Acorn coffee
It has been my privilege to befriend Philippe and Saidé, people I consider Salt of the Earth: Seasoned farmers (for generations) in the Lebanese mountains. They raised six beautiful children, all grown and gone to live an urban life in Beirut or in North America. Here they are, left with an intimate...
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Hummus Beirut
A great recipe from chef Marlene Matar’s latest book Maedat Marlene men Halab, a cookbook devoted to dishes from Aleppo (Syria); she calls this hummus Beiruti which means from Beirut, however she writes that the hummus is also called from Aleppo. I guess it straddles the two cities and that’s...
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Cauliflower soup
My daughter has been sick for two solid weeks (flu, sore throat, constant coughing) spending her college Christmas break in bed; so when I saw Katie’s cauliflower soup, I was immediately inspired. Katie added turmeric to her soup which gave it a golden hue (very pretty) and some crunchy...
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Saint Sarkis cake (vegan)
We can all agree that food is a lot more fun and interesting when it comes along with a story. This cake was posted by my facebook friend Annie Vas with the story that it is to celebrate Saint Sarkis, a patron saint for the Armenian community in Lebanon; I...
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French fries, Aleppo-style
To say that Aleppo’s cuisine is famous in the Middle-East would be stating the obvious. In fact, one of Lebanon’s premier chef, Mrs. Marlene Mattar, has recently published a cookbook devoted to the cuisine of this wonderful city, Maedat Marlene men Halab. This recipe for French fries, Aleppo-style,...
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Lentil stew with pomegranate molasses
Had a freelance foodstyling gig yesterday (more on that later this week), so I needed some good homecooked food fast. Rima @RimRam gourmet lend me a hand and we all enjoyed the best lentil dish known to mankind. Called in Arabic “he burnt his finger”, this dish is bursting...
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Muhallabieh with candied lemon
I was reminded recently (after a glorious lunch at Kamal’s) how wonderful our homey muhallabieh can be. It is perfect in many ways; it takes less than 5 minutes to prepare, it does not require many ingredients (milk, sugar, starch or rice flour, flavoring), it is very versatile. I...
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Chickpea soup (Lablabi)
It has been really cold in Lebanon the last few days and this soup which is sold by cart vendors in Bagdad (Iraq) is hearty and simple to prepare. My Iraqi friend Wafa’ gave me her recipe during her annual visit to Lebanon this past Summer. She said she loves...
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Délices des Mille et Une Nuits (Kamal Mouzawak)
This is a unique cookbook. Designed around the story of The Thousand and One Nights, this book is a work of art created by Kamal Mouzawak, written by Malek Chebel and illustrated by Anne-Lise Boutin. Kamal’s contribution to the book is a special collection of recipes. Each recipe conjures...
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