Comptoir Libanais: A Feast of Lebanese-Style Home Cooking

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Feta, tahini and yoghurt replace the Parmesan and béchamel sauce, while vegetables replace the mince in this Lebanese twist on a classic. Last year the Lebanese restaurant Comptoir Libanais opened up in Utrecht. I love Lebansese food, especially because it has so many vegetarian and vegan options so I went to Comptoir Libanais straight away. Now, almost a year later they brought out their first Dutch cookbook. In this blog post I’m telling you more about the Comptoir Libanais cookbook that’s filled with party recipes and I’m giving you a 20% discount on your next meal at Comptoir Libanais in Utrecht. Indeed, you can find good falafel everywhere from Baghdad to Bawshar - but, unless you live near one of the small, but growing, number of decent vendors here in Britain, your best bet might be to make your own. Thankfully, it's really quite simple. Pulses

Ottolenghi and Tamini roll their falafel in sesame seeds to coat, which looks handsome and makes the exteriors extra crunchy.

Texture

Heat 5cm oil in a deep pan to 180C/350F, then fry the falafel in batches and drain on kitchen paper. Serve with tahini sauce, toasted flatbreads and plenty of salad. Kitous’ restaurants were the first in London to merge traditional Arabic cooking with the easy contemporary eating to be found in the expanding network of Comptoir Libanais restaurants. Author of the Comptoir Libanais cookbook is Tony Kitous. He grew up in Algeria and moved to London when he was 18. He now has several Comptoir Libanais restaurants all over England and the one in Utrecht. I’m also sharing a 20% discount on your next Comptoir Libanais restaurant bill if you visit the location in Utrecht! Chilling the mixture before cooking helps with the shaping. The size of the falafel seems to vary, from the 40g Comptoir Libanais monsters to Roden's diminutive 4cm discs. She and Salloum recommend shaping tools, which I discover inside a box of Lebanese falafel mix in the grocers, but I find the Roden-sized versions too crunchy; making them bigger allows for a greater variation of texture between the crisp outer and fluffy interior.

His next move was the acquisition at the end of 2005 of Pasha from Richard Caring of Caprice Holdings, transforming it into the most opulent and seductive restaurant of its kind in the capital. He then launched Kenza, a feast of Middle Eastern craftsmanship and rich design, in the City of London in 2007.Bringing together the passion of owner Tony Kitous, the extraordinary designs of award-winning graphic artist Rana Salam, and bestselling author and photographer Dan Lepard, the Comptoir Libanais cookbook blends a vibrant culinary tradition with modern flavours and cooking methods Tamimi’s mother used a homemade yoghurt dressing that the pair believe was probably her own creation. “Sami can’t recall anyone else in the neighbourhood making it.” It is indeed “terribly comforting”, and both richer and more cooling than your average fattoush – it’s a dish for when you want something a little more substantial. Ground coriander and cumin are also pretty much a given, and I like the fiery sweetness of Helou's Lebanese seven-spice powder, with its ginger, cinnamon and allspice, which balances beautifully with the savoury garlic and peppery herbs. Some recipes use cayenne pepper, paprika or chilli flakes too – I find the warmth of the ginger sufficient for a dish that is rarely hot as opposed to spicy, but if you feel the need, add a shake to taste. Deep-frying proves, sadly, the best option; Comptoir Libanais does give a shallow-fried variation, but it is disappointing enough that I can't recommend it. Remember, if you put enough salad on top, it's basically health food anyway. Heat the oven to 200C. Toss the pitta with a little olive oil, then bake for about 15 minutes until crisp. Allow to cool slightly, then break into shards.

The success of Comptoir Libanais restaurants centres on an easy, relaxed cafe-style of food: light Arabic home cooking mixed with familiar bistro flavours and techniques. Tony Kitous’ recipes combine fresh vibrant vegetable dishes with simple grills, flat breads, grains, herb salads and dips. Pastries are richly flavoured and delicate, made with syrups and spices. Absolutely the menu for today and adaptable for the home cook. The first Comptoir Libanais opened at Westfield Shopping Centre in November 2008, with four more following in London. Further openings include Duke of York Square in Chelsea (pictured below), Bluewater in Kent, and in the London airports – with more to come.Salt is also extremely important in a dish that, badly seasoned, can tend towards the dull, which is why it's a good idea to fry up a little to test the mixture before shaping. Chilling, shaping and cooking

Steam the spinach leaves by putting them in a pan with a good splash of water and heat just to the point where they wilt, but not so that they lose their texture. Middle Eastern dining is a social affair where dishes are selected and shared with friends. Customers can forget the knife and fork – mezze is finger food – and select a mezze platter and some wraps for a picnic outside, or in their own office. Alternatively, they can take a couple of richly-flavoured tagines home to pass off as their own cooking! They also look very pretty, as do Comptoir Libanais and Honey & Co’s pomegranate seeds, which should supply a lovely burst of sweetness – but pomegranates at this time of year tend to be disappointingly dry, so I wouldn’t bother. By the time the pomegranates are in season, tomatoes won’t be, and tomatoes are( in my opinion, at least) key here. I like the idea of using a variety of colours and sizes, chopped “two or three different ways … to give the salad some texture”, as Honey & Co recommends, but go with whatever looks best if you don’t have a big choice; cherry tomatoes are usually the safest bet, but everything should be decent in midsummer. There’s no need to peel them as Roden does but, if they seem watery, rather than solid, you might be advised to core them, as in Baxter’s recipe.

Fattoush is not fattoush without bread – that’s the whole point. Any kind of Middle Eastern flatbread will do (or, in fact, most kinds of flatbread); the important thing is it must be crisp. There are various ways to achieve this, from Baxter’s frying to Honey & Co’s grilling, but the most reliable, if you can bear to turn the oven on, is to bake it, which gives a dryer, crunchier result; the dressing should supply all the oil the dish needs. If it’s too hot for the oven, toast the pitta as Roden does. Some recipes season it with sumac, but as this intensely lemony spice is a key ingredient in the salad itself, the bread is, I think, better left plain as a contrast.