Tonight's meal was partly inspired by an article I read by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall in the Saturday Guardian magazine. He was writing about how he'd gone over to eating largely veg, but for me one of the most interesting ideas was the influence this had had on the way he planned meals. He wrote that rather than trying to recreate a typical meat-based meal, he'd started to eat in a more 'meze' style, with various different dishes that everyone picked at and didn't necessarily go together to make a set planned meal-on-a-plate. I'd like to cook more vegetable-based meals, but I do often struggle to come up with ideas that will conform to that idea of a "proper" meal. As I think I've mentioned before, I'm not a big fan of cold food, so I don't think I could shift to his suggestions of humus, salad and bread type meals, but the idea of something more Mediterranean in style did quite appeal. I used to live in Greece and there when you ate out, you just ordered a selection of stuff and everyone tucked in.
As I had rather an odd selection of stuff in the fridge, it seemed like a good chance to put the idea into action. Perhaps ironically, the main ingredient was cold leftover chicken (!), but rather than trying to put it into some kind of dish, I just dished some out onto the plates, then put out some broad beans with chorizo:
Some wonderfully vivid beetroot dip (a couple of fresh, cooked beetroots whizzed up with some Greek yoghurt, spices - a teaspoon each of toasted and crushed cumin and coriander - and a squeeze of lemon juice) and some warm pitta bread.
Perhaps not something I'd do every night, but certainly really nice for a change.
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