Arto der haroutunian recipes: leeks with olive oil (bras yahni, broad beans with carrots (baklali havuci)

leeks with olive oil (bras yahni)

Broad beans and carrots (baklali havuci)

So, as I've mentioned before, I love my Arto der Haroutunian cookbook.  I hadn't cooked anything from it for a while so I decided to try out a couple of new recipes from it.  Both carefully selected based on ingredients that I already had.

Well, the leeks in olive oil recipe was also selected because it involves 8-10 whole peppercorns and I have a lot of respect for recipes that involve whole peppercorns.  It was like an Armenian version of risotto or paella, this, though simpler than either.   Basically, you fry an onion (or in my case a few onions as I didn't have enough leeks), and then some leeks (1 1/2 lbs) for a while in plenty of olive oil.  Then stir in a couple of chopped tomatoes, salt, whole peppercorns, rice (not too much, just 2-3 handfuls) and (according to Arto) a 1/4 of a pint of water and simmer with the lid on for 20-30 minutes.

Frying  stuff for bras yahni

Frying  stuff for bras yahni

That didn't look like nearly water to me when I added it for the quantity of rice so I kept a fairly close eye on it and ended up adding more like a pint of water in total and it didn't (see photo) end up particularly liquidy.  You then add some lemon juice and sumac to finish.  I really liked it, think I'll be making again. It reminds me how good Middle Eastern food can be - the leeks ad lemon come through really strongly but it remains a comforting rice dish at heart.

leeks with olive oil (bras yahni)

The main reason that I decided to make the broad beans with carrots (baklali havuci) to go with it (other than having broad beans and carrots to use up) was the fantastically incomprehensible Jewish proverb that Arto quotes just before it:  "One has no appetite for eating - the other has no eating for his appetite."  What?!  Seriously, if anyone reading understands this, please do explain!

Anyway.  One of the things that's annoying about cooking is that, while sometimes there are fiddly things that are not worth doing, there are some fiddly things that absolutely are worth doing.  Like peeling broad beans. Now I'm pretty speedy in the kitchen with things like this but even I find this tedious.  And yet it is definitely worth it.

10 mins of effort:  peeled broad beans

Once you've peeled the broad beans, this is pretty easy:  put broad beans in a saucepan with a chopped onion and a little water (250 ml), cook for 30 mins.  Stir in chopped carrots, chopped mint, chopped garlic, salt/black pepper/sugar/olive oil to taste.  It's not wildly exciting, it has to be said, certainly not compared with the proverb but a nice side dish.

Broad beans and carrots (baklali havuci)

Carrot, spinach and cumin muffins - Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall

I bought a couple of muffin tins a while ago and I have been feeling guilty about them ever since.  I love buying things for the kitchen which is already stuffed with things - crockery of various sorts, stockpiles of things like spices and pulses and things I bought for a particular recipe and then pushed to the back of a cupboard - and do try to restrain myself from buying more.  So, having only used the muffin tins a couple of times has been weighing on my conscience. 

So, I decided to bake some savoury muffins for a party that we had recently.  I like Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's recipes so decided to try his one for carrot, spinach and cumin muffins.  The recipe can be found here (need to scroll as it's the last one in the article).  They came out beautifully - I particularly liked the slightly sour tang from the natural yoghurt - and were a big hit at the party.  It was, however, crucial to monitor them carefully in the last few minutes they were in the oven as they went from undercooked to cooked in only a couple of minutes.