In Profile: Sunday Kitchen’s Lebanese Cookery Classes

The signature Sunday Kitchen Fatoush dip - wonderfully silky and moreish, made with roasted eggplant and yogurt . — The signature **Sunday Kitchen** Fatoush dip - wonderfully silky and moreish, made with roasted eggplant and yogurt .

Lebanese cooking classes with Sunday Kitchen are the bomb. Mother and daughter SIVINE + KARIMA weave stories as they conjure up delicious tastes and textures - you will come away with a love of heritage Lebanese cooking and a selection of recipes that are sure to become your families’ favorites. Cooking sessions run from 11am - 3pm and are an intimate experience, catering for up to 15 people. Private group bookings are welcome - minimum 10 people required. Dates and times can also be customised to suit your group. I can’t recommend these cookery classes highly enough. The classes sell out quickly - and when lock-down finishes there’s sure to be a rush, so grab a gift certificate just in case.

As Karima so eloquently put its,

“Sunday Kitchen may have begun in 2018, but somehow it began in my mothers kitchen many years ago, watching her prepare the most beautiful and delicious spreads for Sunday lunch. Sunday mornings became my cherished memories growing up, and mums graceful movements around the kitchen instilled a strong sense of confidence in me. Traditional recipes passed down from my grandmother to my mother and then to me. Fast forward twenty years and still my most cherished moments are cooking with my mum.”

A special recipe request from Karima

When we’re all in lock down, conversations, encouragement and recipe sharing with friends on Instagram has been a godsend to me and I often receive requests for recipes as I share my daily bake in instastories - this one came from Karima (Sunday Kitchen) the minute she saw the coconut macaroons come out of the oven! This recipe uses maple syrup and rice syrup to sweeten these chewy morsels rather than refined sugar.

Chewy Coconut Macaroons

Adapted from the Ayurvedic Cook book by Amadea Morningstar

Recipe makes 2 dozen | Preheat oven 150 C

Ingredients

1/3 cup almond meal
4 egg whites (you can use the egg yolks to make pasta)
1/4 teaspoon cream of tarter
1/3 cop maple syrup
1/3 cup brown rice syrup
1/2 teas baking powder
3 drops rose water
3 cups shredded unsweetened coconut

Instructions

Beat egg whites and cream of tarter in a stainless steel bowl or glass mixing bowl until stiff peaks then whip in the baking powder.
In a separate bowl mix together the maple syrup, rice syrup, almond meal, coconut and rose water.
Gently fold in the egg whites. Drop by the tablespoon onto baking paper. You may need to mold into balls (used a small ice cream scoop).
Bake for 30 minutes or until they are turning brown on the edges and on the bottom. Remove from the baking sheet when warm and let them cool.
They are even more chewy the day after. You can even freeze them - they still stay chewy - I like to eat them this way … straight from the freezer.

Guide to Storing Fruit Without Plastic

We’re all doing our bit and for good reason as the ever-present reality of climate change requires us to. Here are a few ways to live without plastic in your everyday life.

Apples: store on a cool counter or shelf for up to two weeks. For longer storage in a cardboard box in the fridge.
Citrus: store in a cool place, with good airflow, never in an air‐tight container.
Apricots: on a cool counter to room temperature or fridge if fully ripe
Cherries: store in an airtight container. Don’t wash cherries until ready to eat, any added moisture encourages mold.
Berries: Don’t forget, they’re fragile. When storing be careful not to stack too many high, a single layer if possible. A paper bag works well, only wash before you plan on eating them.
Dates
- Dryer dates (like Deglet Noor) are fine stored out on the counter in a bowl or the paper bag they were bought in.
- Moist dates (like Medjool) need a bit of refrigeration if they’re going to be stored over a week, either in cloth or a paper bag ‐ as long as it’s porous to keeping the moisture away from the skin of the dates.
Figs: Don’t like humidity, so, no closed containers. A paper bag works to absorb excess moisture, but a plate works best in the fridge up to a week un‐stacked.
Melons: uncut in a cool dry place, out of the sun up to a couple weeks. Cut melons should be in the fridge, an open container is fine.
Nectarines: (similar to apricots) store in the fridge is okay if ripe, but best taken out a day or two before you plan on eating them so they soften to room temperature.
Peaches (and most stone fruit) : refrigerate only when fully ripe. More firm fruit will ripen on the counter.
Pears: will keep for a few weeks on a cool counter, but fine in a paper bag. To hasten the ripening put an apple in with them.
Persimmon: Their astringency only subsides when they are completely ripe. To hasten the ripening process place in a paper bag with a few apples for a week, check now and then, but don’t stack them as they get very fragile when really ripe.
- Fuyu‐(shorter/pumpkin shaped): store at room temperature.
- Hachiya‐ (longer/pointed end): room temperature until completely mushy.
Pomegranates: keep up to a month stored on a cool counter.
Strawberries: Don’t like to be wet. Do best in a paper bag in the fridge for up to a week. Check the bag for moisture every other day.

with thanks from Zeke (link to http://www.washingtonsgreengrocer.com/)

Makers Journal: “Poppy” Tea Towel in Progress

A little glimpse into my process from the Poppy itself - delicate crepe paper-like petals which unravel slowly to reveal their created perfection - from bud to bloom and beyond. Here you see the creative journey from original sketches to transferring the design to lino, the carving and then the first rough test print and then the final refined design .. which you see in the coming weeks !!.

Sketching then creating a thicker outline to transfer onto the lino cut before cutting the design out - I’m always working back to front and inside out - you cut away the space and leave the lines - so the first test print is always a surprise. Later the design in simplified into one colour to make into the silkscreen.

This Month’s Cake Topping:

Apricot Coconut

This is a wonderful cake topping for a plain butter cake or an almond or a date cake. Also delicious stirred into porridge or yogurt. It can be made a week ahead and stored in an airtight container. I use naturally dried apricots so they are browner in colour than their sulphur dried equivalent.

Ingredients

10 large naturally dried apricot halves - cooked and reduced down (see instructions below) to 1/2 cup mashed apricots

2 tablespoon butter
1/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/2 cup shredded coconut
2 drops orange blossom water (optional)

Instructions

Cook apricots in water to cover until tender then drain and mash and set aside.
In a saucepan combine 2 tabs butter, 1/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar (or rapidura sugar) on low-medium heat and then stir in 1/2 cup of the preprepared mashed apricots.
Cook for 3 minutes, stirring constantly.
Add 1/2 cup shredded coconut and mix together
Spread over cooled cake while topping is still warm.