Yakh’na Riz Photo by Stephen H. Painter

I learned to cook from two wonderful caretakers and cooks, my Lebanese grandmother and my Scandinavian Great Aunt Hattie. I never saw either of them use a cookbook, just a pinch of this, a dash of that, shakes of fresh or jarred herbs. When I was in middle school, I followed my grandmother around with a notebook trying to write down exactly what she did to make the delicious food we all loved so much. It was impossible to document what she cooked.

Today, I may have the largest library of anyone I know of Lebanese cookbooks, as I’m always in search of that exact replica recipe that would reproduce the flavors my grandmother created. My grandmother died when I was in my junior year in high school. Many years later, I began my attempts to replicate her cooking.

My Aunt Lou was possibly the person who was the best Lebanese cook of my grandmother’s offspring. I sat down with her one day and asked her to tell me EXACTLY how to make one of my favorite dishes – Yakh’na Riz. “Yakhnit” means stew in Arabic and “riz” means rice. In my family, we called the rice, chicken or lamb stew my grandmother used to make Yakh’na Riz. I have seen very similar recipes called Bazella w riz.

The key ingredients are chicken or lamb, peas, tomatoes, onions, celery and rice. I add mushrooms, too, my only adjustment to the recipe. This recipe is very close to how my Aunt Lou dictated it to me. Family members reach out to me over and over again for this recipe because it tastes so much like the dish we remember.

Yakh’na Riz. Photo by Stephen H. Painter

YAKH’NA RIZ
This is not a fast, weeknight meal, but it is worth it. Many of my family members consider it one of their favorite meals my grandmother prepared. The recipe requires a lot of chopping, which can be facilitated in three ways: Chop the ingredients earlier in the day and refrigerate them until you are ready to cook, buy prechopped ingredients, or put your family members to work (my preferred method).

I like to have the ingredients spread out through the rice. I slice the mushrooms in half and then slice across them so the pieces are smaller. I slice the celery in half lengthwise and then dice. If the meat pieces are too large, I break them up. I always use olive oil for this dish because my grandmother did, but I use olive oil for everything; it’s tastier and healthier. I use very lean meat here so the olive oil keeps the meat moist. If you have home-grown canned tomatoes, they are the best!

Serves 6 generously

1 cup uncooked rice
About 3 tablespoons olive oil
1 pound lean chicken or lamb, diced in 1/2 inch cubes
3 – 4 teaspoons cinnamon
2 cups sliced and chopped mushrooms, optional
2 large onions, diced
1 bunch celery, chopped
4 cups diced tomatoes, with extra on hand if needed
1¼ cups frozen peas
Toasted pine nuts, optional

Cook the rice according to the package directions. Set aside.

Warm about 3 tablespoons oil in a large fry pan (my fry pan is cast iron), then stir-fry the chicken or lamb with a few shakes of cinnamon over medium to low heat for 5-7 minutes. Let the meat brown on all sides, then set it aside in a bowl. If you are including the mushrooms, stir fry them in the same pan as you did the chicken, adding more olive oil as needed. When the mushrooms are lightly browned and juicy, add them to the bowl with the chicken.

Stir fry the onion and celery in the same frying pan as you cooked the chicken, on low heat, for 15-20 minutes until the onions are soft and translucent.

Return the chicken and mushrooms (if used) to the fry pan with the celery-onion mix. Add the tomatoes. Add more cinnamon – the Lebanese LOVE their cinnamon! Let everything simmer in the uncovered pan for at least 30 minutes, adding the rice after 15 minutes. If the mixture starts to get dry, check that the heat is low enough and add more tomatoes. Remember, this is a stew. The ingredients should be at a gentle simmer, adjust heat accordingly. Aunt Lou told me not to worry about cooking this mixture too long as the flavors just intensify.

Add the peas and simmer 5 more minutes. If you like pine nuts, add them now. ENJOY!

MEET THE COOK, ANN CORBEY 

Ann Corbey with her Uncle George, who is Lebanese, on his 90th birthday. Many of her cherished family recipes come from Lebanon. Photo courtesy of Ann Corbey

I grew up in Minnesota and moved to Cambridge, Massachusetts, when I was 21. After graduate school, I lived in Groton, Massachusetts, for 40-plus years, most of those years on a small sheep farm. I learned to knit from my Lebanese grandmother and my Aunt Hattie, who had a typical family farm. Later, I learned to spin and to weave and taught wool-spinning classes at a small yarn shop and studio in Harvard, Massachusetts, for 30 years. Like my two mentors, I have always been an avid gardener. I worked in education most of my career, as a teacher and as a head of middle school at a small independent school. I have two daughters and four grandchildren.

My daughters and I started coming to Goose Rocks Beach in 1986. When I met my husband, Steve, he learned to love our farm, my family and Maine, as well. We rented at Goose Rocks Beach for a couple of weeks a summer for many years. Finally, in 2000, we bought our home at Goose Rocks, then moved to Maine permanently in 2019. My younger daughter, son-in-law and two granddaughters live in Cape Elizabeth. We have traded sheep farming for lobstering. Our son-in-law and one of our granddaughters have residential lobstering licenses. They use the 1964 Boston Whaler my husband acquired when he was 10 years old. We have a large flower/vegetable garden in front of our house and a large vegetable garden in the back. My older daughter and her family live in New Jersey but enjoy coming to Maine. They love the beach and Kennebunkport. All of my grandchildren went to the camp at Goose Rocks, love to kayak out to the islands and to hike the Maine trails.