atayef-ramadan

The day I discovered Atayef Ramadan

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by • Must-Try Foods • Tags: , , ,

I’ve always believed that if you want to taste the best food, you should ask the locals, especially ones who know where to get it.

Our house in Joun is located in a neighborhood where a family, originally from Saida, resides. They’re very good friends and we’re always sharing food with them, whether it’s new meals my mother prepares, or completely new foods that are totally unknown to us, but highly recommended by them.

One day, as I was spending the Fitr weekend in Joun, the neighbor came over with a cake called Atayef. I’ve always known Atayef to be a pastry made with small, pancake-like dough and ashta cream or walnuts, and prepared on Berbara day. But this Atayef came completely different and with an epic taste!

It is also made with pancake-like dough (same as the one used in the other type of Atayef), but this one is larger and has the size of a regular cake. It is topped with cheese and sprinkled with sugar syrup, then covered with another layer of dough. It is then put in the oven until the dough becomes crunchy. It is enjoyed hot with additional sugar syrup of you like your desserts to be extra sweet. I cannot begin to express how good it tastes. It is by far, one of the best Lebanese desserts I’ve ever had. It is so light that you cannot get enough of it! I personally had it lukewarm and with no additional syrup, but it was exquisitely delicious…

The reason why I call it Atayef Ramadan is because it is prepared mostly during Ramadan and its production lessens on other months. The one we had was made at Al-Sabki pastry shop in Saida, which is apparently the best shop to make Atayef in Saida.

I highly, highly recommend you get to taste this dessert because you’ll fall in love with it, right from the first bite.

cheese-and-fruits

Mixing cheese with fruits: a match made in heaven

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by • Tips • Tags: , ,

Ever since I was a little kid, I always loved eating Labneh with apples. For those who are not familiar with Labneh, it’s a Lebanese acidic cheese spread made from cow or goat milk. It is generally eaten with olive oil, olives, cucumbers, tomatoes or fresh mint. But I just loved matching it with apples. I thought the sweetness of apples balanced the acidity of the Labneh to make for a perfect combination.

I apply the same rule for practically all cheeses I regularly eat. Here is my list of combinations that just make perfect sense and if you’re in for something unusual, I’m pretty sure you’ll love them too.

  • Brie with pears: Brie is a sharp cheese. I’ve seen it served with cherry tomatoes or grapes, which are good alternatives, but not as good as pairing it with pears.
  • Labneh with apples or with grapes: don’t ask me what got to me at age 5 to eat Labneh with apples, but that was one of the best things I ever tasted.
  • Halloumi cheese with watermelon: this one is a classic and most people know about it. Just keep the Halloumi fresh and don’t grill it or else it won’t be as good.
  • Bulgarian white sheep cheese with watermelon: even better than the Halloumi, because the saltiness of the cheese is perfectly balanced by the sweetness of the watermelon.
  • Kashkaval cheese with watermelon: ok I know, watermelon seems to work with all kinds of cheese, but it actually does! You should try it with Kashkaval cheese made from sheep milk, it’s even better.
  • Parmesan cheese with strawberries: what better than to balance the saltiness and edginess of Parmesan with the sweetness and fluffiness of strawberries…
  • Goat cheese with mango: goat cheese is very acidic so it needs to be toned down by notes of sweetness that don’t overthrow its original taste. Mango just does that perfectly well.
  • Manchego cheese with quince paste and walnuts: ok, this is not a fruit we’re talking about, but I could not leave it out of the list. I will not explain what this is about; just try it, ok?

Any cheese and fruits pairing you would like to recommend? I’m all open for new and even more unusual combinations!

white-wine

The Lebanese white wines to enjoy this summer

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by • Drinks • Tags: , ,

It’s summertime! What better than to enjoy a good bottle of chilled white wine, paired with great food or with just some snacks? As you probably already know, I’m a huge fan of wine. There isn’t a single week that goes by where I don’t enjoy at least once a good bottle of wine, with my husband, my family or my friends.

I have been meaning to write about my favourite list of Lebanese white wines for a while now, but I’m glad I didn’t because I recently had the pleasure of discovering new white wines that are an absolute delight. So now my list is more complete and I feel I can give really good advice on which wines you should be enjoying this summer. Some of the below wines are so good, they will be having their own particular blog posts :). Meanwhile, here are the wines I recommend – I hope you like them!

