Snacks/Tapas

Smoked Salmon with Potato and Thyme Cakes

These tiny cakes topped with salmon are superb little taste treats to serve at parties or before dinner. If you wish to make this into a terrific entrée, simply increase each cake about 8cm in diameter and top with two slices of smoked salmon.

Spiced Carrot Dip

Carrots go so well with cumin and a touch of smoked paprika. Great to add to a tray of dips and vegetables. Try serving this dip with purple carrot sticks.

Makes 2 1/2 cups.

SPICED LAMB MEATBALLS WITH SOUR CHERRIES

This dish is an unusually striking, combination of flavours, which really makes your taste buds tingle.   It comes from an area of Turkey in the south, near Aleppo, which is close to Syria.  I have had variations of this in Turkey and Syria and it is always very popular in both countries.  Early settlers in the area, were famous for mixing fruit with cooked lamb.  In this region the famous sour cherries, which are now widely available, dried in supermarkets are in season in June, and so these are traditionally are seasonal early summer dish.  Because of the...

Spicy Houmous

This is fresh version of houmous also spelt Hummus without the strong flavour of the sesame that comes from the tahini.  There are a number of variations of houmous, some are smooth, others, have a rougher texture.  This one uses dried chilli and cayenne pepper to give great warmth that works very well with the fried lamb and the other spices.  Alternatively you could take out the spices and add lots of freshly chopped parsley and coriander instead. 
It can be served without the lamb, however this is typical of the small cafes in Beirut and Lebanon.

Spicy Vegetable Pies with Tzatziki

Exploring the food traditions of Santorini with my English friend Rosemary Barron was a highlight of my travels. These little pies from her book Meze, are a delicious great treat.