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Fattoush salad with grilled halloumi

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Fattoush , this traditional Lebanese salad, is a combination of fresh veggies, flavorful herbs and generally toasted pita bread. This is my all-time favorite salad, it is so fresh, and the use of sumac which has a slightly lemony flavor, bump this salad up to something so good you'll want to make over and over. Sumac is a key ingredient in this salad and really takes the whole experience to an entirely new explosive level. Sumac is a tangy, deep red or burgundy spice derived from the dried berries of the non-poisonous sumac bush. It is used along with lemon or in place of lemon to add a tart, lemony taste to salads, meats, fried eggs, dips as well as added to other spices like in Zaa�tar . You can find Sumac in Middle-Eastern specialty stores or Whole Food Stores. I wanted to use grilled halloumi cheese instead of the pita bread. Halloumi is a firm-textured Cypriot cheese available in all middle-eastern stores. It is fantastic char-grilled. It will toughen if allowed to coo...
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Focaccia with zaatar, tomatoes and onions

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You're probably more familiar with the popular Lebanese breakfast food: zaatar manakich, a pita-like flat bread topped with zaatar blend (a thyme-based spice). Today, I have decided to sprinkle my zaatar on a focaccia bread, and top it with slices of onions and tomatoes. I love zaatar and I can eat it everyday, it just brings back so many nice memories and its aroma of it takes me back in time to my childhood days. Ingredients (serves 8): Dough: 1 package dry yeast 1 cup warm water 1 tsp honey 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour 2 tsp kosher salt, divided 1/2 cup olive oil, divided Topping: 1 onion, thinly sliced 1 medium tomato, thinly sliced 2 tbsp zaatar In a medium bowl, stir together yeast, warm water, and honey. Let rest until yeast blooms and bubbles form on top, about 10 minutes. Stir in flour, 1/4 cup olive oil and 1 teaspoon salt. Turn the dough onto a well-floured surface and knead until dough is smooth, 5 to 10 minutes. Place dough in a lightly oiled bowl, cover with a kitchen...
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Strawberry Cream Cake

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A bountiful of luscious strawberries - an indication of Spring's arrival!!! I always get the itch to make a Strawberry Cream Cake, so last week was my friend's birthday, and now that strawberries are starting to show their pretty little faces at the market, I decided instantly that they would be perfect for a birthday cake! And the result was amazing, a citrus-infused moist cake, topped with cream and fresh strawberries. The favorite part was the sweet juice from the strawberries that soaked into the cake and gave it that amazing taste. Well, the cake was a hit, there was not a crumb or a smudge of whipped cream left at the end. Ingredients (serves 8 to 10): For the Cake: 1 � Cups (175g) All-Purpose Flour 2 � tsp (10g) Baking Powder 1/8 tsp Sea Salt 5 Large Eggs, separated 1 � Cups Granulated Sugar 5 Tbsp Boiling Water 1 � tsp Vanilla Extract Grated zest of 2 Lemons For the Strawberry Cream Filling:  2 Cups Fresh Strawberries, hulled and thinly sliced, plus more for garnish 1 t...
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Mini Pommes Anna

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Pommes Anna is a classic French dating back to 19th century, it only calls for four ingredients; thinly sliced potatoes, melted butter, salt and pepper! A very simple recipe, yet delicious! The potatoes are layered originally into a pan, then baked in the oven or fried on the stove. The result is a circular potato cake that may be cut into slices. The tender and crispy golden layers of potatoes make a perfect side dish. Well, according to Wikipedia, � The dish is generally credited with having been created during the time of Napoleon III by the chef Adolphe Dugl�r� , a pupil of Car�me , when Dugl�r� was head chef at the Caf� Anglais , the leading Paris restaurant of the 19th century, where he reputedly named the dish for one of the grandes cocottes of the period. There is disagreement about which beauty the dish was named after: the actress Dame Judic (real name: Anna Damiens), or Anna DesLions". This simple recipe is all in the preparation and presentation, and the use of t...
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Potato kibbeh - kibbet batata

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Ingredients: For the potato:  1 � kg potatoes 1 tsp salt 1/4 tsp black pepper 20 cl milk 4 tbsp butter, melted � cup breadcrumbs For the stuffing: 2 tablespoons vegetable oil 2 medium onions, chopped 14 oz (400 g) minced meat (beef or lamb) 2 tbsp pine nuts, toasted � tsp ground black pepper 1 tsp allspice salt to taste Boil potatoes in water until it is cooked. Drain and keep to cool then peel and mash. Mix the mashed potato with salt, black pepper and milk. Set aside. Brush an oven tray with 2 tbsp melted butter and sprinkle with half the bread crumbs. Set aside. Meanwhile, heat the oil in a saucepan and saut� onion for 2 minutes. Then add the minced meat and fry for 5 minutes or until brown in color. Add the pine nuts and spices. Stir for few seconds or until all are well combined then set aside. Spread half the quantity of the mashed potato over the prepared oven tray. Spread the stuffing evenly over the potato then the rest of the mashed potato on top. Sprinkle the remaining ...
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Falafel

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I cannot say enough about falafel, those gloriously seasoned fried balls are a staple of Middle-Eastern food. Falafel, is thought to be originated from Egypt, where the dish is widely known as ta'amiya in the Cairo dialect. Falafel were eaten for Lent by the Copts of Egypt. They�ve since made their way through the Middle East in various guises, most popularly in Syria, Lebanon and Jordan. In case you've never tasted them, falafel is a vegetarian dish, made from a mixture of ground chickpeas and/or fava beans, rolled into walnut-sized balls or patties and deep-fried until browned and crisp on the outside, yielding to a fluffy interior. Some recipes call for fava beans instead of chickpeas, or half fava beans half chickpeas, or only chickpeas. Now, the common theme is that dried beans should be soaked in cold water overnight but not cooked, they are only ground into a paste. In Lebanon, falafel are wrapped in pita bread along with chopped herbs, pickles and a tahini sauce. If yo...
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Chicken with cheese and pesto

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I know I am not keeping my promises and I know some of you are really wondering why I am not blogging anymore... but believe me there's no more free time. Life is hectic between work, raising a child, meeting up with friends... but I know deep down inside that you all forgive my absence... Here is a dish I made last saturday at my parents house. We had a big dinner, I couldn't though take pictures when it was out of the oven because it was dark and anyway there was no time, it was devoured in seconds. I hope you will like it, it's a really easy dish to prepare, for the working moms out there who want it to be more easy, you can use a ready made pesto sauce... Ingredients (4 persons): 4 chicken filets 3 tbsp olive oil salt and pepper pitted and chopped olives 1 tomato sliced 1 pepper sliced 1 cup shredded cheese Pesto sauce: 1 cup fresh basil leaves 2 garlic cloves 3 tbsp olive oil pinch of salt 2 tbsp pine nuts Make small cuts in the chicken filets, season them w...
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