Baked Provoleta

                                                                               Receta en Español

Provoleta is an Argentinian cheese's trademark. It is similar to  Italian provolone, it is cooked on the grill and sometimes baked in oven to accompany roast meat.  

Today's recipe is baked Provoleta, I will use microwave. This is an easy and fast way of preparing it!.

Ingredients (2 people) :

• 1 teaspoon papikra.
• 1 teaspoon oregano.
• a sprinkle of pepper.
• 2 dessertspoonful olive oil.
• 150-200 grams provolone cheese.

Method:

1. Take a microwave proof dish, put olive oil , paprika, pepper and oregano. Mix well.
2. Put provolone into the dish, let mix with the rest of ingredients both sides.
3. Let stand a while in the fridge, this way it will absorbe better all the flavours of the ingredients.
4. Put the dish to minutes in the microwave...and here it is!.
5. It is accompanied by chunks of bread.

My comments to the Recipe:

Once the cheese loses heat it becomes a little taffy. You can also cook provoleta in oven, the result is better.
Preheat oven for 5 minutes at 200ºC, the cook provoleta for 15-20 minutes.

Here you have a link to my favourite cooking tools where you can find my spices grinder:  

Favourite cooking tools

Argentina

Flag: De Government of Argentina - Here, based on: http://manuelbelgrano.gov.ar/bandera/creacion-de-la-bandera-nacional/, Dominio público, Enlace

Algeria

 By PhR61 (originally posted to Flickr as IMG_0911) [CC BY 2.0], via Wikimedia Commons

 By Addicted04 [CC BY-SA 3.0], via Wikimedia Commons


Recipes from Argelia that I cooked:

Algerian Couscous

Makrouts







Algeria

Makrouts

                                                                              Receta en Español

This dessert is known as macroude, makrodh o makrout , it is typical from Algeria, Morocco,Libya and Tunisia.

In Algeria there re 3 kind of Makrouts, 2 of them made of almonds and 1 of them made of dates. 
Today I present you this makrouts filled with dates. It's origin comes from Mzab Oasis, close to Sahara desert. They can be fried or cooked in oven.
I show you the recipe of Makrouts cooked in oven:

Ingredients (100 Makrouts)

For the dough:

• 1 Kg medium wheat semolina .
• 250 g fine wheat semolina.
• 400 g butter (to prepare ghee).
• 1 liter water.
• Salt.
• 2 tablespoon orange blossom water.
• 200 g honey + 3 tablespoon orange blossom water (to bathe Makrouts).
• Cling Film.

For the Filling:

• 500 g dates pasta . (Already made or you can buy pitted dates and smash them).
• 1  teaspoon cinnamon.
• 1 teaspoon ground clove.
• 1 tablespoon orange blossom water.
• 2 tablespoon honey or butter in case dates paste is too dry.

Method

1.      To prepare the filling: Mix dates pasta with orange blossom water,cinnamon and clove.

2.      Use your hands to knead the dough until it is well mixed and soft . If you press a finger on the dough the print should remain.

3.      Take a little quantity of dough and knead it into the shape of a cilinder (make more cilinders with the rest of the dough).

4.      To prepare the outer side: Mix well both semolinas and salt, use your hands.

5.      Heat butter until it is melted.

6.      Get rid of the white coat of the surface of the melted butter, this way we obtain ghee.

7.      Pour ghee over the semolinas and mix well, first with a spoon , then when the mixture is not hot use your hands to knead the dough until all the ghee is well absorbed.

8.      Let stand 1 hour.

9.      Add orange blossom water and keep on kneading.

10.   Add warm water little by little, continue kneading with your hands until the dough is this consistency,  if you press a finger on the dough the print should remain:

11.   Wrap the dough in cling film and let stand 30 minutes.

12.   Spread the dough like a rectangle 1 cm thick and make a groove in the middle:

13.   Place dates pasta into the groove.

14.   Wrap the dates pasta with the dough.

15.   Roll the dough until you obtain a cilinder:

16.   Flatten the cilinder and cut in a diamond shape.

17.   With the help of a knife make some stripes on the surface to decorate the Makrouts:

18. Place makrouts on a oven proof dish, thay must be close one to the other because dates pasta should not be exposed to the oven.

19.   Preheat oven to 180 ºC.

20.   Cook Makrouts at 180 ºC for 10 or 20 minutes, thay must get sligthy golden.

21.   We prepare honey syrup,mix honey with 3 orange blossom water then turn on the heat to warm it.

22.   Dip Makrouts into the syrup, both sides.

        23.  Let drain :

My comments to the Recipe

 

This maskrouts can be conserved into the fridge for 2 weeks. The taste is amazing , if you eat them some days after the elaboration, thay are even better!

 

Here you have a link to my favourite cooking tools where you can find my spices grinder:  

Favourite cooking tools

Algeria

Algerian Couscous

                                                                               Receta en Español


Couscous is a traditional dish in Algeria, it can be served as a side dish for vegetables or meat. This is a very complet dish.
Today I present you how it is traditionally prepared in Algeria.

Ingredients (4 people) :

• 250 grams medium couscous.
• 250 g lamb.
• 200 g chickpeas.
• 2 tomatos.
• 2 little zuchinni.
• 2  turnips.
• 4 carrots.
• 2 peppers.
• 1 onion.
• 3 garlic cloves.
• 1/2 teaspoon of ras-al-hanout.
• 1/2 teaspoon harissa (this is spicy).
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon powder.
• Olive oil.
• 50 g butter.
• Some raisins.
• Salt and pepper..

