Memorial Day gets short shrift on the culinary front. There is no traditional dish that Americans make for the day, and the rule of thumb seems to be anything goes. In some parts of the country it’s still too chilly for an outdoor barbecue. So with the anything-goes as the operative idea this tomato, fig, […]
Fennel Salad from Algeria Perfect for May
April 22, 2019 by 1 Comment
In North Africa salads of all kinds are a favorite dish, served as part of a meze table, called qimiyya in Algeria, or as an accompaniment to grilled meats. This recipe from Algeria is simply called salāṭat bisbas, fennel salad. Although I love raw fennel which makes both a great dipping implement and sliced thin for […]
Black-eyed Peas and Tomato Salad for Meze Table
September 19, 2018 by Leave a Comment
Although this preparation of black-eyed peas and tomatoes is called a salad, in Lebanon it is usually an addition to the spread of various dishes found on a meze table. This salad is perfect for an end of the summer meal. Serve it with romaine lettuce leaves to be used as scoops. For ease of […]
Summer Salad from French Catalonia
August 6, 2018 by Leave a Comment
Hot summer days demand cool salads and one couldn’t do better than the one I first encountered in the village of Collioure in southern France. There I had a salade Collioure, Collioure being a small French Catalan fishing village on the Côte Vermeille, the coastal Mediterranean of the French province of Roussillon which is considered […]
Puntarella Chicory Arrives!
February 1, 2018 by 6 Comments
Chicory is an herbaceous wild biennial or perennial found all over the Mediterranean. The leaves of chicory have a basal rosette of runcinate leaves, that is, with lobes are deeply incised and recurved at the tip. The heads are large with loose, dark green leaves that taste bitter. The flowering stalk emerges out of this […]
Tomato and Cheese Make Perfect Summer Salads
August 10, 2016 by Leave a Comment
A rule of thumb—better yet—a summer desire, is to keep ones cooking simple as no one wants to spend a lot of time in a hot kitchen. Grilling is the solution, but so is simple summer vegetable salads. In fact, you could make an entire meal of nothing but a variety of salads. In Arab […]
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