Happy Birthday Moro

Last weekend I read an article in the Sunday Times about fashion bloggers and how they get paid consultancy gigs, the chance to design their own fashion label, business class flights to cover fashion shows. But let's say you were offered all this OR these three beautiful cookbooks from the gorgeous London restaurant, Moro? It's a no-brainer right? You'd go with the cookbooks every time. Why? Because they're BRILLIANT, that's why.

I love all food, but I particularly love food that can be shared easily and food using loads of gorgeous spices. I cook a lot of Moroccan and Turkish inspired food, so when I discovered not only Moro the restaurant, but the cookbook, I was hooked. Moro food is a natural, delicious mix of Spanish, North African and East Mediterranean cuisines, and most importantly, it's divine.

Last year for my birthday I went to Moro and was given Moro: The Cookbook. Since then I've used it constantly, especially for supper clubs - it complements perfectly the two Ottolenghi books, my Claudia Roden "Arabesque" book, and a couple of things I picked up at a cooking class in Marrakech.

It's difficult to narrow it down but I'd say my number one favourite Moro recipe ... my top two recipes from the Moro book ... without a doubt the best 3 recipes ... my absolute 4 Moro dishes ... undoubtedly the best 5 ... my 6 most loved and cooked recipes from Moro: The Cookbook are these:

1. Flatbreads - I would have made these at least 20 times over the past year. They are divine. Sprinkled generously with dukkah and sea salt, you can't go wrong. It's almost insulting how much people rave about these at the expense of other food I've cooked that took far longer to prepare!

2. Pistachio sauce - I've served it with cod or salmon, stirred through couscous, with roast lamb, with olive oil crackers on a cheese platter. Oh and I've eaten it straight from the container with a spoon. Need I say more?

3. Aubergine and red pepper salad with caramelised butter and yoghurt. Yes, you read that correctly, CARAMELISED BUTTER. Do you even need to read the rest of this? I've made this plenty of times and it's such a pretty dish, either as part of a feast or simply slathered on flatbreads. Did I mention the caramelised butter?

4. Beetroot dip - this recipe actually comes from the Moro East book. It's such a gorgeously vibrant colour and is truly divine. I served it recently at a brunch supper club with twice baked goats cheese souffles and garlicky white beans (below) - may sound strange, but the beetroot works wonderfully with the goats cheese.





5. Lamb kibbeh cooked in yoghurt - If I were allowed a table heaving with dishes for my last meal, this would be one of them. This is partly because it takes a while to make, but mainly because it's delicious. You have to make lamb meatballs in football shapes and they are then stuffed with a gorgeous lamb filling that has spices and pine nuts and herbs. The lamb footballs then cook in yoghurt. I love them and so have our supper club guests. 

6. Walnut, lemon & cardamom cake - I wrote about this here when I made it. It's good. It's really good. Admittedly the people at my work will hoover up anything, but they really did enjoy this cake when I took it in for morning tea.

So, why the gushing post? Well, it's 10 years since the first publication of Moro: The Cookbook. To celebrate, the publishers are re-issuing all three of the books (the other two are Casa Moro and Moro East, which have previously only been available in hard cover) in paperback and with these quite exquisite new covers. Truly, they are gorgeous.

In the upcoming weeks I'll be cooking from Casa Moro and Moro East as these are new to me. I'll of course let you know what further deliciousness I uncover.

The books are available from 4 August here on Amazon (check to make sure you've got the ones with 4.8.2011 publication date), and can be shipped anywhere (yes you can even have them delivered to Sydney!). BUT, it can't have escaped your notice that I now have TWO copies of Moro: The Cookbook. So, as much as it pains me, because this re-issued addition is so lovely, I'd like to share the love a little and give it away. If you'd like to win the special birthday edition of Moro: The Cookbook, leave a comment with your email address and tell me which of my top 6 recipes from the Moro book you'd make first. But do it quickly before I change my mind! I'll pick a winner at random on Monday 1 August and send the book to you, where ever in the world you are.

Good luck and happy birthday to the Moro cookbook!

Great British Chefs

This is a little tale about my wonderful supper club guests and the great foodie things they get up to.

Last year at our gingerbread supper club I met this handsome chap and his lovely partner. This is Ollie. Out of 36 people who made gingerbread houses at our place, only two couples decided to make it a team effort and build one house between them. Ollie and Shehani were one of those couples, and you have to agree the results were impressive. These two had planned the whole thing - they worked as a team, combining creative flare with determination to get the job done. Obviously, at that stage, I could see Ollie's potential and knew he was capable of even bigger and better things than a mere house made of biscuit (I now say in retrospect).

Anyway, I was right, and now it gives me great pleasure to introduce Ollie's next fabulous project! He has created a fabulous new iPad  and iPod application - it's called Great British Chefs. Ollie and his team have travelled all over the UK to convince relatively unknown (i.e. the ones who actually cook day in/day out in the kitchen) Michelin starred chefs to contribute recipes to the app.

Once Ollie had the recipes, not only me, but all the fabulous peeps on my supper club mailing list were given the chance to test the Michelin recipes. The dishes are quite challenging, and the point really isn't how to cook a quick mid-week meal, so I wasn't sure how many people would take up the challenge. I shouldn't have worried. Within minutes of me inviting people to approach Ollie, I received an email from him - loads of people had responded with boundless enthusiasm! I was so proud.

(my favourite recipe of the 3 I tested)

So, after a lot of hard work from Ollie and his team, the Great British Chefs app is here!

The app has recipes from 12 chefs with 15 Michelin stars between them, including some great regional chefs and Londoners Tom Aikens, Nuno Mendes, Marcus Wareing and Pascal Aussignac. They are at your fingertips to connect you with the world of professional, Michelin starred cooking and to demonstrate how to create 180 brand new recipes that you won't find in any cookbook (I can't wait to try the 177 I haven't seen!).

The app is now available in the Apple App Store from Thursday July 14th for £4.99. The Great British Chefs website is great to explore too, with some videos from the chefs and recipes, so check it out.

Happy cooking!