Cookbook Confidential: Sabrina Ghayour, Sirocco: 'Full of eastern promise'

In the first of a new series, Cookbook Confidential, Julia Platt Leonard pages through ‘Sirocco’, Sabrina Ghayour’s follow-up book to her bestselling ‘Persiana’ – and the perfect guide to mixing the flavours and ingredients of East and West

Full of flavour: Prawn, tenderstem broccoli, feta, & almond salad

I have a friend who turns to Persiana, Sabrina Ghayour’s first cookbook, with religious fervour every time he’s throwing a dinner party. Persiana – in case you’re not one of the 100,000 people who bought a copy – is Sabrina’s collection of Middle Eastern-inspired recipes published in 2014. My friend is a keen entertainer so by now I imagine the pages carry telltale stains of rose harissa, smudged turmeric finger prints and a lingering hint of rosewater.

So how do you follow up that kind of success? Sabrina’s answer is Sirocco. Sirocco is a hot dry wind that blows east to west and these recipes, like fried semolina-crusted aubergines with honey or citrus and za’atar chicken, show a real passion for Eastern flavours but using Western ingredients and cooking techniques.

It’s a winning combination. The list of ingredients and preparation time is short for most recipes. And these are the kind of dishes you could pile on the table and let your gluttonous guests help themselves to their stomachs’ content. Unsurprisingly, since Sabrina began her cooking career hosting supper clubs in her home, she knows how to please a crowd.

Sabrina Ghayour launches new recipe book

As you flick through Sirocco, expect a rather embarrassing Pavlovian response to cook and eat and mop up every last morsel with chunks of flat bread. The recipes are easy – nothing tricksy – and Sabrina is the first to urge you to substitute or change a recipe to your heart’s content.

But it’s the boldness I love. Take her orange, thyme and spice chicken wings, which are covered in loads of thyme, cinnamon and marmalade and then roasted until they’re sweet and sour and sticky all at the same time. This is food that begs to be shared with friends but is happy to be scoffed cold the next day by a tired but happy host.

I’ve warned my friend that Sirocco is on the way. I trust he’s made room on his bookshelf for Persiana’s younger – but every bit as moreish – sibling.

I absolutely love broccoli and wouldn’t usually think to pair it with seafood, but the combination works well. There is so much flavour and texture in this salad that it is terribly moreish. This dish works well as a starter, for lunch or as part of a main meal. I can happily eat half of it in one sitting, then save the other half to eat on the following day. It’s a great salad for picnics, too, because even when chilled, it is really quite satisfying.

Prawn, tenderstem broccoli, feta & almond salad

Serves 4–6

100g blanched almonds
400g tenderstem broccoli
400g raw, large Madagascar prawns, peeled but with tails left on
Finely-grated zest of 2 unwaxed lemons
1 heaped teaspoon rose harissa
4 tablespoons olive oil
200g block of feta cheese
20g dill, fronds and stems finely chopped

For the dressing

4 heaped tablespoons clear honey
Juice of 1½  lemons
2 tablespoons olive oil
Sea salt flakes and freshly ground black pepper

Preheat the oven to 190°C, Gas Mark 5. Line a baking tray with baking paper.

Place the almonds on the prepared baking tray and toast them in the oven for 10 minutes, then remove and set aside.

Bring a large saucepan of water to the boil and blanch the broccoli for five minutes. Drain and plunge the broccoli stems into cold (but not iced) water to arrest cooking. Drain and set aside.

Combine the dressing ingredients in a bowl, seasoning well with salt and pepper, and set aside.

Heat a griddle pan over a high heat. Place the prawns in a large bowl, add the lemon zest, rose harissa and olive oil, season well with salt and work the mixture into the prawns. Leave the prawns to marinate for a few minutes, then lay them on the hot griddle pan and cook for two minutes on each side or until they turn pink and are cooked through. Remove the prawns from the heat.

Choose a nice large platter and arrange the broccoli and prawns on it. Crumble over the feta cheese and scatter the almonds on top. Give the dressing a final stir and drizzle it over the salad. Scatter over the chopped dill and serve.

Julia Platt Leonard is the moderator for Cookbook Confidential, a series of monthly events with top cookbook authors and chefs hosted by Octopus Publishing Group, Foyles and Delicious Magazine. The series kicks off on 4 May with Sabrina Ghayour at Foyles’ flagship Charing Cross Road store in London (http://www.foyles.co.uk/Public/Events/Upcoming.aspx). Tickets are available from Foyles.

Sabrina Ghayour's new cookbook Sirocco is published by Octopus, £25