Bethlehem Cookbook

Over 60 recipes from leading chef Fadi Kattan’s repertoire, also known as ‘60 reasons why I won’t fit my clothes anymore’.

Kattan’s reputation precedes him of course, a Franco-Palestinian chef with top restaurants Fawda in Bethlehem and Akub in Notting Hill, London.

This is one part a cookbook mixed with one part a love poem dedicated to Bethlehem and beyond: from the bustling bakeries of Bethlehem itself, to the desert oasis of Jericho, orange groves of Jaffa, salt of the Dead Sea, the olive oil of Sebastia and the street vendors of Nablus.

Kattan draws on recipes passed down through his family who have lived on these lands for generations and for whom food is the centre of family life. The recipes are told through personal stories, thoughtful photos and anecdotes.

This cookbook is arranged by the four seasons: the celebrations, culture, crops. Spring brings a light recipe for hwerneh, the first mustard greens of the season. Summer heralds apricot baklawa and a mad dash to get mistakawi apricots whose peak season is short. Autumn is time for silek, a versatile chard. And qidreh- a spiced lamb and rice dish- is vying for a spot on your Christmas dinner table instead of that sad old turkey. Slow-cooked and the quintessential centrepiece for big celebrations, including Christmas, in Palestine.

You’re spoilt for choice of recipes. ​​Learn to stuff grape leaves with Nabulsi cheese, slow roast lamb seasoned with fenugreek and cardamom, roll labaneh in nigella seeds, and make mouhalabieh, a milky pudding scented with mastic and pistachios.

This will not be good for my waistline.