Cookbooks, Alan Geaam read them for a long time stashed on the shelves of Gibert Jeune, Fnac or Puces de Saint-Ouen. Arrived in France in 1999 with 200 francs in his pocket, after a childhood in Tripoli marked by the civil war, this autodidact will gradually go from washing dishes to cooking.
While he shines today at the head of the Auberge Nicolas Flamel, the Alan Geaam restaurant (both stamped with a Michelin macaron) and several Qasti bistros, the chef takes up the pen to deliver a very personal work, My Lebanon (Hachette cuisine, 250 pages, 45 euros) which mixes an intimate story, portraits, photos of Tripoli and more than 50 tempting recipes, all highlighted by the images of Emanuela Cino. If you don’t have the level to tackle “gourmet” recipes, such as this “veal, salsify and date purée” or this “kebbeh, porcini mushroom, cardamom tartlet”, traditional dishes and desserts such as tabouleh, falafel or the baklava are quite accessible and tasty. And promise a motionless trip to Lebanon.
Hummus like in Lebanon
Preparation time: 30 mins
Cooking time: 4 hours
Soaking time: 1 night
For 4-6 people
Ingredients :
For the hummus
- 500g dried chickpeas
- 1 tbsp. baking soda
- 150g tahini (sesame puree)
- 100ml lemon juice
- 1 clove of garlic (optional)
- 30ml peanut oil
- a few ice cubes
- salt
For the chickpea salad
- ½ bunch of parsley
- 20ml peanut oil
- Paprika powder
- 50g pine nuts
The day before, soak the chickpeas in water with baking soda. On the day of the recipe, rinse the chickpeas and cook them in plenty of water for about 3 hours. Drain and add 4 tbsp. aside for the small salad. Blend the others while still hot, then add a few ice cubes to the blender bowl to cool the chickpea purée.
Then add the sesame cream, the lemon juice, the peeled clove of garlic and a little salt, then mix again until the texture is homogeneous and very creamy. Pour the peanut oil and incorporate it into the preparation, mixing for a few seconds.
For the chickpea salad, chop the parsley leaves. Drizzle the reserved chickpeas with the peanut oil, add the parsley and mix. Transfer the hummus to a bowl, hollow out the center a bit and top with the chickpea salad. Decorate with paprika using a damp fork, and sprinkle with a few pine nuts.
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