IB Kitchen Club

[sister herb]

Mint Jelly Recipe
(traditional with lamb)

The tarter the apples, the more pectin they will usually have. If you are using home picked apples, earliest in the season is best, and the smaller apples will have proportionally more pectin as well.

Ingredients
4 lbs of tart apples (e.g. Granny Smith), unpeeled, chopped into big pieces, including the cores (including the cores is important as this is where most of the natural pectin is)
1 1/2 cups of fresh spearmint leaves, chopped, lightly packed
2 cups water
2 cups white vinegar
3 1/2 cups sugar (7/8 cups for each cup of juice)


Method

1 Combine apple pieces with water and mint in a large pan. Bring water to a boil then reduce heat and cook 20 minutes, until apples are soft.

2 Add vinegar, return to boil. Simmer covered, 5 more minutes.

3 Use a potato masher to mash up the apple pieces to the consistency of thin apple sauce.

4 Spoon the apple pulp into a muslin cloth (or a couple layers of cheesecloth) or a large, fine mesh sieve, suspended over a large bowl. Leave to strain for several hours. Do not squeeze. Note that if your mash is too thick, you can add 1/2 a cup to a cup more of water to it. You should have 4 to 5 cups of resulting juice.

5 Measure the juice, then pour into a large pot. Add the sugar (7/8 a cup for each cup of juice). Heat gently, stirring to make sure the sugar gets dissolved and doesn't stick to the bottom of the pan and burn.

6 Bring to a boil. Cook for 10-15 minutes, using a metal spoon to skim off the surface scum. Continue to boil until a candy thermometer
shows that the temperature has reached 8-10°F above the boiling point at your altitude (boiling point is 212°F at sea level, so at sea level the temperature should read 220-222°F). Additional time needed for cooking can be anywhere from 10 minutes to an hour or longer, depending on the amount of water, sugar, and apple pectin in the mix.

Candy thermometers aren't always the most reliable indicators of whether or not a jelly is done. Another way to test is put a half teaspoonful of the jelly on a chilled (in the freezer) plate. Allow the jelly to cool a few seconds, then push it with your fingertip. If it wrinkles up, it's ready.

7 Pour into sterilized* canning jars to within 1/4" from the top and seal.

Makes approximately 4 8-ounce jars.

*There are several ways to sterilize jars for canning. You can run the jars through a short cycle in a dishwasher. You can place the jars in a large pot (12 quart) of water on top of a steaming rack (so they don't touch the bottom of the pan), and bring the water to a boil for 10 minutes. Or you can rinse the jars, dry them, and place them, without lids, in a 200°F oven for 10 minutes.

Note: As in recipe is mentioned white vinegar, some basic information;

Distilled white vinegar, apple cider vinegar, malt vinegar, corn (Maize) sugar vinegar are considered Halal. Wine Vinegar and Balsamic vinegar are not considered Halal because of left over of wine in wine vinegar and high content sugar containing grape in Italy which in turn provide more alcohol is available to convert it to vinegar.

http://www.muslimconsumergroup.com/faq.html

 

[sister herb]

Baked Shrimp in Tomato Feta Sauce Recipe

Ingredients
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 14.5-ounce cans of diced tomatoes
1/4 cup minced fresh parsley
1 Tbsp minced fresh dill or 1 teaspoon dried dill
1 to 1 1/4 pounds medium sized raw shrimp, peeled and deveined (can leave tails on), thaw if frozen
Pinch of salt, more to taste
Pinch black pepper, more to taste
3 ounces feta cheese (about 2/3 cup, crumbled)



Method

1 Preheat oven to 425°F/200C. Heat oil in a large, oven-proof skillet on medium high heat. Add the onions and cook until softened, 3-5 minutes. Add the garlic and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds more.

2 Add the tomatoes and bring to a simmer, reduce heat and let simmer for 5-10 minutes, until the juices thicken a bit.

3 Remove from heat. Stir in the herbs, shrimp, feta cheese, and salt and pepper to taste. Place pan in oven and bake, uncovered, until shrimp are cooked through, about 10-12 minutes.

Serve immediately. Serve with crusty French or Italian loaf bread, pasta, or rice.

Yield: Serves 4.

 

[sister herb]

Kitchen tips - How to make cooking easier to you - Number 1

Easy Tip for Getting Corn Off the Cob

Method

To remove corn kernels from the cob using a bundt pan, stand the shucked corn cob upright, with the tip of cob placed in the center hole of the bundt pan.

Holding the cob steady, use a sharp knife and make long downward strokes on the cob, separating the kernels from the cob.

