A MasterChef and Gogglebox star have united to raise funds for Lebanon, with a new cookbook
MasterChef’s Rose Adam and Poh Ling Yeow, food identity Matt Preston and Gogglebox funnyman Jad Nehmetallah are just some of the people who’ve helped create a special new cookbook. PLUS RECIPES
Food & Wine
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When news broke of an accidental explosion in Lebanon’s capital of Beirut in August, Rose Adam and her Adelaide-based family were in a state of shock.
The blast, at Beirut’s port, killed more than 178 people, injured more than 6500 and left 300,000 people homeless, while severely damaging the city.
Their hearts aches not only for their family’s homeland and relatives still living there, but also fellow Lebanese-Australians who were feeling the same pain.
“After the explosion, like many Lebanese-Australians, we felt so helpless watching our family members and friends struggle with the aftermath,” says the MasterChef Back to Win star.
“The people of Beirut and Lebanon were already struggling and the explosion made it worse.”
Rose, who first graced our television screens on season seven of MasterChef Australia, and her siblings Haefa and George run popular suburban cafe The Middle Store, which has won a legion of fans for its contemporary brunch and Lebanese food offering.
“We wanted to find a way to combine our love of food, particularly Lebanese food, and our connection with hospitality,” Adam says.
After chatting with her friend, fellow Lebanese-Australian and TV personality, Jad Nehmetallah (Gogglebox Australia), she came up with the idea to create a cookbook to raise funds for relief in Lebanon. “Jad was on board and so Bake for Beirut was born,” she says.
Bake for Beirut features Lebanese-inspired recipes by chefs from across Australia. But it’s not all about baking. Sure, you’ll find two versions of baklava and Matt Preston’s orange blossom pavlova, but also savoury dishes such as chiche barak (lamb and pine nut dumplings in yoghurt), ras el hanuot (lamb shoulder with dates and raisins) and fish fatteh.
Chefs on board include Shane Delia, Warren Mendes and Karena Armstrong — even Rose’s own mum, Samira, has contributed.
Rose also got pal and fellow MasterChef favourite, Poh Ling Yeow, to create the artwork for the e-book’s cover, while MasterChef judge Melissa Leong did the foreword. The book was designed by Sarah Anesbury of The Creative Union.
All money raised from the book will go to Australian not-for-profit charity Steps of Hope, which is working with organisations in Lebanon to help build and repair the main city.
“This just felt like something we could do to help,” Rose says. “We have the most amazing chefs, cooks and contributors involved.
“It’s exciting.”
Bake for Beirut is on sale for $30. To buy, visit instagram.com/bake_for_beirut
HUMMUS AND PICKLES
HUMMUS
• 2 cups dried chickpeas soaked overnight/alternatively use 2 x 400g cans of cooked chickpeas.
• ⅓ cup of tahini
• 2 cloves of garlic
• Juice of 1-2 lemons (depending on size)
• Salt for seasoning
• Olive oil for dressing
• Paprika for decoration
PICKLES
• 500ml water
• 350ml vinegar
• 2 heaped tbs salt
• 2 heaped tbs sugar
• 2 garlic cloves
• 1L sterilised glass jar
• 500g turnips peeled, cut in wedges
• 1 small beetroot cut in 6 wedges
METHOD
1. Place soaked chickpeas in salted water in a medium pot on high heat and bring to the boil, reduce to a simmer and cook until the chickpeas are soft. It’s the same process if you are using tinned chickpeas but only cook for 25 min until they are very soft. Drain and cool the chickpeas.
2. Place the chickpeas in a food processor with ¼ cup of water to help loosen the chickpeas at start of process. Add the garlic and blitz until the garlic is blended in. Add the tahini and lemon juice and combine until smooth. Season with salt. Place in an air tight container in the fridge.
PICKLES
1. Boil the water, salt and sugar together until the salt and sugar are dissolved, set aside to cool.
2. Place the garlic in the bottom of the jar, alternate the turnips and the beetroot in the jar then fill jar with the vinegar and top with the cooled water mix. Set aside for five days then they are ready to eat.
To serve, place 4 -6 heaped tablespoons in a round bowl, using the back of the spoon make a well in the centre and pour 2 tablespoons of olive oil in the centre, garnish with a dusting of paprika.
Serve a small plate of pickles alongside the hummus with some pita bread, fresh tomato, cucumber and mint.
SERVES 2-3.
SNICKERS BAKLAVA
⅔ cup (230g) golden syrup
• ½ cup (110g) raw caster sugar
• 2 ⅓ cups (350g) unsalted roasted peanuts
• 100g dark (70%) chocolate, coarsely grated
• 100g milk chocolate, coarsely grated
• 24 sheets filo pastry, trimmed
• 150g unsalted butter, melted, cooled
METHOD
1. Preheat oven to 180°C.
2. To make caramel syrup, combine golden syrup, sugar and 100ml water in a saucepan. Bring to a simmer over high heat, stirring until sugar dissolves, then set aside to cool.
3. To make filling, in two batches, place peanuts in a food processor and whiz until finely chopped (take care not to over-process or nuts will become oily). Transfer to a large bowl with dark and milk grated chocolate and combine. Reserve two tbs peanut mixture to garnish.
4. Grease base of 20cm x 30cm slice pan and line with baking paper. Unroll filo on a large chopping board and, using pan as a guide, trim filo size of pan. Discard excess pastry. Cover filo with a clean, slightly damp tea towel to prevent the sheets drying out.
5. Working with one filo sheet at a time, brush with butter, then place in pan. Repeat layering and brushing process with a further five filo sheets to create six layers of filo. Evenly scatter over one-third peanut mixture and smooth with the back of a spoon. Repeat layering process two more times, finishing with six filo sheets.
6. Using your hands, press down gently on final filo layer to compress slightly. Brush well with remaining butter, then place baklava in freezer for 10 minutes to firm up (this will make it easier to score the filo).
7. Remove baklava from freezer and, using a small, sharp knife, score the top filo layers in diamond shapes (to do this, score filo parallel to the short sides of the pan at 5cm intervals, then score at a 45-degree angle to the first cuts at 5cm intervals).
8. Bake for 35 minutes or until golden (cover top with foil if pastry browns too quickly), then remove from oven and pour two-thirds of the cooled syrup over hot baklava in pan. Stand for one hour or until syrup is absorbed and baklava is cool.
9. Using a sharp knife, cut baklava into pieces along score marks. Drizzle remaining syrup and scatter with reserved peanut mixture to serve.
NOTE: Baklava will keep, covered with plastic wrap in the pan, in a cool, dark place for up to a week.
SERVES 10-12.