Best Gourmet Chili

Day-after-day it seems you hear of weather records being shattered . it seems we are bombarded by records we hear on a day-to-day basis. Is there a reason for this? 

                                              """Global warming"""

Since mother nature is not mercy on us these days, especially if you live in Northern Ontario where the temperature hits -40C up to -45C with the wind-chill, and when the weather is extremely cold you often think of something warm and satisfying and tastes better the second day and freezes well in case of any leftovers.  You can prepare the chili in a slow cooker and when you come home from work, your dinner is ready to  serve, you can cook it on top of the stop, or even bake it in the oven.

 

 

Best Gourmet Chili

 

Ingredients

1/4 c olive oil
1 lb. roast meat cut into small pieces (sirloin roast)
1 lb. ground Italian sausage, ( I will share my recipe later)

2 lbs. ground beef
2 c diced onions

pound of good quality bacon
1 green pepper, diced
1 yellow pepper, diced
1 red pepper, diced
1/2 c red wine, such as Chianti, Merlot
2 cans stewed tomatoes (14.5 oz.)
1 can tomato sauce (29 oz.)
2 tbsp. tomato paste
2 tsp. kosher salt
1 tsp. pepper
2 tbsp. brown sugar
2 tbsp. chili powder
2 tbsp. cumin
2 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes

1 oz. unsweetened chocolate or cocoa
1 1/2 - 2 cups water from cooking the beans
1 cup dry kidney beans and 1 cup black beans soaked and boiled

* Garnishes: Shredded cheddar cheese, sour cream, sliced green onions, sliced radishes baked tortilla strips or a piece of my corn bread.

Direction

 

1) Heat oil in a large pot and brown the stew meat on all sides.  Remove at set aside.  Brown the Italian sausage and ground beef.  Remove to the same bowl as the stew meat.
2) Remove excess oil leaving about 2 tbsp. and add the onions and peppers.  Sauté until tender.  Add the wine and reduce by half.
3) Return the meat and any juices that have accumulated to the pot and add all remaining ingredients (tomatoes through red pepper flakes).  Bring to a boil.  Reduce to simmer and cook for 2 hours on medium low , stirring occasionally. the meat will shred completely.
4) Add the beans and let the chili simmer for another 1-2 hours , stirring occasionally.

 

 

Note:  in case you cannot find a good quality sausages, you can substitute one pound of good quality smoke bacon, and use the fat rendered from the bacon to fry the meat and the vegetables.

My addition to the recipe two sprigs of finely chopped celery, two finely chopped carrots, and two smoked chipotle chili from a jar with the juice. 

 

Buttermilk Corn Bread

 

 

1/2 cup of sweet butter

½ - 2/3 cup white sugar depends how sweet you like it

2 eggs

1 cup buttermilk  

1 cup flour

1 cup coarse cornmeal

½ cup frozen or fresh corn

½ tsp. baking soda

½ tsp. sea salt

 

Melt the butter and mix in all the ingredients and whip well to avoid any lumps.  Warm the oven at 375F , grease an 8x8 square pan and you can line it with a parchment , pour the mixture, smooth the top by tapping the tray on the counter, bake for 35-40 minutes or

Until golden brown and the toothpick comes clean.

 

I hope you give these recipes a try , and let me know what do you think .

 

Blessing

Arlette

 

 

 

 

Assyrian Kbeybatt or the Kubebeh (Kuttal)

You will be amazed from the information you get tracing a word you read some where and then the word, takes it to another world where you discover million things hidden through time and what interest you, is from a small search you end up in a big encyclopaedia of information you never thought that it will be available for you online.

I wanted to do a research about the Assyrian food and in specific the Kbeybatt which is a popular Assyrian Dish. One of the Assyrian old books mentioned that the Kubebeh as it was pronounced by the Assyrian was part of their diet. It was prepared by mixing cracked whole wheat with some kind of flour, to gluttonize the dough and make it playable to stuff, and the stuffing was kind of chopped meat and onions and green herbs, and was cooked in hot boiling water.

