Mediterranean Fusion Dinner: Dessert, Cheesecake Baklava

Cheesecake Baklava

This recipe I made up by combining a cheesecake recipe with a Baklava recipe. It was incredibly yummy.

There were several key aspects to making this successfully. For a pan I used a mini-loaf pan (six rectangular holes about 1 1/2" by 3" by 2" deep). One could also use individual ramikins.However, consider the general fact that Phylo (filo) dough is rectangular in shape and not easily cut, thus round ramikins might prove a challenge.If using a loaf pan it is also important to butter the bottom and sides thoroughly as my plan was to serve on separate plates after removing, Otherwise make Baklava in a similar manner to a standard recipe.

Syrup:

1 cup sugar
1/2 cup water
1 tabls fresh squeezed lemon juice
1 cinnamon stick broken into a few pieces
zest of lemon and orange (to taste)

Combine all ingredients in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil to dissolve the sugar. Reduce heat and simmer until desired thickness is achieved (a syrup). Strain to remove zest and cinnamon sticks. Set aside to cool. [Can be made a half hour to a day ahead.]

Baklava ingredients:

1/2 pd of ground walnuts (or almonds or use both)
3 tabls sugar
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 cup unsalted meled butter (clarify if desired)
about a half pd of filo sheets

Combine ground nuts, sugar, and cinnamon in a bowl. Make Baklava according to traditional recipe [Just be sure your result fits snuggly into whatever pan(s) you are using.] Or -- here's what I did:Layer and butter each filo sheet until you have six stacked on top of each other, spread on a layer of 1/2 the ground nuts, repeat with another layer of buttered sheets; top with rest of nuts and then another layer of buttered sheets. [Note this is one 'layer' short of a traditional recipe, as we need room for the cheesecake.] Refrigerate until ready to use -- 1/2 hour or more.

Make cheesecake batter.

You can use your favorite, or:

Two 8 ox. packages cream cheese
1 cup sugar
1 tabls sour cream
1 1/2 tsps vanilla
2 ex. lg eggs

Mix all ingredients well with a mixer or in a food processor.

Putting it all together:

Take Baklava from refrig and cut with a very sharp knife to fit pan -- in my case rectangles. Place each rectangular piece in bottom of well-buttered slots. Pour cheesecake mixture atop to fill. Place in oven at 350 degrees for 25 to 35 minutes or until cheesecake is browned on top and set (best check is to push down lightly on browned top. It should spring back. Remove from oven and cool in refrigerator until well-cooled. When chilled slide wet blade (knife, flat spatula) around each edge and gently remove the baklava cheesecake to individual serving plates. Finish with a generous pouring of syrup on top. Serve cold.

Variation: add some lemon zest to cheesecake recipe for more tang and flavor.

Very, very yummy!

Enjoy,

Joe Koob

Mediterannean Dinner: Main Course

Lamb and Beef Kabobs with Aligot-Souffle

Lamb and Beef Kabobs

There are hundreds of recipes and marinades for Kabobs across the Mediterannean -- notably we find them in Morocco, Tunisia, Turkey, etc. Here are basic ingredients, mix and match, add and subtract, to taste:

Grated Onion
Micnced Garlic
ground cinnamon
ground cumin
thyme
black pepper
cayenne pepper
fresh mint
flat leaf parsley (Italian style)
yogurt
allspice
cinnamon

More Tunisian:

olive oil
fresh lemon juice
caraway -- toasted and ground
ground coriander
black papper

For kabobs a little goes a long way, so unless you like strong flavors be judicious in adding spices, etc., to marinades. Marinade for 2 to 24 hours. Skewer meat (lamb or beef), or a combination. Cook on grill to desired wellness.

Cooking Kabobs with vegetables: [I didn't include these for this meal, but it is a popular thing to do.] Many vegetables will cook at a different speed than meat, especially if you are cooking some skewers rare and others well-done. I typically put vegetables that hold up well over coals with the meat -- onions and peppers. Other vegetables, squash, cherry tomatoes, eggplant, etc., should be cooked on their own skewers separately.

Aligot Souffle -- aligot is a combination of cheese and potatoes.

1 medium potato (Idaho or ?)
a cup or more of cheese (I used Manchego)
5 eggs separated (I made individual souffles, for a large souffle dish you might want 7 or 8)
Salt to taste
white pepper
Butter
Flour
Cream or Milk (Sour cream is nice as well)

Cook potato (boil) until soft; let cool slightly, then mash. Make white sauce with several tbls butter, a tbls or so of butter, and heated cream or milk or combination of milk and cream (add sour cream, too, if you like the flavor and effect). Whisk in 3 or 4 of the egg yolks to further thicken the sauce, whisk in cheese until just melted, remove from heat and mix in mashed potato. Add salt and white pepper to taste.

