Tag Archives: food stylist lebanon

Peach Frangipane Tart

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Photography Serge Oryan

Impress family and friends with this popular French dessert. Combine almonds and peaches to make one of the most iconic summer treats. This tart is perfect when fruits are seasonal and tasty.

INGREDIENTS

For the pastry:

  • 100g / 1 stick butter, cut into cubes
  • 225g plain flour
  • 25g icing sugar, sieved
  • 1 egg, beaten

For the filling:

  • 150g soft butter
  • 150g caster sugar
  • 3 eggs, beaten
  • 150g ground almonds
  • 30g plain flour
  • 1tsp almond extract
  • Canned or Fresh peaches, peeled and sliced.
  • For decoration:
  • Runny honey or peach jam, melted and sieved, for glaze
  • 25g untoasted almonds, peeled, flaked or halved

PREPARATION

In a processor, combine butter cubes, flour and icing sugar and process shortly like few pulses only. Pour in the beaten egg and pulse again until the dough starts to form a ball.

Wrap with cling film and chill. Sometimes the dough is immediately manageable, pending on the temperature of the butter or the room and you can skip the chilling part.

To make the filling in the same processor, cream the butter and sugar together, then gradually add the beaten eggs.

Add the ground almonds, flour and almond extract. Process for a few seconds until well combined. Place the mixture in the fridge, while you prepare the base.

On a lightly floured surface, roll out the pastry dough to fill in a 25cm tart mold. Use the rolling pin to level the edges. Spoon the filling over the base and decorate with halved peaches.

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Baked Mac and Cheese

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You’ll love this simple version of this classic recipe. I’ve seen versions of it with ham added, or vegetables, or béchamel sauce, … but NO! More ingredients mean more comments! My kids and their friends “and my friends” love it, just like that; a simple pasta recipe mixed in a creamy cheesy sauce and topped with chunky buttery Panko.

The “yumminess” lies between your choice of the rich cheddar cheese, the Panko coated with butter and the BAKING, to make all flavors blend together in its most delicious way.

Ingredients:

  • 500g macaroni (I used maccheroni)
  • 2 tbsp butter
  • 2 cups cooking cream
  • Salt, to taste
  • 1 cup cheddar cheese, shredded
  • 1 cup Mozzarella, shredded

Topping:

  • ¾ cup Panko (or breadcrumbs)
  • 2 tbsp melted butter

Preparation:

  1. Cook pasta in boiling water according to package directions.
  2. Preheat oven to 200°C
  3. Butter a 9”x13” rectangular baking dish and spread cooked pasta inside.
  4. Sprinkle with salt and drizzle with cooking cream. Mix.
  5. Stir cheeses together and layer over the pasta.
  6. In a small bowl pour the melted butter over the Panko and mix until well coated. Use it to top the macaroni and cheese.
  7. Bake for around 25 minutes. Serve hot.

Happy New Year 2022

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Photography Serge Oryan

Happy New Year and best wishes filled with new experiences and joyous cooking.
May your path ahead in 2022 lead to successful and meaningful accomplishments.
From the heart @mayasingredients | Maya Oryan

Foul Mudammas

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Foul Meddamas -Blog

Although Lebanon is a small country but over the course of history many civilizations settled here bringing their own culinary creations and passing it on to us. Ottoman and Levantine cuisine has great influence on Lebanese kitchen and similarly, most dishes use olive oil, garlic, parsley and lemon. I love how Lebanese are rooted in traditions but also easily embrace modernity and move abreast. They developed an eclectic mix of food and made dining the center of every get-together, no matter what the occasion is. I wonder if this is gonna be ever the same after the confinement because of the covid19 virus. I can’t imagine Sunday without family reunions and summers without sunset drinks on the terrace.

Breakfast also includes marvelous options. From the savory list like manakish, kishik, balila or the sweet list, like knefeh, sahlab, honey areesheh cheese; Food here is taken seriously. Lebanon’s fertile soil grow flavorful produce, I think one has to taste it locally to really understand what I’m talking about. I was so happy with my foul mudammas this morning that I have been itching to share the recipe with you.

