Feast
Page 45
3. Serve hot, sprinkled with cinnamon and with a little stringy cheese piled in the middle.
Dried Fruit and Nuts in Apricot Leather Juice
KHOSHAF
LEBANON | SYRIA
Khoshaf gets its name from Persian—khosh-ab (good water)—suggesting that it probably originated in Persia, although you can find it with slight variations throughout the Levant. In this recipe, the water in which the dried fruit and nuts are soaked is sweetened with apricot leather (qamar el-din), but you can also sweeten it with a little raw cane sugar, or omit the sugar altogether and just have the little sweetness imparted by the dried fruit.
SERVES 4
5¼ ounces (150 g) apricot leather
2 cups (500 ml) boiling water
⅔ cup (100 g) golden raisins
⅔ cup (100 g) whole dried apricots
¼ cup (40 g) blanched almonds, soaked for 2 hours in cold water
¼ cup (40 g) pistachios, soaked for 2 hours in cold water
¼ cup (40 g) walnuts, cut in half lengthwise to have quarters, soaked for 2 hours in cold water
¼ cup (40 g) pine nuts, soaked for 2 hours in cold water
4 teaspoons orange blossom water
1. Cut the apricot leather into medium pieces and put in a bowl. Add the boiling water and let sit for a while, until the leather has softened. Then, stir the apricot leather in the water until completely dissolved.
2. Rinse the raisins and dried apricots under cold water and add to the apricot leather water. Let sit for 2 hours, preferably longer, in the refrigerator to serve chilled.
3. Transfer the fruit and their soaking water to a large mixing bowl. Drain and rinse the nuts and add to the fruit—if you have the patience, peel the pistachios and walnuts before adding them for more vibrant colors. Add the orange blossom water. Taste and adjust the sweetness if necessary. Serve slightly chilled.
Lebanese Sweet Cheese “Pie”
KUNAFAH BIL-JEBN
LEBANON | SYRIA | JORDAN | PALESTINE | TURKEY
There is an ongoing debate about where kunafah, a sweet cheese “pie” usually eaten for breakfast, originated. Some claim Turkey as its country of origin, others swear it is Palestine, and others claim it is from Syria. There isn’t enough research for us to tell for sure, but what is certain is that there are two main types of kunafah. In kunafah Nabulsiyah, from Palestine, the kataifi pastry—called “hair” pastry because it is made in very thin, long strands—is colored red and used as is (see Variation). The Lebanese version is known as kunafah mafrukah (meaning “rubbed”), because the strands of kataifi are buttered, then rubbed and rubbed until they become like fluffy breadcrumbs. Also the Lebanese version has no coloring. In Lebanon kunafah is made into a sweet sandwich by stuffing it inside the fat part of a sesame bread that looks like a handbag, with a handle and a fat pouch part, then drenching it and the inside of the bread in sugar syrup.
It is fairly simple to prepare and all you need is to buy kataifi fresh or frozen from a Middle Eastern store.
You can make this in the oven (as below) or on the stovetop (see Note). You can vary the cheese by using 1 pound (450 g) Arabic clotted cream (qashtah) and follow the instructions as below.
SERVES 4 TO 6
10½ ounces (300 g) akkawi (see Glossary) or fior de latte mozzarella (cow’s milk mozzarella)
9 ounces (250 g) kataifi (“hair” pastry)
8 tablespoons (115 g) unsalted butter, cut into small cubes
¾ cup (180 ml) sugar syrup, cooled
1. A few hours ahead: Slice the cheese into thin slices, about ¼ inch (6 mm) thick, and put to soak in cold water. Change the water regularly until the cheese has lost all traces of saltiness—you will probably need to change the water up to ten times in the space of 2 to 3 hours.
2. Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).
3. Chop the pastry into pieces ½ inch (1 cm) long and transfer to a large skillet. Make a well in the center and add 7 tablespoons (100 g) of the diced butter to the well. Place over low heat, then, with your fingers, slowly rub the melting butter into the pastry until it is well coated and completely crumbled.
4. Grease a 9-inch (23 cm) round baking dish with the remaining 1 tablespoon (15 g) butter. Spread the shredded pastry across the dish in an even layer, pressing down hard with your hands. Bake for 10 to 15 minutes, or until golden brown.
