Fresh Orange Souffle
This recipe is a little more complicated than most, because of the collar, but once you’ve done it – and it isn’t that hard – it is a piece of cake. You can leave out the Grand Marnier and it still tastes just fine. Delicious and cooling, light on a hot hot hot summer’s eve in Kuwait – or anywhere else. 🙂
Fresh Orange Souffle
This is another recipe from our time in Tunis, where oranges are so good and so sweet!
2 small naval oranges
2 envelopes unflavored gelatine
6 eggs
1 cup sugar
1 can frozen concentrate for orange juice, thawed
2 Tablespoons lemon juice
1 pint heavy cream
1/4 cup Grand Marnier or other orange flavored liquer
1. Prepare six cup clear souffle dish, or other clear straight sided glass dish with a collar – here’s how. Fold a 24” length of waxed paper in half lengthwise, wrap around dish to make a 3 “ extension of dish. Tape or use string to hold in place. (You use a clear glass dish so that the sliced oranges show around the sides)
2. Cut one orange into thin slices, arrange slices against side of souffle dish, chill.
3. Grate rind from remaining orange, measure 4 teaspoons.
Squeeze the juice of the oranges; measure into 1 cup measure adding water, if necessary, to equal 1/2 cup. Sprinkle gelatin over the orange juice, let stand 5 minutes to soften.
Set cup in a saucepan of simmering water, stirring until gelatin is completely dissolved. Remove from heat.
4. Beat eggs and sugar in a large bowl with electric mixer at high speed until thick and light. (10 – 20 minutes)
5. While eggs are beating, whip 1 1/2 cups of the cream in a small bowl until soft peaks form, refrigerate.
6. Combine orange rind, orange juice concentrate, lemon juice, orange liquer and dissolved gelatin; pour into egg mixture. Continue beating the mixture until it is well blended. Remove bowl from mixer, chill about 5 minutes by placing in larger bowl lined with ice cubes. Stir often, just until mixture mounds slightly when spooned.
Fold whipped cream into chilled mixture until no streaks of white remain. Pour into prepared dish, taking care not to disturb the orange slices. Refrigerate until firm, about 4 hours.
9. To serve, gently remove collar. Beat remaining cream in a small bowl until stiff. Garnish with chopped pistachio nuts.
Warning: Ummm, I just remembered, this is an old fashioned recipe that uses raw eggs. People with immune system difficulties, pregnant women, anyone worried about raw egg issues should not eat this souffle.
Pasta Melanzane
I first had Pasta Melanzane at a wonderful restaurant near my home in Wiesbaden, Germany. We were always looking for the best Italian restaurant we could find, and when we found Marcello’s, we stopped looking. No matter what we ate there, the food was delicious. Melanzane, by the way, means eggplant, or aubergine. I always use that word because a lot of people think they don’t like eggplant.
I tried hard to duplicate Marcello’s Pasta Melanzane, but the more I added, the weirder it would get. In the end, my very best results came from keeping things simple and fresh:
Pasta Melanzane
1 fairly large eggplant, cut into fingers about 1/2 inch, like french fries
6 – 10 cloves of garlic, peeled, chopped
olive oil
2 packets / small cans tomato paste
1 Tablespoon (1 large glop) finely chopped sun dried tomatoes
(red pepper flakes – optional)
water to thin
Put the eggplant fingers in a colander (bowl shaped strainer) and sprinkle with salt. Leave half an hour, rinse with water and dry with paper towels. You do this because sometimes eggplant can be bitter, and this takes away the bitterness.
Put some olive oil – maybe 2 Tablespoons – in a deep frying pan and heat, add chopped garlic and heat until garlic is softened. If you are using red pepper flakes, add those in now, too, and let them soften with the garlic.
Add the eggplant fingers, turn the heat way down, add a little more olive oil and cook slowly until the eggplant is also softened all the way through.
Meanwhile, mix the tomato paste, chopped sun dried tomato pieces, and some water into sauce.
(If you are in a place where you can legally use red wine, you can use a cup or so in place of some of the water. I have also used pomegranate juice, but it is not quite the same.)
