World Cuisine: Mediterranean

Once again, it's been a while.
We actually finished with these recipes quite a while ago but home renos and job changes have kept us all busy.

The Mediterranean Sea sits nestled between the south end of Europe and the north end of Africa.
Many countries border this balmy sea, but this entry is about what we typically think of as 'Mediterranean': Greece and Italy.

Of course to start any good Italian meal you need an antipasto plate (from 'anti', meaning 'before; and 'pastus', meaning 'meal).
Typically this pre-meal course consists of cured meats, olives, fruit and cheese.

We included some gluten free bead sticks, pickled artichoke, prosciutto wrapped melon, figs, grapes, a variety of olives, marinated feta, and bocconcini.

Also for a starters we had caprese salad.

This simple salad consists of basil leaves, tomato, fresh mozzarella and olive oil.

There are countless ways to present and prepare this dish so probably no two restaurants our homes will be alike.

Some call for a delicately handmade balsamic reduction, some are chopped small and tossed, some are skewered, some are sliced.

All are bright and delicious.

A starter snack from Greece: Dolmades.

Dolmades are grape leaves wrapped around a savoury rice filling and steamed and dressed to a tangy deliciousness. I had high hopes of making my own, but these ones came pre-made from a deli.

Toby LOVED them.

For mains, we had a very hard time narrowing our choices down.

The 'holy grail' of Italian cooking grains are rice, pasta, and polenta (cornmeal). We had recipes picked out for all of these and more. In Greece there are a surprisingly huge number of dishes which are wrapped in phyllo, and as you may remember, gluten free equivalents either don't exist or are to difficult for this.

So, we narrowed down to the very basics of what you would expect from these countries.

First, from Italy, homemade Margherita pizza.

Again the simple flavours of basil, tomato, and mozzarella shine through here.

This pizza is said to have been made to honour Italian Queen Margherita in the cilours of the Italian flag (green, white, red), but there is debate as to the reality of that story.

My gluten free crust recipe called for psyllium husk to hold it together and it turned purple when I cooked it.... soooooo kind of kills the vibe we were going for but it still tasted ok.

Also from Italy: Homemade pasta.

I've mentioned before about my gluten free pasta recipe. It has proven to be versatile in many ways on this journey, but of course it still makes good old pasta.

I usually form the dough in the shells because it's easier to store in a bowl and then cook without falling apart too soon, but here we were trying for a traditional Bolognese with tagliatelle noodles (slightly wider than fettuccine). This dish is also the national dish of Italy.

We rolled and cut the noodles in small batches, and let them rest on a floured plate. I don't usually roll the dough this thin so a few fell apart, but I knew they would hold their shape once they were cooked.

A traditional bolognese is thick and meaty. We used carrots, celery, onion, garlic, beef, crushed tomatoes, and of course, wine. 

For Greece we started out with a nice simple Greek salad.

Like the caprese salad it's filled with clean fresh flavours and colourful veggies.
Tomato, cucumber, feta, olives, and a light dressing are all that's needed to make this an instantly recognizable Greek dish.

Another unmistakably Greek side dish is tzatziki sauce, often served as a dip with pita, or as a condiment. Dill, mint, cucumber, and yogurt are always a clean, fresh tasting combination, and one that I've always loved on pretty much anything.

The national dish of Greece is moussaka.

Moussaka is kind of like a sheppard's pie and a lasagna, but also not at all.

Like lasagna you have a meat sauce that is layered in a pan, expect instead of noodles you use fried eggplant slices. The meat sauce is beef or lamb cooked with onions, carrots, and celery - like a bolognese - but then flavoured with cinnamon, nutmeg, and parsley.

On top of all this you are supposed to pour a bechamel sauce with egg so it puffs up like a creamy quiche.

Of course, I need to keep things egg-free.

So we tried using Vegan-egg as our substitute.

Vegan-egg is unlike other powdered egg replacers in that you can actually 'scramble' it in to something that resembles an egg breakfast. Toby loves it, and I've made some pretty amazing adjustments to my recipes by using this instead. I knew it thickened well while it cooked so we gave it a try.

The bechamel sauce itself was actually pretty amazing. It was thick and fluffy by the end and poured beautifully over our moussaka.

