I made some fritters for dinner Friday evening to go along with some leftover soup. I had 1 zucchini, and 2 yellow crookneck squashes. I considered several different ideas before I stopped at Ijja (the Arabic name for these fritters – and also the word for omelet). I didn’t need to consider anything else after that, because, YUM, fritters! This … [Read more…]
Slow Cooker Kofta (or converting a kofta recipe to a crockpot recipe)
This past weekend, my brother was visiting. We wanted to go out, yet have a home cooked meal and not resort to just getting takeout on the way home. I had already planned on making Kofta with Tomato Sauce (Mediterranean Meatballs with Tomato Sauce), so I thought that I would put my dusty, neglected slow cooker to good use. I made the kofta … [Read more…]
(End of ) Summer Mint Macaroni Salad
If you have a little backyard garden going this summer, this macaroni salad could be a good way to use some of your home-grown produce. We have a ton of mint that I wanted to make use of, as well as pepper and tomatoes growing outside. This salad makes use of fresh mint and lemon juice, extra virgin olive, apple cider vinegar, horseradish sauce, … [Read more…]
Preparing Chicken for Cooking the Levantine Way
This blog has been mostly recipes up to this point. I feel that it is important to go deeper into the Levantine kitchen than to just give you the recipes. I will add the tag “Kitchen information” to this post, and to all such posts that give you information regarding ingredients, and preparation instructions. This post is regarding preparation … [Read more…]
The Levantess’s Famous Falafel
Our Sunday brunch centered around falafel. I’ve seen many falafel recipes on the interwebs. Some use canned chickpeas, some add flour, and some add fava beans. My preferred falafel contains ONLY chickpeas, no fava beans. I also like mine to have lots of parsley, onion, and garlic. You can see the greenish cast when you break it in half. Also, … [Read more…]
Italian Flat Beans with Fresh Tomatoes
We went to the local farmer’s market, a favorite activity for the kids, because they love the fresh peaches and the grape tomatoes. I spied some broad bean pods and thought they were fava beans for a second, but on closer inspection, found them to be Italian flat beans. If you haven’t tried them yet, you should. They have a delicate sweetness … [Read more…]
Chicken Mushroom Alfredo
This is a simple weeknight dish to put together. Instead of first cooking, then removing the chicken, I left the chicken in as I added all the ingredients, making this a one-pot meal. I lightened the standard Alfredo sauce up a bit by using only 1 tablespoon of butter, and using 1 – 2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil. Plus, I really do like … [Read more…]
Lamb in Yogurt Sauce (or Wannabe Mansaf)
Not too long ago, I posted a picture on my Facebook page of a mansaf. A friend asked me if it was hard to make, and if I could share the recipe. While it is not hard at all to make, it is hard to make unless you have the right ingredients. The key ingredient is laban jameed, or a dried yogurt. I know that there is powdered jameed here in the … [Read more…]
Kofta Wrapped in Grape Leaves – Lahma ‘a Waraqa (la7ma 3ala waraqa)
This is my third kofta post. As you can see, these marvelous morsels of meat are very versatile and come in many variations. This particular variation is the standard kofta mix, formed into small patties, and wrapped in grape leaves. If I mention grape leaves, my husband automatically says, ” we should make kofta with them!”, he prefers them to … [Read more…]
Lemony Dandelion Greens
It is common in the Levant region to forage for wild greens like Chicory, Dandelion, Watercress, and Purslane. So, when I saw that I had a couple of pretty lush dandelions outside, I thought to myself….”hmmm, I should pick those and cook them”. Then, cooler heads prevailed (my husband’s cooler head, to be exact) and reminded me that we don’t know … [Read more…]