international meal | egypt

A couple weeks ago we attended a Mediterranean dinner party. Larry and I made food from Lebanon and bought several specialty ingredients from our local Lebanese Butcher. We ended up with a big bottle of leftover pomegranate molasses. After our dinner party, I googled around to find some other uses for this ingredient and found a recipe for Dukkah-crusted lamb chops. Dukkah (or duqqa) is an Egyptian mixture of nuts and spices. Despite the fact that I know pretty much nothing about Egyptian food, I used this recipe as the inspiration for our next international meal.

This weekend, we were hunkered down at home awaiting a hurricane - which provided the perfect opportunity to cook up our Egyptian-inspired meal. I say inspired, because I don't know that the lamb chop recipe from Epicurious was really authentic Egyptian food, but the dukkah coating and drizzle of pomegranate molasses and honey gave it the flavor of Egypt. Regardless of the recipe's authenticity, it was absolutely delicious. I paired it with a traditional Egyptian dish called koshary (a stick-to-your-ribs mixture of rice, pasta, and noodles coated with a spicy tomato sauce) and a fantastic homemade hummus (which Larry refuses to eat because it gives him garlic breath!).

Yum.

On the menu:

• Dukkah-Crusted Lamb Chops with Pomegranate Molasses
• Egyptian Koshary
• Homemade Hummus + Pita Bread (store-bought)

I should mention, that until earlier this year, I felt the same way about lamb chops as I did about chicken wings - as in, I didn't eat them.

Reason #1: Lambs are cute.
Reason #2: I don't like gnawing meat off a bone.

Scratch all that, because between the Lamb Lollipops with Mustard Sauce that Larry made for New Year's Eve and these Dukkah-Crusted Lamb Chops, I am 100% converted. Lamb chops might be one of the most delicious meats out there!