“Rose Water &Orange Blossoms,” the debut cookbook by Maureen Abood, evokes both her Lebanese-American heritage and her life as a cook, writer, photographer and blogger in Michigan. It is an intensely personal book, filled with evocative family tales of life, love, legacy. It is also a practical cookbook with especially broad appeal, given America’s ongoing hunger for Mediterranean flavors.
“The stories have always been really important to me. I can’t extricate them from the cooking. It all goes together,” says Abood, speaking by telephone from Michigan, where she divides her time between East Lansing and Harbor Springs. “I love thinking about the connection of food and memories, and I think a lot of people think that way.”
Certainly, the cookbook offers ample opportunities to craft family meals from which memories are made. It is a mix of traditional Lebanese recipes and dishes she developed, hence the book’s subtitle, “Fresh &Classic Recipes from My Lebanese Kitchen.”
“I’m making use of traditional Lebanese ingredients like mint, cinnamon and flower water in new ways,” she says.
Asked for one must-do recipe in the book, Abood points to hushweh, a chicken-rice pilaf with butter-toasted almonds.
“No matter who I make it for, people want the recipe,” she says, noting pine nuts can substitute for the almonds. “That dish is a standout.”
Abood is also very excited by her kibbeh recipes. Most people, she says, think this Lebanese signature bulgur wheat recipe is only made with raw meat — and it can be (Abood shows you how to do it safely) — but she offers other variations, including a vegan tomato kibbeh, which she says is on par with the meat version.
Some of Abood’s recipes have a distinct Midwest-Middle East vibe, such as Great Lakes whitefish fried in a chopped pistachio crust; roasted leg of lamb paired with a salsa made with pomegranate molasses and black cherries; and baked eggs with spinach, labneh (a thick yogurt) and sumac.
“I hope the book, No. 1, will get people to go into the kitchen and try Lebanese recipes and cook for families and friends,” says Abood, who sees food as a “great equalizer” and a “great communicator” that can be “a way to understanding.”
“We do so much around the table, so much happens to our relationships around the table,” she says.
Abood hopes the book will be “a bridge to understanding for people who may not know that much about Lebanon, the Middle East or Lebanese-Americans. In doing that, I want to present the really rich, distinctive, positive elements of our culture.”
Pistachio-crusted whitefish with parsley-lemon butter
4 (4-ounce) fillets whitefish or 2 (8-ounce) fillets halved crosswise (No whitefish? Abood recommends any thin, white-fleshed fish)
1 1/4 teaspoons kosher salt
Few grinds of black pepper
1/2 cup flour
2 eggs
2/3 cup shelled roasted, salted pistachios, finely chopped
Grated zest of 1 lemon
1/2 cup finely chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
2 tablespoons grapeseed, safflower or canola oil
2 tablespoons salted butter
Juice of 1/2 lemon
Season the whitefish fillets lightly with 1 teaspoon of salt and pepper to taste; bring them to room temperature, about 30 minutes.
Prepare the coating by setting up three shallow bowls or rimmed plates. Whisk the flour in one bowl with a pinch of salt. Whisk the eggs in a second bowl with a pinch of salt. Combine the chopped pistachios, half of the lemon zest, and 1/4 cup of the chopped parsley in the third bowl.
Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Just before sauteing, dip a fillet in the flour and then the egg. Press the top of the fillet into the pistachio mixture, coating it evenly with nuts on one side. Repeat this with another fillet.
Reduce the heat to medium-low so that the nuts don’t burn (they can, easily), and place two of the fillets pistachio-side down in the hot skillet. Saute the fish until the pistachio coating is golden brown, 1 to 3 minutes. Use a long metal spatula to flip the fish; cook until it is golden and the fish is just cooked through, about 4 minutes.
Move the fish to a warm plate, and tent the plate with foil to keep the fish warm while you coat and cook the remaining two fillets in the same manner as the first two.
In a small pan, melt the butter over medium-high heat. Add the lemon juice, the remaining lemon zest, parsley and 1/4 teaspoon salt; cook, 30 seconds or so. Drizzle the lemon butter over the fish; serve immediately.
Makes 4 servings.
Nutrition information per serving: 418 calories, 30 g fat, 7 g saturated fat, 147 mg cholesterol, 8 g carbohydrates, 29 g protein, 734 mg sodium, 3 g fiber.
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