BROCCOLI PANCAKE WRAPS WITH RED PEPPER SAUCE RHUBARB AND CUSTARD BRULEE
Traditionally handcrafted decorative baskets and trays, woven by women in Iran and founded by musician-in-exile Golazin Ardestani
Pancakes aren’t the lightest of foods, so pairing them with plenty of simply cooked vegetables for lunch or dinner makes sense. Broccoli in anchovy butter is a fine thing, and
not at all fishy – just intensely flavoured. I’ve used purple sprouting broccoli as it’s in season, but you could use imported Tenderstem or Bellaverde broccoli, in which case you
won’t need to peel it.
Serves two to three
INGREDIENTS
6 fat stems of purple sprouting
broccoli
30g butter, plus extra for
greasing
3 tinned anchovies
1 garlic clove, crushed 200g grilled red peppers in oil (drained weight)
1 tbsp olive oil Shake of chilli sauce 6 pancakes (see basic pancake recipe above), size of your choice 150g Boursin-style herby cream cheese
h30g parmesan, grated
METHOD
Peel the broccoli stems with a vegetable peeler if needed, then steam them
until just tender. Cool under the tap, then wrap tightly in a tea towel to dry.
h Melt the butter in a pan and add the anchovies and half the garlic, stirring until the anchovy collapses. Cool slightly, then turn the broccoli in the butter.
h Using a hand blender, purée the peppers, olive oil, the rest of the garlic and a
shake of chilli sauce.
h Spread half of each pancake thickly with herby cream cheese, leaving a 2cm border. Put a stem of broccoli on the cheesy side of a pancake and roll it up. Repeat with the rest of the pancakes.
h Lay them in a buttered
heatproof dish, spoon over the pepper sauce and sprinkle with parmesan.
At this point you can cover them and keep in a cool place for up to
six hours.
h When ready to eat, preheat the oven to 180C/160C fan/Gas 4.
h Bake the pancakes for about 20-25 minutes until golden and hot through.
If pancakes have a fault, it’s that they can be a bit soft,
but a crisp sugar glaze gives just the right note of texture. TikTok and Reels are full of videos of tortillas being folded in quarters, over a variety of fillings. I’ve done the same thing with pancakes here, which
gives a layered pastry effect, but if it’s too much faff just pile all the filling
in together.
Serves four
INGREDIENTS
400g rhubarb 150g caster sugar Pared strip of lemon zest
hMETHOD
Preheat the oven to 150C/130C fan/Gas 2.
h Slice the rhubarb into 3cm lengths and lay in an ovenproof dish in a fairly tight single layer. Scatter over half the sugar and tuck in the lemon zest. Cover tightly with foil.
h Bake the rhubarb for 15-20 minutes, until it is
almost (but not quite) cooked through. Take the
dish out of the oven, remove the cover and leave to cool. The rhubarb will finish cooking as it cools.
h Tip the custard into a pan and heat gently. Mix the cornflour with two tablespoons of cold water.
Stir half into the custard and cook until it thickens.
Scrape into a bowl and leave to cool, stirring often
to stop a skin forming. h Lay a pancake flat. Make a cut from the centre to the edge at six o’clock. Spread custard over a quarter of the circle (between six o’clock and nine o’clock), then fold this quarter over.
Spoon rhubarb from 12 o’clock to three o’clock, and
fold the custard-filled quarter over this. Spoon custard on top and fold the last quarter over it. Repeat
with the rest of the pancakes and ingredients. h Transfer the pancakes to
an ovenproof dish and dredge with the rest of the caster sugar. Preheat the grill to very hot. Grill until the sugar is golden and bubbling. Allow to cool slightly before serving.
“Kapu baskets are woven with the leaves of date palm trees (tamam pish) and colourful wool (tamam kamva). The technique, found in the villages of the Khuzestan province, is a traditional art form passed from mothers to daughters for more than 6,000 years.
“I grew up in the ancient city of Isfahan in western Iran, but I left my family in Iran to pursue a career in music in England and the US. I can’t go back, because female solo singers were banned in Iran after the Islamic Revolution in 1980, and face punishment.
“Sharing the craft of Iran’s rural women is a small step towards equality. Zan Artefacts gives them self-confidence, when for so long they’ve been dependent on husbands, fathers and brothers. Zan means ‘woman’ in Farsi, and I want them to know they have a skill, worthy of being shared with the world, and that they are valued and loved. It gives them financial independence and a livelihood, but also hope, meaning and purpose.
“I launched Zan Artefacts in November, and for their work to be part of the V&A’s Epic Iran exhibition – which is open now until September, celebrating the art, design and cultural heritage of Persia – is something I’d only dreamed of.
“It’s difficult to find the women who make them. I have a team of women who go directly to villages to find them: there are no middle men. My sister in Iran is a big part of the chain, and while restrictions on travelling due to the pandemic made logistics difficult, we didn’t let it stop us. Each basket takes between two to four days to be made, and we ensure they receive a fair price. Bringing their art into people’s homes gives me joy and happiness. They’re so colourful – and when everything is dark and grey it’s important to bring colour and energy into our lives, and to connect with natural materials. “With pom-pom topped lids and diamond patterns, every basket and tray is given a feminine name, and each piece tells the story of the artisan who created it: ‘Dokhi’ means little girl, ‘Nanjoon’ means grandmother. The date palm trees they are woven from have been cultivated in Iran since the time of the Achaemenid Empire (founded 550BC).
“I want the world to know the true Iran. I saw the good and the bad, the beauty and the ugliness: every country has a good side and a bad side. Yes, Iran is a country where women are suppressed: a land where we are forbidden to sing publicly, or take the freedom to ride a bicycle for granted. But there are so many other aspects to it – the food, the culture, the nature. It’s not only a dark place, a desert where people always wear black: it’s actually very colourful. The pink salt lake, Maharlu Lake, is magnificent. Isfahan is renowned for roses, so we give pink rosebuds with every basket.
“I use them for storage, and for styling. I like them right in front of my eyes, so that when I wake up and see them, I choose happiness and love. With love, we can do anything in this world: we can conquer, and we can wield its power for change. When I was a child, my mother had many kapus, and kept her sewing kits in them. She was 13 when she was pushed to marry my dad, and made her own bridal dress: it was in her blood to sew, design and create.
“They eventually became lovers, and my mother went from one place to another with her sewing kits, teaching other women to sew. I adore her: she’s my role model. She’s still in Iran, and we speak every day.”