Husweh (Syrian Lamb Stuffing)

One of my favorite food memories about my first Thanksgiving with my dad is falling in love with this amazing stuffing. I'd never had anything like it before and I'd probably ever only eaten lamb once or twice in my life. The combination of flavors in this stuffing is hard to describe and if it's something you're not used to, it can be a bit of an adjustment. With an earthy and slightly cinnamon flavor, it's hearty and perfect for any meal where "harvest" is an undertone. It's a beautiful dish that I've made part of my own adopted traditions and it's a dish I make with warmth in my heart.

What is that yellow stuff? It's clarified butter (or ghee). I made this particular block last fall, probably while I was on the phone with my aunt Dolores asking her the best way to get the milk and salts out of the butter without swirling it back in. I probably called her every time I made clarified butter. We lost her in May and I think about her every day. I don't think I'll ever saute pine nuts without picturing her standing at my father's stove tossing them in the Calphalon pan he uses every single year for this purpose. This is my dad's recipe and I only adjust it slightly to my own preferences. Note: If you don't like lamb, you can use beef. I probably do about 50% of the time when I make it if I can't find decent lamb. I'll admit though, it's not as good unless you use the real thing.

Husweh (Hush-weh)

1 lb ground lamb (my father uses up to 1.5 lbs and it's delicious either way)

1/2 tsp black pepper1/2-1tsp syrian pepper (purchased at stores where they sell middle eastern foods, and I've found it online although have not purchased it that way)

1/2 tsp salt

3/4 tsp cinnamon

2-2.5 cups poultry broth/stock
1 cup white rice

approx 1 TBS clarified butter

approx 1/2 cup pine nuts (pignoli nuts)

Saute ground lamb in a large saucepan, breaking it up as it cooks. When lamb is mostly browned, add black pepper, syrian pepper, salt, and cinnamon. Saute for a few minutes longer until all lamb is brown. Add broth and simmer on med/low for about 30 minutes. Add rice and turn heat to medium. Cover and boil until rice is cooked or until you can stand a fork in the middle and it stays put. If it starts to dry out before rice is cooked (I find that this rarely happens) you can add a bit more broth.

While rice is cooking, saute pine nuts in clarified butter on low heat until well toasted.

Arrange rice stuffing on platter and sprinkle with toasted pine nuts. This dish is extra tasty with a bit of turkey gravy on it.

Butter Biscuits

I'll be honest. I've been cheating. With my oldest starting Kindergarten and some work exhaustion I've been feeling my midnight baking has turned more into 9PM baking over the past couple of weeks. I've accomplished quite a bit, however, remembering to take photos hasn't been my strong suit so there are definitely a few things I will have to make again (like managing to actually make a decent pie crust lately).

I have one thing to say about these butter biscuits...and it's that if you make them, you might be tempted to never buy another can of biscuits again. Since discovering this recipe, it's probably been a few years since Pillsbury cans have found their way into my fridge. These are preservative free, tasty, and a fraction of the price if you buy your butter on sale. They take me about 2 minutes to mix and about 8 minutes from start to oven. You don't need to roll them and the kids usually eat about half the batch as soon as they come out of the oven.

Butter Biscuits:

2 cups unbleached flour (if using whole wheat, use no more than 1/2 cup wheat flour)

1 TBS sugar, brown sugar, or honey

1 TBS baking powder

3/4 tsp salt

1 stick butter (the real stuff) quartered and cut into small cubes

3/4 cup milk

Pre-heat oven to 425 degrees

Together in a bowl mix the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Sprinkle a few cubes of butter into the mix and toss. Repeat until all cubes are integrated into flour mix. Cut in butter using two knives or a pastry mixer until mixture is the consistency of coarse crumbs. You can use your bare hands if you find the knives clumsy to work with and you don't have a pastry mixer. Add milk and stir together until well coated.

Dump ball of dough onto a floured surface and dust the top with flour. Using your hands, press the mix into a disc about 1/2-1/3 inch thick. Use a round cookie cutter to cut biscuit shapes and lay the circles on an ungreased cookie sheet. I use 2.5 inch diameter circles but you can use any size that you prefer. Gather dough together and repeat the pressing and cutting process until all the dough is used.

Bake biscuits about 12 minutes until golden. Adjust accordingly for the size of the cutter you use.

These are delicious warm and while they are super buttery already, a little pat of fresh butter after splitting is absolutely amazing.

Brown Rice Pudding Start: 10:30PM End: 11:30PM

I have a great recipe for making rice pudding out of leftover rice, however what I had in my fridge leftover from tonights dinner was steamed brown rice. It couldn't hurt to try! I also was looking to use up some of the dried cherries from last summer. (I did get a great suggestion of making a couscous dish but unfortunately I have no plain couscous in the house and have been using up the savory versions first).

