Basturma – Lebanese Armenian Pastrami

Aug 22nd, 2010 by ++Mira++ | 8 Comments

BEWARE : beef heavy post ahead

Basturma is one of those things that has a lot of memories for me. Piling up in the car, heading to the Armenian side of town, into the deli. The wafting smell of spices. Hot fresh crunchy French bread, tangy garlic sauce, crisp pickled Persian cucumbers, and lots of thinly sliced spicy salty Basturma.

Ok, so its not technically pastrami, but it is related. It is originally a Turkish dish, and was adapted by many including Albanians, Arabs, Greeks, Armenians and Lebanese.

Bastourma, or Pastirma, is simply a cut of meat that is dried and cured with a mix of spices. The process is not as simple and has many steps. I don’t know the exact recipe, but it starts out with salt curing it for days to pull out all the moisture. Letting it dry, by putting weights on it. Then, cover it in a paste of crushed cumin, fenugreek, garlic, and hot paprika, followed by thorough air-drying. The paprika should be spicy. This whole process does not take less than 3 weeks.

I have never made it myself . It is available at a local meat market, and it’s sold for around $9.00 a pound. I buy 1/2 a lb and ask the butcher to slice it real thin. I don’t dare buy more because it really doesnt last around me, lol. I start munching on the thin translucent buttery slices the minute I’m in my car. The soft beef, with fat ribbons has a salty addicting taste that is just punched up with the spicy thick paste on the outside.

When it does make it home, its great with eggs in the morning, or just simply on a pita with some mayo. Just don’t blame me if you get addicted.

Lebanese Mutabal – Baba Ghanoush

Aug 18th, 2010 by ++Mira++ | 3 Comments

Remember the  Baba Ghanoush I made last week? Well, what I’m posting about is what the west considers as Baba Ghanoush. In Lebanon, we call it Mutabal. Just wanted to be clear on the two. I don’t care what you call either, because they are both YUMMY!

Now, you prepare the eggplant like I did in the baba ghanouj post. I still prefer grilling the eggplant if possible to give a smoky taste, but its good to just pop em in the oven and make a bunch for a big batch. You can easily freeze the rest too.

What you need for the Mutabal:

• 1 eggplant
• 1 clove garlic
• 4  Tb tahini
• 1 lemon
• olive oil

And thats it! Can you believe something so yummy is so simple.

Add the garlic and lemon.

I decided to use an immersion blender. Most people use a blender.

Add the tahini.

and blend blend blend. Salt to taste, and also add more tahini or lemon as you like. Its very forgiving.

You drizzle olive oil on top, and garnish with paprika and parsley.

Now, try making that and tell me you don’t love me.

Pacman eats Baba Ghanoush

Aug 4th, 2010 by ++Mira++ | 3 Comments

Little arabic lesson, Baba Ganoush, really pronounced “Ghannouj”, is literally translated as ”father cute”. Don’t ask. I have no idea why.lol.

I have one issue with the western adaptation of this dish. Baba Ghanoush and Mutabal are often mixed up and interchanged. They are very similar dishes, but are distinctly different. Baba Ghanough contains no tahini whatsoever, while Mutabal does. It is frequently Mutabal that is refered to as “baba ghanoush” in the west.

SO, I decided to introduce you to the REAL Baba Ghanoush. Very simple recipe. Completely vegetarian/vegan, healthy, and quick. Best part is it holds up well in the fridge and you can enjoy it for several days…mine is usually gone before it even cools

It is best served cold. And I think the eggplant is one of the least utilized veggies, so here it is, an ode to you my aubergine friend!

First, you start by repeatedly stabbing ur eggplant friend…all over…way to start off a friend ship 

Next, place in preheated oven at 350F for about an hour or till tender. Don’t cover it or put any oil or anything. Simply pop them in after stabbing em.

