Oct 17, 2012

Achtalye (Milk Pudding)

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There is an amazing wide variety of Middle Eastern desserts. Some of these desserts are very complicated and require a lot of ingredients and preparation, like baklava, knefe and others. On the other had, some of them are simple, easy and quick to made, like the Achtalye I prepare today. This dessert can be found in Lebanon and in Palestine, and is similar to a dessert to Mhalabiyye, a kind of pudding made out of milk and cornflour. It is very high in calcium so its good for growing children and babies.

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup powder milk
  • 3 cups water
  • 1/2 cup cornflour + 1/2 cup water
  • 1 teaspoon mastic, grounded
  • 1 tablespoon orange blossom water
  • 1/2 cup pistachios for decoration
  • sugar syrup

Preparation:

  • Mix the cornflour with a half cup of water until it all dissolves
  • In a casserole place the powder milk, water and the cornflour and mix well
  • Place the casserole on a fire and let it boil, stirring constantly until it thickens
  • Add the mastic, remove from off the fire and pour the orange blossom water
  • Put this pudding into small individual bowls, allow to cool then refrigerate
  • To serve, decorate with pistachios and pour sugar syrup over

ET VOILA..C’EST TOUT. BON APPETIT 🙂

Filed Under: Dessert, Lebanese food · Tagged: , , , , , ,
Sep 12, 2012

Back to My Kitchen With… Tamrye

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Hi everyone,

It’s been a long time since I posted last as this was a busy summer for me; my two daughters came with their families to spend their vacation in Lebanon. My son was so jealous he also visited from New York to join the fun. We all had a lovely time together but now I’m back to the recipes you love and I miss posting about 🙂

Here I am back to my kitchen with a ton of new recipes that I would love to share with you.

Tamrye is a kind of sweet is found mainly during the Holy Month of Ramadan, as well as during special occasions such as St. Marie day, St. Charbel’s and others – we have several saints in Lebanon.

“Tamr” in Arabic originally means date, but this recipe has nothing to do with dates. It’s made of a dough filled with a mixture of semolina and milk with sugar, fried and dusted with icing sugar.

Ingredients for the dough:

  • 2 and a half cups of flour
  • 1 cup water
  • pinch of salt
  • 1/4 cup oil

Ingredients for the filling:

  • 1 cup semolina
  • 5 cups milk
  • 2/3 cup sugar
  • 1 tablespoon flower blossom water
  • about 2 cups frying oil
  • icing sugar for dusting

Preparation:

  • Sift the flour with salt, add water and mix until you have a soft dough
  • Cut the dough into small pieces, put them in a oiled tray, and pour some oil over the dough, cover the tray and let it rest for about 2 hours

  • In the meantime prepare the filling: In a pot, place the semolina with sugar and milk, put on fire and let it boil stirring consantly
  • After boiling add the flower blossom water and place the filling on a tray and let it cool

  • Take a piece of the dough and roll it very thinly, brush oil over it and cut into square, place a tablespoon of he filling in the center of the dough, fold the four corners overlapping them

  • When you finish filling all the dough, heat the oil and fry them until golden brown, dust them with icing sugar and enjoy eating while still hot

ET VOILA C’EST TOUT… BON APPETIT 🙂

Filed Under: Dessert, Lebanese food · Tagged: , , , , , , ,
Jun 8, 2012

Potato Gratin And Chicken Escalope With Caramelized Onions

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It is not a secret if I say that many of our Lebanese dishes originated from France. After more then seventy years of French Occupation, it is very expected that we have learnt much of their cuisine. Personally, I love gratin dishes. I previously posted Nouilles and Moussaka, both of which are gratin dishes. Today I made potato gratin, the way I like it. Its inspired by Potato Dauphinois but instead of garlic, I used onion and grated cheese. I made it as a side dish with chicken escalope topped with caramelized onions, which adds a nice flavor to the chicken. I hope you like this recipe as much as I enjoyed preparing and eating it 🙂

Ingredients for potato gratin:

  • 1kilo potato
  • 1 onion, sliced
  • 2 tablespoons butter
  • 3 tablespoons flour
  • 4 cups milk
  • salt, seven spices
  • dash of freshly ground nutmeg
  • about 1 cup and a half of grated cheese (I used gruyere and mozzarella)

Preparation of the potato gratin:

  • Wash the potatoes and place in a big pot with about tw0 liters of water and a teaspoon of salt to boil for 10 minutes after the water starts boiling (we want the potato to be half cooked only)
  • Remove the potatoes from the water, peel it, slice it and keep aside
  • In another pot prepare the white sauce: melt the butter then add the flour and mix it well; next add the milk gradually whisking constantly until the mixture starts boiling and thickening, then add the nutmeg and one teaspoon salt
  • Preheat the oven to 180 C
  • In a tray, place one layer of the potato and sprinkle with a dash of salt and spices. Top it off with some sliced onions and a third of the white sauce; repeat this procedure to make another layer
  • For the third layer, repeat the last step with the exception of the onion; top it off with the grated cheese
  • Bake in the oven about 25-30 minutes until the top turns nice golden color

