Jun 18

Fish and Rice Upside Down (Makloubet riz bel samak)

Makloubeh, which translates literally into “upside down”, is a famous Levantine dish. You will find different variants throughout Syria, Jordan, Palestine and Lebanon. What is unique about this meal is that it is a one pot meal of meat, rice, vegetables and spices that is flipped upside down onto a large platter before being served. There are numerous variations as to how to best prepare Makloubeh. You can use lamb, mutton, chicken or beef instead of fish. The basic techniques remain the same.

Makloubet riz bel samak

Fish and Rice Upside Down (Makloubet riz bel samak)

Fish Marinading Overnight

Fish Marinading Overnight

Lightly Fried Marinaded Fish Filets

Lightly Fried Marinaded Fish Filets

Rice in Fish Broth Before Boiling

Rice in Fish Broth Before Boiling

Rice Cooked in Fish Broth

Rice Cooked in Fish Broth

Bottom of Pot Layered with Fried Fish

Bottom of Pot Layered with Fried Fish

Fish Topped with Rice and Vegetable Medley

Rice and Vegetable Medley Placed on Top of Fish

There are two basic components to the dish, marinading and cooking of the fish and the preparation of the rice. Although not a difficult dish to make, the key is for the rice to be finished cooking when you have finished frying the fish.

Fish: Ingredients & Instructions:

Ingredients:

  • 2 – 2 1/4 Pounds of Tilapia filet (you can choose any other type of fish filet)
  • 1/2 Cup of Olive Oil or Vegetable Oil to fry the fish
  • 1/2 Teaspoon of Salt
  • 1/2 Teaspoon of White Pepper
  • 1/2  Teaspoon of Fish Spice (can be found in any well stocked spice shelf of the grocery store)
  • 1 Orange cut into thin slices
  • 2 Lemons cut into thin slices
  • 3 Garlic Cloves diced thin
  • 1/4 Cup of Vegetable Oil (Marinade)
  • 1/2  Cup of sliced Almonds

Instructions:

  1. The night before you are going to prepare the meal in a large bow or Pyrex dish mix well the Salt, White Pepper, Fish Spice, Vegetable Oil, Oranges, Lemon and Garlic. Then add the fish and cover.
  2. After the rice has cooked, heat the Olive Oil / Vegetable Oil in a non stick skillet on Medium to Medium-High.
  3. Cook the fish until it is golden brown (about three minutes per side).
  4. Heat oil in a nonstick pan and fry fish on both sides until is golden.
  5. Remove cooked fish filets from the skillet, and lightly cover them with aluminum foil to keep them warm.
  6. Lightly fry almonds in the same oil and then drain them on a paper towel.

Rice: Ingredients & Instructions:

Ingredients:

  • 2 Cups of Basmati Rice, washed and drained
  • 2 1/4 Cups of Fish broth or Chicken broth
  • 1 Cup of Thawed Vegetable Medley (peas, green beans, carrots…)
  • 2 Tablespoons of Melted Butter
  • 1 Teaspoon of Salt
  • 1/2 Teaspoon of Ground Turmeric

Instructions:

  1. Pour fish broth (or chicken broth) into a saucepan, add rice and bring it to a boil.
  2. Cover saucepan and reduce heat to low and cook the rice for 10-12 minutes.
  3. Turn heat off and keep it covered for another 10 minutes.
  4. Remove cover, add salt, butter, turmeric, vegetable medley and gently stir all ingredients into the rice.

Bringing the Fish and the Rice together:

  1. Place the fish fillets on the bottom of another circular pot.
  2. Add rice mixture on top and push down.
  3. Place a large circular serving dish on the top of the pot, then flip the pot with the fish and rice upside down. Do this carefully carefully so to not lose the shape of the dish.
  4. Gently pull the pot upwards away from the circular serving dish.
  5. Add the almonds as decoration and serve hot with a fresh vegetable salad.

 

Serving Dish on Top of Pot

Serving Dish on Top of Pot

Flip Serving Dish Upside Down

Flip Serving Dish Upside Down

 

 

Jun 17

Summer Fresh Peach Sorbet

Fresh fruit sorbet is probably one of the lesser enjoyed treats that is available, yet when it comes to experiencing desserts that closest represent the flavor and essence of ripe fruit there is few comparisons. Peach Sorbet is no exception and despite being cool, refreshing and exploding with the natural flavor of fresh picked peaches, there is very little that makes this an unhealthy dessert.

