Medesque – Everyday Recipes with Mediterranean Root – Perfectly timed to coincide with the warmer weather, Medesque, by Georgina Hayden is a gorgeous cookbook, published this week, that will take your appetite straight to the Mediterranean. There are over 100 delicious and easy recipes to be cooked at home by anyone and everyone. From weeknight dinners to weekend feasts, travel through Italy, Spain, the Middle East and beyond with these tempting recipes.
Georgina Hayden is a multi-award-winning cook and food writer from north London.She writes for publications such as The Telegraph, Delicious Magazine and Observer Food Monthly, and in 2021 won the Fortnum & Mason Best Cookery Writer Award for her work in Waitrose Food magazine. She has appeared on Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour, and regularly appears on Channel 4’s Sunday Brunch and BBC1’s Saturday Kitchen. Growing up above her grandparents’ Greek Cypriot taverna, Georgina developed a love of cooking and storytelling through the recipes passed down to her. She started her career working at various food magazines, and then went on to join Jamie Oliver’s food team where she worked for 12 years. Her third book, Nistisima (2022), was a Sunday Times bestseller and was voted Best Cookbook at the OFM and Fortnum & Mason Awards. Its follow up, Greekish (2024), became another Sunday Times bestseller and was shortlisted for Book of the Year at the British Book Awards. Medesque is her fifth book.
Published by Bloomsbury at £26 for a lovely hardback, it’s packed with inspiration and beautiful photography. Here are a couple of recipes to tempt you to buy the book.
Vadouvan roast carrots, yogurt and coriander (SERVES 4 – 6)
“Vadouvan is a French spice blend of South Indian origin, dating from the days when the nation colonised Pondicherry in Tamil Nadu. You can use any Indian spice blend, so don’t be put off if you can’t find vadouvan, but it is worth hunting down if you can. You can turn this side dish into a light lunch, if you add warmed flatbreads.”
750g carrots (I like to use the chubby baby ones but you can use regular carrots and cut them to a similar size)
2 red onions
Olive oil
2 teaspoons vadouvan spice blend
½ bunch of mint
1 bunch of coriander
300g Greek yogurt (dairy-free, if needed)
1 lemon
1 garlic clove
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Preheat the oven to 220°C/200°C fan/gas mark 7. Trim the carrots, peel if necessary and cut small carrots into halves or quarters, and larger carrots into chunks. Place in a large roasting tray. Peel the onions, halve and cut into thin wedges. Place in the roasting tray, drizzle generously with olive oil, season well and sprinkle with the vadouvan spice blend. Roast for around 25 minutes, until the carrots are tender and charred.
Meanwhile, pick the mint leaves and finely chop most of them, with most of the coriander (I like to keep the soft coriander stalks in the mixture, but you can leave them out and just pick the leaves too if you like). Place the yogurt in a mixing bowl, season well and squeeze in the lemon juice. Finely grate in the garlic clove and stir in the chopped herbs. Spoon on to a serving platter.
When the carrots are ready, pile them on to the herby yogurt, scatter the remaining herb leaves on top and serve.
Basil Viennetta (SERVES 10 –12)
“You might not be surprised to learn that this recipe was one of the most popular when we were testing dishes for the book. Firstly, of course, because it is delicious – it tastes unreal – secondly because everyone got a huge tug of nostalgia, and thirdly because testers became giddy with excitement, trying to figure out what the flavour was. I love herbs used in sweet things. Don’t tell anyone what’s in this, make them guess. It’s much more fun that way.”
150g 70 per cent cocoa solids chocolate
Good pinch of sea salt flakes
Pot, or large bunch (about 50g) of basil
300g caster sugar
400ml double cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
250g mascarpone
2 tablespoons milk
Line a 900g loaf tin with clingfilm, leaving some to hang over the sides. Roughly chop 125g of the chocolate and melt in a microwave, or in a heatproof bowl over a small pan of simmering water (make sure the bowl does not touch the water). Keep stirring until just melted, stir in the salt, then set aside for 10 minutes.
Meanwhile, pick most of the basil, stalks and all, place in a high-speed blender and blitz with 150g of the sugar, 100ml of the double cream and the vanilla until smooth. Blitz in the mascarpone and milk. Place the remaining double cream in the bowl of a stand mixer (or use a large mixing bowl and electric beaters) with the remaining 150g of sugar, then whip until you have medium-stiff peaks. Fold in the basil mascarpone mixture. Evenly drizzle one-fifth of the molten chocolate into the base of the lined tin, then spoon in one-quarter of the basil cream. Repeat these layers with the remaining chocolate and cream: you should have 4 layers of cream, topped and tailed with chocolate. Cover with the overhanging clingfilm and place in the freezer for at least 6 hours.
When you are ready to serve, melt the remaining 25g of chocolate, then set aside for 10 minutes as before. Turn out the ice cream onto a serving plate, drizzle with the cooled molten chocolate, scatter with the remaining basil leaves (unless you are keeping the flavour a secret!) and serve.
The Seasoned Gastronome