Flavours of the Middle East with Sabrina Ghayour

Our fifth and final stop on the winter tour - the Middle East! If you love bright and vibrant food with a variety of tastes and textures, you’ll love the menu created by British-Iranian chef Sabrina Ghayour, a renowned food writer and author who’s selected her favourite dishes from her multiple award-winning cookbooks. And that’s not all – we have two fabulous Lebanese wines to pair with the menu, plus your chance to add on a signed copy of Sabrina’s latest cookbook, Simply, or the popular Feasts, perfect for entertaining and celebrations.

When: 24th and 25th March
Price: £85 for two + £5.50 delivery
Cook-along length: 1hr

On the menu

The menu consists of a variety of Middle Eastern-inspired sharing plates, bursting with flavours and textures. Discover tender spiced sirloin steak served with thick yoghurt and pul biber butter, and learn how to make a fragrant cod and okra stew with a rich coconut broth. There’s also a freekah and chickpea pilaf, served with caramelised onions and creamy yoghurt, alongside green beans with tahini. And to finish, Sabrina is sharing a dish that’s almost too beautiful to eat – a fig, rose and pistachio millefeuille with layers of puff pastry filled with passionfruit and honey cream.

Click here to view the full allergens list

Spiced sirloin steak

Labneh, pul biber butter and crispy onions

Fish, Okra and Tamarind Stew

Fragrantly spiced stew studded with okra and cod in a rich coconut and tamarind sauce

Spiced Freekeh, Tomato & Chickpea Pilaff

Caramelised onions and yoghurt

Green beans with Tahini

Preserved Lemon and Pine Nuts

Fig, Rose and Pistachio Millefeuille

Layers of puff pastry filled with a decadent passionfruit and honey cream

Sabrina's Destination Notes

Middle Eastern cuisine is truly special because every single county and region within it boasts wildly different ingredients, flavours and traditions and heritage. So many of the dishes are steeped in history and the stories are as fascinating as the recipes themselves.

This menu features some of my favourite recipes. I’m mad about okra… I never understand why it’s so misunderstood and so mistreated. When cooked well, it is absolutely glorious and far from the slimy reputation that it seems to have garnered. I also love spiced meat and kebabs with yoghurt so the spiced sirloin really does it for me.

Having taught cookery classes for nearly a decade, I learned that my biggest strength and asset lies in demystifying the recipes and ingredients of the Middle East in a way that helps people understand how simple the recipes are without all the fear and mystery. The best recipes in the world are humble and become popular because they are simple and accessible, so I’m going to work through the knowledge I have to try and help people relax and learn to cook the food of the region with confidence.

About your chef

Sabrina is a British-Iranian Chef, food writer and author. Her debut cookbook Persiana has been published in 13 different countries and has gone on to sell over a quarter of a million copies worldwide. Her second book Sirocco and third book Feasts also went on to become best-sellers and her fourth book 'Bazaar – Vibrant Vegetarian Recipes' was published in April 2019. Ghayour teaches Persian and Middle Eastern classes at cookery schools. She has worked as a consultant on menu and product development for corporate firms, retail brands, airlines, caterers and supermarkets. Ghayour has been on BBC1's Saturday Kitchen cookery show as well as Channel 4's Sunday Brunch TV show and has been a Guest judge on TV shows including Masterchef, Great British Menu and Top Chef Canada.

Add-ons

Add one (or both!) of Sabrina’s award-winning cookbooks to your ingredients box. Simply is her newest cookbook, featuring a collection of unmissable dishes in her signature style with a minimum of fuss. Highlights include steak tartines with tarragon and paprika butter, chilled pistachio and cucumber soup, and tahini, almond and orange brownies. Feasts has dozens of recipes for celebrations and occasions with family and friends, including summer feasts, bountiful brunches, and menus for entertaining. Highlights include whipped ricotta toasts, savoury pork and fennel baklava, and tamarind sticky ribs.

And don’t miss our special wine pairing. We’ve partnered with our friends at Amathus Drinks who’ve selected two fantastic wines to pair with Sabrina’s menu. Château Héritage makes some of the finest Lebanese wine created from a unique selection of the best grapes of the Bekaa-Valley. It’s a family-owned winery that preserves the traditions of winemaking while mastering state-of-the-art technologies in the production of varietal wines.

The Rosé d’Une Nuit is a Cabernet-dominant blend made in a dry, refreshing Provencal style with juicy and crisp raspberry and satsuma notes. It has an incredible depth of flavour, which makes it a gastronomic rose perfect with these dishes. The Syrah is a dense, powerful expression of the grape, aged in old oak with dark fruits, liquorice, black chocolate and spice. It’s impressively deep and concentrated making it an excellent pairing with Sabrina’s Middle Eastern menu.