One hundred Sundays

and a recipe for tahini swirls that will make your Sunday sweet

Today’s newsletter, dear readers, marks a rather lovely milestone.

For the past 100 Sundays I’ve published an issue of Delicious Bits. If you’ve been with me on this journey from the start, you’ve gotten to know me quite well. You know my food tastes, like my topics, range far and wide. That I’m somewhat unpredictable, not willing to be constrained by a set formula or a cooking category.

I’m more of the moment than plan ahead. Sticking to a schedule and a routine stifles me. While I long to be that person who writes my newsletters weeks in advance, sets expectations and meets them, invariably I’m all over the place. So, Delicious Bits might be waiting for you as you welcome Sunday, or might pop in to your box to read alongside a second cup of coffee. Some Sundays it barely beats midnight, perhaps giving you parting words to lull you to sleep.

Most of all, you know by now that I'm forever curious, always adventurous and usually hungry. And that combination has led me to explore myriad ideas, emotions, trends with, of course, always a delicious recipe to share.

Of things past

This newsletter wasn’t my first go at food writing. I started a food blog in 2009, at a moment in time when food blogs and bloggers were in ascendency. The leader of the pack, of course, was Julie Powell*, whose blog The Julie/Julia Project, set the standard and the dream of what a lowly food blogger, writing and cooking in obscurity, could eventually achieve. She single-handedly planted the hidden longing in many to become famous through food.

*Julie Powell tragically passed away on October 26 at the age of 49. She leaves behind a legacy of shaping the way we think about and write about food.

The blog that started it all: Julie Powell’s first post in The Julie/Julia Project

And so I jumped in the fray. Then, as now, it was the writing and the cooking that motivated me to write, phantom fame aside. It was fun to learn to write a recipe correctly, to photograph food, to find the story behind a dish. I forged a far flung community of like-minded people through foodie gatherings and social media.

An early entry from my now defunct food blog

But writing is a lonely pursuit, especially when you push your words into the world without really knowing who they reach and whether they’ve had any impact. My enthusiasm for my blog waned, although the cooking and the community never did.

Still, the idea of writing never really left me. As Farmer Hogget says in Babe: “Little ideas that tickle and nag and refuse to go away, should never be ignored, for in them lie the seeds of destiny.”

The clarity of distance

Perhaps that’s why I’m especially proud of this 100th Sunday. The years that have passed since that first blog - years of more life experience, more joy and sorrows, more dreams and friendships born, losses and gains - have given me an even better foundation to draw upon and tell a story, one that is often about much more than food.

This little missive, with its erratic schedule, random thoughts, motley mix of recipes and ideas, has given me a place and space to simply be. Although I still do wonder what happens when I hit “publish”, who my musings resonate with, whether someone tries a recipe or repeats a story, still I’m content to carry on.

With readers close to home and as far away as Vietnam, Australia, Egypt, the UK, Dubai and Singapore, I love to imagine that at any time on a Sunday, someone, somewhere might be reading this.

So thank you, dear readers, wherever this newsletter finds you. I love having join me at this virtual table of ideas.

Sweet tahini swirls

from Ripe Figs, Yasmin Khan

makes 8

For this special issue of Delicious Bits, I’m challenging you with a recipe that’s a bit more time consuming but well worth the effort. From Yasmin Khan’s excellent cookbook, these Cypriot buns get a touch of Scandinavia with my addition of cardamom. To help along the way, this great video from Delicious magazine is an excellent how-to on shaping the swirls.

Notes:

Tahini: Like natural peanut butter, tahini tends to separate. Be sure to mix the oil and sesame paste together to incorporate fully before measuring out what’s needed for the recipe.

Superfine (caster) sugar: Quite commonly used in other parts of the world baking, superfine or caster sugar is simply granulated white sugar with finer crystals. You can find it in specialty shops, but I make my own by whizzing regular granulated sugar in a food processor for 30 seconds.

Ingredients

2½ cups (300 g) bread flour, plus extra to dust

1½ tablespoon instant yeast

½ teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon superfine sugar (see headnote)

½ cup plus 2 tablespoons (150 ml)lukewarm whole milk

2 tablespoons lukewarm water

1 egg at room temperature, beaten

5 tablespoons sunflower oil

White sesame seeds to sprinkle

For the filling

7 tablespoons (125 g) tahini (see headnote)

½ cup plus 2 tablespoons (125 g) superfine sugar

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon ground cardamom (optional)

For the glaze

1 egg yolk, lightly beaten

1 teaspoon superfine sugar

1. Put the flour, yeast, salt and sugar in a bowl and whisk to mix. Make a well in the middle and pour in the lukewarm milk and water, the egg and oil. Mix together to form a dough, then knead on a lightly floured work surface and transfer to a stand mixer with a dough hook. Knead for 5 minutes or until smooth and elastic. Put in a bowl, cover with a damp clean tea towel and rest in a warm place for 1–1½ hours until doubled in size.

2. Spoon the tahini, sugar, cinnamon and cardamom for the filling into a bowl and mix to a thick paste.

3. On a lightly floured surface, divide the dough into 8 pieces. Take each piece of dough, roll it into a ball, then squash it into a flat disc about the size of your palm. Spoon one teaspoon of the filling onto the disc and spread it out until it covers the centre. Now pinch the sides of the dough inwards, so the filling is enclosed, then squash the dough flat into a disc again. Repeat, adding the filling to the other side. This incorporates layers of the tahini filling into the dough.

4. Using your hands, gently mold each piece of dough into a sausage shape by carefully rolling and stretching it until you have a thin roll around 10 inches long and 1½ inches wide. Don’t worry if the dough break apart or the tahini oozes out; the next steps will incorporate everything together.

5. Use a knife to spread more of the filling along the top of the roll of pastry, then gently twirl the two ends to form a loose spiral, like a cheese twist. Finally, roll up this spiral into a coil and use your palm to press it down and flatten it out a little.

6. Put the tahini swirls on the prepared tray and repeat with the remaining pieces of dough, leaving a gap between each swirl. Let rest for 20 minutes while you heat the oven to 160°C

7. Mix the egg yolk and sugar for the glaze, then brush it over the swirls. Sprinkle sesame seeds on top, then bake for 20-25 minutes or until cooked through and golden brown. Leave to cool for 20 minutes before serving.

The swirls will keep for up to 3 days in an airtight container; reheat briefly before serving. They also freeze well – put them in the oven from frozen and heat at 160°C for 10 minutes.