Middle Eastern Feast

Somehow Lori and I got inspired to do this… My grandmother was Lebanese and I miss her cooking. Growing up in Detroit, we had a wealth of great middle-eastern restaurants to choose from, and it’s something we really miss out here. This weekend we stretched our culinary knowledge and our patience to make pita bread, falafel, hummus, baba ghannouj, and tabbouleh, all from scratch…

Eggplant on the grill for baba ghannouj. This dish doesn’t appear to exist in stores around here, basically roasted eggplant with sesame tahini, lemon, garlic, cumin, salt, and paprika. My favorite version of this was served at a restaurant in Dearborn MI called La Shish, which AFAIK was shut down as a front for laundering money for terrorists groups in Lebanon. If you don’t want any Hamas with your hummus, you have to make it yourself. The secret is to grill the eggplant over a wood fire:

Pita bread from scratch on the BGE pizza stone, from the recipe linked by Kenny in the garbanzo thread. Surprisingly easy, and so nice to have this fresh, warm, and smoky. The only thing I think I’d do differently next time is to crank up the heat. Followed a recipe designed for cooking in the oven and followed the 475ºF. Next time I’ll let her rip!

Falafel from scratch using Einat Admony’s recipe:

We also made a tabbouleh using quinoa instead of bulgar wheat, and hummus.

Just like back home, a lot of work but worth it:

Nice.

That is awesome … and we (those who live in SE MI) don’t even miss La Shish that much … plenty of options

Middle eastern food is everywhere in metro Detroit and offers some great dining options. It is a regular part of my carry-out rotation.

Looks fantastic! I love Middle Eastern food.
There is a really good little place here in Napa. They make a really good beet dish they call beet hummus, although it really doesn’t have anything to do with hummus. Just shredded beets and sour cream or yogurt with spices. Yummy!

No doubt Mark. It is disorienting though for those of us who’ve moved away, when we come back to visit.

All the dishes look awesome!

Looks fantastic Larry but…no kibbeh???

Looks delicious! Any rice recipes??

Thanks, Larry. I think the best middle eastern restaurants in the country are still in Detoit and the suburbs, but we have enough good restaurants and grocerties here in Chicago to scratch the itch. Looks like a fun day.

Um…vegetarians…

Didn’t see that anywhere.

We’ll forgive you this time.

I do love kibbeh, from my childhood, probably my favorite of all my grandmother’s dishes. But… what Linda said.

Would have been good but really not necessary (plenty of leftovers as it is). If we had gone with any rice dish, it probably would have been mujaddara.

We’ll check it out next time we’re up there. I would love to have some friends over for any such epic culinary adventure, but honestly most of our friends around here would not go for this food. Next time, we’ll invite you!

Yay!

I moved from Detroit about 7 years ago, and I still miss good Middle Eastern food. YUM!

Scott there are good jobs if you ever get the itch to come back. I’m sure you know that though

Yes sir! But I am finally acclimated to the warmer weather, can’t leave it now.