Needed:

2 cups leftover cooked rice (I'm experimenting with brown today, but white rice really does work better)

3.5 cups milk

1/3-1/2 cup sugar

1/4 tsp salt

2 tsp vanilla

1/2 cup raisins or other dried fruit (optional)

1/2 tsp cinnamon, nutmeg, or other spice (optional)

Combine rice, milk, sugar, salt, and vanilla in a saucepan and bring to a low boil. When light foam forms on surface turn heat down to low then add fruit and simmer for 30-40 minutes.

Turn heat off when mixture is thickened but not completely absorbed of all milk. Set the pan aside on the stovetop for 15-20 minutes. There still should be liquid in the pan but it should be a bit creamy. Too little liquid left will result in a very pasty end product. If the mixture is too thick, add 1/3-1/2 cup of milk and stir before chilling. Refrigerate for at least two hours.

Star Round Two: Star Sandwiches

I'm determined to find the perfect use for this as a "press".

I'm prefacing this post by saying that I'm not a crust-cutter-offer. I'm a big time crust presenter. And most of the time my kids eat them. But my philosophy is to present foods as they come and my kids can choose to eat or not eat which parts of them they enjoy. So I wavered slightly in making these since technically all they are are versions of crust-cut-off sandwiches. I'm also prefacing by saying that I made these during the day...so I've cheated a bit on the blog. :)

That being said, I had some bread that's going to go in a couple of days and I had two heels in it and I really want to see the spectrum of what this little star wonder can do. A cute shape seems a great way to hide from your kids that their sandwich is half heel. I made two versions; a pressed one and a flat one.

These are olive and cream cheese. And at the time of writing, they've since been devoured.

Star Calzones

My oldest son started Kindergarten today. I wanted to make him something fun for his first lunch in his new lunch bag and over the weekend while outlet shopping I found this cute little star shaped pie mold and decided to try to make him some pocket calzones.

What I learned is that they call it a pie mold for a reason. Much better suited for sandwiches or pie crusts. Bread dough is best formed into calzones by hand. I made four of these little pockets then gave up and made a big calzone for slicing.

I did manage to have a couple of stars that came out nice and those went into his lunch along with an encouraging note for his first day.

Dough: Basic bread dough

Filling: Turkey pepperoni, mozzerella cheese, red sauce, minced green beans

Dough 2-Batches Start: 8:50PM End:1:30AM

I knew last night that we'd be bringing food to a potluck gathering with visiting family from New Hampshire. I worked yesterday, and we had some errands to do before I came home for the night so I knew I had to start something that I could prepare this morning. I wanted inexpensive, easy, quick, tasty, and filling foods. We decided to prepare four items: Pizza in multiple varieties, Mini Quiches, Chocolate Chip Cookies, and Rice Krispie Treats.

Sometimes I make refrigerator dough. It's a potato and flour based dough made in a very large batch meant to be kept in the fridge for up to a week so chunks can be removed and used/baked every day. Overall it saves time and money, however the initial work required is more than I wanted to do last night. I chose my common method of cheating where I make the dough in my machine and then remove it after the first rising and refrigerate or use in the oven. I never bake in my machine. First, I hate the hole that the paddle makes. Last, the bread honestly tastes better and is chewier when you bake in the oven.

My favorite dough recipe:

4 Cups Flour (I use unbleached white or white/wheat combo)
1 TBS brown sugar
1 1/2 tsp sea salt
1 1/2 tsp olive oil (any oil will be fine)
2 1/2 tsp yeast
1 1/3 cup warm water (1 1/2 if using at least 50% whole wheat flour)

I run this on my bread machines dough setting which takes about 1 hour and 40 minutes. I usually let it sit in the machine for another 10-15 minutes before dumping it all into a bucket of flour then letting it rest on a baking pan if I'm baking right away. (Or in a large glass bowl if you are storing it in the fridge for a day or two)

If baking bread, divide this into two loaves and let sit on the pan covered by a damp cloth for 20 minutes or so. Bake at 375 for 30-35 minutes or until knocking on the bottom of the loaf results in a nice hollow sound.

This dough makes great pizza, cinnamon rolls, and fried dough. I find it to be the most versatile use-today-or-tomorrow recipe I've ever used.

(Pizza was made this morning, but I've included the photos)

Oops. Disaster identified: 10:30PM

I overcooked the lima beans. Way overcooked them. I hoped that putting them in the fridge all day would somehow make them magically bean-ify again but no luck. I'm thinking I'll have to make these into a soup...or I might try that white bean and cheese sauce I've heard a lot of people talking about.

Whatever I do, it's not happening tonight. I'm exhausted and sore from ripping up carpet tack and I'm done doing productive things for the night.

Update: 8/17 I made the cheese sauce. I poured the beans into the blender and whipped it. I heated in a pan with salt, butter, garlic and pepper and then added yellow and white cheddar cheeses. The whipped beans were the same consistency as a rue and it worked out fairly nice. Although I'd recommend using less pasta when making a baked dish with it because it's heavier and the pasta at the bottom of the pan remained uncoated. Tasted nice though and the kids liked it.