A mezze (or meze) is a popular style of eating in the Mediterranean and Middle East.

Similar to Spanish tapas, each dish is meant to be shared and the various flavors compliment each other.

Here’s a little walk around our Middle Eastern Mezze Platter.

Each Recipes is linked to the dish titles.

Because many of the dishes are dips of one kind or another, most always a mezze will include fresh herbs & veggies such as cucumber, bell peppers, radish, and mint or parsley and nuts (we included walnuts).

You’ll also want to include pita bread and/or other flatbread type crackers.

Jerusalem Salad brings nice fresh bright flavors to your mezze platter. This side dish is loaded with cucumber, tomatoes, red onion and fresh parsley. It’s tossed in a simple lemon vinaigrette that really gives the salad a burst of citrus flavor.

Tabbouleh is a traditional Lebanese salad made with grains like bulgar, couscous or quinoa that’s tossed with lots of fresh parsley, cilantro and mint, diced tomato and cucumber and dressed with olive oil and lemon juice.

It’s absolutely delicious and gorgeous on a mezze platter.

Baba Ghanoush, a creamy smoky eggplant dip, is a personal favorite and a classic Levantine dish. The rich flavor plays so nicely with the other bright dishes being served.

Labneh (soft Middle Eastern cheese made from strained Greek yogurt) with roasted beets is an easy dish to include on your meze platter.

We also love Kofta Kebab made with ground lamb or beef. They’re packed with fresh herbs and spices and are delicious served on a bed of saffron rice.

With their crispy outside and tender most center, these Falafel are a crowd pleaser.

They get their bright green color from fresh herbs and you know that makes me happy. Falafel are perfect served with a side of creamy Lemon Tahini Sauce.

Marinated Olives & Feta bring a nice salty briny flavor component to our mezze platter.

Every mezze platter should include Hummus. Roasted Garlic & Herb Hummus is a favorite, but we also love Sweet Potato Hummus, Golden Beet Hummus, and Pumpkin Hummus.

Sharing a Middle Eastern Mezze Platter with friends and family is a fantastic way to allow everyone to sample so many wonderful Levantine dishes.

Whether you serve it as an appetizer with cocktails or as light dinner, your guests will be delighted by it’s beautiful presentation and bright fresh flavors.

Don’t forget to follow us @LemonyThyme on Instagram and Facebook! And check out our latest TikTok videos and Pinterest boards too!

All my best,
xo Libby

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This salad.  This Fattoush Salad is flavor love.

I was working hard to use ingredients already on hand.  I may be a bit out of control.  Pantry and freezer doors are…busting.  So I went on offense and typed pita, lettuce, mint, tomato into my search engine field.

Kabam!!! Pow!! Fattoush!

When my search engine returned images of Fattoush…it was love at first site.  Trust me.  This salad is so deliciously flavor packed.  I made a pomegranate sumac vinaigrette using pomegranate juice, lemon juice, ground sumac berries, and olive oil.  If you’re not familiar with sumac, it’s a dried berry that’s ground and used in many Middle Eastern dishes.  I was first introduced to it at Rumi’s Persian Kitchen, where we sprinkled it over our dishes.  It is also available from the great people at Penzey’s Spices.

Fattoush is a Lebanese twist on the Tuscan Panzanella Bread Salad, using toasted pita bread.  This salad makes a wonderful easy lunch or add grilled shrimp or chicken for a lovely dinner salad that your family and guests will be smitten with.

Not only is Fattoush full of fresh bright flavors but it fits so nicely with our Healthy Choices plan.

Print

Fattoush Salad

Prep Time 15 minutes minutes

Total Time 15 minutes minutes

Servings 2

Calories 187kcal

Author Libby with Lemony Thyme

Ingredients

For the vinaigrette…

• 2 Tbl. lemon juice
• 1/4 cup pomegranate juice
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1 tsp. sumac
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1/4 tsp. pepper

For the salad…

• 3 cups lettuce leaves torn
• 1/2 avocado sliced
• 1 salad cucumber sliced
• 8-10 cherry tomatoes halved
• 2 scallions thinly sliced
• 1/4 cup red onion fine diced
• 1/4 cup fresh mint leaves
• 1/4 cup pomegranate arils
• 1/2 tsp. sumac
• 1 pita bread cut into bite-sized pieces and lightly toasted

Instructions

For the vinaigrette…

• Combine ingredients in a glass jar. Shake to combine. Chill until ready to serve.

For the salad…

• Divide lettuce between two plates. Add sliced avocado.
• In a medium bowl combine cucumber, tomatoes, scallion, red onion, mint leaves, and pomegranate arils. Toss with a couple tablespoons of vinaigrette, adding more to taste. Spoon mixture onto bed of lettuce. Sprinkle with toasted pita and sumac.

Notes

Serving size: 1/2 recipe listed = 5 WW Pts+

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Pork Souvlaki {with Tzatziki Sauce}.

It’s time for a relatively wordless Wednesday.  These skewers of happiness happened.  A simple marinade of olive oil, lemon juice, red wine vinegar, garlic and fresh oregano infuse the tender pork chunks with classic Greek flavor.

