marmite et ponpon

la miche de Nana

Posted on June 12, 2014 | 10 comments

Miche or country bread, is typically a large round loaf made from either natural leavening or bakers yeast. Most traditional versions of this bread are made with a combination of white flour, water, leavening and salt.

La miche de nana (Nadra my mother in law) is the sweet version of this traditional bread, tastes like brioche and even more delicious!

Spending time with the family, cooking together, chatting and laughing is a treasure! Preparing this miche was so fun over 3 stages to get this golden braid!

It’s a very simple recipe made with love. The secret is patience. For 4 braids of 35cm each you need:

1 1/2 cup butter melted
1 1/2 cup sugar
1 1/2 cup milk
4 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp yeast
1 tsp baking powder
pinch of mahaleb (aka St Lucie cherry or prunus mahaleb)
flour to knead the dough

Mix butter and sugar. Add milk, eggs, vanilla, yeast, baking powder and mahaleb. Add flour little by little and knead the dough until it’s not sticky anymore. Let it rest for at least 6 hours, or overnight for a better leavened dough.

Divide it into four parts and each part to three equal parts to make the braids. You can always reduce the recipe in half if you don’t want to make the whole quantity. But trust me it’s so delicious you will regret not to!

Again you have to keep it to rest for ten hours before baking. That’s why i said patience is the key to a successful miche.

Brush the surface with egg yolk and bake for 20-25 minutes on 200ºC.

The irresistible aroma filling the house will kill your patience. I am sure you will not let it cool to try your first piece that will drag many more!

You can shape it other than braids, for instance teta prepared these small parts for nady! He was so excited and participating in the whole process!

Family cast for this yummy yummy miche:

Teta nana: “the loving baker”, who prepared everything
Aunty Salma: “the great observer,” taking notes of the recipe, promising to bake it after her wedding which is so soon yeyyy!!
Uncle Hani: “the miche taster” and Nady’s football buddy
My precious Nady: “The energy sucker”, who made the process longer, we were all running after him, and we ended up by dancing in a circle 🙂
Antoun: “long distance killer” kept updated on whatsapp and facetime until he joins in two weeks
And me behind the cam!

Sahten! God keep your families and happy times to all!

10 Comments

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Tagged baking, blog, bread, brioche, desert, jaymmy, marmite et ponpon, miche, recipe

15 minutes nutellissimo brownies!

Posted on June 9, 2014 | 5 comments

This easy and fast recipe will make you stand up on your feet now and go to the kitchen to prepare these inviting nutella banana brownies. Am sure you will find the ingredients home:

nutella jar (350g)
3 eggs
15 tbsp flour
2 medium bananas

For the ganache:

200g dark chocolate
200g heavy cream

Mix nutella, eggs and flour and bake in a greased pan for 10 minutes, in the middle rack (180ºC). I used a square pan (18x18cm)

Let it cool before laying the banana slices on top and cover it with the chocolate ganache.

How we make chocolate ganache:

Put 200g of dark chocolate into a large heatproof bowl (must first be chopped into small pieces so that it will melt evenly). Bring 250 ml of cream just to a boil over medium-high heat or put for 3 mns in microwave; pour over chocolate. Let stand 10 minutes.

Stir the mixture very gently, incorporating the cream steadily, without overworking. The mixture should begin to appear glossy.

Let it cool for 20 mns in the fridge before using it.

For a beautiful presentation, decorate the top with edible flowers. I am taking advantage of being in lebanon where i find flowers at my ease.

Personally i find banana pairing beautifully with nutella, but if you are not fond of banana you can replace it with strawberry or pineapple. It tastes also wonderful

These beautiful red flowers created an attractive contrast! Fruits and flowers work like magic. The more colors you have on your plate, the more inviting your dish can be. It’s not a secret that we eat with our eyes first!

Brownies are best served with a perfect round ice cream scoop as Salma, my sister in law says! She is right 🙂

Yesterday, I baked this beautiful cake at my in laws, they are chocolate lovers, and here is the proof!

Am sure this cake will not live longer than couple of hours if you are nutella lovers. Sahtein 🙂

5 Comments

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Tagged baking, banana, blog, brownies, chocolate, easy, edible flowers, fast, ganache, jaymmy, marmite et ponpon, nutella, recipe

a traditional lebanese dish, kibbeh bil sanyeh (meat kibbeh in a flat oven dish)

Posted on June 5, 2014 | 4 comments

kibbeh bil sanyeh aka flat kibbeh baked in the oven, others call it sandwich kibbeh where ground meat and pine nuts are pressed between two layers of very fine minced beef with bulgur. One of the most popular dishes in lebanon. I can rarely find someone who doesn’t love kibbeh. Everytime i want to invite friends over lunch, they request kibbeh bil sanyeh. What a delicious dish!

Some of non middle easterners only knows the football shape kibbeh, the most served in lebanese restaurants. Let me tell you it’s more than that; there is various ways to cook kibbeh and this flat kibbeh baked in a deep dish is another way. It can also be served raw with fresh mint leaves, olive oil and onion!

Today i am posting the flat one, baked in the oven.

15 inch dish serves 6 to 8 people, for that you need:

For the two layers kibbeh dough:

800g finely minced beef
4 cups bulgur
2 tbsp salt

For the stuffing:

400g ground beef
3 medium onions
80g pine seeds
1/4 cup olive oil
1tsp salt
1/2 tsp sweet pepper

First you start by preparing the stuffing:

Bring the olive oil to heat, add the onion and fry until tender and fragrant.

