Dolma and plakiya: Aleksandar Taralezhkov’s recipes for vegetable summer time snacks | Meals

My late grandmother instilled a love of meals in me, as a result of after I was a toddler in Bulgaria, I used to be at all times within the kitchen “serving to”. She used to chase me round the home with pepper dolmas for my obligatory afternoon snack (dare you skip it, your growth as a healthful human being was in jeopardy). On my visits house, my mom now greets me together with her inexperienced bean stew that sits proudly among the many pantheon of culinary divinities reminiscent of meatballs with tomato sauce, moussaka and, in fact, dolmas and sarmas.

Inexperienced bean plakiya with roast garlic (pictured high)

My mom swears that this extraordinarily simple and scrumptious dish preserves all of the flavour in every vegetable. Plakiya is a mode of cooking by which greens are sliced, layered, roasted and served at room temperature; it additionally includes a very good quantity of garlic. Pick the cloves as you go, or squeeze them everywhere in the completed dish. I at all times have yoghurt on the aspect.

Prep 15 min
Cook dinner 45 min
Serves 4

500g inexperienced beans
1½ heads garlic
4 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp salt
1 tsp black pepper
4-5 medium tomatoes
1 handful parsley

Warmth the oven to 240C (220C fan)/475F/gasoline 9. Roughly chop the beans and half-head of garlic, put them in a bowl with half the oil, a teaspoon of salt and the black pepper, and stir to coat. Lower the tomatoes alongside the equator into 1cm-thick slices.

Prepare a layer of tomatoes in a 22cm ovenproof dish, scatter over a little bit salt, high with a layer of the bean combine, and repeat, ending with a layer of tomatoes.

Lower the highest off the entire garlic bulb to reveal the cloves, and push this into the center of the tomato and bean stack, so it sits degree with the highest, then drizzle over the remaining oil. Cowl the dish with a lid or foil, roast for 20 minutes, then uncover and roast for 25 minutes extra. Take away, go away to chill to room temperature, then serve topped with chopped parsley.

Contemporary pepper dolma

This salad-like dolma is a refined model of my grandma’s dish that mixes seasonal herbs with no matter is handy – nuts, pickles, preserves – all folded into moreish feta and butter, and stuffed into peppers. As a rule, I take advantage of a mix of herbs reminiscent of dill, parsley, oregano and thyme; nuts or seeds (it really works properly with pumpkin seeds, for instance) for chew; and a pickle reminiscent of preserved lemon or capers for a pointy cut-through; burn up the pickle seasoning that sits on the backside of the jar, too. Choosing multi-coloured peppers right here makes for a criminally engaging dish. And experiment with completely different white brined cheese – buffalo, sheep’s or goat’s cheese.

Prep 10 min
Serves 4

2-3 medium-sized lengthy peppers (bell peppers aren’t actually appropriate right here resulting from their giant diameter)
25g walnuts halves, finely chopped
1 handful every parsley and dill leaves, finely chopped
The rind from ½ preserved lemon
100g feta, crumbled
50g butter, at room temperature
Pickled purple onions, to serve
Fennel fronds, to serve
Olive oil, to serve

Lower the tops off the peppers, then scoop out and discard the pith and seeds; faucet out any cussed ones. In a small bowl, combine the walnuts, herbs, preserved lemon rind, feta and butter, then use a small spoon to stuff the combo into every pepper.

Lower the stuffed peppers into ½cm-thick rounds (if it’s a heat day, put them within the fridge for a couple of minutes to chill down first, which actually helps with the slicing). Prepare the pepper rings on a platter, high with the pickled onion, fennel and a number of the grit out of your pickle jars, when you like, end with loads of olive oil and serve.