When I was last in Paris, I met Tania Abourrousse, a Lebanese woman living in Paris who cooks like a demon, and had the good fortune to shop and cook a meal with her. (See my
post of September 7, 2015.)
Joan and I typically share Christmas dinner with three of our Japanese friends in Paris, and this year I decided to try to do a Middle Eastern meal, with Tania's help of course. This led to Joan and me spending Christmas Eve with Tania and her family, and Tania joining us and our Japanese friends for Christmas dinner. Lots of new friends made!
Tania and I did a lot of the shopping on Tuesday, at Iranian and Lebanese groceries, and then prepared one dish: walnut pesto (Aleppo mouhammara):
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| Making Aleppo muhammara and the final produce |
On Wednesday we made a few more dishes, subject to completion of course. Then on Thursday (Christmas Eve), we made the rest of the dishes, plated all, served and ate. What a treat!
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| Grapes encased in goat cheese and dusted with pistachio |
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| Eggplant salad - raheb |
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| Persian rice with Lebanese lamb stew, favas and dill - riz b'foul wa shbint |
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| Okra stew |
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| Tania's table |
(I have left out the gorgeous hommos, which and the Moroccan b'stilla (made to order by a Moroccan cook whom Tania knows), which are shown below as served chez nous.)
On Christmas day, I made a very similar meal, with totally different presentation -- mostly on Japanese plates -- and some alterations of the dishes. Here are some of the highlights.
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| Hommos on plate by Katsumata Chieko |
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| Chicken b'stilla |
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| Okra stew on Futamura Yoshimi plate |
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| Our table, arranged by Joan |
Of course there was a wonderful dessert, but that is a story for another post.
Never eating again.
Well, maybe . . . . After all, we're in Paris
Bobby Jay
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