Garlic tahini, properly loosened
Nutty, garlicky and pourable. The sauce that makes vegetables interesting.
At a Glance
Story
Tahini misbehaves before it behaves. The moment lemon juice hits it the whole bowl stiffens into paste, which looks like a disaster and is actually the point. Whisk in water a splash at a time and it turns pale, silky and pourable. The seizing and the loosening are the same emulsion breaking and reforming, so hold your nerve.
Ingredients
- 1 garlic clovecut in half, green shoot removed
- saltto taste
- ⅓ cup sesame tahinistirred well in the jar
- 2 tbsp fresh lemon juiceup to 4, more to taste
- Aleppo pepper or red pepper flakesfor sprinkling
Method
A sauce for roasted anything. Cauliflower and roast carrots wear it best, a bowl of rice drinks it up and it keeps in the fridge for days, though the garlic gets louder as it sits, so make it the day you want it.
- Mash the garlic to a purée with a generous pinch of salt in a mortar, or on the board with the flat of your knife. The salt is your grit, it does half the work.
- Scrape the garlic into a bowl and whisk in the tahini. Add the lemon juice, starting with the smaller amount. The mixture will stiffen dramatically. It is supposed to, keep whisking.
- Whisk in up to ⅓ cup ice-cold water, a splash at a time, until it has the consistency of thick cream. Cold water whips it paler and silkier than warm ever will. Taste, adjust the salt and lemon, and finish with a dusting of Aleppo.
More to cook
Crisp rice cakes and sausage in a ketchup glaze
Rice cakes fried until they crackle, then lacquered in ketchup and miso with the sausage.
A full course of Italian penicillin
Chicken soup's glamorous Italian cousin, with a spicy crumb and a cold lemon dollop.
Harissa shrimp broiled over a tray of greens
The greens go in first with half a cup of water, and the shrimp only arrive once the broiler takes over.
Salt and pepper dumplings straight from the freezer
Frozen potstickers and green beans, tossed at the last second in salt, sugar and more black pepper than seems wise.
Garlic noodles the way San Francisco does them
Two heads of garlic, plenty of butter and three bottles from the cupboard, done in the time it takes to boil the pasta.
Shrimp over creamed corn, and rather a lot of feta
Corn simmered soft in cream and butter, then blitzed until chunky and used the way you would use grits.
Creamy lemon spaghetti with a Sichuan pepper buzz
Crème fraîche, miso and lemon make the sauce, and toasted Sichuan peppercorns go in twice so your lips hum.
Chicken sausage and lemon, baked as a lasagna
A lasagna that went on holiday and came back with a tan and a lemon habit.
Pumpkin pasta with sausage and crisp sage
Tinned pumpkin, Gruyère and a sheet pan to crisp the lot.
Sausage lasagna spread thin for the crust
Lasagna with no layers, baked flat on a sheet pan, and an insult to nonnas everywhere.
Vodka rigatoni, baked till the tops crackle
Vodka sauce given a sheet pan, a jar of Calabrian chilis and a honey drizzle it did nothing to deserve.
Charred corn and halloumi panzanella with chili crisp
One bowl, mostly made in the morning, so the cook can sit down with the guests.
Chicken and zucchini meatballs under a feta sauce
Half the meatball is grated zucchini, which is the only reason a chicken meatball has any business being this juicy.
Dan dan noodles, served cold on purpose
The sesame and chile sauce is bossy enough to work as a dressing, so the noodles never need to be hot.
Zucchini parmesan, roasted not fried
All the comfort of the fried original, a fraction of the oil, and no pan spitting at you.