MOUSSAKA AND MORE
Again, anything with eggplant has been fabulous and the koushari has remained a good fall-back food. The tahina (tahini) has been consistently good as have been the shawarma (grilled meat sandwiches), kofta (spiced, ground, grilled meat balls), the yogurt (full fat) and honey. Pizza is everywhere but we’ve only seen and enjoyed “Egyptian pizza†in Aswan. Filling choices are not particularly unusual but the stuffed crust is a cross between flatbread and a flaky phyllo. Excellent.
Alan and our new Lyonnaise friend (more on him later) enjoyed a chicken and vegetable stew that was redolent with cardamom. I’d like to figure out the recipe for that one.
There’s a condiment of sorts at some of the better restaurants. It’s a mixture of salt, crushed caraway seeds and crunchy bread crumbs. It adds a nice texture and subtle seasoning to just about everything.
Tomatoes are still in high season here and they’re sweet and juicy. They served at every meal with cucumbers that have almost a mild melon flavor and, of course, feta.
Biggest disappointments: The ice cream is similar to Turkish ice cream which is sort of chewy. It’s a little weird and not in a particularly good way. The pastries, no matter what shape they take, all seem to be one note – sugar syrup. The Egyptian equivalent of Greek baklava has no nuts and no honey. The cookies are dry, overly sweet and lacking in butter. (Please remember us if you happen to feel overloaded with too many Christmas cookies this upcoming season.)
Favorite beverage to date: fresh pomegranate juice (and Diet Pepsi in the 1-liter bottle, of course)
ON THE LAMB
The eggplant here is incredible. Sweet, smoky, and aromatic. My moussaka, (Marla’s recipe) made with ground turkey instead of high-fat, high-cholesterol lamb and grilled instead of fried eggplant, is really quite good but it would, I’m afraid, benefit from some of that high-fat, high-cholesterol lamb… and probably copious amounts of oil…
Our friend, great cook and editor of Edible Santa Barbara had this to say: “Of course it’s the lamb. They probably have incredible, free-range, heritage breed lambs there. My mouth is watering just thinking of it.â€
With that in mind, click on the photo to see our album with more of those woolly heritage breed critters ranging freely in front of their feed trough in the little alleyway a few steps from our hotel.
Lamb I love. But, Eggplant is just not my thing. And? ‘Chewy’ ice cream?? Geeez…I may have skip that trip..
Eggplant, lamb, fresh tomatoes, shawarma… you’re making me miss good Mediterranean food terribly. I’m sorry for a lack of good pastries, though. I’m teaching a friend how to make baklava (of the Greek variety) this weekend. Have fun, enjoy your eggplant and lamb, and I hope to see you when you get back.
Also– you make moussaka? Perhaps this is a recipe that could be passed on in my direction? I’ve never tried my hand at it. Mum loves moussaka, though I keep giving her pastitso instead, and I’d love to add another Greek recipe to my toolkit.
Glad you got some shwarma…it was a fave for us…loved the hummus and tomatoes and cucumbers with every meal and couldnt figure out why every buffet had about 12 typs of white soft cheese…was there ever really a difference?
So with your fave beverage as pomegranite juice, where does this leave us for the special Thanksgiving cocktail?
OK so bring back some lamb oil for my moussaka!
Yea…food posts. Chewy ice cream, yuck. Sounds like Egypt needs a Duffys.