5. Meanwhile, drain the cheese and pat it dry with paper towels. Take the pastry out of the oven and spread the cheese slices evenly over it. Return to the oven and bake for 10 more minutes, or until the cheese is melted.
6. Brush a serving dish with a little sugar syrup so that the melting cheese does not stick and turn the pie over onto the dish to reveal the crisp golden pastry. Pour a little sugar syrup over the pastry and serve hot, with more syrup on the side.
NOTE: Spread the cheese slices over the pastry before cooking and place the round baking dish over low heat. (Here it would be a good idea to use a copper dish, if you have one, as most other baking dishes will not go over the fire.) Cook for 20 to 30 minutes, turning the dish regularly to make sure the pastry browns evenly. By the time it is done, the pie should move in one block if you shake the dish from side to side.
KUNAFAH NABULSIYAH: To make the Palestinian version of this dish, use a few drops food coloring to color the kataifi a reddish orange and mix it with the melted butter. Toss the pastry with the melted butter, but do not rub it. Use the remaining melted butter to brush the baking dish. The rest of the dish is the same.
KATAIFI
* * *
Some cookery writers have recently taken to describing kataifi as shredded phyllo. It is definitely not shredded phyllo. The pastry is made by dropping very thin strands of batter through tiny holes (either by hand with a cup-like implement with narrow funnels on the bottom or by machine through a trough lined with multiple narrow funnels) onto a hot metal plate. The batter is drizzled in a circular motion and the thin strands sizzle as soon as they hit the plate. These are immediately gathered into a figure eight and laid onto paper or linen towels to be later taken to the sweets makers for use in kunafah or other sweets such as borma or bird’s nests, to name but a few.
Moroccan Almond Spirals
M’HANNCHA
MOROCCO
When home cooks plan to make m’hanncha at home, they will rarely make the warqa, the Moroccan equivalent of phyllo dough. Instead they will buy it at the market or at pastry shops, made by women who are warqa specialists; or they will ask the specialist warqa maker to come to their home to make it in situ. Unlike the Cornes de Gazelles, where you need to make the pastry as well as the almond paste, these are much quicker to prepare as you only have to make and shape the almond paste filling. Despite having the same flavor as that of cornes de gazelle, m’hanncha are different in that they are a lot crunchier, not to mention that the shape is also different. Moroccans will usually have a tray of sweets on which they will have different types, including these and the cornes de gazelles to offer with Mint Tea. They very rarely serve them as dessert, unless it is for a diffa (a word that means “invitation” and refers to a celebratory or special occasion meal).
MAKES ABOUT 20
FOR THE FILLING
3⅓ cups (500 g) blanched almonds, soaked for 1 hour in boiling water
1¼ cups (150 g) powdered sugar
¼ cup (60 ml) orange blossom water
2 tablespoons (30 g) unsalted butter, at room temperature
¼ teaspoon ground mastic (see Glossary)
FOR THE SPIRALS
20 sheets phyllo dough (measuring7¼x 12¾ inches/18 x 32 cm but more common are shorter sheets)
10 tablespoons (150 g) unsalted butter, melted
1. To make the filling: Drain the almonds well and spread to dry on a kitchen towel. Put the almonds and powdered sugar in a food processor and process until very finely ground. Add the orange blossom water, butter, and mastic and process until well blended.
2. Transfer the almond paste to a
work surface and roll into a sausage shape. Divide into 20 equal pieces and shape each first into a ball, then into a long, thin sausage measuring 10¾ inches (27 cm) long. Cover with plastic wrap.
3. Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C). Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat (or use a nonstick sheet).
4. To make the spirals: Lay a sheet of phyllo on a work surface with a long side facing you and brush with melted butter. Lay an almond “sausage” about ½ inch (1 cm) away from the edge nearer you and about 1 inch (2.5 cm) away from the ends. Fold the ½ inch (1 cm) of phyllo over the almond cylinder and roll, keeping the phyllo very close to the filling as you roll over it. Brush the roll with butter and, with the loose end down, fold one empty edge and start rolling into a coil, sliding the other empty edge under the coil. Transfer the coil to the baking sheet and press lightly on it to make sure it doesn’t unroll during baking. Make the remaining coils the same way. Prick each with a toothpick here and there to stop the pastry from puffing.
5. Bake for 25 minutes, or until golden brown. Let cool on a wire rack. Serve at room temperature. These will keep in an airtight container for up to 1 week.
