Middle Eastern food has always intrigued me, it seems like the meals always come with cozy little candle lights, luxuriously embroidered table cloths and boldly colored serving dishes. The culinary traditions revolve around sharing and giving generously. Spiced meats and sweets remind me of late Medieval British cooking when ginger, caraway, cumin, cinnamon and currants were used in stews and pudding much alike the Middle Eastern ones.
The aromatics give the kitchens a mysterious scent, almost as if the beautiful women coming out of them carrying trays of oozing food to present to you are bewitching their guests with their culinary arts.
With anticipation I awaited my friend Beth’s book, if there were to be one book about Middle Eastern food I would buy, it would be hers. She who lures people with the tales of perfect Hummus and tasty lamb stews. Drop dead gorgeous and a former miss Lebanon she is a woman who fights every day to change the worlds negative preconceptions about the Middle East.
She founded Taste Lebanon, to show people Lebanon by exploring it through food and culture. Showing a different picture, a picture that is more real to her than all the sadness she has seen in her country. On her blog she shares the recipes of her homeland, and now finally we get to explore the Middle East with her beautiful book ‘The Jewelled Kitchen‘.
I’ve known Beth for tree years, she invited me into the blogger community with open arms at my first Food Blogger Connect – another one of her ventures. She has always been the one with the big smile, the jokes and a flair of a sorrow free life. I had never thought opening her book for the first time that I would read there about how her childhood was influenced by the 15 year long civil war and the divorce of her parents which led to her family being divided between two different continents. She had a taste of two different worlds living in Lebanon with her family on a dairy farm on the foothills of Mount Sannine during the war and on the other side having an American mother discovering fast food and tinned soup in the States.
She grew up to be a glamorous lady who enjoys nice shoes but isn’t afraid of trowing them aside to walk through the dust to pick some fruit. She will always try to cook for you – feeding you is what she loves the most.
As I wrote in my post about my other friends book, reading a book from someone you know is a special thing. So here we are together with a bunch of foodies, celebrating a virtual cookbook launch for Beth’s book. The books arrived just in time and we all chose a recipe to cook. I went for the Date Fudge. It is a gorgeous book filled with intriguing food, and beautiful photography by another talented friend Sarka Babicka. A must have, a book to enjoy.
Recipe extracted with permission from The Jewelled Kitchen by Bethany Kehdy, published by Duncan Baird Publishers, London
Date Fudge
Serves 4
100g Walnut halves, plus 55 g walnuts roughly chopped
500g dried pitted dates
300g unsalted butter
300g plain flour
50 g icing sugar
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 ground cardamon
a pinch of salt
55g pistachios (I didn’t find unsalted ones)
55g almonds
1. Toast the walnut halves in a heavy-based pan over a medium heat for 2-3 minutes until golden brown and fragrant, shaking the pan often.
2. Stuff a toasted walnut into each date and then pack them tightly in a 20 cm baking tin, 3 cm deep.
3. Melt the butter in a deep heavy-based saucepan over a medium- low heat, then add the flour, icing sugar, cinnamon, cardamom and salt and stir constantly for 10-15 minutes, until the mixture resembles a smooth golden caramel.
4. Pour the mixture over the dates and smooth out with the back of a metal spoon. Leave to set for 20 minutes.
5. Grind the walnut pieces, pistachios and almonds separately using a pestle and mortar. Sprinkle a thin layer of pistachios over the top of the fudge, then one of walnuts and finally almonds, then repeat until all the nuts have been used. Press the nuts down with your hands so that they stick to the fudge. Leave to cool completely, then, using a sharp knife, cut into small squares or diamonds to serve.
Regula Ysewijn is a food writer, stylist and photographer, with a particular interest in historical recipes. he is a Great Taste Awards judge and a member of The Guild of Food Writers, as well as one of the two judges on 'Bake Off Vlaanderen', the Belgian version of 'The Great British Bake-Off'. A self-confessed Anglophile, she collects old British cookbooks and culinary equipment in order to help with her research. She is the author of 5 books: Pride and Pudding the history of British puddings savoury and sweet, Belgian Café Culture, the National Trust Book of Puddings, Brits Bakboek and Oats in the North, Wheat from the South. 