Marinate at least two hours or up to overnight.  Thread onto skewers and grill.  Reduce remaining marinade.  Serve Pork Souvlaki on pita flat bread, with sliced red onion, tomato and freshly made Tzatziki Sauce.  Fresh and flavorful.  Enjoy!!

Print

Pork Souvlaki {with Tzatziki Sauce}

Author Libby with Lemony Thyme

Ingredients

• 4 bamboo skewers soaked in water for 30 mins.
• 1 lb. pork loin 1-inch cubed
• 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 4 Tbl. fresh lemon juice
• 2 Tbl. red wine vinegar
• 2 Tbl. chopped fresh oregano
• 2-3 garlic cloves grated
• 1/4 tsp. black pepper
• 1/4 tsp. salt

To serve…

• 2 pita flat breads
• thinly sliced red onion
• diced fresh tomato
• fresh oregano sprigs
• Tzatziki Sauce see recipe link in post

Instructions

• Combine pork cubes and marinade ingredients in a zip top bag. Marinate for 2 hours or overnight.
• Heat grill or grill pan to medium-high.
• Thread marinated pork cubes onto soaked bamboo skewers. Pour marinade into a small saucepan and boil to reduce for 2-3 minutes.
• Grill skewers for 2 minutes per side or to 160 degrees when checked with an instant read thermometer. Allow to rest for 5 minutes before serving.

To serve…

• Place pork souvlaki skewers over pita flat breads. Drizzle with reduced marinade. Sprinkle with thinly sliced red onion, diced tomato, fresh oregano. With a healthy side of Tzatziki Sauce.

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I have a treasured folder where I keep paper copies of recipes.  Some jotted down on scratch paper, others torn from magazines, and lots printed from the pages of fellow bloggers I admire.  This morning I found this Italian White Bean Dip recipe that I had torn from a Weight Watchers hand out….months ago.  Time to revisit.

This recipe was also an excuse to break out my Vitamix that has not been used as often as I’d hoped.  Shame on me.  What a dream machine it is.

There are three components to this dip.  The base of white beans infused with fresh lemon flavor.  Next comes the Basil Pesto, which was a wonderful way to use the fresh basil that is thriving in our Aero-Garden right now.  Lastly comes diced ripe tomato rounding out the Italian flavors.

When it came time to serve this dip, there wasn’t a chip or cracker or even a hunk of bread to be found.  I’ve been wanting to try my hand at Homemade Pita Bread.  There was no time like the present to give it a go.

I found this step-by-step recipe over at The Kitchn.  Do you love this site as much as I do?? I feel like I’m getting free cooking lessons every time I log in.  Back to the Pita Bread.  It’s delicious.  However, after my first attempt (and there will be many more) my bread was more like Naan than Pita.  We had no pockets, just some cute air bubbles (see tips from The Kitchn on how to correct this).

Here’s my little step-by-step summary.  Until perfected I’ll have you refer to The Kitchn’s page for the recipe.

A quick & easy 5-ingredient dough comes together with minimal elbow grease (about 5-7 minutes of kneading).

The dough then rises for 1-2 hours.  By this time it was 6:30 pm, the heavenly Italian White Bean Dip was calling me.  I went with an hour, probably should have given it more time.

Lesson #1 ~ Good things come to those who wait.

The dough is then cut into 8 pcs. that get rolled out into thin disks.

Get your cast iron skillet good and hot and coat it with a little oil.  My first two batches were a bit oil sogged. 

Lesson #2 ~ Less is more.

The directions said to cook for 1-2 minutes per side.  That seemed like a long time.

Refer back to Lesson #1.

The end result yielded 6 out of 8…pretty darn good looking Pita Breads.  No we didn’t have “pockets” for stuffing, but these flat breads would be fantastic with our Lamb Gyros or cut up and served with Shelby’s Yummus Hummus or turned into Flat Bread Pizzas.

As for our Italian White Bean Dip, I delivered it to my office today to Share the Love.  They looooved the dip with it’s hummus-like texture and fresh lemony pop.  And they loved the homemade pita bread as well.  A great Healthy Choices recipe weighing in at only 3 WW Pts+ per serving.  I can dig it.

Print

Italian White Bean Dip

Prep Time 10 minutes minutes

Total Time 10 minutes minutes

Servings 8

Author Weight Watchers

Ingredients

• 1 can 13.5-ounce white northern beans, drained & rinsed
• 1 Tbl. fresh lemon juice or less to taste
• 1 tsp. finely grated lemon zest
• 1 Tbl. water
• 1/8 tsp. salt
• 1/8 tsp. black pepper
• 1/4 cup basil pesto see recipe link in post
• 1 plum tomato diced
• Homemade Pita Bread recipe link in post

Instructions

• Put beans, lemon juice, lemon zest, water, salt & pepper in a food processor or blender; process until smooth.
• Scrape dip into a serving dish; swirl in basil pesto. Chill 30 minutes then top with diced tomato.
• WW Pts+ per serving.
• Serve with Homemade Pita Bread. WW Pts+ not calculated.

Notes

For gluten-free version serve with corn chips or veggie sticks.

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