Raise your hand if you love Middle Eastern cookbooks!
What’s that? You don’t have any Middle Eastern cookbooks? I didn’t either, actually, until I got my hands on a copy of An Edible Mosaic – a cookbook written by Faith Gorsky from An Edible Mosaic blog that features traditional Middle Eastern recipes like hummus, falafel, and chicken shawarma. Are you drooling yet?
This cookbook is beautiful. I felt like I was traveling through the Middle East as I paged through Faith’s stunning photos of life and culture and food in this exotic part of the world. The book has so much cultural information intertwined with the traditional recipes that I actually borrowed it to one of my 14-year-old students to use for a research report on the Middle East.
For people who love international food and culture, this is a winner.
One of my favorite things about the cookbook is the section called Basic Recipes. It includes dressings, sauces, and spice mixes that can either be used in the recipes or with your own set of ingredients at home. There are also several sections dedicated to learning about Middle Eastern ingredients and cooking methods. These recipes are very traditional without being overwhelming to the average cook.
After looking through the cookbook at least 13 times, the recipes I’m dying to try are the Falafel, Coconut Semolina Cake, and Spiced Shawarma Chicken Wraps. Can’t.wait.
True story: I made the Middle Eastern salad and the Lemony Mint Salad Dressing a few days ago, and when I went to look for it in the fridge at lunch time, it was gone. BJORK ATE THE WHOLE THING. The whole salad. The empty little plastic leftover container was sitting in the sink with, like, one little piece of parsley left in it.
Next time I’ll hide it. Or better yet, double it.
Middle Eastern Salad with Lemony Mint Dressing
- Total Time: 15 minutes
- Yield: 4-6 1x
Description
Fresh tomatoes, parsley, mint, and onions tossed together to make a beautiful Middle Eastern-inspired salad plus a zippy lemony mint dressing to bring it together.
Ingredients
Lemony Mint Dressing
- 1 clove garlic, crushed in a mortar and pestle with 1/4 teaspoon salt
- juice of 1 lemon (about 3 tablespoons)
- 1/2 cup (125 ml) olive oil
- 1 tablespoon minced fresh mint leaves
Salad
- 1 English cucumber (or 3 to 4 Persian or Japanese cucumbers), diced
- 1 onion, minced
- 1 lb (500 g) tomatoes, diced (about 4 medium tomatoes)
- 1 bunch fresh parsley, minced
- 4 sprigs fresh mint, minced
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
Instructions
- Whisk together the garlic/salt mixture and lemon juice; gradually whisk in the olive oil in a thin drizzle. Stir in the mint.
- Combine all salad ingredients in a large bowl and toss with half of the dressing; serve.
Notes
Save the other half of the dressing for another batch of this salad! The dressing will keep in the fridge for about 1 week.
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Category: Lunch
- Cuisine: Middle Eastern
Keywords: middle eastern salad, cucumber tomato salad, cucumber recipe
This side was outstanding. Bet it would be even better once tomatoes are in season.
I have always had an interest in Middle Eastern cooking. I used to make my own hummus and a family favorite vegetables and cous cous. Unfortunately the was misplaced during one of many moves. This cookbook sounds like the perfect replacement and the middle Eastern salad was delish. My husband who says that he does not like anything with lemon ate every last spoonful
Cookbook looks great
Would love to try and make the falafel and the semolina cake. Thanks for a great giveaway!
Ohhh, this looks fabulous!! I lived in Turkey for one summer and I adore Middle Eastern cuisine!! I’m always looking for recipes that are authentic, but not too difficult!! Looks like a winner.
But I really do absolutely love hummus!
I LOVE hummus and gyros!
This cookbook looks like it’s full of delicious recipes!
just found your site through pinterest!
Must win this book! It looks sooo good!
Yum! That salad sounds good. Oh, and I do love hummus 😀
This looks awesome! Can’t wait to try the recipe.
Mmm falafel!! I can’t buy it around here.. it’d be nice not to make it from a dehydrated box mix
I REALLY want this!!!!! Like, a lot!
YUM! this cookbook would be the perfect excuse to venture into middle eastern cooking
My bf and I love middle eastern food, can’t wait to try out some new recipes from this book!!! (also – hummus is the da bomb, I’m eating some kalamata olive hummus right now!!)
Thanks!
Looks super tummy.
Is it easier or harder to find Mid Eastern ingredients in the Phillipines?
I LOVE her blog! Thanks for giving away what I’m sure is an AMAZING cookbook! :o)
Yummy! This gives me a great excuse to comment in your blog, which I follow since long time ago, but never commented. Everything looks wonderful, and this salad too! I’m going to try it soon, but first the kabocha lentil curry is in my menu for this week!
By the way, just in case I have the luck to win the book, I live in Japan, which is closer to the Philippines than US, so I hope I can have the book too 🙂
I really like your blog! 🙂
Yes! Open internationally. 🙂
I’d love this cookbook! Middle Eastern cooking is so delicious!
i love garlic and red pepper hummus! i’ve been making it my way, but would LOVE to learn how to make it properly *drools*
Oh. I would so love to win this cookbook! One of my favorite places to eat is a Mediterranean grill – one state south of where we live, so I don’t get to go there very often. That lemony salad looks an awful lot like what they serve there… and, really, I also love hummus. Maybe all the things I love to get on my salads there would be in this cookbook! (Oh – and btw, I made hummus in my NutriBullet blender and didn’t remove the skins. It still came out really smooth. I did try removing the skins once… um… That sure takes forever!)
I love kebab! And that salad looks amazing…and is amazingly easy to make!
Looks delicious! I’d love to win!