Baklava
LEBANON | SYRIA
Baklava is a generic term describing a whole range of Middle Eastern sweets, such as kol wa shkor (translated as “eat and be grateful”), which are tiny pastries made with phyllo dough. They come as tiny rolls, or small squares, or little “baskets,” all filled with ground nuts—pistachios, pine nuts, almonds, cashews, or walnuts. Another more limited range is a selection made with kataifi (or “hair” pastry), which come in cylinders (borma), squares (ballouriyeh), or nests (‘esh el-bulbul). These, too, are filled with nuts. A few baklava are fried but most are baked, and all are drenched in sugar syrup after baking or frying. The syrup is left plain in Turkey, while in Lebanon and Syria it is flavored with orange blossom and rose water. Syria is the land of baklava even if Turkish baklava is better known globally. Syrian baklava, which is the same as that made in Lebanon, is crunchier and less golden than its Turkish counterpart, and it is made smaller.
The recipe below is for the classic diamond-shaped baklava, but you can also make fingers (see Variation).
SERVES 6 TO 8
FOR THE SYRUP
Scant 1 cup (175 g) raw cane sugar
½ teaspoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon rose water
1 teaspoon orange blossom water
FOR THE FILLING
1⅓ cups (200 g) pistachios, pine nuts, or walnuts
½ cup (100 g) raw cane sugar
¾ teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 tablespoon orange blossom water
1 tablespoon rose water
TO ASSEMBLE
8 tablespoons (115 g) butter, melted
12 sheets phyllo dough (12½ x 7¼ inches/32 x 18 cm)
1. To make the syrup: Put the sugar, lemon juice, and ¼ cup plus 1 tablespoon (75 ml) water in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring every now and then, and let bubble for 3 minutes. Take off the heat and add the rose and orange blossom water. Let cool.
2. Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).
3. To make the filling: Process the nuts in a blender until medium fine. (Or, for a nicer texture, pack them loosely in a zip-seal plastic bag and use a rolling pin to crush or beat them.) Transfer to a medium mixing bowl. Add the sugar, cinnamon, and orange flower and rose water and mix well.
4. Brush a 7 x 12½-inch (18 x 32 cm) baking dish with a little melted butter. Spread one sheet of phyllo dough over the bottom and brush with melted butter. (Keep the remaining sheets covered with plastic wrap, then a kitchen towel to stop them from drying up.) Lay 5 more sheets of phyllo on top, brushing each with melted butter as you go, for a total of 6 layers.
5. Spread the nut filling evenly over the phyllo and cover with 6 more sheets of phyllo, making sure you brush each with melted butter. Pour any leftover butter onto the pastry and cut into medium-size diamonds or thin rectangles all the way through the filled pastry.
6. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until crisp and golden. Remove from the oven and let sit for a couple of minutes before pouring the cooled syrup all over the baklava. Serve at room temperature. Baklava will keep for at least a couple of days if stored in an airtight container.
BAKLAVA FINGERS: Make the syrup and nut filling as directed. Halve the phyllo lengthwise for a total of 24 strips of phyllo. Keeping the unused phyllo covered while you work, make a stack of 6 strips of phyllo, brushing melted butter over each layer as you go. With a long side of the pastry facing you, spread a quarter of the nut filling in a thin raised line down the length of the pastry, close to the edge nearer to you. Roll into a long thin sausage. Cut the roll crosswise into 2-inch (5 cm) lengths. Repeat to make 3 more rolls. Arrange the pastries loose side down on a nonstick baking sheet (or one lined with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat), keeping the rolls close to one another. Bake and add the syrup as indicated above.
Caraway Pudding
MEGHLI
Meghli is the sweet par excellence that is associated with newborns, especially with newborn boys. Lebanese home cooks make industrial quantities of meghli whenever new children are born. They keep some at home to serve those who come to congratulate them on the happy occasion and send out the rest to family and friends to share in the happiness. Meghli means “boiled” in Arabic, and the pudding does indeed need to boil, for a minimum of an hour, before it reaches the right consistency. Some people boil it for less time, but the resulting pudding is bland and watery. You can buy a ready-made meghli mix to which you add water and boil for less time. It is an acceptable alternative, but it is well worth your while making your own from scratch, even if it means time stirring the mixture until it thickens into the velvety fragrant custard-like mixture. It’s traditional to sprinkle shredded coconut over the pudding, although I’m not so fond of it myself. If you would like to include it, simply sprinkle a little over the pudding before adding the nuts.
