Mar 8, 2012

Homemade Pizza

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What tastes better than pizza? A HOMEMADE PIZZA, of course. I always prepare the entire pizzas at home, from the dough to the ingredients and the filling to the way me and my children like it. In Lebanon, we have Lebanese pizza called “Man’oushe” which is made out of dough, same as pizza, but filled with either cheese or dried thyme mixed with some olive oil and it’s cooked in a large oven.

My 7 year-old grandson won’t eat any pizza except the one I made because “it is the best pizza ever!” You cant argue with that 🙂

Today I prepared the dough in the morning and let it rest for few hours to let it rise, and then I rolled it and filled it and cooked it; here’s how:

Ingredients for the dough:

  • 5 cups of flour
  • pinch of salt
  • 1/2 cup of corn oil
  • 1 tbsp of instant dried yeast
  • water

Preparation:

  • Put the flour, the salt and the oil in food processor and mix them for a few minutes
  • Then add the yeast and pour the water from the top slowly until all the ingredients form a soft dough
  • Rub a bowl with 1 spoon of oil and place the dough inside it and cover it with a towel
  • Let it rest and wait until it doubles in volume

In the meantime prepare the filling.

Ingredients for the filling:

  • 1 large onion, chopped finely
  • 3 red tomatoes cut in small dices
  • 1 small can of cut mushroom
  • 1/2 cup of black seedless and shredded olives
  • 1 tablespoon thyme, 1 tablespoon oregano
  • 1 tbsp of tomato paste
  • 1 cup grated mozzarella cheese
  • 1 cup grated emmenthal cheese
  • 1 tbsp of corn oil

Preparation:

  • In a pan heat the oil and fry the onions
  • Add the cut tomatoes to the onions and let it cook gently, then add the mushrooms
  • Now you can sprinkle the thyme and oregano
  • Add now the black olives and the tomato paste,  cover the pan and let it cook gently on a low heat
  • Preheat the oven on 180c
  • When the dough is ready and with a rolling pin, roll the dough and put it in a pizza tray
  • Sprinkle some thyme over the dough and put the filling on top
  • Cover with the two kinds of cheese and bake for about 25 minutes

AND THAT’S IT…. ENJOY:)

Filed Under: Lent, Main dish · Tagged: , , , , , , , , , ,
Feb 21, 2012

Fattoush (Lebanese Salad)

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“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: , , , , , , , , ,
Feb 16, 2012

Spaghetti with Meat Escalope

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Who doesn’t like spaghetti??

This is the most popular meal in the world and everybody loves it: children, young people and even the elderly. This is a meal I keep as a backup, because I have the ingredients always ready in my kitchen. When I don’t have escalope, I just use minced meat in the pasta sauce to make it bolognese sauce.

Ingredients:

  • 250 gs of spaghetti
  • 1 large onion
  • 2 cloves of garlic
  • 5 red tomatoes
  • 2 tablespoons of olive oil
  • salt, pepper, thyme, oregano, basil
  • 1 tablespoon of ketchup
  • 1 tablespoon of cooking oil
  • 2 pieces of meat escalope

Preparation:

  • In a casserole, boil water with a tablespoon of salt and a tablespoon of cooking oil
  • When the water is boiled, put the spaghetti and boil it. When it is cooked drain it from the water
  • In another casserole, heat the olive oil, chop the onion and fry it, then add the crushed cloves of garlic
  • Put the tomatoes in boiling water for few seconds to peel them and chop into medium size cubes (if you want you can use a small  can of crushed tomatoes)
  • Add the tomatoes to the mixture of onion and garlic and let it boil on low heat
  • Season the tomato sauce with salt, pepper, and a small teaspoon of each of: thyme, oregano, basil
  • Now add ketchup and a half cup of water, cover and let it simmer for 15 minutes on low heat
  • Fry the escalope until the meat is well cooked
  • To serve, put the spaghetti in a plate, cover it with the tomato sauce and place the escalope alongside
  • You can serve it with a vegetable salad

ET VOILA.. C’EST TOUT:)

Filed Under: Main dish · Tagged: , , , ,