Grampa Nick All Up In My Belly: Lahmajun August 21, 2008
Posted by sicatmeow in Recipes.Tags: lamb, lemon, middle-eastern, pita, tomato, yogurt
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Tonight the parents came over to ours for dinner. Thought I would do a little root connecting and cook a lebanese meal. Since i dont normally cook in such a style I had to follow recipes. I did a Chilled Cucumber Soup (sounds gross, I know) and a Minced Lamb Pizza called, Lahmajun. Alright, I’m not going to lie to you. I don’t think the Cucumber Soup is lebanese. It just sounded good to say the whole meal was themed-out. Donit? See the next post for that recipe.
I found both recipes online. The Lahmajun called for making dough and baking pizza foreal, but I just made a meaty topping and put it on toasted pita bread. And you know what? That’s just fine, so shut up. Plus, since they like, raised me up, they’re gonna think I’m cool whether or not I’m baking my own dough. Anyway, after a good swath of yogurt, them pizzitas were magically delicious. Try this:
1 small white onion, finely chopped
1 small red pepper, finely chopped
1 lb of finely ground lamb
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp chili powder
1/4 tsp all spice
1 tbl of fresh lemon juice
1 tsp of red pepper flakes (or to taste)
2 cups of tomatoes, seeded and chopped
2 tbls tomato paste (omg, those tubes are the bizzle)
finely chopped flat leaf parsley, (1 cup?)
salt to taste
olive oil
lemon and yogurt for garnish
Suate the onion and red pepper in the olive oil for 3 minutes. Add the lamb. Stir the meat up with a spoon constantly so that it breaks up. (although, there is a fine line here cause you don’t want your meat to be tough > be gentle to those morsels). Cook for 3 minutes. Before the lamb browns, add cumin, chili powder, all spice, and lemon. Immediately add the tomatoes, tomato paste and parsley.
If you are going to bake this into raw dough, set it aside and let cool. Find some other site about pizza dough making cause you’re not going to find it here.
OR
Place your hot lamb mixture on toasted pita bread. Serve with a squeeze of lemon and swath with yogurt. Eat and think about Grandma Nick.
BIG TV means more Netflix: Stuffed Grape Leaves July 6, 2008
Posted by sicatmeow in Health, Projects, Recipes.Tags: chickpeas, lemon, middle-eastern, rice, vegitarian, yogurt
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Since R and I spent all our money last week on a new flat screen that we don’t need, we decided on a rainy afternoon to return home to watch a rented movie instead of go to a matinée. That’s good for me anyhow cause you know it means a cooking project at home.
Sahadis it is. Originally, I was going to do a homemade ravioli cause I discovered some dried wild mushrooms in the kitchen but I was too temped by the huge barrel of fresh grape leaves to ignore it. I got me a handful, some rice, a can of Goya garbanzos. On to the Met for some parsley and, of course, lemon.
As usual, I perused the world wide web to check out how others were doing it. Interestingly, most people put cinnamon and/or mint. Both these flavors have their place for me. This, however, is not it.
What turned out was 20 or so delish stuffed grape leaves which we then dragged through salted organic yogurt, drinking Rioja, and watching Jumper. (Keep the food and wine, def leave the movie behind.)
20-25 fresh grape leaves, (you can probably find them jarred if you aren’t spoiled like me who gets them fresh)
1 cup rice
1 can of garbanzos
3 lemons, zested and juiced
1 medium yellow or white onion, finely chopped
1 bunch of parsley, roughly chopped
3 garlic cloves, crushed
tomato paste
salt and pepper
olive oil, lots
Steam the rice along with the olive oil, garlic, and the zest and juice of one lemon. While the rice is cooking, finely chop the onion and roughly chop the parsley. When the rice is done cooking, cool it by adding it to a wide mixing bowl. Add more olive oil (don’t be afraid), the zest and juice of a second lemon, the garbanzos, parsley, onion, salt, pepper and a TOUCH of tomato paste. I’m talking about half a teaspoon here. It should turn your rice into a light pink.
I learned how to roll a grape leaf by watching a video on line. Here is a video of someone’s mom rolling some leaves. Don’t get confused, totally different recipe, just the same method for rolling. And, I think it’s a cute video.
Garnish with the juice of the final lemon and serve with plain yogurt seasoned with salt and pepper. Goes great with beer and wine.
