Day 60: a bejewelled mound of deliciousness

I have cooked this one before, several years ago now, but when I saw it on Twitter as Nigella’s #RecipeOfTheDay (fairly recently), I immediately recalled its joy and knew I had to include it in this cookalong (and fairly soon). Therefore, I am thrilled to announce that today's pick was Nigella’s Beef and Aubergine Fatteh; which you’ll find, in all its glory, within Nigella’s At My Table cookbook and also online (link at bottom).

Nigella’s Beef and Aubergine Fatteh

Strictly speaking, I should be referring to this version as a pork and aubergine fatteh, as I used minced pork and not minced beef, but it’s still (very) strictly based - other than that small edit - on Nigella’s recipe, so I’ll stick with the original nomenclature here.

I’ve done a little research and, according to a very quick and superficial scan through the results, fatteh is a dish comprised of pieces of flatbread (fresh, toasted, or stale) that are topped with an array of ingredients; so very much like a refined, Middle-Eastern form of nachos, as Nigella describes. The toppings also seem to vary greatly depending on the region, too. Fatteh is the Arabic word for “crushed” and is the name given to all variations on this dish comprising of crushed/crumbled flatbreads covered with region-specific toppings.

Even though there are only two of us, I cooked this to the quantities in Nigella’s original recipe; leftovers are always welcomed in this house (in fact, encouraged), and considering I did overbake the pita bread pieces - an overnight stint in the fridge covered in the meat and yoghurt could only help in softening them. When I went to get all of the ingredients together to start making this, someone, who shall remain unnamed - but it wasn’t me and there’s only one other person living in the house - had eaten half of the yoghurt; considering I like saucy/moist dinners, therefore, this was a bit dry for me as the final assembly was partially deprived of its yoghurty topping.

Flavour musings

Building a bejewelled mound of crispy pita bread, spiced meat, and a garlicky, tahini-spiked yoghurt, with a glamorous adornment of pomegranate seeds, toasted pinenuts, and shredded mint leaves; Nigella’s Beef and Aubergine Fatteh is as rewarding to assemble as it is to eat.

This is the kind of food I love: a dish you place in the middle for all to pick from, even if it may only be the two of us right now. It gives you time to stop, spend some time together, catch up and, of course, enjoy a glass of wine (or tipple of your choice) with some light-hearted banter. It also tastes absolutely delicious and I could very happily enjoy a bowl of just the tahini garlic yoghurt with warm flatbreads to dip.