Fresh Homemade Peach Sorbet

Fresh Homemade Peach Sorbet in a Bowl

What makes Peach Sorbet easy to make is that it does not matter if you use fresh sliced peaches or peaches that have been sliced and frozen. Personally, I think that peaches that have been sliced and frozen actually work better. For this recipe, I used a Food Processor to puree the sliced peaches and then used the KitchenAid Ice Cream Maker to freeze the Peach Puree with the Simple Syrup. I have included the steps for Peaches that are both frozen and fresh peeled

Fresh Peaches (Peeled, Pitted & Diced)

Fresh Peaches (Peeled, Pitted & Diced)

Ingredients:

  • 6 Cups of Sliced and Skinned Peaches
  • 1 ½ Cups of Simple Sugar Syrup (1 Cup of Sugar and 1 Cup of Water combined in a sauce pan and stirred frequently until a boil has been achieved. Allow to chill prior to using)
  • 1 Tablespoon of Lemon Juice

Preparing the Peaches:

Fresh Peeled & Sliced Peaches: Process the sliced peaches through the food processor until you have a smooth puree. You can add the lemon juice at any time to the food processor. Then place in a bowl and chill for at least eight hours in the back of the refrigerator.

Frozen Peeled & Sliced Peaches: Partially thaw the Peaches and then process them in the Food Processor creating a smooth puree. You can add the lemon juice at any time to the food processor. The puree should be very cold because the peaches were partially frozen. You do not need to chill the puree for any additional amount of time.

Making the Sorbet:

Combine the Peach puree and the Syrup. I prefer my sorbet to be less sweet then most recipes recommend, but you can always add additional syrup after tasting the mixture prior making the sorbet.

Follow the instructions provided by KitchenAid with the Ice Cream Maker Attachment to freeze, attach and engage the churning paddle. The speed of the paddle should be set at setting #1.

Pour the Sorbet mixture into the bowl for seven to twelve minutes (dependent upon the desired consistency).

Turn off the KitchenAid, disengage the paddle and pour the near frozen Peach Sorbet into airtight containers for a minimum of two hours.

Peach Sorbet Made in the KitchenAid Ice Cream Maker Ready to be Frozen

Peach Sorbet Made in the KitchenAid Ice Cream Maker Ready to be Frozen

Possible Alternative to the KitchenAid Ice Cream Maker if Using Frozen Peaches:

Although I have not yet tried to make Peach Sorbet without the KitchenAid Ice Cream Maker, I cannot help but wonder if you are using partially thawed frozen peaches if use of the KitchenAid Ice Cream Maker can be avoided altogether. My thought is that if the peaches are partially frozen and then pureed through the food processor with the lemon juice and simple syrup added. The the mixture which is near frozen could be transferred directly to an airtight container and then frozen. The result should be nearly the same results. It is an experiment that is worthy of trying. Let me know if you have tried this alternative.

 

Jun 16

Sam’s Burgers, Fries & Pies

Houston has a plethora of great burger joints, and I’m not talking about chains. From ‘hole in the walls’ to ‘Mom and Pop’ family run businesses there are far too many to be able to try. The good thing is, that there is vibrant ‘burger culture’, and the good ones do tend to float to the top. There will always be disagreements over who has the best burger in town, but the same names regularly appear on the best burgers lists. I’ve been lucky enough to join some of the guys from the Houston Burger Club on their trips to visit some of the best burger joints in town and there are some really good burgers to be found.

About 9 months ago, Sams Burgers, Fries & Pies opened just around the corner from where I live, but it wasn’t until today that I was able to go and check them out. It’s funny how the closer something is to where you live the less you visit it. As their name suggests, they not only sell burgers, but pies. Being from the UK, I had initially thought they might be savoury pies, but they are fruit pies, such as apple, blueberry, cherry, etc. The inside of Sam’s has been well fitted out, with wooden floors and tables made from reclaimed wood, some of which dates back to Great Storm of 1900 at Galveston.

I ordered the Buffalo Burger with everything on it (lettuce, tomato, onion, pickle, mayo and mustard) and the hand-cut fries. To rate the burger, I have used the Houston Burger Club rating system.

