The Mediterranean Recipe

Authentic Flavors from a Mediterranean Kitchen

Ines Zahraoui

Ines Zahraoui is a Tunisian home cook and the co-founder of The Mediterranean Recipe, which she runs with her friend Rachel Mazza in the United States. She was born and raised in Mahdia, a coastal town in Tunisia, where everyday cooking was built on olive oil, seafood, semolina and whatever the market had that morning. She later lived in France, where she studied literature and picked up the French side of her cooking, and her kitchen took on a Moroccan accent after marrying her husband, Abdel Ali, whose family taught her the spice work — ras el hanout, preserved lemon, slow-cooked tagines — that runs through much of the site.She has been cooking and developing recipes since 2020. She is not a professionally trained chef: she teaches French for a living and cooks for her family, which is why the recipes here are written for home kitchens and ordinary home equipment rather than restaurant ones.Ines writes and tests the recipes published under her byline in her own kitchen in Tunisia. Nutrition figures on the site are calculated with the WP Recipe Maker nutrition calculator and are estimates rather than lab-verified values.

October 10, 2026March 10, 2026 by Ines Zahraoui

3457 citrus olive oil cake

Let me tell you about the worst cake I’ve ever baked. It was January 2022, I was trying to make a citrus olive oil cake for my friend Dave’s birthday brunch, and the thing came out of the oven looking like a deflated frisbee. Dense, oily, somehow both dry AND greasy — honestly, I didn’t … Read more

October 10, 2026March 10, 2026 by Ines Zahraoui

Slow cooker lamb stew with tender lamb, carrots, potatoes and rich herb broth in a bowl

Let me tell you about the October evening in 2021 when I served my father-in-law Slow Cooker Mediterranean Lamb Stew that tasted — and I’m quoting him directly here, a man of few words and zero false compliments — ‘like water with meat in it.’ The lamb was technically cooked. Technically. But I’d skipped the … Read more

October 10, 2026March 9, 2026 by Ines Zahraoui

3455 menemen turkish scrambled eggs

Okay so here’s my confession: before my trip to Istanbul in September 2019, I thought Menemen (Turkish scrambled eggs ) was just… shakshuka? Like, scrambled shakshuka? My Turkish friend Elif literally winced when I said that out loud at breakfast. She then proceeded to order us two portions of Turkish scrambled eggs from a tiny … Read more

October 10, 2026March 9, 2026 by Ines Zahraoui

Tuscan white bean soup with chicken sausage, kale and tomato broth topped with parmesan

This is a thick, savoury soup of cannellini beans, sausage and greens with a broth that turns creamy without any cream in it. Mashing a portion of the beans and stirring them back into the pot releases starch that thickens the liquid naturally. About 45 minutes. The Story Behind This Recipe The first time I … Read more

October 10, 2026March 9, 2026 by Ines Zahraoui

Three pistachio crusted salmon fillets in a white dish with lemon wedges and fresh parsley

Valentine’s Day 2024. I’d planned this whole romantic dinner situation — candles, the nice plates, cloth napkins we never use — and the centerpiece was supposed to be pistachio-crusted salmon. What actually happened: I pulled the pan out of the oven and every single pistachio had slid off the fish and was just sitting in … Read more

October 10, 2026March 9, 2026 by Ines Zahraoui

Mediterranean Potato Tzatziki Bowl with crispy roasted potatoes, chickpeas, and creamy tzatziki sauce

That disaster launched what my husband now calls my “potato obsession phase”—thirty-nine test batches later, I’ve finally cracked the code to the perfect Mediterranean Potato Tzatziki Bowl. And honestly? The secrets I discovered weren’t where I expected them to be. It’s not about fancy ingredients or complicated techniques—it’s about understanding why certain steps matter and which shortcuts actually work.

October 10, 2026March 9, 2026 by Ines Zahraoui

Herb & Feta Scrambled Eggs garnished with fresh dill and crumbled Greek feta on a cream ceramic plate

Fast-forward to forty-seven test batches later, and I’ve cracked the code on the most herb & feta scrambled eggs you’ll ever taste. These creamy, fluffy scrambled eggs with feta cheese and fresh Mediterranean herbs took me from breakfast disgrace to the person everyone begs to make eggs at family gatherings. (Yes, even Carol asks now.) I’m about to share every single secret — the food science, the timing tricks, the one ingredient that changes everything.

October 10, 2026March 8, 2026 by Ines Zahraoui

Marinated artichoke hearts in olive oil with lemon peel, garlic, chili flakes and oregano

So here’s a confession that still stings a little: I spent $8.49 on a tiny jar of marinated artichoke hearts at Whole Foods in March 2023, brought them home, opened them at my friend Rami’s birthday dinner, and they tasted like… vinegar-soaked cardboard. That’s genuinely the moment I decided to figure this out myself. Seventeen … Read more

October 10, 2026March 8, 2026 by Ines Zahraoui

3407 shrimp saganaki

My friend Nadia — who grew up in Thessaloniki and has opinions about shrimp so strong they border on religious — watched me make shrimp saganaki for the first time in September 2023 and said, and I quote: “You killed them.” She was talking about the shrimp, not anyone in the room, though the distinction … Read more

October 10, 2026March 7, 2026 by Ines Zahraoui

Dutch oven of Mediterranean beef stew with olives and rosemary, served with crusty bread

January 2023, a Sunday. My friend Lila had been talking about her grandmother’s Greek beef stew for months and I finally decided to recreate it—except I’d never actually tasted it, had no recipe, and was working entirely from her description of “meat, tomatoes, and like, some olives, I think?” The result was, charitably, a brown … Read more