Читать книгу Feasts From the Middle East - Tony Kitous - Страница 14

If you’re as greedy as me and like to pick at lots of bits, you’ll love this. It’s a true feast in every sense of the word and features lots of different dishes laid out in one big spread. This breakfast varies from family to family, village to village. For starters, you’ll always find a selection of homemade cheese, eggs and flatbreads with different toppings. There’ll also be jars of homemade jams such as quince, fig or rose petal. Olives and pickles, tomatoes, bunches of mint, baby cucumbers and radishes will be arranged in separate bowls. There’ll always be space for labneh, of course – whether the topping is sweet or savoury depends on preference. And finally there’ll be fresh fruit, whatever’s in season. Here’s a round-up of some of my favourites (photos on see here).

LEBANESE VILLAGE BREAKFAST

FOTOOR ARABY

LABNEH

Serve it plain or dressed as in the recipe on see here. Or top it with something sweet – rose petal or quince jam are two of my favourites – or choose whatever you have to hand. It’s also delicious with poached quinces and dried fruits (see here).

Labneh balls: serve as many different flavours as you like. There are plain labneh balls (dressed in a little olive oil), za’atar labneh balls, sumac labneh balls, labneh balls with flaked chilli, dried-mint labneh balls and labneh balls with nigella seeds.

OLIVES & PICKLES

Green olives mixed with Kalamata olives, dressed in oil.

Whole green chillies, pickled turnips with beetroot and strips of Lebanese gherkins.

FALAFEL

Serve plain and simple or try the recipe on see here.

A BOWL OF CRISP VEGETABLES

Slice baby cucumbers lengthways and sprinkle with a little salt

Carrots, squeezed with a little lemon juice and salt

Cherry tomatoes, halved, or large tomatoes, cut into wedges and opened like a flower, sprinkled with salt and sumac, and drizzled with a little olive oil

Radishes

Small bunch of mint, to garnish

BREAD

Choose Arabic Bread (see here), Sesame Seed Bread (see here), Village Bread, or Man’ousha – either Spiced Tomato (see here) or Feta & Spinach (see here).

EGGS

Hard-boiled eggs, halved, some sprinkled with za’atar and sumac, are the easiest to serve to a crowd. But if you fancy whipping up some scrambled eggs, serve them with feta and za’atar. If you’re making fried eggs, do as I do and serve them out of the pan with a sprinkle of sumac on top.

CHEESE

Grill slices of halloumi and serve with figs in rose syrup or roasted tomatoes (see here) or serve one or two of the Feta 4 Ways ideas on see here.

And, finally, just to please some of my family, who love croissants for breakfast, I also like to serve a plate of the mini ones with my own Middle Eastern twist. I take half of them and split them, then drizzle over a little extra-virgin olive oil and za’atar. The other half I split and fill with salty feta and slices of juicy ripe tomatoes.