meia-duzia-and-alexandros

Meia.Dúzia & Alexandros: whimsical flavors and packages

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by • Must-Try Foods

I’ve been wanting to write about Meia.Dúzia & Alexandros ever since I stepped foot in that shop, but I wasn’t a blogger back then :). Meia.Dúzia & Alexandros is a small chocolate shop located in Beirut Souks. It sells two brands of chocolate; Meia.Dúzia, the famous Portuguese brand of chocolate, jams, honeys and teas inspired by the world of painting, whose products actually come in tubes of oil paint! The second brand, Alexandros is a Greek brand of fine handmade chocolate with so many whimsical flavors that it’s a pure, enchanting pleasure to your palate and taste buds.

I had the pleasure of paying them another visit last week and take time to discover every single one of their products.

Starting with Meia.Dúzia, I got to taste the chocolate pastes that you playfully squeeze out of the tube. Each one is totally unique thanks to the unusual flavors mixed with it; strawberry and chili, blackberry, hazelnut and nutmeg, passion fruit, etc. Then we moved to the honey, served in the same way but with its own kick; orange blossom honey with chili, honey with ginger, eucalyptus honey with pear, etc. The grand finale was for the jams that I totally fell in love with. Imagine tasting pineapple jam with lemongrass, or blackberry jam with lavender, or pear jam with vanilla. Every combination I was trying left me imagining how I can use it with food; drops of orange blossom and chili honey on roasted chicken, pineapple jam on charcuterie, or blackberry jam on a medium rare steak… They actually have a book in store that teaches you how to use each product with food!

Then it was time to have some chocolate chunks from Alexandros; I only had dark chocolate because I usually don’t eat anything else. So I tried their rusk & rosemary chocolate, their strawberry and rose pepper chocolate, their chocolate with ginger, their chocolate with masticha, and the list goes on. What I love about these chocolates is that every ingredient used really stands out and perfectly complements the earthiness of the chocolate.

Meia.Dúzia & Alexandros is a small shop with a big potential. Make it a point to visit it when you’re in Beirut Souks and feast your eyes and taste buds on a unique décor and enchanting flavors!

charcuterie

The hams that have forever changed my list of favourite charcuterie

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by • Tips • Tags: , , ,

I am a HUGE fan of charcuterie. I’d choose it anytime and every time over any cheese whenever I have the choice. Ever since I was a kid, I loved the dryness, saltiness and aftertaste of cured ham. As I grew older, I had the chance to travel around in Europe and taste charcuterie that has been a real discovery for me, especially when I’d get to taste hams that haven’t been processed. What we grew up accustomed to in Lebanon are processed cured meats that have a mild taste meant to please every palate. But then you try the unprocessed ones and you fall in love. It’s that simple. There is something so raw, so powerful about them, yet so sophisticated, that your taste buds cannot go back to liking the tedious tastes and flavours of processed cold cuts.

The biggest influence on my taste choice came from Spain. They simply have incredible hams, and are closely followed by Italy and their exquisite charcuterie. So I have noted below my list of favourite hams, that you’re sure to find on my table whenever we’re hosting a cheese and charcuterie dinner.

Jamón Ibérico: this Spanish (and Portuguese) ham comes from the black Iberian pigs and is my all-time favorite. It is left to dry for months and the best one, the one you should by all means try, is the Jamón Ibérico de Bellota. Once you try this delicacy you’ll want to keep coming back for more.

Lomo: I don’t know why Lomo is so hard to find in Lebanon, but it is the next best thing I’ve tasted in Spain. It comes in smaller, thicker cuts that are soft and oh so rich in flavor. You can find it at Aziz here in Lebanon, so I strongly, strongly advise you give it a try and serve it as an entrée on your next dinner occasion.

Jamón Serrano: Jamón Serrano is more available in Lebanon and you can find it in big supermarkets that have a delicatessen corner. This Spanish ham is a real delight! It is served in thin slices over a piece of bread covered with tomato and garlic sauce. It is as delicious if you eat it by itself. It is oilier and with a more distinct aftertaste.

Chorizo: Chorizo is a sausage that has a slight orange color, due to it being mixed with smoked paprika. It can be either spicy or sweet. My personal recommendation is definitely the sweet one because it goes easy on your taste buds and it’s incredibly delicious!

Speck: Speck is an exquisite Italian ham (there are German and Austrian varieties too). It has a very robust and smoky taste and comes in smaller slices than regular ham. It is an absolute delight! It has hints of dryness that don’t allow for a long aftertaste, so you can easily enjoy it in a slightly larger quantity :).

Prosciutto di Parma: This one is probably the most known in Lebanon because we’re constantly served this delicacy in Italian restaurants across the country. Prosciutto has a softer taste than Speck or Jamón, and goes perfectly well with melon.

