Cider Can Turkey with Nutty Couscous Author: Bethany Prep time: 20 mins Cook time: 2 hours 30 mins Total time: 2 hours 50 mins Serves: 6 It’s always best to bring a turkey to room temperature for at least an hour before cooking it, as this allows it to cook evenly. In addition, follow Harold McGee’s advice and apply an icepack to the breast during the last 30 minutes of this defrosting period, as this will slow down the...
Star Anise Yogurt Mousse with Fig Compote Author: Bethany Prep time: 4 hours 20 mins Cook time: 20 mins Total time: 4 hours 40 mins Serves: 6 I'm gonna keep this post short and sweet (pun not altogether intended). I picked up the combination of flavors for this recipe early on from my grandmother. She loved infusing her fig jam with aniseed or "yansoun" as it's called in Arabic. Here, I chose to infuse the yogurt mousse rather than the fig jam...
You may have noticed over the last couple of weeks that most of the photography has been the jaw-dropping work of the very talented lifestyle photographer Sarka Babicka. Over the last 3 years, Sarka and I have become close friends and several months back we decided to collaborate on a series of projects. What began as a weekend visit to my home in the West Country turned into a two-month long 'rock and roll' kibbutz experience. At the time, my...
What's your idea of a perfect holiday? Mine? My bottom perfectly poised on a sandy beach, chilled music in the background, a good self-help book (because everyone needs help), a few tropical cocktails to set things in motion, and of course a good-looking charmer sweet-talking me all the way. Luckily, I'm married to one so that's already a given! And, where will my bottom be settling in the next 10 days, you ask? Ah, it will be on one of the...
I recently called my father in search of a ma'amoul recipe. A bit perplexed he proclaimed in Arabic: "Why do you want to trouble yourself with making ma'amoul. It's so much work and anyway I don't like ma'amoul. Really it's too much effort for nothing. Shou baddeek bi ha shaghle" See my father is not a baker. A fantastic cook but definitely not a baker. Also, the majority of people in Lebanon don't make ma'amoul anymore given the...
Can you believe it's March already? I woke up this morning completely unaware that we had stepped into a new month, till I received the news on Twitter (the source of most if not all my information these days)! Oh how I love March! March means the onset of spring even though it isn't officially spring till March 20th also known as the Vernal Equinox. It's a great month that signals a fresh start, longer days, the chirping of birds, the...
For those of you that know me, you will perhaps know that I don't have much of a sweet tooth. However, I do absolutely love chocolate truffles as they are not sickly but more bitter sweet. These are the types of sweets I really enjoy. I couldn't really decide on any particular flavour to go with. I had several ideas lurking in my mind like Orange Blossom Flower and Pistachios, Chile and Vodka, Rum and Coconut, Brandy and Ginger, and simply just...
Ayayay! Today is a day that's going to titillate your visual senses and change your lives, forever. Unless, you've already been to Mowie's blog and you've already begun receiving wholesome doses of visualgasms. I can never get enough! I am beyond thrilled to have the beautiful Mowie from Mowielicious.com posting here, today. I first fell upon Mowie's blog a few months ago, when Ms. Gourmet published a link back to his post: Self-Saucing...
I always love a really good Lebanese rice pudding. It is so easy to make and a blend of some of my favorite flavors. This one in particular has one I don't get to use so often; mastic gum. Mastic gum reminds me of the Lebanese milk & mastic ice cream we used to have all the time growing up. It was and still is one of my favorites. I love how the ice cream gains a very light stretchy pull, as a result of the mastic gum. You can imagine how...
I love dates... The fruit, of course! And, what I love more are easy to make cakes. As date season has come to a start, I've met up with Bishnu, chef spectaculaire, to get his signature date cake recipe. We sat at the kitchen table and started de-seeding the dried dates which he brought back with him from Dubai. Bishnu says: It's important to use dried dates in this recipe because fresh dates will yield mushy results. Removing the seeds......