Christopher Kimball’s Milk Street Television

- This week on Milk Street, we go to London to find some of the very best Middle Eastern restaurant cooking outside of the Middle East.

We find a fresh take on Jerusalem mixed grill, then we roast cauliflower with spiced tahini and garlic chili oil.

We finish with Honey & Co.'s Levantine-inspired dessert, almond coconut cake with cherries and pistachios.

So please stay tuned as we explore the very best Middle Eastern cooking in London.

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- That meal.

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- What's so interesting about the food world today is the world's getting really small.

If you want great Neapolitan pizza, of course you can go to New York-- you can also go to Tokyo.

If you want some really good flatbread, you can go to Afghanistan, also get great dumplings.

And, if you want great Middle Eastern food, you could actually go to London.

There are lots of great restaurants in London that make fabulous Middle Eastern food.

We went to a bunch of places, The Barbary, The Palomar, the Berber & Q Shawarma, and Honey & Co., one of our favorites, and this is owned by Sarit Packer and Itamar Srulovich.

Sarit grew up in northern Israel, Itamar in Jerusalem.

And they met when they both worked for Ottolenghi in London, the famous restaurateur.

So we learned lots of great recipes during our stay and three of them in particular we decided to bring back to Milk Street.

The first one is a Jerusalem mixed grill made with chicken meat, traditionally heart, spleen, liver, almost everything else, a little lamb, maybe.

Ours is just based on chicken meat, and then roasted cauliflower, which a lot of people make now.

This one is wonderful.

It's spiced tahini finished with grated tomatoes and a garlic chili oil.

And, finally, a cake from Sarit at Honey & Co, based upon the markets in Israel, which have a lot of fruits and nuts and sweets.

This is an almond coconut cake with cherries and pistachio.

So let's get cooking and let's start with the Jerusalem mixed grill.

- So Jerusalem mixed grill.

Usually a lot of chicken parts, we're going to use thighs, griddled-- or grilled, we'll use the skillet.

But what we really loved about the recipe, even though we're not in Jerusalem, is the spice mix, which is really, that was our take away.

- That's right, Chris.

So this is typically street food in Jerusalem.

We had it at a restaurant in London.

And what's great about this is that it has these really great condiments, always some sort of a pickled element on top.

So we're gonna pickle some of our onion, we're gonna use some in the mix and then we're gonna pickle the rest of it.

So if you could slice up that onion, - You want to give me a little more direction or... is this half an onion?

- I always see people try to slice an onion and, you know, they think it means the hamburger circle?

You don't have to do that, it's so much easier to do it this way.

- Am I doing it right?

- You're doing it perfectly right.

You don't have to take an unwieldy onion and try and make slices out of it.

So much easier that way, am I right?

- Lynn, do you get irritated watching other people cook?

- (laughs) I generally don't, but when people do something that I'm like, it could be so much easier.

I want to make it easier-- so while you're doing that, I'm gonna put together a pickling liquid, I've got some white vinegar in here, going to add some sugar, some salt.

- So this is a basic pickling recipe... - Yes.

- ...you could do anytime.

- Totally.

Just going to mix this together just until the sugar and salt kind of dissolve.

And I think a quick pickle is a great condiment to have on a lot of things.

Adds a lot of brightness, a little bit of crunch.

All right, so if you can take about a cup of that and put that in there, don't need to measure or anything, and we're just gonna let that sit and pickle while we make the rest of our dish.

- Okay.

- So another great condiment on this is a tahini sauce.

So I've got some tahini in the bowl.

I'm going to add some lemon juice to that and this is going to... (chuckling): probably seize up when you do this.

You'll see, it gets really, really thick, almost like a paste and you're gonna freak out and think you've done something wrong.

(laughs) It does this when you mix it with liquid.

But once you add some more liquid-- I've got some water here-- it's going to loosen up and become nice and creamy.

And you're like, "I made a mistake!"

You didn't.

Just keep going, trust us.

- I never say I made a mistake.

- (laughs) That's right, I forgot about that.

- Well, that looks creamy.

- See?

- That was a quick fix.

I'm going to add just a little bit of salt and pepper.

- Tahini sauce, lemon juice.

- Tahini sauce with lemon, and now we can talk about the chicken.

We stuck pretty simple and just went with boneless, skinless chicken thighs.

But the real star here is this spice blend, coriander, allspice, turmeric, cinnamon, and salt and pepper.

So once I add that spice blend to the oil, you can start to smell those spices, it smells really great.

Add in the chicken, and then the onion-- look at you!

- Yeah, really just helping out here.

- Little helper!

Toss this together and that's it.

So I'm gonna put a little bit of oil on our grill.

