May 22, 2012

Stuffed Intestines (Fwaregh)

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This is one of the most exquisite traditional Lebanese Meals. In the old days people would use every piece of the sheep – waste not, want not. After making sure they used all the meat for cooking in many different ways, they used the wool, the head, the bones, etc… and even the intestines. They found a way to stuff it and cook it in a DELICIOUS recipe. When my mother used to make it, every body knew that she was making Fwaregh for lunch, because while cooking, this meal has a very special and nice aroma.

The main work consists of cleaning the intestines. It has to be washed in running water several times. The extra fat stocking on the sides shall be removed, keeping the small parts because it helps keep it moist while cooking. After washing (from inside and outside) it should be rubbed with salt and water, then soak in water and white vinegar for an hour (1 cup of vinegar for 4 cups of water). Now it is ready for stuffing and cooking.

Ingredients: (for two whole intestines):

  • 300 grams of minced meat, beef or lamb (I used beef)
  • 2 cups of small grain rice
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon seven spices
  • 1 cup of soaked chick peas ( or 1 cup of pine seeds, as you desire)
  • 1 medium onion, choppped
  • 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
  • 1 peeled onion
  • 1 cinnamon stick
  • 3 bay leaves
  • 1 teaspoon salt

Preparation:

  • Heat the oil in a saucepan and fry the meat for few minutes ( until it changes color only)
  • Wash the rice, mix it with meat, chopped onion, chick peas then add the salt and spices
  • Hold the intestine from the smaller end, then start stuffing, pushing it into the opening of the intestines with your thumb. This way, when you finish stuffing the intestine will be inside out
  • When all the quantity is finished, place them in a large bowl and wash them again, now they are ready to be cooked
  • Place the stuffed intestines in a large pot, cover with a lot of water and boil on a high fire. Remove the white foam formed on the top, add 1 peeled onion, cinnamon stick,salt, 3 bay leaves and cook on a very reduced flame for about 45 minutes, until the intestines are tender
  • Serve it with crushed 2 cloves of garlic mixed with 1/2 teaspoon salt, juice of 2 lemons and few drops of extra virgin olive oil, or with red vinegar.

ET VOILA… C’EST TOUT  🙂

Filed Under: Lebanese food, Main dish · Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
May 19, 2012

Freekeh With Chicken And Meat

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Freekeh is green wheat, roasted, smoked and dried. It is a very nutritious grain which contains a large amount of protein, vitamins and minerals. The use of this green wheat goes for back more than 2000 years ago. It can be used as a side dish like rice or couscous, and can even be mixed with some vegetables in a salad. The recipe I will be showing you uses the green wheat as a main dish. The recipe is from the south of Lebanon, and I learned it from my mother in law. The south of Lebanon is well known for the plantation of the wheat like the Bekaa area in the East of Lebanon. This grain can be found in Gourmet shops or in big supermarkets in foreign countries.

Ingredients:

  • 1 chicken
  • 200 grams beef cubes
  • 3 cups freekeh washed and drained
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon sweet pepper
  • 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1 tablespoon corn oil + another tablespoon of corn oil
  • handful of pine seeds, handful of almonds

Preparation:

  • Fry the beef cubes with oil until brown then cover with water and cook until tender
  • In another pot, boil the chicken then remove the skin and bones and keep the water to cook the freekeh with
  • Heat the oil in a third pot, add the freekeh, season with salt, cinnamon, sweet pepper and cover with 6 cups of chicken stock
  • Cover the pot and let it cook on a very low flame. When the water evaporates, if the freekeh is not tender then add more chicken stock and let it continue to cook
  • Add the meat to the pot and mix it with the freekeh
  • Roast the almonds and pine seeds
  • Serve by placing the freekeh with pieces of the boiled chicken and garnish with the pine seeds and almonds over
  • Decorate with few leaves of parsley (optional) and enjoy your meal with yogurt or a salad