 

Serves 1

Foul Mudammas

Ingredients

  • 1 x 400g cooked broad beans or canned foul mudammas, drained
  • 1/3 cup of water
  • 1/3 cup lemon juice
  • 1/3 cup tahini
  • 1/3 olive oil
  • 2 tbsp parsley, chopped
  • 1 stem green onion, finely chopped
  • 1 tomato, diced
  • ½ tsp ground cumin
  • 1 tsp salt

Preparation

  1. In a small saucepan, over medium low heat, place the broad beans with water and bring to heat.
  2. Add lemon juice, olive oil, tahini, salt, pepper and cumin. Reduce to desired consistency.
  3. Return beans to plate and top with tomatoes, green (or spring) onions and parsley.
  4. Taste and adjust seasoning if desired and serve with bread.

TIP: I think spring onions or onions are essential in this recipe and don’t forget to drizzle with extra olive oil before eating.

 

 

Lebanese Sahlab – “SALEP”

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Sahlab by Maya Oryan1

Many 5 stars hotels in Turkey greet you with a cup of Sahlab or Salep at arrival. This drink was introduced to Lebanese by Ottomans. Originally it consists of milk and orchid flour, but now many cafés prepare it with milk, sugar and cornstarch. I personally use Sahlab mix, they are available in many brands in Lebanon and all over the world. You just mix it with hot milk and ready in a-snap-of-a-finger! Some add orange blossom water or honey, others top it with pistachios and shredded coconut, but I like it the way dad used to make it, sprinkled with cinnamon and served with kaak on the side.

This thick creamy drink has higher demand on cold winter days, just perfect to snuggle on the sofa with. but I love that during summer it can be found among ice cream flavors.

Sahlab is popular throughout the Middle East, and heard from my vegan friends that it can be done with soya milk.

If you can get Sahlab -Salep- fine powder, here below the recipe!

Ingredients

  • 2 cups milk
  • 1 1/2 tsp ground sahlab
  • pinch (or a bit more) of ground mastic
  • 2 tbsp sugar

Preparation

  1. Dissolve the mastic in 1/3 cup warm milk. Set aside.
  2. On a medium heat, pour the rest of the milk and bring to boil. Add the Sahlab by sprinkling gradually and stirring. Keep stirring for about 5 minutes.
  3. Add sugar and stir. Transfer the mastic milk mixture and stir to form a thick creamy milk.
  4. Serve hot sprinkled with cinnamon and with your favorite brioche or kaak.

#confinement_day45

Instagram @MayasIngredients

 

Blood Orange Upside Down Cake

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Orange Cake

Ingredients

  • 150g butter
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 3 eggs
  • 1 tbsp orange zest -2 cups flour
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • ¼ tsp salt
  • 1/2 cup milk
  • 2 tbsp limoncello
  • 1 blood orange sliced
  • 1 orange sliced

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 180° C.

2. Using a stand mixer, beat butter and sugar together until light and fluffy, add eggs, zest, flour, baking powder and salt.

3. Combine milk and lemoncello and add to batter.

4. Align sliced oranges in the bottom of a greased round pan. Pour the batter in the cake pan.

5. Bake for 45-50 minutes. Check early, cake is done when a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

6. Cool the cake in the pan on a wire rack before reversing on a serving dish.

Honey Almond Slices

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Honey Akmond Slices - Blog

FRIENDS… and not the TV show! Friends that we have, from school, work, clubs… and friends we make through our children later in life. How many times while dropping your child at a new friend and when waiting for the door to open, you start wondering about the mom… Is she nice? Fun? Warm? Chatty? Psycho? Does she give a lot of sweets? And how many of them ended to be a keeper and became one of your closest friends. I am blessed with few of them, actually many, and we share a lot; we take trips together, we volunteer for school projects and we sometimes bake together.

The Honey Almond Slices is a new recipe for me. Axel, my daughter, had tasted it at her friend’s house and at pick up time she begged me to bake some for her. The funny part is that the mom bought her bars at the market and doesn’t even know what it was called. Thanks God for Pinterest where I combined few recipes and made my own with less butter and less sugar but still I thank my friend for the inspiration. My eagerness is boundless to try new recipes, especially that belongs to the dessert section.

