Monday 9 July 2012

Imam Bayildi Recipe

I'd never had Imam Bayildi (or Baildi) before until a recent trip to Budapest took us to one of their best restaurants which happened to be Greek. It's a vegetarian stuffed aubergine recipe originating in Turkey. I had a good geeky laugh over this Turkish dish being made in a Greek gaff - do those guys still hate each other?
Anyway, this is one of those dishes with a story behind it, but no-one really knows the true story - a bit like Eton Mess. Imam Bayildi means 'The Priest Fainted', one theory is that he fainted with sheer delight when he tasted the dish, the other theory is that he fainted due to the amount of olive oil used in the recipe! I'd like to think it was probably both as it's ridiculously tasty and there is a fair bit of oil in it - though I have cut it down.

This is rather substantial so it makes for a good meal between 2 if you have pilaf/any rice or potato side too. It is usually served a room temperature as part of a meal or on a mezze plate; and it stores well in the fridge for a few days thanks to all the oil!

You'll need:

1 medium/large aubergine (eggplant)
1 large onion
2 large cloves or garlic
1 medium chilli
2 tomatoes
A squeeze of tomato puree (approx 1 tbs)
1 bell pepper. Red, yellow or green  - it's up to you.

Olive oil, extra virgin if you've got it.
Paprika - 3 tsp
Cumin - 1 flat tsp
Basil - half tsp
Oregano - half tsp both the basil and oregano are dried you can use fresh too.
Sugar - 1 flat tsp
Salt
Pepper

Oven temp - 175C

Aubergine Prep

First up you need to cut off the stalk and end of the aubergine then slice it down the middle to give you two halves. Next you'll need to scoop out some of the flesh to give you a well along the length of the aubergine or . Don't throw out the flesh though as you can dice it up and add it to the stuffing.
I'm a fan of salting the aubergine, it draws out the bitterness you can find if it's gone a bit old and it will draw out excess moisture which is good for this recipe. For this you'll just need to sprinkle salt along the aubergine flesh and turn them upside down on a chopping board/plate/towel for about 15mins. In the meantime you can get on with making the stuffing.

Veggie Stuffing


Dice the onion and tomatoes, crush or finely chop the garlic and very finely chop the chilli - seeds in or out at your peril.
Pour enough oil to cover the base of the pan and add the herbs and spices, warm them through until the oil starts to bubble on a medium-high heat. Then throw in the herbs and let them infuse into the oil. Don't let the spices burn though, so chuck in the onions and garlic and turn down the heat to medium stirring to coat with spicy oil. Next you can add the diced aubergine flesh you scooped out earlier.
Next you can tip in the pepper, tomatoes and chilli. You can put the sugar and tomato puree in too. If it's all a bit thick and unpleasant, a little bit of water will help loosen it up and lift up the remaining spices off the bottom of the pan. Season well with salt and pepper.
Leave this to simmer and soften for about 5-8mins.

You might want to start warming up your oven now to 175C

Wash the aubergines of their salty covering (you should see some beads of water on the flesh too) and pat dry. Sit them skin side down in a pyrex dish or at least a roasting tin with sides.

Have a taste of the stuffing mix, give it a bit more of whatever you fancy. I like a dash or two of Worcester sauce in mine but it's each to their own. I even know someone who puts ketchup in.

When your stuffing is tasting good just pile it into the aubergine. Drizzle with a little more olive oil on top.

Now you need to pour water into the dish/tray until the floor of it is covered; this is going to generate the steam to cook the aubergine flesh and skin but without losing all the tasty juices. Cover the dish/tray in foil or a lid if you're not a student and can afford such luxuries!

Place this in the middle of the oven for about 50 mins. Then uncover and cook for 10-15mins.



Variations -

Since this is veggie we had it for our Meat-Free Monday meal, but you could add lamb mince for an authentic taste, or beef mince would be nice too.

Top with breadcrumbs when you uncover for a nice crunch.

Serve with some feta cheese and a lovely light salad in the summer. Scrumptious!

Bettys York

 If you're not from Yorkshire you've probably never heard of Bettys - unless you've been to York and seen the humongous queue outside this cafe. I say cafe, it's rather a LOT more than just a humble caf! Floor to ceiling curved glass windows, silver tea sets, white china, grand piano and waitors/waitresses immaculately turned out. It's a little piece of luxury even on a rainy day. This is the place I fell in love with tea.

 Bettys was founded by a Swiss gentleman, Frederic Belmont, in 1919. He was a baker and confectioner through his teens in apprenticeships across Europe after losing both of his parents at a young age. He finally made his way to England (huzzah!), and up to Yorkshire after he lost the address he was supposed to go to and all he could remember was that it sounded like 'Bratwurst', he was heading to Bradford. Extraneous details aside he ended up opening a cafe in York, based upon the Queen Mary cruise liner, which was frequented by the Canadian 'Bomber Boys' (RAF) stationed in and around York during the Second World War. There are some brilliant photos downstairs of the Boys in the cafe!

And so to the food. There are distinct Swiss elements to many of the dishes in the menu: Rostis, lots of Gruyere, bacon. Nom. It's all delicious. There are full breakfast, lunch and dinner menus available all day and the place is open 'til 9pm too. Cream teas and no ordinary cake trolley are also available if you're going for a quick 'in and out'.

I went with the full afternoon tea though i've never managed to finish one (small stomach). Sandwiches, scone with jam and clotted cream and a plate of teeny miniature cakes on top. All served with a pot of Bettys house blend tea. There are 4 quarters of sandwiches: smoked salmon, egg and cress, yorkshire ham and roast chicken, though they are very happy to exchange one if you are allergic to egg or fish with another one. No salmon for me, take the extra ham - it's delicious.

In my opinion, these are the best scones around, they aren't too big nor are they too crumbly. Utterly delicious, you just have to figure out whether you're a cream or jam on first kinda guy/gal!

The small cakes on top were a mini lemon drizzle loaf - they must have adorable teeny loaf tins. A fruit tart with a proper creme patisserie and fresh fruit. A chocolate and coffee mini layer cake, which was beautifully constructed, was just one bite too far for me!

My dining guests (Dad and Mr TF) both had prawn and avocado open sandwiches on toasted sourdough and shared a bowl of chips which I can tell were at least twice fried for extra crispiness! Delcious. All of this plus a large mocha and a french press of Java came to £40. We put each of our debit cards into a hat, gave it a shake and asked the waitress to pull out a card to be the dutiful payor of the bill. Dad 'won', thanks for lunch.

The food is always exceptional here, I have never ever had a single complaint for Bettys and leave a happy customer each time. Bettys has a shop adjacent to the cafe where you can take baked treats, chocolate, cookies and cakes home. They do the best pralines outside of Belgium.  They also have the full arsenal of their coffee and teas which they are happy to grind to your need or seal in separate bags for you to keep fresh until opening the next bag.

Their main craft bakery is in Harrogate and you can order cakes or teatime treats online! Recently they have opened a cookery school aswell so you can learn how to make their signature dishes. Go and have a look and fall in love. http://www.bettys.co.uk/