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60 stories for“baked”

Cornstarch-coated tofu emerges golden from the oven, ready to be dressed in silky peanut sauce. No deep-frying, all crispness.

Jul 22, 2024

Recipes

Kibbeh Bil Sanieh Baked Lebanese Kibbeh: Two Layers of Flavor

Layered bulgur and meat with a savory spiced filling, baked until golden. This show-stopping Lebanese dish is easier than it looks.

Jul 25, 2024

Recipes

Lasagna al Forno: Northern Italian Baked Pasta

Italy's northern masterpiece: thin pasta layers with slow-cooked ragù and creamy béchamel, baked until bubbling and golden.

Feb 20, 2026

Recipes

Gigantes Plaki: The Greek Baked Beans That Make a Case for Dried Beans Over Tinned Every Time

Giant runner beans from the lakes of northern Greece, soaked overnight, simmered until tender and then baked slowly in tomato, onion, dill and a great deal of olive oil. A vegan main, a meze, and the best argument for the dried bean aisle.

Sep 6, 2026

Recipes

Vegan Banana Bread: Moist, No Eggs, No Dairy

Ripe bananas naturally replace eggs in this tender loaf. No specialized binders needed, just fruit, flour, and warmth.

Jul 25, 2025

Recipes

Greek Moussaka: Eggplant and Béchamel Layers

Greece's most celebrated casserole: tender eggplant and potatoes layered with spiced meat sauce and creamy béchamel, baked until golden.

Jul 17, 2024

Recipes

Sfiha Baalbakiya: The Small Open Meat Pies of the Beqaa

Baalbek makes its meat pies small, square and open, with the corners folded up to hold the juices. The technique is older than most of the recipes claiming to improve on it.

Jul 24, 2026

Recipes

Manakish: The Za'atar Flatbread That Starts the Day

Dough pressed flat with the fingertips, spread with za'atar loosened in olive oil, baked hot and fast. The Levantine breakfast that a whole region eats standing up.

Aug 13, 2026

Recipes

Cheese Manakish, and the Salt Problem Nobody Warns You About

Akkawi is brined hard enough to be inedible straight from the packet. Soak it, and you get the stretchy, mild, faintly squeaky cheese bread that half the Levant eats for breakfast.

Aug 13, 2026

Recipes

A Gluten-Free Sourdough Loaf That Is Actually Bread

Wild fermentation does something for gluten-free bread that yeast cannot: flavour, a softer crumb, and a loaf that keeps. It takes five days to start and about twenty minutes of work a day after that.

Aug 11, 2026

Recipes

Ratatouille Confit Byaldi: Elegant Vegetable Tian

Thomas Keller's refined ratatouille: precision-sliced vegetables arranged accordion-style and baked slowly until they confit together in perfect harmony.

Apr 15, 2025

Recipes

Chickpea Socca as a Pizza Base: Two Ingredients, No Flour Blend

Most gluten-free pizza bases are elaborate reconstructions of wheat. Socca is not pretending to be anything. Chickpea flour and water, rested and baked hot, gives you a crisp, sturdy base in half an hour.

Aug 11, 2026

Recipes

Vegan Chocolate Mousse: Aquafaba Whipped, Silky

Chickpea brine whips into peaks, then folds into dark chocolate for dessert that's airy and rich. No eggs, no dairy, entirely plant-based.

Mar 18, 2026

Recipes

Gluten-Free Za'atar Flatbread That Actually Bends

Most gluten-free flatbread cracks the moment you fold it. Psyllium husk is the fix: it does the job gluten did, holding gas and staying pliable, and it costs almost nothing.

Aug 9, 2026

Recipes

Knafeh Lebanese Cheese Pastry: Crispy and Syrupy

Golden shredded phyllo cradles melting cheese and is soaked in aromatic orange blossom syrup. A legendary Lebanese dessert for special occasions.

Jun 12, 2026

Recipes

Samke Harra: Lebanese Fish Under Chilli, Citrus and Coriander

The name means spicy fish and undersells it. A tahini and coriander sauce sharpened with chilli and lemon does most of the work, and the fish only has to be fresh.

Aug 1, 2026

Recipes

Shish Tawook in the Oven, Without Pretending It Is Grilled

You can make very good shish tawook without a grill. What you cannot do is get the same thing, so the method changes: high heat, a rack, and a hard finish under the element.

Aug 14, 2026

Recipes

Kibbeh Without Bulgur: The Potato and Rice Version Levantine Kitchens Already Make

Kibbeh is defined by bulgur, which is cracked wheat, so the gluten-free version has to be rebuilt rather than substituted. The good news is that the rebuild already exists in the region's own repertoire.

Aug 11, 2026

Recipes

Fattoush Lebanese Salad: Fresh Vegetables and Crispy Pita

This iconic Lebanese salad transforms leftover pita bread into crispy shards that crown bright vegetables and tangy sumac dressing.

May 17, 2024

Recipes

Vegan Baklava Works, Because the Butter Was Never the Hard Part

Most filo is already vegan. Swap clarified butter for a blend of coconut oil and olive oil, use sugar syrup instead of honey, and the result is genuinely crisp rather than merely acceptable.

Aug 14, 2026

Recipes

Middle Eastern Desserts, and the Syrup Rule That Governs All of Them

Knafeh, baklava, luqaimat, basbousa. Nearly all of them are pastry plus sugar syrup, and there is one rule about temperature that decides whether yours is crisp or soggy.

Aug 14, 2026

Recipes

Baklava: Forty Sheets of Filo and One Rule About Temperature

Layered filo, clarified butter, crushed nuts and syrup. It is not a difficult dessert, it is a patient one, and the single thing that decides crisp or soggy happens in the last thirty seconds.

