Root Vegetable

This is very popular in Syria and Lebanon and can be served cold with salads such as tabbouleh (page 76) or hot with rice.

This is a very popular Arab dish. There are white and brown versions, which depend on whether you let the onions go brown or not. Use skinned fillets of fish such as bream, turbot, haddock, cod, or halibut.

A Greek way of cooking mussels.

A favorite Egyptian flavoring is a mix of fried garlic and coriander. This dish is a specialty of Alexandria, where it is usually baked in a clay dish called a tagen (it is deeper than Moroccan tagines and with straight sides). You can make it with any white fish—steaks or fillets. Serve it with plain rice (page 338) or rice with vermicelli (page 340).

A specialty of the port of Salé, this is one of the rare fish couscous dishes of Morocco. The eel is usually cooked in a saffron broth, but I prefer to sauté the eel and serve it with a small portion of couscous (see page 375). The honeyed onions beautifully complement the delicate flavor of this fish. Have the eel skinned (the skin is tough and inedible) and cut into pieces or filleted by the fishmonger.

A North African—particularly Libyan—specialty. Algerians call the piquant sauce chetitha. The dish is not for everybody, and it is not for a delicate fish.

An old Arab dish, popular in Syria, Lebanon, and Egypt. It is very lemony, and sometimes saffron is replaced by turmeric. All kinds of fish can be used. Serve with plain rice, or rice with vermicelli (see page 340).

Pan-cooking with the famous marinade is the simplest and quickest way of preparing a Moroccan-style fish dish.

Small skate, tender enough to fry quickly, should be used for this Tunisian dish. The wings are bought already dressed from the fishmonger.

This makes an exciting cold first course or buffet dish. The fish is fried, then marinated in a beautifully flavored dressing. Make it at least an hour before you are ready to serve. You can use Mediterranean fish, such as bream, or any firm-fleshed fish, such as cod or haddock.

The honeyed onions make an enthralling accompaniment to a delicate fish.

You have to love garlic to appreciate this most ancient of sauces.

A ubiquitous sauce in Syria and Lebanon, served with fried and grilled fish as well as with cold fish.

In Tunisia, where egg dishes are ubiquitous, they call this a tajin because it is cooked in a clay dish of that name. It can be eaten hot or cold.

This Tunisian specialty is easy to make and quite delicious.

This is an Egyptian favorite.

This Turkish way of embellishing poached eggs is also good with fried eggs.

This is a very famous and very tasty Lebanese soup made with large brown lentils.