Voilà! I hope you get to try my ham recommendations, especially that the colder season is upon us and wine nights are just around the corner :).

nuts

While the big guys are fighting, one small roastery is making the best nuts in town

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by • Must-Try Foods • Tags: ,

I am amused by the recent “fight” that some roasteries started against each other and how fans of each are defending them. I can understand how it is important for them to maintain their positioning in the market and be perceived as having the best services (and nuts) in Lebanon.

Of course, I didn’t introduce this blog post like that to criticize what is being done. But while these big brands are focusing on showcasing who does things better, there is a small roastery that is truly focusing on making the best nuts you’ll probably ever taste in Lebanon, without any bling-bling marketing around.

If you happen to be driving in Broummana towards Printania Hotel around 10 in the morning, you’ll get a whiff of freshly roasted nuts that will be the highlight of your day. And you’ll know you just passed right next to P. Nut House, the roastery that makes the best nuts I’ve ever tasted in my life.

P. Nut House is a small roastery that has been around for a few years. It does zero communication efforts, yet is crammed with customers anytime you walk in there. The nuts it roasts and sells are incredible; always fresh, crunchy, with just the right amount of salt and with an unparalleled quality. I can explain exactly how each type of nuts looks like and tastes, but it is more interesting that you pay them a visit and discover what I am talking about. And when you do, you must by all means get a pack of cri-cri (the nuts that seem to be everyone’s favorites), because you’ll never savor anything that looks or tastes like they do in your life.

P. Nut House is yet another small place just around the corner, selling exquisite nuts that do not need any marketing stunts, and that are an absolute delight to your occasions and taste buds alike.

pasta

A delicious pasta dish for all the family to enjoy

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by • Quick Fixes • Tags: ,

It’s Saturday. You’re home with the kids and need to cook something quick and delicious that your kids will enjoy as much as you and your hubby will. I have developed a pasta dish that is super easy to prepare and that has all the ingredients that will make it enjoyable for every family member. I mean it’s pasta, so who wouldn’t love it?

  • Ingredients:
    • Pasta (farfalle, conchiglie, fusilli or rocchetti).
    • 2 small packs of crème fraiche.
    • 1 can of sweet corn.
    • 4-5 fresh carrots.
    • 100 grs of sliced mozzarella cheese.
    • 300 grs of sliced Emmental cheese.
    • Salt.
  • Boil half a pack of pasta.
  • In the meantime, cut the carrots into small dices and boil them until they lose their crunchiness (about 20 minutes).
  • Once the pasta is ready, have it dry out by leaving it for a minute in a colander.
  • Put it back in the pot. Add to it the corn and carrots, as well as the salt.
  • Pour the crème fraiche into the pot. Mix well and add two thirds of the Emmental cheese to the mix.
  • Once it’s well mixed, spread in a cooking tray and cover with slices of Emmental and Mozzarella.
  • Put in the oven at 180 degrees for 10-15 minutes, or until the top gets a little roast color.

Take out and enjoy!

fattoush-with-fried-bread

Fattoush and the bread: #TeamGrilled or #TeamFried

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by • Tips • Tags: , ,

I love Lebanese food. I believe it is one of the healthiest, most colourful and most delicious cuisines in the world. I especially love Lebanese salads, or in simpler terms Tabbouleh and Fattoush. We grew up eating those every week and they are not just part of our diet, but also part of our culture.

We’ve always eaten Fattoush with grilled bread at home and I never had the curiosity to know more about the bread, until I started noticing that every time we go to a Lebanese restaurant and with the exception of very few, Fattoush is served with fried bread, not with grilled bread.

So I asked my mom why Fattoush is served with either bread and how it should be served originally, and this is what I found out: Fattoush is originally served with fried bread. That is the initial recipe. However, back in the days, not everyone could afford gas and oil to fry things, especially bread. So they started grilling the bread instead. Even grilling was sometimes an expensive means to change the bread, so what mothers did in poorer areas was to put the bread in the sun for it to “toast” or to harden enough to be served in Fattoush. How interesting is that! To change an ingredient and how it integrates a dish based on what you can or cannot afford, and get a completely different taste experience in the process…

I like Fattoush with fried bread, but grilled bread wins me over every time. Fried bread keeps its crunch and has a special taste, but it doesn’t really absorb the dressing and the acidity of the Fattoush. Grilled bread, on the other hand, absorbs some of the juice and balances the acidity of the dish. It doesn’t need to be crunchy, as there are enough elements in the Fattoush mix that add crunchiness like cucumbers, radish, lettuce, etc.

I still put the bread way ahead for it to be completely soaked with the Fattoush dressing. For me, this is the only way to really enjoy one of my all-time favourite salads :).

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