zeitoun

Great! please report back on the outcome and the recipe you'll be using !!

Correct!! Looking forward to seeing it on this thread.. Enjoy!!!

Chrysanthemums maybe? See posts #27 and #34 in http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=52859&st=30 See also http://www.shokoren-toyama.or.jp/~f-kanko/syokukiku/ (Japanese only) And, why not just ask your wife? ← She gets such a heavy and daily dose of food related questions from me...I HAVE to refrain sometimes... just to maintain stability in our marriage !!! I had indeed the pickled chrysanthemums (kiku?). Aren't pickled sakura leaves or flowers also available?

This is indeed the recipe i learned from my dad, with a few variations here and there. I was always under the impression that a high amount of bulghur helps the meat not shrink during the cooking process. I have also had kibbe bil sanyyah without the layer of "hachoueh", the stuffing, just two layers of kibbe one on top the each other. Have you seen this done also?

I'm a bit confused now reading all of this. I think I remember seeing a pickled version of sakura (the flower) before, or was it the leaf? Am I confusing this with pickled....chrysanthemums (???). Or I am just plain confused about everything. I know I once ate some kind of (delicious) pickled flower that my wife had brought back from Japan.

While my wife and I stayed warm and dry within the confines of our Brooklyn apt. this week end, I prepared a Kibbe bil Sanyyah. Kibbe is basically a mixture of meat and bulghur, it can be served raw (Kibbe Nayyeh) or cooked. In its cooked form, some of you might be more familiar with the fried little “football” shaped Kibbes which you can find in various Middle Eastern restaurant. I found out with great astonishment that it is also made in the Dominican Republic where it is called “Quipe”. The recipe “migrated” to there from the Middle East with the thousands of immigrants who settled on the island during the 60s and 70s. It is now a staple in Dominican cuisine and many street cart vendors will sell it. Kibbe bil Sanyyah is essentially "layered" Kibbe baked in the oven. It is very common in Lebanon and it was prepared at home by my father as a Sunday meal. It is good and easy to make!! Try it out: For the Kibbe: 1 lb. ground beef 2 cups of bulghur (I like to use a thick grain, you can also use a thinner grain) Approx. 1 1/2 tbl. salt or to taste 2 medium size onions 2 tbl. lebanese pepper or any kind of mild spice mix you like Olive oil For the Kibbe stuffing: ¼ lb. ground beef 1 mid size onion chopped ½ cup pine nuts 1 tbl. sumac Lebanese pepper or spice mix to taste Salt to taste Olive oil Serve it with Yogurt Sauce mixed with diced cucumber, finely crushed dried mint (fresh doesn’t work as well) and salt. Ingredients (sorry folks, pine nuts didn't make the picture) 1- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. In a bowl, generously cover the bulghur with lukewarm water for 15 to 25 minutes, depending on the consistency you desire. This will re-hydrate the bulghur, I like my bulghur to retain some bite and actually crack a little so I leave it in for 15/20 minutes. In the meantime puree 2 raw onions in a food processor and set aside. Puree should be smooth and “creamy”. 2- Place the ground beef in a large mixing bowl. Before adding the bulghur to the meat, discard the water and squeeze out as much water as possible from the bulghur (squeeze it in the palm of your hand). Add the bulghur and the pureed onion to the beef. Mix well with your hand. Add the salt and pepper/spice mix in small batches (Taste the raw mixture to make sure it is properly salted). Mix well, set aside. 3- Prepare the stuffing: Sautée the pine nuts in a little olive oil until they are well browned. Always move them around to brown evenly. Reserve on the side. In the same pan, sweat the onions for 2-3 minutes without coloring and add the ground beef. Brake it up in the pan and sautée for another 4-5 minutes. Do not overcook it!! Add the browned pine nuts, sumac, pepper/spice mix and salt to taste. Set aside. 4- Coat a mid-size baking dish with butter, and cover with a first 1/2 inch layer of raw Kibbe. Then, cover with a second layer of stuffing. Finally, top it with another 1/2 inch layer of raw Kibbe working in pieces. “Glue” each piece together by tapping any seam with your finger (just like clay!!) to create one single layer of meat. Brush a generous coating of olive oil on top and gently score the top layer with a knife. 5- Place in the oven and cook for approx. 45 minutes to 1 hour until the top begins to crisp. 6- Cut and serve with (room temperature) yogurt sauce on top. Bon Appetit!!!

Great, thanks for the info JJ. I'll try not to miss it this year..

