Grape molasses spread
I am sorry. I cannot tell you to go out and get this from your health food store or Arabic store. It is an ancient food, made with grape juice, boiled to death and then whipped (called debs el-3enab madroob). Even in Beirut, most of the people I ask have...
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Tomato soup with freekeh
Freekeh is an ancient grain used in the region for at least two thousand years. It is basically wheat berries picked early when still green and smoked over an open fire. Freekeh is cooked like rice and has a wonderful smoky flavor, lots of protein, minerals and iron, in short,...
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Maamoul
Happy Easter and Happy Passover! Maamoul in Lebanon are the traditional cookies for these holidays, and I have kept my grandmother’s recipe and shared it on the blog and on television (Daytime, Youtube). Lately, pastry chefs in Lebanon have gotten creative with maamoul, using different fillings instead of the traditional...
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Spinach lasagne
After weeks of restrained eating prior to the Easter feast, we are finally loosening up with a simple, yet luscious lasagne stuffed with fresh steamed spinach and coated in a creamy white sauce. This is Italian-style cuisine at its finest, the way I learned to prepare it with the late...
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Foraging wild edible greens
Spring is the best time for foraging in Lebanon. The mountains are covered with an explosion of wildflowers and greens and a large number of them are even edible. Fortunately, I have a friend up in the Chouf mountains (around 3000 feet alt.) and like all her friends and neighbors,...
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Edible flower salad
I’ve discovered this farmer (and his produce) through a friend of my aunt’s. He apparently gave-up a lucrative job in finance to take-up his dream, farming. It is set-up like a CSA, with a basket of fresh picks delivered to one’s door every week. What thrilled me was that he...
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Dandelion Stew
I bought some zereshk in an Iranian Bazaar event held every year in the basement of the Holiday Inn in downtown Beirut. Going there is a bit surreal. The hotel is guarded by the army, and its facade still bears all the marks of the fierce fighting that took place in...
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Candied orange peels (Murabba al-busfeyr)
This is the uber traditional Lebanese confection, made yearly by every grandmother in the country whenever Seville oranges (busfeyr) are available. I figured I’d seize my chance when I noticed some. My aunt Wadad was pronounced the sole expert in the family (as the eldest, she learned it from my grandmother before...
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Shanklish cheese
The greatest benefit of blogging is that it has allowed me to meet wonderful people from around the globe. For instance, I met Sylva Titizian, an Armenian-Lebanese, whose family settled in Kessab (Syria), and who now is an American living in California. She generously shared her grandmother’s recipe for a...
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