March 28, 2024

Maureen Abood's Hot Weather Treats

Aug. 12, 2016

Maureen Abood spent her childhood summers in Harbor Springs and though she still splits time between the small northern hamlet and her home in East Lansing, her food writing has stretched well beyond the state of Michigan.

Pulling from the kitchen traditions and exotic ingredients of her Lebanese heritage, Maureen Abood’s recipes and food memories have been published and lauded everywhere from The New York Times and Chicago Tribune to NPR and Saveur magazine. Most recently, she published the book Rose Water and Orange Blossoms, an edition of fresh and classic Lebanese recipes praised by none other than Anthony Bourdain. A Michigan girl at heart, Abood graciously agreed to share some of her favorite hot-weather dishes with us as we arrive in August’s dog days of summer.

COOL AS A CUCUMBER WATER

“One of the first things I thought of for this [article] was a drink that I keep in my refrigerator all summer,” Abood said. The Lebanese love cucumbers, she explained, and enjoy the vegetable at every meal, even breakfast. For this beverage, you simply wash a fresh cucumber (“baby cucumbers are especially good,” she added) and cut it into ½-inch-thick slices. Fill a pitcher with cold water and pour in a cup of cucumber slices. The water gains flavor from the cucumber over time, so Abood suggests letting the mixture rest for a day before serving. She said it will stay fresh in the refrigerator for up to a week. “What I love about this is that it’s so refreshing yet different. When you serve it to people, they immediately look so pleased and ask what it is!”

MINT POWER

Another favorite ingredient in Lebanese cooking is mint. “Everyone in our family keeps a big mint patch to use in our food,” Abood said. For a bright summer twist on the Italian Caprese salad, she starts by slicing fresh spearmint into finely-cut ribbons, chiffonade-style, and sprinkling the mint over sliced tomatoes and sweet Vidalia onions. “This is such a sophisticated way to treat the tomatoes,” she said. “Then you squeeze lemon juice, a drizzle of olive oil, and a dash of salt on top, and it’s just so good.” Abood loves the combination of salt and dried spearmint so much that she’s developed her own product, Mint Salt (available in her online shop), which she said is also easy to make at home by drying out your own spearmint in a dehydrator or microwave and adding it to sea salt.

MAIN MEALS

Entrees can be tricky in the summer; as the thermometer climbs, one’s enthusiasm for switching on the stovetop or oven declines. So Abood suggested several dishes that keep things both cool and delicious. “One of my favorites is making a simple salad of chickpeas, garden peppers, and tomatoes, with feta cheese mixed in,” she said.

Another of her recipes starts with quinoa, the protein-packed grain that you can cook just as you do rice, although Abood often uses vegetable or chicken broth instead of water to add more flavor. “Once the quinoa’s ready, I mix it into a salad with corn, edamame, kidney beans, chopped red onions, and lots and lots of cilantro,” Abood said. A third salad nods to Michigan’s own favorite crop. “We eat a lot of cherries in this region, but tart cherries seem get more attention as far as cooking,” Abood said. “So I like to make a salad of black cherries, pitted and cut in half, mixed with toasted walnuts and parsley, and dressed with pomegranate molasses, olive oil, and salt.”

SWEET TREATS

And finally, for dessert, if you’re tired of the standard summer selections of ice cream or sorbet, Abood has a sweet idea that’s perfect for refueling in the afternoon — her own Tahini-Date Granola Bars with Dried Apricots. “I love to make these and have them around so people can grab them during the day,” she said. The recipe (available free on her website; see below) blends Medjool dates, agave or honey, peanut butter, kosher salt, oats, almonds, coconut flakes, apricots, and the pivotal ingredient, tahini (a Middle Eastern paste made from ground sesame seeds) into to-go bars that you can make in big batches; they keep for a couple of weeks. “They’ve got such a great peanut-y flavor and chew, and they help give you a lot of energy. And in the heat of summer, you don’t have to bake them!”

For more information on Maureen Abood and her food writing, visit her official website at maureenabood.com. She also offers her own line of spices, Lebanese ingredients, and kitchen tools at maureenaboodmarket.com.

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