Beat egg whites until just stiff (if you hold bowl upside down they should stay in it!). Fold about a third of the beaten egg whites into potato-cheese mixture, then fold mixture into remaining egg whites gently.** The idea is to keep as much of the lightness of the egg whites as possible.

**As far as I am concerned there is no sacredness to this traditional ritual. You can fold the rest of the egg whites into the potato-cheese mixture, i.e. you don't have to add mixture to egg whites the second time. Your choice. Doesn't seem to affect the outcome either way.

Spoon mixture into (six) individual buttered souffle molds. Bake at 350 degrees for about 25-30 minutes or until nicely browned on top. Serve immeditaely with Kabobs.

Enjoy.

Net: The culmination of this meal: Cheesecake Baklava!

Joe Koob

Mediterranean Dinner: Hut B'nuoa -- Fish with Almond Paste

Hut B'nuoa -- Fish with Almond Paste

The basic Moroccan recipe for this came from "Mediterranean -- The Beautiful Cookbook." I used a whole red snapper and tasting sized portions were served.

For marinade/paste

1 onion finely chopped
4 cloves garlic minced
2 tsps ground cumin
1 tsp paprika
pinch of saffron steeped in two tabls water
chopped fresh Italian flat leaf parsley*
chopped cilantro*
3-4 tabls olive oil (enough to make paste)with juice from fresh lemon

* Use to taste -- in my book a little goes a long way.

You can fillet the fish to start or grill whole.

Blend all ingredients and spread over fish to marinate -- 5-6 hours or over-night. Leave spice paste on fish and place on grill with coals on the side, spoon more mixture over once while it cooks, when just done (flakes with fork), bone, and serve garnished with parsley or cilantro.

** an alternate version of the marinade calls for cayenne which will add a kick to this recipe.

Enjoy.

Mediterranean Dinner: Greek Salad and Lemon-Lime Granita

Greek Salad

If you've ever been to Greece this is something you can order at almost every little restaurant you come across and it's Good! Here's the basic ingredients from Mediterrasian.com. Then I'll tell you what I did.

3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1½ tablespoons lemon juice
1 clove garlic—minced
½ teaspoon dried oregano
¼ teaspoon sea salt
¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, and extra for garnish
3 tomatoes—cut into wedges
¼ red onion—sliced into rings
½ cucumber—sliced into thick half-moons
½ green pepper (capsicum)—julienned
4 oz (120g) feta cheese—cut into small cubes
16 kalamata olives

First: when I had this salad any number of times in Greece it was literally swimming in fine quality olive oil. It is up to you how much you want to put in the 'dressing.' I tend to the lighter side.

I changed this up only slightly:

I used a seedless 'English; cucumber
Fresh peppers from my garden -- mild banana and colored bells
Vidalia Onions because they were in season
Few tablespoons of red wine vinegar
Fresh oregano and Fresh basil from my herb garden

Otherwise, cut/chop ingredients, mix well, let set in refrigerator for a half hour (or more) and serve chilled.

Lemon-Lime Granita (Glace, Ices)

Palate cleansers are a great invention. Not so much because we absolutely have to have our palates cleansed, but because they are quite tasty and relatively easy to make. Here's what I used:

Fresh squeezed lemon and lime juice (3-4 of each)
Lemoncello
Vanilla Vodka

Mix to taste -- I leaned heavily on the fresh juices this time and the result was a bit tart. Add sugar or a bit more of the liquors to sweeten.
[Hint: Adding alcohol of any kind is optional. If you don't want any, you will need to add some water and sugar to this recipe, otherwise you will really pucker everyone's lips! PLUS! The booze helps keep the granitas from freezing really hard.]

Method: Blend all ingredients and -- well I do this one of two ways -- In this case, since I added the liquors, I poured the mixture into several different candy molds for medium sized 'candies' (plastic molds). Place in freezer and let it freeze until ready to serve. Take out, dip bottom of mold for literally only a second in hot water and drop the little 'candy-shaped' ices into serving dishes (I like to use medium-sized cordial glasses of different shapes and colors). Serve.

Traditional method (which I also use occasionally): pour mixture into a pan or container so that it spreads out to about an inch or less thickness. Place in freezer. Every half hour or so open freezer and stir up the granita. It will slowly freeze (from edges in). Be sure to stir the frozen parts into the non-frozen middle. Keep this up until the mixture is basically a frozen melange of ice crystals. Spoon into serving dishes and enjoy.

Both these methods work, but the first only works well with a granita that has alcohol in it. Otherwise the only advantage is that the shapes are cute and look nice in the cordial glasses.

Enjoy.

