Pinch of Persia
DESCRIBING the pandemic as “one hell of a hurdle”, Sabrina Ghayour says this year has been a real challenge – but the only time she’s come close to tears in lockdown? That would be when she suffered a three-tiered baking mishap.
The British-Iranian cook and author of bestselling Persiana, had whipped up a trio of gooey chocolate sponges, layered and iced the cakes and popped them in the fridge to chill.
“Fifteen minutes later, mum comes home and I went, ‘Oh my god, you’ve got to see this cake, it’s amazing’,” recalls Sabrina. “I opened the door, and I was just like” – she gasps at the memory of the collapsed creation, half of which had fallen into the fridge door. “I just was speechless, which doesn’t happen very often.”
Rather than ditch the chocolatey mess – which was meant to be a birthday surprise for Sabrina’s partner, Stephen – she salvaged what she could, crafted a smaller cake, and promptly shared the funny incident with her nearly 80,000 Instagram followers.
That cake-tastrophe aside, the 44-year-old says she’s been trying to stay positive during lockdown, which she’s spent at her home in Yorkshire with her mother – though there have been times of stress.
“Anyone that says: ‘Covid was fantastic for me, I’m absolutely thriving’, is lying through their teeth. I got a massive chunk of anxiety,” she says, when she was forced to cancel all of her scheduled supper clubs and cooking classes.
“The whole crux of my dinners is not social distancing, it’s intimacy. I’m not a restaurant chef; with supper clubs the whole point of them is gathering together and getting to know people. But I really tried not to focus on that which I couldn’t control, and I just thought, you know, every time I’ve been thrown a curveball in life, I’ve always bounced back.”
Initially, excited about the prospect of luxurious lie-ins, Sabrina was indulging in a few gin and tonics of an evening, but after realising she was starting to feel gloomy the next day she says she quit drinking for a while.
The wine stood up nicely alongside; its flavours of pear, ripe apple and a touch of quince, raced along with a good acidity and a subtle creaminess.
My next pour was
Lieserer Niederberg-Helden Riesling Kabinett, Axel Pauly
(£20.95, philglas-swiggot.com) which hit our palates like a lightning bolt. This fresh dry white wine hails from the Mosel Valley and the southwest facing vineyard includes a slope of 80 degrees. Wow, just think of those sunbasking riesling grapes. Riesling hardly ever disappoints and here it brought the conversation around to the flavours of ripe apples, honey and peach; and a finish and acidity that kept on giving.
Our friends left, full and
“I thought, ‘Wow, this is really messing with me, it’s bumming me out’, so I thought I might nip this in the bud. It was effective.” Home-cooking has been keeping her occupied too. “I’ve cooked every meal since the end of February – with the exception of a few sneaky visits to McDonald’s and now a local pub,” she states.
“I have cooked food from every single corner of the world, from Africa to Mexico to Peru to Burma, Thailand, you name it. “It keeps me busy, mentally stimulated, it keeps me going in the absence of being busy
content, leaving one piece of home-made apple cake behind. On another day, a German pinot noir came into my life. German pinot noir is one of my favourite things. In this case we’re talking
(£10.95, slurp.co.uk), below. I gave it a light chill for 15 minutes before opening and then enjoyed its light-bodied, elegant cherry and red fruit flavours, with a tickle of spice and the gentlest of tannins. Find out more about German wines at winesof germany.co.uk
Villa Wolf Pinot Noir Also in my glass ….
Another pinot noir but this one is from France.
Taste The Difference Pinot Noir
(£11, Sainsbury) is from the elsewhere... And thankfully I’ve got a book coming out, so that will distract me.”
Called Simply: Easy Everyday Dishes, the book is Sabrina’s fifth, promising recipes that are “big on flavour, low on labour” and packed with the Iranianborn cook’s trademark Persian flavours.
“The point about Simply is not that it’s like my ‘easy’ book – my recipes have always been easy,” she says. “I’m known for cooking Middle Eastern food, but if you ask Middle Eastern people, ‘Is she making Middle Eastern food?’, they’ll probably go, ‘No, she isn’t’. I don’t know if it’s East, I don’t know if it’s West, it’s simply Sabrina.”
Recently, Sabrina has been particularly enjoying the simplicity of 10-minute tandoori salmon and tepsi tray kebabs and believes that when it comes to recipes, you’ve got to put the reader first.
“I’ve quickly realised if you’re not cooking it at home, don’t expect the other people to cook it. Trust is a big thing for me, I want to always have the trust of people who buy my books, and their confidence. “It’s a very privileged position to be in, that people think, ‘Oh Sabrina that sounds absolutely disgusting, but because it’s you I’ll give it a go’,” she says, citing bacon and salad cream as a weird but wonderful combination she loves.
“Then they come back and say, ‘Oh my god, you were right’.”
Simply: Easy Everyday Dishes by Sabrina Ghayour, photography by Kris Kirkham, is published by Mitchell Beazley, £26 (octopusbooks.co.uk).
Languedoc in France and is created in the winemaking stable of Laurent Miquel. Pinot noir loves cooler climates and as a reward it delivers delicate notes of red fruits and a little spice.
In warmer climates it can become a little jammy. That doesn’t mean a wine isn’t tasty, it’s just a step away from its signature elegance. Yet where the vines are planted in warmer places, and how they’re nurtured, can make a difference. It has a lovely raspberry character weaving through it, with just a touch of savoury and a slash of spice.
Find Jane on social media and online as One Foot in the Grapes. Email jane@ onefootinthegrapes.co.uk
1. Coarsely grate the courgettes into a bowl. Tip them into a clean tea towel, gather up the sides and squeeze out the liquid from the courgettes.
2. Place in a mixing bowl, add the eggs, flour, baking powder, oregano, cumin and pul biber, season generously with salt and pepper and beat together.
Place a large frying pan over a medium-high heat and drizzle in some vegetable oil. Using a tablespoon measure, roughly fill the scoop with the courgette mixture and without overcrowding add dollops to the pan, then gently flatten. Fry for about one minute until the undersides are browned, then flip over and cook until the other sides have browned. Remove from the pan and repeat with remaining mixture.