Keh-baaahbs. Because Everyone Loves Meat On A Stick.

August 30, 2008 — Jenny

This time, they’re made with red meat and a positively incredible marinade.


Meat + stick = awesome.

The keh-baahbs actually look more appetizing in real life, but we were grilling them after dark, which isn’t my camera’s favorite time frame. However, I don’t care if my camera liked them. I sure did!


Can’t forget the veggies!

The Recipe:
Beef Keh-baahbs
3 lb steak, cubed (you decide which quality you want…it’s soaking in wine and then getting grilled)
1 bottle merlot (I used Yellowtail because it’s not too pricey, but it’s consistent)
2 tbsp garlic powder
2 tbsp fresh ground pepper
2 tbsp parsley
1 tbsp basil
1 tbsp onion salt
1 tsp allspice
2 large green peppers
1 large white onion

Do This
Trim as much of the fat off the meat as possible, and cut it into cubes. Mine were a little bit bigger than an inch apiece. Place the cubes in a large, shallow bowl or tupperware.
Blend the spices together in a bowl, then rub into the cubes of meat. Pour the wine over top, cover, and place in the fridge for at least an hour (mine marinated for four hours, but yours don’t have to hang out for that long).
While the meat marinates, chop the peppers and onion into large chunks. Make sure they’re big enough to fit on the skewers.
Assemble skewers of meat and veggies. I like to keep them separate because of the different cook times, but they’re a bit more colorful if you alternate meat and veggies.
Fire up the grill, and cook the skewers until the meat is browned to your taste (I like mine rare, but I know that some people like to cook their beef more thoroughly) and the veggies are just a wee bit charred on the edges.

If your skewers are made of wood, soak them in water before skewering the meat. This will save you some headaches and prevent your skewers from catching fire (I didn’t do that with the chicken keh-baahbs, and they got super burnt on the grill).

The marinade is incredibly easy to do, and it smells amaaaaaazing. After the keh-baahbs were cooked, I saved the juice for reducing into a sauce later.

Posted in allspice, basil, beef, garlic, kebabs, onions, parsley, pepper, peppers, wine. Tags: , , . No Comments »

Eggplant Alla Reckless

August 30, 2008 — Jenny


It’s a lot like eggplant parmesan. But, you know, without any cheese.

Posted in eggplant. Tags: . No Comments »

I’m Gonna Make You Sweat

August 29, 2008 — Jenny

Your eggplants, that is.


Sprinkle some salt and walk away? Easiest way to work up a sweat…ever.

Salt. Ignore for a bit. Wait until little puddles show up. Rinse off.


Sweat ’til you can’t sweat no more.

Magic! Your eggplant is now more tender and less bitter.

I realize that this is probably common knowledge, but maybe someone, somewhere on the internets didn’t know about this. Or…I was totally just looking for an excuse to use those photos.

Posted in eggplant, salt. Tags: . 1 Comment »

Thought For The Day

August 28, 2008 — Jenny

Pecan Pie is not real pecan pie unless it is made with Karo syrup. Said syrup must be spilled, and get all over your kitchen. Bonus points if you get it in your hair.

Posted in pie, rules. Tags: . No Comments »

Choreg >>> Other Breads

August 28, 2008 — Jenny

Choregs are probably my favorite breakfast food of all time. They’re braided. They’re easy to eat on the go. They’re not obscenely sweet. They’re amazing with cheese. My grandma used to send freezer bags of these home with us, just so I could snack on them more than once or twice a year. Have I mentioned that my Gma is awesome?

This is her choreg recipe. It’s quite similar to Virginia Madoian’s recipe from The Art Of Armenian Cooking, although Gma goes a little bit heavier on the anise. Some Armenian women really like to make choreg in bulk, though, so I’ve halved her recipe. I lovelovelove choreg, but I cannot fathom why I would need a batch large enough to require five pounds of flour and ten eggs. This recipe makes more than enough dough…I needed two large bowls to let it rise. Incidentally, all of the choregs were gone in less than 4 days. Maybe I oughta make the bigger recipe next time?

