Jan 9, 2013

Rocca Salad with Cheese

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This salad is the kind you can have it as a side dish, as a starter, even as a breakfast, which is how we enjoyed this time. A very simple dish and so versatile, you can use your favorite kind of cheese, and even the bread.

Ingredients:

  • one bunch of rocca
  • one red tomato
  • a few slices of baguette bread
  • about 150 grams of sliced cheese (I used the goat kashkaval kind)
  • 1 tablespoon thyme
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil

Preparation:

  • Preheat the oven to 180 C
  • Put few drops of olive oil over the bread slices, place one slice of cheese on the top, sprinkle with thyme and put in the oven for about 5 minutes or until the cheese melts
  • In a plate place the leaves of rocca
  • Slice the tomatoes and place them around the rocca
  • Place the slices of bread on the top
  • Prepare the dressing by mixing the salt with the balsamic vinegar and the remaining olive oil, pour the mixture over the salad.

ET VOILA… C’EST TOUT. BON APPETIT,

Filed Under: Salad, Side dish · Tagged: , , , , ,
Oct 13, 2012

Lentil Salad

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I mentioned earlier that salad is a free dish; you can mix whatever you like with any kind of vegetables, use the dressing you like and it will be delicious.

Green lentils are very commonly used in our cuisine. It can be made as Mjaddara, Mdardara, Lentil soup or Adas bel Hamod. I always boil lentils in large quantities and keep the remaining lentils in the freezer, to save time when making another dish. The Lentil Salad is a plate that my grand mother used to make always when she invited us for lunch. It is the kind of meal who can be eaten as a side dish, appetizer, or even as a main meal.

Ingredients:

  • 2 cups boiled lentils
  • 1 large (or 2 medium) tomato
  • 3 cucumbers
  • 4 radishes
  • 1 medium onion
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
  • 1 teaspoon dried mint
  • juice of 1 lemon
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil

Preparation:

  • Drain the boiled lentils from any excess water
  • Cut all the vegetables into small cubes and mix with the lentils
  • Season with salt, black pepper, dried mint, lemon juice and olive oil

ET VOILA.. C’EST TOUT! BON APPETIT 🙂

Filed Under: Lebanese food, Salad, Side dish, Vegetarian · Tagged: , , , , , ,
Aug 17, 2012

Makmoura (Rice with Cabbage)

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This meal is very special to me. It reminds me of my childhood as my grandmother prepared it often, and I always enjoy eating it with a cabbage salad. Also, once when I was pregnant with my youngest boy (my fourth child:), I had a nap in the afternoon and when I woke up craving something with cumin. It is all about cumin. When I woke up, I cooked this Makmoura and on my plate I have to add a big tablespoon of cumin to satisfy my desire. Until now, I like this meal a lot. And I am so glad to share it with you, it is very simple to prepare.

Ingredients:

  • One medium cabbage
  • 1 medium onion, finely chopped
  • 8 to 10 cloves of garlic
  • 2 cups rice
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 tablespoon cumin
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil

Preparation:

  • Remove the leaves of cabbage, wash and thinly slice, remove about half for the salad
  • Heat the olive oil, fry the onion until translucent, add the garlic then the cabbage, cover the pot and let it cook for about 5 minutes
  • Add the rice, cover with 4 cups of water, season with salt and cumin. When it starts boiling lower the fire, cover and let it simmer gently until the rice is well cooked
  • Serve with cabbage salad: put the cabbage in a bowl and mix with 1 clove garlic crushed, 1 teaspoon salt, juice of one lemon and extra virgin olive oil

ET VOILA…C’EST TOUT.. BON APPETIT 🙂

Filed Under: Lebanese food, Lent, Main dish, Salad, Vegetarian · Tagged: , , , , , , , , , ,
Jun 4, 2012

Grilled Kafta and Potato Salad

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Today, the weather is very nice, sunny with a little breeze, just the spring time before the venue of the summer. This is why I decided to make something quick and yummy for lunch today, to have time to enjoy going out on this lovely day. I thought grilled kafta with boiled potato salad and cherry tomato salad would be a perfect combination. In previous posts I cooked the kafta in the oven with potatoes and tomato sauce, and also with tahini. Today is a new way of making the kafta.