However, once it was in the oven, it turned back into a liquid instead of continuing to thicken.

The end result was creamy stew.

This is NOT how it's supposed to look, however it tasted very good.

Once it cooled COMPLETELY, like, to almost COLD, it sliced much better, but still not the same profile as it should be. I should have taken a 'before' picture because it did look quite good going in to the oven.

So since we were having such good luck with replacing eggs (HA) we decided to make a tiramisu for dessert!

I don't think I realized how many eggs were in this recipe until it came time to make it. I had found some gluten free lady finger cookies from Germany in our local health food store and just thought YES! We can make it now!

Tiramisu is layers of coffee soaked cookies or cake, with a thick egg, cream, and mascarpone cheese filling. None of these things we can eat.

Vegan recipes had complicated combinations of coconut cream or cashew cream and none of the photos looked like the traditional thing we were going for.

In the end we faked it.

Hardcore.

Apologies to Italian cooks everywhere.

But it turned out AMAZING.

We did the whole dipping of the cookies in coffee bit (decaf, because Toby's eating it and caffeine hates me).

The filling is vegan cream cheese (Tofutti brand tastes the best), icing sugar, vanilla, and a bit of cool whip to fluff it up.

It's layered all like a lasagna and sprinkled with cocoa powder.

It's then chilled for several hours until it gets firm again.

Amazingly it tasted and looked exactly like I wanted it to.

Definitely will make this again.

Going into this region I had a very definite opinion that Mediterranean food is my favourite food.

And while it still is up there, it's interesting to note what AUTHENTIC Mediterranean food is, as opposed to our Western view of it. It's a lot of seafood. It's a lot of cured meat. It's a lot of breaded items and creamy fillings and sides.

Pasta is still the best thing ever, but we've learned some things along the way.

Off to Spain!

Happy Eating!!

World Cuisine: Eastern Europe

The date on the top of my notes is 'March 2018'.
It's been a very busy several months with sewing deadlines, and now finally we're getting back to this project.
I have to say, I struggled with Eastern Europe. There are many small countries with their own cultures, but the food patterns are fairly similar and a lot of them are based around bread.
When trying to stay gluten free, there were several things I wanted to make but decided not to because I didn't think I could do it justice.

First we tried a dish that I had heard of years ago and has never gotten around to trying.
Polish Strawberries and cream...
...on pasta.

I've eaten a lot of pasta dishes in my day, but I can't say that I've ever had a 'dessert pasta'.

Even this is not considered dessert, but a summer snack. Strawberry season is short, and they are eaten fresh in every way possible.

Because this is more of a snack or lunch than a dessert, it is not very sweet.

Perhaps it's just my North American palette that was hoping for something sweeter, but we weren't quite sure how we felt about it. I think with some tweaking it could be really good, although maybe not authentic.

Also from Poland, and creeping in to Ukraine, pierogies!

I used the gluten free pasta dough that I also used for the samosas and Chinese dumplings.

Worked pretty well!

We stuffed them with mashed potatoes, onion, and bacon.

I've never been a huge pierogi fan. I prefer smaller pockets with beef in them like tortellini.

It was fun to make them ourselves though, and definitely better homemade than from frozen.

A reoccurring meal all over Eastern Europe is cabbage rolls.

We chose a recipe form Romania, where they are called sarmale.

Pork and heaps of fresh parsley and dill are mixed with rice and loaded in to blanched cabbage leaves.

To be truly authentic you are supposed to use sour cabbage leaves, which have been fermented in brine, similar to sauerkraut.

Toby was not a fan, even though we like all these ingredients separately.

It's a LOT of work for something that a family can eat up in one sitting.

Another Ukranian item we made was potato pancakes called deruny.
Potatoes are an important staple over here with whole cookbooks devoted to them.

These pancakes are not like their lacy cousin the latke, they are made with very finely grated or pureed raw potato so the appearance is more like a traditional pancake.
The taste, however, is nothing like a traditional pancake.
They are not sweet, and when cooked right they taste like the hashbrown patties we know and love.
Most recipes squeeze all the potato liquid out and this one did not, which I think made it a bit harder to cook. When I cooked it in a lot of hot oil they crisped up, but were still a bit soggy when they cooled, and when i cooked them without oil so they weren't soggy they got quite bitter.
Regardless, Toby liked them!
It's supposed to be a 'quick meal' but it took forever to grate the potatoes so I probably wouldn't do it again unless it was a special meal.

