Christopher was excited about Krak des Chevalier already when we were home in London. It is a grand crusader castle from the Middle Ages, and just the type of thing boys love. 🙂
I had an upset stomach at this part of the trip as well, but there were lots of big old rocks where I could sit down and rest, so it went well. The place is majestic and I am happy to have seen it. It is well worth a visit.
On Saturday we were invited to Christopher’s school friend Ben for dinner to casually celebrate his birthday. Ben has coeliac disease and since I can sympathise with that (tried the diet for for three months because my doctor suspected I would become coeliac too, which I didn’t) I always try to bake something for him to take home if he is coming around for dinner. And this is the second year in a row I’ve made him a birthday cake.
Although glutenfree the cake is moist and lovely, and so delicious with the dulche de leche and chocolate frosting. The recipe for the frosting is courtesy of the Hummingbird Bakery, and fabulous. The cake was large, and we were eight people sharing it, although most people helped themselves to a second serving, but I think with a more modest crowd the cake would serve 10-12 people. There was one small piece left and I suspect Ben ate it for breakfast the next day.
Glutenfree chocolate cake with dulche de leche and chocolate frosting, serves 10-12
For two cakes :
600 ml caster sugar
500 ml glutenfree flour (I used one from Doves Farm, which is a mixture of rice, potato, tapioca, maize and buckwheat)
6 tbsp cocoa
4 tsp vanilla sugar
4 tsp baking powder
200 g melted butter
4 eggs
300 ml boiling water
Dulche de leche:
1 jar sweetened concensed milk
Chocolate frosting:
300 g icing sugar
100 g softened butter
40 g cocoa
40 ml whole milk
Remove any labels from the condensed milk tin. Place in a pan and cover with boiling water. Let it boil for 2 1/2 hours, covered with water the whole time, just top up with some from the kettle. Remove the tin and leave to cool.
Mix the dry ingredients for the cake. Add eggs, butter and water. Incorporate. Pour into two buttered and floured tins (Ø ca 23 cm). Bake in a low oven, 175 C for 45 mins. Leave to cool.
Mix butter, cocao and icing suger in a Kitchen Aid or with an electric whisk. Add the milk spoonful by spoonful. When it is all incorporated, beat on high speed for 5 mins.
Spread the cooled dulche de leche onto one of the sponges. Spread out half (or a little less than half) of the frosting on top of the dulche de leche. Place the second sponge on top and spread the rest of the frosting on top. (Cover the sides as well if you’d like). Decorate with chocolate strands.
It has been a lot of focus on Syria lately, so I thought it would be good to post a recipe before I show you the last posts about the holiday, to break it up a little.
Now that my stomach is (almost) back to normal, most days at least, it was wonderful to be able to enjoy a creamy homemade quiche with a salad and a glass of red. Don’t exclude the cream cheese because it complements the sharp pesto really well.
Chicken quiche with pesto and cream cheese, serves 4
Pastry:
120 g softened butter
300 ml plain flour
a pinch of salt
1/2 beaten egg
Filling:
1/3 cooked kyckling, bones and skin removed
60 g pesto
50 g cream cheese
3 1/2 eggs
250 ml soy cream
100 ml milk
150 ml grated cheddar
Incorporate the ingredients for the dough and press it out in a quiche dish. Make marks with a fork and pre-bake for 10 minutes, 175C. Cut the chicken into cubes and put in the pastry case. Distribute the pesto and cream cheese. Beat eggs, soy cream and milk, add salt and pepper. Pour into the pastry case, sprinkle grated cheese on top. Bake for 35 minutes 175C.
It was the hotel manager at Beit Zafran in Damascus that told us about this restaurant; Kaser Al-Wali. He has recently been there himself. And I am so glad we asked him for recommendations, as this place was exactly what we were after and a lot nicer than Beit Sissi. We were the only Western people in the restaurant, and both food and service were outstanding.
The restaurant was slightly difficult to find because it was situated in a small alley in the old part of town. When we arrived there were only a few tables occupied; a few couples, a gang of girls celebrating a birthday, and us. We were told it is a very popular place and that it was a good idea to book, and I am sure it is, when it is peak season. Mid-week in March they were not terribly busy.
Once again we decided on mezze. It is lovely, so why not?!
Their version of fatoush also contained fresh cabbage.
A bit more finesse here, as you can see. And yes, we had hummus yet again.
We also had the beloved baba ganoush, and it was fab.
The chilli and paprika dip with almonds was really good here.
The fried cheese parcels were nice, but not as good as the one we had on the tour.
