A couple of weeks ago we had a friend of mine over for supper.  Since I’ve been dabbling in north-east African dishes for a while, I decided to try some out on her.  The menu was,

Starters were

1. Goat cheese stuffed dates with pistachio toppings (courtesy of my folks)

2. Fuul which are beans marinated in lemon, olive oil, pepper, garlic and coriander.

Entrées

1. Grilled lamb in pomegranate reduction covered in a pistachio\cardamom moulé

2. Lentil and mint stuffed tomatoes

3. A simple couscous flavored with some Arab spices

During preparation

These are exceedingly simple though take some time to let the flavours come together.

For the lamb, I simply grilled the meat and reduced pomegranate juice with lemon juice.  Once grilled I glazed the reduction on the lamb and then rolled it in a mixture of crushed pistachios, bread crumbs and cardamom.

For the tomatoes, the night before I mixed the lentils with lemon juice, garlic, mint, crushed pepper, cumin, and olive oil.  The day of, I cored the tomatoes, and stuffed the mixture inside.  Then in the oven at 375 for 40 minutes.

The spices in the couscous were cardamom, pepper, cayenne, onion and garlic.

And finally, the dates were cored and stuffed with goat cheese then sprinkled with crushed pistachios.

At any rate, it was a hit and I will be doing this again.

Out of the oven

~ by barbagallo on May 9, 2009.