Aug 13, 2026

Recipes

The Manakish Dough, and Why Yours Comes Out Like a Cracker

A soft, oil-enriched bread dough that stays tender under a hot oven. The hydration and the resting matter more than the recipe, and both are where home versions go wrong.

Aug 13, 2026

Recipes

Roasted Cauliflower Shawarma Bowls: Spiced, Golden

Caramelized cauliflower dressed in shawarma spices, served in grain bowls with tahini sauce. Middle Eastern flavors, no meat required.

Jan 15, 2025

Recipes

Authentic Falafel: Crispy Chickpea Fritters from Dried Beans

Real falafel starts with dried chickpeas, soaked but never cooked. The difference between homemade and store-bought is the crispy exterior and light, fluffy center that only proper technique delivers.

Mar 18, 2024

Recipes

Middle Eastern Lamb Dishes, and Which Cut Each One Needs

Mansaf, kabsa, shuwa, kibbeh, kofta. The recipes differ less than the butchery does, and using the wrong cut is why home versions come out dry or greasy.

Aug 14, 2026

Recipes

Moutabal Baba Ghanouj: Smoky Eggplant Tahini Dip

Charred eggplant blended with tahini, garlic, and lemon creates this silky Lebanese dip with a distinctly smoky depth.

Sep 14, 2024

Recipes

Fattet Hummus: Crisp Bread, Warm Chickpeas, Garlic Yoghurt

A Levantine assembly built on stale bread, designed so that every spoonful catches something crunchy and something soft. Timing is the only difficult part, and it is unforgiving.

Aug 2, 2026

Recipes

Musakhan: Palestinian Sumac Chicken on Bread That Drinks the Oil

Roast chicken over onions cooked in an amount of olive oil that feels wrong until you taste it, with sumac doing the work salt cannot. A dish built around the olive harvest.

Jul 29, 2026

Recipes

Creamy Cashew Alfredo Pasta: A Dairy-Free Classic

Rich, silky cashew cream transforms simple pasta into an elegant Italian-inspired dinner. No dairy, no compromise on flavor or texture.

Oct 5, 2023

Recipes

Silken Tofu With Ginger and Soy Takes Four Minutes and Requires No Cooking At All

A block of silken tofu, hot oil poured over aromatics, soy and vinegar. It is a standard of Chinese home cooking, it is genuinely fast, and it demonstrates the one technique that makes cold dishes taste cooked.

Sep 4, 2026

Recipes

Miso Tahini Aubergine: Nasu Dengaku Meets the Levant

Two sesame pastes from opposite ends of Asia turn out to want the same thing. A Japanese temple-festival glaze, loosened with tahini and finished with pomegranate.

Jul 26, 2026

Recipes

Omani Shuwa Without a Pit: The Spice Paste Still Works

Oman buries spiced lamb in an underground oven for a day or more. Most kitchens do not have a pit, and a low oven with a sealed wrap gets remarkably close.

Aug 3, 2026

Recipes

Cumin, Chilli and Mushrooms on Flatbread, or What the Silk Road Actually Tasted Like

Cumin lamb from Xi'an and Levantine flatbread are not a modern mash up. They sit at opposite ends of a road that carried the same spices and the same bread technology for a thousand years.

Sep 4, 2026

Recipes

Knafeh Without Semolina or Kataifi: A Gluten-Free Version Worth Making

Both classic knafeh shells are wheat. Rebuilding the dish gluten free means rethinking the top layer entirely, and rice-based kataifi plus a coarse cornmeal crust gets remarkably close.

Aug 11, 2026

Recipes

Panzanella Is a Salad Built to Use Up Stale Bread, and the Tomatoes Came Later

The Tuscan bread salad predates the tomato in Italian kitchens; the original was bread, onion, oil and vinegar. The version everyone now makes adds ripe tomatoes and cucumber, and the argument is whether to soak the bread or toast it. Both, done right.

Sep 6, 2026

Recipes

Middle Eastern Aubergine Dishes, and the Two Ways to Cook It

Almost every great aubergine dish in the region depends on one of two techniques: burning it whole over flame, or frying it until it collapses. Choosing wrongly is why yours is rubbery.

Aug 14, 2026

Recipes

Lebanese Hummus Proper Technique: Silky and Transformative

The secret to restaurant-quality hummus at home: skinned chickpeas, proper tahini blending, and understanding how warmth transforms texture into pure silk.

Nov 22, 2023

Recipes

Tempeh Is Not a Meat Substitute, It Is a Four Hundred Year Old Food That Never Needed One

Tempeh was documented in Java in the 1600s as an affordable protein in its own right, not as an imitation of anything. Braised in turmeric and lemongrass then fried, it is the dish that shows why.

Sep 4, 2026

Recipes

Spanakopita Done Properly: Squeeze the Spinach, Buy Real Feta, and Stop Being Afraid of Filo

The Greek spinach and feta pie fails for two reasons: wet spinach and cheap cheese. Fix both and the filo takes care of itself. A full-tray recipe with dill, spring onions and a properly crisp top, plus the rules for handling the pastry.

Sep 6, 2026

Recipes

İmam Bayıldı: The Turkish Aubergine Dish Named for a Man Who Fainted, and the Olive Oil That Explains Why

Whole aubergines split, stuffed with slow-cooked onion, garlic and tomato, and braised in olive oil until collapsing. Served at room temperature, entirely vegan, and one of the great dishes of the Ottoman kitchen. The legend, the method, and the oil.

Sep 6, 2026

Recipes

Za'atar Is a Herb, a Blend and an Argument About Land

The same word means a wild hillside herb and the sesame-and-sumac mixture made from it. Knowing which one a recipe means is the difference between a good jar and a disappointing one.

Aug 13, 2026