Mjaddarah

MJADDARAH, what a great word . . . it sounds so powerful, what it is, is a delicious Lebanese meal with flavors of allspice and sweet caramelized onions. Mjaddarah, "the poor mans dish", is a combination of rice and lentils. Not only is it very inexpensive to make but it is also extremely healthy. A perfect complement to this dish is a salad with a garlic, lemon juice and oil dressing.

With a few ripe tomatoes, garden mint, and onion as garnish.

Last night I was chatting with a long time friend of mine, Katie, and she was telling me how she missed having a Middle Eastern restaurant close by since she too moved out of Michigan. I sure know how that feels!!!!!!! Once you have Lebanese cuisine you are hooked for life.Luckily for my family I have learned and perfected my husband's family recipes and cook Lebanese food weekly.

MJADDARAH: Lentils and rice

1 cup brown dried lentils, washed and drained

3 1/2 cups rice, washed and drained

1 tablespoon salt

1 teaspoon allspice

1/4 cup oil

Place lentils and water in large saucepan. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and cook for 20 minutes until almost tender.

Meanwhile saute onions in 1/4 cup oil until brown

Add rice, salt, 2 to 3 tablespoons of the oil mixture to lentils; stir and cover

Bring to a boil, reduce heat and cook for an additional 20 minutes over low heat until rice is tender.

When lentil mixture is cooked pour onto a serving platter and smother top with remaining fried onions.

Delicious served with pickled turnips and a salad.

Can be served hot or room temperature.

My family loves Mjaddarah with Salatet Maifouf the literal translation is " cabbage salad".

Cabbage Salad:

4 cups shredded cabbage

4 cloves garlic minced

1/4 cup lemon juice

1/4 cup rice vinegar

1 t. salt

* for best results chill for several hours

My personal favorite salad recipe that also goes great with Mjaddarah is one passed down from my mother in law and is a mouth watering combination of fresh garden vegetables and herbs with of course the Lebanese staple GARLIC!

Salad #2:

3 or 4 tomatoes

Hand full of fresh mint

1 small onion sliced thin

3 or 4 garlic cloves

1/2 cup oil

1/2 t. salt

1/4 t. pepper

In a medium size bowl place salt, pepper a few mint leaves and garlic

Smash the garlic and the mint together

Add sliced tomatoes and onion to the bowl and drizzle olive oil

Eat your Mjaddarah and salad with Lebanese bread and enjoy!

Let the cooking begin. . .

I was thrilled to receive a request from a dear friend, name Patricia who I haven't seen for 21 years. Patricia was my Au Pair (nanny) when I had 4 children under the age of 5 years old. Now my children are all grown up and dear Patricia has her own children. . . oh my how the time flies! Patricia and I still keep in touch via facebook and I hope she realizes what a true blessing she was to my family. I can still remember her smile, she always wore the biggest smiles on her face amidst complete and utter chaos and for that I am forever grateful. So back to her request, she has asked for my, Lebanese Lemon Garlic Chicken Recipe, a recipe she still remembers after 21 years. So, I guess because of this request one can say that I am going "international" because Patricia lives in Germany. Yesterday I was national now I am INTERNATIONAL BABY . . . yikes!!! Too bad she had to wait 21 years for this recipe because its only an handful of ingredients, three of which are in the name. So here is my recipe for my dear friend and life-saver, Patricia from Germany .

Lebanese Lemon Garlic Chicken

The Marinate

2 t. salt

1 t. pepper

5 to 7 cloves of garlic

1 cup lemon juice

1/2 cup olive oil

In a medium bowl put your salt, pepper and garlic

Using a mortar mash the garlic until it becomes a paste

Add your lemon juice and oil

marinate for 4 to 5 hours or over night

This is great on the grill or oven

Serving suggestion: Serve with rice, salad and garlic dip

Garlic dip:

large potato boiled and mashed

8 garlic crushed

And a little olive oil to make the paste mixture

salt

Let the cooking begin . . .

Word of the Day: Weeping- to withdraw moisture from vegetables using salt.

I have been asked to give a recipe using chick peas. This request comes from my niece. She is a great cook so I was honored to have her ask me for one of my recipes. The dish that I will share with you all is very healthy, full of protein and easy on the budget. Today we are going Lebanese...do I need to say anything more? They know food! The Lebanese cuisine is so full of flavor and I am blessed to be married to an amazing Lebanese man . . . I love your culture Honey. Our marriage has EXPANDED my world of cooking, I didn't know what garlic was before I married him NOW its the number one ingredient in my cooking!

M'nazali (chick pea stew)

2 medium eggplant ( now I must say right here...some people in my family aren't so thrilled with eggplant, but this dish is still wonderful without it )

1 19 oz. can of chick peas, drained and rinsed

1 28 oz. whole tomatoes crushed or 4 to 6 large ripe tomatoes

1 large onion (if not using eggplant maybe you should use 2) Cut the onion in about 1/4" size rings.

