Jerusalem!

Chermoula baked aubergines topped with seasoned herby bulgar wheat, almonds and olives
and dollop of yogurt

Recently a client of mine lent me a cook book, as she wants me to interpret some of the recipes and teach them to her staff. The book is called Jerusalem by Yotam Ottolenghi and Sami Tamimi. It is a feast for the eyes with a gorgeous narrative and photographs which leave you grovelling. 

As with many international recipes books you can't readily get all the ingredients in South Africa. I will need to find suitable substitutions as well as simplifying the language for the non first language English speakers I will be teaching. 

So last night I delved into a few of the recipes, as I had guests coming for dinner. The result was fantastic. Naturally all the dishes were vegetarian to accommodate my husband, but the meat was not missed at all by the rest of my guests. 

Roasted butternut and red onion topped with Za'atar and Tahini sauce

I also baked a rosemary and olive flat bread, to go with the meal (which was not from this book) but I will blog about that on another occasion.

Julienne beetroot and carrot with red onion, almonds and dates on a bed of rocket - this is a combination of two recipes with a few adaptations according to what I could find at Pick n Pay