Monthly Archives: May 2010

Shredded phyllo with clotted cream (Ossmaliyeh bel Ashta)

This is a homestyle version of one of the most popular desserts served in traditional Lebanese restaurants and pastry shops in Beirut. It comes either in a large pie format or in individual servings. It is composed of a super crispy base of fried or oven-toasted shredded phyllo  dough, topped with unsweetened ashta or clotted [...]
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Lebanese cream (Ashta)

Ashta, our Lebanese cream is the foundation for all pastries; yet it does not contain cream. Sure, there was a time when ashta was pure cream. Nowadays, it is made with milk (frequently powdered milk in Lebanon), fresh American-style  toast and flavorings! The result: a clotted cream that tastes fresh and light, without any cream [...]
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Tabouleh Gazpacho

This is a recipe from Lebanese chef Marlene Mattar; I tweaked it a bit, for a good cause (my tomatoes were tasteless). Chef Marlene took a Lebanese classic, our tabbouleh salad and converted it to a gazpacho. The result? A soup that will reconcile you with the scorching heat of summer. A cooling beverage of [...]
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Sesame-crusted pork tenderloin with orange blossom glaze

My mother used to cook  pork tenderloin  a lot when she lived in France; she would throw herbs and spices and stuff on it and it was always delicious; I figured I would try it with this jam, a typical Lebanese jam I found at the middle-eastern store; and why not crust it with my [...]
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Green Pepper and olive salad

Everybody in Beirut goes to the mountains when the heat and humidity of the summer first hits, around July, and you see narrow winding  mountain roads teeming with cars piled up with mattresses and all manner of odds and ends for the summer getaway trip that lasts until September. So, here I was with my [...]
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