From Bulgaria we made tarator soup.
This delightfully cold yogurt soup would be perfect on a balmy day on the back patio.
I found it very similar in flavour to a Greek tzatziki spread, and the tartness of the Balkan style yogurt gives an extra bit of freshness to this dish.

Toby loved it and drizzled it over his deruny for a fun topping.

Lastly from Hungary we made goulash.
Goulash is a meat stew which is heavily seasoned with paprika. In North America we associate this term with a ground beef and pasta dish, but it's actually a very hearty stew.
I'm used to making beef stews with lots of chili and oregano and black pepper, but this recipe is only flavoured by onion, garlic, and paprika (1/4 cup of it!).
It was actually pretty good. I thought the paprika would be too overpowering but it was just right.
Paprika is a spice that is not actually made from crushed seeds, like most spices.
It's make from dried and crushed sweet red peppers so when cooked it lends a warm roasted pepper flavour to the dish. There are several ways to prepare the peppers for grinding which results in slightly different paprika flavours. Hungarian paprika is sweeter and less smokey than other kinds like Spanish paprika.

We're now busy planning meals for the Mediterranean!

Happy Eating!!

World Cuisine: Central Europe

Mistakes may have been made.

When we started this journey I wanted it to be more about the regional flavours of a continent, not necessarily focusing on specific countries for too long. Of course it happens, but we will touch on 

several of them and make a large meal out of it.
And then Europe happened.
Did you know there are at least 50 countries in Europe?
I knew we couldn't do them all, but it didn't feel right to single any of them out.
Northern Europe went pretty well, I think... then we moved south into central Europe.
No Problem!, I thought. The land of cheese, chocolate, and sausages!
But very quickly I realized that not only do countries like Germany and France have VERY different cuisine, the cuisine varies GREATLY within the provincial regions of each.

We had already begun taking some photos though, so we continued.
I apologize for the length and discord of this blog.
Europe, you have too much delicious food.

I thought perhaps we would at least work from beginning of day to end,
so from The Netherlands: Breakfast!

Yes, those are chocolate sprinkles.

Hagelslag - in either chocolate, anise, or fruit flavours - is a kitchen staple and a confusion for us North Americans who associate sprinkles with dessert.

Hot bread or rusks are slathered in butter (so the sprinkles don't roll off, duh) and then laden with hagelslag.

Not a bad way to start the day.

For lunch we're off to Berlin, Germany where currywurst is a popular street food.

Now you might be thinking: "'Wurst' is a sausage right? Because I've been to Oktoberfest, I know things. So this is just a sausage with curry in it?"

Nope.

It's weirder than that.

Currywurst is just a bratwurst sausage, but it's smothered with a curry infused

ketchup and lots of curry powder.

The sauces vary across the city, and each street vendor has their own way of serving it.

 

I liked it, Toby thought it was good. It's definitely not something I ever would have thought of doing on my own, and not sure if I'll enthusiastically make it again, but there is a unique heartiness to it that led to me eat two of these.

Usually it's served on-the-go with fries, or you can follow it up with a soft baked pretzel.

We made some gluten free ones.

Several of them were victims of an unfortunate over-salting incident.

An afternoon snack often calls for cheese and crackers!

We rounded up some European cheeses from some local cheese shops and had a tasting session.

Clockwise from the red rind we have Edam (Netherlands), Cumin Gouda (Netherlands), Brie (France), Emmental (Switzerland), Swiss (North America - I'll explain), plain Gouda (Netherlands), and Boursin (France).

We accompanied these with crackers and a German farmer's sausage.

Now, when we were buying cheese I knew I wanted to find things that were actually made in the country we were representing, not a North American 'knock off'.

I found an Emmental that was made in Switzerland, but could not for the life of me find just good old Swiss cheese. I finally bought a block of Canadian-made Swiss, but it wasn't until after we had done all this that I found out why we were having a hard time.

There's no such thing as 'Swiss cheese'.