SERVES 4
⅔ cup (100 g) ground rice
2 tablespoons ground caraway seeds
1 tablespoon ground anise
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 cup (200 g) raw cane sugar
FOR GARNISH
¼ cup (50 g) pine nuts, soaked in boiling water for a couple of hours
¼ cup (50 g) shelled walnuts, soaked in boiling water for a couple of hours
¼ cup (50 g) blanched almond halves, soaked in boiling water for a couple of hours
Put the ground rice in a large pot. Add 2½ quarts (2.5 liters) water. Add the ground caraway and anise and place over high heat. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly, and boil for 25 minutes, still stirring all the time. Reduce the heat to medium and cook for another 5 minutes, stirring as you go. Add the cinnamon and stir for another 20 minutes, then reduce the heat to medium-low, add the sugar, and stir for a further 10 minutes. Remove from the heat and pour into a single shallow serving bowl or into 4 or 6 individual ones, depending on their size. Let the pudding cool before garnishing with the drained nuts. Serve chilled or at room temperature.
Cornes de Gazelles
QA’B EL-GH’ZAL
MOROCCO
The most elegant of all Moroccan pastries, cornes de gazelles (meaning “the horns of a female deer”) are a labor of love as they are time-consuming to prepare. Still, they are definitely worth making. They are among the most elegant and most delicious of all North African sweet confections. They are the first treat I buy when I visit Morocco, and it is rare for a day to go by when I am there without having some, usually with mint tea. It is not often that you will find them prepared in the same delicate way in the West. Most of those you buy in pastry shops outside Morocco are too coarse with a very thick pastry and bland filling. The only way you are going to have them as delicate and tasty as those made in Morocco is by making them yourself, or by having them in a Moroccan home where they’ve been made.
MAKES
ABOUT 20
FOR THE FILLING
1⅔ cups (250 g) blanched almonds, soaked for 1 hour in boiling water
½ cup plus 1 tablespoon (75 g) powdered sugar
2 tablespoons orange blossom water
1 tablespoon unsalted butter, at room temperature
¼ teaspoon ground mastic (see Glossary)
FOR THE DOUGH
1 cup (120 g) unbleached all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon unsalted butter, melted
2 tablespoons orange blossom water
Softened butter, for shaping
1. To make the filling: Drain the almonds and spread them to dry on a clean kitchen towel.
2. Put the almonds in a food processor along with the powdered sugar and process until very fine. Transfer to a bowl. Add the orange blossom water, butter, and mastic and mix with your hands until you have a homogeneous paste. Cover with a clean kitchen towel.
3. To make the dough: Put the flour in a shallow medium mixing bowl and make a well in the center. Add the melted butter and orange blossom water to the well and gradually add 3 tablespoons water, working the liquid into the flour with your hand.
4. Transfer the dough to a work surface and knead for 3 minutes. Shape the dough into a ball, invert the bowl over the dough, and let rest for 15 minutes. Knead for 3 more minutes, or until the dough is smooth and elastic and quite soft.
5. Divide the almond filling into 20 portions. Roll each into a ball, then into a small sausage about 4 inches (10 cm) long. Taper the ends of each almond roll.
6. Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).
7. Smear your pastry board, rolling pin, and hands with a little butter. Take a piece of dough and roll it out, turning it over once or twice, until very thin and about 5 inches (12.5 cm) wide. Carefully stretch the dough with your hands to widen and thin it a little more. With the 5-inch (12.5 cm) side facing you, place an almond paste sausage crosswise about ¾ inch (2 cm) up from the edge. Pull the dough up and over the sausage and press tightly around the almond roll, encasing it. Pinch the filling and dough along the top to make a ridge and at the same time, bend it into a crescent with pointed ends (like a gazelle horn). Press the dough together at the seam and cut, following the shape of the crescent, using a fluted pastry wheel. The crescent should measure about 4 inches (10 cm) long and 1¼ inches (3 cm) high. Prick with a toothpick in several places on both sides, to stop it from puffing up, and place on a nonstick baking sheet (or a regular baking sheet lined with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat). Repeat to make 20 crescents.