https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/video/2012/aug/31/middle-eastern-food-and-drink-dessert

My favorite Middle Eastern dessert is Mutabbaq, which is basically a sweetened, orange blossom flavored cheese in filo pastry. It's really easy to make too.

Ottolenghi has a recipe for it in his book Jerusalem. I used to live in the Middle East and made this for dessert whenever I had people over for dinner. Everyone loved it.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Current menu:
Apps: zucchini fritters, homemade hummus and pita, possibly small lamb kofte, yogurt sauce for kofte and fritters
*Also weighing a borek or meat-filled dolmas instead of the kofte. Thoughts?

Dinner: Turkish beef (typically lamb) stew over eggplant puree, shepherd's salad, possibly a very small serving of red lentil soup to start and/or grilled fish skewers as an additional side/main

The menu is mostly Turkish, but I don't love most of the traditional desserts so I was thinking of dark chocolate pots de creme...just simple. Perhaps I can pick up some nice baklava somewhere for an additional dessert.

I'm at a loss for a creative cocktail. There's raki...my guests like everything from vodka, rum, sparkling, to tequila. Ideas?

Dolmas instead of the kofte. I would personally order them — our local Greek and Uzbeki places have fantastic ones. Fritters and homemade pitta/hummus already sounds like a lot. I love the idea of a champagne pomegranate cocktail with this.

Stew and soup could be made ahead, so that’s nice… I would do both only if you’re not doing the fish. Grilled fish is a nice side for people who want to go lighter. Perhaps instead of the soup, you could do Ottolenghi’s roasted cauliflower with green tahini sauce.

It’s a lot of food, so I would go light on dessert. If you want to be fancy, a pavlova with fresh fruits and just a drop of rose water in the fruit can be very elegant. Or a fruit salad with semolina honey cake and ice cream.

Very helpful, thank you. Leaning toward:
apps - hummus (buy or make day before)/pita, fritters, dolmas (maybe purchase but I would love to make them)
main - stew (make day before, skim fat, etc), eggplant puree, shepherd's salad, grilled fish skewer
dessert - still leaning toward a chocolate pots de creme but with rosewater whipped cream; mostly because I know the pots de creme are delicious and small/individual; the pavlova sounds nice and I did come across a recipe with rose water. I haven't made one before so that's my hesitation. It looks lovely!
cocktails - still settling on these but will probably do one of the rosewater/pomegranate champagne cocktails and possibly the mezcal or bourbon/date drinks all suggested here.

Thanks for flagging the cauliflower soup! That is perfect if I do end up doing a soup instead of the fish. I was thinking the red lentil one would be heavier than I would like.

I'll head to a middle eastern market tomorrow and see if that solidifies some ideas! This board has been a great help! Thank you!

Anonymous wrote:Current menu:
Apps: zucchini fritters, homemade hummus and pita, possibly small lamb kofte, yogurt sauce for kofte and fritters
*Also weighing a borek or meat-filled dolmas instead of the kofte. Thoughts?

Dinner: Turkish beef (typically lamb) stew over eggplant puree, shepherd's salad, possibly a very small serving of red lentil soup to start and/or grilled fish skewers as an additional side/main

The menu is mostly Turkish, but I don't love most of the traditional desserts so I was thinking of dark chocolate pots de creme...just simple. Perhaps I can pick up some nice baklava somewhere for an additional dessert.

I'm at a loss for a creative cocktail. There's raki...my guests like everything from vodka, rum, sparkling, to tequila. Ideas?

Dolmas instead of the kofte. I would personally order them — our local Greek and Uzbeki places have fantastic ones. Fritters and homemade pitta/hummus already sounds like a lot. I love the idea of a champagne pomegranate cocktail with this.

Stew and soup could be made ahead, so that’s nice… I would do both only if you’re not doing the fish. Grilled fish is a nice side for people who want to go lighter. Perhaps instead of the soup, you could do Ottolenghi’s roasted cauliflower with green tahini sauce.

It’s a lot of food, so I would go light on dessert. If you want to be fancy, a pavlova with fresh fruits and just a drop of rose water in the fruit can be very elegant. Or a fruit salad with semolina honey cake and ice cream.

^recipe is written in the video link comments/description