Many bundt pans have a stick-free interior. If this is the case with yours, be careful not to scratch the interior of the pan with your knife. If the knife scratches around the edges of the bundt pan hole, that shouldn't be a problem, as when you use a bundt pan baking, this area doesn't usually come in contact with the cake batter. (Note from the comments, you can tuck a paper towel or dish towel into the hole to protect the pan.)

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Kitchen Tip Number 2 - How to Brown Butter

Ingredients

Unsalted butter, sliced into tablespoon sized slices


Method

1 Heat a thick-bottomed skillet on medium heat. Add the sliced butter (sliced so that the butter melts more evenly) whisking frequently. Continue to cook the butter.

2 Once melted the butter will foam up a bit, then subside. Watch carefully as lightly browned specks begin to form at the bottom of the pan. Smell the butter; it should have a nutty aroma. Remove from heat and place on a cool surface to help stop the butter from cooking further and perhaps burning.

It's pretty easy to overcook browned butter and go from brown to burnt. If the butter starts to blacken, I suggest dumping it and starting over (something I've had to do on occasion), unless you want beurre noir which has a different taste than nutty brown butter.

If you want to make sage brown butter sauce, add some fresh sage leaves to the butter once it has melted. Allow the butter to brown and remove from heat.

Use browned butter immediately or store covered in the refrigerator for future use.

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Kitchen Tip Number 3 - How to Caramelize Onions

Prep time: 10 minutes
Cook time: 45 minutes


Quantities depend on how much caramelized onions you wish to make. In this example, 5 large raw onions yielded about 2 cups caramelized onions.


Ingredients
Several medium or large onions, yellow, white, or red
Olive oil
Butter (optional)
Salt
Sugar (optional)


Method

1 Slice off the root and top ends of the onions, peel the onions. Cut the onions in half. Lay them cut side down and slice the onions lengthwise to desired thickness. If you want, you can cut a little wedge in the tough rootball end of the onions and discard that part, but we haven't found this to be necessary, as this part of the onion softens and cooks with the rest over the long cooking time.

2 Use a wide, thick-bottomed sauté pan for maximum pan contact with the onions. Coat the bottom of the pan with olive oil, or a mixture of olive oil and butter (about 1 teaspoon per onion). Heat the pan on medium high heat until the oil is shimmering. Add the onion slices and stir to coat the onions with the oil. Spread the onions out evenly over the pan and let cook, stirring occasionally. Depending on how strong your stovetop burner is you may need to reduce the heat to medium or medium low to prevent the onions from burning or drying out. After 10 minutes, sprinkle some salt over the onions, and if you want, you can add some sugar to help with the caramelization process. (I add only about a teaspoon of sugar for 5 onions, you can add more.) One trick, by the way, to keeping the onions from drying out as they cook is to add a little water to the pan.

3 Let cook for 30 minutes to an hour more, stirring every few minutes. As soon as the onions start sticking to the pan, let them stick a little and brown, but then stir them before they burn. The trick is to let them alone enough to brown (if you stir them too often, they won't brown), but not so long so that they burn. After the first 20 to 30 minutes you may want to lower the stove temperature a little, and add a little more oil, if you find the onions are verging on burning. A metal spatula will help you scrape up the browned bits from the bottom of the pan as the caramelization proceeds. As the onions cook down, you may find you need to scrape the pan every minute, instead of every few minutes. Continue to cook and scrape, cook and scrape, until the onions are a rich, browned color.

Store refrigerated for several days in an air-tight container.

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Kitchen Tip Number 4 - How to Clean Leeks

Choose leeks that are about an inch thick, and have a long white to pale green shaft. The pale parts are the most useable.

Ingredients
Fresh leeks


Method

Before getting started with either method, rinse the leeks under water to remove visible dirt or sand.

Preparing leeks for soup

1 Cut off the roots of the leeks. Slice the leeks lengthwise. Decide how much of the leek greens you want to use. They are tougher and can be stronger tasting, but soften with long cooking. The last couple of inches of the dark green ends should probably be discarded or saved for making stock. (I put mine in a plastic bag and drop it in the freezer.) Make crosswise cuts along the leek that you intend to use.

2 Place the chopped leeks into a bowl and fill with cold water. (If the leeks are especially dirty, rinse them first in a colander, before covering with water.) Use your hands to agitate the leeks and dislodge any dirt or sand that may be clinging to them. Scoop the leeks out of the water with a sieve or slotted spoon and place in a new bowl.


Cleaning and Prepping Whole Leeks

1 Place leek on a cutting board. Insert the tip of a sharp knife about a 1/4-inch below the lowest opening in the leek. Cut straight through, up to and through the green ends of the leek, leaving the pale part of the leek whole.

