Tailgate Party

Before moving to New York, I lived in Indianapolis, where I got my engineering degree and also worked as an engineer at General Motors.  People in Indiana love their sports and take them very seriously.  But they also love tailgating before the start of the games.  I was never into sports, but found tailgating to be a lot of fun.  There was a particular restaurant about 45 minutes outside of Indianapolis, which was quite hard to get a reservation.  The tradition was that you drove up early enough, put your name down on their list and while waited for your table, you tailgated in the parking lot.  NOW, that's a kind of "sport" I like :)  This was my very first AND only tailgating experience and I loved it.

With the Super Bowl being so close - especially now that the Giants are playing - I thought it was only appropriate to dedicate this post to this event and have a tailgate-style party at home.  The idea of sliders is just so interesting to me.  Did they make a come-back or did I make a discovery?  Because everywhere I look, I see sliders on the menu!  I think they are great.  I noticed that our local burger joint even offers them on their adult menu - you get three mini burgers with the bells and whistles and they are absolutely delicious.  I also like how they fit so nicely in my hands AND they make me feel like I am eating less!  I decided why not turn a Persian dish into sliders?

So, I prepared a tomato-based beef stew "Khoresht / خورشت" which you can create several variations by adding different kind of fried vegetables (such as, zucchini, eggplant, okra and etc. to create a different dish).  There are also other styles of Khoresht that are not tomato-based.   Khoresht is traditionally served over steamed white rice.  In this case, I obviously skipped the rice part to create a Persian Bite.

Persian Beef Sliders

Ingredients:
1 lb of beef stew meat
1 medium onion - finely diced
2 tablespoon vegetable oil
3 oz of tomato paste (1/2 of a 6 oz can)
1 teaspoon sea salt
1/4 teaspoon fresh ground pepper
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
1/2 cup of sour grapes* or 2 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon saffron powder
2 1/2 cups of water

In a medium pot, heat the oil and sauté the onions over medium heat for about 10 minutes or until they are slightly golden - stirring occasionally.  Pepper your meat and then add the beef chunks and brown them on all sides over high heat.  Add the turmeric and lower the heat to medium.  Mix well until the meat and onion are coated.  Add the tomato paste and mix well.  Add water and mix well.  Put the lid on and bring to a boil.  Add salt and then let it simmer for about 2 hours over low heat with the lid on until the beef chunks are fork-tender.  Add the sour grapes and saffron powder and mix.  Let it simmer for another 30 minutes.  Turn heat off and let it cool for a little.  Fork the meat before placing it over the slider buns. 

To add a little texture, you can sauté zucchinis - cut thin lengthwise - and place them over the forked beef on the sliders.

Yummy Sliders

I believe this recipe will go really well with the Persian coleslaw from our May 5th post.

*Note: Sour grapes are unripe grapes that have a sour flavor.  They are seasonal and you will be able to find them at the middle eastern specialty stores.  You can substitute by adding Sour Grape Juice (also available at middle eastern specialty sores and available all-year around).  Add 1 tablespoon at a time to get the desired tangy flavor.

Happy tailgating and enjoy your sliders!

New Year, New Routine and More

Hello blog readers!  Happy belated New Year.  Been a while, huh?  Hope you all ended 2011 beautifully and started 2012 fabulously.  With the start of the new year, I decided to have a new routine.  I don't like calling it a "resolution" simply because it's not.  I cancelled my ongoing 4-year membership at the gym and decided to add some new workouts to my routine.  A great friend - a sister blogger who by the way has an awesome blog: FORMERLY FAT MOM- introduced me to her boot camp group.  I have also signed up for Pilates.  In the past three weeks, I have been trying to juggle my new schedule with kids, house work, cooking and even blogging.  Just like any new job, it just takes time to "figure it out."  But I must admit that for the first time in my life, I'm not checking the clock or starting the countdown while I workout!  Perhaps, I have matured in that area, but I do love it.

I have always been the kind of person who didn't believe in diets, weight loss and so forth - mainly because I didn't like them.  I believe that as long as you eat in moderation, not only you stay steady but also you tend to satisfy your cravings (therefore no backfires later on!).  I do however believe in staying healthy and being fit.  After my second child, I joined a boot camp and ended it 1.5 years later last May.  Ever since, my body went through some sort of a withdrawal and I was in so much pain for at least a couple of months after that.  My legs and calves were in so much pain that doing my daily chores seemed like a torture.  It really was a weird feeling and I wasn't sure what was going on with me or my body until I had a doctor visit and we were discussing what had changed in my routine.  AND $1000 later after running all kinds of blood work, we came to the conclusion that my body was simply reacting to not being active anymore!  I also had some iron deficiency, but that's not new with me as I have had anemia before.  Honestly, I could have saved that $1000 and put it into my new workout routine.  Oh well, you learn something new everyday...

This whole experience prompted me to do something new and something that I enjoyed doing.  So far, I really enjoy my workout routine.  This doesn't mean that I may not change it ever because change is something I constantly need ;)

Okay, enough about workout talk... Let's bake!

If you know anything about Persians or their culture, you must know how much they love their fresh brewed tea.  Growing up, I remember that my grandmother's tea kettle and tea pot was on the stove from dawn (when she got out of bed) till dusk (or until she went to bed).  She had tea in the morning, mid-day, after lunch, mid-afternoon and evening.  The art of tea making however is also a whole other story or even a blog... you simply don't drink the tea - that you brewed in the morning - in the afternoon!  It was "against the law" at my grandmother's house and she could tell from the taste of the tea whether it was made earlier or not!  I never got into tea drinking as much as I was exposed to it, but I definitely liked the ritual and how it was served in mid-afternoons - SWEETS.  Whether these sweets were dried fruits, small home-baked cookies or cakes, I just loved having a cup of tea for those reasons! 

The following recipe is what you usually find at the Persian bakeries in Iran.  It's a great mid-afternoon snack with your tea as well as a great companion for your morning coffee.  On cold winter days, I enjoy a cup of herbal tea (tea bag version!) in mid-afternoon with something sweet like this.  I love the simplicity of this cake and I hope that you will too.

Walnut and Raisin Loaf 

Ingredients:
6 eggs - whites and yolks separated
1 stick of butter
1 cup of sugar
1 cup of all-purpose flour + 1 teaspoon
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 /4 cup raisins
1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Sift the flour and the baking powder in a bowl and set aside.  Mix the walnuts, raisins and 1 teaspoon of flour in a bowl and set aside.  Your cold ingredients should be at room temperature.  Using an electric mixer, beat the egg whites until it turns white and forms a peak, then set aside.  In a separate bowl, using an electric mixer beat the egg yolks; add sugar and beat again.  Add the butter and the vanilla extract and beat well until the batter is well mixed.  Using a spatula, add the egg whites to the yolk mixture and fold into the batter.  Then add the flour and baking powder in 3 batches and fold into the mixture using your spatula.  DO NOT beat the batter.  Add the walnuts and raisins to the mixture and mix gently.

Using a loaf pan, make sure you either butter the pan or use a cooking spray to grease it before you pour the batter in.  Then pour the batter in and put in the oven.  Bake for 45 minutes to 1 hour (depending on your oven).  Do a toothpick test and see whether on not the cake is ready.  Let the cake cool and then pull it out of the pan.  Serve while still warm or at room temperature.  You can save the rest of the cake wrapped in foil at room temperature.  If you decide to put it in the fridge, you can then heat it up in a toaster oven.

Butter Loaf with Walnuts & Raisins

Enjoy your afternoon tea :)