Emmental IS 'Swiss cheese', however based on the one we tried it has a much stronger flavour than the Americanized version. I compared it to the flavour of Parmesan, Toby didn't like it.
Toby favourites were the cumin Gouda and the Boursin. I will always favour Swiss cheese over anything, but I liked the cumin Gouda a lot too.
I will note that that I went to a Dutch store to get the cumin Gouda. There is a 'spiced Gouda' in the grocery store and it is NOT the same. I think they use caraway seeds which look similar but have a very different flavour. We didn't like it when we tried it later.

Appetizers before dinner?

How about we hop to France for some escargot?

We were not fans...I wanted to like it, I know lots of people do.

I got through three, and Toby was excited to try it until he saw the blubbery bits.

Snails not your thing?

How about we go to Switzerland for some Swiss fondue?

Usually it's just eaten with bread, and maybe apples, but we had some broccoli too for colour.
Swiss fondue is SO much more that just melted cheese. It's a whole new flavour experience.
Two types of sharp cheese are melted down with white wine, brandy, garlic, nutmeg, and lemon to make a rich, stringy dip.
The taste is not what you expect, but strangely appealing. Very rich.

Dinnertime!
First from The Netherlands we have Boerenkool.
It's exactly what it looks like and tastes even better.
Potatoes are boiled and mashed with onion, garlic, and kale; and then fried sausages are cut up and mashed in as well.
The more overlying word for this type of dish is stamppot, which refers to stuff that's cooked then mashed. There are lots of different types of stamppot - one for every mood and season.

It's so simple - no different than just having potatoes and sausage for dinner.
Toby has asked for this multiple times since.

Another jumbled dinner: Älplermagronen
This Swiss dish translates to Alpine Macaroni and originated in the Swiss Alps when winter food was scarce, but dairy products were plentiful from the cows that these mountain farms raised.

Pasta and potatoes are boiled together, onions are caramelized, and then the pasta mix is layered with cream and lots of cheese (emmental, gruyere, or both), then topped with the onions and baked.

This baked mac and cheese is then served hot over a generous helping of apple sauce.

We're not used to such sharp cheeses, so we just had small helpings, but it was pretty good! I would not have thought of serving apple sauce with mac and cheese, but then I guess people put apples and pears in grilled cheese sandwiches!

Hopping back to France for a more 'dignified' dinner: Boeuf Bourguignon.

The recipe I used was based on Julia Child's recipe which made this dish famous in the 1960s.

French cooking is not for the faint of heart.

I like cooking (clearly) but just reading this recipe made me go searching for something simpler.

I looked at lots of different traditional French dishes and every one of them had multiple steps, sometimes marinating or simmering things for days.

It was around this time where 'Mistakes may have been made' started floating around in my head over and over and over again.

I came back to this.

As daunting as all the steps were, and as tempted as I was to just throw everything in a pot and boil it like I usually make stew, I stuck with it.

And wow.

There is a reason that the French regard cooking as an art. It is a labour with incredible rewards.

And this stew is one of them.

You start with chunks of bacon which are browned and set aside.
You brown chunks of stewing beef in the same pot and set aside.
Again in the same pot  you saute chunks of carrot and sliced onion before removing the excess grease and adding back the meat. Salt, pepper, and flour are added to the pot to coat everything.
This is put in a hot oven for just a few minutes so the flour heats without burning.
The pot is then put back on the stove where beef stock, red wine (lots of it), tomato paste, and 'bouquet garni' (a bundle of thyme, bay, and parsley) are added.
This is brought to a simmer and then put back in the oven for 3-4 hours.
While you're waiting for that to cook you peel and braise pearl onions (becuase the other onions we used will lose their shape and are just for flavouring the broth). These baby onions are browned in butter until they are a little soft, and then they are simmered with beef stock and herbs.
Usually there are sauteed button mushrooms in this recipe too, but Toby doesn't like mushrooms and I wanted him to eat this.
After the pot is removed from the oven, it's contents are poured over a sieve to separate the meat and carrot chunks from the broth. The now very thick broth is simmered on the stove and the extra fat is skimmed off the top.
The pot contents are tossed with the onions and put in a large dish. The gravy-like broth is poured over top.

