Main dishes
Pasta con le Sarde (Sicilian Sardine and Wild Fennel Pasta)
Pasta con le sarde is Sicily's signature sweet-and-savory pasta, built on fresh sardines, wild fennel, raisins, and pine nuts, with saffron lending its golden...
Desserts
Kwarezimal (Maltese Lenten Almond Cookies)
Kwareżimal are dense, spiced almond cookies traditionally baked in Malta during Lent, when butter and eggs were once avoided. Honey and orange zest sweeten...
Loukoumi (Cyprus Delight)
Loukoumi is Cyprus's version of Turkish delight, a soft, rosewater-scented candy that has been made in the village of Geroskipou for centuries. It's a...
Halva (Sesame Tahini Halva)
Halva is a dense, crumbly sweet made from little more than tahini and sugar syrup, found from Turkey to the Levant under slightly different...
Breakfast
Ladenia (Greek Island Onion and Tomato Flatbread)
Ladenia is a Cycladic flatbread from the island of Kimolos, often called Greece's answer to pizza, though it predates it by centuries. A soft...
Jachnun (Yemeni Sabbath Morning Rolled Pastry)
Jachnun is a Yemeni pastry made of laminated dough rolled into a tight coil and baked low and slow overnight, traditionally pulled from the...
Mhadjeb (Algerian Stuffed Semolina Flatbread)
Mhadjeb are Algeria's favorite folded street-food flatbreads, stuffed with a jammy onion and tomato filling and griddled until crisp. Vendors sell them wrapped in...
Fatayer bi Sabanekh (Lebanese Spinach Hand Pies)
Fatayer are Lebanon's answer to the hand pie, tender dough folded around a tangy spinach filling brightened with sumac and lemon. They travel well...
Cilbir (Turkish Poached Eggs in Garlic Yogurt)
Cilbir pairs silky poached eggs with cool garlicky yogurt and a drizzle of sizzling chili butter, a combination said to date back to the...
Salads
Trempo (Mallorcan Summer Vegetable Salad)
Trempo is a simple, sun-drenched salad from Mallorca, just ripe tomatoes, green pepper, and onion tossed in good olive oil and vinegar. It's the...
Jarjeer bi Rumman (Lebanese Arugula and Pomegranate Salad)
Jarjeer bi Rumman pairs peppery arugula with sweet-tart pomegranate seeds and toasted walnuts in a simple pomegranate molasses dressing. It's a bright, fast salad...
Xato (Catalan Salt Cod and Endive Salad with Romesco-Style Sauce)
Xato is a Catalan winter salad from the coastal town of Sitges, built on curly endive, salt cod, and tuna, all tossed in a...
Salatet Malfouf (Lebanese Shredded Cabbage Salad)
Salatet Malfouf is a humble Lebanese cabbage salad, sharpened with lemon, garlic, and a generous handful of fresh mint. It's the kind of everyday...
Salade de Chevre Chaud (Provencal Warm Goat Cheese Salad)
Salade de chevre chaud is a bistro staple across the south of France, crisp greens topped with rounds of warm, melting goat cheese on...
Taktouka (Moroccan Cooked Tomato and Pepper Salad)
Taktouka is a warm, softly spiced salad of roasted peppers and tomatoes cooked down until jammy, a fixture on Moroccan mezze spreads alongside bread...
Soups
Soupe au Pistou (Provençal Summer Vegetable Soup with Pistou)
Soupe au pistou is Provence's vegetable soup, loaded with beans, potatoes, and summer vegetables, then finished with a spoonful of pistou, the region's basil...
Chorba Hamra (Algerian Ramadan Tomato and Vermicelli Soup)
Chorba Hamra, meaning "red soup," is the tomato-based soup Algerians break their Ramadan fast with. Lamb, chickpeas, and vermicelli simmer together in a spiced...
Marak Kubbeh Adom (Iraqi-Jewish Beet Soup with Semolina Dumplings)
Marak kubbeh adom is a beet-red soup from the Iraqi Jewish community, built on a sweet-and-sour beef broth studded with semolina dumplings filled with...
Shorbat Freekeh (Jordanian Chicken and Freekeh Soup)
Shorbat Freekeh is a beloved Jordanian soup built on smoky, cracked green wheat and tender pieces of chicken. It's the kind of dish Jordanian...
Fasolada (Greek White Bean Soup)
Fasolada is Greece's national dish, a humble bean soup that has fed families through winters and Lenten fasts for centuries. It's simple, warming, and...
Ribollita (Tuscan Bread and Vegetable Soup)
Ribollita means 'reboiled,' and that's exactly how this Tuscan soup began — as a way to bring day-old vegetable soup and stale bread back...
Vegetarian
Sauces
Bread
Khobz Tabouna (Tunisian Clay-Oven Semolina Bread)
Khobz Tabouna is Tunisia's classic clay-oven bread, named after the tabouna, a traditional in-ground clay oven. This home version uses a hot baking stone...
Feteer Meshaltet (Egyptian Flaky Layered Bread)
Feteer Meshaltet is Egypt's answer to flaky, buttery layered bread, torn apart in warm sheets that pull away like phyllo. Street vendors sell it...
Tsoureki (Greek Easter Sweet Bread)
Tsoureki is the fragrant, brioche-like braided bread Greek families bake for Easter, scented with mahlab and mastic and often topped with sliced almonds. It's...
Lagana (Greek Sesame Flatbread for Clean Monday)
Lagana is the flat, sesame-studded bread Greeks bake just once a year, for Kathara Deftera (Clean Monday), the start of Lent. It's soft, slightly...
Açma (Turkish Soft Milk Rolls)
Açma are pillowy Turkish yeast rolls enriched with milk and butter, sold warm from bakery windows across Turkey each morning. They're softer and richer...
Drinks
Sharab el Ward (Lebanese Rose Water Syrup Drink)
Sharab el Ward is a Lebanese rose syrup diluted with cold water for a fragrant, ruby-pink drink. It's a Ramadan table staple and a...