cookingenchantress

[cookingenchantress]

Souk Cigars

First Impressions:

At first glance, I’m not sure what to make of these cigars.  Granted, I was hesitant for the kebabs from this recipe, which turned out amazing, so I should have some faith in Ms. Beaupommier.  The recipe includes spinach, feta, sesame seeds, phyllo dough, and not much else.  Looking through her instructions, the recipe seems simple enough, albeit snarky and funny to read.   

Prepping:

For this recipe, there’s not too terribly much to prep.  The spinach needs washing, the ingredients need assembling, and the oven needs preheating.  However, this recipe calls for sheets of phyllo dough that I imagine would take up most of the prepping time if I had been able to find any.  In its place, I used phyllo cups that were pre-cooked and frozen and instead of rolling the cigars, I just spooned the filling into tiny cups. 

Cooking:

Again, the recipe is blessedly simple when it comes to the actual cooking part.  The spinach gets cooked, briefly, so that it can easily combine with the cheese, then shocked to keep it from getting too mushy.  Everything gets mixed together, gets stuffed into the phyllo cups, and it goes in the oven for 15 minutes.  Easy peasy. 

Final Results:

My partner DEVOURED these.  Personally, I found them a bit sour and I didn’t terribly care for the lack of seasoning, but they would be a delightful little tidbit to have in small doses, say for entertaining or as a platter of savory treats. 

Changes:

Making these again, I would use more spices to add depth to the filling.  And I would widen my search to actually find phyllo dough, which may have been a problem in finding the filling so overwhelming. 

Rating: ★★★

[cookingenchantress]

Kebab of 3,000 Years Ago

First Impressions: 

Right off the bat, this recipe looks very simple, both in terms of preparation and in flavor profile. The spices are limited to salt, pepper, and cumin, which leaves a lot to be desired.  There also isn’t much as far as sauce, with only some crushed sesame seeds and oil to moisten it (I know that this is tahini, but there are no measurements given, so I have to look up a recipe).  I’m planning on making a tzatziki or hummus side to help with the flavor, just in case the tahini falls flat.  

I’m also a little irked that the filling for the kebab lists the protein as “leftover meat,” as if I have kebab meat just lying around my apartment.  I had to look up an online recipe to make my own meat, which can be found here. However, it seems like the recipe is much more focused on hand-making the flatbreads, which I appreciate. 

Prepping:

To start, I go the chicken marinating as per this recipe, since the book simple calls for “leftover meats.”  I just did the 3-hour marination because my partner (missing her gallbladder) can’t digest highly spiced foods, but I imagine that it’ll still be highly flavorful.  

I also mixed the flatbread ingredients together, which looks like a kind of wet dough.

Cooking:

While I waited for the chicken to marinate, I toasted some sesame seeds for the tahini.  For the first bit of actual cooking I’m doing on this adventure, I must say that it went rather well. I didn’t get the sesame seeds to quite as fine of a paste as I would have liked, since my devices were a bit larger than the yield of seeds, but I was happy with the results. 

Cooking the chicken was easier than I thought it would be, too.  The marinade was simple and the cooking was a breeze.  Once it was out, I just sauted the cut up meat with some onions, garlic, and seasonings to make the filling.  Super simple, but super effective. 

The flatbreads, however, were a different story. The instructions were a bit basic for the bread, and I think I added too much flour in my attempt to thicken the dough up.  My bread didn’t really puff all that much, and it certainly didn’t make a pocket.  Still though, the bread cooked through, got a nice color, and tasted good in the end. 

Final Results:

Despite all my grumbling, this was actually a really yummy recipe!  Since my bread didn’t form a pocket, we just ate it like naan bread.  We tore off smaller bits of the bread, smeared it with some tahini, and then scooped some of the meat topping on top.  This recipe definitely turned out to be less of a kebab and more of a meat-on-bread thing, but never the less, it was delicious and is definitely going in my own recipe book!

Changes:

When I make this again, I’ll definitely look into how to make a proper pita bread, and probably just save the bread recipe from the book as a general “flatbread” recipe if I ever feel adventurous.  Also, I think I’d try to skin the meat before it goes in the oven.  It doesn’t get very crispy with the marinade on it, and it just ends up being picked off later.  Probably better to just get it off to begin with and make sure that all the yummy marinade gets on the meat to begin with. 

Rating: 

★ ★ ★ ★ ★