(laughs) - Griddle, yes.

- So it's called a grill, what they typically would use is a flat top griddle.

So the next best thing is a skillet.

We're using a nonstick skillet and now we can add the chicken and the onions.

- That looks like a lot of food in the pan-- is that okay?

- That's okay, we're gonna let it sit.

We want to get some really nice color on that before we move it around.

Ten to 12 minutes to finish cooking, just until the chicken is cooked through.

- So this looks great.

You doubted that we would get the same color since we're not using a griddle.

But look how great that looks - You know, in all the years we've worked together, you've never missed an opportunity to tell the audience when I was wrong.

- (giggles) - There is consistency.

- I mean it happens so rarely.

- Uh-huh.

That does, it does smell great, by the way.

- You can smell all of those spices and the onion, too.

I'm gonna add a little bit of lemon juice here.

- I have to say, it is amazing in like 15 minutes in a skillet, you get this.

- This is my Monday night meal because it's so quick to put together.

I generally have everything in the house other than, you know, I can pick up chicken and an onion and I'm good to go.

So I'm gonna give it a little bit of salt and pepper.

I do not do this part at home.

Put it on a nice platter.

- The family just gathers around the skillet it with a fork and you just eat it?

- Basically.

- Basically.

- Give it a little drizzle of the tahini sauce.

- Mmm.

I'm very generous with my tahini sauce.

Feel free to add more.

And then some of these pickled onions that you so kindly made for us.

- Well, pickled onions, it takes 15 minutes, and they're great on sandwiches, they're great with... almost anything.

- And they're still crunchy but they are softened a little bit, not just softened texture, but softened flavor, too, its not as pungent.

So we're going to serve this street food-style inside of a pita.

If you would give us some of those warm pitas.

- Are we serving this in the pitas?

- In the pita.

- Oh.

- Feel free to add more sauce and pickle.

- I will.

But this, I mean-- - Try to eat this without making a mess.

- We should just point out that it smells great, but it also just looks great too.

- I know and it's delicious.

- Mmm.

You know, one of the great things is when you find a recipe where you get massive flavor development in minutes, and this is one of them.

- This is definitely it.

- Also, when you use chicken thighs, they don't dry out.

So even if you overcooked it in the skillet a little bit, unlike chicken breast that can get dry quickly.

- I pretty much exclusively use chicken thighs these days.

- So one of the great takeaways from this recipe is the use of baking spices-- cinnamon and allspice-- with savory spices like cardamom, or coriander, turmeric, or even cumin, and that's true all over the Middle East.

It's true also in Ethiopia, there's a lot of places in the world they combine them, whereas we think of them as separate, right?

So now in London-- which was not known for its creativity in the kitchen-- with all this great Middle Eastern food, you can have that combination, which, it really is a game changer because it makes you think very differently about spicing and about flavors and about combinations of flavors.

- Right.

- So, we always like teaching moments, don't we do?

- We do.

- Yeah, it's one of those moments.

- That's the point.

- So Jerusalem-style mixed grill chicken, a little different than what we started with.

But the flavors are consistent and you do it in a nonstick skillet.

It takes about 15 minutes and serve it with some pickled onions and the tahini sauce.

It's a great lesson in mixing textures and flavors and spices to get something fabulous that you eat every Monday night now.

- (chuckling): I know.

- At home in just minutes.

- At Milk Street, we've done a number of different kinds of whole roasted cauliflower dishes but never one with such a riot of contrasts.

This recipe is inspired by two Middle Eastern-style whole roasted cauliflower recipes that we tasted at two different restaurants in London, the Berber & Q. Shawarma and The Barbary-- let's get started with our cauliflower.

We're going to use a broiler- proof lined baking tray.

I've got foil that's brushed lightly with oil.

And on this I've placed my trimmed, whole cauliflower head.

I'm gonna bring up the sides... And then in goes two tablespoons of water.

I'm going to crimp the tops and prepare this for the oven.

So this is going to steam roast in the oven for 40 to 50 minutes at 475 degrees Fahrenheit.

And when it's done, I will test for doneness using a skewer simply inserted into the side of the foil.

So my cauliflower has been steam roasting in the oven and I've tested it with a skewer that goes in very easily to make sure that it's tender.

It's been sitting out for about ten minutes to cool a little bit, and I'm very carefully going to open the top of the foil.

Okay, so while my cauliflower continues to cool, I'm going to make the garlic chili oil.

To make this very simple, very flavorful garlic chili oil, I have a pan starting to heat on medium low and I'm going to add my oil.

So my oil is warm, and I'm going to continue by adding grated garlic.

And some chili flakes.

We're gently seasoning this oil, so it's very important we don't burn or overcook.

