Lebanese Salads
Quinoa Tabbouleh Recipe
I’ve been so offended by so many tabboulehs over the years, that I must be the de facto tabbouleh police by now. I know you know what I’m talking about: those grain-heavy salads that offer a fleck of parsley here, a precious leaf of mint there. Is it laziness that has prompted the phenomenon? It…
Read MoreCitrus Salad Recipe, and a new Middle Eastern cookbook
Holiday gatherings of our family have always included my mom’s special touches at breakfast. Her favorite of all the citrus fruits is grapefruit, and she painstakingly segments pink grapefruit after pink grapefruit to yield her big bowl of glistening fruit to make our breakfast table a celebration. Only someone (Mom. Me. Peg. If any…
Read MoreLebanese Cucumber & Tomato Salad with Mint
One of the best things about cucumber and tomato salad with mint is the juice that waits in the bottom of the bowl, ready to be sopped up with thin pita or flatbread. Make the salad an hour or so in advance to let the flavors meld. There are many great Lebanese recipes for salads,…
Read MoreFavorite Lebanese Summer Salads
The start of August seems like the perfect time reach into our treasure trove of recipes and recall all of the delicious Lebanese recipes for summer’s bounty. Plus we have so many new readers, it only seems appropriate that we welcome you with a look-see at the Lebanese recipes and stories that have been…
Read MoreBarley Picnic Salad, and 4th of July in Harbor Springs
The 4th of July picnic menu here on Main Street is always a great topic of discussion in my family, one that entertains us not just in the days leading up to the 4th, but throughout the year. We kick around whether we need a tent, how many hot dogs to buy, which soda is…
Read MoreFather’s Day Menu: Fattoush Wedge Salads with Sumac
When I think of a Father’s Day menu, I immediately want hefty food that has plenty of healthy going on too. My own dad liked a big meal, a big bite, and a lotta crunch. Ditto his sons, who will be eating this Father’s Day meal in honor of their own fatherhood, to be sure,…
Read MoreFrench Lentils with Dijon
The Lebanese, we love our lentils. There is mujadara. There is lentil soup. In some instances (never my own) there are pureed lentils and onions that call themselves mujadara. That about sums up our lentil repertoire, at least from my family kitchen standpoint. And let’s face it, lentils need some help, some gentle prodding, to…
Read MoreRadish & arugula salad. Here let us feast.
When the landlady at the first apartment I lived in with my sister in Chicago told us she was selling the old grey stone and it was time for us to move on, I was excited about the prospect of something new and different. That is, until I discovered what moving really meant. For me,…
Read MoreLebanese Potato Salad
Lebanese potato salad is light and fresh with lemon and mint–the perfect, healthy summer salad which is dairy- and gluten-free. See how to cook the potatoes perfectly here and in my video. I was surprised when I returned from Lebanon recently to find the herbs in the back corner garden had come into their own.…
Read MoreTechnique: How to cook potatoes perfectly for salad
Perhaps the most vexing thing about making potato salad is cooking the potatoes properly. They are a little like pasta in this regard, but potatoes don’t have the same breaking point leeway that pasta has. Take them 30 seconds beyond just right, and here come the mashed potatoes. As we discussed yesterday, different types of…
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