Baby Octopus salad
When the weather is warm, who wants heavy food? Light, grills in five minutes, baby octopus salad is the answer in my book. INGREDIENTS: 1 pound baby octopus 2 large lemons olive oil Dressing: 2 cloves of garlic, mashed with a pinch of salt, juice of a large lemon,...
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10-minute baklava
In Lebanon, nobody makes baklava at home! Every neighborhood has at least one famous pastry-maker whose family has been making it for hundreds of years.People just buy it! I had used phyllo dough a few times over the years; decided it was too much trouble. Then one day, a...
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Pasta with muhammara sauce
Muhammara, a word that means “reddened” is a dip in our neck of the woods; it originated in Aleppo in Syria but is prepared and served as a mezze (appetizer) all over Lebanon. When I first tasted it in the town of Zahlé, in the Bekaa valley, a town...
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Tahini-Nutella (Tanella)
Nutella is sickeningly sweet, yet people love it and children adore it; fine! I am making a Tanella (not too sweet, creamy, nutty-tasting, smooth, luscious). I am substituting tahini for hazelnut paste and making a homemade version that is stored in a jar in the fridge and can be used...
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Charlotte of couscous and zucchini
A Lebanese-American , Rima Fakih, won the Miss USA 2010 title. I found tiny zucchini at the Palestinian grocer (resembling the Lebanese ones in looks if not taste) and bought them on an impulse; then I realized I had no desire to do the usual and traditional coring and...
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Stuffed potato balls (Batata chap)
When your kids grow up and live their own lives, you find yourself reminiscing about your own childhood; which brings me to these memories of Iraq. My dad,a man not inclined to vacationing, had decided to take us to Iraq; he had lived there as a bachelor, and had...
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Eggplant Tostada
I switched from eggplant fattoush,a salad from our sister city, Damascus (Syria), to an eggplant tostada. Instead of making pita croutons and frying them, I figured I would save time and effort and present the eggplant salad on a pita, grilled instead of fried. A sprinkle of halloumi (or...
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Chocolate salami
This is an after-school treat straight from childhood; it is so popular in Beirut that coffee houses offer it now everywhere. I have often wondered about the origin of this chocolate confection and after surfing dozens of French blogs, it appears that it comes from France. You will keep your chocolate...
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Cheese puffs with halloumi and zaatar
That’s another appetizer that will disappear in minutes and that you can prepare in advance; bake it 30 minutes before you start serving drinks so they will be piping hot or reheat if you like to do the job ahead; this is a Lebanese version of the French gougères,...
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