The Silk Road Kitchen
Tuesday 26 August 2014
Yotam Ottolenghi is quickly becoming the biggest name in Middle Eastern food, which is hot hot hot. People rave about his cookery books, Plenty and Jerusalem, while his TV programmes with their inspiring use of vegetables and fragrances enticed us in as he languidly dallied around the warm shores of the Mediterranean. For those of you who don't know, Ottolenghi is an Israel-born cookery writer and restaurateur whose father was an Italian-born professor of chemistry and his mother a German-born high school principal - so there are varied culinary influences in his background.
Like many others, he didn't enter into the food world until he was 30, studying first at Tel Aviv University and also working as a sub-editor on the news desk of Haaretz, the oldest daily newspaper in Israel. Moving to Amsterdam and then on to London, he took a six-month course at the Cordon Bleu cookery school there. On leaving, he achieved a job as a pastry chef in the high-end restaurants Kensington Place and Launceston Place, before becoming head pastry chef at Baker & Spice in Chelsea. It was here he met Sami Tamimi, a Palestinian from East Jerusalem, and it was a culinary match made in heaven. They became firm friends, have written books together and, with a group of partners, opened their first Ottolenghi deli eatery in 2002 in trendy Notting Hill, going on to now have four branches in London including NOPI in Soho.
I adore Middle Eastern food, with all its fragrant influences and blends of grains and fruits, dates and almonds, cheeses and vine leaves, herbs and spices but, of course, I want more of it in Dublin. For me, the big part of any Middle Eastern meal is their mezze - a selection of small portions of various dishes -and then their desserts such as baklava, which is layers of fine fine filo pastry filled with honey and nuts.
So, I come to Abraham Phelan, who has been doing Middle Eastern and Mediterranean food here for many years in his very popular Silk Road Cafe, located in the Chester Beatty Library in the grounds of Dublin Castle. People arrive daily for Abraham's specialities, including aubergine stuffed with lamb, hummus, falafel, Lebanese pancakes, vegetable moussaka and chicken Tajien, the recipes for which he has generously posted on his website. Phelan, who has over 40 years' experience in cooking Middle Eastern and Mediterranean food, has just opened his new Silk Road Cookery School at the KCR Industrial Estate in Kimmage, where they have also created a food hall and a wonderful kitchen.
With over 40 cookery courses to choose from, designed to suit beginners as well as experienced home cooks, their first cookery class kicks off on Tuesday, with a Middle Eastern Mezze Session. Most of the classes last for two and a half hours and cost €65 but, coming towards Christmas, they are running longer Moroccan and Middle-Eastern Feast sessions at €120. They also have a series of children's classes. The maximum number in each class is 8-10 participants, who will gather around their specially crafted table, made by a carpenter who also has a business in the KCR estate.
"Abraham will be the main teacher here", said manager Rikke Sorensen Callaghan, originally from Denmark, adding, "I will be teaching as well - on the sweeter cake side. Abraham is more on the savoury side and we will have guest teachers as well." They are also very conscious of gluten-free demands from their customers in the cafe and have taken note of this element in their cookery courses. So if you want to know your tabbouleh from your fattoush, you know where to go - and you get to eat the food you cook.
By the way, at the Silk Road Cafe they do a rather novel afternoon tea with a twist. It is influenced by the wonders of the collection at the Chester Beatty Library. There are no finger sandwiches or scones but sweet and savoury treats from more than 15 countries. You get to choose five savoury and five sweet options from their menu, so think of things like falafel, lamb or vegetarian samosas, fish 'n' chip cones, tempura prawns, blini with smoked salmon topped with creme fraiche and dill, followed maybe by madgooga date truffles from Iraq, French macaroons, Castella-Kasutera cake (a Portuguese- Japanese honey cake) and, of course, baklava. The cost is €23 per person and you must book your afternoon tea one week in advance.
silkroadkitchen.ie
Yotam Ottolenghi is quickly becoming the biggest name in Middle Eastern food, which is hot hot hot. People rave about his cookery books, Plenty and Jerusalem, while his TV programmes with their inspiring use of vegetables and fragrances enticed us in as he languidly dallied around the warm shores of the Mediterranean. For those of you who don't know, Ottolenghi is an Israel-born cookery writer and restaurateur whose father was an Italian-born professor of chemistry and his mother a German-born high school principal - so there are varied culinary influences in his background.
