Turkish Beans Salad.

Hello everybody.

Busy Saturday as usual but warm Summer breeze lightens up the day for me.

Lunch today was fresh green fava beans with olive oil,garlic and coriander along with rich ewe yogurt all bought from Jerash yesterday.

I also made this new salad recipe I saw in the newspaper, full of nutritious beans like corn, hummus and black beans tossed with lettuce,parsley and green onions. Dressing is simple vinegrett but I added some pomegranate sauce.

I also dipped some hard labaneh balls in olive oil, fresh thyme and rosemary leaves,again fresh from Jerash.

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How to Pickle Olives (كبيس الزيتون)

Hello everybody.

Headed North to hometown Irbid yesterday for two reasons, buying olives ,since it’s the season to pickle them,from the same guy we buy each year on the road before reaching Jerash and then to go visit my lovely cousin and have lunch with our dear family members.

To tell you the truth I’ve been making olives only recently , used to be my mother in-law’s annual ritual specialty but since two years ago  ,as she says, retired from the mission so I’ve been doing it her way and send her share.

Pickling olives is a very easy process but needs a day work and messes your kitchen a bit specially if you’re making large amounts. First you must pick the kind of olives you like,some people prefer big ones some son’t,I usually buy local kind (نبالي بلدي),then you must press it either manually or in a special machine usually found at the shop or seller.

You can find many ways and methods to pickle olives in books or by experience or in factories, personally I found this method the easiest and always works with me.

Wash olives well,try to remove leaves and stems as much as you can, then soak them in water overnight or two , the next day wash again then mix them with a good amount of sliced lemons,hot peppers and lemon juice. Make the pickling brine which is exactly one big spoon of coarse local salt to each cup of water ( each liter of water needs 4 big spoons of salt), put olives in big glass or plastic jars then fill with salted water to the rim,close tightly and leave till done.

*Note: olives might take a longer period of time to be ready this way (a month maybe) if you want to be ready earlier you must soak it in water and replace it each day for a week then pickle it.

*Note: a tip to make sure your brine is perfect,place a raw egg in it,if it floats to the top then it’s good if it sinks then you need to add more salt.

* Note: usually I remove some of the olives when done, make a new salt solution and add new lemon and peppers, that way it’ll always be fresh and green.

 

Well now back to yesterday’s lunch, it was AMAZING ,elegant table,delicious food,various dishes and most important of all good loving caring company, I’m so lucky to have such kind generous loving cousins in my family.

Dishes were: Mansaf,lasagna,rolled steaks,sauteed veggies,chicken pie and a salad, dessert was chocolate cake,yummy coconut balls (took the recipe and will make it soon) and I made my Almond Orange cake, even coffee and tea tasted great believe me.

Thank you a lot my dear Um Tareq,hope all your days be filled with joy and good health.

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DSC_0543  DSC_0551 locally made pressing machine.

DSC_0631 DSC_0641 floating egg!

 

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DSC_0652  stored olives jars.

DSC_0580  chicken pie,steak rolls,mansaf.

DSC_0565  lasagna.

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DSC_0574  DSC_0581 yummy pickles.

DSC_0595  dessert.

DSC_0555 DSC_0586 don’t they look good?

DSC_0544  lovely local olives.

 

 

 

The Lebanese House/ Um Khalil <3

Hello everybody.

After calling most of Amman Lebanese restaurant and failing to find a free table for lunch we decided to head north to Jerash to the Lebanese Restaurant or as it’s famous name Um Khalil, though called also to check but luckily a table was available.

Food was delicious as usual except the bbq-ued meat , a bit greasy, but all in all it was good and service was excellent.

Nice ride and scenery better than staying in the city after all !

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20140905_155027  raw kubbeh (كبه نيه)

20140905_155037  20140905_155042

20140905_155051-1 20140905_155732 محمره وفطر مطفى

20140905_155709 20140905_160156 نقانق وعصافير مشويه

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Fresh Sauteed Asparagus.

Hello everybody.
Hope you’re all enjoying your weekend.

We went for a drive noon then ended up stopping by our dear friend Salam’s farm for coffee.

This farm or actually house is located in the beautiful picturesque village Rmeimeen, you can’t imagine how quiet and relaxing this place is, specially now, green hills and valleys, just perfect.
Our friend cultivates many vegetables and fruits, we always go home loaded with whatever is in season.Today he gave me a big bunch of fresh asparagus.

  Back home to make lunch, took out burgers,made some caramelized onions with mushroom sauce as a twist, lovely with pickles on top.
Also made simple salad but added croutons, summaq and some hard labaneh balls dipped in sesame seeds, ate that at a restaurant the other day, they even gave it a fancy name “Jarash Salad”.
  As for the asparagus I simply sauteed them in butter, olive oil and garlic then sprinkled lemon juice on top when tender. DELICIOUS !

Great lunch, we were even lucky weather is warm and ate outdoors♡♥

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