Best of MCW 901-1000

Welcome to the tenth installation of the Best of MCW compilations. As usual, the collection is inevitably international, and prominently Iraqi. Surprisingly, Yemen holds a firm presence this time.

We kick-off the post with a hearty Iraqi breakfast of basturma and eggs. What it lack in looks it makes up for in flavor. The invasion of our country forced many out for reasons of safety, and adaptations had to be made even in the culinary aspects. This is a freezer basturma and not the dried traditional one. It still delivers on taste and is a must for special weekend breakfasts.

See also part 1 and part 2, part 3 , part 4 , part 5 , part 6 , part 7 , part 8 , and part 9 of previous Best Of series.

Still in the arena of Iraqi breakfasts, these Iraqi breakfast sticky dates ache my heart in nostalgia, wonderful family memories, and of a blessed and simpler time.

Then we travel from Iraq to Switzerland for a breakfast of mushroom cream on toast. Fried sourdough would be fantastic, but I find it worth the trouble to make the perfect bread for this, the whole wheat bread loaf.

Speaking of bread, these little bran bread discs remind me of the lembas bread the elves gave the hobbits for their journey. Despite its lightness, it packs major nutrition in just a few bites. 

Adeni jabeez flatbread, hailing from the city of Aden is rich in herbs and pulses. This fragrant flatbread is not your average Hashim. It seems to me like a cross of Palestinian felafels and Iraqi Iroog bread.

Can you really talk about bread and not think of what you will put on the bread? This classic cheese board is the simplest, most adaptable collection of cheesy appetizers on a board. There is no one recipe for this; just a guideline made to be followed or broken.

While I do love this classic tuna salad and many atimes depend on its simplicity for an easy and healthy meal, it is the dressing that is special and makes the salad. I devised this dressing as a result of several try-outs, until it was perfectly suited for the salad. 

Fajita is a Mexican dish usually consisting of seared sliced steak, sauteed capsicum peppers and onions, all wrapped up in a tortilla with some sour cream and plenty of jalapenos and coriander. This fajita salad is fajita-inspired, using instead a deliciously marinated seared chicken fillet, and a trifecta of similarly seared capsicum.

For something so fancy-sounding, this gem lettuce salad is practically simplicity itself. Sweet, crunchy, young gem lettuce are halved and placed on the serving dish cut-side up. The simplest walnut vinaigrette is whipped up and tops the lettuce.

Kubba is my kryptonite. I cannot resist it. Crunchy exterior, fluffy interior, surprise stuffing. This kubba Mosel is a must.

I loved this Halabi Kebab Maajooqa (كباب معجوقة الحلبي), being a kofta presented in an almost kubba appearance. The meat makes for the thinnest of shells encompassing a molten volcano lava filling of meaty sauteed mushroom, copious parsley, and lashings of mozzarella cheese.

I do not remember ever having eaten red meat with such a carnivorous pleasure before.  I would have never imagined that such a simple, really basic and simple, recipe would have such an impact. These mint rubbed seared lamb chops are just that.

Promising to be a post heavy on the red meats, this vineleaf wrapped kofta is baked in a flavorsome broth, and can be served with bread or rice. All in all, it is a simple and delicious dish feeding four people, and can easily be doubled as needed.

The last red meat entry for this post is a 5 ingredients fall-off-the-bone sweet chilli roast lamb. Juicy tender meat literally falling off the bone, with caramelized and charred bits around the sides, followed by an explosion of comforting flavors is what this recipe promises, and indeed delivers.

Finally a chicken recipe, this Yemeni chicken mendi is an experience to make and eat. Basically, the chicken or meat is spiced and cooked over a pot of rice and water. As the chicken or meat cooks, it drips its juices and flavor onto the simultaneously cooking pot of rice.

Sushi, but not just any suchi: spicy tuna can sushi!

This particular aubergine spaghetti is so chock-full of vegetables, and it used wholewheat pasta and fresh mozzarella to boot. No cream in sight, and were it not for the fried aubergines, this dish would easily pass as a diet dish.

While fried tomatoes are a popular and loved Iraqi weekend breakfast, they do go way beyond the morning arena. Throwing some quartered ripe Summer tomatoes with a sprinkle of salt and a knob of butter boiled in a saucepan is all it takes. From there the options are unlimited: scooped with bread, ladled over rice, poured over grilled meat, chicken or fish...

Potatoes are so great, I have dedicated an entire category on MCW just for them. Whether you boil them and eat them with salt, or fry them up into french fries, they harbor so much potential, those humble tubers. This pan fried, cheese stuffed potato rosti is very accessible to make in a hungry mood..

This is an Iraqi date pickle very famous and loved to its connaisseurs, but so sadly unknown to the world.

This Black Beast is one of the few examples where flourless does not signify deprivation of goodiness. Quite the contrary. The absence of flour in this torte makes it off-the-charts decadent, with an acute chocolatiness, all accentuated much more so with the mascarpone frosting. Do not skip the fresh berries as this gives a much needed fresh balance against the dense decadent chocolate.

This eclair cake is a fantastic no-bake dessert with the flavors of an eclair: pastry cream, pastry, and a final touch of chocolate. Layering the ingredients in a large dish makes it an easy scoopable spoon dessert, easily assembled and feeds a crowd. 

A short while ago I made a tea biscuit cake made from the crumbs of actual tea biscuits. This oreo torte is again a flat cake (torte) made from oreo cookie crumbs.

Of all the Um Ali's I have tried, this croissant version is the best one I have ever come across, hailing from my beloved sister and friend. Um Ali is the Arabian version of a sweet bread pudding. The flavorings are up to you whether saffron, rosewater, orange blossom, mastica, or what have you. But one great must have is nuts.

This dessert was unattractively named Dump Cake, but a dear friend renamed it to a more classy Clafoutis Cake. This dessert can be served warm or cold.

What a cake this was! Not dense, but not at all crumbly. Not sugar-loaded, but still sweet enough to satisfy a craving. Dunkable. Subtle caramel tones. Slices like a dream. Picnicable. The secret ingredient? The all-British Golden Syrup.

These candy bars surprised me at how good they were. A brown sugar batter is enriched with added M&M's and chopped oreos. The batter does not have any leavening agent, such as baking powder or baking soda, resulting in a slightly dense and moist.

صحة و عافية