Yoghurt rich, soft and silky flatbreads

Eating outdoors stimulates the appetite, to the point where even if diners gathered around your feasting table or picnic mat have had their ample share, they will always find room for just one more serving. That vitamin D rich sunshine does more than enhance the absorption of calcium, vitamin C and other essentials elements. It lifts our mood, relaxes the body and we find ourselves lingering over lunch, rather than eating on the run. An outdoor meal can consist of a family feast, a freshly baked bun like my flatbreads pictured above stuffed with favourite fillings, or simply a bowl of quickly cooked savoury rice, eaten perched on stone steps, in the cubby house fort or lounging in a chair under the trees. My children adore this pancetta veggie rice which I usually make in bulk and stuff into insulated containers for school lunches the next day. 

My mother is an advocate of eating outdoors and is convinced that if I did it more often it would “put meat on my scrawny bones”. I remind her that the familial trait of a fast metabolism is the reason for my frame – which by the way is healthy not scrawny- because I enjoy eating and eat well every day. Skipping meals has no such place in my daily routine and I encourage my children to eat regular, healthy meals too. Of course there are treats, mostly beautiful home made morsels of baking bliss, but the muffins, cakes, cookies and slices are served up in moderation. That is the key.


These moist chocolate brownies formed part of Friday’s afternoon tea when my children tumbled through the door from school. The snack was also supplemented with a freshly cut fruit salad and Greek style yoghurt, with a glass of milk. 

On Saturday afternoon, my cocoa cinnamon scented banana bread made with olive oil rather than butter and a small amount of raw sugar, rather than over-processed white sugar was sliced up and served to peckish little ones. I added a smear of cream cheese and a couple of crushed raspberries to my slice which would actually make a popular addition to a weekend brunch with extended family or friends. 

Polished off alongside was a platter of vegetable sticks and crackers with avocado guacamole made from scratch by my 10 year old daughter Eva. My only offer of assistance was to cut the avocado in half and remove the pip to avoid Eva from lacerating her hand, which is exactly what I did earlier in the week when I was slicing semi-defrosted bacon incorrectly. A big no-no by the way, is to cut towards your hand rather than away from it. My father drummed this tip into me as a teenager, but occasionally when in haste I ignore his advice and end up sporting either a series of steri-strips or stiches. My eager daughter completed the dish, with all fingers intact, and even took care of the not-so-appealing clean up at the end. 

I had whizzed up a bowl of roasted eggplant, yoghurt and lemon dip as part of dinner and added a a couple of dollops to the platter as well. Pictured below are both dips as well as the actual eggplant just as I pulled it from a hot oven where it has roasted for 45 minutes. The flesh was soft as butter and scooped out easily into the blender where the other ingredients were added. 

Most of this smokey dip was served up with the aromatic beef, lamb, lemon and broad bean meatballs from the Jerusalem cookbook, along with a simple steamed cinnamon pilaf. I doubled the quantity described in Yottam Ottolenghi and Sami Tamimi’s book so that we feasted on leftovers for Sunday lunch on our sunny deck. Mid-week I referred to the same cookbook when preparing the Lamb Shawarma from a lovely pink leg of lamb. Slowly baked for three hours and coated in a a rich spiced paste, the resulting lamb pictured below, was tender, moist and full of flavour. All that remained was the shank bone. 


Back to today’s outdoor lunchtime feast… The golden wholemeal loaf (or what’s left of one of the loaves I made) with its satisfyingly crunchy crust came in handy mopping up the meatball juices. An extra slice was spread with butter and honey for my four year old son Luka who was recalling a scene from one of his favourite Pamela Allen picture books entitled Brown Bread and Honey. Yes, there’s often a sense of theatre around our mealtime table, especially when one of the kids pretends to be a cat and proceeds to lick their plate amidst peels of laughter from the their siblings. Absolutely not! 

Aside from the familiar, comforting aroma generated by bread as it bakes, making your own savoury breads and buns, means that you can control the amount of yeast that is used and the type and combination of flours. My maternal grandmother Baba Joka, always erred on the side of using less yeast (which is better for the tummy) preferring instead to rely on the raw dough resting just that little bit longer to still achieve an impressively sized and light textured loaf.

Colour, interest and essential vitamins came jam packed in a sensational spring time salad, (also served for lunch) and made by combining oven roasted organic beetroots, with finely sliced celery, cucumbers, heirloom tomatoes, creamy avocado and dressing with vino cotto, cinnamon, olive oil and a good grind of salt and black pepper. 

As for this evening’s dinner? In the spirit of outdoor weekend eating, lunch had been particularly plentiful and started at 2 o’clock after the kids came home with their father, following an energetic bike ride exploring our picturesque neighbourhood. A simple iron rich spinach, cheese and herb pie was enjoyed with Greek style yoghurt (yes, we eat a fair bit of the stuff, 3 kilos a week easily). This is an excellent way of encouraging little ones to eat spinach because this dish has loads of taste and appealing texture. Dinner was followed by bathtime, bedtime stories for the little ones, running through the week’s schedule with the older kids and finally turning their bedroom lights off. I must say, that in a household of six children and two adults, I certainly notice and appreciate the quiet at this time of the night. The only audible noises are the the humming of the fridges, the occasional creaking of floorboards and the insistent tap, tap, tapping of my fingers on this keyboard.