Zaatar Burgers

I saw zaatar burgers on Bria’s blog, West of Persia, a while ago and have been wanting to make them ever since. Even though I didn’t use her recipe, I totally owe the idea to her. It would have never occurred to me to use zaatar on meats as I usually associate it with baked goods. The only way I've used it in the past is sprinkled and toasted on bread that was brushed with olive or argan oil .

Zaatar is made with a variety of dried spices, herbs, nuts and seeds so it brings so much depth of flavor to these burgers. The prevalent flavors in the zaatar I used were oregano and sesame which I could strongly tatse in every bite. It is so convenient to have so many flavors in one mix instead of having to combine separate ground herbs, spices and seeds to season food. That’s the wonder of zaatar.

Each zaatar is a little different depending on the ingredients used to make it. It can be salted or unsalted. Mine was salted so I didn’t add any salt to my burgers.

Zaatar Burgers Recipe

4 servings

1 pound ground beef or lamb
Sea salt to taste, optional (Only use salt if zaatar is unsalted)
8 teaspoons zaatar mix (or more, to taste)
2 tablespoons olive oil
4 hamburger buns
4 tomato slices

Divide the ground meat into 4 equal parts and shape them into patties. Salt both sides, if necessary.

Sprinkle each burger with 2 teaspoons of zaatar using one teaspoon on each side and pressing the zaatar lightly to make it stick to the burgers.

Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Cook the burgers until browned (almost blackened), about 5 minutes per side. Serve on a hamburger bun with a slice of tomato, if you wish.

Cranberry Hummus

Waiiit…don’t throw away your leftover cranberry sauce. Recycle it!

OK, I know you haven’t digested your Thanksgiving dinner yet, but you’re not done with Thanksgiving flavors yet. I haven’t digested mine yet either but I know that as soon as I have I will want more pumpkin, more cranberries, more pecans in my life. I know I will be having them many times many ways before the year is over.

So, if you have any cranberries or cranberry sauce left, please make this hummus. You’ve got to make it, for your own sake, please! Chances are you still have family over and you want a great dip to mingle around. Everybody loves hummus and has a great conversation at its presence. I know so. Imagine how pleased everybody will be to see yesterday’s cranberry sauce in the hummus. They’ll love you for that.

Now a bit of description, so listen up. This is not a traditional hummus, meaning it’s not made with hummus (chickpeas in Arabic). It is made with cannellini beans which give a smoother dip. The cranberry sauce adds a tart, almost lemony taste. The flavor is bright and redolent of half traditional hummus, half cranberry dessert. All in all, a fantastic dip!








































Cranberry Hummus Recipe

4 to 6 servings

1 garlic clove, peeled
1 (15-ounce) can cannellini beans, rinsed and drained (or 1.5 cups home cooked beans)
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
2 tablespoons tahini (sesame paste)
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
½ cup cranberry sauce


In the bowl of a food processor, pulse the garlic until finely minced. Add the cannellini beans, lemon juice, tahini and olive oil. Purée until you obtain a smooth paste. Transfer to a serving bowl. Stir in the cranberry sauce until the dip becomes pink. Serve with pita, flatbread, chips or crudités.


Basic Cranberry Sauce

Yields ½ cup

1 cup fresh cranberries
½ cup orange juice
¼ cup water
2 tablespoons honey
¼ teaspoon grated orange zest

To make the cranberry sauce, combine all of the ingredients in a small saucepan. Simmer over low heat, stirring occasionally and pressing the cranberries down, until you get a thick sauce, 10 to 15 minutes.

Couscous Stuffing

Moroccans make the most delicious stuffing. They obviously don’t celebrate Thanksgiving --I hope this doesn’t shock anyone :)--, but they like to stuff their birds for holidays and other festive occasions. Turkey is not typically cooked whole so they prefer to stuff smaller birds such as pigeons or small cornish hens called “coquelets”.

This is also a wonderful a side dish to prepare anytime.


Happy Thanksgiving!

Couscous Stuffing Recipe

8 servings

3 cups water
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons honey
½ cup chopped almonds or pecans
½ cup golden raisins
2 tablespoons chopped parsley
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
¼ teaspoon ground ginger

2 cups uncooked instant couscous (about 2 "10-oz" boxes)

Place the water, butter, honey, almonds or pecans, raisins,parsley, salt, cinnamon and ginger (the first 9 ingredients)in a medium saucepan and bring to just a boil. Add the couscous and remove from the heat. Cover with a lid and let stand 5 minutes. Fluff with a fork. Stuff your bird or serve alongside it.

Parfait Recipe

Parfait recipe? But where is the recipe? I can hear you say that. I was told by a psychic herself that I have psychic abilities and I believed her even though I never believe psychics. Having a gift that few people in this world possess sounded sweet to my ears, you see, so I chose to believe :) Even though I know that, realistically, my psychic radar only works on and off and with minimal efficacy, I think I read you right this time :)

I prepare a parfait with whatever I have. I don’t typically call it a parfait. I like to eat my yogurt with toppings and I like it colorful so to me it’s simply yogurt with one of the many twists I apply to it on a daily basis. So I may not have exact measurements but it doesn’t matter. Consider this please; has anyone ever died of too many pomegranate arils? Has too much maple syrup ever ruined anybody’s day? Au contraire, my friends. Did your grandmother have an exact recipe for anything? Maybe yours did but mine certainly didn't. The best she could tell me about any recipe is to add a bit of this and a dash of that but I was still able to make it. I took some liberties and it tasted great. As a result I am not totally paralyzed in the kitchen without a recipe today. So all I will tell you about this preparation is that it is made with Greek yogurt, sweetened with maple syrup, topped with pomegranate and pumpkin seeds (the latter are from the Halloween pumpkin I so proudly carved to perfection with my own hands!!) and generously drizzled with more maple syrup.