Lola & I both love getting free stuff on the street. I have found and brought home a lot of great stuff, including an old-fashioned hat rack and a copy of Naked Lunch. While my finds tend to be somewhat random (although frequently awesome), Lola seems to have a particular knack for finding cookbooks. Most of the ones she finds have given us tons of delicious recipes, but unfortunately, there is a reason some of them are free. Although I haven't given up hope on it yet, I'm beginning to fear that The Middle Eastern and African Cookbook is one of those.
We've made one recipe from this book before, which none of us really liked, but we decided to try the book again. We made Syrian fish with tahini sauce, eggplant and harrisa salad, and zucchini and cauliflower salad. Lola and I both liked the salads, but our mom thought they were too lemony.
However, we all agreed that the tahini sauce was too rich and overpowered the fish. It's too bad, because the fish itself was cooked perfectly. I think if we had just made the fish without the sauce, or watered the sauce down a bit, it would have been a perfectly good meal. So I'm willing to try this cookbook again, but I think our parents have given up hope on it.Random, non-food related: if you live in San Francisco, or are visiting, be sure to check out the Jejune Institute at 580 California. I went there yesterday, it's really cool.
4 comments:
I have to say that I kind of wrinkled my nose at the thought of fish with tahini. For just the reasons you stated. I've had some of those cookbook experiences, too, sadly. It's always a bummer. OTOH - free is good. ;-)
Hi! I followed you from the foodieblogroll and I liked reading through your blog.Too bad this didnt turn out as you expected, if for the pictures alone, I think it looked great.
I love Middle Eastern food, but don't have much experience cooking it. These dishes look fabulous!
But it *sounds* and *looks* really really good!!!
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