Almond cookies

What do you call these cookies? "Russian tea cookies" "Mexican Wedding cookies" "Christmas Snowball cookies" "Boules de Neige" "Italian wedding cookies" I love how great foods can originate from different parts of the world at the same time and under different names...It's also very amusing to see different cultures lay claim of them as their own.

Relax people!! Putting nuts in cookies and then rolling them in powdered sugar is not that hard to come up with so everyone is a winner and by the way these exist in Morocco too under "kwirat telj" say that 10 times fast!!

 I love to serve mine with some traditional mint tea and sometimes choose to leave the powdered sugar out. You can find the recipe here

Vanilla cupcakes with caramel and coconut topping

I wanted to make some cupcakes for my friend's jewelry party but I needed to be able to carry them around easily and store them at my desk until it was time to leave after work...So that meant that I needed to keep the frosting under control and instead of "Mount chocolate" frosting I chose to just spread a little bit of caramel sauce (the kind you top ice cream with)  and dip them head down in coconut flakes.

You can find the recipe for the vanilla cupcakes here
I will be using caramel sauce a lot in my baking because it's convenient and has a great taste and texture...Next time I will combine it with almonds.

The jewelry party was a success and so were the cupcakes!!

Lemon chicken with home made fries (djaj b les frites)

Some of my best memories from my childhood involve food, I remember sneaking into the kitchen while my mom was making the fries to top her lemon chicken and grabbing a handful as a little appetizer before the meal was served...She would always chase me away and tell me that I would be too full for the meal (I was never too full for anything she made LOL)

This combination might be unfamiliar if you've only known french fries as cheeseburger's best friend (which is very true!!) but those yummy fries have been around the world and made other friends too!!

You can find the recipe for the lemon chicken here, just add home made fries and serve with some bread for soaking up that sauce.

Moroccan Charoset truffles

Just in time for pesach!! I love making foods that tell a story and I find that the ones that show up on a holiday's table usually do...I am not jewish but I've been making these charoset truffles for the longest time to celebrate my holidays before finding out that they were actually a staple on Moroccan jews' seder during pesach time (Passover)

You can make these with any kind of nuts and even some sesame seeds can be added

Just as a side note for anyone wondering if these are kosher for pesach:

Moroccan jews are sephardim (middle eastern &North African) so the recipe might contain ingredients that are not ok for Ashkinazim jews (European & North American); it doesn't contain any Chametz but be careful with adding sesame seeds as they would be considered Kitniyot and I think peanuts too? Anyway, I used orange blossom water for flavor and I have no idea if it's Kosher for Pesach, my knowledge on this subject is limited so please don't take my word for it and consult with your regular sources for the laws of Kashrut.

Ingredients:

3 cups pitted dates
1 1/2 cups of chopped taosted almonds
1 tbsp orange blossom water (replace with any flavoring liquid you prefer)
shredded coconuts and additional chopped almonds to roll the truffles in.

Directions:

Steam the dates for about half an hour and pass them in the food processor until the form a paster, transfer them to another container and add the almonds and orange blossom water and mix until combined.

Pour some orange blossome water in a bowl and wet the palms of your hands with it, form balls the size of a walnut and roll them in the almond/coconut mixture. If you're not using the orange blossom water be ready to wet your hands a few times while you're making the truffles because the paste is very sticky.

Keep refrigerated so they can firm up or serve at room temperature if you plan on spreading it on a cracker or Matzo bread, I serve mine with a hearty soup during Ramadan.

Tagine style cooking

After the brief introduction in Tagine 101 I am now going  into more details and step by step instructions on how to use this cooking method. I will be referring back to this post on future tagine recipes so I wanted it to be as detailed as possible.

 If you are looking for something you can quickly throw together for dinner, this is NOT it...If you're looking for a succulent dish with an exotic blend of flavors and are ready to open up your kitchen to a far away world then this would be it!!

Pictured below is a lamb tagine with carrots and potatoes

The steps pictures in the step by step instructions are from a beef tagine with fennel and potatoes

My way of cooking tagine is not too traditional; only because I cut the cooking time by first cooking my meat in a pressure cooker and then transferring it to the tagine and building the layers of ingredients on it. This is my mom's way of making it and there are many ways of preparing it depending on different regions and even families.

Steps 1 through 4 can be used to make many kinds of lamb or beef tagine so you can change the vegetables you choose to top it with.

Step 1:

Heat up some canola oil in your pressure cooker (about 4 tablespoons) and add your meat, quickly start adding your spices (pepper, salt, cumin, paprika, ginger, saffron, cinnamon) and stir until it is nice and brown all over.

Add water; you want it to slightly cover the meat and cook for about an hour or an hour and 15 minutes (depending on what cut you choose)

Tip: Spices are good, over usage of spices is bad...You want your blend of spices to compliment your other ingredients not to completley mask and overwhelm them. Please go light on the cinnamon, it needs to be one pinch in this savory recipe (we're not making cinnamon rolls here ok?! LOL)

Another spice that tagine calls for is (Rass el Hanout) which you will not find in your grocery store, if you can get your hand on it great! (use 2 pinches as it's strong) if not then just do without it.

Step 2:

After your meat has cooked, transfer it to the tagine but before you do so you will need to protect it by lining your tagine with either some old utensils or bamboo skewers as shown in the pictures.

Add the sauce from the pressure cooker to the tagine and at this point you will not have the stove on; you will wait until you assemble all the other ingredients on top before you do that.

Step 3:

Get the basic tagine ingredients ready; compare these to a "Mir aux pois" in a soup or a bouquet garni...Meaning that you build your tagine's flavors based on these ingredients:

-Cilantro

-Tomatoes

-Onions

-Garlic (about 3 minced cloves)

-Bouillon cube (I use Knorr)

First add the onions and 1 minced garlic clove with half the bouillon cube, then follow with tomatoes and cilantro. Finish by adding the rest of the garlic and bouillon cube directly on top.

If you're using olives you can add them at this point.

Step 4:

Add the vegetables you chose to make your tagine with; I half cook mine before placing them in my tagine so that by the time the onions and tomatoes are cooked my other vegetables would be ready too (this keeps the flavors fresh)

My favorite combinations to add to my tagines are: peas and potatoes/Carrots and green beans/ peas and artichokes and potatoes and fennel (as pictured)

If you're not familiar with fennel you really need to give it a shot; it is so delicious and fragrant. You only use the bottom part in the tagine (as pictured)

Step 5:

Now that you have assembled your tagine you will place the lid on it and let it cook. It needs to cook on a low heat until the onions are cooked and your topping vegetables are tender (remember that the meat is already cooked). While your tagine is cooking you want to arroser it from time to time (fancy talk for getting some of the sauce over your vegetables so they can absorb the flavor)

If you find that you have a lot of sauce in your tagine and it starts bubbling over the edges, simply place a spoon between the lid and the bottom to let it blow off some steam and reduce.

Enjoy!