Courgette, walnut and yogurt mezze

 (serves 4 as a dip)

3 medium sized firm courgettes
60 g walnuts
½ cloves garlic
½ lemon
1 tbsp tahini
3 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp salt
10g flat leaf parsley
2 tbsp Greek yogurt
freshly ground black pepper

Grate the courgettes, add the salt and leave to drain in a colander for 15 or so minutes then give them a good squeeze to extract as much moisture as possible.
Heat a frying pan over a moderate heat and add 2 tbsp of the olive oil.
Fry the courgettes gently for 10 or so minutes or until all the liquid has evaporated and the courgettes have softened.
Add the courgettes to a mixing bowl and leave to cool.
Bash the walnuts roughly in a pestle and mortar.
When the courgettes are cool, add the juice of the lemon, finely chopped or mashed garlic,three-quarters of the walnuts, and the yogurt and tahini (if you want a completely smooth dip, put all the ingredients into a food processor and blend until smooth).
Serve on a plate and garnish with the chopped parsley, remaining walnuts and tablespoon of oil.

 

Baba ghanoush

A great dip, or try just scooping it up with flatbreads. The aubergines are best cooked over naked flames, but a very hot electric grill will suffice. The skins need to blacken to give them that characteristic smoky flavour.



Serves 4 as part of a starter



2 medium aubergines

1 tbsp tahini (heaped)

2 cloves garlic

juice of half a lemon

pinch of ground cumin - optional
pinch of ground pepper - optional

2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil



Prick the aubergines several times with a fork. Either under a very hot grill, over the flame of a gas hob or on a barbeque, cook the aubergines until the skins have blackened and they are soft to the point of collapse. Leave to cool.



Split the aubergines and scrape out the flesh. Crush the garlic in a pestle and mortar with a little coarse salt and mash together with the aubergine flesh, tahini, lemon juice and olive oil. Grind over a little black pepper, taste and add more of any of the flavourings if necessary.