Olives, Lemons & Za'atar: The Best Middle Eastern Home Cooking Hardcover – February 13, 2014

I've been going Tanoreen for years and the food is so goo and is literally the best homemade Middle eastern food. If you are ever in NYC, I highly recommend that you dine at Tanoreen at least once. I was super excited when Chef Rawia released this cook book. The photos are stunning and her stories about her family and the foods of the Levant are great introductions to the food and culture of the region.The recipes include some of my favorite dishes from Tanoreen including the Brussels sprouts, chicken getting, and stuffed cabbage. They are easy to follow and Rawia also provides detailed information on the spices and common ingredients that you will need. Most if not all can easily be found at a Middle a Eastern grocery store, Whole Foods, or Amazon.com.So far, I've cooked several recipes from the book and my family and I found them to be delicious. The lentil and butternut squash stew, kale and shallots, fattoush, beef and white bean stews, seasoned garlic sauce, and the lentil soup are delicious. I look forward to diving into the other recipes and you and your family will certainly be satisfied with this cookbook, which is now one of my favorites.

Being married to a man from the Middle East, I try to make my hubby's tummy as happy as possible. This can be difficult when you have been raised by a European mother in Chicago! Consequently, I have a library of Middle Eastern cookbooks to help me stumble through recipes that sometimes make no sense to me. But Rawia's book is different. She tells me all I need in my kitchen with step-by-step instructions on how to make the magic happen! My first attempt brought a big smile to my sweetie's face! It's also a good read - hard to put down, especially if you know a bit about the culture and the people. So far, I've bought 11 copies to give away to friends - and one that I've sprinkled with olive oil and lemon juice so that nobody will take it away from me!

I bought this book a few months ago and have been using it on a daily basis. Having grown up in palestine before moving to the states, I can attest to the authenticity of these recipes. The book is well illustrated with the author taking you on a personal guided tour through the culture and history of the beautiful land and people. You will feel like family :). I especially appreciated the author bearing in mind that not all ingredients originally used are readily available in the states as they are in the levant and she offers as good of a substitute in that case. I am so happy that a reliable and easy to follow cookbook focusing on palestinian cooking which I have greatly missed.

Excellent book, it eventually turned up.

Brilliant, practical recipes that are delicious. For busy people who don't have to the time to cook tedious, elaborate dishes (Otolenghi), these recipes allow you to create much more pragmatic and tasty fare. The book is visually beautiful, offering up intimate stories and authentic pictures of the origins of Rawia BIshara's recipes. It makes those of us from the area want to dive into our ancestral culinary background, and it makes everyone else want to embrace these lovely recipes. I can't help but gravitate to this book, time and time again, when I'm looking for inspiration.

Ms. Bishara is an outstanding cook, and making wonderful dishes from her cookbook is almost as good as dining at her restaurant. So far I'm made at least a dozen recipes from her book and all were delicious and made even more enjoyable by the stories that Ms. Bishara shares about many of the recipes. Her culinary skills and warmth make this book a joy for anyone who loves Middle Eastern food.

I absolutely love this book. I am vegetarian, and it has a quite a few vegetarian recipes. I have tried some of them and they were delicious. We loved the roasted eggplant salad and the tahini yogurt dressing. The soups were delicious too. I omitted the meat and used vegetable stock in some of the recipes, and they turned out very good. I love the amount of seasoning she uses in her recipes which makes her dishes very flavorful.

I enjoyed learning of the author’s childhood in the Levant. The recipes are diverse. I made one—the Brussels sprouts—with success. However, the directions said to fry them on high. I hesitated, but followed the direction; my house nearly caught fire. I also quartered the given recipe, which called for 4+ pounds of sprouts!I applaud the author for suggesting substitutions, and particularly being considerate for people with gluten issues. It surprised me, however, that this US-published cookbook offered no imperial measurements. Even more perplexing is that there ARE temperatures given for British ovens (?) (gas levels) and Celcius ovens, but not Fahrenheit.