Like many others, he didn't enter into the food world until he was 30, studying first at Tel Aviv University and also working as a sub-editor on the news desk of Haaretz, the oldest daily newspaper in Israel. Moving to Amsterdam and then on to London, he took a six-month course at the Cordon Bleu cookery school there. On leaving, he achieved a job as a pastry chef in the high-end restaurants Kensington Place and Launceston Place, before becoming head pastry chef at Baker & Spice in Chelsea. It was here he met Sami Tamimi, a Palestinian from East Jerusalem, and it was a culinary match made in heaven. They became firm friends, have written books together and, with a group of partners, opened their first Ottolenghi deli eatery in 2002 in trendy Notting Hill, going on to now have four branches in London including NOPI in Soho.
I adore Middle Eastern food, with all its fragrant influences and blends of grains and fruits, dates and almonds, cheeses and vine leaves, herbs and spices but, of course, I want more of it in Dublin. For me, the big part of any Middle Eastern meal is their mezze - a selection of small portions of various dishes -and then their desserts such as baklava, which is layers of fine fine filo pastry filled with honey and nuts.
So, I come to Abraham Phelan, who has been doing Middle Eastern and Mediterranean food here for many years in his very popular Silk Road Cafe, located in the Chester Beatty Library in the grounds of Dublin Castle. People arrive daily for Abraham's specialities, including aubergine stuffed with lamb, hummus, falafel, Lebanese pancakes, vegetable moussaka and chicken Tajien, the recipes for which he has generously posted on his website. Phelan, who has over 40 years' experience in cooking Middle Eastern and Mediterranean food, has just opened his new Silk Road Cookery School at the KCR Industrial Estate in Kimmage, where they have also created a food hall and a wonderful kitchen.
With over 40 cookery courses to choose from, designed to suit beginners as well as experienced home cooks, their first cookery class kicks off on Tuesday, with a Middle Eastern Mezze Session. Most of the classes last for two and a half hours and cost €65 but, coming towards Christmas, they are running longer Moroccan and Middle-Eastern Feast sessions at €120. They also have a series of children's classes. The maximum number in each class is 8-10 participants, who will gather around their specially crafted table, made by a carpenter who also has a business in the KCR estate.
"Abraham will be the main teacher here", said manager Rikke Sorensen Callaghan, originally from Denmark, adding, "I will be teaching as well - on the sweeter cake side. Abraham is more on the savoury side and we will have guest teachers as well." They are also very conscious of gluten-free demands from their customers in the cafe and have taken note of this element in their cookery courses. So if you want to know your tabbouleh from your fattoush, you know where to go - and you get to eat the food you cook.
By the way, at the Silk Road Cafe they do a rather novel afternoon tea with a twist. It is influenced by the wonders of the collection at the Chester Beatty Library. There are no finger sandwiches or scones but sweet and savoury treats from more than 15 countries. You get to choose five savoury and five sweet options from their menu, so think of things like falafel, lamb or vegetarian samosas, fish 'n' chip cones, tempura prawns, blini with smoked salmon topped with creme fraiche and dill, followed maybe by madgooga date truffles from Iraq, French macaroons, Castella-Kasutera cake (a Portuguese- Japanese honey cake) and, of course, baklava. The cost is €23 per person and you must book your afternoon tea one week in advance.
silkroadkitchen.ie
- See more at: http://www.independent.ie/life/food-drink/irish-life-the-silk-road-and-the-kingdom-30531702.html#sthash.mOppUdfA.dpuf