The weather here isn’t bitterly cold this winter, a welcome reprieve from our sometimes intense Colorado weather, but we’re still eating soup pretty regularly, and harira is one of our favourites for its simplicity and the fact that it’s quick to prepare. Harira is a tomato-based Moroccan soup seasoned with a variety of different warming…
Okra is one of those vegetables that people tend to have strong feelings about, and I am among the okra lovers of the world. Bamieh is simply the Arabic word for okra – and this stew can be made bil lahme – or with meat (as I’ve done here), or without – which makes it…
I was watching a television program the other day when one of the characters mentioned koshari, and suddenly it was the only thing I wanted to eat for the rest of the week. Koshari is an Egyptian dish, and I liken it to a much more elaborate version of mujadarrah. All of the ingredients are…
The weather has finally begun to cool off, and that means it’s chili season around here. We attended a chili cook-off this past weekend and so I made a large batch of chili with lamb. Lamb seems to be a somewhat controversial meat choice – everyone in my family loves it, but I also realise…
Shepherd’s pie is an English staple, and consists of a layer of lamb (if you’re using beef then it’s a cottage pie) and vegetables topped with a layer of fluffy mashed potato on top, then baked in the oven. It’s classic English comfort food at its best, and it’s economical for feeding a group or…
Fatteh, meaning ‘crumbs’ in Arabic – is a bread salad. Most people are familiar with fattoush, which is ubiquitous in most Middle Eastern restaurants; fewer people are familiar with fatteh – which is more of a home dish, an end of the week meal to use up any leftover bits and pieces and stale bread….
I am, admittedly, a former vegan. I was vegan for seven years and I attribute my abilities in the kitchen to my time spent as a vegan – mostly because I became a vegetarian in the mid-90s in Yorkshire, where there were few vegetarian options and virtually no supermarket options. This meant I had to…
When I’m being good I meal prep for the week ahead, and I nearly always make a large batch of hummus for the week. While hummus is good as a mezze, or to dip things in, it can also be the star of the meal – add a little seasoned meat, sprinkle on some pine…
With the heat this summer I’ve been hesitant to turn on my oven for any reason at all, and so we’ve been eating a lot of salads recently (you might have noticed), hummus, mutabbal, and so on. I grew up near the sea, though – and despite living an eighteen (yes, eighteen, I know –…
Summer is in full swing, and the last thing I want to do is heat up my kitchen, so we’ve been firing up the Instant Pot most evenings and eating a lot of salads. Our family is also trying to eat fewer meat meals, for health, budget, and environmental reasons – and so this vegan…