Ingredients:

  • 500 grams kafta ( 500 grams minced beef mixed with a small onion finely chopped and 1 cup of chopped parsley and season with 1 teaspoon salt and 1 teaspoon seven spices)
  • 1 tomato, sliced
  • 1 teaspoon corn oil
  • 1 kilo boiled potatoes
  • 4 spring onion, sliced
  • 1  red pepper, finely chopped
  • 1 cup parsley, finely chopped
  • a few cherry tomatoes
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • juice of one lemon
  • 1/2 cup virgin olive oil

Preparation:

  • Preheat the oven to 180 C
  • With a wet hand take a small ball of kafta meat and put it on a wooden skewer, when all the meat is finished place the skewers in a tray, put on the sides the slices of tomato, and teaspoon of corn oil in the tray
  • Bake for about 25 minutes, turning the skewers half way
  • To make the salad, cut the boiled potatoes in cubes, add the chopped parsley, sliced spring onions and the diced red pepper
  • Season with salt, lemon juice and the olive oil and mix well

ET VOILA…C’EST TOUT… BON APPETIT 🙂

Filed Under: Lebanese food, Main dish, Salad, Side dish · Tagged: , , , , , , , ,
May 31, 2012

Endive Salad With Parmesan Cheese And Cheese Dressing

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When I used to live in Abu Dhabi, three friends and I would arrange a Scrabble night once a week . We had decided that the host would only make a salad to avoid adding any extra work and also for us to eat less. Since we used to rotate who would host, it quietly became a competition who would make the most delicious salad, each one of us trying to outdo the other. It was a fun time. Tonight, I remembered those days while playing Words With Friends with my daughter and decided to make one of my more flavorful salads made with endives, parmesan cheese and dressing made out of cheese also.

Ingredients:

  • 3 endives
  • 3 cucumbers
  • 2 tomatoes
  • few leaves of iceberg or lettuce
  • 1 grated carrot
  • few leaves of parsley for decoration
  • 100 grams sliced parmesan cheese

For the dressing:

  • 100 grams cream cheese
  • 1/2 cup olive oil
  • 1 tablespoon lemon juice
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • dash of black pepper

Preparation:

  • Wash all the vegetables, pluck the endives leaves and spread them out in a serving plate
  • In the center place the iceberg leaves
  • Slice the tomatoes an cucumber and put them over the iceberg
  • Top it off with the slices of cheese, the grated carrot and the leaves of parsley
  • Mix well all the dressing ingredients; adjust the seasoning as you like and keep it in a saucer on the side
  • Invite some friends over and play Scrabble 🙂

ET VOILA..C’EST TOUT. BON APPETIT 🙂

Filed Under: Salad, Side dish · Tagged: , , , , , , , , , ,
May 23, 2012

Steak With Garlic And Cherry Tomato Salad

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Every once in a while I like to have a light dinner, myself and my son. Especially after heavy meals for few days in a row. 🙂 This is why last night,  I decided to make for dinner just a salad and steak. I chosen to make the steak with garlic and lemon, as for the  salad I made it with cherry tomatoes which are in season and has a nice lemony taste.

Ingredients for the steak: 

  • 4 pieces of sirloin steak
  • 2 cloves of garlic, crushed
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon pepper
  • juice of 1 lemon
  • 1 teaspoon corn flour
  • 1 tablespoon butter
  • 1 tablespoon corn oil

Preparation:

  • Rub the meat with salt and pepper
  • In a saucepan heat the butter and oil and fry the meat until brown
  • Mix the crushed garlic with lemon and put over the steaks
  • Dissolve the corn flour with a half cup of cold water then add it to the steak, lower the flame and let it simmer until the water evaporates

Ingredients for the salad:

  • 300 grams of cherry tomato
  • 1/2 bunch of parsley
  • 3 or 4 green onions
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 2 tablespoons of balsamic vinegar
  • 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

Preparation:

  • Cut the cherry tomatoes in half
  • Slice the green onions
  • Finely chop the parsley
  • Mix in a salad bowl and add the dressing: salt, balsamic vinegar and olive oil mixed together and you salad is ready

ET VOILA..C’EST TOUT..

BON APPETIT  🙂

Filed Under: Main dish, Salad · Tagged: , , , , , , ,
May 15, 2012

Baked Mashed Potatoes With Meat

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This is a very smooth dish, easy to digest and generally liked by all. Boiled potatoes, mashed  and baked in the oven with cooked minced meat. We enjoy it best when eating with a good salad.

