Five Sharp

Middle Eastern Sunday dinners

The cooking of the eastern Mediterranean and the Gulf: grains, pulses, herbs used by the handful rather than the sprig, and sourness from lemon, pomegranate or sumac in place of the vinegar Europe reaches for. It produces some of the best vegetarian food anywhere, largely by accident of tradition, and it holds at room temperature better than almost any other cuisine — which makes it forgiving for a table that sits down late.

17 plans in the Sunday Gallery.

What Middle Eastern plans look like

Most common mains

  • lamb9
  • chicken4
  • beef2
  • fish2

How they're cooked

  • Grilled7
  • Pan-seared3
  • Roasted3
  • Braised2
  • Baked1

Diets they fit

  • No pork, no alcohol4
  • Nut-free3
  • Gluten-free1

The plans

How Middle Eastern dinners here are cooked

Diets Middle Eastern dinners suit

Want a plan like these for your Sunday?

Five Sharp builds the whole dinner — recipes, timeline and shopping list — around what your household actually eats.