Ingredients for the caramelized onions:

  • 2 medium sized onions, sliced
  • 1/2 tablespoon sugar
  • 1 tablespoon red vinegar
  • 1/2 tablespoon corn oil

Preparation of the onions:

  • In a saucepan, heat the oil and fry the onions until golden
  • Add the sugar and keep frying and stirring until all the onions are coated with sugar
  • Add the vinegar and keep the onions on fire until they turn brown (don’t let them burn!)
  • Put the onion over the fried escalope for flavor

ET VOILA..C’EST TOUT. BON APPETIT 🙂

Filed Under: Main dish, Side dish · Tagged: , , , , , , ,
May 17, 2012

Chicken With Spinach

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I enjoy getting playful when cooking, more and more since I started this blog. I watch a lot of food shows on television and I  also read cooking magazines, so I’m always trying new recipes while adding a touch of me, mixing and matching with other recipes to make something that suits my taste. I won’t pretend to have created this meal, but I think that everyone makes food in their own way and this way is mine 🙂

Ingredients:

  • 500 grams chicken fillet
  • 3 tablespoons corn oil
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1/2 teaspoon black pepper, 1 cinnamon stick
  • 500 grams fresh spinach, chopped
  • 1 can of sliced mushrooms, washed and drained
  • 3 large green onions slices
  • 1 tablespoon butter

For the sauce:

  • 3 tablespoons butter
  • 3 tablespoons flour
  • 3 cups milk
  • 1 handful finely chopped fresh spinach
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 dash of freshly ground nutmeg

Preparation:

  • Rub the chicken fillet with salt and black pepper
  • Heat the oil in a saucepan and fry the chicken until brown, cover with one cup of water and add the cinnamon stick; let it cook until tender
  • In another saucepan, melt the butter, fry the green onion for about 4 minutes then add the mushrooms and the spinach with a dash of salt; cover the saucepan and let it simmer on a very low flame for about 10 minutes
  • Prepare the sauce:  melt the butter in a small pot and add the flour, mixing it well
  • Gradually add the milk, whisking constantly until it becomes thick and add salt, nutmeg and finally the finely chopped spinach

  • Serve together in a plate. You can add rice or pasta if you wish, remember to make it your way too 🙂

ET VOILA..C’EST TOUT.. BON APPETIT 🙂

Filed Under: Main dish · Tagged: , , , , , , , , ,
May 12, 2012

Profiteroles And Eclairs

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It is Saturday and the weekend has begun! I like to have some home made desserts for the weekend. Today I decided to make both Profiteroles and Eclairs since they are made from the same dough and filled with the same creme patissiere; the only difference between them is their shape.

Making this recipe requires two kinds of ingredients:  one for the dough and the other for the creme patissiere (filling).

Ingredients for the dough:

  • 100 grams of unsalted butter
  • 1 cup of water
  • a pinch of salt
  • 1 cup of all purpose flour
  • 4 eggs

Preparation of the dough:

  • In a small pot boil the water with butter and a pinch of salt
  • Add all the flour at once and mix vigorously until you have a consistent dough
  • Remove from fire and let it cool for 5 minutes, then add one egg at a time, mixing well in an electric mixer until well blended in the dough (you can use a wooden spoon to mix the eggs if you like, but it will take more effort)
  • When you finish mixing all the eggs in the dough, leave it to cool
  • Preheat the oven to 180 C
  • Grease a tray with a bit of butter, place the dough in a piping bag and using a large nozzle make circle shape to make the profiteroles, and long ones to make the eclairs
  • Bake for about 25 minutes, or until the top of the dough becomes light golden color

Ingredients for the creme patissiere:

  • 1/2 cup powder milk
  • 1 1/2 cup water
  • 1 egg
  • 3/4 cup sugar
  • 1/4 cup flour
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla

Preparation of the creme:

  • Boil the milk in a casserole and add the vanilla
  • In a bowl mix the sugar with flour and egg
  • Pour the mixture of egg, sugar and the flour slowly to the milk whisking constantly until thickening, then allow to cool. It is better to cover the creme with a cling film to prevent forming hard layer on the top when cooling

Filling the dough with creme:

  • Make a small hole in the profiterole ( the round shape) using a wooden stick
  • Place the cream in a piping bag and using a fine nozzle fill the dough.
  • For the eclairs (the long shaped ones) make a small cut on the side of the dough and with a small spoon spread the cream into it
  • For the final touch you can either sprinkle the sweets with icing sugar or make chocolate icing.

