Middle Eastern Food Day

My boyfriend’s favorite food is Middle Eastern cuisine. And after all the Indian food days my friend and I had put him through, it was time to try something new.  So here was our menu:



Stuffed vegetables and pita by Claudia Roden

Bastille by Ghillie Basan

Baba Ghanouj by Alton brown
Falafel mix
Jallab, a berry drink you mix with water and rosewater and top with walnuts

The stuffed vegetables were very delicious. My friend stuffed peppers, an apple, tomato and an eggplant with rice, soaked raisins and ground beef, with a sticky, succulent rice mixture. The apple was my favorite, because when baked it conformed to the savory stuffing. Unfortunately, I could not take gorgeous pictures because we were so hungry that we demolished them right after they finished baking. From the same cookbook that the above recipe is from, my boyfriend made his famous pita with whole wheat flour instead of all purpose, which made it more robust and a little too thick. It would have been better if we had planned the other menu items to be lighter.

My boyfriend also made baba ghanoush from an Alton Brown recipe. However, the eggplant happened to be female which has more seeds than a male one. And a bit too much tahini was added. But it was okay that it was hearty. I made a bastille because I like making things that I have eaten at other restaurants before. Every Morrocan dish I have made is similar to the dishes that Marrakesh serves on NW 21st and Lovejoy. The most tasty dish is the bastille, shredded chicken with spices like paprika and cinnamon covered in phyllo. And topped with powdered sugar and cinnamon. The recipe by Ghille Basan called for too many onions, and it impacted the flavor. Still quite tasty for trying it homemade. But next time I would like to add scrambled eggs like the NW portland restaurant does.

The falafel mix we tried (the one I can't remember the name of) was not very good. It tasted a lot like sesame seeds and the texture was not very crumbly. The leftovers were very soggy too. Though the taste was not amazing, we were able to learn the process to making falafel. Next time we will make it homemade or get the two kinds I like from Trader Joe's or Costco. We also polished off a 1.5 liter of Cooks champagne with mango nectar, which was very delicious and addictive. Altogether, we accomplished the succulent and sweetness of the Middle East.