Malouf: New Middle Eastern Food is the sixth cookbook from Greg and Lucy Malouf, former spouses who still work together, drawing from their experiences and travels to create cookbooks that combine classic and contemporary recipes. Raised in a Lebanese-Australian family, Greg Malouf grew up around the exciting flavors of the Middle East. His goal as a chef was not necessarily to reinvent the classics, but to reinterpret them. And that’s exactly what this book does. With ingredients and techniques from the Middle East, North Africa and the Eastern Mediterranean, the recipes in this book marry the essence of the Middle East with the mentality of the West.
The recipes in this book are relatively easy to follow. The biggest obstacle was sourcing the ingredients, particularly the produce. I chose the Feta-Creamed Spinach because the recipe called for ingredients that I usually keep in my kitchen every day. My only two hurdles were the preserved lemons and the Turkish chili flakes. After a quick Internet search, I discovered that the chili flakes can be substituted with standard crushed red pepper – check!
The preserved lemons took a little more detective work. This silky, salty, sweet-and-sour ingredient is pretty much essential in Moroccan cooking. There is a recipe in the book, but it requires of month of fermentation. Ain’t nobody got time for that! After calling a couple specialty stores and quite a few online searches, I finally found them at Williams-Sonoma for about $15.
The recipe was straightforward and only took about 20 minutes. While waiting for the water to boil, I prepped all of my ingredients. The recipe calls for blanching the spinach, which gives it a beautiful, bright green color.
After you’ve blanched the spinach, start your sauce. Admittedly, while I was waiting for my cream and dijon to boil, I got carried away chopping my spinach, and my cream curdled. However, it was a quick fix, and I was back on track in a matter of minutes. After your base is reduced, add the other ingredients. Note: The recipe calls for salt and pepper. The lemons have more than enough saltiness to carry the recipe, so use sparingly.
After all the flavors have melded into a citrusy, cheesy utopia, press through a fine sieve to separate the spinach-feta balls from the sauce. Once separated, reduce the sauce on the stove to thicken (I added extra cheese because that’s just what I do.) Using a dessert spoon (or as I call it, a spoon) scoop out golf ball-sized portions and drizzle with the sauce and some olive oil to finish.
When cooking a recipe, I will undoubtedly screw up one step every time. My mistake tonight was using three handfuls of spinach—not three bunches, as the recipe called for. It still turned out delicious. The flavors amalgamated beautifully, beginning with the tang of the Dijon, then hitting you with the brininess of the feta and the salty lemons, and following up with just a little bit of heat from the chili.
Feta-Creamed Spinach 4 servings
3 bunches spinach, leaves only
1/3 cup (100 ml.) cream, 35 percent fat
1 Tbsp. Dijon mustard
1 Tbsp. grated Parmesan
¼ preserved lemon, rind only, finely diced
Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
½ tsp. red Turkish chili flakes
3 oz. (80 g.) feta, crumbled
2 Tbsp. (30 ml.) olive oil
• Blanch small batches of the spinach leaves in plenty of boiling, salted water for 10 seconds.
• Refresh in cold water and then squeeze out as much moisture as possible. Loosen the clumps of spinach and chop finely.
• Combine the cream and mustard in a small saucepan and bring to a boil.
• Lower the heat and simmer until reduced by half, then add the Parmesan, preserved lemon and chopped spinach.
• Season with salt and pepper and stir in the chili flakes. Add the feta and cook over a high heat until the cheese begins to soften.
• Tip into a fine sieve and use the back of a spoon to gently press the creamy liquid back into the saucepan. Heat gently for a few minutes.
• Use dessert spoons to form the spinach into golf-ball sized balls and arrange on a warm serving dish.
• Pour the creamy sauce over and drizzle with olive oil.
Reprinted with permission from Hardie Grant Books What’s the trickiest ingredient you’ve ever had to track down? What was it for and where did you find it? Tell us about it in the comments section below for a chance to win a copy of Malouf by Greg and Lucy Malouf. We’ll announce the winner in next week’s By the Book column. And now, we’d like to congratulate Lisa, whose comment on last week’s By the Book has won a copy of Balaboosta by Einat Admony. Lisa, keep an eye out for an email from the Sauce crew.
This article appears in October 2013.