French Onion Soup

Note: This recipe is two people

Ingredients

• 2 large onions
• 1 clove of garlic
• 1/2 cup of butter
• 1/2 cup of wine (optional)
• 2 cups of meat broth
• 1/2 teaspoon dry thyme
• 1 bay leaf
• 6 slices of French bread
• 1 teaspoon flour
• Swiss Gruyere cheese
• Parmesan cheese
• Salt
• Pepper

Preparation

Slice onions thin. 

Take a medium pot and melt butter in it, then add sliced onions. Cook them on medium heat until they got caramelized about 30-40 minutes. If you want to speed up the process add one teaspoon sugar into it.

Then add minced garlic and cook couple of minutes more and add thyme, pepper and bay leaf. Then add wine and cook 5-10 minutes until wine evaporates. After that add flour and cook couple of minutes more. Lastly add beef broth and salt and cook 30 minutes more on low heat. See the picture.

Roast sliced breads in a toaster or in the oven. Take soup in a small bowl, put roasted bread on it and sprinkle grated Swiss cheese and Parmesan and broil in a 350 F preheated oven about 10 minutes. Enjoy!

Puffy Pizza with Beef

Ingredients

For the Dough

• 3 1/2 cup of flour
• 1 cup of milk
• 1/4 cup of canola or vegetable oil
• 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
• 1 tablespoon dry yeast
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1/2 cup of olive oil
• Salt

For the Fill

• 1/2 lb ground beef
• 1 little onion
• 1 tablespoon red pepper paste
• 2 tablespoons of pomegranate sauce (optional)
• 2 tablespoons of olive oil
• 1 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 teaspoon red flare pepper
• 2 teaspoons salt
• Parsley

Preparation

Mix dry yeast with warm milk and sugar and wait until it rises. Take a large bowl and put the yeast mixture, canola/vegetable oil, salt and vinegar. Add flour slowly and knead it until it becomes a soft dough.

Keep the dough in a warm place couple of hours. In the meantime to prepare the fill take a large bowl put ground beef, chopped onion and parsley, red pepper paste, pomegranate sauce (you can find it in Middle East Shops), olive oil, black and red pepper and salt and then mix them together.

When the dough is ready take small pieces from it and with the help of olive oil, make thin square shape and then wind up all edges.

Put square shaped pieces on a glass pan and put some fill on top of it. 

Bake it in 375 F preheated oven about 40 minutes, until it gets red. Enjoy!

Cheese Dessert

This dessert was invented in a small town in Turkey during Ottoman Empire era. It is still only produced in that little town. 

Note: You will have 30 of them with these ingredients. That could be served for 10 people.

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup of semolina
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup of all purpose flour
• 1 lb fresh mozzarella
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 dessertspoon baking powder
• 4 cups of water
• 3 cups of sugar
• 1/4 lemon juice
• Coconut (optional)

Preparation

Take a large bowl mix semolina, flour,salt and baking powder in it, then add eggs and mozzarella. 

Knead it until it becomes a soft dough. 

Take very small pieces from the dough and make small balls. as they will rise when you cook them. 

Bake them at 400 F preheated oven about 30-40 minutes, until they are roasted. 

In the mean time to prepare syrup put water and sugar in a big pot and boil. When it boils add lemon juice and put cookies in it. Boil them about 5-10 minutes.

Your dessert is ready. You can serve them with coconut or whipped cream. Enjoy!

Leeks

Most people do not like leeks, but if you cook correctly it will turn into a delicious food.

Note: This recipe is for two people.

Ingredients

• 2 leeks
• 1 carrot
• 1/4 cup of rice
• 1 tablespoon tomato paste
• 1 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 teaspoon salt
• Olive oil
• 1 cup of water

Preparation

Cut leaks and carrot in small round shape and put them in water about 5 minutes.

Then take them into a large pot add some olive oil and cook until they get smaller in size. See the picture.

Wash the rice and add it to the pot. Wait couple of minutes and add hot water and tomato paste. Cook about 20 minutes, and add a teaspoon of salt. Serve with lemon and keep it in a glass pan. Enjoy!

Puffy Pizza

Ingredients

For the dough

• 4-5 cups of flour 
• 4 tablespoon sugar
• 3 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 dessertspoon instant yeast
• 1 cup of milk
• 1 cup of water
• 1 cup of canola/vegetable oil
• 1 egg
• Sesame/black seeds

For the topping

• 1 tomato
• 1 green pepper or jalapeno
• Mozzarella and feta cheese

Preparation

Take a small bowl and add sugar and instant yeast in it. Add warm milk and water and wait until it rises. Remember milk should be not cold, but not too hot either. 