ET VOILA..C’EST TOUT… HOPE YOU’RE HAVING A NICE WEEK END   🙂

Filed Under: Lebanese food, Main dish · Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , ,
May 18, 2012

Croquettes of Cheese with Salsa Dip

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The croquettes of cheese is one of my favorite appetizers. Every time we go out for dinner outside, first thing we check for on the menu is the cheese croquettes to have before the main meal. Believe me, I’ve tries a lot of recipes and the one I am sharing with you today is the more successful one. The good thing about this recipe is that it can be adjusted to your taste. You can use whatever kind of cheese you like and also you can add any kind of flavor like basil, rosemary, thyme, or anything else. Also, It can be baked in the oven or deep fry. Tell me if you like it 🙂

Ingredients:

  • 100 grams shredded cheese of your choice (I used Gruyere and Emmental)
  • 1 1/4 cup flour
  • 1/2 cup yogurt
  • 1 egg
  • pinch of salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon of baking powder
  • 1/4 cup melted butter

For the fried croquettes, the extra ingredients you will need:

  • one egg
  • one cup bread crumbs
  • about one liter frying oil

Mix all the ingredients and let it rest in the fridge for about half an hour. You can now prepare the croquettes by either frying them or baking them.

To fry them:

  • Make a small finger shape from the dough
  • Roll them in a slightly beaten egg, then in bread crumbs and deep fry for about 5 minutes untl they turn golden brown color

To bake them:

  • Preheat the oven for 180C
  • On a floured surface board roll the dough and cut into medium sized circles
  • Place them on a tray and bake for about half an hour until the croquettes turn golden color

These croquettes are delicious when accompanied with this salsa dip:

  • Chop one red tomato and one small onion very finely
  • Add one tablespoon of ketchup, a small teaspoon of salt, 1/2 teaspoon chili paste and a few leaves of chopped parsley

ET VOILA.. C’EST TOUT! 🙂

Filed Under: Side dish, Starters · Tagged: , , , , , , , , , ,
Apr 22, 2012

Fettuccine with Spinach and Chicken

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Pasta, spinach and chicken are three ingredients that most of people like. So when I wanted to make something healthy, nutritious and full of vitamins I would cook this gratin and my children always loved it. It is inspired from the Italian cuisine that we love. And, feeling nostalgic for when my children were young, and how I made them eat it telling them a lot of fairy tales and stories, they asked me to cook it for their children to see how they would like it. And believe me, THEY JUST LOVED IT…

Ingredients:

  • 300 grams fettuccine
  • 750 grams fresh spinach, chopped
  • 1 medium onion, finely chopped
  • 250 grams fresh mushroom, sliced
  • 50 grams butter
  • 1 chicken breast boiled
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
  • 1 1/4 cup chicken stock
  • 1 1/4 cup cooking fresh cream
  • 1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese ( or any other kind of cheese you like)
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon seven spices

Preparation:

  • Boil the fettuccine pasta with one tablespoon vegetable oil, drain and pour cold water over it
  • Put the butter and olive oil in a saucepan add the onions, the salt and spices, stir for about 5 minutes
  • Add the sliced mushroom, the spinach and the boiled and shredded chicken, cook for another 5 minutes then remove from fire
  • Mix the fresh cream with the chicken stock well then add it to the mixture of spinach and chicken
  • Preheat the oven to 180 degC
  • Put the cooked fettuccine in a baking dish, cover with the cream-spinach mixture and top with the shredded cheese
  • Cook for about 25 minutes or until the color of the cheese turns golden
Makes about 6 servings

ET VOILA…C’EST TOUT.

Filed Under: Main dish · Tagged: , , , , ,
Apr 14, 2012

Shish Barak

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This is a dough stuffed with meat and cooked with Yogurt. The Shish Barak is the Lebanese version of Italian  Tortellini. My grandson loves to wear his Tarboush which is our traditional hat for men, this is why my daughter tells her son the Shish Barak is small Tarboush swimming in yogurt 🙂

To make this Shish Barak, you need to prepare first the dough, then the filling which is made from onion and meat,and last the cooking of the yogurt.