Chocolate icing:

  • Boil 3/4 cup of fresh milk with 1 teaspoon icing sugar and 1/2 teaspoon butter
  • Cut 50 grams of dark chocolate into small pieces and place it in a bowl
  • Pour the boiling cream over the chocolate and mix well until the chocolate dissolves

With a small teaspoon put the icing chocolate on the top of eclair and place on a grill to cool completely.

N.B : If you want to fill it with chocolate cream instead, replace 1 tablespoon of flour with 1 tablespoon of cocoa in the ingredients.

ET VOILA..C’EST TOUT! HAVE  A NICE WEEK-END 🙂

Filed Under: Dessert · Tagged: , , , , , , , ,
Apr 5, 2012

Maamoul

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As Easter Sunday nears, most people will be preparing to get together with their families to celebrate. They will also make sure that they have colored their easter eggs, bought their chocolate eggs and most importantly their traditional Maamoul sweet. Maamoul is a wonderful sweet made of very simple ingredients and stuffed with either nuts or dates. Most people don’t have time to make their own Maamoul these days, but they will make sure to get some for themselves or for when they visit someone else’s home on Easter. And I have to say that the Muslims also love to make this sweet during Ramadan and the Eid.

In our family, it is an important part of our tradition to get together to make our own Maamoul. I have used this recipe for many years and my daughters have always helped make them when we are together. And recently with the new additions to our family, my grandchildren are also now involved in the process. As I mentioned before, the Maamoul is stuffed with pistachios, walnuts or dates, but I always make sure to leave one of each shape without any stuffing. The person who gets the empty Maamoul is considered lucky.

The molds and one tong            The mixed butter

Ingredients:

  • 1 kilo semolina
  • 1/2 kilo butter at room temperature
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 1 tbsp mahlab (wild cherry tree)orfenugreek
  • 1 tbsp orange blossom water
  • 1 tbsp dried instant yeast
  • 1 cup milk (more or less depending on the type of semolina)
The butter and semolina mixture
The dough ready
Preparation:
  • Place the butter large mixing bowl,mix it until it becomes fluffy
  •  Rub with semolina using your fingers until all the semolina has absorbed the butter. Cover with a tea towel and leave overnight
  • Preheat the oven to 180DegC
  • The next day, add the instant yeast and sugar and rub well again. Add the milk gradually until the dough is well-combined
  • Form a small ball using the dough,  flatten the ball. Then stuff with your choice of stuffing as described below. Place in the mold and slam down on your hard work surface to release the Maamoul
  • Place the Maamoul on a baking tray and continue until all the dough is complete
  • Bake in the oven for 12-15 mins until the top is light golden in color
  • Leave in the trays until completely cold
  • Dust the Maamoul stuffed in nuts with icing sugar, for the date ones you don’t need too because they are sweet enough
Stuffing with dates                   Put in the mold

The fillings:For the date stuffing:

– If you cannot find dates puree, bring dates, remove seed and skin, in a small saucepan melt one tablespoon of butter and add the dates, mix until puree. Sprinkle with a pinch of ground nutmeg. when they are cold, make them into small balls.

The dates shaped like balls    The walnut filling                   The pistachios filling

 For the nut filling:( pistachios or walnut)

-Ground roughly a cup of nut of your choice, mix with 1/2 cup sugar, 1 tablespoon rose water and two tablespoons of orange blossom water

Nota Bene: if you cannot find the mold you can shape the balls of Maamoul with your hands then design with a tong, like the one on the picture above.

ET VOILA… HAPPY EASTER.:)

Filed Under: Dessert, Lebanese food · 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: , , , , , ,
Feb 20, 2012

Cauliflower Gratin

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Cauliflower Gratin

On this occasion I would like to wish all Christians a blessed Ash Monday! Ash Monday, or the first day of Christian lent, marks the beginning of forty days of fasting where Christians should avoid meat, chicken and even fish and they should eat only vegetables and fruits. Tomorrow I will post something related to lent and an applicable dish for the occasion.

Today however, the dish I made is taken from French Cuisine, and is made from cauliflower, white sauce and cheese. While it contains no meats, the milk and cheese may be unsuitable for those strictly following lent.

Ingredients:

  • 1 cauliflower, about 1 kg
  • 80 gs of butter
  • 4 tablespoons of all purpose flour
  • 4 cups of milk
  • salt, dash of nutmeg
  • 1/2 cup of mozarrella cheese and 1/2 cup of emmenthal cheese both shredded

Preparation:

  • Wash the cauliflower and cut it, boil to half cooked in a casserole with salted water, then drain the cauliflower
  • In the meantime prepare the white sauce: put the butter in a pan and melt it, add the flour and mix well with the butter, then slowly pour the milk over, mixing well with a manual beater until the mixture start to thickens
  • Put the fire off and season with salt and freshly grounded nutmeg
  • Preheat the oven to 180C
  • In an oven tray put the cauliflower and cover it with the white sauce and then on top of it put the cheese
  • Put the tray in the oven and bake for about half an hour

ET VOILA .. C’EST TOUT:)

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