Karl Bayly’s trio of wine snack recipes for summer
Karl Bayly came to cooking late in life by chef's standards. A year in the middle east solidified his love for eating and food and he's been obsessed ever since. Karl believes food shouldn't be fussy and that a good meal is only as good as the wine drunk with it and the people it's eaten with.
Here, he shares a trio of snacks that can be shared with friends and uncover the joy of good conversation, ideally with crusty bread and a sparkling white wine. Salut!
Lazy Baba
I love me some aubergine and I love me some yoghurt so this is the perfect zingy little dip to whip up for a summer platter. It's still quite chunky so it can be eaten straight off the fork or scooped up with some bread. OG Babaganoush isn't actually a super laborious dish to make anyway but this is like a SUPER quick version.
Ingredients
1 aubergine - I suggest only making this dish when aubergines are in season so they actually have flavour
3 tablespoons of good quality thick yoghurt
2 cloves fresh minced garlic
1/2 a lemon
Salt & Pepper
sumac (optional)
fresh parsley (optional)
Method
Dice the aubergine into even quarter chunks, about 1cm thick. Heat up a heavy splash of olive oil in an (ideally cast iron) pan - I actually used Ghee last time I made this and it was equally delicious.
Once the oil is hot whack in the aubergine so the flesh is flat on the pan base (we want a bit of a char) and don't overcrowd the pan, add salt and pepper to the top sides - don't be afraid of a heaving salting.
Once the first side has a good edge on it flip the pieces over, if the pan starts smoking I tend to little it just go for a while and then chuck a bit more oil/ghee in to lubricate as needed.
Once the aubergine is feeling smooshy just give the pan a good shake and take it off the heat, leave the aubergine to cool in the pan. Once the aubergine is cool or at least room temp transfer it into a bowl, add the yoghurt, garlic and lemon. It's important to let the aubergine cool a little before adding the yoghurt or it'll split.
Add s&p to taste, if you feel like getting gourmet you can sprinkle some sumac and parsley or whatever fresh herbs you have around on top. If you are heading to a potluck or dinner with friends just double or triple the recipe, it’s very easy to scale up!
Summer Shirazi
I believe the Shirazi salad to be the king of salads. It's very simple but super tasty and something about the fact that it is diced so finely makes it feel more like you are eating a delicacy of vegetables than a salad, a bowl of jewels. My wife is currently pregnant and very keen on melon and strawberries, hence their inclusion - it might not seem like an obvious combination but it did in fact turn out to be pretty yum!
Ingredients
1/4 Melon - rockmelon is ideal for both sweetness and colour but honeydew or even watermelon will work well
4-6 Strawberries
1/2 red onion or 1 whole small red onion
1/2 a cucumber
1 fresh pomegranate
dried mint
sumac
1/2 lemon juice
olive oil - the good kind
Method
Dice melon, strawberries, online, cucumber into small cubes - take your time with this, it does matter - half the beauty of this salad is the size of the pieces and getting a little bit of everything in one mouthful. You can choose whether or not you leave the skin on the cucumber.
Get them as similar in size to each other as you can. De-seed pomegranate but cutting in half and whacking on the butt with a wooden spoon.
Put everything in a bowl with the remaining ingredients and toss. Voila! It's done…
Stone fruit, blue cheese labneh with nuts
Fruit and cheese are natural lovers, and I love labneh - so this is really just a classic flavour combo. Serve any leftover blue cheese labneh on toast the next day with jam or marmalade - dessert toast is always a winner.
Ingredients
4 fresh Apricots (but you could use peaches or plums / whatever stone fruit you fancy)
500g good qual thick yoghurt
1/2 lemon juice
1 tbsp of Castello blue cheese (you could add more depending on how strong you want it), don't skimp and get the cheap cheese as the flavour will likely overpower the whole dish
Pinenuts and/or pistachios
For vinaigrette:
1 tbsp pomegranate molasses
1 tbsp lemon juice
1/2 tbsp white wine vinegar
5 tbsp ish olive oil
Salt & Pepper
Method
Make the Labneh. Do this first step in advance, at least 2 hours before you want to eat the dish. To make the labneh, put the yoghurt, lemon juice and a heavy pinch of salt together in a bowl and mix. Line a colander with a muslin cloth or I use chux cloths (just not the same ones you use to wipe the bench, they need to be new and only used for making labneh). Pour the yoghurt mixture into cloth, bundle up and tie so it looks like a ball, either hang it over a bowl somewhere to let the moisture drip out or if you've got more time you can just leave it in the colander over a bowl in the fridge - either method works but it will be slower in the fridge and without the gravity.
Halve the apricots and de-stone, brush the insides of apricots with olive oil and lightly salt. Heat a pan, no need to add oil to pan as it's already on the fruit, add apricots oil side down and remove when lightly charred and softened. You can give their skin sides a quick go too if you want a bit more char, just don’t over do it or they will turn to mush.
Toast your nuts gently, don't walk away, they go from zero to burnt very quickly and nuts are expensive!
Your labneh should be a firm paste texture by now, transfer to a clean bowl and mix through blue cheese with a fork, taste it and add as much additional blue cheese as you want.
To make your dressing mix pomegranate molasses, lemon juice, white wine vinegarette and s&p.
To plate, spread your labneh cheese mix on a plate with the back on a spoon (restaurant-style), place your apricots on top (you can cut these down to more bite-size if you wish but it won't look as pretty), pour dressing over and sprinkle the nuts on top.
Serve all these dishes with crusty bread and a glass of sparkling white wine - ideally the new pink Bryterlater Pet Nat!
You can check out a selection of Karl Bayly’s experiments on @cooked_plates.