This is usually served with potatoes or rice. We had rice and baguette with it

It was.... so good.

I'm having a hard time describing it.

It was very rich. Very filling. Very tender - everything, even the beef, melted in your mouth. Very flavourful. I cook with wine and broth a lot, but it's never been anything like this.

So now, as if you weren't full enough, it's time for dessert!

There are so so many little after dinner foods from these countries, but we collected a few together for a taste-test.

From France - macaroons. These light and chewy desserts are a cross between a cookie and a candy and come in tons of flavours and colours.
From Belgium - shell chocolates. Heavy, rich, and creamy treats with just a hint of hazelnut.
From The Netherlands - Droppies and stroopwafels. Droppies are a horror to the snack world that any self-respecting Dutch person will use to prank their non-Dutch friends, while genuinely enjoying snacking on them. They are potent, salty black licorice treats that come in all shapes, sizes, and salt levels. Stoopwafels on the other hand are the greatest thing on earth. I grew up eating these and recently found a GOOD gluten free version. Thin cookie-like waffles have caramel syrup pressed between them. If you rest one over a warm cup of coffee or tea the middle gets all gooey again.
I've had the privilege of eating a fresh one before. A small amount of batter is poured on a hot waffle iron and cooked quickly so that when the iron is opened a large air bubble inflates in the middle of the waffle, like a pita. The waffle is cut open, filled with caramel, and smooshed closed again.
Nothing will ever beat that fresh one.

Except maybe this.

The Black Forest Cake comes from the Black Forest region of Germany.

If you don't know what that is, think Brothers Grimm fairy tales, and any folk-tale about not going in to the forest alone. The trees there grow so close together that the forest is always dark, even in the day.

Despite that fact the cake didn't get it's name for it's dark colour, but rather the type of cherry brandy (kirschwasser) that is used to flavour the cake. There are even measures in place dictating that you can not claim that a cake like this is a Black Forest Cake if kirschwasser has not been poured over the cake layers as you're assembling them.

Kirsch is a clear brandy from the black cherry pit, and although I didn't have clear kirsch, I did have dark cherry brandy.

I was supremely proud of the way this turned out. I even curled my own chocolate for the top and sides. I'm not a chocolate-person but I loved every bit of this.

So there you have it.
A whirlwind journey of central Europe.
I would like to say I've learned lessons from the amount of stuff that was crammed in here and the amount of things I missed, but we all know that's not true.
Onward!

Happy Eating!!

World Cuisine: Northern Europe

We are moving on to Europe!
(Yes, alphabetically we're doing Europe next. We're grouping Australia with Oceania)

The northern European countries we're researching are Iceland, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, and Finland. Often people refer to these countries as Scandinavia however only Denmark, Sweden, and Norway are truly Scandinavian as the word refers to the root of their languages. A more broad term is Nordic, which refers to the countries of the North Atlantic.
We found that many foods across these countries are very similar, but each has something distinct about it.
We tried to break our foods down in to meals and tried to find some of the most traditional items, but there's so much good stuff! It's hard!

For breakfast we had skyr; an Icelandic yogurt. This thick, protein-rich yogurt is not a typical breakfast food, although it can be eaten as such. It's often regarded as a treat or a snack and can be eaten flavoured, with oats and fruit, as a dip for crackers or cookies, or as a dessert topper.
We found several suggestions online for ways to enjoy skyr and settled on having it with blueberries, brown sugar, and a bit of milk.

For lunch we did two different things on two different days.
First we had open faced sandwiches, popular all over these countries. Nordic 'sandwiches' are never eaten with two pieces of bread as we do here. It's a dense piece of rye bread with butter and a variety of toppings to put on, and then eaten with a fork and knife. The Danish word is Smørrebrød which translates from an original version as 'butter and bread'. Anything after the butter is a bonus.
There are many many ways to top the bread, and at a big gathering there is a
 certain order to eat them in.
We chose three mixes: Smoked salmon, dill, and lemon; Cucumber, radish, roast beef, onion, and horseradish; and lettuce, smoked gouda, egg, dressing, and dill (I substituted the egg with radish on one so Toby could eat it).
All AMAZING. In restaurants and cafes these lunches are all about the presentation. At home or packed for work it can be much simpler.

