The Times Magazine - UK (2021-02-20)

30 The Times Magazine

• Salt and pepper


• 700g white fish fillets

For the sauce

• 150ml tahini


• Juice of 1-2 lemons (as desired)


• 4-6 garlic cloves, pressed


• 1 tsp ground nutmeg


• Salt and pepper

To serve

• 1 small bunch of flat-leaf
  parsley, chopped


• 1 handful of pine nuts, toasted


• Sumac


• Lemon slices

1 Preheat the oven to 150C/

Gas 2. In a large saucepan, heat

the olive oil on a medium heat.

Add the onion rings and fry for

3-5 minutes until soft. Season

with 2 tsp sumac, salt and pepper.

2 Spread the fried onions over

the bottom of an ovenproof dish

and set the fish on top. Drizzle

some olive oil over the fish and

sprinkle with the remaining

2 tsp sumac, salt and pepper.

Bake for 15 minutes in the middle

of the oven.

3 While the fish is baking, make

the sauce. Whisk together all the

ingredients with 170ml water in a

Spicy potatoeS with

GaRlic and coRiandeR

Serves 4

Syrian go-to carbs are bulgur and

rice. But French fries are served

with every mezze table, especially

in restaurants. I prefer these spicy

potatoes instead.

• 1 kg (6 medium-sized) boiling
  potatoes, not peeled, washed
  and cut into 5cm pieces


• 100ml extra virgin olive oil


• 2 tbsp spicy red pepper paste


• 1 tsp paprika


• Sea salt


• 4 garlic cloves, pressed


• Juice of 1 lemon


• 1 large bunch of coriander,
  coarsely chopped

1 Heat the oven to 230C/Gas 8.

Bring a large pot of water to a

boil. Add the potatoes and cook

for 7 minutes. Drain the partially

cooked potatoes, return them to

the pot, cover and steam them in

their own heat for a few minutes.

2 Line a baking tray with baking

paper. Spread the potatoes on

the tray. Rub them with half the

olive oil, the red pepper paste,

the paprika and sea salt. Bake

for 15-20 minutes, turning

them a few times. Roast until

golden brown.

3 Remove the potatoes from

the oven. Toss with the garlic,

lemon juice and three quarters

of the chopped coriander until

covered and then roast for

another 5 minutes.

4 To serve, drizzle the rest of the

olive oil over the potatoes and

sprinkle with fresh coriander.

fiSh with Sumac

tahini Sauce

Serves 4

Given that Syrian fish recipes are

usually very simple, my friend

Hadi, also a passionate cook, and

I started experimenting. Instead

of drenching the fried fish in

tahini sauce, which is what we

usually do in Syria, we use tahini

in the preparation. It gives a

totally different result. We serve

the dish with rice.

• 2 tbsp olive oil, plus
  extra for drizzling


• 3 onions, sliced into rings


• 4 tsp sumac

ometimes when Anas
Atassi is overwhelmed
with nostalgia for
childhood summers in
Syria, he recreates the
breakfast feasts he used
to enjoy in the garden
of his grandmother’s house in
Homs. There would be plates of
labneh, za’atar and soft cheese,
plus weekend treats such as
chickpeas in tahini. “If there’s one
thing I want to do, it’s to sit down
again with my extended family
beneath the fruit trees,” says the
32-year-old tech entrepreneur
from his home in Amsterdam.
Although born in Homs he was
brought up in Saudi Arabia, where
his father worked as an engineer,
and would return to Syria for
three months every summer. In
the ten years since civil war broke
out he hasn’t been able to return.
“It’s almost like a dream now,” he
says. “I’m afraid it would be very
different to how I remember it.”
Instead he keeps in touch with
his roots through the food he
cooks, recipes passed down to him
by his mother. “As a child, I was
always in the kitchen watching
her. This is my way of remaking
that connection.” Tony Turnbull

S

photoGRaphS Anas Atassi

VEGAN FISH