Best,

Joe Koob

Lisa's Birthday Dinner: Duck daktulos Messinia

Duck daktulos Messinia

I love duck -- one of my most favorite things to eat. Unfortunately domestic duck is quite fatty, so I don't eat it as often as I would like. This recipe I made up, using Mediterranean spices and homemade Greek Messinia noodles. I'll try to remember what I put into this --

1 whole duckling
1 cup pitless dates
Herbs and Spices to taste: coriander,cardamon,garlic,dash of cinnamon,dash of powdered ginger, salt and black pepper
Tablespoon or two of wine (a bold white or medium red)
Stock -- 1/4 to 1/2 a cup (chicken or duck - I made stock from wings of duck, neck, and liver/gizzards/heart)
Scallions finely chopped -- several tablespoons.

For noodles:

cup of flour
one egg
water if needed
1/4 tsp salt

I rubbed the duck with salt and pepper and a bit of cardamon and coriander, then roasted it slowly for four hours or so on a charcoal grill (coals on the side, duck in the center, add more coals as necessary until done). Cook until the duck is almost falling off the bone, but don't let it dry out. I also added a couple of small pieces of apple wood chips at beginning of the roasting for a hint of smokey flavor.

Take duck and cool slightly, then strip meat from legs, thighs, and any other parts of the duck except the breasts and chop into medium-small pieces(if you are cooking for more people, use the breasts as well, but we only had six and these were portions for a tasting menu). [Hint: you can include a bit of the roasted skin in the duck mixture or not. It tends to be quite fatty, and thus adds some nice moisture, but its not good for the old ticker.]

Place dates in boiling water and let steep for fifteen minutes or a half hour. Skins should begin to peel back from meat of date. Drain and then when cool peel off the skins of the dates with your fingers, chop into small pieces (date meats, not your fingers!). Place scallions, a bit of minced garlic (half a clove), spices listed above to taste (don't overpower the duck -- a pinch here and there will do)and saute for a few minutes in butter, add duck, wine, stock, and dates. Cook over medium-low heat until everything blends together -- half hour to an hour. [Can be made ahead and reheated.]

Noodles: Messinia noodles are broad and flat. I made my own:

Put flour, egg, salt in a food processor and blend until you have a nice (not wet) ball of dough. If you need to add a touch of water, do so until the flour begins to ball up. Remove and roll out as thinly as possible on a board (or use a pasta machine). Cut into inch-wide or so strips. I cut mine approxinately an inch wide and 3-4 inches long with a pasta wheel.

Put it all together:

Cook noodles in boiling water until just done (soft al dente, or to taste). Place noodles on plate (four or five strips piled on top of each other in no particular arrangement) -- spoon duck mixture on top,serve warm -- very, very yummy.

Enjoy!

Joe Koob

Birthday Dinner Part II: Garlic-Sage-Cheese Bisque

Mediterranean Fusion

I do consult recipes on occasion and for this dinner I got a number of ideas from: "Mediterranean, The Beautiful Cookbook." This recipe hails from Provence, and of course I couldn't leave it well-enough alone, I had to tweak it a bit.

Garlic-Sage-Cheese Bisque

6-8 large cloves garlic
3 large fresh sage leaves
large pinch of fresh thyme leaves
chicken stock (about 4 cups for 6 people) [Keep in mind this was a Tasting Menu so portions were small to medium).
1/4 cup or so of cooked long grain rice
3 egg yolks
salt and freshly ground pepper
Butter and/or Olive oil
Freshly grated cheese to taste -- I used Aged Romano -- maybe a 1/4 cup
Freshly squeezed lemon juice from 1/2 a lemon

Place the garlic, sage, thyme, lemon juice in with the chicken stock and simmer until flavors are well-blended, a good half hour or more. I did this a day ahead. Remove sage leaves,add rice and cook until rice is mushy (serves as the thickener with the egg yolks added later). Cool down a bit and blend all of this and then put through a medium-fine sieve. Put this thick stock back in rinsed out pan and on medium-low heat whisk in the three egg yolks and finally the cheese. Add a dollop of butter (or olive oil). Simmer until everything is well incorporated. Serve warm.

Recipe in cookbook calls for vermicelli left as whole pieces in soup. I wanted more of a bisque effect, hence the change to rice. Also, one can put a crust of French Bread in bowl and ladle soup over. But since we had many courses yet to come, I chose discretion at this stage.

Excellent light bisque!

Enjoy.

Joe Koob

Mediterranean Fusion Dinner: Part I -- Bisteeya

Bisteeya -- Pidgeon Pie

Traditionally this dish used pidgeon's, but today we are a bit more mundane and select chicken. This is a recipe that was the first dish (if I remember correctly) of our first gourmet dinner of the now ancient history Northern State University (then College) Gourmet Club started by Susan Stahl. That first group of eight players remained together cooking meals together 8-10 times a year for a decade or more and then with slight changes for another 3 or 4 years and continued for a few years after I and my first wife left. Not bad, for a bunch of college profs and an idea!