Our second lunchtime meal was pea soup with pancakes which is popular over most of northern Europe, with yellow peas being used in Denmark and Sewden and green peas being used in Finland.
The particular recipe I used was Swedish.
Pea soup and pancakes is eaten on Thursdays, and many restaurants serve this comfort food as their Thursday special, as well as many people making it at home. It has long been a traditional Thursday meal served in schools, military, and prison.
I've had pea soup before and was indifferent to it, but this version with yellow peas, carrots, dill, and ham was really good and very filling. Sometimes people mix in seedy mustard to give it some zip.
The pancakes can either be a dessert or a side dish to the soup. They are thin and crepe-like, and served with whip cream and lingonberry jam.
Lingonberry jam is like the ketchup of Sweden. It goes on Everything. It's more like a tart cranberry sauce than a sweet jam. We all actually quite liked it.

For dinner we had too many options so I made a 'tasting board' of some traditional meat and potato dishes.
From Denmark we had their national dish: Stegtflaesk med persillesous (Fried pork belly with parsley sauce). Reminiscent of think cut bacon, but saltier. The parsley sauce was actually a nice gentle palette cleanser from the strong flavour of the pork and the heaviness of the potatoes.
From Sweden, meatballs of course. Swedish meatballs are warmly flavoured with nutmeg and allspice, and then finished off in a thick sauce of butter, beef broth, cream, and mustard.
From Finland, pan fried elk strips (traditionally reindeer, but elk was the closest I could find down here). Again lingonberry jam is served on the side, and is seen with most pork dishes across the Nordic regions.

For dessert, again, there were too many options! And all looked so good!
We settled on two.
First was Rodgrod med flode (berry soup with cream).
This particular recipe was Danish, but there are versions in every country. Some are served hot, some are served cold. Some strain out the berries so its more of a thickened berry broth or jello, some leave all the stewed berries in for texture.
We left the berries and had it warm the day I made it, but continued to eat it cold for the days after.
Both good! I was skeptical at first because of the word 'soup', but once I read the recipe I realized it was incredibly similar to a strawberry cake filling that my mom has been making for years. So for me it was like a bowl of cake filling with whip cream!

And finally, from Finland, Mustikkapriikaka (blueberry cream pie).
The filling for this didn't turn out as well as I had hoped becauase we were trying to substitute eggs again, but the crust was very much like a sugar cookie which we loved.
Once the pie was day-old-cold it tasted better but still wasn't the texture I was hoping for. Maybe I'll try it again with real eggs one day!

That's all for the north!

Happy Eating!!

World Cuisine: Russia

Welcome to Russia!
Russia has such a deep rich culture, which is reflected in their rich and hearty cuisine.
Dairy, meat, breads, and stews make up most of the foods found here.

We made a meal pieced together with several different dishes.

First of all, every gathering starts with a toast. A toast usually involves vodka and dill pickles, or other appetizers.
Toasting 'to your health' is always traditional, but toasts can often spill over to acknowledge success, good friends, and congratulations.

 "You do not exhale, and you immediately eat something to kind of stun the taste," explains Anya von Bremzen, author of Mastering the Art of Soviet Cooking. "A shot of vodka, a little pickle, a little herring canapé."

(Obviously Toby didn't partake in this)

  We started with a cucumber and radish salad. This salad is simply dressed using a combination of mayonnaise, sour cream or yogurt, green onion, and lemon juice.

Also on the menu was Olivier salad. Potatoes, vegetables, pickles, and meat are cut small and mixed with mayonaise to make a creamy, tangy side dish. Although similar to 'american' potato salad, the flavour is very distinct to it's Russian roots.

No trip to Russia is complete without borscht. This beet and cabbage soup is a sweet and savoury soul warmer. Although beets are not everyone's favourite, the bay leaves and dill in this recipe lend enough flavour to make it more than just boiled vegetables, and a healthy dose of yogurt or sour cream on top ties it all together.

Dinner was beef stroganoff! This creamy beef and mushroom gravy is ladled over noodles or potatoes and must be enjoyed without guilt.

