Recipes

Muhammara is a nutty dip originating from around Syria, Armenia and Turkey and served as part of a mezze meal. This is a really nice version Rina got from her friend Jenny Bloom.

From Catherine: Kedgeree is an Indian dish which the British in India brought back and made their own. It was a favourite of my mother and her sister Olive – a life-long communist. I remember Olive making it for us in her flat in Primrose Hill, near the zoo. She said the secret was lots of butter! My brother Anthony also loved it.

We’ve all tried, and sadly failed, to match Rachel’s peerless kibbehs. Claudia Roden tells the classic stories of the mystique of the “kibbie finger”, in her Book of Jewish Food. We’ve found that it’s gender-neutral: Rina, who is great at everything else, has struggled, while Jack triumphed; in the next generation Alice, Lily and Freddie all did well. Like most things, it’s a mixture of natural endowment and skill developed through practice.

From Rina: a regular made by Grandma Rachel, we called “mummy’s cheese”

As learned by Rina from Rachel. Sometimes known as Syrian pizza.

These fried potato cakes are eaten at Hannukah to symbolise the miracle of the oil that lasted for eight days. When David started to visit Rina and her friends he was won over by her Sephardic/Mizrahi cooking, and it is reputed that this helped to fire up their relationship. This Ashkenazi recipe is the one David has clung to and we had many enjoyable times eating them on the annual Christmas visits to Willes Terrace in Leamington, usually on Boxing Day.

Rina’s version of Rachel’s recipe (our version of the Greek avgolemono), though this is a thickish sauce, not a soup, eaten with rice if you want something plain that will not upset your tummy, or with a bit of chicken, or as an accompaniment to other dishes.

This is from Anna’s friend Imogen, who got it from her friend’s mum. The lemon makes it the best flapjack recipe!

Taken down by Rina from Rachel’s, a family favourite (some like it very lemony).

Sol’s recipe, based on the Italian Fegato all Veneziana.