Feta Cheese Omelet

I usually serve this omelet as a light dinner or a brunch. It is light and easy to prepare. You could use egg whites if you prefer.

1 tablespoon vegetable oil
3 eggs, beaten
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon black pepper
¼ cup feta cheese, crumbled
1 tablespoon chopped parsley
½ teaspoon dried mint, or 1 tablespoon chopped fresh mint

Whisk the eggs in a bowl and add salt and pepper. Heat oil in a non-stick pan and pour the eggs in. Leave the eggs to set for 2 minutes on medium heat. Spread the feta cheese on top and cover the omelet for 3 minutes until set. Sprinkle parsley and mint over it.
Slide the omelet to a plate and decorate with a slice of fresh tomatoes and olives.

Chicken Stew with Cranberries

I got the inspiration of the dish when I sampled a Persian chicken dish prepared with pomegranate syrup. 

I decided to cook this dish with the ingredients available in the American kitchen. It is a delicious sweet and sour hearty stew. 

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

1 onion chopped, or sliced

1 pound skinless boneless chicken

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon pumpkin spice

1 cinnamon stick

½ cup chopped almonds or walnuts

1 cup cranberry juice

1 cup red seedless grapes

1/2 cup dried cranberries

1 tablespoon honey or molasses

Heat the oil in a deep pan, and sauté the onions.  Cut up the chicken into cubes and add them to the onions and stir. Season with salt, spices and add the cinnamon stick. Add the nuts and stir.

Add the cranberry juice, cranberries and grapes, and bring to a boil uncovered. Reduce heat and add the honey and stir. Simmer for 10 minutes. Serve it in a soup bowl with bread or over plain white rice.

Almond Cookies-Louzina. لوزينة

This a very simple, light and delicious cookie that taste wonderful with ground cardamom. You could use other flavoringns such as rosewater or vanilla.
For this recipe, you need blanched almonds, toasted or raw.  You can buy them ready blanched, but to blanch almonds, you can put 1 cup of almonds in a glass bowl. Add 1 cup of water and 1 teaspoon of baking soda. Place in the microwave oven for 5 minutes. Remove the bowl and drain the almonds in a colander.
Rub the almonds in your hands to remove the skin. Spread the almonds on a baking sheet and bake in a 300 degrees F. oven for 8 minutes to dry, or leave them on a tray on the kitchen counter for 3 days to dry before storing.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Ingredients:

2 cups almonds
¾ cup sugar
2 eggs (egg white only)
1 teaspoon ground cardamoms or 1 teaspoon rosewater

Put the almonds and sugar in a food processor and pulse until all almonds are ground. Put the mixture in a bowl, and add the baking powder and cardamom. Add the eg whites and stir with a spoon. It will make soft dough. Spoon the cookie dough on a cookie pan lined with parchment paper. Place a blanched almond on top of each cookie for decoration. Bake for 25 minutes.
Makes 2 dozens.
You can purchase almond flour from the grocery stores but it costs much less to grind it yourself.

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Fig Jam مربة التين

Every year, in mid August, I purchase a few pounds of figs to consume or make jam. I prefer the light colored figs like yellow or light purple. I do not chop the figs, but cook them whole. That way you can eat the whole candied fig as a piece of candy, on a toast, or serve it on top of vanilla ice cream; very delicious! Here is my easy recipe:

1 pound whole figs, rinsed

1 ½ cup granulated sugar

3 whole pods of cardamom

Juice of one lemon

Place the figs in a deep pot and sprinkle the sugar on top.  Put the pot on the burner on medium heat. When it starts to boil reduce the heat to low. Cook uncovered. Drop in the cardamom pods and pour the lemon juice and stir.

Make sure to skim off the foam that develops on top. Do not add any water. The figs will cook in their own juices. Leave them to cook for 45 -60 minutes until the juices reduce to syrup. Remove the pot from heat to cool. Arrange the figs in a sterilized mason jar and pour the syrup over. Seal it, and store in the refrigerator.  It will keep for a few months.

Note: When the syrup is light and watery, the jam will not keep long and will develop mold on top. Make sure to cook the jam long enough to reduce the juices to a thick syrup.

Enjoy

Stuffed Grape Leaves-Vegetarian ورق عنب ملفوف ونباتية

Every family has its own stuffed grape leaves recipe. My mother always cooked it during Lent, but you can cook it and serve it at a room temperature as an appetizer or for picnics. It could last a few days in the refrigerator. 
If you are using fresh grape leaves from your garden, make sure to rinse them and put them in a bowl of hot water to wilt for 10 minutes. Drain them in the colander, and rinse them in cold water.

If you are using the grape leaves from a jar, remove leaves from the jar and rinse them and put in colander to drain.