2 cloves garlic chopped.....being the garlic lover that I am. I use 10 easily

1/2 t. pepper

1 1/2 t. salt

1/2 t. allspice

1/2 t. cinnamon

1/4 cup oil

Peel eggplant and cut into 1/2 inch cubes

Sprinkle with salt and spread out to drain on paper towels for 30 minutes. ( this allows the eggplant to let go of its moisture, its called "weeping")

In a large dutch oven, saute the onions in oil

Add your garlic, saute for 30 seconds

Add tomatoes to the garlic and onions, saute for a few minutes.

Add eggplant, chick peas, and spices to tomatoes

Cover and cook for 30 minutes over medium heat until eggplant is tender, stirring occasionally.

Note: this dish can be served both hot or cold. In the Lebanese culture, its very typical to eat this meal with raw white onion. The way to serve the onion is in a small bowl of ice water. My final suggestion is using pita bread as a utensil to scoop up the perfect bite of stew and onion!

Let the cooking begin!!!!!!

I think one of the most wonderful things in life is a homemade cake, I was brought up with a grandma who had 3 homemade dessert at the end of every dinner. I remember seeing these cakes come to the table and thinking to myself, "oh how wonderful". I would look around the table and see every one's faces with the look of awe. I knew then, that I had to learn to cook and bake because I wanted to make people happy. I believe a kitchen table that is full of people is a true blessing to a home.

Baking a cake from scratch is really very easy nothing to fear. There is a standard formula to follow for all cakes, after you have that down then your on your way to bake any recipe.

First, you always start with you butter (must be real butter...so much healthier) then you add your sugar, mix the two ingredients together with a electric mixer. This process is called "creaming." The next step is to add the eggs one at a time. After that, all of your dry ingredients are mixed together in a separate bowl, such as bakings soda, salt, flour etc. A rule of thumb is to always start with the dry ingredients and alternate , you want to make sure to always finish with the dry mixture. The final step is pouring the batter into the baking pans and bake. Remember that each recipe calls for different temperatures and baking time so read the recipe carefully. The smell of heaven will soon fill your kitchen!

German Chocolate Cake

1 package (4 ounces ) German sweet chocolate found in the baking section

1/2 cup water

2 cups flour

1 t. baking soda

1/4 t. salt

2 sticks of butter that is soft.

2 cups sugar

4 egg yolks

1 t. vanilla

1 cup buttermilk

4 eggs whites

First you need to get the chocolate melted which is why the recipe calls for 1/2 cup of water. Heat the water either on the stove or in the microwave, put the 4 ounces of chocolate in the bowl of water and stir until chocolate is completely melted.

Remember the formula? (Dry, wet, dry, wet . . .)

Mix your butter, sugar and vanilla together. Always add the eggs yolks one at a time (save your egg whites until the end).

Mix all dry ingredients together and alternate with your wet (buttermilk)

Mix until smooth..... don't kill it.

Beat egg whites in separate bowl with electric mixer at high speed until stiff peaks form. This is going to make the cake light and fluffy.

Gently stir into batter.

Pour into pans and bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes or until cake springs back when lightly touched in the center.

Cool completely on wire racks.

Coconut- Pecan Filling and Frosting

1 can evaporated milk

1 1/2 cups sugar

3/4 cup ( 1 1/2 sticks butter)

4 egg yolks, sightly betten

1 package ( 7 ounces) coconut

1 1/2 cups chopped pecans

Mix milk, sugar, butter egg yolks and vanilla in large saucepan. Cook and stir on medium heat about 12 minutes or until thickened and golden brown. Remove from heat.

Stir in coconut and pecans. Cool to room temperature

Spread coconut -pecan frosting between layers and over top. I love using a milk chocolate frosting in between layers and on the sides of the cake . . .oohhh mmmmyyy so good!!!

Chocolate frosting

6 ounces good semisweet chocolate such as Callebaut

2 sticks of butter

1 egg yolk at room temperature

1 t. vanilla

1 1/4 cups confectioner's sugar

1 t. instant coffee power

Now . . . if you are short on time and need to cut a corner, I think 2 cans of milk chocolate frosting from your local grocery store is just fine ( I won't tell if you don't). Because life is NOT all kitchen work!

Let the cooking or in this case BAKING begin!!!!!!!!

So we have a sweet tooth among us...a request for German Chocolate Cake. This is one of my favorites!! Yummy! Look tomorrow for this family secret sssshhhhhhhhhhh.

I am a big believer in keeping a well stocked pantry and for this recipe I always have these ingredients on hand; it makes life simpler to be well stocked (if you know what I mean). Today I am writing about Spaghetti Puttanesca is a gutsy sauce thats easy and full of flavor. So you can have a dinner with an attitude in 10 minutes.

Spaghetti Puttanesca:

serves 4

4 medium garlic cloves minced or pressed

1 pound spaghetti

2 tb. olive oil

1 t. red pepper flakes

1 ( 28 ounce ) can diced tomatoes

3 tb. capers, rinsed

1/2 cup black olives such as Kalamata (pitted and cut in half)

Heat oil, garlic, red pepper flakes in a large skillet over medium heat until fragrant. Stir in tomatoes and simmer until slightly thicken about 8 minutes.

Stir in capers, olives and parsley into sauce. Pour over pasta and toss.

Time to put my apron on and into my kitchen I go. . .