Add the sauce to the eggplant, put on a spatter guard (You can find them at the Sultan Center and sometimes in the souks – they are a round screen with a handle that keeps sauce from splashing all over your stove) and turn the gas down to the very lowest it will go.
Set the timer for 30 minutes, and go about your business. Keep checking every 30 minutes, give it a stir, add a little more liquid if it needs it, give it a taste.
When it is ready, turn the burner off. This sauce just gets better and better as it mellows.
When it is time to serve dinner, boil a pot of pasta and re-heat the melanzane sauce at the same time. Because it is a strong sauce, you can use strong pastas, like penne, to serve it over.
Hot Weather Foods
I’ve been making an effort to eat breakfast, and I have finally found something I can like. I have tried to find the post where someone recommends Activia in the comment section, but I can’t find it. Whoever you are, it got filed away in the recesses of my memory – I was looking for non-fat yoghurt to make smoothies with, and my friend handed me a six-pack of Activia and said “Use this.”
I trust my friend, she is all into nature, and being interconnected and fresh fresh food, so when she says “use this,” that’s enough for me. Plus, I remembered someone else telling me about how good Activia was, along with a cheese, maybe called Kiri. I had asked what I could use as a local cheese substitute for Philly Cream Cheese. Kiri isn’t really a subsititute, but it sure is good! 🙂
So here is what I am eating for breakfast:
It tastes SO good! I use one container of Activia (maybe 8 oz.), throw in some frozen raspberries, throw in some frozen blueberries, put in some honey and some cinnamon and blend. YUMMMMM. I am also eating walnuts and almonds, as you can see, because they are good for me, but also because the almonds and walnuts that we buy here seem fresher, they taste more walnutty and more almond-y than the ones we buy in the USA, I don’t know why.
The other thing I make that tastes SO good in this hot weather is tomato salsa. There are a million kinds of salsa, but I use this as a condiment with so many things, I even use it on sandwiches!
I take about:
five fresh Kuwaiti tomatoes, and chop them finely,
one onion, chopped finely,
1/2 bunch cilantro – cut coarsely with scissors,
a sprinkle of sea salt
a big grating of peppercorns (it makes a difference; always use freshly ground pepper)
(the secret ingredient) a sprinkle of lime juice.
Oh, it tastes so good! It tastes so fresh! You can even eat it on crackers.
Grilled Portobellos
My friends, this is not my recipe. This is what happens when you are up at 4 a.m. and there is no one around to play with. I have never checked my Amazon blog before, I’ve never even noticed it at the top of my page, but I saw I had two new entries, and I clicked.
OMG.
Another book I never knew I needed. This recipe sounds to-die-for. Every single ingredient is available in Kuwait, and lucky lucky you if you are growing your own basil!
It’s easy to expand your barbecue menu with these mouth-watering mushrooms from the BBQ Queens (the recipe’s from their book The Big Book of Barbecue, which is available from Harvard Common in both paperback and hardback, depending on how you like your books served). The hard part is deciding which cooking method to use, as the Queens disagree in this instance–barbecue style can be a bit divisive even within the tightest cooking teams. You can check out Judith’s way and Karen’s way in the directions below, and then choose your mushrooming option.
Serves 4
Ingredients:
4 large Portobello mushrooms
1/4-cup extra virgin olive oil
4 cloves garlic, minced
8 ounces goat cheese, crumbled or cubed (can also substitute feta cheese, Boursin, Gorgonzola, or Brie)
2 tablespoons toasted pine nuts
8-10 fresh basil leaves, chopped
Kosher or sea salt for seasoning
Directions:
1. Remove the stems from the Portobello mushrooms, then brush both sides of each mushroom with extra virgin olive oil.
2. In a small bowl, combine the minced garlic cloves; the goat cheese (or feta cheese, Boursin, Gorgonzola, or Brie); the toasted pine nuts; and the chopped fresh basil leaves.
