The Middle East has never been so far away. Thanks to cooks such as Sabrina Ghayour, Yotam Ottolenghi and Sami Tamimi we get a glimpse of the fabulous mixture of flavors. Sharing food has become more popular recently but in certain parts of the world it has never been different.What will docV serve tonight? Cod fish cookies, feta pastry cigars, a smoked eggplant salad and the more than fabulous salad with dates, marinated onions and baby spinach.Salt cod fritters can be turned into a low fat version. How? I bought 300 grams of already desalted cod. Remove the bones, rinse once more, chop in cubes and put in a small blender. Add 200 grams of pre-boiled potatoes, 2 large table spoons of a mixture of chopped fresh herbs ( chives, mint, wild fennel, parsley), 1 chopped chili, 4 chopped garlic cloves, 3 cm of chopped fresh ginger, the zeste of 1 lime and 1 teaspoon of turmeric. Blend. Add 1 egg, 1 table spoon of flour and 1 teaspoon of baking powder. Mix carefully. Taste, add pepper and salt if necessary. Oil your hands and create 8 fish cookies. Put on baking paper. Store in the fridge.
Bake in the oven at 180° for 30 minutes. Serve with lime wedges.
For the eggplant salad, roast the eggplant in the oven. First, remove the stem of 2 medium sized eggplants. Cut a few incisions in the eggplants. Spread 4 sliced garlic cloves in the incisions. Brush olive oil on the eggplant and put on baking paper. Bake in the oven at 240° for 40 minutes. Turn halfway. Cool down in the oven. Remove the skin from the eggplants. Drain the flesh. Chop. Heat a small pan with a little drizzle of olive oil. Fry 1 sliced spring onion, 1 chopped chili and 1 table spoon of cumin seeds. Stir. Add the eggplant. Bake and stir. Add 1 table spoon of rose harissa. Taste, add pepper and salt. Finish with 20 grams of roasted wall nuts.
Crumble 200 grams of feta cheese. Mix with a handful of chopped fresh basil. Add 1 table spoon of low fat Greek yogurt and black pepper. Create small cigars with the filo pastry. Close them with some olive oil. Finish with nigella seeds. Bake in the oven at 180° for 20 minutes.
Last but not least, the best salad ever and always in another version( you agree, daddy Michel?). Slice 1 onion ( normally a red one but mine were finished). Mix with 2 table spoons of red wine vinegar to soften the flavor. Chop 3 medjoul dates. Mix with the onions. Add 1 table spoon of olive oil and 100 grams of baby spinach. Mix.
Serve all together and enjoy your evening.❣
Doc V's Healthy Kitchen 