Jun 9, 2012

Cucumber Pickles

By · 5 Comments

This is the right time to make pickles since in summer we find vegetables at very low prices. In Lebanon we like to have pickles with nearly everything, we consume a lot of them.

The method I use to make pickles is inherited from my grandfather who used to own a shop in the old souks of Beirut, which is now the modern Downtown. In his shop he had all kinds of olives, the best extra virgin olive oil, cheeses and pickles. He made sure to teach his daughters a lot of tricks, for instance, he used to measure the quantity of salt in water to soak the olives with an egg: if the egg floats, it means then the quantity of salt is good enough.

Pickles generally take around two or three days to be ready, and this is how my grandfather taught me how to make them:

Ingredients:

  • 2 cups of water
  • 1 cup of red vinegar
  • 1 tablespoon sugar
  • 2 tablespoons salt
  • chili pepper, garlic (or you can use whatever for flavor)

Preparation:

  • Boil water with vinegar, salt and sugar
  • Place the cucumbers in tightly sealed jars, and cover them with the boiled water, add the garlic, chili pepper (or whatever you like)
  • When the water becomes warm, close the jars very tightly.
  • Wait for two days before eating, and enjoy!
Day 1:
I used double the stated ingredients, it was enough for about 700 grams of cucumber and I had some extra that I used for another jar, where I mixed cucumbers with carrots.
Day 2 – ready to be eaten

ET VOILA..C’EST TOUT 🙂

Filed Under: Side dish, Starters · Tagged: , , , , ,
May 31, 2012

Endive Salad With Parmesan Cheese And Cheese Dressing

By · 6 Comments

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: , , , , , , , , , ,
Mar 15, 2012

Baked Kibbe (Kibbe Bilsaniya)

By · 9 Comments

Kibbe is a famous Lebanese traditional food. It is made out of meat and bulgur with stuffing inside it from minced meat onion and spices. There are many ways to cook it: it can be baked in the oven, or rolled into balls with the stuffing inside it then fried and even cooked with yogurt. All these recipes require the same ingredients to make the Kibbe mixture and stuffing, however there are some variations. For instance, there is a vegetarian form of Kibbe made from pumpkin.

It’s a bit complex to make this dish, so I tried my best to simplify it for today’s post. Don’t be discouraged and feel free to post any questions in the comments if you need some clarification on any point, I’ll answer as soon as I see it. Together, we’re going to make Kibbe like rock stars! 😀

1.For the Kibbe:

Ingredients:

  • 3 cups of fine brown bulgur
  • 600 grams beef meat
  • 1 onion
  • 1 tablespoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon seven spices

Preparation:

  • Wash the bulgur and drain it from water
  • Grate the onion until very fine
  • Mix the meat with bulgur, add the salt and seven spices with the grated onion
  • Place the mixture in a food processor a bit at a time and keep blending until the mixture becomes creamy and all the meat and bulgur is used

Now your Kibbe is ready, put it in the fridge until you prepare the stuffing.

2.For the Stuffing:

Ingredients:

  • 500 grams minced meat (better fresh not frozen)
  • 3 medium onions finely chopped
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon seven spices
  • 1/2 cup pine seeds (this is optional, but it is traditionally added and enhances the flavor)
  • 1 tablespoon grenadine molasses
  • 2 tablespoon vegetable oil

Preparation:

  • In a large saucepan,  heat the oil and fry the onion until golden brown
  • Add the meat and fry with the onion for about 15 minutes
  • Now add the pine seeds, season with salt, seven spices and the grenadine molasses
  • Cook for about 10 minutes or until the pine seeds becomes golden color

Let the stuffing cool. Now you have all the ingredients to make the Kibbe in the oven. All you need to do now is assemble them.

3.Putting it all together:

You’re going to need one more additional ingredient: 1 tablespoon of corn wheat.

  • Preheat the oven to 200C and butter a baking pan.
  • In a small bowl, mix 1 tablespoon of corn wheat with 1 cup of cold water. Wet your hand in this corn wheat solution when handling the Kibbe.
  • Take enough Kibbe and spread it on the bottom of the pan to make a thin layer. (Remember to keep your hand wet with the corn wheat solution when handling the Kibbe!)
  • Add enough of the stuffing on top of the Kibbe to just cover it.
  • Afterwards, add another thin layer of the Kibbe over the stuffing, the same way you did for the bottom one. With your hand still wet from the corn wheat solution, press gently down on the top layer with the palm of your hand to flatten (not squish) it
  • Divide the tray into four equal parts with a knife (go through each of the layers)
  • With the knife still in hand, lightly make diagonal lines on the top layer to form small diamonds. This adds texture to the dish and also helps it bake properly
  • Spread 1 tablespoon of butter and 2 tablespoons of olive oil on the upper crust. Bake in the oven for about 30 minutes until you see it become a nice brown color
  • Serve it with plain yogurt, or yogurt salad: crush one clove of garlic with a pinch of salt and mix it with yogurt. Peel and dice 5 cucumbers. Mix with 1 tablespoon of dried mint.

ET VOILA..C’EST TOUT:)

Filed Under: Lebanese food, Main dish · Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Feb 21, 2012

Fattoush (Lebanese Salad)

By · 5 Comments

“Fattoush” is a traditional Lebanese salad, made of mixed vegetables, bread and special seasoning and since this dish is made out of vegetables it is suitable for people fasting during lent.

My grandfather used to tell me the story of how the Lebanese started to make this salad. In some village in Lebanon, after a group of people finished their food and salad, if they were still hungry and there was remaining dressing in the salad, they would dip bread in the dressing and eat it. Eventually toasted bread found its way into the salad regularly, until finally they added more kinds of vegetables and adjusted the dressing to have what we know today as the traditional Fattoush.

And here is the recipe. I’ve left out the quantities because you can tailor it to your own taste.

Ingredients:

  • lettuce
  • tomato
  • cucumber
  • green onion
  • radish
  • purslane (baqle in arabic)
  • parsley
  • salt, olive oil, summak, olive oil, frying oil, arabic bread(pita)

Preparation:

  • Wash the lettuce, tomatoes and cut them
  • Peel the cucumber and cut it in dices
  • Peel the radish and slice them
  • Cut the green onion in slices
  • Peel the leaves of the purslane and wash properly
  • Chop few leaves of parsley
  • Cut the arabic bread and fry in the oil for few minutes until it becomes light brown color
  • Put all the vegetables in a serving bowl and mix together
  • Add the salt, summak and the olive oil
  • At the end put the fried bread and mix with the vegetables
  • You can decorate with few cherry tomatoes if desired.

ET VOILA.. C’EST TOUT.. BON APPETIT

Filed Under: Lent, Salad, Side dish · Tagged: , , , , , , , , ,