Rose Water & Orange Blossoms: Fresh & Classic Recipes from My Lebanese Kitchen
Tom Verde
Maureen Abood
2015, Running Press, 978-0-76245-486-0, $15.99 hb.
Za'taar is one of those ubiquitous, Middle Eastern spice mixtures (typically a combination of dried thyme, sesame seeds and citrusy sumac) that many cultures in the region claim as their own. This is especially true in Lebanon, where no home cook would be without the heady mixture—any more than an American table would be bereft of salt and pepper. Smeared with olive oil across the warm, dimpled surface of a piece of flatbread, it is the defining ingredient of mana'esh, the country’s “quintessential breakfast food,” as author Maureen Abood lovingly declares. With such humble dishes as her launching point, she explores the deliciously dizzying heights to which Lebanese-based cuisine has aspired as a geographic crossroads of borrowed ingredients such as rose water or pomegranates (from Ottoman Persia) or oranges and nougat (from the Western Mediterranean). Hence the title of this proud ode to Abood’s culinary heritage.
You may also be interested in...
Untold Stories of British Muslim Women as Agents of Change
Sociologist Sariya Cheruvallil-Contractor and historian Jamie Gilham present 100 years of Muslim women who have contributed to the dynamism of Islam in Britain.
British Museum Curator Takes Readers on Journey Spanning 6,000 Years
Southeast Asia curator Alexandra Green takes readers on a journey spanning 6,000 years, highlighting objects from Neolithic stone tools to contemporary paintings.
Novel Reimagines 1001 Nights With a Feminine Take
Jamila Ahmed takes on classic folktales with a newfound feminine perspective in historical fiction novel.