3.:
Karen’s version: Place one-fourth of the mixture inside each mushroom cap. Season with kosher or sea salt to taste. Place the mushroom caps directly over the hot fire and grill with the lid down until the mushrooms are soft, 8 to 10 minutes.
Judith’s version: Grill the mushrooms gill side down for about 4 minutes with the grill lid open. Turn the mushrooms, fill them with the goodies, and season with salt. Close the lid and grill for another 4 minutes. Serve hot.
–A.J. Rathbun
Penny Carrot Salad
So easy and so good, this salad is also very sweet, so I am sharing it with my Kuwaiti friends. (Is it possible to be Kuwaiti and not have a sweet tooth?)
It is called Penny Carrot Salad because you cut the carrots into round pieces about 1/4 inch thick, so that they look like coins. Do not over cook, or you will have carrot mush! Especially good on hot summer nights.
2 lbs (4 cups) sliced, cooked carrots
1 large onion
1 large green pepper
1 can tomato soup
1/2 cup olive oil
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup vinegar
1 teaspoon worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon mustard
Mix liquid and seasonings together and pour over drained carrots as soon as they are finished cooking. Refrigerate overnight. Keeps well.
Cynthia’s Praline Cake
My friend Cynthia, who knows I love mysteries, confessed to me that it was HER praline cake featured in JA Jance’s Joanna Brady series, and that she was the Cynthia who, in the book, brings it to the community potluck supper. And . . . she shared the recipe with me!
My friends, it is an easy recipe if you have the ingredients on hand (oats, brown sugar, butter) but I warn you – no substitutions! Yes, it is full of sugars and fats – why do you think it tastes so good??
Cynthia’s Praline Cake
(This is another one you can make in two 8″ round pans, and freeze one for later.)
1 cup quick-cooking oats
1 cup cold water
1 cup white sugar
1 1/4 cups brown sugar
1 cup oil
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
Icing
1 stick butter (1/2 cup)
2 Tablespoons milk
1 cup packed light brown sugar
1 1/4 cut chopped pecans
In a small bowl combine the oats and water, set aside. In another small bowl, combine and mix the dry ingredients – the flour, soda, cinnamon and salt.
In a larger mixing bowl, cream together the sugars, oil and eggs. Beat, add the oat mixture alternately with the mixed dry ingredients. Mix well.
Pour into greased and floured 9 x 13 inch baking pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 35 – 40 minutes.
For the icing: Just before the cake is done, combine butter, milk, and brown sugar in a saucepan, bring it to a boil and boil for one minute. Add the pecans and mix. Spread over cake.
For Jewaira, who always asks for pictures, this is what the finished cake looks like:
Pecan – Date Pie (for Mrm)
This is for Mrm, who requested EASY recipes. My friends, good cooking CAN be easy, and with rare exception, all my recipes are EASY. The treasures are the recipes which are EASY and yummy, too. This one is so rich and so sweet that people can’t resist it – they go back for more, and they want the recipe. It was sent to me by one of my Southern friends – they always have the best recipes!
The hardest part of this recipe is getting the seeds out of the dates – but it only takes a half cup full of dates, and that isn’t much.
Pecan – Date Pie
1/2 cup whole pitted dates, chopped
1/2 cup chopped pecans
1 cup dark corn syrup
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
3 T. all purpose flour
1 teaspoon vanilla
4 large eggs
Sprinkle dates and pecans over crust. Combine corn syrup and next 5
ingredients in a bowl, beat with a mixer at medium speed until well
blended. Pour into prepared crust. Bake at 325 degrees F. (180 degrees C.)
for 55 minutes or until knife inserted comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack. Serve
with whipped cream.
“Pour into prepared crust” – Hohohohohoho – if you can find a prepared crust in Kuwait!
But you can find digestive biscuits/ graham crackers, so make this easy easy crust – crush about 1 cup of the crackers/biscuits, add 1/4 cup medium chopped walnuts or pecans, and 1/4 cup melted butter. Press into the bottom and a little up the sides of a BUTTER greased pie tin.