Ingredients

For the base:

  • 1 ½  cup all purpose flour
  • 1 cup ground almond
  • 1/2 cup light brown sugar
  • 120g butter, melted

For the topping:

  • 150g butter
  • ¼ cup brown sugar
  • ¼ cup honey
  • 2 cups sliced almonds

25 cm x 25 cm pan

Preparation

  1. To make the base Combine flour, ground almond, brown sugar and melted butter until you have a moist sandy mixture. Press mixture into a brownie mold or tart tin and bake for 12 minutes at 170°C / 335°F.
  2. To make the filling Inside a saucepan, on low-medium heat, place butter to melt, add sugar, honey and sliced almonds. Stir to well combine.
  3. Spread mixture to top evenly the base and return to oven to bake for 25 minutes or until deep golden brown.
  4. Allow to cool completely. Remove from pan and slice into squares or rectangles and serve.

Beetroot Freekeh Salad

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Avocado Frikeh Salad

Freekeh is a young chewy wheat, with a nutty flavor. Containing twice as much protein and fiber as quinoa, freekeh is nutritious! Try this combination of antioxidant-rich pomegranate, beetroot, avocado, herbs, seeds and watch those health benefits add up!

Beetroot Freekeh Salad

Ingredients

  • 3 cups whole grain freekeh, cooked according to package directions
  • 1 cup beetroot, grated
  • 1 cup fresh purslane leaves (bakle)
  • 1 cup fresh thyme leaves
  • ½ cup pomegranate arils
  • 1 avocado, diced
  • ½ cup mixed pumpkin and sunflower seeds

Dressing

  • 1 cup olive oil
  • ½ cup lemon juice
  • 2 tbsp fresh mint leaves, minced
  • 1 tsp lemon zest
  • 1 tsp sumac
  • ½ tsp salt
  • 1 tsp oregano

Directions

  1. In a salad bowl, combine freekeh, beetroot, purslane, thyme, pomegranate avocado and seeds.
  2. To make the dressing, mix together all ingredients and shake well.
  3. Drizzle dressing over salad and toss well.

 

Rice Salad with Chimichurri

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Rice Salad LRGrade 3 class at my daughter’s school are preparing for International Day next month and they chose Argentina to represent and talk about. Part of the celebration, they proposed to serve a rice salad on that day, with Chimichurri sauce. Since I always volunteer to help with the food, I came up with my own version of the recipe and took a picture of the end product. I’m super happy to document it in my blog and share it with you, hope you will like it.
If you like to add more ingredients, my advice is to stay away from juicy ingredients and stick to solid ones like chorizo, ham, pickles, green onions, …

Ensalada De Arroz Con Chimichurri
Rice Salad with Chimichurri

Ingredients

  • 3 cups long grain rice, cooked and cooled
  • 1 cup kidney beans, drained and rinsed
  • 1 cup corn, drained and rinsed
  • 1 cup cucumbers, diced
  • 1 cup red bell pepper, diced

Chimichurri:

  • 1 cup fresh parsley, finely chopped
  • 1 teaspoon dried oregano
  • 1 cup olive oil
  • ½ cup apple vinegar
  • Freshly ground Salt and Black Pepper

Directions

  1. In a large bowl combine all salad ingredients.
  2. In a small mason jar combine all of the dressing ingredients; shake well. Pour the dressing over the salad and mix well.
  3. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

Mistletoe Mimosas

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Cranberry Grenade Mimosa.jpgMimosas are astonishingly, ridiculously, exceedingly, embarrassingly easy to make. Not that simple doesn’t taste yummy and easy won’t add the sparkle you’re looking for:) The flavors are splendid! I promise you a cool drink that will deliberately take care of the mood.

Merry Mimosas everyone!

Ingredients

Serves 6

  • 6 tablespoons grenadine syrup
  • 1 cup cranberry juice, chilled
  • 1 (750ml) bottle champagne, chilled
  • Rosemary sprigs, to garnish
  • Fresh cranberries (optional)

Directions

  1. Add 1 tablespoon of grenadine syrup in each flute.
  2. Combine cranberry juice and champagne together and fill up the flutes almost right to the top. Garnish with rosemary and drop the berries right before serving.