I’m afraid I must admit that when I first heard that Hot Date! was to be published on March the 13th, I couldn’t help feeling that its publishers had missed a trick not publishing it a month earlier in time for St Valentine’s Day. But, once I had the book in my hands, I could see that it was very far from being a novelty cookbook. It’s exuberant – in look and tone – and certainly not conventionally designed, but it’s nevertheless a seriously interesting dive into the date from a seriously interesting author, the artist and erstwhile poetry lecturer, Rawaan Alkhatib. Born and brought up in Dubai, of Palestinian and Indian heritage, and now a resident of New York, she is – with her combination of playfulness and reflective bent for enquiry – the perfect guide to her subject. And I do relish a single-focus cookbook! I also happen to love what dates can do in a dish, especially intriguingly a savoury one, and there are plenty in this book that I long to cook.
There’s a Claudia Roden recipe I'm fond of, from her most recent book, Med, for Lentils and Rice with Dates and Caramelised Onions, a family take on the plainer classic Mujadarra, and dates feature, too, in Alkhatib’s Mujadarra, though her version differs in that it is made with bulgur wheat – and I’m enormously happy to be introduced to it! Other recipes that had me bookmarking greedily are the Date and Kashkaval Grilled Cheese; Baked Camembert with dates and garlic; Bacon Breakfast Sandwiches with Spiced Date Chilli Crisp (which I want to add to so much); Beef and Pistachio Meatballs (a few fudgy chopped dates go into the mix); Milk-Braised Lamb Shanks with Mughal Spices; 13-Hour Lamb with Date and Feta Relish; and the beguiling Butter-Roasted Radishes, the butter also incorporating a gorgeously heady combination of anchovies, capers, garlic and lemon. From her dessert trolley, as it were, I must mention to you the Whole Roasted Pineapple Draped in Spiced Caramel (which features date molasses); Summer Plums in Date Syrup; and her date-studded Salted Halwa Brownie Cookies.
And, despite my earlier remark about an interest in what dates can do in savoury cooking, it is from this sweet section that I’ve chosen the recipe to share with you today: her swoon-inducing Chocolate Sorbet with Warm Salted Dates.
From Hot Date! Sweet & Savoury Recipes Celebrating the Date, from Party Food to Everyday Feasts by Rawaan Alkhatib, published by Chronicle Books.
Photos by Linda Xiao.
