Zucchini Patties

These patties make a very good appetizer. If you have friends or family coming over for dinner and you aren’t afraid to cook at the last minute, this is the right appetizer to make.  My neighbour knocked at the door once just as I was making some. I remember her face when I opened the door. "What are you making?" she asked, "it smells sooo good!". Start frying the patties just before your guests arrive, the delightfull aroma will welcome them. They will be eager to try them, and trust me they won’t be disappointed!

Ingredients
6 medium zucchinis (or 8 small)
4 eggs
2 cups shredded cheese (emmenthal, gruyere or jarlsberg)
Salt, pepper
1 cup all purpose flour
Oil for frying

Directions

1. Coarsely grate the zucchinis, add salt and toss in a big bowl.
2. Let them render all the water for a couple of hours if possible, then transfer to a colander sitting on a big bowl. If you are in a hurry skip this to step. You will have more sqeezing to do.
3. Drain as much as you can. Take small quantities of zucchinis between your hands and squeeze to release the excess liquid. You can also squeeze the zucchinis using a cheese cloth small quantities at a time. Transfer to a dry bowl.
4. Add the eggs, cheese and pepper and salt if needed. Mix well to combine all the ingredients.
5. Heat the 6 tablespoons corn oil over medium heat (sometimes I use an electrical fryer, it works very well).
6. Put the flour in a plate. Take a tablespoon of the zucchini mixture and form a ball using a second spoon. Roll rapidly in the flour, pating it to make a flat and round patty and to eliminate the excess of flour.
7. Carefully drop the patty into the frying pan. Cook 4-5 minutes on each side until golden brown and crisp.

Drain on paper towel. Serve hot with fresh lemon wedges on the side.

Veal Sauté with Olives

Last week I posted Sher's recipe for homemade pasta and I promised I will share the "Saute de veau aux olives", so here is the recipe! I made the sauté in a pressure cooker.
I have always been sold to the pressure cooker. It is the fastest way to cook your meals. Not only, it is a fantastic time saving tool, it also produces marvellous results.
Because the pressure cooker "does not permit air or liquids to escape below a pre-set pressure, it allows food to be cooked with greater humidity and higher temperatures than possible with conventional boiling or steaming method." (Wikipedia)
The meat comes out particularly moist and tender.

Serves 6

Ingredients
2 lbs cubed veal, preferrably from the shoulder
4 + 1 tablespoons oil
1 onion, finely chopped
4 cloves of garlic, crushed
3 tablespoon flour
1 bay leaf
2 cups hot water
Salt and pepper
200 gr green pitted olives (or if you prefer black)
2 cup mushrooms, sliced

Directions

1. Heat oil in a pan and brown the meat a few pieces at a time on each side.
2. Add the onion, the garlic and the bat leaf and cook slowly for about 10 mns.
3. In the meantime:
     a.  Blanch the olives in boiling water for 2-3 minutes, drain and set a side.
     b.  Brown the flour in a small pan on medium heat stirring continually until golden brown.
4. Remove pan from heat, stir in the flour, cover with hot water.
5. Season and Stir until smooth.
6. Put back on the stove, bring to a boil. Add the olives, lock the pressure cooker lid in place and bring to pressure, then lower heat and cook for 25 minutes.
7. While the meat is cooking, sauté the mushrooms in the remaining spoon of oil.
8. When meat is done, allow the pressure to drop then remove the lid.
9. Add the mushrooms simmer for 3-5 minutes.

Serve with pasta.

Boureks (meat filled)

Boureks are traditional Algerian rolls, usually made with a very thin pastry dough called dyouls. They can be shaped in cigars or triangle, and use a variety of filling : meat, vegetables, tuna. All across eastern Mediterranean countries, where the Ottoman Empire left its signature, you will find slightly different versions.

Here I used filo pastry and meat filling. They come out crisp and delicious. Count 3-4 per person because they disappear very quickly!

For 18 boureks
Ingredients
1 lb (500 gr) ground beef
3 big onions sliced
4 eggs
1 small bunch parsley
2 Tbs oil + oil to deep fry
Salt, pepper, ¼ tsp cinnamon
Filo pastry
a little bit of water to glue the pasta
2 towels to cover the Filo pastry

Directions
Sauté the onion with the olive oil in a saucepan over medium heat until translucent, around 10 minutes.
Add the meat, salt and spices and mix well. Cook for 15 minutes, all the juices should be absorbed.
Add the parsley, mix, and let it cool down completely.

In the meantime, beat the eggs with salt and pepper, cook in an omelette until just set.

Shaping the boureks:
Unroll 12 filo pastry sheets on a table or counter. Cut in 2, to use ½ sheet per bourek. Always cover with a towel while you work to avoid withering.
Lay out a sheet. Place 1 big tablespoon of the meat mixture near the bottom edge of the pastry, add a piece of omelette.
Fold the sides of the sheet over the filling and roll in a cigar shape. Moisten the top edge to seal it.
Put aside, covered with a towel.
Repeat with remaining filo until you have used all of the filling.

Frying the boureks:
Place the boureks carefully into medium hot oil and deep fry on both sides until golden brown. It should take no more than 2 minutes on each side.
Remove from the oil with a slotted spoon or tongs and drain on paper towel.

Serve immediately with lemon wedges.

