Fill the hole with about 1 tablespoon clotted cream. Put the pot down on a plate rubbed with oil and make a lid for it: take a lump of paste the size of a large olive, flatten it between the palms of your hands, and lay it over the cream. Stick the edges well together and place the pastry flat-side down in a pastry case.

Alternatively, you can line tiny cake molds with plastic wrap and press the paste around the sides, fill the hollow with the cream, and cover with a lid.

Keep the pastries in the refrigerator-the cream needs to be refrigerated and the paste will firm-until you are ready to serve them, sprinkled with confectioners' sugar.

VARIATION Do the same with almonds and use 2 tablespoons of orange blossom water instead of rose water.

AcknowledgmentsOver the decades that I have been involved with the foods of the Middle East and North Africa, very many people have given recipes, advice, bits of information, stories, and memories that have found their way into this book. I will not thank them all here, but they should know that their contributions were much valued and that I always think of them fondly.Of those who have helped me most when I was preparing Arabesque Arabesque, I am especially grateful to Nevin Halici, who has been a fantastic guide in Turkey. The late Turkish gastronome Turul Savkai was extremely helpful, and I miss him deeply. Kamal Mouzawak was my all-important, entertaining, and gracious guide in Lebanon. I cannot thank him enough, and I also thank his mother, Fariba, for her hospitality and valuable information. Others who have made me love Lebanon (and love them too) and have helped me with my research are my friends Mai Ghous...o...b.. her husband, Hazim Saghie, and their families: Hazim's mother, Khalida Saghie; Mai's mother, Maggie; her sister, Hoda, brother-in-law, Kamal, nephew, Maher, and Natasha, his new bride. I am also indebted to the caterer n.a.z.ira Hadad Bitar. I owe much to Fatema Hal, who is a Moroccan restaurateur (her Mansouria is, for me, the best in Paris), anthropologist, and food writer. I met her in Morocco, Sicily, Paris, and Barcelona.I thank my editor, Camilla Stoddart, for her vision and her enthusiastic support; Jenny Dereham for her intelligent and painstaking editing; Jason Lowe for the beautiful photographs; my agent, Jacqueline Korn, for her unceasing encouragement. I have very special thanks for Judith Jones. She took an interest in the project from the start and, as always, offered much valuable advice and encouragement throughout.

A NOTE ABOUT THE AUTHOR Claudia Roden was born and raised in Cairo. She completed her formal education in Paris and then moved to London to study art. She travels extensively as a food writer. Her previous books include the James Beard Awardwinning The Book of Jewish Food The Book of Jewish Food, as well as The New Book of Middle Eastern Food, Coffee: A Connoisseur's Companion, The Good Food of Italy-Region by Region, Everything Tastes Better Outdoors The New Book of Middle Eastern Food, Coffee: A Connoisseur's Companion, The Good Food of Italy-Region by Region, Everything Tastes Better Outdoors, and Mediterranean Cookery Mediterranean Cookery, which was published in conjunction with her BBC television series on the Mediterranean. In 1989 she won the two most prestigious food prizes in Italy, the Premio Orio Vergani and the Premio Maria Luigia, d.u.c.h.essa di Parma for her London Sunday Times Magazine Sunday Times Magazine series "The Taste of Italy." She has won six Glenfiddich prizes, including 1992 Food Writer of the Year for articles in the series "The Taste of Italy." She has won six Glenfiddich prizes, including 1992 Food Writer of the Year for articles in the Daily Telegraph Daily Telegraph and and The Observer The Observer magazine, and the Glenfiddich Trophy awarded "in celebration of a unique contribution to the food that we eat in Britain today." In 1999, she won a Versailles Award in France, and Prince Claus of the Netherlands presented her with the Prince Claus Award "in recognition of exceptional initiatives and achievements in the field of culture." She lives in London. magazine, and the Glenfiddich Trophy awarded "in celebration of a unique contribution to the food that we eat in Britain today." In 1999, she won a Versailles Award in France, and Prince Claus of the Netherlands presented her with the Prince Claus Award "in recognition of exceptional initiatives and achievements in the field of culture." She lives in London.

THIS IS ABORZOI BOOK PUBLISHED BY ALFREDA. KNOPF Copyright 2005 by Claudia Roden Photographs copyright 2005 by Jason Lowe Photographs from pages ii, 2, 1011, 122, 241, and 286 copyright 2005 by Noel Murphy All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. Published in the United States by Alfred A. Knopf, a division of Random House, Inc., New York, and in Canada by Random House of Canada Limited, Toronto.

www.aaknopf.com Originally published in Great Britain by Michael Joseph, Penguin Books, Ltd., London, in 2005.

Knopf, Borzoi Books, and the colophon are registered trademarks of Random House, Inc.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Roden, Claudia.

Arabesque: a taste of Morocco, Turkey, and Lebanon / by Claudia Roden.

p. cm.

eISBN: 978-0-307-49397-2 1. Cookery, Arab. 2. Cookery, Moroccan. 3. Cookery, Turkish 4. Cookery, Lebanese. I. t.i.tle.

TX725.a7R63 2006 641.592927-dc222006045258 v3.0

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