Now the traditional way calls for burning over an open flame on the stove, but this is far too messy for me, as it requires you to put it directly on the stove top flame. If you have a maid (i don’t), then go for it.lol. Otherwise, into the oven they go. The only negative is you don’t get the smoky flavor.

Pull em out when they are as wrinkly as your grandmothers buttocks. Sorry, too much?

Then, carefuly peel off the skin(after it cooled), keeping the flesh intact. If you have cooked this enough, then it should be fairly easy.   

I like to take out the seeds, just simply pull out the ’sacks’. 

Now this is VERY important. Grab the eggplant between your plams and squeeze. SQUEEEZE. You will be surprised how much water comes out. Keep doing it till barely any comes out. If you don’t you will end up with a soggy mess.

After, just roughly dice it all up. I like it chunky. 

Other ingredients you need:

• 1 tomatoe
• 1/2 onion
• 1 clove garlic
• 1 lemon
• olive oil
• salt 

Crush garlic, and squeeze the lemon into the eggplant. Add salt. Mix. It should be really lemony to be good. 

Top with the tomatoe, then the onion. Then drizzle with olive oil. You can add mint or parsely.  

Then guess what happened? PACMAN decided to join. 

Sorry, i’m a nerd. I couldn’t help it.

So basically this is delicious and I ate it all then licked the plate. Your turn to eat real Baba Ghanoush.Ok? Ready, set, GO!

SKW3VCG2CBH5

Salt baked Fish + GIVEAWAY

Feb 2nd, 2010 by ++Mira++ | Comment

I have never made this before. I’ve seen it once and funnily enough bobby flay made it this week on iron chef, though in a slightly different way

So, what i used was lemons, red snapper (1 lb each), salt,lots of salt,lol, and bay leaf and seasoning.

i cant live without lemons, i looooove them…yum

i ended up using 3 salt boxes/cans, i think u can get away with 2

i filled the bottom of a pan with it, NOTE, wet the salt and make it stick to each other

red snapper is one of my favorite fish, its sooo delicious and easy to eat

I actually like my fish whole, i just get it gutted and de-scaled, however NOTE that i read that its better to leave the scales on the fish, so the skin peels off easier with the salt. If i had read tehis before i wouldve tried each fish one way

in tony montana voice: say hello to my little friend…

stuff with lemon, seasoning and bay leaf

wet the salt with water

so its this consistancy, dont mind the writing on my hand, thats my to do list.lol. if i write it on paper i lose the to do list so i forget what i have to do.lol

mound the salt around the fish. NOTE bobby flay and martha stewart both add a couple egg whites to the salt instead of water and bobby also put some parchment paper over the fish before covering with salt. I would reccomend this because if you are not careful preparing this parts of the fish exposed to the salt can be too salty

i baked at 350 for 30 min, its really 15 min per pound according to martha.

I struggled a bit with “uncracking” this and revealing it, and salt flew everywhere! haha..so be careful.

Ta dahhhhh!

also, u need to peel the skin right off

So here it is! sorry for the plating but my camera was running outa battery so i had to hurry lol

It was really cooked perfect inside, just make sure you get all the salt off before plating it(because i made the mistake of not wetting all the salt)…hehe..so enjoy..if u make this let me know of any tips!

also, this is a great book: Martha Stewart’s Cooking School and they have this recipe in it so i’m giving a new copy away!

To enter you must be a US resident, You can either tweet an entry @MiraUncut, RT to your followers, or comment here, or do all and it counts as 3 entries!

====> to enter just tell me what your favorite cook book is!

this giveaway will end on friday by 5 pm ET and i’ll announce on saturday. good luck!

UPDATED TO ADD: the winner is KATE from thisamericanwife.net! yay!!

