Greek Beans, Lebanese Rice and Egyptian Basbousa.

Last night my husband and I had a romantic night out and for dinner, we had Lebanese food which I'm crazy about. Got me in the mood to cook Mediterranean food this weekend.


I made "Gigantes" which are baked lima beans in a tomato and dill sauce. If you hate lima beans, try them this way. They bake up so tender and creamy with a simple and beautiful flavor combination of dill, tomatoes, onions and olive oil. The recipe is from "The Greek Vegetarian". I also made Lebanese rice pilaf. I love the little vermicelli noodles in it. The recipe is from "Tables of Lebanon".


For dessert, Egyptian basbousa! This is a very sweet semolina cake that has been drenched with sugar/orange flower water syrup. I got the recipe here. I used vegan shortening instead of butter, omitted the eggs and replaced with a little almond milk and 1/2 a tsp of cider vinegar. And I substituted soy yogurt for the yogurt.


This dessert is amazing! It's so tender and incredibly moist from the syrup. I think I need to work on the liquid to dry ingredient ratio. My cake fell apart a little because it was so moist. But that did not stop me from enjoying the hell out of it!

A Mediterranean Sunday Lunch.

I was feeling ambitious today and made this beautiful array of foods for my lunch, including dessert. Wish I had a friend over to share it with!


I used my "Olive and The Caper" Greek cookbook to make this luscious eggplant stewed with red wine and basil. It originally called for shallots but I used onions instead. This was so flavorful and you know that anything cooked with red wine is going to be good.


I had a tiny cauliflower that I knew would be a perfect accompaniment to my stew. I roasted it in the oven with olive oil, salt and pepper for about 20 minutes to get this beautiful golden charred look.


And from my trusty "Tables of Lebanon" cookbook, I made moujadara (lentils and rice with caramelized onions). I needed some protein to round out the meal so this was a good way to get both a grain and a protein.


My bowl.


And dessert was a basic lemon white cake. So soft and tender!

New Year's Eve Nosh.

I am spending NYE in with some good food, records on the turntable, wine and champagne later when the clock strikes midnight. Happy New Year to all of you and I hope 2011 is a healthy and happy year. I didn't want to be fussy tonight and decided to keep it simple with a few nibbles. I flipped through my "Tables of Lebanon" cookbook and picked out 'Chickpeas in Olive Oil', Yogurt Sauce with mint and 'Potatoes with Cilantro' served with roasted broccoli and pita.


Potates with Cilantro or Batata Bi-Kizbara in arabic. This was a very easy recipe where you saute potato cubes in olive oil and toss with sauteed garlic and cilantro. It smells heavenly and tastes even more so.


Simple roasted broccoli that is so much more delicious than you think. Cauliflower would have been even better.


My plate. The chickpeas were simply dressed with olive oil, garlic, lemon and dried mint. For the sauce, I used Wildwood plain unsweetened soy yogurt that I mixed with a touch of Vegenaise and stirred in garlic, salt and dried mint.

VeganMoFo: Lazy Weeknight Dinners.

My husband got me a pizza for dinner tonight. It was great because I really didn't feel like cooking tonight. Mushroom, onions, no cheese please. I added some homemade pesto that I had hanging out in my freezer. Was yummy.


This was last night's lazy dinner. Leftover lentil-chickpea fritters, lebanese rice pilaf and sauteed kale with balsamic dressing.

VeganMoFo: Mediterranean Dinner Party Food.

I had a fantastic dinner party last night with a beautiful buffet of food that I FORGOT TO PHOTOGRAPH! I was so mad at myself when I realized after we had eaten. So I present to you the leftovers. In front: heirloom tomato bruschetta, green beans with sundried tomato and olives (Mediterranean Vegan Kitchen recipe), spanakopita (Vegan with a Vengeance recipe) and Greek 'gigantes' lima bean casserole (Greek Vegetarian cookbook recipe). Not pictured: roasted lemony potatoes. They were delicious and were gobbled up so fast.


For dessert I made the baklava from Tables of Lebanon cookbook. Great recipe with perfect results every time.

Sun-dried tomato pasta and Moujadara

This was my dinner sometime last week and it was very quick and easy to throw together. I heated up some olive oil, threw in some crushed garlic, chopped pepperoncini, chopped sundried tomatoes (in oil), parsley and sauteed for a few minutes and then tossed it all with hot spaghetti.


