Julie Taboulie’s Lebanese Kitchen

Sageer so loved her mother’s lemony tabbouleh salad as a child in upstate New York that she earned the nickname “Julie Taboulie,” a moniker she uses on her PBS cooking shows. She evokes that memory and many others in this collection of recipes for Lebanese foods, from familiar hummus (presented with a handful of variations) to surprises such as panfried patties made with chickpeas, potatoes, and bulgur; a yogurt soup with lamb dumplings; and pickled baby eggplant stuffed with peppers. Sageer’s outlook is encouraging, but occasionally she falters on logistics. A narrow-diameter dowel-style rolling pin is recommended or required or both, but she never explains why. There are two almost identical recipes for chicken shawarma, one with spices listed and another with a spice mix cross-referenced. But despite these missteps, there are enough fresh ideas to make the volume worthwhile. A clever technique extracts every drop of flavor from onions that are caramelized until they are almost black for lentil and rice mujadrah. Lamb pastries from the town of Ba’albek combine lamb, pine nuts, and pomegranate molasses. A glossary covers ingredients and equipment and then suggests retail sources, including the author’s own website. (May)