Photo by Matt Russell
Yasmin Khan is a human rights campaigner and storyteller as well as a recipe writer, and the three strands of her work are illuminatingly woven into this, her new book, Zaitoun, an important collection of recipes and stories from the Palestinian kitchen. This is a politically engaged and hungry travelogue, and it is also an inspirational recipe book, and one that anyone who loves food will want to cook from, will need to cook from.
I have been playing very pleasurably with the book ever since I got my hands on it, and while I feel I have to bring to your attention the Apricot and Rose Water Rice Pudding and the Lentil, Aubergine and Pomegranate Stew, I do have to choose this recipe for Roast Red Peppers with Olives and Capers. I made it for lunch yesterday, and am already planning to cook it again tomorrow night. It would seem downright selfish not to share such a successful recipe with you here.
Extract taken from Zaitoun by Yasmin Khan (Bloomsbury, £26) is out 12 July.
Photography © Matt Russell
