My Eggcelent Christmas Adventure...

Christmas is here and along with the presents and lights and all around good cheer comes what could very well be the best part of all, traditions.  Each family has traditions of their own, in our family we always went to my Grandparents house on Christmas eve, ate honey baked ham (which was the only time I have ever eaten ham by choice, not really a fan, weird I know), bean salad and relished in the fact that my sister and I were the only grandchildren.  Christmas eve seemed to be all about us and I'm not going to lie, it was awesome. The drive home was filled with possible sightings of Rudolph and Santa's sled and promises of staying in bed until at least 7 am. Christmas day at home was filled with the usual gifts and family time and was always finished off with my mom's amazing prime rib and twice baked potatoes.  It really was perfect and was what I always thought was the way I would spend every Christmas,  but, I was wrong. In 2006 I met Ayman and in September of that same year we were engaged. The following Christmas we decided would be spent in Egypt.  I knew that an Egyptian Christmas would be different from our good old fashioned American Christmas, but, little did I know how different.  Ayman's family is wonderful and celebrates Christmas like many Coptic families. First and foremost Christmas is celebrated on January 7th, for the 45 days prior they do not eat meat or dairy,  there are no gifts exchanged, Christmas trees or lights, but, there is an overwhelming feeling of love, humility and faith. At midnight on the night of the 6th the "fast" is broken and the feast begins. We ate and laughed and truly celebrated.  It was different from any Christmas I had ever known and it was wonderful.  One of the traditional foods we ate were hard boiled eggs fried in ghee.  They are absolutely fantastic. It is almost like a fried egg and a hard boiled egg had a super secret and delicious love child. I have since asked Ayman what they are called and he has told me he's not sure how it is spelled in English or what it is even called, but I will give it a shot...baid mezzahl. Once  a year we make Ayman's family's traditional Christmas meal and these eggs are always included. They are part of his tradition and are now a part of mine. I love them and hope you do too.

 

Fried Hard Boiled Eggs

 

 

 

 

 

Ingredients:

1 dozen hard boiled eggs

1/2 cup of Ghee

2 Tbs. Salt

2 Tbs. Pepper

1 tsp. Cumin

 



 

 

Directions:

• In a medium sized skillet, heat your ghee until it is melted and hot, turn the heat on your stove down to medium.
• Mix your salt, pepper and cumin together in a small bowl and sprinkle it on your hard boiled eggs.
• Carefully place your eggs in the hot ghee and allow them to brown on all sides. Allow them to sit on one side for about 2-3 minutes before rolling them.  They should be a dark, golden, reddish brown when they are done.  If the temperature gets too hot the eggs with pop and you can get burned so be careful. If this starts to happen, turn the heat down to medium low. 
• Serve with pita or alone and enjoy! Oh, and be sure to serve them with the ghee from the pan, and dip your pita or Arabic bread in it, mmm mmm good!

Merry Christmas, however you celebrate!

 

Rollin' Rollin' Rollin' Keep Those Grape Leaves Rollin' !

I'm going to be very honest. Do these bad boys of the Middle East look like a wet cigar? Heck yes.  Do these same small, green, tightly wrapped packages taste like a little bit of awesome? Absolutely! As a kid my mom would make these on hot summer afternoons and we would dine like Bedouins on these and other Middle Eastern style foods while we sat in our living room on our giant Persian rug (Yeah, yeah, I know Iran is completely different from the rest of the Middle East, don't judge, when your 8 it is all the same figgin place!)  and my Dad played the soundtrack from Lawrence of Arabia on our record player upstairs. My Mom would serve us wearing her best galabeya type outfit and all of her beautiful Afghani jewelry.(You make think my Mom is of Middle Eastern descent as I describe her, but, she is not. My Mother is a rather tiny, very blond chick who looks as Swedish as they come.) As a side note, Lawrence of Arabia is to this day one of my favorite movies of all time. But I digress, the feeling was magical.  The only problem was, I really wasn't a huge fan of the grape leaves, they tasted great, but, looked well, unappetizing. So the majority of my meal consisted of homemade hummus. It wasn't until I met Ayman that I would embrace the stuffed grape leaf.  As some of you know Ayman is Egyptian and most of his family is still there.  I learned the proper methods of rolling and stuffing grape leaves from Ayman's mother Reda.  It took hours to learn how to do it and after hearing "mesh kedah" (basically Arabic for "you're doing it wrong") more than once I finally mastered her recipe and techniques.  Ayman loves them and I know that his mother would be proud.
This recipe is actually pretty simple, the only time consuming part is the actual stuffing and rolling.  When I am having people over I will do all of my stuffing and rolling in advance.  I roll the grape leaves and stick them directly into the pot that I will cook them in and stick that pot into the fridge until I am ready to add the boiling water and cook them.  This recipe is delicious, fun, authentic and great to serve as an appetizer or main course.  I hope you enjoy and learn to love this neat little package as much as I have!


