Monday, December 17, 2007

Some Great Toledo Area Middle Eastern Food


You can always count on great food at Beirut http://www.beirutrestaurant.com/ , Byblos http://www.byblostoledo.com/ , and Poco Piatti http://www.pocopiatti.com/ – they are all owned by the same family. Byblos and Beirut have essentially the same menu while Poco Piatti’s menu is a little more varied. I love ordering the flaming cheese at Poco Piatti – not only is it fun to watch, it is delicious!

Recently, I was in Ann Arbor and ate at Charlie’s Mediterranean Cuisine (formerly La Shish). It was de-lish! The photo above shows how they serve shish kabob. My friend and I enjoyed a large platter of hummus surrounded by freshly cut veggies – there was so much we each took some home. I also tried the lamb chili which was perfectly spicey yet slightly more watery than I usually like it. The lamb gave it great meaty flavor. Oh and the bread they bring out is warm and very fresh-tasting.

At my home, I hosted a neighborhood dinner preparing Greek chicken with green beans. Everyone enjoyed it so much; they encouraged me to post the recipe here. Since I rarely use a recipe, I will simply write out how I made this.

First, I took about ½ cup per person of green beans – it ended up being a mixture of fresh and frozen. I spread them in a roaster pan and mixed them with Sofo’s gourmet pasta sauce
http://www.shopsofos.com/sauces.php . Then I added about one pound of chopped onions, carrots, and celery, lemon juice and cumin (sorry, I don’t have the amounts). On top of this mixture, I laid the Greek marinated boneless, skinless chicken breasts from House of Meats www.houseofmeats.com (about ½ pound meat per person). Covered the roasting pan with foil and baked for about one hour; then removed the foil and baked for another 15-20 minutes until the chicken was browned. I think this would also be great with potatoes (red skinned or Yukon Gold) added to the green beans.

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