I'm going to stir this for two to three minutes, no more, until it's just gently fragrant.

So the oil is fragrant and lightly sizzling.

I'm gonna make sure to take it out into a separate bowl-- this is important-- because the pan remains hot, and I don't want to burn this oil.

I'm going to add a quarter teaspoon of salt to my garlic chili oil.

And I'm gonna let that sit and cool-- it's fragrant and flavorful.

So let's move on to our grated tomatoes.

For this you're going to want ripe yet firm tomatoes and we cut them horizontally through the half to make for easy grating.

I'm going to use the large holes of a box grater to do this.

You want to make sure to grate down the pulp, but leave the skin-- we're gonna discard the skins.

So my tomatoes have been grated to a pulp.

I'm going to add a pinch of salt and then put them aside to rest.

Moving on to the tahini sauce, I'm gonna start with my tahini and add some lemon juice.

And to thin it out, a couple of tablespoons of water.

We're looking to get a smooth, spreadable consistency, So if I needed to add a little more water, I can.

Look at that, it's coming together so beautifully.

So now I'm ready to spice my tahini mixture.

I've got cinnamon, cumin, and cardamom, salt and pepper, and sumac.

It's beautiful deep red, it adds a beautiful citrusy note, it's like... lemon juice without the liquid.

So I've got my spiced tahini mixture ready, I've heated my broiler, and I'm going to slather this all over the top of my roasted cauliflower.

This is smelling so good.

It's got that nutty, lovely aroma of the sesame.

This is going to go under the broiler for three to four minutes until it's caramelized.

So my roasted cauliflower is out of the oven.

It's got a beautiful, burnished top with that spiced tahini mixture and I'm ready to garnish it before I serve.

I'm gonna put some of this tomato pulp.

And now I'm going to add that delicious chili garlic oil.

And then were going to punch up the color with some fresh chopped flat leaf parsley, look at that.

Beautiful.

And lastly some crunch-- toasted pine nuts.

And here we have our roasted whole head of cauliflower with spiced tahini and garlic chili oil.

It's an absolute riot of colors and flavors on this plate.

I've got my sumac in there adding that wonderful tang.

I've got color coming from the parsley, you've got that lovely juiciness coming from the grated tomatoes, and a final touch of crunch with those toasted pine nuts.

I'm going to garnish it with some lemon.

And there is my roasted cauliflower with spiced tahini and chili garlic oil.

It's so gorgeous and I know it's going to taste fantastic.

I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

- This recipe for almond coconut cake with cherries and pistachios was inspired by one that Sarit Packer created for the restaurant she opened in London with her husband.

The restaurant is called Honey & Co. And that cake was inspired by their Middle Eastern backgrounds.

She wanted it to evoke the feelings of going to the market, the food markets full of nuts and fruits and spices, and she wanted that feeling of abundance for this cake.

So it has a very simple base layer of a coconut almond cake and we're gonna top it with a beautiful assortment of fresh cherries and pistachios.

To start baking, we'll begin with the cake base layer, and we'll start by mixing the dry ingredients together in a small bowl.

We have regular all-purpose flour, and then we also have a little bit of almond flour, which gives the cake a really beautiful crumb texture.

A little bit of baking powder and salt.

And... we're using desiccated coconut in this cake.

Desiccated coconut is coconut that has been very finely shredded.

It's not large flake coconut, it's tiny little shreds and it is also unsweetened, that's important.

If you use a sweetened coconut, it'll make the whole cake a little too sweet.

So we'll just mix this together until it's fully blended.

Set that aside... we'll start mixing the wet ingredients together.

It starts with three whole eggs, we'll loosen those.

And then we're using two different kinds of sugar in this recipe-- we have regular white granulated sugar, which gives the cake a really nice, fine texture.

And we're using a little bit of light brown sugar for that extra caramel-y flavor that brings.

We're gonna whisk these until they're thoroughly blended, no little lumps of sugar remaining.

Then we will add our melted and cooled butter.

And a little bit of almond extract.

Almond extract complements cherries really beautifully, but in this particular cake we're using it as a substitute for the spice that would normally be used, which is called mahleb.

Mahleb is ground from the pits of the St. Lucie cherry.

Now cherry pits taste a little bit like almond.

So therefore the almond extract.

If you can find mahleb-- I think you can order it online pretty easily, definitely seek it out and give it a try.

It's fantastic in cakes, muffins, all sorts of baked goods.

But we are using almond extract because it's a lot easier to find.

Our wet ingredients are fully combined now and we will combine the dry ingredients with the wet ingredients.

Okay.

One of the nice things about this cake batter is you don't have to worry about the formation of gluten so much because a big portion of the flour is almond flour, and almond flour is ground almonds, so there's no chance of gluten in there.