Rolled Grape Leaves
By: Vanessa Madigan

Ingredients:
2 lbs ground beef
2 cups of rice, uncooked and rinsed
3 tbs black pepper
3 tbs salt
5 tbs ghee (if you don't have ghee available, you can substitute butter)
1 medium yellow onion, shredded with a coarse cheese grater
1 jar of large grape leaves in brine 

Grape leaves in a jar are available at most major grocery chains in the Middle Eastern foods section.

 

 

 

Directions:

 

• Remove the grape leaves from the jar and place them in a colander to drain. You will want to separate them and lay them flat one on top of the other. Rinse them thoroughly with cold water and press them down with the flat of your hand to remove most of the excess water. Set them aside to continue draining.
• Meanwhile, take your ground beef and place it in a large mixing bowl. Add your uncooked rice, ghee, onion, salt and pepper to the ground beef. Now, here is the fun part, with clean hands mix the ground beef with the other ingredients (think of the hamburger helper scene in Vacation).  Once all of the ingredients are thoroughly combined it is ready to go.

 

The filling (rice, meat, onion, salt, pepper and ghee)

 

• Now, you can begin rolling and stuffing.
• Take on large grape leaf and lay it flat on a large plate, remove the stem with your thumb and forefinger. Make sure the veins of the leaf are facing up towards you. Take a small handful of the meat mixture and squish it in the palm of your hand until it is approximately the size of your pointer finger.  You don't want it to be too big, because once the rice cooks it will expand.
• Place your finger sized bit of filling in the center of your grape leaf. Pull either side of the grape leaf inward and then begin rolling the leaf up from the bottom so that it make a nice, neat and tight little cylinder.

 



Now you're ready to roll!

 

• Have your cooking vessel ready to go. I use a large stock pot.
• After you roll your grape leaf, place it in the bottom of the cooking vessel. As you continue to roll the grape leaves place them in the pot in a straight line one right after the other. You will want them packed in the pot relatively tightly so that when you add the boiling water and boil them they won't fall apart and bounce around while they are cooking.  Continue building your stack until you are out of leaves or your pot is full.



This is how I roll and stack mine, nice and tight.

 

• At this point if you are going to be serving them later, you can stick the entire pot in the refrigerator until you are ready to cook and serve them.
• Place your pot full of the grape leaves on the stove with the burner off.
• In a separate medium sized saucepan bring about 3 cups of water to a boil.
• Once the water has reached a rolling boil, turn on the heat under the pot with the grape leaves to medium and immediately add the boiling water.  You will want the water to cover only about half of the grape leaves.
• Allow your pot to simmer, covered for about 45 minutes to 1 hour.  After about 45 minutes check them by removing one with a pair of tongs (be careful, it will be quite hot!) and tasting it. Make sure the rice is cooked and not al dente. Once the grape leaves are cooked and the rice is done, remove from the heat, and again using tongs place the rolled grape leaves on a serving plate.  Serve them to your friends, family and enjoy a little taste of something exotic and divine!



Enjoy!

 

 

Middle East Mayhem - Our Favorites from the Middle East and Mediterranean

Alright, so this week we are venturing out of the good 'ol US of A!  We are taking you all on a voyage across the sea to the beauty of the Mediterranean and the Middle East.  You will experience the saltiness of kalamata olives, crunchy cucumbers and creamy hummus!  We hope you have a wonderful time!

Layered Hummus
By: Andrea Madigan-Wilken


Igredients:
2 cups premade hummus
1/2 cup kalamata olives, chopped
2 green onions, chopped
1 cup of tomatos, chopped
1 cup of cucumbers
1/2 cup of crumbled feta cheese
2 tbs extra virgin olive oil
1 tbs lemon juice

Directions:

• In a small bowl, place chopped cucumbers and lemon juice, stir well. Set aside.
• In 1 additional bowl place your chopped tomatoes and feta cheese drizzle with the olive oil and stir gently, so as not to break up the cheese.
• Using a small serving bowl make your first layer of hummus, top with the cucumber mixture, for the next layer add more hummus. Next, add a layer of the chopped green onions and kalamata olives. Finally, add one last layer of hummus and top with the tomato and feta mixture.

