MIDWESTERN MIDDLE EASTERN
In progress:
A Middle Eastern cookbook—with recipes from the U.S. Midwest and 12 supper club menus
Midwestern Middle Eastern is a cookbook that focuses on Middle Eastern cuisine and cocktails. The cookbook is based around the idea of an underground supper club—also called a home bistro, guerrilla diner, secret restaurant, renegade restaurant, pop-up restaurant, guestaurant, speakeasie, and anti-restaurant. I call it a “small(ish) party where people sit at a long table and eat and drink together.” This cookbook is broken up into twelve thematic menus—enough for a year of supper clubs:
Breakfast and Brunch
Heart and Soul
The French Connection
The Usual Suspects
Off-The-Beaten Path
Summertime Picnic
Vegan
Comforting and Hearty
The Nationals
Easy Street
Homestyle Cooking
Stuffed and Rolled
My husband and I are both of Middle Eastern descent, and if you know any ME-ers, you understand at some basic level, hospitality is a disease, it is our biggest joy and our cross to bear. It’s critical to us that everyone be served—nobody goes hungry, nobody goes without a drink, without an introduction, a connection, something to remember.
