A Week of Recipes (4/13 - 4/19)
Loquat Salad, Mutabal, & Macarona bil Lahma
Happy Sunday and more importantly Happy Easter to everyone celebrating! I grew up Muslim and funny enough, every Easter I’d spend Easter Egg hunting and eating ma’amoul cookies because we’d be without our Christian Arab friends. I wondered why we always spent Easter with the same families and Easter of 2003 was the day my awareness of Christian Arabs was born lol.
This week I got creative, showcased a classic, and shared a very homey dish my Mom created. Everything shared are intended to be very quick and easy (I know I say that a lot but they’re actually easy I promise). I’ve been spending the last 8 months digging deep into the Levantine culture of food and sharing the classic recipes a lot of us grew up with. While there are still a lot more to share and I think it’s important to share these classics, I want sprinkle in more quick and easy recipes that are more accessible to make. Not all of us have 3-4 hours to roast something or an hour just for prep work. So keep a look out for some fun creations either by myself or by someone from my upbringing!
The Loquat Salad is something I created to find use for loquats other than eating them plain. In Arabic we call them “Azkedenya.” They are a citrus fruit that are what I describe as a cross between a kumquat and apricot. They’re not sold in typical grocery stores mostly because they bruise very easily so you’ll have better luck in a middle eastern or asian market. Or you can do what I do and just pick them off the tree because these tree’s are literally everywhere! At least all over southern california and the Levant. They’re one of my favorite fruits and they are in season March-May so keep a look out for them!
Mutabal is a Levantine classic. It’s a roasted eggplant dish mixed with lots of lemon juice, garlic, and a bit of tahini and yogurt. It’s basically Babaganoush but with slight differences. It’s wonderfully simple and is my preferred dip over hummus. I always joke and say it’s hummus’s arch enemy because at any dinner party or buffet they’re placed right next to each other and you can tell which one people prefer based on how much is left of each. But this is a dish I make quite often and keep in the fridge for a quick snack or side during dinner.
Last we have my moms creation, Macarona bil Lahma, which just means Macaroni with meat. Yes it looks like hamburger helper and I’m pretty sure everyone’s mom has some version of this so here’s mine. It’s a dish she would make when in a hurry and didn’t want to spend hours prepping. Just cook some meat, boil some pasta, mix it together with some diluted tomato paste and bake. Quick and easy and the ultimate crowd pleaser.
Loquat Salad
Loquats are the most underused, under picked, and unknown fruit that exist, such a shame. In the Levant they grow in abundance and also in Southern California! In Arabic we call them Azkadenya which is a lot of fun to say. They are a citrus fruit that I can only describe as a mix between a kumquat and apricot, almost like a tiny citrus peach. They have …
Mutabal (aka Babaganoush)
This is a dish I never looked twice at, I would always skip over it until I finally gave it a chance and now I constantly seek it out. This dip is known as Mutabal or Babaganoush depending on what part of the Middle East you’re from. It’s a roasted eggplant dip mixed with lots of lemon juice, tahini, and a bit of yogurt. You always see it alongside hummus and to be honest, I never liked it from restaurants. But when we started making it and home, it quickly became my favorite over hummus or muhammara and I hope with this recipe it will do the same for you!
Macarona bil Lahma
This is what happens when an incredible home cook has to get creative to feed her family. My mom is my inspiration when it comes to cooking and this is one of the many recipes she created to feed our family of all boys. It’s essentially a baked pasta with lots of ground beef and onions in a tomato sauce. It’s beautifully simple and can feed an army. My brothers and I would eat our hearts out and we’d still have leftovers for days to come. It’s a dish I highly recommend anyone try especially if you don’t like to cook. It’s really that easy.