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Lebanese Food Archive
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Lebanese Bread Salad
Posted on June 18, 2010 | No CommentsTweetI’b a big fan of texture in a salad. I like a combination of crunch and soft, so this salad is just perfect. The bread, if fried properly should be really crisp and crunchy it also acts as a little sponge to soak up some of the sharp, tangy dressing. This was a great and simple salad that was assembled in not time at all – perfect to accompany a lazy weekday dinner.
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Cauliflower with Tahini Yoghurt Sauce
Posted on May 20, 2010 | 2 CommentsTweetThis is a bit of a show stopper! There’s nothing more beautiful than a head of cauliflower so why break it up into florets when you can serve the whole thing as one?! This Lebanese inspired recipe uses the earthy flavours of tahini and pine nuts to match with the slightly sweet flavours of cauliflower. It’s a simple dish but one guaranteed to impress at any dinner party both in appearance and taste.
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Lebanese Chicken in Pomegranate Sauce
Posted on May 18, 2010 | No CommentsTweetThis was a bit of a surprise. I’d planned on making just the chicken in a marinade but during the cooking, as luck would have it right next to me on the bench was a carton of pomegranate juice. So I incorporated it into the the recipe. It adds a tart sweetness to the finished dish that compliments the amazing savory garlicky chicken. I’ll definitely be making it again!
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Hummus
Posted on March 28, 2010 | No CommentsTweetI love hummus. It’s one of the world’s greatest inventions. However, I hate shop bought hummus. I’m not just being snobby, really I’m not! There’s something so horrid about it when compared to the freshly prepared kind. I could eat an entire bowl of it on my own – and often do along with a sizeable wad of flat breads.
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Middle Eastern Shangleesh & Tomato Salad
Posted on March 26, 2010 | No CommentsTweetThis was a bit of an improvise at the last minute. However, the flavours were just like the the type I’ve eaten at many Lebanese restaurants in the past. Sharp, slightly sweet with an earthy herb note. It worked perfectly alongside the lamb and eggplant dishes also on the table.
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Lebanese Lamb Marinade
Posted on March 24, 2010 | No CommentsTweetThis is a perfect way to lift the taste of any meat. I always do some kind of marinade with beef and lamb and this one was great. The longer you leave it, the better (24 hours is best – but 1 hour will be ok too). Delicious. INGREDIENTS:
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Eggplant With Tomato Sauce & Pinenuts
Posted on March 22, 2010 | No CommentsTweetThis was a real treat! I hadn’t expected it to turn our so well. I’d improvised with what was lying around the house to make a lovely Mediterranean/Middle Eastern meze spread for dinner tonight. The eggplant really stood out as star of the show – the creamy texture along with the slightly aniseed tomato and crunchy pine nuts made for a really splendid feast. It went down a treat!
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Chicken Cooked in Yoghurt, Saffron and Za’atar
Posted on January 19, 2010 | No CommentsTweetZa’atar is a Middle Eastern herb blend, found in various guises from country to country. It is a mix of dried thyme, oregano and marjoram together with salt, sometimes spices and always sesame seeds. This dish is a really simple way to cook chicken. It doesn’t take much preparation and the cooking is as simple as stirring every 10 minutes. And what a lovely, rich – flavourfilled sauce it produces. It was fabulous.
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Beetroot Pilaff
Posted on January 17, 2010 | 2 CommentsTweetRice can often be an afterthought to a meal – there only to soak up a sauce or make up the numbers. But rice is way more versatile than that. The Persians mastered many rice dishes which featured as elaborate centerpieces to decadent feasts. Both colourful and packed with taste these rices could take hours and hours to create. Here’s a dish which delivers on both colour and flavour that won’t take more than 30 minutes to prepare. Beetroot is like tasty paint and it’s the perfect way to really bring anything to life. In this dish we get the earthy, sweetness of the beetroot, along with it’s vibrant ruby red colour. Delicious!
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Turkish Meze – Garlic Dip
Posted on November 15, 2009 | No CommentsTweetThis is technically not Turkish in origin, more Lebanese but it fits perfectly within a Turkish meze spread. As you would expect, it’s an intense flavour fueled dish that packs a mighty punch. It’s best eaten in small doses alongside meat. It’s delicious with lamb and chicken – just don’t plan a hot date immediately afterwards. The garlic can play havoc with your breath.