Sam's Buffalo Burger and Fries

Bun (1-10) 9
Patty (1-10) 7.5
Juiciness (1-5) 3.5
Toppings (1-5) 3.5
Visual (1-5) 5
Total (35 Max) 28.5

The staff were very friendly and the burgers came out pretty quickly. The first impressions were very good. The bun is unusual, in that it doesn’t look a standard mass produced burger bun. I think I read somewhere that it is a brioche-style bun. Also on top of each bun is seared a big S made with a branding iron, which is a nice touch and adds to the overall appearance of the burger. The bun is quite soft, without a crusty top, but it has a good flavour. The patty itself is handmade, which is always the sign of a good burger. It was well seasoned, but it wasn’t as juicy as I thought it might have been, therefore the slightly lower score. The toppings were fresh, crisp and not at all soggy. Overall this was a very well presented burger and the rating reflect this high score.

I will certainly be going back to sample some of the other burgers they have to offer some evening as they allow BYOB.

 

Jun 16

We have been chosen as Foodista’s Food Blog of the Day

Foodista - Food Blog of the Day

We had a surprise email this morning from Foodista. We have been chosen as Foodista’s Food Blog of the Day. How exciting is that?

Bill’s Slow Cooked Barbequed Pork Ribs were chosen to represent us and feature on their front page.

Big thanks to Alisa from Foodista on letting us know this great news!

Jun 16

Homemade Sausage Recipes

Fortunately coming from an Italian-American family where my grandfather’s generation were butchers, there are homemade sausage recipes that exists versus minor tweaking of existing published and posted recipes for making sausage in the kitchen. One of the joys of making sausage from a family recipe or loose following a published recipe is that there is some trial and error.

Homemade Sausage Recipe

Homemade Sausage Recipe

The recipe is not so much written down versus the dimming memories of the taste and smell of food not made for decades.  The picture above is the second attempt of making an one of the sausage recipes remembered by my aunt that her father used to make. Here is an excerpt from an email from my aunt to me when she sent me a scanned copy of my uncle’s recipes (see picture below):

“Unfortunately, the cheese sausage [recipe] is not on it, but I can tell you he used provolone. When he cooked them the cheese would just melt and it was so delicious. He also used fresh parsley…”

From those 35 words, with only 4 words being relevant to the ingredients used (provolone, melt and fresh parsley) combined with a few follow up emails, a recipe that has not been produced for 30+ years was recreated. In addition to the oral memories of recipes, there are the hand written recipes that have been saved and passed down.

Homemade Pork Sausage Recipes

Uncle Nick’s Handwritten Sausage Recipes, Circa 1980

The four written recipes in the scanned sheet of paper to the right are from my Uncle Nicky Stabile. It is apparent that he was a butcher by trade for the quantities recorded; i.e. 100 pounds of meat, without hesitation is for a butcher shop and not for making sausage in the kitchen. To put this into perspective, a 100 pounds of meat would make approximately 400 to 500 links of sausage. What I find most amazing about these recipes to the right is simplicity of their ingredients

Aside from creating food from recipes passed down within the family, there is also an infinite number of sausage recipes to be found in books dedicated to making sausage and recipes posted on the internet. Where applicable, I provide credit to the author / creator of the recipe. Fair is fair, legal is legal and the originator of the recipe is to be acknowledged when known.

I have found Bruce Aidells’ Complete Sausage Book to be a great starting point for ideas and trying recipes for the first time before tweaking and adjusting the recipe to match my personal tastes.

As sausage recipes, techniques, experiences and recipes using sausage are added to We Are Not Foodies, a link to will be added this the post to simplify your search.

 

Hand Twisting Sausage Links From a Sausage Coil

Homemade Sausage Coil Being Hand Twisted Into Links

Homemade Sausages, Chorizo Style

Homemade Chorizo Style Sausages

Homemade Hot Italian Sausage Sandwich with Provolone

Homemade Hot Italian Sausage Sandwich with Provolone

Whole Pork Tenderloin To Make Homemade Sausage

Vacuumed Packed Whole Pork Tenderloin To Make Homemade Sausage Recipes:

Techniques & Lessons Learned:

General Topics of Interest:

Recipes Where Sausage Is Used: