Shared by Emanuelle Lee
Shared by Emanuelle Lee
The Syrian Macaroni Dish That Made Its Way Around the Globe
The Syrian Macaroni Dish That Made Its Way Around the Globe
Family Journey
Aleppo, SyriaTel Aviv Manilla
San FranciscoGreat Neck, NYLondon
New York City
3 recipes
Macaroni Chicken (Baked Pasta With Chicken)
Ingredients
- 3 tablespoons + ½ teaspoon salt, divided
- 2 onions, thinly sliced
- 1 chicken, cut into 8 pieces, skin on and bone in
- 3 tablespoons olive oil, divided
- 1 ¼ teaspoons ground pepper, divided
- 2 ½ teaspoons ground cinnamon, divided
- ¾ teaspoon ground allspice, divided
- 1 teaspoon ground paprika, divided
- 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
- ½ cup tomato paste
- 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
- 1 pound spaghetti (or pasta of your choice)
Cabbage Salad With Lemon and Garlic
Ingredients
- 1 clove garlic, crushed
- Juice of 2 lemons
- 2 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
- 1 teaspoon sea salt
- ½ green cabbage, thinly sliced crosswise
- 1 cups fresh parsley leaves, roughly chopped
- 2 tablespoons toasted chopped almonds (optional)
Kibbeh Hamdah (Tangy Meatball Soup With Lemon and Celery)
Ingredients
For the meat filling:
- ½ pound ground lamb
- ¼ cup cold water
- ½ teaspoon ground allspice
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1½ teaspoons kosher salt
- ½ cup finely chopped flat leaf parsley leaves
For outer meatball shell:
- ⅔ cup long-grain white rice, finely ground in a coffee or spice grinder (you can use rice flour if you don't own a grinder)
- ½ pound ground lamb
- ½ pound ground beef
- 1½ teaspoons kosher salt
For broth:
- 8 to 10 cups beef or lamb stock
- 2½ cups celery, coarsely chopped
- 1¼ cups finely chopped scallions or white onions
- 2 tablespoons garlic, finely chopped
- ½ cup flat leaf parsley, finely chopped
- 1 cup carrots, coarsely chopped
- 1 cup white potatoes, peeled and cubed
- About 1 teaspoon kosher salt (amount depends on how much salt is already in your stock!)
- Freshly ground black pepper
- 1½ tablespoons dried mint
- ¾ cup freshly squeezed lemon or lime juice
- 1 large yellow squash or zucchini, stem and end discarded
Recipes
1
Macaroni Chicken (Baked Pasta With Chicken)
Ingredients
- 3 tablespoons + ½ teaspoon salt, divided
- 2 onions, thinly sliced
- 1 chicken, cut into 8 pieces, skin on and bone in
- 3 tablespoons olive oil, divided
- 1 ¼ teaspoons ground pepper, divided
- 2 ½ teaspoons ground cinnamon, divided
- ¾ teaspoon ground allspice, divided
- 1 teaspoon ground paprika, divided
- 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
- ½ cup tomato paste
- 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
- 1 pound spaghetti (or pasta of your choice)
2
Cabbage Salad With Lemon and Garlic
Ingredients
- 1 clove garlic, crushed
- Juice of 2 lemons
- 2 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
- 1 teaspoon sea salt
- ½ green cabbage, thinly sliced crosswise
- 1 cups fresh parsley leaves, roughly chopped
- 2 tablespoons toasted chopped almonds (optional)
3
Kibbeh Hamdah (Tangy Meatball Soup With Lemon and Celery)
Ingredients
For the meat filling:
- ½ pound ground lamb
- ¼ cup cold water
- ½ teaspoon ground allspice
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1½ teaspoons kosher salt
- ½ cup finely chopped flat leaf parsley leaves
For outer meatball shell:
- ⅔ cup long-grain white rice, finely ground in a coffee or spice grinder (you can use rice flour if you don't own a grinder)
- ½ pound ground lamb
- ½ pound ground beef
- 1½ teaspoons kosher salt
For broth:
- 8 to 10 cups beef or lamb stock
- 2½ cups celery, coarsely chopped
- 1¼ cups finely chopped scallions or white onions
- 2 tablespoons garlic, finely chopped
- ½ cup flat leaf parsley, finely chopped
- 1 cup carrots, coarsely chopped
- 1 cup white potatoes, peeled and cubed
- About 1 teaspoon kosher salt (amount depends on how much salt is already in your stock!)
- Freshly ground black pepper
- 1½ tablespoons dried mint
- ¾ cup freshly squeezed lemon or lime juice
- 1 large yellow squash or zucchini, stem and end discarded
Chef and writer Emanuelle Lee remembers the first time her parents left her and her four siblings home alone for the evening in their London home. She was around 10 years old and it was up to the kids to make dinner. They banded together to cook, settling on a family staple: Macaroni chicken, a Syrian baked pasta dish spiced with cinnamon. Emanuelle remembers the process taking hours and the pride the siblings felt when it was ready. “Since then, it’s the dish that always brings us together,” she says.
The recipe traces back to Grandma Helena, as Emanuelle’s maternal grandmother was known in the family. Born in Aleppo, Syria in the 1920s, she moved to British Mandate Palestine in 1934 where she met her husband. Together, in 1954 they moved to the Philippines for business and raised their children in Manilla, and later San Francisco.
Over the thousands-mile journey, Helena carried with her traditional Syrian recipes like the macaroni chicken (which she called the dish, no matter what pasta shape she used) and a cabbage salad made with lemon, garlic, and parsley, kibbeh plunged into soup, and rice with bed a blemune or hot lemon sauce. “Syrian Jews may have lost their homes but their heritage was always preserved through their food… My mom's family had great pride and enthusiasm for the delicious jewels of her own mom's table,” Emanuelle explains.
The family’s time in the Philippines also influenced Helena’s cooking and she started to introduce new flavors and dishes to her repertoire including spring rolls and pancit, a dish of stir fried noodles.
By the time Emanuelle was little, Helena had relocated to Long Island. Each summer, everyone in the family “would come for a couple of weeks at a time,” Emanuelle recalls, including her and her siblings, who were raised in London. “We’d all be piled into bedrooms and it would be a complete mad house.” But one that was filled with joy. As the grandchildren of all ages came down to the kitchen each morning, sometime between 7 a.m. and noon, Helena would have their favorite breakfast prepared. At dinner, the macaroni chicken and cabbage graced the table often, a favorite of all of the 17 grandchildren. Grandma Helena was often in the kitchen and as Emanuelle spent time with her there, she says she saw “how much of an influence she had on keeping a family together by feeding them.”
Back in London, Emanuelle’s mother Marsha made macaroni chicken for Shabbat dinners, which the family often celebrated in their pajamas when the children were little, so they would be ready for bed after dinner. “We always had the most impeccable pajamas for Shabbat dinner,” Emanuelle says. Even today, Emanuelle says: “If one of my siblings mentions the phrase ‘pajama shabbat’ everyone’s like ‘I’m in, I’m in, I’m in.’”
They also connect over macaroni chicken. “I still honestly all the time get these messages on our family Whatsapp group saying ‘Making macaroni chicken tonight, whose coming over?’” It’s always followed immediately by buzzes saying “yes” and a few sad “no’s,” as Emanuelle’s siblings now live in New York and she’s remained in London.
Everyone makes their own iteration of the family recipe. “No one is ever really sure exactly how [Grandma Helena] made it,” Emanuelle says. “Somehow we all have a slightly different variation of memory of how she made it.” Was it made with chicken breasts pieces? Leftover chicken from Shabbat? Or perhaps it was a whole chicken that was cut up into pieces? No one is sure. But, Emanuelle says: “That’s kind of the beauty of it. You can kind of use what you have and it always turns out amazingly.”
