rice – the sort you may discover in Turkish stuffed grape leaves. However as a substitute of rolling particular person dolmas, I opted for a much less labor-intensive household pack wrapped in chard leaves. For dessert? Flaky Honey Drizzled Apple Tart.
For the perfect beetroot salad, cook dinner the beets your self – simply boil or roast them every time you have got a spare second, even a day or two forward. Then take away the skins whereas the beets are nonetheless barely heat. Chop them simply earlier than making the salad.
Toss the beets in a easy French dressing of olive oil and citrus juice and zest, together with just a little sumac or pomegranate molasses. To serve, sprinkle with chopped celery and mint, then garnish with pomegranate seeds. It is a feast for the eyes.
Now for the rice, which must be assembled upfront. The rice is totally cooked—cooked in water like a paste. It’s then drained, cooled and generously flavored with roasted onions, chopped almonds and pistachios, raisins, lemon zest and juice and loads of dill and tarragon earlier than being wrapped in massive, blanched Swiss chard leaves and baked.
Be sure you spoon a beneficiant dollop of unapologetically bitter whole-fat yogurt on high of every serving earlier than serving. Many American yogurts could be creamy and bland, not what you need right here. Discover extra yogurt at a Center Jap or Indian retailer, or add some sumac or lemon juice.
For a straightforward, filling fruit dessert, phyllo dough is simply the factor. You do not have to make the pastry from scratch, however you may nonetheless get a really flaky outcome. I topped mine with sliced spiced apples. As an alternative of the same old melted butter, I used fruit further virgin olive oil to color the filo sheets and located it fairly good, particularly with a remaining drizzle of honey. Use butter in the event you choose, and be happy to experiment with rolling the dough into cigar shapes or creating phyllo turns.
I think about this informal eating, not high-quality eating. (Coming over for dinner? I am making some scrumptious dishes; we’ll eat within the kitchen.) I might serve a side-by-side beet and rice salad and an enormous dollop of yogurt to go along with each. I’d be comfortable to have them collectively and name it meals. But when your crowd would name it a dinner facet dish, the rice will not thoughts sharing the invoice with roast hen, lamb chops, sauteed mushrooms or a chunk of grilled fish.