We've got a nice, thick cake batter.

We have our greased nine-inch cake pan that's been lined with a little bit of parchment in the bottom.

We'll add the cake batter to that And our oven is preset for 350 degrees.

Now the original cake that Sarit Packer created had cherries and pistachios on top and we're using those today.

But as she said, this cake is very flexible, you can use all sorts of things on top.

And she has done so herself.

What we're using today are frozen cherries.

We wish we had fresh, but it's not that season yet.

So we're gonna use frozen cherries, which work just as well.

The main thing is you want nice juicy cherries.

So let the frozen cherries thaw completely.

And then we're gonna hold them over the cake and just tear them in half a little bit and let those beautiful juices drip out onto the cake.

That just adds a lot of flavor to the batter.

So we'll just tear the cherry in half and scatter them evenly over the top.

You know, it's not often that you get to get your hands into a cake so much.

This is a really beautiful way to connect with the cake.

So I'm splashing the residual juice over here on top.

We want to use every bit of the goodness of these cherries.

And then we have some coarsely chopped pistachios.

The green color in contrast to the deep red of the cherries is so beautiful, and we'll sprinkle these over now.

Okay, all the pistachios are on, and now the last finishing touch is a little bit of granulated sugar.

It gives a little bit of a sparkly, crunchy finish to this.

Okay, the sugar is on, this is ready for the oven.

We've got it set for 350 degrees.

This will be in there for about 50 to 55 minutes.

We'll want a toothpick inserted in the center to come out clean, and that means the cake is done.

After 55 minutes in the oven, this cake comes out and cools in the pan on a wire rack for an hour.

Then we simply run a knife around the edges to loosen it, and then we invert it onto a plate and then re-invert it back onto a serving platter.

You can see that the topping stays in place beautifully.

Nothing fell off, nothing got destroyed.

There's a beautiful little bit of sparkle from that sugar we put on top.

Now it's fully cooled and we are ready to serve.

If you'd like, you can dust with a little bit of confectioner's sugar first.

Just make sure, though, that the cake is fully cool before you do that.

If the cake is warm, the sugar will melt on top and that leaves just sort of a gummy-looking surface.

But if your cake is fully cooled, then that dusting of sugar creates a beautiful effect, settling down into all the nooks and crannies, and it just highlights the texture of this cake.

So let's have a slice.

Because of the crunchy topping and the firmness of those nuts, a little serrated knife is a really great thing to slice with.

It just cuts through very cleanly.

Okay... hmm.

Oh, that is one beautiful slice of cake.

You can see the cherries that have fallen down inside the cake adding flavor.

Some of them stay on top, of course, and then you have the crunchy, beautiful, toasted pistachios on top, and that final dusting of sugar with the coconut inside and the almond extract-- this is a very simple but very special cake that you will definitely want to have in your repertoire.

You can get the recipe for this almond coconut cake and all the recipes from this season at MilkStreetTV.com.

- All episodes and recipes from this season of Milk Street Television are available for free at our website, MilkStreetTV.com.

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From Vietnamese braised lemongrass chicken and spaghetti with lemon pesto, to hummus with chipotle black beans and chocolate torte, the Milk Street Cookbook offers bolder, fresher, simpler recipes.

Order your copy of the Milk Street Cookbook for just $27, 40 percent less than the cover price, and receive a Milk Street tote with your order at no additional charge.

Call 855-MILK-177 or order online.

- Funding for this series was provided by the following.

- That meal.

You sauted, you seared, and you served cooking with All-Clad, bonded cookware designed, engineered and assembled in the U.S.A. for over 50 years.

All-Clad-- for all your kitchen adventures.

- Ladies and gentlemen, we'd like to be the first to welcome you to Tel Aviv... - Welcome to Oaxaca's airport.

- Welcome to Beirut.

(man speaking Hebrew) - (speaking world language) - Bonjour, je m'appelle Chris.

- We call it supa kanja.

It's the word for gumbo.

- Christopher, you have to make the authentic, original cotoletta alla Bolognese for me.

- So this is the Eduardo Garca blender.

- This is the no electricity.

- Next is dessert.

- That is really good.

I notice when you cook sometimes, you add a little bit of something, and then you just put the whole bowl in.

- I like to be generous with my food.

Generosity is important in cooking.

- That's true.

- Can start building bridges, and food is definitely a perfect common ground.

- This is a generational thing.

It's, it's something that you inherit.

- Yeah, that was great.

(woman speaking Mandarin) - What was this for?

What did she say?

- You get one more chance.

- Salute.

- How is it?

He's speechless.

- I'm speechless.

That's so good.