Add the ground beef and cook until brown then add the pine seeds, salt and pepper and keep cooking until well done. Turn off the heat and keep it aside to prepare the dough.

soak the bulgur in water to become soft (about 10 minutes), then drain and add to the fine minced beef with salt and work it with your hands until it becomes consistent like a dough.

Divide the dough in half. Grease the dish with vegetable oil, take one part and start spreading it evenly in the dish. When it’s all spread, the thickness is approx 8mm.

Bring the stuffing and spread it on the first layer.

Get the second part of the dough to cover the stuffing. Always wet your hands to even out the outer dough.

Now the fun part of it! Decorating the upper part. Use a knife to divide it in 4 equal parts, design each part differently. This is how mum makes it.

Preheat your oven to 220ºC.

Drizzle 1/2 cup of vegetable oil all over the kibbeh and put it in the oven for 35 minutes, until it’s golden brown.

When you cut a wedge of this kibbeh bil sanyeh you see its whole thickness is of maximum 2cm.

This is the traditional way to cut the kibbeh. Serving it as wedges like pieces of cake. But i like to cut it in square shape as well.

Kibbeh bil sanyeh can be served with a cabbage salad or minted yogurt with cucumber dip.

Enjoy!

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Posted in main dish

Tagged baked kibbeh, blog, bulgur, cooking, flat kibbeh, jaymmy, kibbeh bil sanyeh, kibbeh in oven dish, lebanes dish, lebanese food, lebanese traditional food, marmite et ponpon, pine seeds, recipe, sandwich kibbeh

a welcome drink – traditional batrouni lemonade (laymounada batrounye)

Posted on June 4, 2014 | 6 comments

Batroun is a touristic destination in North Lebanon. My home town, a major destination for the beautiful beaches and the vibrant nightlife.

Batroun is known for its fresh lemonade, which is sold by most of the cafés and restaurants in the town. This simple drink made from lemons, sugar and water has many variations in different parts of the world.

This version is the famous batrouni one:

juice of 4 big lemons (1 1/2 cup)
zest of one lemon
1 cup sugar
3 cups cold water

All i can say It’s about the technique:

Wash the lemons and cut in four.
Add the sugar and squeeze the lemon wedges with your hands until they release half of the juice.
Add the zest of one large lemon and let the mix stands in the fridge for 15 minutes
Take it out and totally squeeze the lemons, strain the juice, add the water and mix until the sugar is totally melted. Et voila!

The most refreshing and succulent lemonade.

Some like it more diluted, or more sweet or less sweet… It’s subject to taste. You can add orange blossom water too if you want to take it to another level. As you can add few mint leaves, but the traditional one is the simplest basic one.

If you have people visiting, a pitcher of fresh homemade lemonade is a traditional welcome drink especially on hot summer days!

Daily consumption of 120 ml of lemon juice per day, when mixed with two liters of water, has been shown to reduce the rate of stone formation in people susceptible to kidney stone.

Batroun has the largest cup of lemonade (more than 5000 liters) to break Guinness world record! Enjoy and regards from Lebanon 🙂

6 Comments

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Tagged batroun, batrouni lemonade, blog, how to do, jaymmy, laymounada, lemon, lemonade, marmite et ponpon, recipe, traditional

dainty orange chocolate cake, you will dream about it!

Posted on May 30, 2014 | 6 comments

Finally I have my own creation cake recipe. I always wanted so. Few trials, and finally i have a successful 100% jay’s recipe: chocolate orange cake.

The challenge was to create an egg, milk and butter free cake recipe:

1 1/2 cup all purpose flour
1 cup sugar
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 tbsp instant coffee
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 tbsp white vinegar
1/2 cup water
1 cup orange juice
3 tbsp orange zest

Sieve flour and cocoa powder. Mix with sugar, baking soda, salt, instant coffee and orange zest.

Make a well in the center and add oil, vanilla, white vinegar, water and orange juice. MIx well together and pour in a greased 11¨ pan.

Bake in the middle rack of the oven (180ºC) for 40 mns or until a skewer comes out clean. Start checking from 25 mns onwards.

Cool for 30 mns before inverting onto a wire rack.

Make sure the cake is completely cool before pouring the chocolate ganache over the cake.

Quick reminder of how we make chocolate ganache:

Stir the mixture very gently, incorporating the cream steadily, without overworking. The mixture should begin to appear glossy.

Let it cool for 20 mns in the fridge before using it.

Choosing to do this fabulous cake today was for a reason. Tomorrow am going to Lebanon for the summer vacation. I wanted to prepare for my hubby his favorite cake, orange chocolate as a compensation gesture for leaving him alone in Doha .

Knowing that It’s my first time to bake this cake and i am so happy and proud to have my own creation recipe.

The chocolate and orange aroma was filling the house! i was cutting the oranges to decorate the top of the cake when Antoun arrived and couldn’t resist the smell.

He was so impatient, he barely gave me 5 minutes to take some pictures before he had the first piece in like 10 seconds!

Sure there will be no remaining till i leave! The cake will be hoovered today!

To not feel so bad for him, he will be following shortly for his sister’s wedding.

It will be a beautiful summer, full of plans and happiness, and we will be surrounded by the family. Stay tuned for beautiful posts from Lebanon, it might not be daily ones but i will do my best.