Summertime and the .......

Eggplants are flying around =)

So what's better than sitting in the sun, enjoying a glass of wine (or 2 ;-) ) and some nice thingies to accompany that glass? Last year I had a quick introduction to the Arabic cuisine. I've always tried some here in Amsterdam, but as I always say, you should eat the food in the place where it comes from so you can guess I didn't like it too much. Didn't understand why people where loving it so much.

But then a Greek lady gave me some of her home-made Babaganoush and I loved it! So fresh and yummy and healthy at the same time. I know that almost every country surrounding the Mediterranean sea claims it's originated from their country and they all have their own secret recipe..... so here's just a recipe that I happened to like a lot. Of course you can experiment with it!

- 3 Eggplants
- 1 1/2 table spoon tahini (sesame paste)
- 2 cloves of garlic (minced) ( I don't like it too garlicky, but  3 is probably more 'Arabic')
- 1 teaspoon of salt
- 1 chili pepper
- 1 table spoon olive oil
- a handful of fresh Cilantro
- 2 table spoons of Lemon juice

1. preheat the oven to 250 C degrees. Make little holes in the eggplants using a fork. This will prevent the eggplants from exploding when the juices inside starts to boil. Turn the eggplants regularly. The eggplants are done when the skin is completely black and the inside is soft (you'll feel this when pressing it). This will take about 40 mins.
2. Leave them to cool a bit and then peel of the skin. Make sure all the black skin is removes unless you like a 'roasted'  flavour.
3. In a bowl put the tahini, lemon juice, olive oil, garlic, salt and chopped chili pepper.
4. Mix in the skin free, chopped up eggplant. If you like your babaganoush smooth, use a handmixer or foodprocessor.

When you are done it is time to taste! If you prefer it more spicy, more fresh or more.... just add some of that ingredient just as much untill you like your babaganoush. Just remember that the babaganoush gets better after being in the fridge for 2 days. So if you add a lot of chili pepper..... you know where I am getting..

Serve the babaganoush on a flat platter, spread it out and pour a little bit of oliveoil on top and garnish it with some cilantro leaves. Serve with Arabic pita bread or slices of baguette.

I you like to experiment with it... I like to use babaganoush as a bread spread and top it off with tomatoes, cucumber and onion.

NB. The other Arabic dish: moutabel is almost the same but I found it often spicier. Also I found that, depending on country of origin, babaganoush is a chunky spread and not a smooth one like moutabel. The basis of moutabel and babaganoush is the same. 

Yummy in my tummy!

Jetty Bar at The One & Only (hotel) in Dubai

So what do we have this time? Whilst being in the Middle East I couldn't resist to try Arabic Mezze. This is the perfect finger food to accompany a nice cold Campari on the rocks, with a slice of orange. The entire setting of beach lounge, sunset and good company made everything perfect. The dolmadakias where freshly made. Nice to notice is that they don't use as much rice as the prefab ones. Also the hint of pomegranate on top was very tasty. Then there was tabouleh, what to say about it.... it was so fresh and light at the same time. This also counts for the hummus. I must admit, I was never too fond about hummus, actually I recall describing it once as minced cardboard.... I guess it said more about the person who made it ;-) This was really wonderful and since this day I am a huge fan of hummus.


So if you are planning to go to Dubai (or somewhere else in the region) please do try their traditional food. It can only taste as good as in it's natural habitat.....

Something else: ice-cream
Summer is finally here and ice-cold ice creams are more than welcome. This actually is very simple straciatella ice cream, which I like because of the chocolate chunks in it. But what I like most is the small ice-cream cup and the stainless steel ice cream scoop. They're both from the brand ASA and they come in all sorts of colours (http://www.asa-selection.com/shop2/index.php?cat=c13_HOT---FRESH.html). They also have very cute beautiful homeware!

Sisters Gourmet Cookies in a Jar
In Dubai there is a shop....I hear you think: duhhhh lots of shops so what? Well I will tell you what. The shop is called Milk & Honey and it is a gourmet grocer and I LOVE it!! They have the most wonderful fresh fruits, juices, marinated chicken loads of magazines and chocolate made from camel (!) milk!!! Also they have  fun items like these cookies in a jar, now that is what I call baking-cookies-made-easy. They're from the brand sisters gourmet and you can find more information on www.sistersgourmet.com


More information about Milk & Honey: www.milkandhoney.ae  Good to know:  they also do home delivery which, in summer time, can come in quite handy ;-)

Lunch: halloumi cheese sandwhich
At the XVA hotel & cafe in Dubai we stopped for lunch. This cafe is an award winning vegetarian place and however I am far from a vegetarian I do appreciate the, mostly organic, menu. Also the beautiful surrounding in which the cafe is situated can not be kept secret. The building looks pretty closed from the outside but once inside there is a nice cool patio surrounded by small rooms which are a feast for the curious mind.


Then the simplicity of this delicious sandwhich shows again that healthy, good food is not rocket-science. What you see here is pitabread with a thin layer of hummus, topped with salad, tomato, cucumber and the main ingredient halloumi cheese. It's made from goat's and sheep milk and because of it's high melting point it is often grilled like on this sandwhich. It is very easy to do so I definitely recommend to try this! Together with this sandwich I had a fresh carrot juice. The best way to hydrate during a HOT day. More information about XVA hotel & cafe www.xvahotel.com

Tried this at home
This is a trial of a recipe that I saw in the Dutch Elle Eten (Elle Food) The freshness of this dish just jumps of the page. So there I went buying beans, rocket salad, lemons and parmezan cheese. Allthough my cheese crumbled in tiny bits so it is hardly noticeable in my version I must say it was delicious! So thank you ELLE for this inspiration, I will definitely make this more often.

See you next time, until then: never forget "don't waste your life eating junk food"