Sablé a l'Apricot

A quick recipe baked just before going to get my hair all dazzled up with a fresh coat of colour and a fresh cut. 

Sablé a L'Abricot also known as apricot tart, is so simple it will literally take you 45mins from start to finish. 

Ingredients

3 cups Flour

3/4 cup Butter

3 Eggs

1 cup Sugar

1 tsp Vanilla

1 tsp Baking Powder 

4 tbsp Apricot Jam

1. Beat sugar and butter until light and fluffy.

2. Add eggs and vanilla,  and beat well until incorporated. 

3. Add flour and baking powder and mix again. 

4. Spread out 3/4 of dough into tart dish with your hands. 

5. Heat apricot jam in microwave until runny. Spread on tart 

6. Decorate with remaining dough after forming it to make stripes.

7. Bake for 20mins in 350 oven or until nicely coloured. 

8. Allow to cool before slicing. 

Lebanese style

My Bibi just got home after a 5 day business trip to Ireland so this week-end I decided to cook him his two favourite dishes, beef shawerma and stuffed aubergines. 

Shawerma's origin goes back to Turkey. It is a meat preparation, where marinated beef or chicken meats are placed on a spit  (commonly a vertical spit )  and may be grilled for as long as a day. Shavings are cut off the block of meat for serving, and the remainder of the block of meat is kept heated on the rotating spit. Although it can be served in shavings on a plate (generally with accompaniments), shawarma also refers to a sandwich or wrap made with shawarma meat. Shawarma is eaten with Tabbouleh or Fattoush Salad and french fries. Toppings include Tahini, hummus and  pickled cucumbers. 

Beef and Chicken Vertical Spit Grill

Considering the fact that I don't have a vertical spit to grill my beef, the easy way to cook the beef and get the same result is by slicing the meat into thin strips and marinating the beef and then grilling it in the oven. The secret is in the marinade, the longer you marinade the meat the more tender it will be. 

Marinade ingredients : 

vinegar 

garlic 

ginger

bay leaves

cinnamon

cloves

cardamom

nutmeg

black pepper

You will need to marinate it for a day especially if you are making beef shawerma. 

Vegetarians would love stuffed aubergines !! The Aubergines are cored, stuffed and cooked in tomato sauce and are usually eaten with fresh green or white onions. 

Stuffed Aubergines 

1/2 kg small black Aubergines 

2 cups chopped parsley 

1 cup rice

1 cup tomato diced

1 tbsp chopped green mint 

1 large onion chopped 

1/2 cup lemon juice 

1/4 cup olive oil 

2 tsp salt

2 tsp cinnamon

2 tsp allspice seasoning 

1 can tomato purée 

Wash and cut the stems off the aubs' then core them until all seeds are removed. Wash again and drain. 

In a bowl add parsley, tomato, rice, mint, onion, lemon juice, olive oil, salt, cinnamon, allspice seasoning and mix.

Start to stuff the aubs' but remember to squeeze out the extra juices and Do Not Fill More than 3/4 of each Aub !!!

Drop in pot along with tomato sauce and strained juices from stuffing and cook on high for 30-40mins or until a fork goes through easily. 

Bon Apetit !!! 

Divine Cupcakes 1

Nothing can be more calming and relaxing than the aroma of fresh baked cupcakes. Just baking a dozen ( minus one to satisfy my carvings) can help give you that zen feeling : your body and soul + a cupcake = a big smile that lasts all day !!

A dear friend of mine asked me for zoo animal cupcake toppers for her sons birthday cupcakes, so I started working on a few ideas. 

And these are my cute little cupcake toppers made from marshmallow fondant. Still have to work on a few more animals like lions, tigers and pandas. 

The final project is not yet finished I will post it when it's done. 

Egyptian Night

It had been quite some time since my last  dinner event. My dear friend Hania was craving for a stuffed pigeons meal, the egyptian way. So I flew the birds with me all the way from good-old generous Cairo to wild and crazy Beirut, nicely packed in their ice bag ready to be stuffed and devoured !!! 

The day came when it was time for the pigeons to get their stuffing. A quick call to mum back home and the recipe was all set. She took me through it step by step until I had them stuffed and ready for roasting. 

Roasted stuffed Pigeons 

The menu for the dinner event also included koshari( an egyptian staple dish) consisting of rice, lentils, pasta and fried onions accompanied by a chilli hot tomato sauce.

Koshari

 Misakhan, (a Jordanian /Palestinian dish) that one consisted of roasted chicken dressed with a sauce mainly made out if chopped onions and chicken stick , sprinkled with sumac and pine nuts and served on a bed of Taboun  bread  (carried all the way from Amman by my love Hassan) 

Misakhan

More dishes on the menu included Warak Einab ( stuffed vine leaves) with cucumber and yogurt salad and Bamieh( Okra) stew with rice. 

For dessert my sister sent me her Basbousa recipe: an oriental sweet mostly made in Egypt. 

My guests enjoyed the meal to the sound of the famous Egyptian singer Abdel Halim Hafez, and we finished off our meal with my dessert and ice cream cake and Mille feuille cake.

Basbousa recipe 

2 nestle cream 

2 cups smeed (fine semolina) 

2 cups coconut 

1 cup sugar

2 tsp Baking powder

Use the nestle tin as your measuring cup. 

Mix all ingredients together 

Pour into deep dish  lined with parchment  paper, with wet hands smooth the top out. 

 Dip tip of knife into water and make square cuts, decorate with almonds and bake on 170 for 35mins until done. Take out tray and slice again return dish to oven for 10mins.

Whilst baking put 2 cups sugar in pot with 1 cup water and bring to a boil.