If I remember correctly, last year in April, Josh DeChellis at Sumile Restaurant (could someone confirm this?) had a full course menu themed around Sakura (Cherry Blossoms). I did not have a chance to go but keep an eye on the menu this year if anybody is interested.

Entree was Keller's version of Potato Gnocchi with Poached Smoked Salmon. This recipe is from the FL cookbook though. I'll post pictures tonight. One note about the macarons. No matter how tempting it is, I suggest you let them rest in a very cool spot before eating them so that the buttercream has time to set. The buttercream is a little too "liquidy" at room temperature. We left them by the window sill wrapped in foil (it is 25 degrees outside!!) instead of the fridge to avoid "contaminating" them with moisture from the refrigerator. Didn't want to ruin that nice crust!!

Last week we had an "all Keller" type of dinner. Appetizer was the Beet salad with goat cheese, walnuts and mache It tasted really great, I used slices of Lingot du Quercy for the goat cheese. Baby beets were purchased at the green market. Pix: ****Entree was from the FL cookbook**** My wife made the vanilla macarons for dessert By far the best homemade macarons i've had. She tried several recipes before but the shell always cracked. These shells remained incredibly airy and had a nice moist almond flavor (some will still crack though ). The filling of vanilla buttercream is perfect, not too sweet, just as we like it. This recipe REALLY works!!!!

"Kamunah" sounds like an interesting mix. Thanks again for sharing

Thanks for posting this Elie, it looks terrific. What kind of spices did you use for this? Did you use lebanese pepper (bhar lubnani)? Anything else?

This looks just like the chicken in the book!!! Congratulations are in order!! A whole chicken like this can be tricky. This is now in my top three on my to do list - Elie - any pointers on how not to dry it out??

The food section is located in the basement. As far as food is concerned there isn't much to offer. I am sure the takashimaya in Tokyo (never been) must have a better selection. They mainly sell a decent variety of pre-packaged "luxury" sweets. Tea is what they are really great for and you will be amazed by the variety. Even if you are not bying tea (very expensive of course!!) it is still worth the trip just to check it out! They also sell pastries from Lady M which are very good (cakes and tarts) which I would qualify as euro-japanese pastry since she makes items such as "mille-crepe" and "mont blanc" which you will only find in "euro style" Japanese bakeries. There is a nice little cafe also where you can sit down and enjoy both Lady M pastries and Takashimaya tea. - Slightly off topic: their flower shop is gorgeous -

The best source for anything japanese is still Mitsuwa across the river (they have shuttles going there from 42nd St). If I remember correctly I think I have seen them in their salted and pickled form at the store. Since this is a "spring" item I think they were only avalible during that period. Takashimaya might be a possibility but I highly doubt it (still the best source for teas though!!!).

My wife does all the baking at home. If I remember correctly she uses individual ramekins covered with aluminum foil, it works just as fine.

I almost forgot also to mention S&S cheesecake on 238th St. and broadway if i remember correctly. It is a "Bronx classic". I do not like cheesecake but this is the only one I can eat. El Economico on Broadway and 231st St. has incredible Dominican food (the best i've had bronx and washington heights combined). They make an incredible "sancocho" (some sort of dominican stew). In the Yankee Stadium area there is a place called Cuchifritos on 161st St. which has decent spanish food. They make "pasteles en hoja" (hard to describe sorry) which are really good. I had mentionned upthread Jamaican places on Boston Road. There is one called Blue Mountain Cuisine at 3762 Boston Road. It is a take out place only but they make the best jamaican stews I've had so far (jerk chicken, curry goat etc...). Do not be deterred by the appearance of the place (the food will be handed to you through a bullet proof window!!), it is really worth it. They also make their own sorrel juice which is fantastic!!!

Agreed Not sure if you are omitting this step but it would tempting (as i have) to skip the meat soaking step and complete the dish on the same day. Soaking the meat for at least 24 hours makes a tremendous difference. I recommend you try it. Also, I would be curious to find out if you are planning to add butter to your cooking liquid before serving as Keller suggests. I personally don't. Instead, I have added a little bit of reduced balsamic vinegar to it to give it more color and depth. Have fun!!!

I would really pass on city island. I was brought there as a college student by fellow students who thought it was the greatest place on earth for seafood. It is like going to Red Lobster with a view on the ocean. Everything you get there is overcooked and flavorless.

