Za'atar

This is always a pain-in-the-ass to explain because it's one of those complete linguistic fuckups.

It refers to a specific herb but also to a specific spice mixture. Most of the time it's the latter not the former but it still requires a ton of explanation every single time.

These linguistic faux-pas are not entertaining.

This one is the mixture.

It's terrific baked as a bread topping or even just for dipping with fresh pita bread.

Ingredients

2 tbsp. dried oregano (preferably Mexican oregano)
2 tbsp. sesame seeds (lightly toasted)
1 tbsp. crushed sumac.
1 tbsp. dried marjoram

salt

Recipe

Crush in a mortar and pestle and mix together.

Yumurtali Ispanak

This classic Turkish breakfast dish consists of spinach and eggs.

The eggs are not quite fried, and not quite poached, and not quite baked sur le plat. It's somewhere between all three. However, it's really easy to make and was a sleeper hit at today's Sunday brunch.

The CC served the dish over toasted sourdough (as seen below.)

A note about the sumac. This dish is simply not the same without it!

Borrowing an expression from The Big Lebowski, "it ties the dish together".

Ingredients

3-4 eggs
1 red onion (finely diced)
2 bunches spinach (chopped loosely)
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
1/2 tsp cumin (ground)
1/2 tsp whole black pepper (ground)
1 tbsp tomato paste

1 tsp ground sumac

olive oil
sea salt

Recipe

Fry the onions in olive oil at a low heat. Add the pepper flakes, cumin, black pepper and salt. Add the tomato paste and fry. Finally add the chopped spinach.

The spinach will release water. Keep frying it till it is wilted and turns dark green. Separate out spaces to crack the eggs. Crack one egg in each space.

Cover the pan and cook until done. The CC likes his eggs mollet which took 3 minutes.

Sprinkle the ground sumac over the eggs when serving.

Simplicity

Hard-boiled egg with sumac.

Sumac

Sumac is a Mediterranean spice with a sharp tart flavor. Do not confuse it with "poison sumac" (commonly found in the US.)

The berries are like tiny "flying saucers", and are best ground fresh. Sprinkled over raw onions, or hummus, or even baked on fresh bread, it is delicious. (Use it where you would add fresh lemons.)