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 and then you can
00:32kind of take it from there. Middle Eastern people love to feed. We're quite generous in the way that
00:37we serve food. A table that looks full and abundant is my style. I'm just pan frying these tomatoes.
00:44I want them to soften and take on a bit of color, but I don't want them to completely fall
00:49apart.
00:49Tomatoes are already very sweet, but cooking them in a bit of olive oil and maple syrup really brings
00:54out and it's just so so lovely. I think the first thing that people notice when they come into my
01:00flat is the kitchen. It's quite quirky, you know, it's not like perfect, but there's lovely like
01:06pantry and label jars everywhere. My favorite thing about having people over is just the togetherness
01:11of it all. Enjoying food, relaxing, I mean that's the whole point of hosting, isn't it?
01:16I think I always lead with Middle Eastern flavors. It's just what my go-to, it's my instinct,
01:21it's the way that I cook. So I think because I grew up in Bahrain, I grew up in the
01:25Middle East,
01:25I didn't move here until my late 20s. So it's just that is my style in every single way.
01:31I've got these sauteed pine nuts that I kind of cooked until they were nice and golden with some
01:37garlic and oregano and then some zatar that I stirred in at the end. And then I just sprinkle it
01:43with some extra zatar because I just love how like lovely and herbaceous it is. I always kind of drizzle
01:49it with a bit of olive oil, good quality olive oil as well. These are my pan-fried tomatoes with
01:54halloumi and zatar pine nuts. So I've got these green beans and then I've made this lovely dressing
02:00with grilled lemon, slow-cooked onion, lemon juice and loads of herbs and maple syrup. Take your time
02:06when you plate things and really put love and thought into it. If you have sharing plates, it just
02:12encourages conversation. Oh this is so good, you want more of it or does anyone have dibs on that last
02:17bite?
02:18So when I'm planning a summer menu, I really think about colour. This is my opportunity to bring
02:25colour in as much as possible. For example, these beetroots, they're super earthy and a lovely way to
02:31bring, yeah, happiness to your table, I guess. I've tossed them in a really, really simple dressing.
02:36It's yoghurt, tahini, toasted sesame oil, some lime juice. I'm just going to top them with some chari
02:42spring onions. So you've got something really, really pink and then you have something lovely
02:47and green and charred. Today it's like really colourful, very vibrant. I just wanted to scream
02:54joy in every way from a bright tablecloth, really colourful cushions. The plates are all kind of
03:00mismatched and the plates are quite neutral because I want the food to be loud. Bringing people together
03:05via food is just such a lovely way to just celebrate friendships and connection. I hope to create like
03:11a very relaxed, calm, welcoming atmosphere. I want people to just walk in and just feel at home,
03:17be completely relaxed and feel taken care of. So I've started doing this thing where every time I
03:23travel I write some plate or crockery or something like that. I really love these bud vases. I think
03:29they're a real statement. They're really cute and, you know, at the end of the day you can give away
03:33the
03:33flowers for people to take home which is such a lovely thing. My favourite colours are sunset colours.
03:38I really like to introduce that not just in my food but you can see it in the flowers too.
03:44This is my nectarine dish. I've kind of left it to the last thing so the nectarines don't spoil.
03:49It's so easy to make that you can just assemble it last thing. So I'm starting off with the dressing.
03:54I fried off this ginger and mustard seeds and chilli and then the frying oil I'm going to use as
04:01a base
04:01of the dressing. So it's got like a bit of spice and heat to it and I'm going to mix
04:05that with some
04:06maple syrup and lime juice. My grandfather used to have a house in Lebanon and I spent a lot of
04:12my
04:12childhood summers in Lebanon. It's not like Bahrain is a desert but Lebanon has got this beautiful
04:17fertile land and loads of fresh fruits. So at the end of the meal they'd always bring like big
04:22prasters of fresh fruit. And I remember having the stone fruits, especially apricots which we call
04:28mishmish and just eating it and the juice just kind of like dripping down my chin. That's kind of why
04:34I was inspired to do this dish. With this spread for example I just thought of like really nice
04:41delicate summery flavours. You have to kind of make sure the flavours really complement each other in a
04:46nice way and that not one dish isn't so overpowering that the rest of the dishes don't have a chance.
04:51So you don't want an attention seeker dish. You just want dishes that all want to play together
04:57in a nice way. So I'm adding quite a lot of coriander to this dish. I think that like coriander
05:04and herbs in general should never really be used as a garnish and that's quite common in the Middle
05:08East. We use herbs quite heavily especially like cooked herbs which transform the flavour completely
05:14become like earthier and more intense. But yeah in this salad I use quite a lot of coriander but if
05:19there's coriander haters out there they can use parsley or a bit of dill or whatever herbs you
05:24really like. Some mint would be lovely. It just really kind of freshens up the salad in a lovely way.
05:32I really enjoy hosting in summer because we're spoilt for choice in terms of what we can bring to the
05:37table. There's just so many different vegetables to play with and everyone's just happier during the
05:42summer. People kind of kicking back and enjoying each other's company. I also love it when they
05:48taste the food and obviously really enjoy it. It's something like that brings me joy to see them
05:55really having a lovely time. All right the food is all ready, the table is set, everything's looking
06:04great and I think I hear the doorbell so I'm going to go let my friends in now.
06:08So
06:09so
06:09You
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