Things I've recently cooked

I’ve been wanting to write this for a while, but as an amateur cook, I avoided it. With Ramadan about to start, I thought it was better to write this now than never.

I love to cook and create. When I got married, I wanted to learn new recipes and explore new cooking tools because, when you have a foodie husband like mine, it’s fun to bond over meals and try new things. My husband is Turkish, and I’m half Lebanese—debatably the two best cuisines so I’m spoiled with options to cook and eat.

One of my love languages is cooking, and I’ve had my fair share of attempts (mostly successful) at making Turkish meals for the first time to surprise my husband. From kavurma, su börek, and imam bayıldı to plenty of çorbas (soups), I have now proven that I am multifaceted—and a great gelin (bride).

As a Lebanese girl who grew up with an Aussie mum making the BEST Lebanese home recipes—along with the occasional Aussie/English dish—I find myself doing the same. From loubiyeh or mansaf to a good homemade pie, I just love a comforting meal. Here are some rather random dishes I’ve made that we loved. Not all are ‘aesthetically pleasing’ or extravagant, but personally, I find that the more mundane cooking days are the most special.

If you find cooking daunting, I recommend watching some Anthony Bourdain and trying to understand food not just as nourishment and a necessity, but as a creative medium. Cooking is love and culture. It’s a way to physically blend history, both ancient and modern. A way to celebrate and commemorate even your own love story. Inshallah, one day my kids will have their own childhood meals a fusion of mine and my husband’s.

How lucky I am to be able to experiment with recipes and ingredients, without worrying about where my next meal will come from. How lucky I am to see the poetic beauty in it.

Below are some recipes I’ve made, along with a brief list of ingredients and instructions. If you’d like a more in-depth explanation, I'll do my best to forward you similar detailed recipes to follow.

beef bourguignon

my mum bought me this beautiful cast iron pot for my birthday and I knew the first thing I wanted to make was beef bourguignon. A dish I’ve never even tried but I knew I would like. I based this recipe off of Julia Childs recipe, a classic but I removed some elements like any wine or pork. This filled my home with the most comforting smell and felt like a big hug. A slow cooked beef French stew with carrots and potatoes served with crusty bread.

sabenekh

A classic in my home, and also from my childhood, is this Lebanese spinach and mince dish. Since I was a kid, I’ve spelled it as “spanne.” When my husband tried it for the first time, he was obsessed—I wonder if it’s because it’s so delicious or because it’s so protein-dense.

Beef mince is cooked with onions and garlic and seasoned with plenty of 7-spice. You add a generous amount of spinach and finish it off with fried coriander, lemon, and more garlic, which really elevates the dish. It’s served with Arab rice, which varies from person to person, but I used medium grain rice with vermicelli or egg noodles. And don’t forget a generous dollop of garlic Greek-style yogurt too!

chicken parmesan meatballs

This recipe was created by @lucysallysommer and was so delicious. I love soups, and I opted to serve it more as a soup, while my husband enjoyed it more as a pasta with less broth. It’s hearty, wholesome, and not complex to make at all!

chicken and leek pie

I love pies—savoury pies. I grew up going to cafés with my mum, having a beef curry pie and a milkshake, and I could genuinely eat so many at once that you'd have to stop me forcibly.

This chicken and leek pie was a new experience for me since I’m still new to cooking with leek, but it has quickly become a favourite vegetable. Served with mashed potatoes or veggies, this makes for a perfect cozy meal.

Next, I want to try making a beef pie!

kafta/kofte and kale and quinoa salad

My brother and husband constantly bicker (jokingly, of course) over whether it’s kofte or kafta. Although they taste very different, I decide what to call it based on the shape—if it’s round, it’s kofte, and if it’s in a shish-style shape, it’s kafta.

Whatever you call it, this is an easy and pretty healthy dinner. I made a quinoa and kale salad with tomatoes, onion, and baby corn. The dressing was a mix of tahini and lemon, which was delicious and complemented the kafta perfectly.

You can make kafta yourself, but with the plethora of Middle Eastern butchers readily available to me, I opt not to. I usually make these in the air fryer for a mess-free option, but on this day, I pan-fried them.

chicken and leek risoni

This was another @lucysallysommer recipe! This was totally new territory for me. I’ve made risoni dishes before with salmon or chicken, but never anything with leek! This was rich and delicious, and I’ll definitely be making it again when I have protein to cook and risoni or pastina to work with.

I used grilled chicken breast, but the recipe calls for roast chicken, which I’m sure would elevate the dish even further.

Let me know if you try any of these :p