Super Easy Tatziki

By: Vanessa Madigan

I make a lot of spicy food and my favorite topping for many of my spicy creations is my quick and easy recipe for Tatziki.  It is cool and refreshing and goes great on everything from burgers to kabab.  This is super easy and I'm sure you will be able to use it for so many of your creations!

Ingredients:

2 lb Greek Yogurt

2 Tbsp Olive Oil

2 Cups Cucumber, finely chopped

2 Tsp Salt

1 Tsp White Wine Vinegar

1 Clove of Garlic, crushed

Directions:

• Take your chopped cucumber and place in a fine strainer with the 2 tsp of salt, let them sit for about 1/2 of an hour so that much of the liquid drains from the cucumber.
• While the cucumber is draining, take your yogurt and place it in cheese cloth in a colander or strainer to help drain off the excess liquid.  If you do not have cheese cloth you can put the yogurt directly into the colander, the yogurt should be pretty firm and you wont lose much through the holes.
• When your cucumber is drained, place it in a medium sized bowl with the vinegar, olive oil and garlic, stir well.
• Add your drained yogurt to the cucumber mixture and stir well, season with salt to taste.
• Refrigerate for about an hour and serve with your favorite pita, burger or whatever!

 

Egyptian Koshari

By: Vanessa Madigan

Koshari is an Egyptian staple and I sure do love it.  I have heard it told that on Richard Nixon's Presidential trip to Egypt, he found Koshari and Belly Dancing to be his favorite experiences in the land of Pharaohs.  I in part agree, I sure do love Egyptian food and it is part of what I love about my Egyptian travels.  It is a pretty amazing concoction that is considered the National Dish of Egypt. We make Koshari at home, I will say that Ayman (my fiance) and his brother Girgis always make it waaay to hot.  Which is a shame, because, it is so delicious and you just want to scarf it down.  There are many restaurants in Egypt that serve Koshari, it is traditionally served with fried onions on top, we skip that part because we aren't cool and Ayman doesn't like it.   This is the recipe I learned from Aymans mom and the recipe we enjoy at home.  I hope it brings a bit of Egypt into your home and you enjoy it as much as we do.

Ingredients:

16 oz. Elbow Macaroni Noodles

2 Cups White Rice

1 Cup Brown Lentils

1 15 0z. Can of Chick Peas

Water for Rice and Lentils about 24 oz.

2, 6 oz cans of Tomato Paste

1 tsp. Black Pepper

1 tsp. Salt

1/4 cup olive oil

Water for tomato sauce

5 cloves of garlic, crushed

1/2 Cup White Vinegar

1 Jalepeno, chopped

Directions:

Prepare the Lentils:

• Place the lentils in a dish and pick over them to remove any rocks or debris.
• Rinse under cold water and drain
• Place the lentils in a medium saucepan and add 2 cups of cold water.
• Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, then reduce heat to simmer.
• Cook for about 45 minutes or until tender but not mushy. Drain if necessary and set aside.

For the Sauce:

• Put olive oil in a medium sized sauce pan, heat over medium low heat.
• Add the 5 cloves of crushed garlic and saute for several minutes, being careful not to burn the garlic.
• Add the vinegar and let simmer for about a minute.
• Next add the tomato paste to the vinegar and garlic and stir well, refill 1 of the tomato paste cans 4 times and add the water to the tomato sauce.  It should be about 24 oz. of water or a 2:1 water to tomato paste ratio. Stir well.
• Finally, add the jalepeno, salt and black pepper.
• Let the sauce simmer and reduce until it has thickened a bit.  About 15 minutes.

The Rest:

• Boil your Macaroni and cook until just tender.
• Make your rice.
• Drain you 2 cans of chick peas

To Build your Koshari:

• Place a layer of pasta in the bottom of a single dish, top with a layer of rice followed by a layer of lentils and finally a few chick peas maybe 10-20 per dish.
• Top the dish with the tomato sauce (and fried onions if you are awesome!) and serve immediately!  This dish is Helwa Awy! (Arabic for Very Good!!!)