Barbara with Chef Alexis Couqley New Year's Eve "Helwe Beirut"

Chef Alexis is French / Belgium / and American! I think it's a great combination to make delicious food, he's a "makhloutah" like me! His duck confit was absolutely delicious. His story is made of hard work, determination, and success. I admire that in so many people, especially chefs around the country. He has adopted Lebanon in his heart and is growing strong with the opening of a second restaurant in Zaytouneh Bay in Downtown Beirut. It is called Amarres. To follow Chef Alexis's food journey join the group's Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/Couqley.

Happy New Year!

Piece of Art

Souvenir photo

Barbara with Chef Joe Barza "Christmas Dinner" Part 2 Helwe Beirut

This is the second part of the Christmas menu. Here Chef Joe demonstrates how to make a special salad with Parmesan crust filled with labneh. To finish our special menu, Chef Rami executes Chef Joe's recipe with a chocolate mousse filling mixed with meghli.

This is the recipe for the salad: (please refer to the video for more details)

For the pastry
100 g of butter
100 g of Parmesan cheese
100 g flour (for pastry)
For the filling
Labneh (goat)
Dried tomatoes (chopped finely)
Olives
Onion (chopped finely)
Onion chives (cut finely)
Walnuts
Olive oil
Cream
A bunch of parsley
For the salad
Lettuce
Radish
Basil
Arugula
Strawberries
Cherry tomatoes
For the salad dressing
Balsamic vinegar
Olive oil
White vinegar
 
1. Mix all ingredients for the filling in a large mixing bowl. (see video)
2. Empty the content into a pastry bag.
3. Mix all the ingredients to make the crust for the base. (see video)
4. Squeeze all the content of the bag into the crust.
5. Mix all ingredients to make the salad. (see video)
6. Top the salad on the labneh. Pour the dressing.

For the dessert: (refer to the video for methods of preparation)

For the meghli:
4000 g water
800 g sugar
4 tbs of cinnamon
4 tbs of carvi
400 g of rice powder
For the chocolate mousse:
255 g egg (yellow)
135 g sugar
375 g cream (animal)
75 g milk
300 g cream (vegetable)
Dark chocolate (50% or 70% of cacao)
For the pie crust:
1/2 kg of flour
335 g of butter
170 g sugar
1 egg

Barbara with Chef Joe Barza Christmas Dinner Part 1 "Helwe Beirut"

It was a lot of fun to cook this Christmas menu with Chef Joe.Part I of this segment is based on two recipes: roasting the turkey and cooking freekeh. The result was absolutely amazing! The segment was shot in a new catering venue called Bread and Roses. Joe Barza Culinary Consultancy is  the culinary consultant firm of Bread and Roses, among many of his other endeavors. The premises hold what you may call "a dream" professional kitchen. I hope you try this recipe at home because it is really worth while.

Mouneh Reviewed in the Art of Eating

the Art of Eating

I am very proud to announce that Mouneh has been reviewed by the Art of Eating this month, a prestigious magazine in the USA. Whoever had something to do with this, I thank them wherever they may be. I hope that the review is positive. I shall post it as soon as I get a copy. Hopefully I can find it in a local bookshop. I have this need to have my work and writings in my "other" homeland, the one I grew up in. It is important to  me that part of who I am remains there forever, that I may also leave a trace in this distant land that I hold forever in my heart. I once read a phrase that Khalil Gibran wrote. It went something like, " I belong in two different worlds, Lebanon and America - I feel  that I belong to neither". In my case, I feel like that too and sometimes I feel like I belong to both!

A glimpse of the review: 

"Barbara Abdeni Massad has taken 'the feeling' that an old Lebanese woman had about a 'pinch' of this and 'a drop' of that and transformed it into complete, accurate recipes for the supermarket generation." 

Merry Christmas

It's Christmas morning, I was just awaken by a beautiful dream. I was walking in the streets of Tripoli (North of Lebanon) in the old souk. I see a shepherd coming with a flock of goats. Each goat is tied to another goat. People start pushing and shoving them, almost afraid. I start shouting to explain to everyone that goats are harmless and very friendly to humans. Why can't they understand? The shepherd approves and smiles at me, I rejoice when I see his eyes on me. He walks away with his herd, discreetly cutting off the rope to leave a baby goat with me. My heart rejoices, full of love and happiness—I am awaken by my daughter who is excited to open her presents. I feel enlightened by this message, this dream of hope.... A spiritual Christmas gift especially for me. Very symbolic, positive hope for the new coming year. God bless!

Barbara's Lebanese Mezze

Can you taste this hummus bi-tahineh?

 I have decided to dedicate a blog to the Lebanese Mezze. I am going to teach you (my readers) the steps to making your own Lebanese mezze from A to Z. I will discuss in detail each recipe with the flaws that you might encounter if you are not careful. We will share variations, creations, and regional differences among many subjects. This is a learning process both for me and for you. I am very excited to go through this discovery together. I expect a lot of comments and participation. If you have recipes to share, they are  most welcome. My aim is to reach 100 recipes to conclude this delectable research. One might never know, it might turn out to be one day a book! I want to celebrate local foods and the people that make it happen.

One Person's Food Vision in Beirut

The Brownbook Urban Series | Kamal Mouzawak from Brownbook Magazine on Vimeo.

This is an interesting video, depicting one man's food vision. It was done during the time when I had my Mouneh photo exhibition at Tawlet. I have one criticism though, the music—which is definately not Lebanese—does not correspond with the subject (at all!).