Homemade Noodles

My friend Sher came for supper last Tuesday. Sher loves cooking and eating. So eventhough it was a week day, we decided to make fresh pasta to go with a sauté de veau aux olives (veal sauté with olives). She took care of the pasta, I made the sauté and my  husband got the camera ready.
It took 2  hours total before we sat down and eat. Half hour to make the pasta, half hour to prepare the sauté and 1.5 hours to cook it.
What a treat! Nothing could beat fresh home made pasta. We used a kitchenAid to knead the dough, and although I have a pasta machine, Sher chose to roll it by hand with a wooden rolling pin. She could have allow it to rest, but she wanted to roll it right away and go look at the pictures my husband took in the last two weeks.
Trust me it was not an easy task! The dough has a tendency to "spring" back if you don't let it rest and requires 3 to 4 times more effort to roll. It's a good workout for the biceps, though...

Here is the recipe.

Ingredients

2 cups all purpose flour

2 eggs

1/4 cup water

1 teaspoon of salt

Directions

Making the dough

Beat the eggs slightly
Put the flour and salt in the food processor, add the eggs and knead for 2 minutes. Revert the dough to your work surface and bring the dough together with your hands. Cover and let rest for 1/2 hour. Put the flour and salt in the food processor, add the eggs and knead for 2-5 minutes, or until the dough forms a ball.
If the dough is too crumbly add a little water.
Revert the dough to your floured work surface and bring the dough together with your hands.
If you want, you can cover and let rest for 1/2 hour. The dough will be easier to roll.

Rolling the pasta

The goal here is to roll out the dough thin enough. Cut the dough into 8 pieces. Dust each piece with flour on both sides. Dust your work surface too.

Roll out each piece in a rectangle flipping the dough over and dusting every so often to make sure it doesn't stick. It’s all right if it’s not perfectly rectangular.

The rectangle size depends on how long you want your pasta to be! ...

Shaping the pasta

The easiest pasta to cut by hand is the tagliatelle. Put a lot of flour on your rolled out dough, and simply roll the dough towards the center of the rectangle from either side, so they meet in the middle.
Don't press down on your dough though, you don't want it to stick! You're supposed to end up with something like this.

All you have to do now, is cut your roll in thin pieces and then unroll them!

 

An easy trick is to insert a chopstick in the middle of the cut rolls and lift.

Your tagliatelles should unroll themselves almost on their own.
 

Dust the pasta with a little more flour and place it on clean kitchen towels until you are ready to cook it.

Cooking the pasta

Cooking freshly made pasta is simple and so fast! Have a colander ready for draining. Throw the pasta into a large saucepan of boiling, salted water, more water than you would use for dried pasta otherwise it will stick together. The general rule is to use about 4 times more water than pasta.

Stir as you add pasta in water. Cook around 2 minutes from the moment the water starts to boil again. It should float at the top.

Dress and serve right away.

Note: I will post the recipe for the sauté de veau aux olives (veal sauté with olives) next time.
 

Cream of Tomato

I had 4 tomatoes sitting in the fridge too ripe to be used in a salad and I didn't know what to make as a first course. I digged a little bit more in the fridge and there sitting underneath a big lettuce a small carrot. I had all the ingredient for a nice creamy soup, not too acidic. The result was light and heart warming for a grey and cold autumn day. Here it is for you to enjoy!


Serves 4
Ingredients
2 Tablespoons olive oil
1 Small onion finely chopped (2/3 cup)
2 Cloves of garlic crushed
1 Small carrot chopped
4 Tomatoes peeled and seeded, chopped
3 Cups of chicken broth (or water)
1 Bay leaf
1 Sprig thyme
Salt, pepper
1 Teaspoon sugar (optional)
2 Tablespoons flour
1/4 cup of 35% cream

Directions
Sauté the onion with the olive oil over medium heat, until translucent, around 10 minutes.
Add the garlic, cook another 2 minutes. Add the carrot, tomatoes, herbs, salt pepper and cook until the tomatoes start melting.
Add the chicken stock and sugar, stir well, bring to a boil and cook for 15 minutes.
Whisk the flour with 1/2 cup of cold water. Stir it into the soup and let it simmer for 10 minutes.
Purée the soup until smooth, through a food mill or blender. Adjust the seasoning.
Serve with croutons.

Grated Apple Pie

During apple season we go to the orchard and we buy bags of apples. What a difference between freshly picked and supermarket bought apples! I make tarts, cakes, compotes and we keep a lot for lunches. This is the family favorite apple tart. I usually make 2 of them because they disappear so quickly!

Serves: 8

Ingredients
Dough :
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 cup butter (softened)
4 tablespoon granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 tablespoon sour cream
Zest of 1 lemon

Toping :
8 apples
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar

11 inches (27 cm) pie pan with a removable bottom, if possible.

Directions

1. Mix the flour and baking powder in a bowl.
2. Make a well in the centre and add the eggs, sugar, butter and zest. Mix well. You should have a slightly sandy dough.
3. Roll out on a lightly floured surface and transfer to the pan pressing up the sides.
4. Pre-heat the oven to 375 F (190 C), with the rack in the middle position.
5. Peel, core and grate the apples, not too fine. Add some lemon juice to prevent oxidation. Mix in the sugars.
6. Fill the tart shell with the mixture, pressing lightly.
7. Pull down any excess dough onto the apples.
8. Spray 1-2 tablespoons of granulated sugar on top for more colour.
9. Bake for about 1 hour until the crust is golden brown.