This Kubebeh was served on the table of the Assyrian Kings around the 500s BC.

The Assyrian King Ashurnasirpal II added Lebanon and Syria as part of his Empire after Several campaigns 883-859 B.C. Ashurnasirpal II did not annex the Phoenician cities but instead only aimed to establish them as a source of raw materials for the Assyrian war machine. Iron was needed for weapons, Lebanese cedar for construction, gold and silver for the payment of troops; in the end however, Ashurnasirpal campaigns were only a short term success, the kingdom started to fall down after his death.

Kibbeh is another dish brought to us by the Assyrian Cuisine. the famous baklawa is also an Assyrian Dessert, and I did a posting about the origin of Baklawa with an original recipe of the Baklawa .
Kibbeh in our modern days is a mix of burghul (fine cracked wheat) and meat grind together using a mortar and a pestle and stuffed with cooked ground meat, chopped onion and pinenuts. The recipe has changed with time to more refined texture and ingredients…
I am going to share with you an old and still a popular recipe from the Assyrian Cuisine I hope you will enjoy it as we do, and becomes a favourite to you as well..

Ingredients for Kbeybatt:
2 cups of equal amount of Semolina and Fine Brown Burghul . Wash the burghul and don’t strain it add the semolina, salt and pepper cinnamon, and all spice, using your hand mix well to combine, dipping your hands in warm water to get a smooth combined dough and playable to use. Leave it aside, within minutes the grain will soak all the water, and you might need more water to reach a soft dough, able to work with it and stuff it.

Stuffing:
500 Gms Ground beef or lamb or a mix of both
Large onion chopped
¼ cup or so chopped fresh parsley
Salt and pepper
couple spoons of Olive oil and butter

Start cooking your onions and when they welted add the meat and the spice and cook till the meat looses the red color (Most Assyrians stuff the Kbeybatt with uncooked stuffing its tastier as the meat cook inside the kibbee and flavour).

After you shape and stuff the Kbeybatt keep them on a towel till ready to boil.  Don't be shy with your stuffing.  If there is a leftover dough you can turn it into small balls , leaving a deep thumbprint for the dressing. 

In a big pot add cold water, salt and some bay leaves, boil the water, and when ready add the Kbeybatt, boil for 20 minutes .  Transfer them to a strainer and let them drain before serving them with homemade Greek Yogurt and fresh lemons juice.  As for the small kibbeh balls, they can be boiled in the same water for 15 minutes, drain and serve them with lemon garlic and olive oil dressing (mash some fresh garlic and salt then squeeze fresh lemon juice and mix in the olive oil) they can be served as an appetizer or a vegetarian dish.



….. Yummy. Enjoy

1-Wash and soak the burghul
2-Add coarse semolina and spices
3-Turn to a playable dough
4-By dipping the finger in water helps to open and shape

5-open it with the shape of a triangle and as thin as you can

6-stuff it then close the two ends together to seal

Leave it on a towel till ready to boil , leftover can be covered and kept in the fridge

Daoud Bacha Stew or Kabab Hindi and some cookies

Oatmeal Cranberry Coconut and Walnut Cookies
Melting Moments with citrus flavour

I got the recipe for the Oatmeal Cranberry Cookies from my friend Rosa from Rosa YummyYums

Oatmeal Coconut Cranberry Walnut Cookies

Ingredients
2 1/3 Cups All purpose flour
2 Tsp Baking powder
1 1/2 Tsp Baking soda
1 Tsp Ground cinnamon
1/5 Tsp Ground cloves
A pinch Ground nutmeg
1/2 Tsp Sea salt
3 Cups Quick cooking rolled oats - I used original oats
1 1/2 cups Unsalted butter, softened at room temperature
1 1/2 Cups Light brown sugar
1/3 Cup Granulated sugar
2 Large eggs *** I added three eggs
2 Tsp Pure vanilla extract
1 Cup Grated coconut, unsweetened
1 Cup Walnuts, roasted & chopped coarsely
1 Cup Dried cranberries, chopped coarsely

Mix the butter and the sugar , then add the eggs one by one then the dry ingredients and nuts.

preheat the oven at 375F , bake for 12-15 minutes depend on your oven.

I used an ice cream scoop and got 32 cookies out of this recipe.. Rosa got around 66 cookies, seems she made them smaller.... these are amazing cookies and adding the extra egg kept the cookies soft crumbly and they didn't get hard till the last one...

Daoud Bacha

Lebanon was part of the Ottoman Empire for over 400 years, Daoud Bacha was one of the Mouttasarefieh Leader he was a bad ruler and divided the Country and created a conflict between the Christian Maronite and the Muslim Duruz in Mount Lebanon.

I am not sure if this dish was created in his kitchen, or it was one of his favourite.

Ingredients:

500 gm extra lean grind lamb meat or beef

1 kg of fresh tomatoes chopped

50 gm of toasted pine nuts

2 large onions thinly sliced

1 ½ head of garlic sliced

2 heads of green pepper

½ cup butter of less

Salt, black pepper, Lebanese seven spices

1 cup of beef stock or water,

Tomato juice to be used later

* juice of one lemon or couple spoons of pomegranate molasses (optional)

Preparation:

Grind the meat in a food processor add salt, pepper and seven spices (you can see the recipe in an old posting) using your hand mix the meat thoroughly with the spices to combine, turn them into medium size meat balls.

In a non stick skillet melt the butter and fry the meatballs, in batches, and drain on paper towel. Add the onions and when halfway done add the sliced garlic and the green pepper turn until they welted. Add the chopped tomatoes, pinenuts, and cup of stock or water, and cook for ten minutes, add the meatball and continue cooking until the sauce thickens.

* If you like your stock with a hint of sour you can add the pomegranate molasses or lemon juice stir and cook for extra 5 minutes.

In case the tomatoes are not juicy enough you can add some of the tomato juice, continue cooking until the meats are cooked, and the sauce is thickened. Serve over rice pilaf or burghul pilaf with some of the sauce as well.

Its delicious , simple to prepare . Enjoy.

Lady’s Wrist and Mortadella

Lady’s wrist or Lebanese Mortadella is a savoury dish prepared either with beef, lamb or a combination of the two or from chicken… in This recipe we are using beef.

For the Meat:

700 gm of roast beef

½ head of garlic (if you like garlic you can add more)

2 green peppers cleaned and sliced

1 tsp of freshly ground black pepper

1 ½ tsp of sea salt

2 large eggs

1 cup of bread crumbs

Clean the beef from fat and cut into cubes. In a food processor add cubed meat, garlic and green bell pepper and grind finally until the meat gather on one side of the blade, you might do that in several batches… add the egg and bread crumbs , salt and pepper mix well in a bowl to combine.

For the Stuffing:

½ head of garlic sliced

1 cup of roasted pistachio

Or 1 cup of green olives

For the boiling water:

Couple bay leaves

1 tbsp of sea salt

1 tbsp of white vinegar

Divide the meat into three equal parts, on a cutting board laid with a large piece of plastic wrap, take one part of the meat and spread it in the centre of the plastic wrap in a rectangular shape 1 cm thick. Add sliced garlic and pistachios or green olives over the meat and take one side of the wrap and roll the meat over the stuffing using the plastic wrap to roll. Close tightly with the wrap bringing both ends to the centre, and then rewrap it in another plastic and twist the ends and tie each end with a cooking twine...

In a big enough pot, filled with water, add bay leaves, salt and vinegar. Cover the pot to boil. Add the meat wraps to the boiling water, cover and cook for 15 minutes.  Take the meat out to a plate and let it rest and cool.

If you want to use this meat as an appetizer platter you can slice, and serve it over a bed of lettuce, or you can fry it with couple spoons of butter before slicing it to give a nicer brown color. Perfect as a cold meat sandwich.

To serve as a meal… over low heat in the same pan which you fried the rolls, add another spoon of butter and same amount of flour and make a rough, add beef stock and cook on low stirring to thicken the sauce, add ¼ cup of red wine or 2 tsp of red wine vinegar to the stock add the meat and cook for 15 minutes. Serve with mashed potatoes.

Note: My late aunt used to stuff the meat with boiled eggs .

My preference is the garlic and pistachios.

 

Sheish Barak Yuksuk - A Tribute to my Grandparents

My posting is only intended to honour my ancestors, their heritage and the cuisine of the Assyrian Orthodox Church…I am not preaching or talking politics, or discriminating any one.

The Syriac Orthodox Church is one of the most ancient Christian Churches tracing its roots to the Church of Antioch. The disciples were first called Christians in Antioch (Acts of the Apostles 11:26). Apostle Peter is believed to have established a church in Antioch in AD 37, the remnants of which are still in Antakya (the modern name of Antioch), Turkey.

The Assyrian language is Aramic and it’s the language of our Lord Jesus.

Before the war approximately one half of the Assyrian population lived in what is today Southern Turkey. The Young Turks took control of the Ottoman Empire only five years before the beginning of World War I. The Ottomans planned to join the side of the Central Powers. In 1914, knowing that it was heading into the war; the Ottoman government passed a law that required the conscription of all young males into the Ottoman army to support the war effort.

Assyrians in what is now Turkey primarily lived in the provinces of Hakkari, Şırnak, and Mardin. These areas also had a sizable Kurdish population. The Ottoman Empire entered World War I on October 29, 1914. My grandfather Gorguis was a young guy, very handsome, educated comes from a well known family from Adana, was also forced to join the army and fight the first world war.

He told stories about the war and how badly the Christian soldiers were treated, some of them were used as bodies’ fence to protect the Empire Army, and who remained alive returned home without their manhood, so that no child will bare their names. My grandfather was very lucky that his education and wisdom moved him from the front lines to the logistic line, where he works on fixing the heavy equipments and machinery.

The Assyrian genocide took place in the same context and time-period as the Armenian and Greek genocides. Contemporary sources usually speak of the events in terms of an Assyrian genocide, along with the Armenian genocide and Greek genocide by the Ottoman Empire, listing the Greek Orthodox, Syriac Christian and Armenian Christian victims together. For example, the International Association of Genocide Scholars reached a consensus that "the Ottoman campaign against Christian minorities of the Empire between 1914 and 1923 constituted genocide against Armenians, Assyrians, and Pontian and Anatolian Greeks."

After the war my grandfather married Rihana. A pretty young lady from Ephesus, their first child was a baby girl (Araliah), then my father. When the genocide happened and the Ottoman soldiers where moving from one town to another, my grandparents, their relatives and friends all gathered at the town church, and in the middle of the night during a sever snowy weather, ran away on horses using old wagons, and some were walking… crossing from town to town walking on bodies not even looking behind or where they are stepping… In the effect of that critical situation they lost the baby girl who didn’t survived the harsh cold weather, my father was still an infant… he made it to Lebanon, where they settled and lived till they died, hoping that one day they will go back to their Town and their home….

During my childhood times when we used to visit our grandparents, you always find Teta Rihana in the kitchen cooking a big meal, the smell of her food reached the main road, and you know that something delicious is happened on my Teta`s stove. One of these meals is the Sheish Barak Yuksuk, which is almost similar to the Lebanese Sheish Barak, but instead of the Yogurt sauce which cooked the dumplings, you use tomato sauce.

Sheish Barak Yuksuk:
Yuksuk is a Turkish word for soup, and Sheish Barak means meat dumplings

INGREDIENTS:

1/2 recipe Ajeen or basic dough recipe
3 cloves garlic, crushed with a dash of salt
1 cup finely chopped fresh mint (if fresh is not available use couple spoons dried)
½ kg (16 oz) ground meat (either beef or lamb)

bones or oxtails for the broth
3 medium sized onions, finely chopped
¼ cup fried pine nuts
1 tspn salt
¼ tspn ground allspice
¼ tspn ground cinnamon
2 tbls butter

1 cup of dried chickpeas soaked in water over night

4 cup of tomato juice + 8 oz chopped tomatoes

fresh lemn juice( 1-2 lemons depend on your taste)

Basic Dough or Ajeen
(this is used in many savoury pastries)
INGREDIENTS:
1 kg (32 oz / 5 cups) plain flour
1 ¼ cups warm water
½ cup olive oil
½ cup vegetable oil
2 tbls salt
2 tbls sugar

PREPARATION:
Sift the flour into a working surface.Mix in salt and sugar. Make a well in the centre.Pour olive oil and vegetable oil in the well.Mix the dry ingredients into the liquid.Add water gradually. Knead the dough into a ball (if the dough is too stiff add some water).Knead the dough on a floured working surface until it is smooth and elastic this can be done in an electric mixer fitted with a dough hook, or in a food processor.Form the dough into a ball and put into a lightly floured bowl, covered with a damp cloth. Leave in a warm place until the dough has doubled in size.

Preparing the Sheesh Barak

Roll out the dough with a rolling pin to about 1 cm thickness. Using a round cookie cutter (medium size), press over dough to get equal rounds.Fry onion in shortening till color changes a little. Add meat, salt, allspice and cinnamon. Stir occasionally and fry for 7-8 minutes. Add pine nuts and Mix. Drain the mixture as butter would affect closing the pastries.

Spread the round a little with your fingers. Place 1 tspn of the filling on it. Fold over one end to make a semi-circle. Press edges down to seal. Take the two ends from the straight side, bring them together to make a small ring. Press well. Repeat till rounds are done.

You will have left over dough , (this is the best part) roll the remaining dough in thin rope and cut into diagonals. Place the stuffed dough and the cut pastries in a tray with parchment, Bake in a hot oven (400F) for 10 minutes or until golden.

If you are using bones or oxtail, wash and dry with paper towel, and bake in the oven till brown, and drain all the fat. Move them to a plate .

In a big pot add the tomato juice and the tomatoes the oxtails and the chickpeas and cook until the sauce thickens and the meat starts to fall down from the bones. Mash the garlic and chop the fresh mint or sprinkle the dried mint if using and add it to the pot, boil for 7 minutes more. Add the Sheish Barak and keep boiling for fifteen minutes add the lemon juice and stir. and continue cooking for 5 more minutes...

The smell is unbelievable . Grabe a plate and enjoy a delicious home comfort meal.

Note: when the meat falls of the bones , and the chickpeas are very tender, your meal is ready to serve.

Prime Rib Roast 101

I heard many times from family and friends that cooking a roast specially a Prime Rib Roast is not an easy "operation" to do and they prefer to cook a steak instead of a roast.

Preparing a roast is very simple, I am going to walk you through the preparation step by step , also what to look for when you shop for a prime rib, to preparing and marinating the roast and cooking it.

when you are shopping for a roast look for a nice marbling all around and nice red color. Marbling doesn't mean a thick layer of fat more than an 12/inch or so (you are going to trim it and you are paying for it) Depend on how many serving but for a generous serving count 2 persons per a rib.

If the roast has extra fat , trim the excess and leave the thin layer of fat which protect the meat, and baste it and gives the flavour.

Make sure that the meat is at room temperature when you proceed with cooking, if your roast is frozen, make sure to defrost it in the fridge over night, and take it out 2 hours before cooking.

(If you don't let the roast come to room temperature, it will take longer to cook your roast. Your roast won't cook evenly, and you'll end up with well-done slices on the end and raw meat in the center ( It Happened to me the first time I did a roast, there were no cooking blogs !!!!)