Key Lime Cheesecake
(If you don’t have Key Limes, then it is just lime cheesecake)
Heat oven to 325°F / 180°C.
4 (8 oz packages of cream cheese)
1 cup sugar
4 eggs
4 Tablespoons lime juice
2 cups graham cracker crumbs / digestive cracker crumbs
1/4 cup chopped pecans or walnuts
1/4 cup melted butter
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
Grease a cheesecake pan (the sides open and separates from the bottom) using BUTTER. Be generous. (Real butter just tastes better)
Crush the digestive biscuits/graham crackers, chop the nuts and add to the crumbs, add cinnamon, mix in the melted butter. When mixed together, press on bottom and up sides of the cheesecake pan. The crumbs won’t cover everything, that’s ok.
Cream together the cream cheese and sugar. Add one egg at a time, until just mixed. Add lime juice. Stir in. Pour the cream cheese/egg/lime juice mixture into crumb crust and place in oven.
Cook for one hour. Check – does the center look fairly firm to you? If not, put it in for another 10 minutes at a time (meaning keep checking and putting back for 10 minutes until the top center looks fairly firm.)
You are cooking at a very low temperature so the top won’t crack.
Cheesecake secret: when you think the center is firm enough, turn off the oven, leave the cheesecake inside to cool. It will cool gradually, and the top won’t crack. When cool, cover loosely with foil and place in refrigerator overnight. (The flavor mellows overnight.)
You can serve as is, or cover top with a layer of sour cream, or a layer of fruit.
Roasted Tomato Soup
Tomatoes don’t do that great once the temperatures hit the highs we have hit recently. Time to pick them all, and fix some Roasted Tomato Soup. Freeze the leftovers for a taste of spring deep in the heat and humidity of a Kuwaiti summer. 🙂
Roasted Tomato and Cumin Soup
From Nxabega Okavango Safari Camp
3 – 5 kilograms ripe tomatoes
2 Tablespoons olive oil
2 medium onions
3 garlic cloves
1 large fresh red chili pepper
4 Tablespoons olive oil
2 Tablespoons whole cumin, roasted and ground
2 cups vegetable stock
salt and black pepper
Slice tomatoes in half, place on a baking sheet and sprinkle with 2 tablespoons olive oil. Roast in a hot oven one and a half hours. (If you have a Misto you can give them all a good spray!)
Chop onion, garlic and chilli pepper.
Place all vegetables in a large sauce pan with 4 Tablespoons olive oil, cook until onions are soft (about 10 minutes).
Add cumin and fry another 5 minutes. Add roasted tomatoes and stock, cook further 10 minutes. Puree the mixture, transfer back to a sauce pan and gently warm. Check seasoning and serve.
(How can something that tastes so good also be so good for you?)
Cauliflower Salad
With the warm weather coming back in, it’s time for nice cool salads again. Cauliflower is expensive in Kuwait – most countries where I have made this, it is reasonable, but in Kuwait, I guess it is very special. Probably because it is more of a cold weather vegetable. You can get it here, but even in the markets, it is dear.
Ladies seem to like this one a lot more than men do, or at least AdventureMan doesn’t like it, but it disappears in a heartbeat at a ladies lunch:
1 head lettuce
1 head cauliflower, broken into small pieces
1 lb bacon, fried crisp and crumbled (in Kuwait, use beef or turkey, and make sure it is crisp!)
6 green onions, sliced, especially the green parts
Blend together:
2 cups mayonnaise
1/4 cup sugar
1/3 cup Parmesan cheese, grated
Layer lettuce, cauliflower, bacon and onion in large salad bowl. Spread dressing over the top. Seal with Saran-type wrap and refrigerate overnight. Toss just before serving.
(In the interest of waistlines, I usually use a cup of non-fat yoghurt in place of one cup of mayonnaise; it isn’t quite so rich but the difference is barely discernible.)
(In Kuwait, mix up the mayonnaise, sugar, parmesan cheese first, and give it plenty of time for the sugar to melt; sugar in Kuwait is not refined as finely as in the US, and sugar grit in the salad dressing is too distracting!)
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