Oct 8th, 2010 by ++Mira++ | 8 Comments
One of my favorite traditional Lebanese stews is Loubia. Its very healthy, very simple and easy to make. When you make it once you will want it again! You can use frozen green beans, and to be honest, that saves aLOT of time getting the beans ready. I love anything fresh so I usually get the beans ready the night before while watching TV.
I like to use 1lb of beans. Will feed 4, I just love leftovers 
Just pinch off the stalk side of the bean Then snap them in half.
I love to prepare this in the pressure cooker, because it cooks in 15 min!
Sautee 1 medium onion.
Add 1/4 teaspoon Cinnamon, 1/2 teaspoon 7 spice blend, 1/4 teaspoon sage, 1/4 teaspoon thyme. Salt.
Add 1lb cubed meat.
After browning the meat, add the green beans then add 1 can Diced Tomatoes (add the whole thing w the liquid). Alot of people add tomato sauce or paste, I never use the stuff. I always use these diced tomatoes. Keeps everything light and refreshing. Just close the lid on the pressure cooker. Set it to high for 2 min. Once the pressure builds up, put it on low and cook for 15 min only!
While the beans are cooking. I add oil to a pot, brown some vermicelli, and add rice and water.
The meat is melt in your mouth no matter what cut it is because of the pressure cooker. The natural juices of the beans come out and soak up in the rice beautifully.
At home we always dine family style.
I love to eat this with pita bread. Mop up the juices. Wrap my mouth around the juicy chunks of meat. This also makes a very healthy dinner. Your kids will love it. I did as a kid, and I still am addicted to it
Aug 22nd, 2010 by ++Mira++ | 11 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.
Aug 18th, 2010 by ++Mira++ | 4 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.
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
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!!
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
