Tag Archives: potatoes

Hash Brown Potatoes

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Hash Browns Potatoes-Blog

 

Ingredients

  • 3 cups potatoes, shredded
  • 1 small onion, finely chopped
  • 1 egg
  • 1/4 cup flour
  • Salt and Pepper
  • Vegetable oil for frying

Directions
1. Grate the potatoes manually or using your electric robot. Rinse grated potatoes until water is clear. Drain then squeeze using a tea towel to dry well.

2. Combine potatoes, onion, egg, flour, salt and pepper

3. In a large heavy skillet, heat about 1/4 inch of oil. I use kitchen metallic tongs to spoon about 1/2 cup potatoes into the pan in a flat thick layer. Around 3 “potatoes pancakes” can be cooked at a time.

4. Cook until a nice brown crust forms on the bottom, then flip over and brown on the other side.

5. Serve for breakfast with eggs.

HashBrowns Potatoes 2

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Meatballs, Potatoes and Rice – Daoud Bacha w Riz

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Daoud Bacha and Rice - Photo by Serge Oryan

Daoud Bacha and Rice – Photo by Serge Oryan

If I were ever granted one superpower, I’d want the ability to manipulate time. Forward. Stop. Rewind.

It would come in helpful to forward insignificant days, zap undesirable phases, lap disappointing circumstances.

If I can stop time it will enable me to do all the things I want and I will never miss a deadline. How many times you wished for a moment to never end, for a pleasure to prolong in measures you never reached before, for those thrilling feelings to last longer.

If I can rewind time, I will have perfect control over my destiny. Not only I’d use this ability to catch back opportunities I never thought they were important, but also to run through again memories and time that touched my heart.

If you were granted one superpower, what would it be?

Last time I did meatballs, my friend Carole who lives in Dubai came over for lunch with her beautiful daughters, we sat all around the table and enjoyed a meal together and laughed. How I wish right now to rewind this day and live it as is all over again:)

Meatballs, Potatoes and Rice

Ingredients

  • 450g beef ground meat
  • 1 egg
  • 3 tbsp breadcrumb
  • 3 tbsp Parsley
  • Salt and Pepper, to taste
  • 1 tbsp flour
  • Vegetable oil
  • 1 large onion, chopped
  • 2 garlic cloves, minced
  • 2 cups potatoes, diced
  • 4 tomatoes, diced
  • 1 tbsp tomato paste
  • Pine nuts, toasted (optional)

Directions

In a small bowl, sprinkle the meat with salt, pepper and parsley, add the egg, flour and breadcrumbs and mix. Make small balls.

Heat oil in a large pot and add the meatballs to cook until browned on all sides. Remove from pot and set aside.

In same pot, add oil and drop in the onions and garlic to fry until golden. Add potatoes and tomatoes and mix gently. Cover with water and let it simmer on medium heat. Spoon the tomato paste in and season with salt and pepper. Continue to cook for about 20-25 minutes.

Sprinkle with pine nuts and serve with rice on the side.

Chef Emile’s Vegetable Salad

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IMG_4430MayaOryan

Last year, my daughter’s class, Grade III, at school had to present POLAND on International Day. I, of course, offered my help to cook Polish food to be presented at our stall. Some moms signed in their name in my group before I even announce myself as a contributor. Thank you for your trust;-)

Well my menu and especially the salad, turned out to be a hit as people kept on coming back for more.

I thought the best is to serve something cold like salad and cake, as it’s going to be a lot of people coming at the same time for tasting after the dancing show. There were 1200 visitors and maybe 12 stalls. Salatka Jarzynowa is a traditional Polish salad that is served during holidays. It is prepared with root vegetables like carrot, potatoes and celery root. This salad is best prepared one day before as it needs to mature and tastes really better the next day. This was really convenient as part of the savory menu.

The best version to make it is my dad’s recipe; I did mention that my dad was a chef and I sure learnt from him a lot of cooking. His recipe has always been a star dish! It’s so consistent that we can eat this alone. I remember how he decorates it with shrimps or cold cuts, and always place it side by side with the turkey on Christmas. This year’s dinner was at my sister, and dad showed up with THE SALAD and they were both more than welcome.