The recipe was a great start because it was incredibly yummy and I pledged to recreate it in individual portions -- it only took me 20 some years to do that, but now that I have, it won't last anywhere near that length of time until the next version. Who wou'dve thought some chicken and cinnamon could be so good -- or, well, as you'll see its a bit of a monster of a recipe, but well worth the effrort.

I'm going to give you my recent version, which became individual 'Bisteeyas' served as appetizers. The original version I was, and what seems to be traditional from the recipes I viewed, a large baked 'pie' that one eats with one's fingers in a community 'dig in.' If you want the 'large' version, the ingredients remain the same -- you can look on the web or in a Moroccan cookbook for the amounts.

Ingredients: Four stages -- this recipe was for six adults

One whole chicken dismembered (I cooked the whole thing, but only used the meat from the thighs and legs and whatever I could clean elsewhere about the cooked carcass. Saved the breasts for something else).

1/2 cup fresh parsley
sprig of fresh coriander
large pinch of tumeric
small grated (Cuisnarted) onion
scant half teaspoon of ground black pepper
scant 1/2 teaspoon of ground ginger
2 small cinnamon sticks (or one broken in pieces)
butter (I used a couple of tablespoons, original recipe called for a lot!)

Simmer all of the above in just enough water to cover in a pot just the right size for all to fit snugly until very tender -- hour and a half or so. [Hint: I did this part a day ahead in a crock pot -- really let the spices, etc., blend.] Remove from heat, cool, remove meat from bones -- medium chop chicken and place in container aside, remove cinnamon sticks from broth and save (reduce a bit if you have a lot, you don't need much, but the rest will make a great gravy).

Stage 2:

3/4 to 1 cup blanched almonds [I did my own -- to blanch heat water to boiling, toss in almonds and let them sit for awhile -- ten minutes or so -- cool off and then pinch off the skins. They should just come popping off in your fingers when you pinch the end of the almond. If not, you can reheat some water and try again.]

1 tablespoons mild olive oil or other vegetable oil (Canola?)
tablespoon or so confectioner's sugar
1/4 tsp or so ground cinnamon
2-3 tablespoons of butter (less for less fat)

Brown almonds lightly in oil. Pat dry and then grind to a medium meal -- err on the coarse side, does not have to be minced. Blend in sugar, cinnamon, and butter. Set aside.

Stage 3: eggs

1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
3 extra-large eggs

Beat eggs and then curdle over medium-low heat in lemon juice. This makes a very light type of scrambled eggs in a sense. Cook until just done and lemon juice incorporated, don't overcook.

Stage Four: Assemble

About half a pound of Phyllo dough
melted butter (about a 1/4 cup)

I haven't used phyllo dough much in my cooking. Not sure why, but I thought very briefly about whether it would be feasible to make my own from scratch -- didn't. I I know I can't get things anywhere near that thin. Even though I make my own puff pastry, I purchased the phyllo dough -- usually in the freezer section and, according to the store manager I spoke to, almost always found near the Cool Whip -- go figure?

Here's how I worked the phyllo dough: Take one sheet (handle carefully, even the best of us break it a bit, it is very delicate). Place it on a cookie sheet, buttered the whole thing, take another sheet and laid it on top. Butter half the top sheet and then fold the two sheets in half together. Butter the top (now remaining half, fold over to make a quarter of the original size -- same direction, you should now have a long rectangle; butter top of this and then with a very sharp knife cut it in two across the length. This left me with two approximately 5X6 inch rectangles eight sheets thick. Did this twice more for a total of six.

Putting it all together:

I used some one-inch deep small (slanted and fluted) tart pans with removable bottoms. Butter them thoroughly. Center the phyllo dough in each and press down to form a cavity for all those nice ingredients you just slaved over. Press in a layer of chopped checken mixed with a bit of the broth to moisten on the bottom of each mold, then but in a layer of the almonds, and finally the eggs. Fold over each side of the dough brushing melted butter liberally to help seal and make the whole thing that more moist and womderful.

When the are all ready, pop in a medium overn (325-350) on center rack and bake for 8-ten minutes or until exposed dough is beginning to brown. Remove, carefully, (don't burn yourself) the pastries from the tart pans and flip up upside down onto baking sheet to finish off (the chicken should be on top now)and the pastries should hold together without the tins. Cook about 6-8 minutes more, brush with more butter and sprinkle with confectioners sugar. Serve. Could do this in a large muffin tin, I suppose.

Sounds like a bit of work, but boy is it worth it. Very, very yummy -- the Moroccans must have listened at some point to the French -- all that butter!

Best,

Joe Koob