Monthly Archives: January 2013

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 fine with us.  Perfect dish [...]
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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 croutons. Mine is more austere, reflecting [...]
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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 was intrigued, especially after reading [...]
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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, is one of many I tried [...]
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Brown lentil casserole (Horrak esba3o)

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 with flavor. Everybody took second helpings [...]
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