I recently spent the weekend in one of my favourite cities: Montreal. As always, the trip was full of new epicurean discoveries. As I was killing time before a lunch reservation at Park, I came across the bookstore of my dreams.
Appetite for Books is a bookstore that deals exclusively in cookbooks and food-related literature. They also offer cooking classes. Each class, led by Chef Jonathan, takes a deep dive into one of the cookbooks sold in store and invites participants of all skill levels to join in the fun of making and discovering new cuisines.
Sadly, I was only in town for the weekend and didn’t have a chance to participate in one of the classes. I did, however, have a great chat with the salesperson in store. I’m interested in exploring more Middle Eastern food and asked for her recommendation on a cookbook to help get me started. She recommended Persiana: Recipes from the Middle East and Beyond by Sabrina Ghayour.
Whenever I have friends over for dinner, I like the meal to have a cohesive theme. So, when I hosted a couple of my girlfriends last week, I prepared a three-course Middle Eastern meal with complementary cocktail. The main course and dessert were both sourced from Persiana.
Ghayour’s reimagining of this classic dessert, brings a little Middle Eastern flare to England. A subtle touch of rosewater and satisfying crunch of pistachios add another dimension to this confection.
Eastern Mess Recipe
A Middle Eastern take on the classic Eton Mess
- 2 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream
- 3 tbsp confectioners' sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla bean paste or the seeds scraped from 1 vanilla pod
- 2 tbsp rosewater
- 6 ready-made meringue cookies, broken into bite-sized pieces
- 1/4 cup torn basil leaves
- 2 3/4 oz chopped pistachios
- 1/2 lb raspberries
- 1 tbsp confectioners' sugar
- 1 tbsp rosewater
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
-
Using an electric hand mixer, whip the cream, confectioners' sugar, vanilla paste or seeds and rosewater together in a mixing bowl until soft peaks form. With the mixer set on high, it should take about 3 minutes or so.
-
To make the sauce, mash the raspberries to a purée with the confectioners' sugar, rosewater and lemon juice in a bowl until the mixture is completely smooth. Pass the mixture through a sieve to remove the raspberry seeds.
-
In individual serving dishes, layer the cream, meringues and raspberries, drizzling on the sauce and scattering over the basil leaves and pistachios as you go. Decorate the top layer with a little drizzle of sauce and a final scattering of basil leaves and pistachios. Serve immediately.
Recipe from Ghayour, Sabrina. Persiana: Recipes from the Middle East and Beyond. Interlink Books, 2014.
Leave a Reply