Ingredients for the dough:

  • 2 cups of flour
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 3 tablespoon vegetable oil
  • 1 cup of water ( more or less depending on the kind of flour)

Preparation of the dough:

  • Sift the flour with the salt, add the vegetable oil and mix well by hand
  • Add the water little by little and mix well by hand until you have a soft dough. It will not rise because it doesn’t have any yeast

Ingredients for the filling:

  • 200 grams minced meat
  • 2 medium onions
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon even spices
  • 1 tablespoon vegetable oil

Preparation of the filling:

  • Chop the onions finely
  • In a saucepan heat the oil and fry the onions until light golden color
  • Add the meat to the onions and fry it until well cooked
  • Season with salt and spices

Preparation of the Shish Barak:

  • Roll the dough on a floured surface and cut into small circles about 4 cm diameter
  • Put 1/2 teaspoon of the filling in the dough, close it tight, then seal the edges together tightly
  • Preheat the oven to oven to 180C
  • Brush a tray with oil and place the stuffed dough in the tray and bake for about 20 minutes, until it becomes light golden color

Ingredients for cooking yogurt:

  • 1 kilo of Yogurt
  • 2 tablespoons of corn flour
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 bunch of fresh coriander
  • 4 cloves of garlic
  • 1/2 teaspoon of dried coriander
  • 1 tablespoon vegetable oil

Preparation of the Yogurt:

  • Dissolve the corn flour with one cup of water and add it to the Yogurt
  • Place the yogurt in a pot on fire stirring constantly
  • Crush the garlic with salt, mix it with the 2 coriander, then fry with oil in a small saucepan
  • When the yogurt starts to thickens add the cooked dough ( you will need to use half of them, the remaining can be eaten like Sambousek or frozen for later)
  • Let the yogurt boil for about five minutes, at the end you add the fried garlic with coriander

Serve with cooked rice.

ET VOILA..C’EST TOUT.

Filed Under: Lebanese food, Main dish · Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , ,
Apr 1, 2012

Nouilles

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It is so funny how children have specific opinions even from an early regarding food! When I came to Abu Dhabi,  I discovered that my grandson now insists on eating only spaghetti as his main meal. My daughter was very frustrated and came to me for help. I told her that when my children were young I had the same problem, and that I had difficulty to find a food that pleases them all, this is why I had to make more than one dish everyday. I taught her a trick for feeding a picky eater, which is to feed him what he demands, cooked in a nutritious way. We all like the “gratin foods”, and Nouilles is one of our favorite dishes in the family. And, thank God, the children enjoy it too.

Ingredients:

  • 500 grams of Nouilles pasta, fettuccini or tagliatelli kind
  • boiled chicken
  • 6 cups of milk
  • 100 grams butter
  • 5 tablespoon all purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon salt, 1 teaspoon seven spices
  • pinch of freshly ground nutmeg
  • 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil
  • 1 cup mozzarella grated , 1 cup parmesan grated

Preparation:

  • Boil the Nouilles with one tablespoon of vegetable oil and salted water, and keep it “aldente”, then drain it
  • Prepare the white sauce: in a small pan melt the butter, add the flour and mix properly with the butter until all the flour is well absorbed by the butter, add the milk slowly and whisk constantly until all the milk has been added
  • Boil on a low heat until the mixture start to thickens, but we do not want it very thick, because the pasta needs to absorb the white sauce
  • Season with salt and nutmeg and remove from fire
  • Preheat the oven to 180 C
  • In a tray place half of the pasta
  • Peel the boiled chicken, remove the skin and bones and break into small pieces, rub them with salt and spices
  • Place a layer of the chicken over the pasta, pour half of the white sauce
  • Cover with another layer of pasta and the remaining white sauce, top with the grated cheeses
  • Bake in the oven for about 30 minutes until the top turns a nice golden color, serve with salad of your choice

ET VOILA..C’EST TOUT:) And HAPPY PALM SUNDAY EVERYONE..