After it rises take it to a larger bowl and add oil, salt and egg white. If you do not know how to separate egg yolk and white, check it out from here http://foodrecipesaroundtheworld.blogspot.com/2013/06/cheese-bread.html. Add flour to the mixture slowly and knead it until you have a very soft dough. It takes about 4-5 cups of flour.

Keep the dough in a warm place couple of hours until it doubles its size.

Then take small pieces from the dough and make small pizza base. 

Put cheese, pepper and tomato in the middle of it and apply egg yolk at the edges, then sprinkle some sesame and black seeds.

You can use any ingredients, such as pepperoni, mushroom, olives and even cook it plain as well, it will still taste good! Cover the oven grill with aluminium foil and put all pizzas on top of it. 

Bake 40 minutes in 375 F preheated oven. Your pizza is ready, enjoy!

Walnut Bread

Ingredients

• 5 cups of wheat flour
• 2 cups of all purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon yogurt
• 1/2 cup of milk
• 1 dessertspoon dry yeast
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 3 teaspoons salt
• Water
• Walnuts

Preparation

Take a small bowl and put dry yeast and sugar in it.Add warm milk and wait until it rises. In a large bowl mix  wheat and white flour and salt, then add yeast mix and yogurt. Knead it by adding water, until it becomes a soft dough. 

Keep the dough in a warm place, I put it in the oven, couple of hours until it doubles its size.

Cut walnuts into small pieces with a knife. If you want smaller pieces you can use a food processor. 

Add walnuts to the dough and knead it again. Then give it a long shape. Actually you can give it any shape you want.

Cut the dough in small pieces. After you cut it, scratch parallel lines on the surface of the bread with a knife.

Bake it in 400 F oven about 30 minutes. Enjoy!

Date Cookies

The recipe of this cookie belongs to one of my friend's grandmother. She used to make this cookie during New year. Date cookies which is called 'Ma'amoul' in Muslim countries, are consumed during religious festivals. There are different versions in each country. Thanks to Nazli for this recipe.

Note: You will have 40-50 cookies, depending on size with these ingredients.

Ingredients

For the dough

• 8 cups of flour
• 3 cups of butter
• 1/2 cups of canola/vegetable oil
• 1 teaspoon of dry yeast
• 1 cups of sugar
• 1 cup of powdered sugar
• 1 1/2 cups of water

For the fill

Date fill

• 1/2 table spoon cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground mahlab
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/4 teaspoon ground anise
• 1/4 teaspoon fennel seed
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/2 cup chopped dates
• 2 tablespoon canola/vegetable oil

Walnut fill

• 1/2 tablespoon honey
• 1/2 cup crushed walnuts
• 1 desert spoon cinnamon

For decoration

• 1 tablespoon powdered sugar

Preparation

To prepare the dough first take a sauce pan and put sugar, powdered sugar and water in it and boil them together. You should wait couple of minutes after it boils and then take it from the heat. Then, take another sauce pan and put butter in it and melt all the butter.

Then take a large bowl and add flour and yeast in it. Add oil into the melted butter and slowly add it to the flour while kneading it. The butter should be neither too cold not too hot, it should be warm to help the yeast work.

After you are done with butter and oil, add syrup slowly and go on kneading. The same thing for syrup, it should be neither cold nor hot.

Knead the dough until it looks like this.

Then put it into freezer about ten minutes.
In the meantime to prepare the fills, put all spices into a small bowl and mix them together.

We will have two types of fill, one with dates and the other is with walnuts. For the fill with dates put chopped dates and 1 1/2 teaspoon spice mix.

For the fill with walnuts, put crushed walnuts, honey and cinnamon in a small bowl and mix them.

Take the dough from freezer. Make small and medium balls from it.Then take medium ball and make a bowl shape out of it. Put some fill into it. Take small ball and cover the fill with that.

After you give the cookie its shape with your hand, put some holes on it with a fork. Actually we did this to differentiate two types of cookies. You do not need to do that.

Bake it about 25 minutes in preheated oven to 375 F. To understand if it is baked, look at the bottom, if it is darker and cookies are not too soft it is baked.

After you take them from the oven, wait until it gets cold and decorate with powdered sugar.