For dessert we made apple sharlotka.
Apple sharlotka is an apple packed cake-like dessert. It has more fruit than one would normally put in a cake, but it has batter stirred throughout and so can't be called a pie.
This recipe calls for 4 eggs, which would make it rise properly and hold it together, but because I was trying to make it with and egg substitute it was more of a gooey mess. If I try this again I'll use a vegan cake recipe instead of trying to alter this one.
As with any dessert though, if you add enough icing sugar and ice cream, appearances don't matter.

Asia is done! Off to northern Europe!

Happy Eating!!

World Cuisine: Western Asia (Middle East)

GLUTEN FREE BAKLAVA!

But before we get to that...

Welcome to the Middle East!
When you think of the middle east (western Asia) you probably think of hummus and pita.
Hummus and breads are a big part of the cuisine here, and I admit that I assumed most of the other foods here were also shades of brown with warm spice flavours.
However I was surprised when almost all of the recipes I looked up included CUPS of fresh green herbs, and loads of fresh citrus notes.

First one of my favourite salads, that I didn't know was Middle Eastern: Tabouleh.
I stopped eating tabouleh when I stopped eating gluten because it includes wheat bulgar or coucous. I have been using a corn couscous for a while now and I love it, so this was an excellent chance to do something new with it.
When you see packaged tabouleh in a store it's usually mostly couscous with some added herbs and veggies. True Lebanese tabouleh, however, is mostly parsley and mint with only a small amount of grain added for texture. Lemon juice, olive oil, cinnamon, and allspice make this healthy salad a flavour adventure.

Another salad we made was called fattoush. This salad includes crispy pieces of broken pita that either get over cooked during initial cooking, or are left over and not wanted to go to waste.
We used old tortilla chips and it did the trick, although the next day they were quite soggy and I don't think pita would have done that as much. Fattoush is bright and lemony and is dusted with sumac powder, which also has a sour citrus flavour, so it compliments plain breads and meats.

With this we had lamb kofta; like meatballs but made into a sausage shape or patty so it can easily be wrapped in a pita if you wanted. The lamb is flavoured with cloves, cumin, corriander and cinnamon, along with lots of fresh parsley and onion. Definitely a unique and delicious flavour package.

Of course, being in the middle east, we made a traditional hummus with flat bread.

Hummus is a puree of chickpeas (garbanzo beans) and tahini (sesame paste) mixed with cumin, lemon, and oil. Anything can be added to the hummus to make different flavour variations, and is usually topped with some of the un-pureed ingredients. We also garnished ours with thyme and paprika.

Chickpeas and beans are a staple ingredient in many recipes, and another popular use for chickpeas is in falafels. I have never really liked falafels, I think it's just a texture thing, and even though I felt the same about these the flavour was great and they worked perfectly.  The only thing that I did differently in This Recipe was use sunflower seeds instead of sesame seeds, and used gluten free flour. Toby loved them.

Dessert time!
I knew I wanted to make Turkish baklava. Baklava is thin sheets of pastry layered with nuts and spices and honey and it becomes these chewy sticky delicious squares - but finding gluten free phyllo dough in Canada is impossible. There are companies in Australia and the US that make it, but I couldn't fine anywhere that ships.
Next I tried looking for just gluten free baklava. I contacted local bakeries and searched the internet but as far as I can tell nobody sells it pre-packaged.
I really didn't want to make it from scratch because phyllo dough is tricky at the best of times, and gluten free would be harder, but that seemed to be my only option. 

I found MANY recipes, each claiming they were the best, but finally settled on one that was simple and had a believable photo. Once I got working with it though, it was apparent that this recipe was not proportioned properly and I had to make MANY edits along the way. Someday if I make this again and perfect it I will post a recipe that works.
Anyway, I finally got the dough consistency right and wonder of wonders it rolled in to thin, not-crumbly pieces.

Baklava going in!

Baklava coming out!

When I make it next time I'm going to grind the nuts into smaller pieces because the larger chunks caused the layers to separate. Gluten free meant that it was chewier than 'normal' bakalava, but the flavour was spot on.
I was also able to find Turkish delight in a package that was made in Turkey (thank you random food aisle at Winners)! Some people say they don't like Turkish delight, but I don't know what's not to like.

On to northern Asia, and our last stop on this continent!

Happy Eating!!