The Recipe:
Choreg
8 1/2 cups flour
1 pint milk
1/2 lb shortening
1 stick butter
5 eggs, beaten
1 pkg dry yeast
1/4 cup water
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 tbsp salt
1/2 tbsp mahleb
at least 1 tsp crushed anise seed
at least 1 tsp crushed fennel
1 egg for brushing on top
sesame seeds
1 tsp liquid anise

Do This:
Preheat the oven to 375 just before baking.
Dissolve the packet of yeast in lukewarm water.
Melt the shortening and butter together. You can do this on the stove or in the microwave.
Heat the milk to lukewarm temperature.
Place the flour in a very large bowl, and use your fingers or a spoon to create a well in the middle. Fill this well with eggs, sugar, salt, baking powder, mahleb, anise, fennel, milk, shortening, and yeast. Did I mention that you need a very large bowl for this?
Knead the dough for about 10 minutes, or until it stops sticking to your hands. I promise that it will stop sticking to your hands at some point.
Cover the bowl with a towel, and let the dough rise for about 3 hours.
Punch the dough down, and divide it into 6 equally-sized balls. Cover again, and let rest for half an hour.
Roll each ball into a log, and cut into 6 pieces.
Shape into braids (diagram coming soon!) and place on a baking sheet. Let these sit for an hour.
Using a pastry brush (or your fingers), paint the tops of the choregs with egg, and sprinkle with seeds.
Bake at 375 degrees for 15-20 minutes, or until lightly browned.
Remove the choregs from the baking sheets, let cool for a few minutes. Serve warm with Armenian string cheese.


I could eat these every single morning.

Braiding the dough can be a little bit annoying, but if it gets sticky and unwieldy, pop it in the fridge for a few minutes. I promise that it’s totally worth it to make the braids. When the choregs are baked and you can pull off neat little bite-sized pieces, you’ll be happy that you bothered to braid them.

Special note for Chicagoans: I picked up the mahlab and sesame seeds (and some other cool things) at Middle East Bakery & Grocery. It’s an amazing little store right near the corner of Foster & Clark, and I am totally in love with it. Go. Now.

Posted in anise, bread, butter, eggs, fennel, flour, milk, sesame seeds, shortening, yeast. Tags: , , , . No Comments »

I’ve Got Steam Heat

August 27, 2008 — Jenny

Most excellent:


Not my own photo, but it’ll have to do until I upload the action shots.

Silicon veggie steamer! I’ve been using the old-fashioned metal type steamer basket, but I hate how unwieldy that thing is at clean-up time. Broccoli and asparagus are not friends with the metal basket, because the little tiny bits get stuck in the steam holes, and then trapped in between the folded-over segments. It might not be so annoying in a dishwasher, but I don’t have one, so I’d been searching for a nice silicon replacement for some time. Hooray for Linens ‘N Things having store liquidation sales! I got a pretty red steamer (just like the one in the photo up there) for nine dollars.

Posted in equipment. Tags: , . 2 Comments »

There’s Something About Martha

August 25, 2008 — Jenny

I’ve been a fan of Martha Stewart for longer than I can remember. Sure, I’m in grad school for software engineering, but I still want to be Martha when I grow up.

Somehow, I remained unaware of the community page on the Martha Stewart website until…this morning. I’ve checked out the recipe search feature before (and snagged a few cookie recipes!), but managed to completely miss the rest of the good things.

Here’s a question for any readers who also happen to be Martha fans: what’s your favorite feature on her website? Is there anything super cool that I might not have discovered yet?

Posted in internets. Tags: , . No Comments »

Pineapple Pork, Revisited

August 23, 2008 — Jenny

I decided to make Pineapple Pork again. This time, I cleaned it up a bit, and stopped cheating with the canned pineapple. Fresh pineapple is about 75 times better than canned, anyhow.


Sweet, tangy pork chops.

File this one away in the “tried and true” category - not only do my friends enjoy it, but my parents thought it was pretty good, too.

Posted in brown sugar, garlic, pineapple, pork, soy, worcestershire sauce. Tags: , , . No Comments »

Simple Blueberry Almond Goat Cheese Salad

August 22, 2008 — Jenny

I feel like I sorta gave everything away in the title. There’s not much more that goes into this salad; it’s just spinach leaves, spring mix, fresh blueberries, almonds, and goat cheese crumbles. Balsamic vinaigrette drizzled over top is nice, although it’s not a must-have (I brought this to work once and forgot dressing, it was just fine).


I like colorful salads. Fresh veggies are the only way to go.

