Last week in International studies we studied the Middle East which includes the countries of Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq, Saudia Arabia, Syria, Iran, and Greece. All these countries are not on the same continent but they were along the same spice route. Because all the land was so mountainous, water was the key to the existence of the people. Grains and legumes form the foundation of the middle Eastern diet.
In class we made Baba Ghannouj which is an Arabic dish that basically means eggplant sesame dip and Spanakopita which is a Greece dish that means spinach-feta cheese pie. I enjoyed making both dishes. I’ve made hummus before, which is also an arabic dish, and it is very similar to the baba ghannouj. It’s an easy dish to made that is delicious and would be great served with pita chips. This is a dish that I would definitely make to entertain guests but I might add roasted red peppers to it or purple onions to give it color. To make the dish the recipe calls for tahini which is ground up sesame seeds into a paste, now I now know how to make it fresh instead of having to use a store-bought product that wouldn’t be as fresh. I also really enjoyed the spanakopita. It really reminded me of a Quiche just with a crust on top. Making the dish isn’t hard just lengthy. The recipe calls for layers upon layers of Phylo dough to be the bottom crust but if done right it makes for a wonderfully flakey buttery crust. I’m actually considering serving this dish at my wedding. The only difference I would make is to possible add more cheese to the dish but other than that it was great. I really enjoyed this weeks cooking assignments and look forward to the weeks to come.
- Ryan Harries
JSU Culinary student
