This beef kofta recipe is sure to be a hit at your next entertaining event, making eight deliciously juicy beef kofta pieces served with a spiced creamy white bean and almond tarator sauce. This Lebanese-inspired recipe is surprisingly easy to make, requiring beef mince and pantry spices along with a cup of breadcrumbs from your leftover sourdough loaf to make the koftas, and a delicious dipping sauce that you can make in minutes. Fast, fresh and easy to make, this beef kofta recipe will be one you'll continue to return to.

"I call this a ‘statement dish’. Serve it up at brunch in the middle of the table and everyone will be blown away! If you don’t have a pan that can go in the oven, after cooking the greens and lentils, transfer to a baking dish and crack the eggs to bake. Alternatively, poach the eggs and lay them over the greens, then complete the recipe." – Tom Walton

Paul Farag shares a Middle Eastern barbecue staple – tawook skewers – that you and your family will love.

This hearty chicken recipe is perfect for dinner parties or weekend entertaining. Succulent chicken thighs absorb all the juicy flavours of the tangy preserved lemon and Sicilian green olives, while the bite-sized kipfler potatoes round out the zing with their creamy, fluffy centres. Served with crusty bread, this delicious tagine recipe is one to dip into every weekend.

Helena Moursellas gets clucky with this special spiced salad pairing.

This is an edited extract from Falastin by Sami Tamimi and Tara Wigley (Ebury, $49.99).

“The chicken will take around 45 minutes to cook, with around 15-20 minutes resting time. You can choose any type of chicken you like, and you can also opt for a smaller-sized bird if you want. For me, the most important step is to brine the bird before it goes onto the barbecue. This will not only help with moisture retention, but also with cook time. You could also add any other spices or herbs to the brine to make it your own, but I like to keep the brine simple and then glaze the chicken with a spiced olive oil while it’s cooking.”  – Paul Farag. You’ll need to start this recipe a day ahead.

"One of the most iconic condiments in Middle Eastern cuisine. I find that toum can sometimes scare people who haven’t grown up eating it, but you can control the level of garlic ‘punch’ by adjusting the amount of oil in the emulsion. As a side note, store-bought peeled garlic is always going to be less intense in flavour than peeling your own garlic. Ready-made toum can also be bought from a Middle Eastern deli or takeaway store, if you just want something ready to go." - Paul Farag Recipe note: You’ll need a food processor or blender to make this. (Or you can make this using a mortar and pestle if you want an arm workout!)”

"Feel free to add salad leaves to bulk this salad out, and if you only have bigger Lebanese cucumbers, maybe just give them a zebra peel before chopping into chunks." – Alice Zaslavsky

This handy recipe uses up any leftover roast beef.

“Another hummus recipe. Can you believe it? Chickpeas, tahini, lemon, garlic and salt. How hard could it be? It isn’t that hard at all, but as with so many simple foods, the care taken in the process is what makes the difference. To make your hummus better, soak the chickpeas in bicarb soda over 2 days, changing the water several times. Try to remove some of the excess skins that float to the top when cooked. Blend the chickpeas while still warm, without adding too much liquid at the beginning. Blend until your machine is about to die. If your machine dies too easily, buy a better one."

Use any leftovers in a Middle Eastern-inspired wrap the next day, says Hayden.

Phoebe Wood's mouth-watering lemon and za'atar chicken with 'falafel' salad recipe will have your guests licking their plates clean.

"By no means is this a traditional tabouli. Rather, this is to open the home cook’s mind to the possibilities of playing around within the Middle Eastern realm of flavours. You could even think of it as a Middle Eastern caesar salad when you combine the barbecue chicken, albeit more acidic." – Paul Farag

"This dish looks like herb-flecked meatballs in tomato sauce, but the sauce is spiced, tangy and aromatic.” Get the ball rolling with this Middle Eastern inspired dish from Yotam Ottolenghi, which comes with an explosion of irresistible flavours.