Tocană de Cartofi cu Ciuperci (Potato and Mushroom Stew)
This is the stew that appears when the pantry is nearly bare and the fast still has weeks to run. Potatoes and mushro...
St Cyril of Alexandria; Ven. Kirill of Belozersk
St Cyril of Alexandria / Ven. Kirill of Belozersk / St Columba of Iona (597)
This is the stew that appears when the pantry is nearly bare and the fast still has weeks to run. Potatoes and mushro...
Stuffed peppers are as common in Romania as they are across the Balkans, and the fasting version — filled with season...
In Romania, summer means vinete. Eggplants are roasted over open flames until the skin chars black and the flesh turn...
If ciorbă de legume is the light sour soup, ciorbă de fasole is its heavier, more formidable brother — a thick, filli...
Ghiveci is Romania's answer to ratatouille — except bigger, bolder, and more generous. Where the French use four or f...
Mămăligă is to Romania what bread is to France — the foundation upon which everything else rests. During fasting, whe...
Every autumn, Romanian families gather for zacuscă season — days spent roasting peppers and eggplant over open fires,...
Sarmale are Romania's national dish, and the fasting version is no lesser thing. During Lent, the pork and rice filli...
Ciorbă is the soul of Romanian cooking — a sour, brothy soup that appears on every table, fasting or not. This vegeta...
The great staple of Romanian fasting. Fasole bătută is what every Romanian grandmother makes when the fast begins — w...
Koshari is the national dish of Egypt — a magnificent, chaotic pile of rice, lentils, macaroni pasta, and chickpeas, ...
Muhammara is Aleppo's gift to the mezze table — a thick, brick-red dip of roasted red peppers, toasted walnuts, and p...
Stuffed grape leaves — warak enab in Arabic — are one of the great shared dishes of the Eastern Mediterranean, found ...
Ful medames is the breakfast of Egypt, eaten by millions every single morning, and it is one of the most ancient prep...
Baba ghanoush is the smoky, silky cousin of hummus — roasted eggplant mashed with tahini, lemon, and garlic into a di...
Tabbouleh is a parsley salad with bulgur wheat, not a bulgur salad with parsley. This distinction matters enormously....
Fattoush is the Levantine bread salad — crispy pieces of fried or toasted pita tossed with fresh vegetables and a bri...
Mujaddara may be the single most iconic Orthodox fasting dish in the world. Across Syria, Lebanon, Palestine, and the...
Falafel is fried chickpea patties — crispy, deeply herbed, and one of the most satisfying fasting foods in existence....
Real hummus — the kind eaten daily across Syria, Lebanon, and Palestine — is made from dried chickpeas, not canned. T...
The British have been eating curried lentils since the days of the Raj, and for good reason — it is one of the most c...
A straightforward, deeply satisfying lentil stew in the tradition of monastic kitchens. This recipe works on oil days...
Halvas is the fasting dessert of Greece — served at memorial services, during Lent, and wherever something sweet is n...
The name means "the imam fainted" — supposedly from the sheer quantity of olive oil used, or perhaps from how delicio...
Horta is the simplest dish in this collection and, for many Greeks, the most essential. It is nothing more than boile...
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