I wash the meat and dry it with paper towel completely before I cook it.

to cook the roast the recommended temperature is to start in a preheated oven at 450F for 15 minutes then lower the oven to 325F and continue cooking, also depend on your oven and the temperature and if you are using gas oven or electric .

I recommend that you use a meat thermometer to make sure you reach the right temperature .

for rare roast with bright red centre the temperature must read between 120F to 125 F

for med rare with pink centre and brown around the exterior the temp must read 130F to 135F

for medium roast with light pink center and outer portion is brown the temp must read 140F to 145F

medium well roast the center is cooked the temp will read 150F to 155F

well done steak is uniformly (dry) temp will read 160F and above

In Lebanon and Europe when we cook the roast we prefer to flavour the stock and add it to the roast and not vise verse.

1- prepare the meat and dry it with paper towel

2-melt 2 tsp of butter or ghee + 2 tsp of olive oil in a deep thick bottom pot to avoid any splashes of fat.

3- fry the meat on all sides to brown and caramelize

4- prepare a wet rub if you like (I use Dijon mustard + grain mustard, black pepper, garlic and salt) you can use only sea salt and black pepper. When the meat is brown on all side rub with the seasoning.

5- after you brown the meat get rid of the fat left in the pot (I empty them on a paper towel)

6- all the bits left in the pot are flavours, I add to it home made Demi Glace sauce or beef stock and couple spoons of cognac or sherry and cook the stock for 10 minutes or so to get all the flavours mix.

7- I don't know if I mention before but I love cooking with clay pot since I was a little girl this was something unique watching my mom's family in Baalback using clay pot on direct fire to prepare the food. for that I prepare a rack to sit my roast on, and my rack is a combination of vegetables (onion, garlic, celery and carrots)

8-if you don't have a clay pot a roasting pan is just perfect.

9- I also like to serve Roasted potatoes with the roast, I used russet potatoes and put the head of potato in a large serving spoon and made slices - the big spoon doesn't let the knife go all the way down , and you keep the potato as a whole. Drizzle with oil and chopped garlic salt and pepper and bake in the oven start with the lower heat same like the roast , then after you take the roast out to rest you can raise the oven to 425F and continue roasting the potatoes.

Michel likes little juice on his meat.

I prefer lots of juice and veggiesPlease Join us....

Lebanese Stuffed Grape Leaves - Yabrak Dolmas

Dolma is a family of stuffed vegetable dishes in the cuisines of the former Ottoman Empire and surrounding regions, including Turkey, Egypt, Albania, Algeria, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, Palestine, the Balkans, Greece, Iraq, Iran, Perhaps the best-known is the grape-leaf dolma, which is more precisely called yaprak dolma or sarma. Common vegetables to stuff include zucchini, eggplant, tomato and pepper. The stuffing may or may not include meat. Meat dolma are generally served warm, often with sauce; meatless ones are generally served cold, Both are often eaten with yoghurt.

Ingredients :
500 gm grape leaves(either comes fresh, frozen or in jars packed with water- I grow my own grapes and pick the leaves in the summer and freeze them for the winter)
500 gm of ground meat (50% beef - 50% lamb) or use all beef
250 gm of white short grain rice (I use basmati rice which I like better)
1 tsp Lebanese spice mix (look for my recipe) or tsp. of cinnamon, half tsp. of all spice
1 tsp salt & 1/2 tsp black pepper
2-4 freshly squeezed lemons (depend on your taste) 
for serving: homemade yogurt or good quality store bought for serving. (check my recipe)
couple cloves of mashed garlic to mix with the yogurt this is optional or serve with yogurt by itself.