2 Fan open the leek and place under cold running water. Rinse out any dirt or sand. If the leek is especially dirty, you may want to make another similar cut through the leek to further be able to fan the leek open.

3 Cut off the dark green tops of the leek, reserving on the body of the leek as much of the dark green as you want. We like the taste (it's basically just a big onion green), so we typically keep about 2 to 3 inches or so of the dark green part with the body of the leeks. Discard the dark greens or save them to flavor soups or stews, or use for making stock.

4 Cut of the root end of the leeks, staying as close to the roots as possible. Cutting close to the roots will help keep the leeks whole when cooking them whole.

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(Tips will continue later. Hopely they are useful to the beginners.)

 

[sister herb]

Kitchen Tip Number 5 - How to Cook and Eat an Artichoke

Prep time: 5 minutes
Cook time: 35 minutes


Method
1. If the artichokes have little thorns on the end of the leaves, take a kitchen scissors and cut of the thorned tips of all of the leaves. This step is mostly for aesthetics as the thorns soften with cooking and pose no threat to the person eating the artichoke.

2. Slice about 3/4 inch to an inch off the tip of the artichoke.

3. Pull off any smaller leaves towards the base and on the stem.

4. Cut excess stem, leaving up to an inch on the artichoke. The stems tend to be more bitter than the rest of the artichoke, but some people like to eat them. Alternatively you can cut off the stems and peel the outside layers which is more fibrous and bitter and cook the stems along with the artichokes.

5. Rinse the artichokes in running cold water.

6. In a large pot, put a couple inches of water, a clove of garlic, a slice of lemon, and a bay leaf (this adds wonderful flavor to the artichokes). Insert a steaming basket. Add the artichokes. Cover. Bring to a boil and reduce heat to simmer. Cook for 25 to 45 minutes or until the outer leaves can easily be pulled off. Note: artichokes can also be cooked in a pressure cooker (about 15-20 minutes cooking time). Cooking time depends on how large the artichoke is, the larger, the longer it takes to cook.


How to Eat an Artichoke

Artichokes may be eaten cold or hot, but I think they are much better hot. They are served with a dip, either melted butter or mayonaise.

1. Pull off outer petals, one at a time.

2. Dip white fleshy end in melted butter or sauce. Tightly grip the other end of the petal. Place in mouth, dip side down, and pull through teeth to remove soft, pulpy, delicious portion of the petal. Discard remaining petal.

Continue until all of the petals are removed.

3. With a knife or spoon, scrape out and discard the inedible fuzzy part (called the "choke") covering the artichoke heart. The remaining bottom of the artichoke is the heart. Cut into pieces and dip into sauce to eat.

 

[sister herb]

Kitchen Tip Number 6 - How to Cut a Pineapple

Prep time: 10 minutes

First make sure your pineapple is ripe. The best way to tell is to smell the bottom of it. If it smells of pineapple, it's ripe. If it smells fermented, it's overripe. It should still be rather firm, with just a little give. If it is soft at all, it is too ripe. The pineapple may have some green on the sides, but shouldn't be completely green. At a minimum it should be turning golden at the bottom and around the eyes on the sides. Where it is golden it is sweetest and most ripe.


Ingredients
One ripe pineapple

Method

1 Place the pineapple on its side on a cutting board. With a sharp chef's knife, slice off the top green crown and about a half inch of the top of the pineapple. Stand the pineapple upright on the cutting board.

2 Use a sharp knife to carefully cut away the the skin, from top to bottom, following the contours of the pineapple. Do not cut so deep as to cut away the eyes. The outer edge of the pineapple has the sweetest flesh, so you want to retain that if you can. Cut off the bottom half inch or so of the pineapple.

3 Now you have a pineapple dotted with eyes which must be removed. You can use a small paring knife to carefully carve out each one, but there is an easier way. Notice that the eyes all line up on a diagonal. You can make a diagonal cut across the side of the pineapple, like a V-shaped trench, and more easily cut out all of the eyes that are on that diagonal. Just continue to work your way around the pineapple. You do waste a little bit of good pineapple this way, but not much, and it is a lot faster than trying to carefully cut out each eye.

4 Now the pineapple is ready to cut further. There are several ways to make the final cuts of the pineapple, depending how you are serving it. If you want rounds, just lay the pineapple on its side and cut it into 3/4 inch rounds. For rings, cut out the tough core. When we were kids we preferred to keep the core in. We liked to spear the core in a solid pineapple round with our fork, and then hold up the pineapple round to eat the ripe edges.

If you just want chunks, cut the pineapple lengthwise into quarters. Cut out the tough core, then cut each quarter lengthwise again. Then cut crosswise into chunks.

Yield: One pineapple yields about 4 cups of cut pineapple chunks.

