Monthly Archives: November 2012

Spinach and mozzarella pie (Tiella di spinaci)

I was not aware of the existence of tiellas until I struck up a Facebook  friendship with Nicola Tarallo, a native of Gaeta, Italy; apparently tiellas are a specialty of Gaeta, a picturesque fisherman’s town close to Naples. Nicola  himself has lived in the US here and there (including a stint in Dallas) and is back [...]
17 Comments

Broccoli and cheese soup

It was exciting to see ambarees, that country-style goat cheese made in the Chouf mountains, at the village grocer. Broccoli is growing now and a nice change from cabbage and more cabbage every single week. This soup is popular and so easy to prepare. Purée it with this great invention, the immersion blender, to ease [...]
11 Comments

Myrtle berries (hemblass)

These berries are liked by a lot of folks here. The berries are munched on raw.  Here is the link to find out what they are exactly (thanks Bassem!). Now that the weather is finally cool and the air crisp and clean, hunting season has arrived; this is a predicament because in the Lebanese mountains folks are hunting [...]
10 Comments

Flan-Cake

This flan-cake is from  a best-selling cookbook here in Lebanon called Anahid’s gourmet cooking; this cake had made the rounds of the foodie circles  a few years back but  reading the recipe I was doubtful that it would work:  Pour the custard in the pan, then  pour the cake batter on top of the custard, and [...]
15 Comments

Chayote squash salad

Chayote squash in Dallas is always available in Latino markets; it is very light in taste and cooks in a few minutes; here in Lebanon it is grown and called French squash (koossa frenjeh) for some reason. People like to pickle it as it is nice and crunchy. A good choice to reign-in holiday excesses, [...]
3 Comments