The Yum Yum Factor

Mujadara, mujaddara, mejadra - I have seen many variations on the spelling and slight variations of the recipe, depending on which part of the Arab world it is coming from. Christian Arabs eat this during lent, it's popular with Jewish communities from Israel to Syria and Egypt and it should be popular with you too. Packed full of flavour and protein, it makes a great vegetarian meal alongside some steamed or roasted vegetables. I served it with harissa yogurt and shrimp fried in the shallot oil for these photos. You can drizzle some Zhug or other hot sauce, serve with yogurt or smother it in fresh herbs like mint, cilantro and parsley - that's all up to you. What I give you is a solid, basic recipe for mujadara made in the Instant Pot. Doing it in the pressure cooker means you don't have to cook the lentils and rice separately and no babysitting the rice on the stove is required. I do cook the crispy shallots in a small frying pan because I don't find that sauté ...

I can't believe it has taken me this long to make yogurt in my Instant Pot but better late than never., right? I used this recipe from   Tid Bits  , which appears to be the standard recipe that everyone uses so I suggest you follow that link and use their recipe too. No need to reinvent the wheel when the wheel works like a charm. Because I was going to turn it into labneh, which is a Middle Eastern yogurt cheese, I omitted the vanilla. Labneh is like greek yogurt on steroids that has been drained to the point where it's so thick that you can roll it into balls if you want. Click here to see a great slide show with all kinds of amazing ways to use this stuff here it is at the Greek yogurt stage Okay, onto the yogurt: You need an Instant Pot Duo or the Smart version  To make a full batch of yogurt, you use a gallon or 3.7 litres of milk (in Canada, that equals three bags of milk. Yes, we have bagged milk in Canada and you should too world) 3 tbls of...

As one of the ten chefs participating in the Ten for the Next Gen Series at Harbourfront's Hot and Spicy Food Festival   I was tasked with coming up with something that would fit the themes of sustainability and passing traditions on to the next generation. Since I can't really draw on my own family traditions, unless I wanted to pass along my mom's delicious Sherif's lemon meringue pie and, don't get me wrong, she made a mean Sherif's lemon meringue pie, I was going to think outside the box and come up with something of my very own. photo: Shack Shackleton Some of my Blend and Extend Recipes: Blend and Extend Beef Patty Pops Shroomy Beef Keftedes Spicy Mushrooms with Pork Chicken Mushroom Salsa Verde Besides coming up with recipes for Mushrooms Canada and their Blend and Extend program, I have totally embraced the philosophy in my own kitchen and you will almost never find me using any sort of ground meat without adding in a huge whack of grou...

There are a million recipes out there for babaganoush, a popular, Middle Eastern, smoky eggplant dip so why am I sharing one more? To me, the actual dip is just a blueprint that you can use to then dress it up as you wish. I like mine kind of thick, so it's also a spread and have found that it's as great smeared on crostini or in a wrap as it is eaten as a dip with a piece of pita bread so I replace the lemon juice with the rind of a pickled lemon. I also love the addition of pickled turnip as much for their sour crunch as for their beautiful pop of colour in what, otherwise, is a sea of grey and grey food is never appealing on it's own. The toasted walnuts might not be authentic but that's how I like it so that's how I make it. Smoky Eggplant Spread 1 large eggplant 1 clove garlic, grated on a rasp or fine grater OR chopped very finely 1 tsp kosher salt *1 preserved or pickled lemon 3 tbls tahini 1/4 tsp smoked paprika 1/2 tsp cumin a...

In my continuing efforts to attain world peace through food, today we are going to look at the similarities between Middle Eastern food and Jamaican food. I was asked to come up with a BBQ recipe using a Grace's Jerk Product as part of their #GrillWithGrace campaign and since you will always find Grace's Jerk Seasoning as well as the marinade in my fridge, I didn't hesitate to accept the gig. I have never really perfected my own jerk, to date, and so I use Grace's all the time. Shack is really picky about jerk and he doesn't like it too allspicey and he doesn't like too hot and since he loves the flavour of Grace's Mild Jerk Seasoning and Marinade, that is what we go with. We always have to keep the picky toddler happy. The traditional way to use this stuff is to rub the seasoning paste all over your chicken or pork and let it sit in the fridge overnight and then cook it, preferably over a grill and it's delicious as is, straight...

When I got home from Jordan, there was a big box waiting for me and inside that box I found four bags of beautiful potatoes from The Little Potato Company . As you might have guessed, they sell a variety of little potatoes in the class called "creamers". Commercial potatoes are divided into 4 categories : Large, medium, small and creamers, all based on size and this company only grows creamers, which means that every potato is is between 3/4" and 1 5/8" and they are as adorable as they are delicious. To work with, I had some pink skinned, Blushing Belles that were first bred in Germany and two bags of Something Blues in there. My job was to play around with these little babies and come up with a recipe or two that would showcase their considerable attribute. The Little Potato Company has two facilities, one in Edmonton and one in PEI and they work with potato breeders from Holland to South America to produce real their various types of tater. WHAT? ...

Oh, it's all blend and extend all the time in this house right now. Last week, I finally got around to trying this method of adding ground mushrooms to ground beef in order to make your meat go farther and add a serving of vegetable to dishes while you are at it. The result were these  Jamaican Patty Pops  and I have to tell you, I was actually kind of amazed at how much the addition of the mushrooms worked as far as texture and and keeping the meat moist was concerned. I spent the rest of the week perfecting these Middle Eastern Inspired MeatBalls, which had been my runner up idea for the appetizer challenge until I got it right. These little meatballs are also great on their own and made a nice little dinner served with a  dollop  of  tzatziki, a greek salad and a chunk of bread. If you are lucky to live near a store that sells middle eastern groceries, you can find the preserved lemons, pickled turnip and sumac there and some larger grocery ch...