Back to work or may I say back to " La Passion". I did get to do something that I've always wanted to do forever. I walked with a herd of goats and sheep in the deep mountains of Kfardebian. What a joy to be amongst these shepherds and their families. It's a way of life. I traveled to see foreign countries on a boat with my family and friends. I appreciated many aspects of their habits and customs. I ate their foods, socialized with different people. I met a new friend from Australia who shares my food passion. I ate seafood with my friend Joe, the Top Chef superstar and our common friend Habib Hadid, owner of Le Phonecien. I invited friends to share a meal celebrating my adopted country's food - Mexico, with the help of a new friend Fernando Gomez, a Mexican chef.
Now as I look forward to a new season, a new year - I am setting goals for myself to achieve during this time. I have finally met the one who will translate MOUNEH in Arabic (God sends you good people along your way in due time), as this task needs to be done for the people of Lebanon, for the people of Lebanon. This is very important for me because finally it is the Lebanese who need to safeguard this very important cultural tradition and teach their children.That being done, I would have done what I set out to do...
Season II of Helweh wa Moora with our food segment every Thurs, I'm very excited! Many more stories, recipes and exciting people to meet. I want to share with viewers this wonderful FOOD related world with the people behind it. There will be new topics: I will adventure myself to peak into kitchens in new restaurants opening all around the country and also visit the ones who have withstood the test of time. Keeping culinary traditions alive is very important to me (you've heard it a thousand times), I will continue seeking those who are working to safeguard it and capture their task. I will travel to the depths of the country to find those hidden treasures. May God give me good health!
Learning to make Jibneh Baladi
A new book in the making, of course! It's addictive. I am currently working on a book dealing with local dairy products and everything relating to that topic This will include lots of beautiful animals, people, recipes and techniques with numerous places to visit. I am going to purchase a few goats / sheep to live through the experience myself. I am in the process of negotiating with a shepherd on how we can share responsibilities. I can't wait! You cannot write about something unless you live every aspect of the topic. It's a sacrifice, ha ha ha....
This is my friend Raymond Yazbeck, Ray to some...Ray is a professional photographer with years of experience, including the publication of several books. I met him many years ago when I first had the dream of doing a book on man'oushe. He showed me the way. He is like the brother I never had... So what does one do with his brother, one goes fishing! Great fun.
Roasted green wheat, better known as freekeh,is roasted, parched wheat which has a chewy green grain and a flavorful, smoky nutty taste. It is said that wheat was picked early in the season and burnt during the Ottoman period to deter farmers from paying high taxes. Since, it has become a traditional way of eating wheat. It is a specialty known in Lebanon and neighboring countries such as Syria, Jordan, Egypt and Palestine.The word freekeh comes from the Arabic word al-freek meaning “what is rubbed”; this is in reference to the process of making the actual roasted wheat, which involves rubbing the wheat grains with one’s hands to free them of their shell.
Freekeh can be cooked in many ways. As a substitute for burghul or rice, it accompanies recipes made with beef, chicken, lamb and lately even seafood. It can make flavorful stuffing for vegetables like zucchini, eggplant, and grape leaves. Freekeh can also be an interesting ingredient cooked in soups. Combined with fresh vegetables, it is often mixed in different types of salads. Experimentation with freekeh has also led to interesting and delicious breads. Roasted green wheat is certainly gaining recognition in homes around the country and from chefs worldwide.With the increase in the number of vegetarians, freekeh is popular among those who savor its roasted smoky flavor, suggesting the taste of smoked meats.
To make freekeh, the green wheat stalks are harvested when the wheat is between the milk and soft dough stage. With experience, the farmer knows exactly when to pick the wheat. If the wheat is picked too early, the grains collapse. If it is picked too late, the grains will not have their distinctive green color. The wheat is harvested by mowing the stand down with a sickle bar or a mower. It is then gathered into bunches in a big pile and tied into tight bundles. The wheat is dried for 2 to 4 hours before being roasted in the fields over an open wood or charcoal fire made with dry bunches of a thorny bush called ballan. Ballan is used to smoke the freekeh because it produces a small amount of ash when it burns, dying down after a few minutes. Its use is said to reduce contamination of the wheat. The burning lasts for 10 to 15 minutes, until a characteristic popping sound is made. Here again, the farmer’s experience is essential. Wind velocity and actual site position is taken into consideration to ensure uniform roasting.
When the wheat is finally roasted, a wire mesh frame is set up, usually made up of an old bedspring. The wheat is thrown in bunches on the bedspring and beaten with a small broom to rid it of impurities, debris, and undesirable black ash. The wheat bunches are gathered from the wire mesh and carefully stored to dry for a couple of days. The heads are collected in large bags and taken to a mill where the grain will be separated from the chaff. In the past, this was done by flailing the wheat with wooden poles. Today, the operation is done through a threshing machine. The threshed grains are later left to dry on clean dry surface in a shaded area for a couple of days or weeks depending on the weather. When the grains are completely dry, they are scrupulously checked for remaining debris; this is where you can differentiate the quality of the freekeh purchased from one producer to another. The grains are kept whole or coarsely ground to be packed into neat storage bags. Before freekeh is used for cooking, it is usually soaked overnight to reduce the amount of cooking time.
Mothers will understand how I felt about this baby goat. The experience of life with goats: caring for them, milking them, walking them and simply living with them is special. I, for one, am deeply affected by it. I will go and walk with Ezzat Majed this summer to live through this experience. I will never forget this day spent with them. The Serdeleh cheese is really awesome. It is pungent, sharp, creamy, crumbly and salty. It melts in your mouth and leaves an aftertaste of goat that is simply unforgettable.
Serendipity "is the effect by which one accidentally stumbles upon something fortunate, especially while looking for something entirely unrelated." You may say "it is written", it is destiny. This is my story, the one I fell upon, the one I am still writing, the one I am struggling each day to produce, to invent, to fabricate, and most of all to create. My life should have a sense. I always felt this from the very beginning. I should leave a trace—
one that is significant to me, to my family, to my community, to this place we call "earth". This trace should make some kind of difference. Someone or something must be better because of my doing —of my continuous efforts. It should be like a faraway scent that produces a memory —a memory of the past, a memory of better days, a memory of the senses, a memory of man's fading goodness ...
It began in my father's restaurant at the age of fifteen. Those were difficult years, but the base of my culinary education. Times passed since those days - I married , had three beautiful children, and still in the back of my mind, the recurring dreams of food related journeys and adventures. A woman's role in a family is maternal. What better way to show your innermost maternal instinct than by feeding your children. Isn't it the first instinct that a child initiates when he suckles on his mother's breast? Feeding your children with your knowledge and wisdom of life's experiences is essential, but also feeding them with real wholesome food made with the most important ingredient, LOVE, is imperative and sets THE example.
"It was written" that I would leave the USA and go searching for my roots in Lebanon, my country of origin. It was destiny, some call her fate, that knocked on my door and showed me the way. It was she that led me to visit all corners of the country in search of food related subjects and matters. It was she that gave me the chance to understand this diversified group of people who have all welcomed me as one of their own. It was she that gave me the perseverance to learn a new trade to capture these moments through the use of my camera. It is she that gives me the strength to carry on to fulfill my assignment—to preserve my country's culinary traditions, to defend its authenticity, to ensure its survival.