This is the moujadara recipe from Tables of Lebanon cookbook. It's the simplest recipe of lentils cooked with rice and topped with fried onions. I ate this today for lunch with a few shots of hot sauce. It was very filling and tasty.

Fatayer bi Sabanakh

My post earlier about Mediterranean food made me want some! The fatayer (spinach pies) I had at the restaurant were so good that I wanted to try it out myself at home. Got this recipe from a wonderful book "Classic Vegetarian Cooking From The Middle East and N. Africa". The book asks for pizza dough so I looked no further than Trader Joe's for their pre-made pizza doughs. Worked out perfectly! They were delicious and not as tart (from lemon) as the ones I had at Gaby's. I didn't mind though. They were chewy and crisp on the outside and really lovely inside. Steamy spinach, nuts (in my case almonds because I didn't have pine nuts), onions, sumac and a touch of lemon.


Inside shot.


With a side of baby lettuce salad with balsamic vinaigrette. Perfect summer dining on the patio.

Gaby's Mediterranean Cafe

A week or two ago, I went to Gaby's Mediterranean in West L.A. with my friend (who took the photo above) to enjoy a meze dinner. I have been going to Gaby's for many years and the food usually never disappoints. We got a medley of dishes: the Vegetarian's Choice (plate on the left) which includes hummus, baba ganouj, tabbouleh, grape leaves and falafel. Perfect to share for two. We also go the moussaka (dish in front) which is a beautiful stew of tender eggplant, chickpeas, tomatoes and onions in a tomato sauce. And to make it all complete we ordered the fatayer (spinach pies which you can see on the plate right in front of my chest, haha). Everything was super delicious. We even smoked a bit of apple shisha after the meal. It was very pleasant but I must say that in all my years of dining at Gaby's, they have never seemed to get the customer service on target. Our waitress disappeared for a long time and we had to wait for water and bread re-fills which we eventually got from a bus person. Hopefully that aspect (which is rather important in the restaurant business) gets taken care of sooner rather than later. There are a couple of other Mediterranean restaurants in the area that I'd like to try. Mezza in Culver City and Sofra Kabob down the street from Gaby's.

Moussaka on Mashed Potatoes.

This is the best thing ever. Leftover moussaka on fluffy mashed potatoes. Tonight will be my second time eating it like this and I wouldn't mind having it again tomorrow!

Lebanese Moussaka

A few nights ago I went to a local Lebanese restaurant and ordered the moussaka. It was so delicious. Velvety pillows of eggplant with chickpeas and onions in a tomatoey sauce spiced with cinnamon and allspice. I knew I had to make it at home. I used the recipe from 'Tables of Lebanon' but instead of cooking it in the oven, I let it simmer low and slow on the stove for an hour. It was perfection. I enjoyed my moussaka on the patio along with a side of hummus, bread and pickled turnips.

Easy Going Weekend.

I spent the majority of yesterday and today just seriously relaxing. No television, no phone, no computer to distract me. I only allowed music to create atmosphere while I sat on my patio outside soaking up sun and leisurely enjoying food on a tray with a good book and Nag Champa filling the air with a soothing, sweet perfume. I didn't allow myself to distract myself with thoughts like "What else could I be doing right now? Should I find something to do? Should I run errands?" I let thoughts like that float away while I enjoyed my time alone in a complete restful state in mind and body. All of this was something I really needed and to be able to enjoy delicious simple food as well was a bonus.


I did all the cooking early in the morning so it was ready for me to load up on a tray and take outside. I made Zalouk (Moroccan eggplant relish) and Tabbouleh (Lebanese parsley and bulgur salad) to enjoy with whole wheat pita and a glass of fresh squeezed lemonade. I used Olive Trees and Honey cookbook and Tables of Lebanon cookbook to make these recipes.


Couldn't forget dessert! I got these because Trader Joe's ran out of the Trail mix cookies that I love so much. These were great too and even had coconut in them.


Buster ate a bit too, do you see evidence of tabbouleh on the floor? He found a spot under the shade of my caftan to get comfy.


A while later I was craving peanut butter so I made a sesame Ezekiel toast with crunchy pb and date syrup.

Chickpea and Bulgur Patties (Kibbet Hummus)

Recipe from "Classic Vegetarian Cooking from the Middle East and N. Africa" cookbook. Golden brown patties of chickpeas, bulgur, onions, cilantro, garlic and spices fried in olive oil. These were pretty good. Next time though I might cut back on the bulgur and use more chickpeas. A very carb-errific lunch!


And just to up the carb content even more, I made baked fries to go with it.

