Summary
Savory, heart-healthy Lebanese recipes from a renowned chef
The cuisine of Lebanon epitomizes the best of the Mediterranean diet, which is highly regarded for its positive health benefits. Abounding in vegetables, grains, fresh herbs and spices, poultry, and lamb, it yields meals replete with robust, earthy flavors. In Classic Lebanese Cuisine, Chef Kamal Al-Faqih presents 170 dazzling recipes that reflect the full breadth of authentic Lebanese cuisine. Featuring favorites such as baba ghannouj, tabbouli, and kibbi, this book also presents Al-Faqih's signature classics, like London broil layered with pita and garlic yogurt, and heart-healthy fire-roasted wheat with lamb.
With step-by-step instructions accompanied by full-color photographs throughout, this book makes Lebanese cuisine accessible to everyone who seeks to reproduce their favorite flavors and dishes--from the merely curious to more experienced cooks.
In 1986, Chef Kamal Al-Faqih made his debut as the owner and head chef of the first exclusively Mediterranean catering company in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area (Med Catering, Inc.). Since that time, Chef Kamal's reputation for authentic and flavorful Lebanese cuisine has grown to be unmatched. During his twenty-year tenure as chef-owner of Med Catering, Inc., his authentic Lebanese dishes and signature classics were offered at events for Queen Noor of Jordan, King Abdulla of Jordan, Crown Prince Abdulla of Saudia Arabia, Senators George Mitchell and Barbara Mikulski, and celebrities such as Placido Domingo, Angelica Huston, and Francis Ford Coppola, as well as museums, White House events, and thousands of private parties and other events in Maryland, Virginia, and Washtngton, D.C. Born in the United States as the son of a diplomat, Chef Kamal received his formal culinary training at L'Academie de Cuisine under the instruction of Francois Dionot. Throughout his childhood, however, Kamal watched his mother and aunts prepare traditional regional dishes, providing him a natural authenticity and palate for Lebanese and Mediterranean cuisine. From the early 1990s to the present, in addition to his professional catering business, Chef Kamal has led a variety of cooking demonstrations across North America. From Georgetown University and the Middle East Institute in Washington, D.C., to dozens of private homes on the West Coast, Chef Kamal's charm and skills in the kitchen have introduced hundreds of individuals to heart-healthy and exotic Mediterranean foods for both formal entertaining and casual dining. In 2005, Chef Kamal relocated to Southern California, where he has been writing, preparing, and testing the recipes that comprise Classic Lebanese Cuisine.