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

The Liebster Award

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I had another nice surprise again last week when Rocksalt included me for nomination for the Liebster Award. She has a very nice blog with interesting information and recipes and she is very creative. Thank you very much Carol Ann for the nomination!

And now, following the rules of this award, I will do the following:

  1. Thank the giver and give link back to the blogger who gave it to you.
  2. Reveal your top five bloggers and let them know by leaving a comment on their blog.
  3. Copy and paste the award on your blog.

Like you noticed, points 1 and 3 are covered but the 2nd one gave me a hard time because there are a lot of interesting blogs, choosing between them was difficult. In any case, I narrowed it down to these lovely blogs.

My top five blogs are (not in any particular order):

  1. Live2Eat Eat2Live, creative recipes with some innovations and experimental, new food.
  2. Dinutrition, healthy recipes with nutritional information, for better living.
  3. Patterned Plate, recipes with a step-by-step instruction to make it simple and easy.
  4. Cooktolove, Laura’s recipes are so inviting with beautiful pictures.
  5. Green Pocket Protector, Dave and Libby explore all sorts of green projects, give tips for the garden and sometimes recipes too.

That’s all for now! Thank you again Carol Anne for the nomination and congratulations to my top bloggers. Good luck to all of you, have fun and now you go make your own Liebster award post! 🙂

Filed Under: Uncategorized · Tagged: , , ,
Mar 21, 2012

Moussaka and Versatile Blog Award

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The first time I taste this Greek plate was in a nice restaurant in Cyprus, where I spend the summer 25 years ago. I loved it, and the moment I came back home when I still have the taste in my mouth I tried to make it. Since me and my children love the “gratin food” with cheese melting with white sauce, we all loved it. Today I felt nostalgic about Greece and her lovely food, which is, with many dishes, is similar to our Lebanese Cuisine. So, I prepare the ingredients, potatoes, eggplant, tomatoes, minced meat, went to the kitchen and prepare it. Maybe the recipe is not the traditional Greek way, but I assure you it is delicious.

Ingredients:

  • 1 large eggplant or 2 medium size, about 500 grams
  • 5 potatoes, about 500 grams
  • 200 grams minced beef
  • 5 tomatoes
  • 1 onion finely chopped
  • 2 clove of garlic crushed
  • 1 tablespoon tomato paste
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon seven spices
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 1 tablespoon vegetable oil

Ingredients for the white sauce:

  • 100 grams butter
  • 5 tablespoons all purpose flour
  • 5 cups mils
  • 2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon of freshly ground nutmeg
  • 1/2 cup of grated Gruyere cheese (or any other kind you like)

Preparation:

  • Heat the oven to 180C
  • Peel and slice the eggplant and the potatoes
  • Put the olive oil in a baking tray, place the eggplant an the potatoes in the tray and place the tray in the oven for 40 minutes, turning the vegetables in the midway of cooking. I use to fry them but I found that this way it is less oily
  • In the meantime prepare the meat sauce, heat the vegetable oil in a small pot, fry the onion until nice golden color, add the meat to the onion and cook gently, add the crushed garlic, season with salt and seven spices
  • Peel and dice 1 tomato and add it to the mixture of onion and meat, let it cook gently on low fire, then add to tomato paste with 1/2 cup of water, cover and let it simmer on a very low fire
  • Prepare now the white sauce: in another small pot heat the butter, add the flour and mix well together, add slowly the milk stirring constantly with a whisk until it thickens, season with 1 teaspoon of salt and the nutmeg
  • In an tray place one layer of eggplant, then potatoes
  • Slice the remaining tomatoes and place one layer of tomatoes over the potatoes
  • Place now half of the meat mixture, then half of the white sauce
  • Repeat the process with one layer of eggplant, one layer of potatoes, tomatoes, the meat ssauce and the white sauce, and at the end put the grated cheese
  • Bake in the oven for about 25 minutes, until the cheese turn nice golden.

