Alice's Kitchen; Traditional Lebanese Cooking [Paperback]

Linda Dalal Sawaya (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 1, 2005

This very popular book which has been out of print a fes years, is now newly revised and expanded and available! It is bigger, has 40 more pages with additional new recipes, and lots more photos. Alice's Kitchen is authentic Lebanese home cooking at its best! An immigrant family cookbook, with more than 140 original recipes, from how to pick and cure olives to how to bake pocket bread. Here are generations of recipes passed down from mother to daughter in the mountain village of Douma, overlooking the Mediterranean, brought to America by Grandmother Dalal and Mother Alice, and then passed on to Linda. In Alice's Kitchen, Linda presents their recipes, along with family stories, as a culinary gift to you of Lebanese cuisine-one of the healthiest on the planet. Traditional, home style Lebanese recipes that include quick, familiar vegetarian favorites such as hommous, tabbouli, baba gannouj and many other fantastic and authentic salads, rice, and vegetable entrees. Learn to create Lebanese ice cream and pastries, such as heavenly, light baklawe, where one piece is never enough. Tantalizing, traditional lamb and rice dishes keep company with rolled grape leaves, soups, and appetizers in this expansive collection. Sawaya provides excellent recipes seasoned with a generous amount of memoir and much love.

Editorial Reviews

Review

. . . generous serving of pride, affection, and kitchen wisdom. . .a family cookbook that has evoked heartfelt responses from readers for years. . . --Saudi Aramco World, Sept./Oct. 2005

. . .elegant, utterly delicious tributeto Arabic food, memory, precious family flavors we savor all our lives-I adore Linda's cookbook! --Naomi Shihab Nye, author

. . .Arab-American writers. . . reexamining lives of their remarkably determined ancestors. AK is both cookbook and part of this literature. . . --Charles Perry, LA Times, Aug. 18, 1999

About the Author

Linda Dalal Sawaya is an artist and author who paints and cooks in Portland, Oregon. Her artist mother, Alice, now 95, still cooks Sunday dinner and makes art and jewelry in California. She continues to remind us, "If you make it with love, it will be delicious!", which is the mantra of the cookbook and for a recipe for a life happily lived.

Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Linda Sawaya Design; Rev Upd edition (December 1, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0966049225
• ISBN-13: 978-0966049220
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.9 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #869,651 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Traditional Lebanese Cuisine, November 22, 2006

By 

Rebecca Johnson "The Rebecca Review" (Washington State) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Alice's Kitchen; Traditional Lebanese Cooking (Paperback)

"Having a garden and eating foods in season is our inherited ancestral tradition of living gently on the earth, using its resources respectfully, and preparing and sharing food with love. Food, of course, is a central part of Lebanese culture." ~Linda Dalal Sawaya

Linda Dalal Sawaya presents a cookbook with a beautiful warm personality, filled with recipes for: Appetizers, Cheese, Yogurt, Butter, Sauces, Soups, Salads, Lamb, Chicken, Fish, Vegetarian Entrees, Vegetables, Beans, Grains, Breads, Sweets, Preserves, Beverages, Herbs, Spices and Fragrant Waters.

Sample Recipes:

Fig Jam with Aniseed and Walnuts
Spinach Pies
Stuffed Grape Leaves with Lamb and Rice
Savory Pastry or Meat Pies
Lemony Lentil Soup with Chard
Turkish Coffee
Rose Water Pudding
Filo Cheescake with Orange Blossom Water
Baklava
Sesame Cookies

Alice's Kitchen is a world of Lebanese cooking that gives insight into how life was lived in Lebanon and how a family adapted to buying ingredients in America while living in California. Linda Dalal Sawaya tells the story with humor and we learn about how her family maintained their traditions despite a variety of obstacles.

"Dear, if you make it with love, it will be delicious." ~ Mother Alice

Each recipe is set out in a way that is easy to follow with step-by-step instructions and plenty of pictures throughout to keep you entertained. The pictures and the family stories make this book collectible and the recipes bring the warmth of Lebanese cooking into your home in a way that is very accessible. The ingredients include spices and herbs like parsley, paprika, cinnamon and allspice. Lemon juice and olive oil are used throughout the recipes. Pomegranate syrup and orange blossom water are very easy to find these days, especially online. Most of the recipes use ingredients you can find at your local grocery store, but you might want to order some "zaatar."

This book made me long for my childhood overseas when we had Lebanese friends who always made delicious dinners and taught me to make a spinach dish with yogurt and cheese. My dad also used to make fig jam from a tree in our backyard. So, this book was filled with lots of memories and introduced me to a world of treasured memories as shared by Linda Dalal Sawaya.

As you cook from this book your home will be filled with the scents of fragrant spices, warm syrupy baklava, rose, lemon, anise, coffee, doughnuts, buttery cookies, fresh bread, lamb with rice, and of course, garlic!

Sufra deimi!

~The Rebecca Review

5.0 out of 5 stars Terrific cookbook, wonderful family stories, June 21, 2010

By 

snow557 (San Dimas, CA United States) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Alice's Kitchen; Traditional Lebanese Cooking (Paperback)

Linda Sawaya's book, Alices Kitchen, is warm and wonderful with excellent recipes for all seasons.