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Cannellini Bean Dip
Posted on August 16, 2009 | No CommentsTweetI wanted something easy for tonight’s dinner so I bought a cooked chicken and a pre-packed salad and made this lovely dip to serve alongside. It was really simple to prepare and has a lovely smooth texture and mild flavour. It’s kind of like Humus but not, much whiter in colour and not as nutty in taste – it’s a great alternative.
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Beetroot with Tahini Yoghurt
Posted on July 23, 2009 | No CommentsTweetBeetroot is one of my favourites, especially when it’s roasted – the earthy flavour intensifies. It’s much better than boiling, which I feel just drains the vegetable of all its goodness. This simple salad was a surprise hit – it’s packed with delicious flavours. The tahini yoghurt is dyed a vivid fuchsia colour from the beetroot the minute you place it on top. It’s unique flavour marries perfectly with the earthy beetroot – just make sure you drizzle enough extra virgin olive oil over right at the end as it really finishes off the dish perfectly.
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Moorish Lamb Skewers
Posted on June 29, 2009 | No CommentsTweetThese were rather delicious. I wanted something simple to make as I was feeling a little poorly. I couldn’t be bothered to stand around stirring and chopping so settled on something that would be easy to produce. These little skewered pieces of lamb were stress free and really juicy and tasty. I feel better just thinking about them.
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Baharat Duck with Green Bean & Walnut Puree
Posted on May 30, 2009 | No CommentsTweetI just love duck – it’s one of my favourite things to eat. Period. I made dish tonight as a little treat for “officially”, and finally becoming an Australian permanent resident. Not that there’s ANYTHING remotely Australian about this dish mind you – more Middle Eastern. The earthy bean puree together with the gamey, sweet duck was meltingly delicious. Baharat (meaning “spice” in Arabic) is a blend of spices used throughout the Middle East. You can find it, pre mixed in some delis but I have included a simple recipe to make you own if you can’t track it down.
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Tomato Pilaf
Posted on May 28, 2009 | No CommentsTweetThis was a simple, tasty little pilaf. I made it just to add a little different accompaniment to my delicious fish with walnut, sumac and paprika cumbs. The rice had a lovely nutty taste from the butter with a slight sweetness from the tomato. Overall a subtle, tasty addition to a lovely meal.
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Fish Coated in Walnut, Sumac & Paprika Crumbs
Posted on May 26, 2009 | No CommentsTweetThis was a great little surprise hit tonight. I’d been slightly craving some kind of coated fish for a few days, no idea why. I settled on a middle eastern theme. After purchasing way too many walnuts for the Circassian Chicken a few days earlier, i incorporated them into a crunchy breadcrumb coating. Other flavours came in the form of sweet paprika and slightly tangy sumac. The flavour combination was a success, perfect with the soft, flaky flatheads I used.
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Mini Fattee of Chickpea and Eggplant with Tahini Yoghurt
Posted on April 30, 2009 | No CommentsTweet I made these for a starter for dinner tonight. I love traditional Lebanese Fattee dishes – not just for their comical name, but their lovely blend of texture and taste. However, tonight I didn’t want to make a massive serving of it so created mini version which wouldn’t fill us up. I used what I had in the cupboards for the fillings and it worked really well. A combination of mild but tasty flavours and great texture.
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Lebanese Shankleesh Salad
Posted on March 23, 2009 | 6 CommentsTweet REPOST: I ate this last week at a Lebanese restaurant and was blown away by how tasty it was. This salad is traditionally a breakfast dish which includes cheese called Shankleesh, a delicious soft, crumbly ball infused with a mild chilli and rolled in dried thyme or zaatar. The taste is quite unique but somewhat similar to Feta, so if you can’t get hold of shankleesh then you could substitute. It’s very simple to assemble and can be part of a mezze platter or as an accompaniment to meat or fish, but to my mind it’s services are best put to use at breakfast time.
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Chicken Fattee
Posted on October 4, 2008 | 2 CommentsTweet I love a fattee! It’s a perculiar sounding dish and maybe not the most PC sounding one at that, but this Lebanese style of food is amazing. A fattee is a layered dish normally starting with crispy flat breads. The fattee can feature many other elements – from fish, tomatoes, spinach etc. This chicken version features a fair few components. It may seem a little daunting, but if you read the recipe in detail you’ll soon realise that none of the elements of the dish is going to task you too greatly. It’s an all-in-one meal with a bit of wow factor making it ideal for dinner parties. Just prepare everything in advance and heat the necessary bits up when you need them and arrange at the last minute.
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Broad Bean Falafel
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Lebanese Mixed Skewers & Garlic Sauce