Method

1. Soak chickpeas overnight.

2. Put chickpeas in a casserole with water and salt, cook until soft.  

3. Cut onion and garlic and saute it in a pan until they are brown.

4. Cut and salt the lamb ,cook it together with onion and garlic.

5. Cut carrots, zuchinni and turnips into strips, salt . Put a little water in the pressure cooker , place vegetables into the pressure cooker , we want to steam them so vegetables should not touch water.  Close pressure cooker, put on high heat, when steam comes out from the valve put heat on low heat and cook for 3 minutes.

                     

6.   Once vegetables are cooked, we add them to the casserole with the lamb. Add chickpeas, tomatos cut into slices, pepper, innamon, ras-el-hanout ,100 ml water and salt. Cook at low heat for 1 hour and a half.

7.   Cook cous cous the way I told you in the previous post:  How to cook cous cous.

8.   Now is time to plating. Cous cous must be placed at the side, it should be mixed with the rest of the meal only when eating.

Here you have a link to my favourite cooking tools where you can find my spices grinder:  

Favourite cooking tools

Algeria

How to cook cous cous

                                                                               Receta en Español


Cous cous is name after several other names like Alcuzcuz, cuzcuz, cuscus...

The word comes from the berber term 'al kuskus' that  means the amount of food that a bird takes into its beak and kneads into little balls to feed its offspring.

It is a typical dish in Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia.

There is a way to cook couscous . Today I present the way they do it at Maghreb:

Ingredients

• 250 grams couscous (medium size).
• 50 grams butter.

Method:

1. Place couscous in a large dish. Fill a glass with water and a pinch of salt. With the help of your hands take a litle quantity of water from the glass and rub the couscous, do the same again and again until the glass of water is empty ,grains of couscous should remain loose.
2.  Let stand for 15 minutes , this way it  will absorb the water.
3. Spread some olive oil in your hands , then rub couscous with your hands.
4. Put couscous in a couscoussier to steam it, in case you don't have one, you can use a casserole and a sieve like in the picture:
   
5. Put water in the casserole, place couscous on the sieve and boil over high heat. Once it reaches boiling point boil for 15 minutes.
6. Place couscous again in the large dish ,stirr to separate the grains of couscous.
7. Take another glass of water and procede as in step 1.
8. Then repeat all the steps again, twice or more times,until the couscous is cooked.
9. Now spread couscous in the large dish, add butter and stirr well.

Here you can see an example , how you can cook couscous. (In french) :

http://www.amourdecuisine.fr/article-comment-cuire-le-couscous-111575933.HTML

Here you have a link to my favourite cooking tools where you can find my spices grinder:  

Favourite cooking tools

Algeria

Goxua

                                                                               Receta en Español

Goxua means sweet, it is a typical basque dessert very popular in Vitoria, city where this dessert was invented in the seventies of the XX century.

Ingredients (4 people):

• 400 ml milk.
• 1 tablespoon cornstarch (maizena). 
• 5 tablespoon sugar.
• 1 piece lemon zest.
• 1 tablespoon butter.
• 2 eggs.
• 200 ml cream (35.1 % fat).
• 4 sponge fingers or chunks of  dried muffins.
• 1 tablespoon Water.
• 1 cup rhum.
• 1 vanilla pod or a teaspoon grinded vanilla.
• 1 cinnamon stick.

Method for custard:

1. Put in a casserole almost all milk together with cinnamon,vanilla and lemon zest. Cook on a medium heat.
2. Put cornstarch in a bowl and mix with the remaining milk, stir well until there are no lumps.
3. Now add 4 tablespoons sugar and eggs to the bowl, whisk.
4. Once the milk of the casserole has reached boiling point. Pour that milk into the bowl with the cornstarch,eggs and so.
5. Put the mix on a low heat, stir continuously with a wooden spoon , keep on cooking until the mix gets thick.
6. Add butter, stir well and let custard cool.

Syrup:

7. Take the remaining sugar and put it in another casserole with some water. Put it on low heat until sugar is well dissolved, at that point turn the heat to high until it reaches boiling point and then turn the heat off.
8. Add rhum to the casserole.

Method:

          9.    Whip cream, add sugar to taste.

10. Place the Whipped cream at the bottom of the cup where we are going to serve this dessert. (1 tablespoon and a half per cup).
    
11. Dip sponge fingers into the syrup, sponge fingers should be well hidratated with the syrup.
    
12. Put sponge fingers over the cream.
    
13. Put 2 spoonfull of custard over the sponge fingers.
14. Let it cool into the fridge. You can eat it warm or cool, as you prefer.
15. Make some caramel and pour 2 spoonsfull over the custard.

Caramel:

16. Put 100 grams sugar and 50 ml water in a saucepan, heat over medium heat. Stirr until sugar is well disolved. Once it happens, stop stirring to prevent it to crystallize.  
    The moment the caramel begins to turn light brown, turn the heat off. 
    The remaining heat in the saucepan will be enough to finish the cooking of the caramel. More details on how to do a perfect caramel:  Caramel

 Here you have the result:

Here you have a link to my favourite cooking tools where you can find my spices grinder:  

Favourite cooking tools



Alava