This is another one of those recipes with inexact measurements. Instead of cups and teaspoons, I’m gonna go with “handful” and “half-handful” metrics. It’s a salad. You can eyeball the measurements.

The Recipe:
Blueberry Almond Goat Cheese Salad

fresh baby spinach leaves
spring mix salad mix (or you can kill two birds with one stone and buy the spring mix with spinach leaves included)
fresh blueberries
goat cheese crumbles
almonds
balsamic vinegar
olive oil
fresh ground pepper

Do This
Grab a handful of spinach and spring mix, and place in a shallow bowl or on a salad plate.
Top with a half-handful each of fresh blueberries and almonds, a few pinches of goat cheese crumbles, and a light dusting of fresh ground pepper.
Drizzle in olive oil and balsamic vinaigrette if desired.

I was tempted to add more to this salad, but I feel like it would be ruined with even one more ingredient. The flavor balance is great right now - there’s tart, sweet, salty, and goat chees-y (what, you don’t have taste buds for goat chees-y?), and I figured I’d just quit while I was ahead.

Posted in almonds, balsamic vinegar, blueberries, cheese, olive oil, pepper, spinach. Tags: , , . 1 Comment »

My Boereg, It Has Three Corners

August 20, 2008 — Jenny

Cheese boereg!


Neat little triangles, stuffed with awesome.

This is my grandma’s cheese boereg recipe. There’s an Armenian phrase (that I’ll paste in here as soon as I can figure out how to spell it) that means “measure with your eyes,” and it’s kinda how Gma cooks. I don’t think she has looked at a recipe for these in years, but she referred me to The Armenian Cookbook and Rachel Hogrogian’s recipe. I’ve merged the ingredient list (slightly modified) from the book with the technique that Gma taught me.

The Recipe:
Cheese Boeregs
2 lb muenster cheese, grated
1 jumbo or 2 medium eggs, beaten
1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley
1 lb phyllo dough (Gma reccommends Apollo #4)
unsalted butter, melted (you’ll need at least two sticks, possibly more)

Do This
Preheat the oven to 375 just before baking (this may be quite a while after you start folding, because boeregs take time).
Blend the cheese, egg, and parsley in a large bowl. You can run this filling mixture through a food processor if it makes you happy, but the cheese is just going to melt when the boeregs cook, so i just mash it all together with a fork.
Open up the package of phyllo dough, and cover the dough with a damp towel. This is basically the cardinal rule of working with phyllo dough: cover sheets of dough with a moist towel when not in use. Otherwise, it dries out and becomes cranky, and is un-fun to work with.
Take one sheet out from the stack at a time. Using a pastry brush, paint the entire surface of the sheet with melted butter. Pull out a second sheet of dough, and cover the buttered sheet. Line the two sheets up so they become one double-thick sheet of dough with butter sandwiched between.
Cut this double sheet into four long strips approximately 2 x 10 inches in size.
Place a small ball of filling at one end of each strip. The smaller end of a double-sided melon baller makes the perfect size ball for a small boereg, but as long as there isn’t so much filling that it gets in the way of folding the dough, you’re good.
Starting at the end with the filling, fold each strip over itself, in a triangle patter. “Like a flag,” my grandma says. I’ll sketch out a diagram soon.
Brush the top of each triangle with melted butter.
Continue to fold triangles until you’ve used up all of the filling.
Place finished boeregs on a baking sheet. Brush the tops with melted butter (yep, more melted butter), and bake at 375 for 25 minutes or until they’re flaky and golden brown.
Serve warm with cocktails.

You can freeze boeregs indefinitely, and unless you’re making them for a party, you’re going to want to freeze at least half of the batch. Brush them with butter, wrap in wax paper, and stash in a freezer bag. Thaw lightly before cooking, and they’ll taste just as good as if you folded them just a moment before.

Don’t like cheese? Or parsley? Or is this too plain? You can stuff these with anything you want. When I was a kid, my mum would make dessert boeregs with apples or cherries and cream cheese for the filling.

This recipe yields….a lot of boeregs. If they all come out nicely, you’re looking at 75+. I always manage to mess up a few, but that’s completely okay. If you rip the dough, or your triangles look awful, or you over-filled one, but it’s too late to unfold? Take the reject boeregs, rip them up into little bits, and place them all in a pie dish. Bake into a delicious, cheesy tart.

Posted in cheese. Tags: , , , . 4 Comments »
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