ET VOILA..C’EST TOUT 🙂

Also, I had another pleasant surprise few days ago being nominated for the Versatile Blogger Award by dutchgoesitalian; it was especially nice for me because I admire her blog a lot! Please check it out.

Filed Under: Main dish · Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Mar 7, 2012

Vegetable Stew

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Most children don’t like vegetables, especially zucchini and eggplant. They prefer to eat chicken nuggets, hamburger or anything else that can be found at a fast food restaurant. Even my siblings and I didn’t like those kinds of vegetables when we were young . My mother used to cook vegetables in this kind of stew with some meat to make us eat them (or else we’d be in trouble). It’s funny how we become our mothers… I too used this same recipe on my children. May it be as effective on your children as well:)

By the way, for those of you who can’t find the Lebanese Seven Spices ready mixed, here is a very useful guide to making it yourself.

Ingredients:

  • 200 grams lean beef cut into cubes
  • 2 potatoes cut into cubes
  • 1 large carrot cut into slices
  • 2 zucchini cut into slices
  • 1 large eggplant cut into cubes
  • 1 onion chopped
  • 2 red tomatoes chopped
  • 3 clove of garlic crushed
  • 1 tablespoon tomato paste
  • salt, seven spices, 1 tablespoon of dried coriander
  • cooking oil

Preparation:

  • In a pressure cooker, fry the meat with a little oil
  • When the meat is cooked, cover with water add one teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon seven spices cook with the pressure cooker closed for 20 minutes
  • In the meantime, heat some oil in a pot and fry the the onion for 2 minutes then add the garlic and stir together for about a minute
  • Add the chopped tomatoes, cover the pot, lower the heat and leave it for 3 minutes
  • Remove the cooked meat from the pressure cooker and keep the water of the meat
  • Place the meat over the tomatoes, onion and garlic mixture
  • Add the carrot first for 4 minutes then the potatoes
  • Cover with the water used to cook the meat and add the tomato paste
  • Now add the zucchini then the eggplant after a couple of minutes
  • Season with salt, seven spices and the dried coriander
  • Lower the heat, cover the pot and let it cook slowly for about 20 minutes or until the carrot is tender
  • Serve it with cooked rice and green salad on the side

ET VOILA..C’EST TOUT 🙂

Filed Under: Lebanese food, Main dish · Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Mar 3, 2012

Pumpkin Soup

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The Pumpkin soup is very easy to prepare and doesn’t require a lot of time. It’s also my daughter’s favorite, especially on a cold winter day like today. The ingredients also are simple and easy to find all year round.

Ingredients:

  • 500 grams of pumpkin
  • 1 medium onion
  • 1 carrot
  • 50 grams butter
  • 1 stock of vegetables (or chicken if you prefer)
  • salt and seven spices
  • fresh cream (optional)

Preparation:

  • Peel all the vegetables and cut them into medium size cubes
  • Fry the vegetables in butter until slightly golden
  • Dissolve the stock in water according to the instructions
  • Add this stock to the vegetables; add more water if needed to cover the vegetables
  • Boil the vegetables for about 25 minutes or until it is soft
  • Place the cooked vegetables in a blender and mix until completely pureed
  • Put the liquid back in the pot and heat a bit, season to taste
  • You can garnish the plate with fresh cream if you desired
  • Serve with toasted square bread

ET VOILA C’EST TOUT! 🙂

Today I reached 1000 views. Thank you all for your support. 🙂

Filed Under: Lent, Soups, Starters · Tagged: , , , , , , , , , ,
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