I cherish this book as much as the FL cookbook. I have been using it quite frequently for the past two months now. The recipes that I enjoyed making most were the Boeuf Bourguignon, the Lentil soup, the Herb gnocchi, the Salmon tartare and the Cod with piperade. Some of these recipes are lenghty but the results can be extraordinary. A good example of that is when I first made the soffritto component of the Cod and Piperade dish. Soffritto alone is just an extraordinary and versatile flavoring agent. I now use it in other dishes as well. I also ate the left over piperade cold on top of a toasted baguette. It was succulent!!! I also tried recipes that i wasn't too thrilled about. His recipe for mussels with saffron and mustard for instance was, using his measurements, too pungent to my taste. I had to try it again but that time I adjusted the mesurements to reflect my own preferences. Finally, I failed miserably on the Pork trotters with mache and sauce gribiche. I purchased pig's feet instead of the whole hock. This resulted in my cutting though skin and fat to extract meat for hours only to realize that pig's feet are 95% fat and 5% meat. Will try it again next week. I am eager to hear your impressions on each recipe.

That is correct. However, I would note that style of cuisine is not the only element of appeal to the dining public. I had dinner at both La Cote Basque and La Caravelle a few weeks before they closed this past year. My dining experiences at both were radically different. La Cote Basque offered a menu that was, I am sure, not any different than what they served 10 years ago. Banal and extremely unappealing. On the other hand, I was pleasantly surprised with La Caravelle which offered a menu that was remarkably creative, light and frankly, reflective of contemporary culinary trends. What lacked at both restaurants though was the concept (the room and the service) which was very classic French, out of date and passé. I think everything at La Cote Basque was antiquated, uninteresting and led to its demise. This explains why Jean Jacques Rachou has completely rebuilt both his restaurant and his concept. La Caravelle would have survived with its menu (even after Tadashi Ono’s departure). Everything else needed transformation though.

I'd say Bayschester and Boston road area for extraordinary Jamaican food, Yankee Stadium area for mainly Puerto Rican and some Dominican food and (if that counts) Yonkers at the border of the Bronx for Middle Eastern food (mainly Jordanian, Palestinian).

Interesting article, however the body of the article doesn’t always follow the gist of the author’s argument. One remark I noted for instance: In my eyes, the demise of some of New York’s “grandes tables” is certainly not the outgrowth of a sudden need for dietary change amongst New Yorkers. By making reference to such restaurant closings in his opening remarks, he seems to clearly make that connection. The author does mention himself that some restaurants such as Daniel, Le Bernardin, have successfully adapted their menus to reflect such dietary preferences. The closure of Lespinasse, Lutece etc… is rather (and he says this himself) a manifestation of change in style and time, not so much style of food itself but rather a need to depart from a “stuffy” and antiquated atmosphere and service which has become less in demand of late. I doubt “dietary motives” had much to do with such restaurants’ closures. John, one correction about his reference to "Faraway" though (if I may): He claims that pret a manger (prepackaged food) is more popular than purchasing fresh products. A quick reference to New Yorkers' habit of still relying on quickly prepared and easy-to-get food (as in not cooked at home). This argument might not hold true everywhere..

I haven't gone to JB in quite a long time now, I was a big fan the first year they opened and went quite a few times. I never ordered omakase though, my wife is japanese so it helps tremendously when picking off the menu . Before you go, bear in mind that JB is not a "traditional" sushi place, it does offer more "modernized" and composed dishes than your conventional sushi joint (at least when i used to go there). I loved JB's sushi of course but I thought their composed dishes were more interesting mainly because of the nature of the ingredients they used and how they paired them. I do not know how much change the menu has gone through in the past two years but rather than relying on omakase too much, I would recommend that you also look at the menu carefuly. This is a common mistake people make in my opinion (not studying the menu), omakase is traditionally designed not only around the freshness or seasonality of certain ingredients but primarily around the customer's likes and dislikes and his/her knowledge of japanese food. The chef will see this right away. I do not know how familiar you are with japanese ingredients, but if omakase at JB is designed this way (as it should be), the chef might intentionally decide to "hold back" on his choices and pass on things that might have blown you away. So my advice is, if sitting at the bar, not to be afraid to take the initiative if you see something interesting, be adventurous, study the menu attentively, ask questions if you are not familiar with some ingredients or some terms and you will better enjoy your eating experience and learn much more about japanese food.

This is wonderful! Thanks for the pictures and the comments. My experience with moghrabiyyah is that the grain certainly should retain some bite but not too much, so maybe it should have been steemed a little more as you noted. I wonder though, during the sauteeing process, was there any liquid involved (may be some of the liquid you used to poach the chicken with)? The moghrabiyyah(s) I've had always had some kind of starchy, brothy liquid base in it. It should not be soupy though, something close to the texture you'll find in a very creamy/starchy risotto maybe?