This is the healthiest fudge I've ever seen…and where did you get that tray?! Beautiful book and your version of this is stunning.
Thank you darling for such a warming review and for taking part in the virtual launch. I'm thrilled that everyone enjoyed the date fudge (including Miguel 🙂 x
@Sally It does get a good healthy dose of butter loving 🙂 But, I love that the sugars come naturally from the dates. x
Hi Sally! I got the tray from a little antique shop in Antwerp. First time I'v used it but it's perfect for this 🙂
Glad you liked it Beth x Miguel has eaten the most from it I think, he really really loved it! All my colleagues did! x
Middle Eastern food tastes so good! I find the cuisine of this part of the world so bedazzling and intriguing.
That date fudge looks amazing! I bet it is quite addictive.
A wonderful book which I have added to my wishlist…
Cheers,
Rosa
It's a great book! I don't have a sweet tooth myself but have plenty of people around me who do!
And it tasted great!!!
It pleases me that the tray was empty this morning, even the crumbs were gone!
I can't wait to make this, looks so moreish! And I noticed you did find a nice little connection to British food history – nicely done 😉
What a beautiful review. Absolutely going to make this soon – sounds divine! xoxo
oooh!! this is definitely my kind of fudge! Lovely choice to showcase middle eastern cuisine Regula! 🙂
Oh lovely lovely. Thanks for a stunning introduction! Just perused Bethany's site and am ready to troll the depths. (Ordered some Ma'amoul molds on whim recently and need a little guidance!) As for the book? Just put in a pre-order. Excited!
Beautiful rendition of Bethany' s fabulously tempting recipe. And I too fancy that pretty tray! Thanks also for your enthusiastic, witty and highly informative talk. Must get a logo sorted soon!
For some reason Middle Eastern food has always intimidated me. I always go out to restaurants, but am too scared to try making dishes in my own kitchen. Your pictures look so delicious that I am probably going to suck it up and try to make something for myself this week!
wow. Stunning being the operative word. Going to try the date fudge recipe. That looks like a contender for my optimum afternoon snack 🙂
My, but what a positively fabulous dish! I know next to nothing about Middle Eastern food. It is, to my Californian palate, utterly foreign. However, each time I see a dish, I am intrigued and tempted. This is my first visit to your site, having slipped over from Juls' Kitchen. Congratulations on some very lovely work!
I've been a fan of Bethany's site for years now and so excited about her book. I love middle eastern food and her site is my go to for most recipes. That date fudge is right up my alley – Im a huge date fan!
I had to go and buy this book on Amazon after reading this. I love middle eastern cooking and this book does not disappoint. I've actually used dates before in a wholemeal bread recipe. They have a lovely texture and sweetness.
Also a fantastic lamb and chickpea soup in the Jewelled Kitchen. Not made it yet but can't imagine a soup tasting better.
I am sorry to say that the date fudge was a complete disaster! Followed instructions meticulously – for a start you cannot stuff a walnut into a normal dried date, unless you purchase the most expensively large dried dates. Then when we melted the butter, added the flour, as per the recipe and then the sugar & cinammon, etc., the whole thing turned into a mud pie and not 'a smooth golden caramel'. Nevertheless we persisted and the end result looks like the picture and tastes o.k. – so it should with all the lovely ingredients – but it's nothing like fudge and very hard to cut. A great disappointment! Any tips to improve?
Hello there, I don't know if you saw but this is a book review. The date fudge recipe isn't mine so I would suggest you go to the author's blog and ask her directly. I think she would be the best person to help. Good luck!
Thanks so much – no I didn't notice that it was a book review – so sorry! Yes, I'll find the author's blog.