![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/chefs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/l2.jpg\")
<\/p>\nLeila Khazma likes to cook the old-fashioned way: with patience, good ingredients and her hands. Based in the Blue Mountains and drawing on her Egyptian and Lebanese heritage, she has spent years cooking across Sydney, leading kitchens at Where\u2019s Nick and P&V and collaborating with the likes of Caf\u00e9 Freda\u2019s and Baba\u2019s Place. Her food is shaped by the flavours of the Mediterranean and North Africa, but also by the seasons, the people around her and whatever is looking best that week. The result is thoughtful, generous cooking that feels grounded, nourishing and unfussy \u2013 food made to be shared.<\/p>\n
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10 ingredients you always have in your fridge\u2026<\/p>\n
Sauerkraut, thick yogurt, cod liver oil, good butter, lemons, garlic, a jar of olives, and usually some kind of cured or pickled fish. I\u2019m not home very much, I\u2019m usually in the kitchen at work so my fridge leans towards things that keep and that can become a meal very quickly.<\/p>\n
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What is your most memorable dining experience?<\/p>\n
Eating sayadieh by the sea in Lebanon. This is fish and rice deeply spiced with cumin and caramelised onions, served with tahini and sharp lemon. The table is usually plastic, the sea is a few metres away, and everything tastes of salt and smoke.<\/p>\n
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What influenced your love of food?<\/p>\n
Partly a desire to stay close to my culture while living far from home. Cooking is a way of maintaining a relationship to places, flavours and habits that existed before me, a kind of inheritance.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Who is the best cook you know?<\/p>\n
When my Mum migrated to Australia, she came with her best friend, who is Ghanaian. Some of my fondest memories are going to her house after school and eating Waakye (black-eyed beans and rice) with Shitto, a deep, smoky chili condiment.<\/p>\n
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Who is on your dream dinner party table?<\/p>\n
My Grandmother, who I never had the chance to meet. My Mother as a young woman before she migrated. A fisherman and a butcher, the people who understand animals, patience and the sea.<\/p>\n
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Share the menu of your last supper\u2026<\/p>\n
Stuffed mussels (midye dolma), with rice, spices and lemon. A large herb salad dressed with olive oil and lemon.<\/p>\n
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What is your favourite vegetable?<\/p>\n
Bitter greens; endive, chicory, dandelion. They feel cleansing, like something the body quietly recognises as good for it.<\/p>\n
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Top five favourite places to dine?<\/p>\n
Butchers in Lebanon serving fresh raw liver. My family\u2019s table. My Mother\u2019s village.\u202fLa Pinta in Reservoir. Clarence and V in Sydney.<\/p>\n
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Leila Khazma’s recipe for stuffed sardines<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/chefs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/l3.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
They rest like buttons in a sewing tin, orderly, soft-spined, pretending not to smell of the sea.<\/p>\n
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Ingredients<\/p>\n
Makes 8-12 sardines<\/p>\n
Sardines:<\/p>\n
8\u201312 fresh sardines, cleaned and butterflied
\nOlive oil
\nSalt and pepper<\/p>\n
Breadcrumb Agrodolce Stuffing:<\/p>\n
1 cup fresh breadcrumbs
\n2 tbsp olive oil
\n1 clove garlic, grated
\n2 tbsp sultanas or currants
\n2 tbsp pine nuts, toasted
\n1\u20132 tbsp sherry vinegar
\nA splash of white wine
\nZest of \u00bd lemon
\nSalt and black pepper
\nChopped parsley<\/p>\n
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Method<\/p>\n
Make the stuffing by warming the oil; softening the shallot; adding garlic, sultanas, and pine nuts. Stir in breadcrumbs and toast lightly. Add vinegar, if using, and wine. Finish with lemon zest, parsley, salt, pepper.
\nPrepare the sardines. Lay skin-side down; season lightly.
\nStuff the muscles. Place a spoonful of stuffing in each; fold closed like thin silver books.
\nBake the muscles. Arrange in a tray; drizzle with oil and zest. Bake at 190\u00b0C for 10 minutes.
\nFinish. Squeeze lemon over everything.<\/p>\n
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Shouldn’t you be on the list?<\/p>\n
Sign up to the RUSSH Club for exclusive offers and invitations.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Leila Khazma likes to cook the old-fashioned way: with patience, good ingredients and her hands. Based in the Blue Mountains and drawing on her Egyptian and Lebanese heritage, she has spent years cooking across Sydney, leading kitchens at Where\u2019s Nick and P&V and collaborating with the likes of Caf\u00e9 Freda\u2019s and Baba\u2019s Place. Her food<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":5928,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[5],"class_list":["post-5927","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-chefs","tag-chef"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/vive.im\/@dnc\/117221287742362266","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/chefs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5927","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/chefs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/chefs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/chefs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/chefs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5927"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/chefs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5927\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/chefs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5928"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/chefs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5927"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/chefs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5927"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/chefs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5927"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}