Squash stuffed with freekeh pilaf
Roasted green wheat or freekeh is a wheat berry that has been harvested early and smoked in the fields; it used to be the main cereal for the people of Lebanon, Palestine and Syria before the introduction of rice; it is currently experiencing a revival of sorts amongst the...
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Scallops on artichoke bottoms in a tahini sauce
This recipe is based on a classic dish in Lebanese cuisine called tagen. Tagen is a fish stew that is composed of fish with caramelized onions bathing in a tahini and lemon sauce. I found some frozen artichoke bottoms at the middle-eastern grocer imported from Egypt. Artichoke bottoms are...
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Sweet Lemons or Persian Limes
We used to love these sweet lemons; I still remember the excitement when they would first show up and we’d get a few at home! These look like fat lemons, but have absolutely no acidity whatsoever! We used to eat them as a snack after school. I thought they would...
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Cream pudding (Ashtalieh)
Commercial kitchens from Milan to Sydney to Singapour to Dallas are serving Panna Cotta these days. I get the impression that most chefs the world over think that Italy is where the mediterranean starts and ends! I wish they would serve what we call ashtaliyeh.Ashta is the word for...
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Taro root with spinach
Taro root is a vegetable that is commonly used in Lebanon, especially during Lent. It is cultivated locally and known as kolkass; I know from my Egyptian friend Phoebe that the Egyptians love it too; in fact, when I stopped by the Palestinian grocer I found bags of Taro root...
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Cauliflower with tarator sauce
Some women like to buy new shoes or earrings; I like to buy cool-looking veggies. I thought these purple and yellow cauliflower would make Dali proud. In any case, cauliflower in Lebanese cuisine are blanched then fried then served with a tarator sauce. I did not fry them, merely roasted...
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Bulgur and tomato casserole with eggplant
One of the most popular dishes in the near-east is makloubet al-batenjan: It is a casserole of rice and lamb chunks encased in eggplant slices. To die for. I made a lighter dish and it is meatless. No less delicious it was gobbled up in no time. Eggplant, coarse bulgur,...
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Tahini Brownie
I saw a Lent-friendly recipe on Maryline’s blog En Direct d’Athènes. It was for a large chocolate cake in which the butter (forbidden) was replaced by tahini and the milk (forbidden) replaced by rum! I thought: Why don’t I try to make a brownie for Lent? Or just any...
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Fava bean and yogurt stew over Basmati rice
In the Near East, everybody is crazy about fava beans; it’s my mother’s favorite dish. In our family, fava beans were made in a yogurt-based stew with lamb shanks. I grabbed a bag of frozen fava beans from the Palestinian grocer; these are imported from Egypt ( fava beans are...
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