Ingredients

¼ cup olive oil

1 cup chopped onions

4 cloves garlic, chopped

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon Arabian spice (combination of allspice, cinnamon and black pepper)

1 medium tomato, chopped

½ cup chopped dill weed (optional)

½ cup frozen peas

¼ cup golden raisins

¼ cup pine nuts

1 (8-ounce) can tomato sauce

1 cup white rice

Juice of 2 lemons

In a skillet, heat oil and sauté the onions and garlic. Add salt and spices. Add chopped tomatoes, dill, and peas and stir. Add rice, pine nuts, raisins and tomato sauce and stir for 5 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside to cool. (You can prepare filling the day before).

Remove the grape leaves from the jar, rinse them and put in a colander to drain. Arrange the leaves the top side down on the cutting board and spoon a tablespoon of the filling on the stem side of the leaf. Roll the leaf over the filling. Turn the sides of the leaf towards the center, and roll the leaf to the end.

Arrange in a deep pan. Pour 1 ½ cup of water and lemon juice over the grape leaves.  Place a heat proof plate on top of the leaves to keep them submerged while cooking. Bring to a boil covered, and reduce heat to a medium. Cook for 25-30 minutes until the rice grains are cooked.

Bread on the Grill

I tried to bake bread on the gas grill when we lost electric power for a few days due to a storm. The result was excellent and decided to bake this bread early in the morning every weekend. I place the rolled out dough on a piece of foil and place the foil sheet on the preheated grill. You could preheat a pan on the grill and place the dough on the pan if you prefer.

You can bake this bread in a 450 degrees F. oven. If you have a gas oven, bake it on the bottom of the oven. For 3 minutes. When it puffs up, turn it to the other side and bake for 1 more minute.

Makes 8

3 cups all purpose bread flour (plus more for rolling)

1½ teaspoon salt

1 1/4  cup warm water (divided)

1 teaspoon active dry yeast

1 teaspoon sugar

2 tablespoons olive oil, plus more for the bowl

Put the yeast in 1/4 cup of water and add sugar and stir. When the yeast starts to bubble, add the flour, salt and olive oil and stir. Add the water and kneed it by hand to make soft dough. Place it in a greased bowl and cover. Leave it in a warm place to rise for one hour. You could make the dough in a food processor or a mixer. I prefer to use my hands.

Preheat the gas grill to medium high.

Punch down the dough and divide into small balls the size of a small apple. Place these balls on a floured board and cover with a towel to rise for 30 more minutes.

Roll out the ball of dough on a floured surface to make a flat (6-inches) in diameter circle. Place on a floured board and cover with a kitchen towel for 15 minutes.

Place the rolled out dough on foil and lay it on top of the grill. Close the cover of the grill and check the bread after 5 minutes. Flip the bread to the other side and bake for 1 more minute. Remove from the grill and place on a wire rack to cool.

To make the Zaatar bread (Thyme bread), which is a Lebanese bread, drizzle olive oil over the flattened dough, and sprinkle zaatar mixture on top. Bake it as in the recipe above, but you should not flip it to the other side on the grill.

You can purchase the zaatar mixture from the Middle Eastern grocery store.

Arabic Coffee-Qahwa Arabiya القهوة العربية

Arabic coffee is also called Turkish coffee. It is usually very finely ground and sometimes we add a few pods of cardamom while grinding it to give it a very pleasing flavor and aroma. Traditionally, we used to buy the coffee beans, roast them and use a hand grinder (Dagerman) to grind the coffee beans. You can find ground Arabic coffee at Middle Eastern grocery stores or you can purchase the beans and grind them in the store grinder. You can buy dark roast, medium or a combination of beans according to your preference.

You need a special coffee pot (Dalla) to brew the coffee or use a small pot to brew it. There are different varieties of pots made with copper, brass, aluminum or stainless steel. They all work well on the stove. Special pots used by the Bedouins on a charcoal grill are used for making bitter coffee served during funerals, tribal meetings and coffee houses (Chia Khane). Coffee is served with a glass of water and a piece of candy or manna halva.

1 cup water

1 tablespoon ground coffee

1 teaspoon or more sugar

Pinch of ground cardamom (optional)

Pour tap water in the coffee pot (Dalla), and Place the coffee pot on the stove on a medium heat. When water comes to a boil, remove the pot to the side and add the sugar and coffee, and stir. Place the coffee pot on the stove and bring to a boil, and remove from heat. Return the pot again to the stove and bring the coffee to a boil. Do not leave the stove as it will overflow. Remove from heat and set aside. You will notice light color foam developed on the surface. Skim off the foam and pour a teaspoon in every demitasse (finjan) on the tray. Pour the coffee to top and serve.

Do not stir the coffee or add milk to it. Coffee grounds will settle in the bottom of the demitasse. When finished drinking, sometimes guests flip their cups on the saucers to allow the thick coffee ground to drip down. Then they wait for somebody to read their fortune for entertainment.