Meatloaf Cupcakes

Feb 2nd, 2010 by ++Mira++ | 1 Comment

hey peeps! i was brainstorming the other day and i thought meatloaf cupcakes, how awesome would that be? Now, i have never had or made meatloaf in my life, and neither has my hubby so i thought what the hell, why not? so i googled “meatloaf recipe” and got one off of http://www.momswhothink.com/ . I modified it a little, but the basics are there, and let me tell u we loved it!

here is their recipe:

1/2 cup bread crumbs (i added a lil more)
1 1/2 pounds lean ground beef
1 cup milk
1 large egg
1/4 cup chopped onion
1/2 teaspoon dry mustard (i substituted with celery seed)
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/4 teaspoon ground sage (i also added 1/4 teaspoon thyme)
1/8 teaspoon garlic powder (didn’t have this)
1/2 cup barbecue sauce ( I had run out so i used Ketchup, hot sauce, honey and A1 for the sauce)
1 Tablespoon Worcestershire sauce ( didnt have so i used A1 steak sauce instead)

added the A1

onions

herbs n seasonings

i added this pik cuz i LOVE how u can see each salt particle …im silly i know

breadcrumbs which i made by toasting toast in the oven for 10 min

1 egg

milk

So, i added a big spoonful for each cupcake whole, but what i would do differently is add probably at least 1/2 more, because they shrank a little when cooked.
You can also add cupcake liners, which i shouldve tried but my brain wasnt working.

make sure to make a cupcake “dome” to look like a cupcake since meatloaf doesnt rise
i used the bottom of the spoon to shape them

and voila! I only had a 1lb ground beef so i was short.

SO, i didnt put the sauce on them right away. Pop them in the oven at 350 for 30 min
this is what they look like, before saucing them and popping them back in

So, the sauce i made is 2/3 ketchup, 1/3 A1 steak sauce, 1 tablespoon honey, and 1/4 teaspoon hotsauce

spoon it on then pop back into the oven for the last 20-30 min

yummmmy

For the frosting, i wanted to use a boxed mashed potatoe. I usually hate potatoes from a box, but these are not too bad, and i wanted it to be really smooth, and i was being lazy and didnt want to bother with peeling potatoes:)

After it cooled a bit, i popped the mash into a ziplock and went to town

And here u go!

imaginging i was in a 5 star restaurant i dotted the plate with hot sauce.hehe.

I would really recommend trying this. It’s really fun, and i would imagine it would be a hit with kids. Also, use more meat per cupcake then i did, and try it with a cupcake liner (*hit myself in the ass for not doing this)

xoxo

Potatoe pie madness

Feb 2nd, 2010 by ++Mira++ | Comment

Have you ever had leftover baked, mashed or other potatoe. Well, this is a reason to make sure you do have leftovers. Some yummy easy potatoe pie for the next day!

The beauty of this is you can add whatever you want into this, even top it off with marinara sauce at the end. Here is what you need.

ingredients
===========
leftover mashed potatoes, potatoes…
1 lb ground beef
italian herbs
1 carrot finely chopped
1 onion chopped
2 tablespoon vinegar
salt pepper to taste
crushed croutons/ bread crumbs
optional: marinara sauce

1) whatever leftover you have, it needs to be mashed and made thick and creamy.
Spread half the potatoe mix at least 1/2 inch thick along the bottom of the pan and smooth it out

season it VERY well
flavor the potatoes with aLOT of seasoning and herbs or it will come out bland. I dont do bland:)

2) sautee the onion, add the carrot and ground beef. Add the vinegar and salt n pepper to the meat.you can add tomatoes too if you like, or any other veggie

3)the ground beef should be spread on top

4) spread the rest of the potatoes on top of the beef this can be tricky. Put a huge dollop of potatoes then slowly spread with a spoon without picking up meat

5) after its all ready, pop in the oven for 20-25 min at 350

6) top with the crushed croutons about 10 min before taking it out of the oven.

7) take a slice out and enjoy with a vinegerette salad (this is a must!). The sour of the salad pairs great with this

my hubby had never had this, and he loved it. My mum used to make it for me on those cold school days. And it always just makes me feel at home. What did your mum make for you that made u feel cozy and warm and puurrrfect?