Al Fresco Dining With Noor Murad | How I Host... | Homes & Gardens - video Dailymotion

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We’re back with another episode of How I Host… and this time we’re going al fresco at the North London home of Noor Murad, joining her in the kitchen as she preps a sharing feast of vibrant Middle Eastern dishes.

Transcript

00:00Hi, I'm Niel Moraad and this is How I Host.

00:08Today I'm making recipes from my cookbook, Rukma.

00:11The sun is deciding to show up this week, so I'm going to be leading with vegetables,

00:15really lovely and fresh and light, having some friends over for lunch.

00:19So when I think about planning a menu, I think about the time of year, what's in season.

00:23I also think about who's coming. Everyone's quite different,

00:26so you kind of have to just know your audience and know who you're cooking for,

00:31and then you can kind of take it from there. Middle Eastern people love to feed.

00:35We're quite generous in the way that we serve food. A table that looks full and abundant is my style.

00:41I'm just pan frying these tomatoes. I want them to soften and take on a bit of color,

00:47but I don't want them to completely fall apart. Tomatoes are already very sweet, but

00:51cooking them in a bit of olive oil and maple syrup really brings that out and it's just so, so lovely.

00:57I think the first thing that people notice when they come into my flat is the kitchen. It's quite

01:02quirky, you know. It's not like perfect, but there's lovely like pantry and label jars everywhere.

01:08My favorite thing about having people over is just the togetherness of it all. Enjoying food,

01:13relaxing. I mean, that's the whole point of hosting, isn't it? I think I always lead with Middle

01:18Eastern flavors. It's just what my go-to. It's my instinct. It's the way that I cook. So I think

01:22because I grew up in Bahrain, I grew up in the Middle East, I didn't move here until my late 20s.

01:28So it's just that is my style in every single way. I've got these sauteed pine nuts that I kind of

01:35cooked until they were nice and golden with some garlic and oregano and then some zatar that I stirred

01:40in at the end. And then I just sprinkle it with some extra zatar because I just love how lovely and

01:46herbaceous it is. I always kind of drizzle it with a bit of olive oil, good quality olive oil as well.

01:52These are my pan-fried tomatoes with halloumi and zatar pine nuts. So I've got these green beans

01:59and then I've made this lovely dressing with grilled lemon, slow-cooked onion, lemon juice,

02:04and loads of herbs and maple syrup. Take your time when you plate things and really put love and thought

02:09into it. If you have sharing plates, it just encourages conversation. Oh, this is so good,

02:14you want more of it or does anyone have dibs on that last bite? So when I'm planning a summer menu,

02:21I really think about colour. This is my opportunity to bring colour in as much as possible. For example,

02:27these beetroots, they're super earthy and a lovely way to bring, yeah, happiness to your table, I guess.

02:34I've tossed them in a really, really simple dressing. It's yoghurt, tahini, toasted sesame oil,

02:39some lime juice. I'm just going to top them with some charred spring onions. So you've got something

02:44really, really pink and then you have something lovely and green and charred.

02:49Today is like really colourful, very vibrant. I just wanted to scream joy in every way from a bright

02:56tablecloth, really colourful cushions. The plates are all kind of mismatched and the plates are quite

03:02neutral because I want the food to be loud. Bringing people together via food is just such a lovely way to

03:07just celebrate friendships and connection. I hope to create like a very relaxed, calm, welcoming atmosphere.

03:14I want people to just walk in and just feel at home, be completely relaxed and feel taken care of.

03:20So I've started doing this thing where every time I travel, I write some plate or crockery or something

03:25like that. I really love these bud vases. I think they're a real statement. They're really cute and you know,

03:32at the end of the day, you can give away the flowers for people to take home, which is such a lovely thing.

03:36My favourite colours are sunset colours. I really like to introduce that not just in my food but you

03:42can see it in the flowers too. This is my nectarine dish. I've kind of left it to the last thing so

03:47the nectarines don't spoil. It's so easy to make that you can just assemble it last thing. So I'm

03:53starting off with the dressing. I fried off this ginger and mustard seeds and chilli and then the frying

03:59oil I'm going to use as a base of the dressing so it's got like a bit of spice and heat to it.

04:05And I'm going to mix that with some maple syrup and lime juice. My grandfather used to have a house

04:09in Lebanon and I spent a lot of my childhood summers in Lebanon. It's not like Bahrain is a desert but

04:16Lebanon has got this beautiful fertile land and loads of fresh fruits. So at the end of the meal they'd

04:21always bring like big pots of fresh fruit and I remember having the stone fruits especially

04:27apricots which we call mishmish and just eating it and the juice just kind of like dripping down

04:33my chin. That's kind of why I was inspired to do this dish. With this spread for example I just

04:39thought of like really nice delicate summery flavours. You have to kind of make sure the flavours really

04:45complement each other in a nice way and that not one dish isn't so overpowering that the rest of the

04:50dishes don't have a chance. So you don't want an attention seeker dish. You just want dishes that

04:55all want to play together in a nice way. So I'm adding quite a lot of coriander to this dish.

05:02I think that like coriander and herbs in general should never really be used as a garnish and that's

05:08quite common in the Middle East. We use herbs quite heavily especially like cooked herbs which

05:13transform the flavour completely become like earthier and more intense. But yeah in this salad I use quite

05:18a lot of coriander but if there's coriander haters out there they can use parsley or a bit of dill or

05:23whatever herbs you really like. Some mint would be lovely. It just really kind of freshens up the

05:27salad in a lovely way. I really enjoy hosting in summer because we're spoilt for choice in terms of

05:36what we can bring to the table. There's just so many different vegetables to play with and everyone's

05:41just happier during the summer. People kind of kicking back and enjoying each other's company.

05:47I also love it when they taste the food and obviously really enjoy it. It's something

05:53like that brings me joy to see them really having a lovely time.

06:01All right the food is all ready, the table is set, everything's looking great and I think

06:05I hear the doorbell so I'm going to go let my friends in now.

Al Fresco Dining With Noor Murad | How I Host... | Homes & Gardens

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