CONTACT: fitmeinfo@protonmail.com
Welcome to Feast in the Middle East! Blanche Shaheen is an Arab American and network television host and reporter in both entertainment and news. She reported live daily on the ABC entertainment program called “View from the Bay,” hosted the independent film show “Video I” for PBS for 10 years, reported live news daily for the Tech TV show called “Tech Live” and hosted numerous news and political programs for Link Media.
In 2010 Blanche made the switch to hosting her own cooking show, sharing 100s of years old recipes preserved by her mother and grandmother. These were heirloom recipes handed word of mouth from one generation to the next, recipes that even culinary schools lacked–however, there were no written measurements. With her journalism background, she decided to document the recipes in an ongoing cookbook, and Feast in the Middle East was born.
Now you can see this series on YouTube, on Curious.com, and on Virgin America Airlines, where it has an estimated audience of 1 million people per month! She has now gained recognition in the press, featured on NBC’s “California Live,” BBC World News, KQED’s “Check Please” program, NPR radio, the Palo Alto Weekly, the Los Altos Crier, the Mountain View Voice, the San Jose Mercury News, and the Rumi Awards show that she hosted for an international audience.
For her personal story, click on the video below:
The feedback has been tremendous, with thousands of visitors every day from around the world visiting and commenting on her blog, YouTube page, articles, and Facebook pages. Check this blog regularly for updated recipes, cooking tips, information about exotic ingredients, family stories, and videos of Blanche’s cooking journey.
Here is the original Feast in the Middle East Trailer:
As for educational background, Blanche got her Bachelor of Arts in Political Economy of Industrial Societies at U.C. Berkeley, followed by a Master’s Degree in broadcast journalism. She speaks Spanish and Arabic, is a certified Zumba Fitness and bootcamp instructor, and a fervent abolitionist, supporting Not for Sale and the International Justice Mission against human trafficking and slavery. She is also a Compassion International sponsor for a second grade girl in Colombia.
You can contact Feast In the Middle East here: fitmeinfo@protonmail.com
Just watched your recipe for Fattoush. Like your other recipes here, it’s exactly like my mom’s! Therefore, you’re now my newest best friend. Question: Beside the color, what’s the difference between zatar and sumack? I have always had both, but never taste a huge difference. BTW: My mom’s kibbe (the kind that’s UFO shaped w/ pine nuts) is absolutely amazing!
I bet your momma is an amazing cook Kell–I learned how to do all the old school stuff from my mother as well 🙂 Love that you described kibbeh as ufo shaped, (too cute) we just call them footballs but I would never throw them cause I would never get em back! 🙂 To answer your question, zatar is a spice primarily made of thyme, with hints of sumac in it sometimes. It has an herbal nutty flavor. Sumac is more lemony in flavor from the sumac berry. As a matter of fact, if you want to add a touch of sourness to food you can add sumac. You can use both to season chicken fish and vegetables. Of course with zatar you can eat plain with bread but with sumac that is not the best idea 😉
Thank you for responding!
I do put zatar on pita, w/ olive oil and tomatoes, but usually use sumac in my summer salads when purslane is growing.
Re: Kibbe – My mom also makes the football ones (kabboush?). The ufo shaped ones are perfect for grilling. Our all-time favorite is nayyeh with melted butter & onions on top.
Now I’m hungry.
Now you are making me hungry too lol!!
Do you ever list your recipes on your site? I do love your vids with all the great instruction (keep em coming) but sometimes just want to refer back to the ingredients and directions. Thanks so much.
Currently you can see my recipes in print form on http://my.ifood.tv/feast-in-the-middle-east but I plan to put all of the recipes in a e-cookbook within a year. Thanks for your interest.:)
I love your recipes. I love your Mom she is the bomb! Please do the Kanafe video.
God bless and hugs!
Lori Jo
Aw thanks Lori! Will pass the message on to her–God bless and thanks for your feedback! 😉
You are such a sweetie, thank you so much! xoxo
Please Blanche,
Could you do a full You-Tube on how to make real Lebanese Rice with meat, the same kind you see in Lebanese Restaurants as their side dish. Thank you for you’re awesome recipes. Love the videos with your mom. I lost my lovely mom in 2012. She was an amazing cook and my best friend. I have so many memories of her and I cooking together. Your You-Tubes with your mom makes me think of my mom and all the fun times we had together. So I thank you for including your mother. Shalom, Lisa
Hi Lisa! I do have a video for the rice, it’s about as authentic as it can get, and easy too: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tLiRpUmr8Cg&index=7&list=PLm5-PI4h0s4rITyI6Hd9bn2R328rBe8CB As for the meat do you mean kebab? Thanks for sharing the story of your mother, I am incredibly sorry for your loss, and glad I can bring back good memories for you. Consider us part of your virtual family!