Fresh Ontario Lamb is not available in the stores on regular basis , only the Australian brand.
When I see a nice big piece I buy it slice it myself , divide and freeze it to use in recipes. I used 2 packages of lamb shoulders deboned and the meat is grounded and I added lean ground beef, and used the bones to make the stock to cook the grape leaves.

the instructions and preparation with photos:










the ground lamb

ground lamb , ground beef, rice and spice + (1/4 cup of water to soak the rice )

the lamb stock

.
leave the frozen grape leaves to defrost, don't try to flatten them before they are completely defrosted , they will break.

if you are using grape leaves from a jar, carefully take the leaves out, wash them from the salt, then boil them for two minutes as some leave are very thick .

For frozen grape leaves, boil a pot of hot water for less than one minutes, as they are picked young and tender and kept frozen they leaves are nice and tender.

Move them to a strainer to drain and cool before stuffing.
I prefer cooking my food in clay pot or ceramic. I soaked my clay pot in water for at least 15 minutes.
open the leaf and turn the back side up facing you, add around tbsp. of stuffing stretch it along the top (when you roll you will have the smooth side for cooking) close both ends over the stuffing , and roll the leaf, don't tight the roll, the rice needs to cook properly and soak the juice, it will turn dry, also don't roll it very loose the stuffing will come out during the cooking -  adding the 1/4 cup of water to the rice stuffing mix helps the rice to open and fluff when cooking.  My aunt adds the squeezed lemons juice in the stuffing instead of the water... its a preference.


start layering the grape leave in the bottom of the pot, if the stock if very thick and gelatinous, add around two cups only and continue to cover the grape leave with water .  Other wise use all meat stock.  The water has to cover the leaves. look at the photo above.
You can easily cook it in a stainless steel pot on top of the stove, start at medium high and when it starts boiling lower the heat and continue cooking till the rice and meat are cooked completely.  a plate on top of the grape leaves secure the leaves and keep them in place not open.
 
Serve the Grape Leaves with home made yogurt, or Greek style yogurt.
p.s.: Instead of lamb meat you can use only ground beef and use chicken stock to cook your grape leaves.  My mom puts lamb chops or deboned chicken pieces under the grape leaves to get the maximum flavour.

You can clean core and stuff small marrow zucchini and add it to the pot, its delicious cooked together .

we prefer to use the Lebanese zucchini(marrow squash) if not available use thin bright green and small size zucchini, wash and get yourself this holler, from a Middle Eastern Store in your area. Little by little start going down and turning slowly so you can carve and pull at the same time the heart of the zucchini, making sure your hand is steady so it doesn't break the zucchini.
don't throw the inside , its delicious and healthy, mix it with eggs for omelets or make zucchini fritters .

KABAB BATINJAN - GRILLED KABAB WITH EGGPLANT

Tfadalou - Come join us................

Indoor BBQ Kabab Batinjan

Couple of days ago we were craving a BBQ meal; the weather was stormy with 80 km strong winds and heavy snow. It was not convenient at all to do outdoor BBQ.

I prepared my ground pounded beef (usually we use ground lamb) added salt, black pepper, and a dash of Allepo red pepper chili which is powerful (usually the meat turns red from the Allepo pepper they add) I added a tsp of paprika instead and let the meat marinate with the spice for an hour to get a good flavour.

Prepare your grill, cut your vegetables, you can quarter the onions, cube some green peppers, quarter some fresh tomatoes, in advance you slice your Italian eggplant and soak it in salted water, then drain and squeeze any juice, and this will discard any bitter taste.
Take a small piece of the meat turn it into a ball and skewer between a piece of eggplant and onion and continue, with the rest.
If you are stuck with a bad weather like me and you need to BBQ indoors make sure the fan is on and a slight opening of a window is needed to circulate the air.
When the skewers are well cooked I empty them in a Pyrex casserole and put them in a warm oven to keep them hot, after I finish the meat and veggies I add my tomatoes as they don’t take more than couple of minutes, then I add the tomatoes on top and leave them in the oven for 10-15 minutes so everything is tender and cooked all the way through, serve on pita with tahini sauce or garlic sauce.