Eggplant Chickpea Stew, Russian Salad and Lemon Cake

Munazalit Bathinjan or Eggplant and Chickpea Stew from "Classic Vegetarian Recipes from The Middle East and N. Africa". Origin of this recipe: Lebanon and Syria. It's wonderful both hot and at room temperature and served with pita and/or quinoa.


I made this delicious Russian Salad (from The Olive and The Caper cookbook) a few weekends ago and made it again today. It has potatoes, green beans, carrots, peas, baby lima beans and lemon caper mayo. This time I added lots of fresh dill.


Lemon cake!

Lunch on the Patio.

This was a valentine's gift to myself: a relaxing, leisurely lunch on the patio with the sun blazing overhead and me shaded underneath an umbrella reading a good book. I can't ask for anything better to do on this gorgeous Sunday. We're lucky to get this kind of weather here while snow storms ravage the majority of the country. I will enjoy it while we have it. So, on to my lunch. I had a platter of dips (hummus and baba ganouj) with pita bread and cucumbers, a Lebanese eggplant and chickpea stew, sweet little clementines and a beer and tomato juice. Yes you heard that right! I used to love Clamato y cerveza when I was omni and the only way I can kind of duplicate that is to use tomato juice instead of Clamato. Tastes great and works for me!


The two dips in the front are hummus and baba ganouj that was leftover from my lunch yesterday at Gaby's Mediterranean cafe. I also had a big thing of hummus that I made last week so I added some of that to my plate as well. Drizzled with olive oil and flanked by cucumbers, this was heaven.


The star of the meal. Mnazalet Al-Batinjan or Eggplant and Chickpea stew from "Tables of Lebanon" cookbook. Easiest recipe ever. It's beautifully fragrant with cumin and mint leaves. The eggplant is so tender, it melts in your mouth. I love this dish.


Scoop some on bread and eat!


Dessert was the chocolate beer waffles from Vegan Brunch cookbook. Yummy! I served them with blueberry/maple syrup and a dusting of powdered sugar.

VeganMoFo: Mini Meze

Meze = a selection of small dishes

My husband and I like to do this every so often for dinner. It's fun to just have an assortment of things to dip bread and vegetables into. Don't have to slave over a stove or put anything in the oven. I whipped up some hummus yesterday so all I had to do today was prepare za'atar in olive oil and make a second dip. Since I used my new favorite book yesterday, I didn't want to miss another chance to use it again. I looked in the "Appetizers" section and found an eggplant dip that looked good. This eggplant dip is called Bathinjan Mfasakh in arabic and the recipe originates from Syria and Lebanon. It was very easy to prepare. I just needed to salt the eggplant and drain it for a while and then quickly saute in olive oil until browned. Then I mashed it all up and added vegan yogurt, garlic, dried mint, salt and pepper. YUM-MEE. We used whole wheat pita and fresh cucumber for dipping. For drinks we shared a Gingerberry kombucha.


Closeup of the eggplant dip.

VeganMoFo: Za'atar Pizza

I've never had an authentic Lebanese pizza but this was definitely inspired by photos and recipes I saw online. I had a Trader Joe's pizza crust in the freezer that I used as a stand in for homemade pizza dough. I am not skilled in anything that has to do with yeast so I've been relying on TJ's for my pizza dough for quite some time. I mixed some za'atar with olive oil and spread it on the dough, added baby spinach, mushrooms, chopped tomato and onions. After baking for about 10-15 minutes, it puffed up and got all brown and golden and beautiful. I topped it with more fresh tomato and onions. So so perfect!


A slice served with rocket salad that was simply dressed with olive oil, red wine vinegar, salt and pepper. Rocket (aka arugula) goes so well with pizza I've learned.


And one must not forget tea in bed on the weekend! My friend brought back tea from Malaysia. It's Cameronian Gold Blend and it's sooooo good. Smooth and beautifully golden colored. I absolutely love it. I enjoyed this with more pizza and apple turnovers that my dad got for me from Ralph's (they are vegan but not healthy!).

VeganMoFo: Lebanese Eggplant Stew with Pearl Couscous

A beautiful and simple dish from Tables of Lebanon cookbook. It has only a few ingredients: olive oil, garlic, onions, eggplant, tomatoes, spinach, water and cumin. I added spinach to it instead of the zucchini that it originally called for. You'd never guess these few ingredients would yield such a tasty stew. I served it on top of pearl couscous and it was delicious! I think it would be wonderful on rice as well as regular semolina couscous.