Saffron Pilaf Like this recipe? You’ll love my online Middle Eastern cooking class! There are many different styles of pilaf (or pilau) across India and the Middle East. What they have in common is cooking long grain rice by absorption – sometimes in water, sometimes in stock – and usually with some butter, ghee or […]
Rouille (Spicy Mayonnaise) Like this recipe? You’ll love my online French cooking class featuring the food of Provence! The more I research rouille the more confused I become. Even the most respected experts seem to disagree on what should go into this classic Provençal sauce that’s traditionally served with bouillabaisse. The only thing I can […]
How to Prepare Saffron Master Kitchen Basics & Explore New Cuisines & Ingredients with My Online Cooking Classes There are two methods of preparing saffron to use in cooking: brewing (with hot water) and blooming (with ice). Brewing is the traditional way and blooming is a modern technique created to preserve as much of the […]
Chicken Biryani Like this recipe? You’ll love my online Indian cooking class inspired by Ajoy Joshi! Biryani is a festive Indian one-pot rice dish. Unlike a simple pilau, the rice is partially cooked then layered with the seasoned meat to finish cooking. Well caramelised onions are key to a successful biryani – cook them long […]
Prawns with Persian Split Pea Stew Like this recipe? You’ll love my online Persian cooking class! Prawns with Persian split pea stew is a seafood version of the classic Persian dish, khoresh-e gheymeh, in which lamb is braised in a rich sauce with yellow split peas. For me that dish is really all about the […]
Octopus Cooked Ossobuco-style With its firm texture, octopus lends itself perfectly to the long slow braise that makes traditional ossobuco so delicious and fall apart tender. Large ‘hands’ of octopus tentacles can be cooked this way as well: cut them into large bite-sized pieces and bake for 2½ hours covered then 20 minutes uncovered. Octopus […]
Tuna Biryani Tuna biryani is my pescatarian take on the more traditional Indian classic, lamb biryani. Tuna has great flavour, but a tendency to dry out quickly, so it’s best cooked in large chunks. At the table, encourage diners to flake the tuna through their rice so they aren’t eating whole chunks of it, and […]
Salmon Bisteeya Bisteeya is a classic Moroccan pie, traditionally made with pigeon and other poultry. It lends itself beautifully to seafood too, especially gorgeous pink salmon – and a seafood version is even quicker and easier to make as there’s no need to poach the fish before assembling the pie. Traditionally the egg is scrambled […]
Persian Fish with Barberry Sauce This tangy barberry sauce is usually served with chicken in a traditional Persian dish called zereshk polo ba morgh, but I discovered that it works just as well with seafood. I like to use large pieces of a firm flaky white fish, such as ling, blue-eye trevalla or mahi mahi, […]
Swordfish à la Bouillabaisse It’s impossible to create an authentic bouillabaisse on a small scale due to the variety and species of fish required but, in Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Julia Child uses the same flavourings and technique to poach chicken – so why not come full circle and use them to poach […]
