Terra Rossa Zaatar Sauce

Terra Rossa Zaatar Sauce is a blend of Terra Rossa’s finest cold-extraction olive oil, together with a rich zaatar spice mix and dry roasted pine nuts.  Zaatar or za’atar simply means ‘thyme’ in Arabic, and this zaatar spice blend combines intensely aromatic Palestinian wild thyme with sesame seeds, salt and sumac.

Serve in traditional Middle Eastern style: drizzle over greek yoghurt, use as a marinade for meats, or make the famous Levantine pizza, manaqeesh ,by spreading the zaatar sauce over flatbreads before baking. Alternatively, serve the zaatar sauce as a dipping sauce with fresh bread.

It can also be thought of as ‘thyme pesto’, so try Terra Rossa’s Zaatar Sauce wherever you would normally use basil pesto. The wild thyme blend is fantastic with chicken and white fish, making the zaatar sauce ideal to use as a marinade or a serving sauce. Or mix a generous spoonful of Terra Rossa’s Zaatar Sauce into crème fraiche, sour cream or cottage cheese, and heap the mixture over a jacket potato for something quick and tasty.

Terra Rossa’s founder, Hanan Samara, has created a beautiful range of spices and sauces based on the Middle Eastern flavours from her childhood. Hanan was born in Iraq to Palestinian parents and exiled to the UK In 1969. Terra Rossa is the Latin name for ‘red soil’, and the Romans’ biblical name for the Levant area of the Middle East with its distinctive coloured earth – spreading across Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Israel and Palestine.

Today Hanan travels to Jordan twice a year to meet with the master spice blender at her favourite spice market. They taste the spices together to ensure the flavours are consistent year round, adjusting the recipe a little every time. In a milder year, they might use a touch more of the stronger Palestinian za’atar or wild thyme. And in a different season, perhaps more of the milder Jordanian za’atar. Hanan then uses these spices to make Terra Rossa’s sauces in the UK, with flavours inspired by her heritage. The spice blends and sauces win Great Taste Awards year after year.

Once opened top up with oil, keep refrigerated and consume within 2 weeks. Stir thoroughly before use. Ingredients: extra virgin olive oil, zaatar [thyme leaves, sesame seeds, sumac, salt], pine nuts. Contains allergens: sesame, pine nuts.

Best before 15th June 2017