This week on Cooking the Books, Sami Tamimi, who with Yotam Ottolenghi, is one of the most influential Middle Eastern chefs in the West, talks about Boustany, meaning ‘My Garden’. It’s a love letter to his grandfather’s boustan in the West Bank, but Sami tells us that the book is also part of his mission to put the word Palestinian into the conversation about Middle Eastern food.
Check out my pre-interview post here on Substack on my thoughts about how to tackle such a sensitive subject,
Here he gives us a recipe from the book, and introduces us to two of his siblings and cousins, his mum and his grandmother. That’s little Sami on the right.
Barquq bil Sumac w al Creama: Sumac roast plums with cardamom cream & pistachio
I have often made roast plums and other stone fruit over the years. It’s a simple dessert, yet nothing beats the scent of warm, spice- spiked fruit filling the space around the table after dinner. Double the number of plums and have some of the leftovers for breakfast with yoghurt, or on warm toast spread with labneh or cream cheese.
8 plums (366g)
3 cardamom pods
1 tsp sumac
3 tbsp runny honey
zest of 1⁄2 orange
1 tsp lemon juice
1 tbsp water
300ml double cream
3 tsp honey
1⁄4 tsp ground cardamom
For the candied pistachios
45g caster sugar
1⁄4 tsp ground cinnamon 3 tbsp water
salt
70g pistachios
Preheat the oven to 180°C fan.
Halve and stone the plums, then place cut side up in a roasting tin or ovenproof dish in which they can lie snugly in a single layer.
Crack the cardamom pods, then tip the seeds into a pestle and mortar and grind them to a fine powder. Mix with the sumac, honey, orange zest, lemon juice and water, then drizzle this mixture over the fruit. Bake for about 20 minutes, or until the plums are almost collapsing.
Meanwhile, make the candied pistachios. Line a baking tray with baking parchment, and have it ready next to the stove. Put the sugar, cinnamon, water and 1⁄8 teaspoon of salt into a large sauté pan, on a medium heat. Cook until the sugar has almost dissolved, stirring occasionally. Add the pistachios and continue to cook
for 3–4 minutes, stirring occasionally (to avoid the nuts browning too much), until all the liquid has evaporated and you can see crystallization forming on the nuts. Tip the nuts on to the lined tray, and quickly spread them out to separate them. Leave to cool completely.
Place the cream, honey and ground cardamom in the bowl of a free-standing mixer, with a whisk attachment in place, and whip the cream on a medium speed for about 3 minutes, or until soft peaks form.
When ready to serve, divide the fruit and whipped cream between four plates and add a generous scattering of the candied pistachios.