  • Chateau Qanafar – Blanc de Qanafar
  • Karam Wines – Cloud Nine
  • Domaine de Baal White
  • Chateau Kefraya – Comtesse de M
  • Batroun Mountains – Riesling
  • Massaya Blanc
  • Ixsir – Altitudes White
  • Chateau Marsyas White
  • Domaine des Tourelles White

I must admit, there are Lebanese wines I haven’t tried yet. So the above wines are the ones I recommend from what I have tasted so far. I am sure that I will be trying new wines this summer, and I’ve love to share more recommendations with you as my list grows. Cheers!

olives-oranges

The unusual food combinations my family eats

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by • Tips • Tags: ,

I have inherited my love for food from my family. Both my parents are food lovers, mom being loyal to traditional Lebanese cuisine, and dad being constantly on the lookout for new recipes and mixtures to try. They both grew up in a town in the Shouf called Joun, where growing plants and vegetables in the backyard is still a common practice.

I’ve sat across the table from them countless times, watching them relish in food combinations I never saw anywhere else. They always had an explanation as to why this goes with that, and I’ve made it a point to try every one of their mixtures and discover for myself what they’re talking about:

  • Manakish with green fava beans: This has been on the menu ever since I was a kid. Whenever fava beans are out, we stopped eating cucumbers, mint and tomatoes with manakish and replaced them with fava beans. The juiciness and sweetness of the beans go perfectly well with the acidity of the mankouche’s thyme and sumac.
  • Black olives with fresh oranges: My mother eats this as a digestive. In fact, she can eat a whole bread loaf with olives and oranges after lunch! She says that the acidity of oranges mixes perfectly well with the sharpness of black olives.
  • Zaatar sandwich with green figs: This was apparently my grandmother’s favorite snack. She used to handpick the green figs from the garden and enjoy them with a zaatar sandwich, saying that the sweetness of the figs balances the zaatar’s acidity just fine.
  • Carob molasses (debs el kharoub) with lettuce, cabbage or chicory (hindbeh) leaves: According to my mother, eating carob molasses with green leaves is much, much tastier than eating it with bread. She says that the crunchiness of fresh green leaves mixes greatly with the extra sweetness of the carob molasses.
  • Scrambled eggs with sautéed wild asparagus and a side of green fava beans: This one is my all-time favourite egg-based dish. Wild asparagus is something that grows in Lebanon; it looks like the regular asparagus but is much thinner and with a more unique taste. Of course, it isn’t complete without the sweetness and juiciness of fava beans!

Voilà! I invite you to rediscover your taste buds with these unusual combinations. Bon appétit!

steak

La Parrilla Summer Edition: Steak Extraordinaire!

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by • Must-Try Foods • Tags: , , ,

La Parrilla Summer Edition is a fine dining restaurant located on the terrace of the Warwick Palm Beach Hotel in Ain El Mraisseh. I went there with a group of friends following Mayssa’s recommendation, a friend who knows how much I love food and how careful I am at selecting the right spots for good food.

What I like in fine dining restaurants and what seems to be the trend lately is that the menu is limited, so you are not overwhelmed with food suggestions and end up being lost on what to eat. And whenever I’m out with a group of friends, we order food to share, which is a great way to try out a maximum number of items from the menu.

My entrée recommendations are the Crab Cakes, the Salmon Carpaccio and the Sushi Style Salad. The latter is an absolute delight and my favorite entrée so far.

But then you order the steak… I don’t know how you like yours but I’m definitely having mine medium rare, even more on the rare side. That steak right there is the best steak I’ve had in a while in Lebanon. It is tender, juicy and literally melts in your mouth. The texture is just perfect and the taste oh-so-delicious! As side dishes, I highly, highly recommend the Crispy Green Beans and the Sweet Corn Purée.

Finish your dinner off with a Pain Perdu as it is the best finale for a great food experience.

Next time, I’ll make sure to try new dishes and I’ll keep you posted on further discoveries. And if you think there are items I must try, I’m more than happy to read your recommendations!

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