Add a squeeze of lemon juice and flower water and let boil for 5 mins set aside. When basbousa comes out of the oven start to pour your syrup until 3/4 of it are absorbed. 

Let sit to cool. 

Slice and enjoy.  

Steak Diane

There's nothing better than waking up to the sound and smell of good old Mother Nature. Feels like its a good day to be in the kitchen. I have a few recipes that I've been wanting to try so here goes, Aprons on....Ovens on....Lets start cooking !!!!

❤➰❤➰❤➰❤➰❤➰❤➰❤➰❤➰

I have this amazing recipe for you to try. It's so delicious I think I will cook it once or twice a week. Well, it's not an exact replica of the THE recipe but it's as close to it as I can ever get. After enjoying this dish in San Diego, in New Port Beach, LA and in Dubai Mall of the Emirates, the girls went crazy when I told them that we're having it for lunch!!! When they came from school they knew something delicious was made, there was this aroma of fresh grilled meat and spicy mustard lingering in the air.

My version served with baked potato wedges. 

So here it is THE FAMOUS 

STEAK DIANE CHEESECAKE FACTORY RECIPE. http://www.tastebook.com/recipes/966931-Cheesecake-Factory-Steak-Diane

Try it you won't regret it. 

The most important thing in preparing for this recipe is the meat.... Beef tenderloin one of the more expensive chunks of beef meat you can buy, but also the tenderest and most succulent juicy piece of meat. 

It practically cooks in 1-2 minutes depending on how you like your meat cooked. Feels like butter when you bite into it. 

The rest of the ingredients are simple, onions and fresh mushrooms complement each other nicely in this dish helping to create a delicious sauce that you'll want to scrape off your plate with a chunk of bread !!!!!

Worcestershire Sauce and Dijon mustard add the spicy and salty taste to that dish. Being a non-alcoholic myself I chose to substitute the white wine with regular white vinegar which gave it the tangy flavour that covers this dish. Make sure to add the cream just before serving as it will thick the sauce real fast. 

Make sure to use a good dark beef stock as mine was on the lighter side so result was a paler dish. Enjoy!! 

Sushi Night

Sharing food with dear friends on Saturday evening at Downtown Osaka Sushi Lounge was fun !!!

Our meal started with the delicious spicy crispy Salmon salad, and spicy crispy Tuna salad and Kani (crab) salad. 

Spicy Crispy Salmon Salad 

Appetizers like crispy fried Shrimp Tempura, and Koshi Ebi ( fried breaded shrimps) were served with the Tuna and Salmon Sashimi. The salmon sashimi was so fresh that it melted in my mouth. 

A variety of Makis were ordered including a maki called Dynamite, which I found too fishy for my taste ( I think me and eel are not friends!!!) 

 Dynamite Maki

More food kept landing on the table, more Makis and Tepenyaki Beef and Salmon alongside vegetable fried rice put an end to a delicious meal. The Beef Tepenyaki was delicious and an extra order was made. 

There's an Arabic saying that says : 

إذا أستسمكتوا فاستحلوا!!! 

Translation : if you eat fish you must eat dessert !!! 

So dessert was served a delicious Chocolate Fondant served with vanilla ice-cream, Green Tea ice-cream and Apple Tart with ice-cream. Yummy!!!

Breakfast with the girls

Sunday morning, quiet streets, the birds chirping on the branches of the trees, my  girls lazing around, listening to music, singing and even jumping around. Feeling homesick myself, I decided to do their favourite Palestinian dishes fried nabulsieh cheese and Shaa'rieh with sugar. 

Grilled Nabulsieh cheese 

Nabulsi cheese is a Palestinian white brined cheese. Named after its place of origin, Nablus, its produced from sheep milk and  is white and rectangular in shape. It becomes soft and elastic when heated. It can be eaten fresh as salty table cheese or can be fried in oil. My girls like theirs grilled on a hot plate with no oil!!!

Shaa'rieh with sugar 

A dessert made of very thin vermicelli pasta stirred in oil until golden, and then cooked with water until soft, ( same way you would cook rice) it is eaten with sugar and sometimes people like to add chopped pistachios and shredded coconut too. Back home, every friday my parents would have shaa'rieh for breakfast. 

Shaa'rieh was also known as Knafet el Fo'ara or Poor Man's Knafeh, because it didn't  have cheese (it being an expensive commodity in the old days, they did without it) hence this simple dessert came to be. 

Knafeh with Nabulsieh cheese

 Knafeh is a dessert famous in Jordan, Palestine, Lebanon and Syria, each country has their own recipe and method of creating this dessert but all of them are based on the same ingredients a vermicelli -like dough,  cheese (a mix of Nabulsieh cheese and Akkawi cheese)  and a sugary syrup. I'll probably get into the details of making it later in my blog. 

A New Beginning

I've decided to start my own food blog.  It will contain recipes, that I've collected from numerous cookbooks, magazines, websites, TV shows; recipes I've inherited or asked for from my mum, relatives, friends.  I will try to only add recipes that I've tried, or plan to try in the future.  

My passion for cooking and baking has always driven me to try new recipes from different cuisines from all over the world. Beside my love for the Middle Eastern food I grew up eating and cooking,  I love to experiment with new recipes, I am also intrigued by simple recipes and most of all appetizers that only need a few ingredients, but offer amazing amounts of flavours in mouth-sized bites.

 Desserts are my weakness, I make oriental desserts and international ones, simple ones and the more sophisticated detailed recipes too.  

You will surely notice the pop-up of certain cupcake pics every now and then, as I am on a hunt to find the best cupcake recipe. So hope you enjoy my blog and I will be waiting to read your comments.