 

[جوري]

I am about to make that Tiramisu recipe :ia: just fair warning that I looked it up and this recipe serves 7 and is about 717 calories per serving so just heads up on how fattening that is lol basically you'll have breakfast and desert for one day

 

[sister herb]

^^ Hopely it will be tasty. But seems that recipe needs warning: not for everyday use. ;D

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Kibbeh

Ingredients

Shell:
1 1/2 cups fine bulgur wheat
1 1/2 pounds ground beef
1 1/2 cups roughly chopped yellow onions
3 teaspoons ground cumin
2 1/4 teaspoons salt
1 1/2 teaspoons ground black pepper

Filling:
1/2 pound ground beef
3/4 cups finely chopped yellow onions
1/3 cup pine nuts lightly toasted
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon allspice
1/2 teaspoon ground pepper
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
oil for frying

Directions:


To make the outer shells, place the bulgur wheat in a bowl and cover with water. Let sit for 20 minutes then drain in a strainer, pressing to extract the excess liquid.

In a large bowl, blend the beef, onions, cumin, salt, and pepper to a paste. Add the strained bulgur wheat and mix well. Process again, in batches, in a food processor until smooth and pliable enough to work like a dough, adding a little ice water if needed.

To make the stuffing, in a large skillet, cook the meat, stirring, over medium-high heat until browned, about 4 minutes. Add the onions, salt, allspice, pepper, and cinnamon, and cook, stirring, until tender, about 4 minutes. Remove from the heat and add the pine nuts. Let sit until cool enough to handle.

To make the final dish, with wet hands, shape the raw meat-bulgur mixture into egg-sized balls. Make a hole down the center of each ball with an index finger to make a deep cup with a pointed bottom. Stuff each ball with about 1 tablespoon of the stuffing. Press down on the sides and top to enclose the filling and reshape into a smooth egg with a pointed top. Repeat with the remaining ingredients, wetting your hands frequently.

Preheat the oil to 360F/175C degrees.

In batches, add the kibbeh balls to the hot oil and cook until golden brown and the meat is cooked through, about 4 to 5 minutes. Remove with a slotted spoon and drain on paper towels. Serve hot or at room temperature, with the Yogurt-Garlic Sauce for dipping.

Note: You can also bake kibbeh in the oven. 392F/200C degrees, about 15 - 20 minutes.

 

[Hulk]

I am about to make that Tiramisu recipe just fair warning that I looked it up and this recipe serves 7 and is about 717 calories per serving so just heads up on how fattening that is lol basically you'll have breakfast and desert for one day

I await your production phase pix!

 

[sister herb]

Halal Pina Colada

1/2 can of Cream of Coconut
large can of pineapple chunks, reserve the juice
half cup of ice cubes
extra fruit for garnish

1. Add everything to a blender and blend until smooth. Taste; add more cream of coconut to make sweeter, more pineapple juice to make more. Garnish with extra fruit.

 

[جوري]

I await your production phase pix!

It is chilling nicely in the fridge.. wanted to take a pic looks pretty can't account for the taste yet but I got busy to making Mussels with penna fra diavalo as they call it and didn't have a chance to snap a pic
it is so easy to make I also didn't use instant coffee but the expensive stuff that I like and use French press for, I didn't use lady's fingers or regular biscuits but graham crackers on the account we've tons of them ...

 

[sister herb]

Sounds good. Don´t be surprise if you will get visitors soon...

 

[جوري]

:welcome: anytime :haha: come on down and get your 717 that's what I'll call it from now on...

 

[sister herb]

717 Cake sounds tasty name. ;D

 

[جوري]

here is a pic I just went to check on it and take a bite from the corner mmmmmmmmmmmm so yummy better than store bought

thanks again for the recipe I am grateful, I stopped buying it after learning that they use liquor and I don't know why it doesn't merit it at all.

 

[sister herb]

Salam alaykum

Just nice to know I have been able to make my sister happy.

:

 

[GuestFellow]

here is a pic I just went to check on it and take a bite from the corner mmmmmmmmmmmm so yummy better than store bought

thanks again for the recipe I am grateful, I stopped buying it after learning that they use liquor and I don't know why it doesn't merit it at all.

Is that red meat? Is it cooked? It looks very raw.

 

[sister herb]

^^ Of my mind it looks cocoa powder. Under of it is whipped creame and biscuits. It is tiramisu cake... ^o)

 

[GuestFellow]

^ LOL I thought it was red meat. It looks very red.

 

[Ramadan90]

^ lol i thought it was red meat. It looks very red.

lol :d

 

[sister herb]

^ LOL I thought it was red meat. It looks very red.

If you would have so much patient to read page #50, you get information that we are talking about cake...