Sarma

In February I went to Bath with some girls, and either because it was frickin' freezing or because I'm thick, the only memory I have is of all of us walking around, stopping every five minutes to pose and take pictures. At one point someone said 'Hey, lets all of us almost flash the camera!' That picture's in Facebook now, and let's just say some of us are almost flashing more than others...

The other thing is this Favorite Romany Recipes booklet by Keziah Cooper I bought in the train station gift shop as soon as we arrived. Yeah, it doesn't have anything to do with Bath. Every recipe has a little story preceeding it, and there's a bunch of ye olde time sepia photographs of caravans and horses and that kind of stuff all over the place. Cute.

I don't have access to a scanner today so I'll have to type out the recipe at the end, and take a photo of the cover, but I have a new phone, so hopefully the food will look as good as it... tastes hahaha

I'm not a big fan of the old 'a good pinch of' this and 'a mixture of' that, especially after I've been stung but playing fast and loose with the ingredient in the previous recipe. And I was about to halve all the ingredients when I thought that I didn't have enough rice, before I realised that 1 pound of cooked rice is made out of half a pound of uncooked rice. Thanks for keeping that to yourself, Keziah Cooper. But clock the cute little tomatoes from the garden :)
I didn't have any bacon, which is optional, but you're not told to put a little salt in the mixture if you don't use any. Is there a danger of this being, dare I say it, bland?
I'm still under the influence of Julia Child, from the weekend, so I'm using butter and not oil to prepare the filling, and it's pretty simple until you start trying to wrap them up in the cabbage leaves. I was really pleased with myself for having one of those gigantic flat cabbages from the Turkish supermarket, easy, right? No. A couple split and only one or two were neatly wrapped and tucked in to the steamer, I had visions of the contents spilling out, trickling through the holes and making a big mess... (Julia Child might tell me to have no fear!)

Result: You are meant to eat this with tomato or mushroom ketchup, Cooper gives the recipes for both, but I didn't have time to make either. That's Heinz in the picture, and I understood the recomendation as soon as I tasted it. The sweet acidity of the ketchup goes really well with the starchiness of the cabbage, without that it was blaaaaaaand. You can just about taste the dill and peppers, but next time I would cook the rice in stock and instead of steaming the parcels might stew them in tomato sauce. Otherwise, this is a dinner to make for yourself when you've been really bad >:( (that's what you get for being such a loser on a Friday night)


Sarma
When I was young we made several trips in May to the great annual Romany pilgrimage at Saintes Maries-de-la-Mer in the Camargue in Souther France. Apart from the excitement of seeing the Camargue cowboys rounding up the wild horses, there was something magical about witnessing so many different tribes coming together in one place. Our aitchen tan (stopping place) was part of a rich tapestry of different cultures. This recipe was garnered from out neighbours there and is one I always associate with those colourful spice-and-garlic scented visits.

Large cabbage leaves (red or green)
4 shallots or a handful of ramsons (leaves and bulbs), chopped
A little oil or butter
2 well flavoured tomatoes, chopped
A mixture of sweet peppers, de-seeded and chopped
Diced cooked meat or bacon (optional)
1 lb plain boiled rice
A good pinch of fresh chopped herbs (dill, parsley, marjoram)
4 oz smoked or herbed soft cheese
1 large egg, beaten

Saute the shallots or ramsons in the oil or butter until soft, add the tomatoes, peppers and meat (if used) and cook lightly. Remove from the heat and combine the rice, herbs and the cheese into the mixture, including the beaten egg. Fill the cabbage leaves with the mixture and fold them over to make secure parcels. Steam these for twenty minutes and serve with tomato or mushroom ketchup