Salam,
Blanche
Habibti Blanche, Love your page and channel. Could you please make a video for Maqlooba. Thank You keep up the good work your making us Palestinians proud.
Thank you so much for your kind words Nidal. I love Maqlooba! The only reason I haven’t done it yet is I am thinking of a less time consuming way to make it for a short video. Once I figure that out I will do a video on it. 🙂 Best regards, Blanche
Hello Blanche, my mother made a stuffed purple carrots stew in pomegranate juice with garlic and lemon sweet and tart; would you happen to have the recipe please?
Wow that sounds amazing! I have never grown up with or tried that dish before. Is it from Lebanon by any chance?
i like the fattoush salad it was an amazing and i hope tasty can i get the recipe
Hi Blanche, I was taught to make maqlouba by friends in a Negev Bedouin village where I lived in the early 2000’s. You are right that it would be difficult to fit into a short video . . .They also introduced me to the za’atar plant used for tea and medicinal purposes. But you might be able to do sauteed khobezi with rice, if you can ever get some. Khobezi (wild spinach) grows in fields and along the roads in southern Israel and in some places in the north, but I’ve never seen it anywhere else. It’s incredibly nutritious although most people consider it a weed . . .
What a great experience you had, wow maqlouba with bedouins in the Negev! I am wondering if the khobezi you refer to is another name for molokhia. It is like spinach but a bit slimier in texture, served with lots of lemon juice?
I watched your you tube video about falafel.
I made some changes, and I think for the better.
.
First cook the chick peas, don’t just soak them.
Then, drain the peas, …and to the freezer.
.
Let thaw by about 1/2, then to the food processor with the other ingredients.
( Half frozen chick peas will turn to grains, not puree..)
.
I tried to fry the falafels,, but they soaked up 1/4 bottle of cooking oil, so I baked the falafel, and broke it into rough chunks.
.
Yogurt sauce:
I used home drained Greek style yogurt, then added a little balsamic vinegar to the sauce.
.
The result, was to my mind excellent.
Hi Blanche, I think you are so sweet & gorgeous. I enjoy your Palestinian recipes. Just wondering if you know of an Arabic dish like that feels like turkish delight, but it is made of builders lime, & pumpkin, & after days it sets when cooked with sugar syrup. I don’t know what it is called, but I had tried it years ago, & was very nice. Blanche do you know what I am talking about? Can you do a video, how to make it? Thank you habibiti, love Teresa.
I wish I knew, I have never heard of that before! I will ask around and see if I can learn ore. Thank you for your feedback habibtee! Hugs, Blanche
Hello Blanche. Do you make the thick, round loaves of Syrian/Lebanese Bread? My Sito came from Syria and this was the only bread they made in her village. She would only use flour, salt, cake yeast & water. She would do two risings before making balls about the size of a grape fruit and allowing them to rise before flattening them out roughly the size of a pizza shell and allow them to rise. She’d place the loaves directly on the low oven racks in a 500 oven. Within a minute or so the loaf would rise about 10 inches. She would then transfer it to the high oven racks to brown.
Also, do you know how to make the Holy Bread that is used in the Orthodox Churches in Syria, Lebanon, etc. I believe the Slavic Churches call the bread Prosphora. I don’t know what it is called in Arabic.
Thank You 🙏
Hi There! I have been wanting to do a video on this bread, though it has been a challenge as it takes hours to make and my production budget only pays for an 8 hour day. What I will do though is include the recipe for round loaf bread in my upcoming cookbook which will be released before Christmas. I will still see if I can somehow make a bread video considering the time constraints. As for the Holy Bread, I have never made it before. but I saw this recipe that may help: https://www.thespruceeats.com/orthodox-offering-bread-1705604
Hi,
A guy wrote to your blog, asking about Lebanese bread.
I will answer. . . Lucky for you madam, .. I am a bread baker.
I’m guessing about the Lebanese loaf, but from the recipe provided, for the most part, that kind of bread, … is bread.
Just about any bread recipe will work here, .. keep the dough stiff, …so it will hold it’s shape during the bake, then bake it on the floor of a wood burning oven. . If no wood burning oven, bake the loaf on a sheet pan in a very hot oven with some misted water at the start.
A better way is to go, is to a wetter dough, then bake in a very hot oven , in a dark pot covered with a with a lid.
As far as two risings go, a double rise is done, simply to age the dough, so to allow the starches to convert into more sugars.
A long rest will work same. ( autolyse ) . . As for your 8 hour (you tube shows), please; just set up the flour, starter, and etc early in one show.., then to the frig… ( autolyse ) .
Do a different you tube show.
24 hours later, start the bread show again…
Finish the loaf. . . Me, I have been baking bread for 30 years, thousands of loaves.
Me, Pan Ancianne ( truth: pan modern ) French baguettes.
I bake then, just as as good as any you will find in France, .. from my home oven !
Robert Bolske
Spokane, WA