Ingredients:

  • 1 kg potatoes
  • 150 grams minced beef
  • 1 medium onion
  • salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon seven spices
  • a handful of pine seeds (optional)
  • 1 tablespoon grenadine molasses
  • 1 tablespoon corn oil
  • 2 tablespoons soft butter
  • about 1/2 cup bread crumbs

Preparation:

  • Boil the potatoes until tender, peel and mash, if the potato is dry you may add a little of water while mashing it, season with 1 teaspoon of salt
  • Heat the oil in a casserole and fry the onion for two minutes then add the pine seeds (if used) until it turns golden and finally add the meat and fry it until brown, season with 1 teaspoon of salt, seven spices and the molasses (this is a key ingredient for the flavor)
  • Preheat the oven to 180 C
  • Butter a tray, place half of the mashed potatoes in the tray, with a wet hand flatten the surface of potatoes
  • Place the cooked meat, then cover it with the remaining mashed potatoes with wet hand
  • Brush the soft remaining butter on the top of potatoes then sprinkle the bread crumbs
  • Bake in the oven for about 25 minutes until it turns golden color

As for salad, today I mixed chopped cabbage with sliced cucumber and tomatoes. For the dressing I crushed two cloves of garlic with salt, mixed with one lemon juice and extra virgin olive oil… DELICIOUS..

ET VOILA..C’EST TOUT.. 🙂

Filed Under: Lebanese food, Main dish, Salad · Tagged: , , , , , , , , ,
Apr 27, 2012

Menu for Special Occasions…

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Today I decided to write about what you can serve for a special occasion. Being a mother of four, grandmother of four, I have had the pleasure over the past 30 odd years of entertaining many guests and relatives and it remains a pleasure every time. I love to ponder what recipes would make my guests happy, and always wish that they leave fully satisfied and pleasantly full of good tastes. This particular menu is for my children and grandchildren as they came to have lunch here, so the recipes are aimed to make them happy to eat mama’s cooking. Other occasions I try sophisticated dishes as well as rich deserts. Today my dessert was the Sanniyye bil Tamer ( it means a pastry filled with date stuffing, quite relevant as I am currently in the land of dates! :))

Menu consists of:

Rocca and green vegetable Salad

Stuffed Vine Leaves in oil( warak inab bilzeit)

Stuffed Artichoke hearts

Roast beef with gravy

Potatoe puree

Mixed vegetables

Side dish of rice

Date pastry

RECIPES COMING SOON..ET VOILA..:)

Filed Under: Lebanese food, Main dish, Salad, Starters · Tagged: , , , ,
Mar 22, 2012

Spring Rice Salad

By · 6 Comments

Today my son has a long day at University, which means I will have lunch by myself. Cooking for myself alone is not very tempting. This is why I decided to make a salad as a one dish meal. Like I’ve mentioned in previous posts, I believe salad is a very free plate, something you should have fun with. So, I decided to prepare a salad with rice to be consistent and light meal.

Simple and easy.

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup rice
  • 2 cups water
  • 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon curry powder
  • 1 tomato, cut in medium sized pieces
  • 1 carrot grated
  • 1 green pepper cut into thin strips
  • 1/4 cup mix of olive oil and apple vinegar, a dash of hot pepper sauce, salt and pepper for the dressing salad
  • 1 small onion sliced and separated into rings
  • 1/2 teaspoon dried mint

Preparation:

  • In a small saucepan, place the rice with water, salt, curry and vegetable oil and bring to boil
  • Reduce the heat, stirring from time to time, cover and let it simmer until the rice is cooked
  • Place rice in a plate and let it cool to room temperature
  • Add tomato, carrot, green pepper
  • Season with the dressing and garnish with onion and dried mint

ET VOILA..C’EST TOUT:)

Filed Under: Lent, Main dish, Salad, Side dish · Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Mar 12, 2012

Eggplant Salad (Betanjen Raheb)

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The dish I have for you today is a typical Lebanese starter made with eggplant, and it is one of the many plates of Lebanese Mezze; in some Lebanese restaurants, you can find up to 30 dishes of Mezze. The ingredients are easy to find and the the preparation itself is relatively simple. Vegetarians, take note: this is a very nutritious and delicious treat.

Ingredients:

  • 1 eggplant of 500 grams approximately
  • 1 medium onion
  • 1 red tomato
  • 1 clove of garlic
  • 1/2 lemon squeezed
  • salt, olive oil

Preparation:

  • Grill the eggplant very well from all sides until soft
  • When it cools, peel it carefully, taking care not to leave any part of the skin of the eggplant
  • Crush the clove of garlic in a large bowl, add salt and then add the eggplant. Mix together with a fork until nearly smooth with a few a chunks
  • Add lemon juice as desired
  • Chop the onion and the tomato finely
  • Finally, place the eggplant in a plate and add the onion then the tomato on top with some olive oil for taste

ET VOILA..C’EST TOUT:)

Filed Under: Lebanese food, Lent, Salad, Side dish, Starters · Tagged: , , , , , , , , , ,
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