Three brunch recipes from Ottolenghi's right-hand woman

[Celerity]

Noor Murad’s eggs and tomatoes; halloumi with spicy olives and walnuts; and pan-fried tomatoes with pine nuts, za’atar and halloumi

https://www.thetimes.com/life-style/food-drink/article/brunch-recipes-ottolenghi-93rhsjp3x

https://archive.ph/25JYf

For many years Noor Murad worked as a recipe developer for Yotam Ottolenghi and co-authored two of his books. Now she has stepped out of his shadow to produce a book of her own, Lugma. From the Arabic for “bite”, it is “an ode to the food of my childhood” in Bahrain, she says. Where better to start than with brunch?

Eggs and tomatoes



I used to think that, with so many variations of eggs and tomatoes — Tunisian shakshuka, Turkish menemen, Chinese tomato-egg stir-fry — there can’t possibly be room for much more. But there is. In Bahrain we literally call this breakfast dish what it is: baith (egg) and tamat (tomato). Serve with your bread of choice.

Serves 2

Ingredients

• 20g unsalted butter
• 300g datterini or large cherry tomatoes
• ¾ tsp cumin seeds, roughly crushed
• Sea salt and black pepper
• 2½ tbsp olive oil
• ⅓ tsp ground turmeric
• 4 large eggs
• 8 fresh curry leaves
• 1 tbsp roughly chopped coriander leaves, to serve

Method

1. Add the butter, tomatoes, cumin, 3 tablespoons of water, ½ teaspoon of salt and a generous grind of black pepper to a medium, lidded sauté pan. Cover with the lid, then place the pan over a medium-low heat and leave to cook undisturbed for 10 min to soften the tomatoes. Remove the lid, turn up the heat to medium-high and cook for 4 min more, or until the tomatoes have burst and collapsed very slightly. Keep warm over a very low heat while you fry the eggs.

2. Add the oil and turmeric to a large frying pan, stirring to combine, then place over a medium-high heat. Crack in the eggs and sprinkle with a pinch each of salt and pepper. Fry for 3-4 min, spooning some of the oil over the whites. You want the eggs to be crispy around the edges and the yolks to be runny.

3. When ready, spoon the tomato mixture onto a serving platter, then use a spatula to transfer the fried eggs on top, leaving the oil in the pan. Quickly return the pan to a medium-high heat and add the curry leaves, frying for 30-60 seconds. Spoon these over the eggs and sprinkle with the coriander.

snip

Halloumi with spicy olives and walnuts



Pan-fried tomatoes with pine nuts, za’atar and halloumi