Emile’s 2 important tips are: to prepare the vegetable salad with only vegetables that are not juicy, and to never skip the honey in the dressing.

I hate when one’s look at this salad and tells me I don’t eat potato salad, am like it’s okay to venture once, it’s not only potato … my genius dad taught me how to add Emmenthal cheese, ham and apple and this is the tastier salad you can ever eat!

My last request, please don’t open cans and throw in this salad, it only tastes better when you make it with fresh ingredients. How long does it take to chop little vegetables and let it boil for 10 minutes.

I really hope you enjoy this recipe and consider making it during holiday celebrations. As I said, it is best to prepare one day before serving.

For a fancier look, store it in a round container in the fridge, and just before serving, turn it upside down on a flat round plate and decorate with salami, cheese, salmon or shrimps.

Ingredients

  • 2 cups fresh potatoes, diced and cooked al dente
  • 1 cup fresh carrots, diced and cooked al dente
  • 1 cup fresh (or frozen) peas, cooked
  • 200g Emmenthal cheese, diced
  • 200g Ham or turkey ham/ slices of ½ inch thick, diced
  • 200g Granny Smith apples, diced
  • 2 tbsp gherkins pickles, sliced (optional)

Dressing:

  • 4 tbsp mayonnaise
  • 2 tbsp ketchup
  • 1 tbsp Dijon mustard
  • 1 tsp honey
  • Pinch of salt

Preparation

  1. To cook the potatoes, boil water and cook potatoes 7-10 minutes until cooked but still hard.
  2. Cook carrots and peas same as potatoes, and each one separately. Please don’t cook all together in same pot because the time of boiling varies for each one.
  3. Set aside to cool.
  4. Combine cheese, apples and pickles. Add to potatoes, carrots and peas.
  5. Mix all the ingredients of the dressing and toss in the salad. Combine well gently. I use a rubber spatula not to mash the vegetables. Refrigerate.

Janssons frestelse – Going Swedish!

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 I will never forget the “janssons” I had at my Swedish friends, I went back home obsessing about those layers of potatoes and onions.

Christy, our host, had always confessed that she and cooking go in different directions. Her love is for painting, but it turns out that she can manipulate food ingredients like she plays with colors. The fireplace, the mood and the table set, everything was so divine.

The mushrooms that she picked herself in the woods in Sweden were carried all the way from Stockholm to Beirut (to my tummy) to make her delicious mushroom soup recipe.

In general, I love any food that goes out of the oven, and that Janssons was a whole new experience. Three ingredients I never thought of combining together; POTATOES – ONIONS – ANCHOVIES.

Before trying that meal, if I heard the word ‘anchovies’ twice, I would pass out. Now I believe that if it’s from a good source and combined with the right ingredients, it adds a lot of flavoring and makes a beautiful dish.

If you are like Serge (my husband) and I, and you don’t like anchovies, you should try this dish and I’m sure it will change your whole perspective on sprats.

Thank you Christy!

 


Ingredients

  • 1.2 kg (2 lb) potatoes
  • 400 g (14 oz) onions
  • 1 small can of anchovies*
  • 3 cups heavy whipping cream
  • Salt – white pepper – black ground pepper
  • Breadcrumbs
  • Butter

*For more flavoring you can double the quantity of anchovies

Preparation

1. Peel the potatoes and cut them into strips like match sticks. Thinner than you cut for French fries. Peel and cut the onions into thin slices, sautéing them gently in a little butter without browning.

2. Grease a ovenproof baking dish and cover the bottom with a layer of potatoes, then add half the onions and all the anchovies. Try grinding fresh black pepper between the layers and sprinkle on a little salt.

3. Another layer of potatoes, then the rest of the onions.

4. Finish with a layer of potatoes.

5. Flatten the surface. Pour the cream on until it is almost visible through the potatoes. Place a few pats of butter on top and sprinkle with some breadcrumbs.

Bake in the oven [250C/475F] for about an hour.