We ordered sujok here as well, because we enjoyed it so much the night before. The Kaser Al-Wali version was just the sausage meat on its own with potatoes. Little did we know they meant chips. Although the meat was nice, we preferred the Beit Sissi version, so our visit there was not wasted.
We got free dessert here as well, and who can say no to heaps of icecream and deep-fried crispy dough parcel that taste sweet from honey and rose water?! Certainly not us. It was lovely, but once again we were terribly full. I am grateful we walked as much as we did this holiday. 🙂
Both Lonely Planet and people we met in Aleppo said that Beit Sissi (Sissi House) was the best restaurant in town, so our first evening in the city we went there.
At this point we had realised that mezze was nicer than just a maincourse each, and that having both was too much food, so we usually had only mezze for our meal.
We were actually a bit disappointed with Beit Sissi. There were only Western people in the restaurant, and that is not a good sign in my book. Of course I don’t mind being in the same restaurant as other Westeners, but when you’re looking for the real thing it is usually not found among the tourists.
The food was good, but far from the food we had in Naranj, but I guess that is our own fault for starting with the best restaurant in the country. 🙂 They had one dish here, that was excellent though, the sujok; spicy sausage rolled in bread and fried. Also the stuffed aubergines were nice, but the rest of the food was mere ok.
All the dishes were decorated with chopped iceberg lettuce, very 70s, and it felt like the restaurant was stuck in time a bit, and lived off it’s past good reputation. A pity, because it had potential to be something greater.
The tabbouleh was not as good as Naranj’s, way to sour.
After a few days in Damascus, we travelled up north to Syria’s second city – Aleppo. We both loved the city, that oozes more history than Damascus. It was easy to find our way around, apart from maybe the oldest part of the town, which was a bit of a maze. We loved just walking around without aim, and that was how we stumpled upon the best icecream parlour in the city. It was packed with Arabs, so we joined the queue.
In Syria (and probably all over the Middle East) they use ground orchid root as a thickener, and I could taste it in this icecream too (as well as the strange icecream in Damascus). It has a sweet flowery flavour, actually, and although it tastes nice, I prefer regular icecream.
One of the main things to do in Aleppo is to visit the souq. It is busy busy and have lots of different isles with different things on sale. It is older and more authentic than the one in Damascus, and in the food isles, you got to see some interesting things.
The market was a maze, and it is suppose to be the most authentic souq in the Middle East. I think that is probably true, it was everything but glamorous! 🙂
Another must see is the grand citadel. It was huge and really interesting to see.
The grand entrance.
And the spectacular view from the top.
We visited some restaurants as well of course, but I think they deserve a post each. To be continued…
The day before yesterday I got to taste this beauty! Angela at work received a tin full of Biscuiteer handbags and gave one to me. You can see on the wedsite how fabulous these cookies are piped, but I was excited to see if the tasted nice too. And they certainly did! Although the icing is very sweet, you could still taste the nice vanilla biscuit underneath.
The cookies come in all sorts of varieties, and they are all adorable. A great pressie!
The second day in Damascus we had signed up for a culinary tour. I had found the company, Damascus Fork, on the internet when I was researching restaurant, and what they offered was exactly what I (and Christopher) would enjoy doing. It involved a guided tour in Damascus, and to cook authentic Middle Eastern food with a Syrian chef.
The ‘group’ consisted only of me and Christopher, and we had two tour guides. One was the girl who started the company, and the other one her assistant. They both loved food, and what they showed us was amazing. They picked us up outside our hotel in the morning, and we took a cab to the Old City and the souq. Even though we had spent hours here the day before, we learned lots of new things with our personal guides.
The first stop on the tour was at Bakdash, an icecream parlour in the souq, which has existed in the same spot since 1890. The place is extremely popular in the Middle East even though they only have one flavour on the icecream. The icecream is made by hand and some pretty strong guys beats the icecream into the required consistency with a wodden club. It has a peculiar taste because it contains ground orchid root, which is used as a thickener. The icecream was nice, but quite different from the type we’re used to.
What tasted even better than the icecream, was this hot drink that tasted a bit like thin hot custard. It was lovely and soothing, and would be perfect to drink at night if you’re cold or before you go to bed.
Next stop on our walk was at a spice whole saler, where we got to smell and taste typical Syrian spices. The place had such a strong smell of different spices it nearly made you dizzy, and that really tells you something about the punch of the spices and the good quality. It was a great experience, and we got to try three different blends of za’atar, and just as we were deciding which mix we liked the most, they told us that they had a house mix, which mixed the three together, and that one blew all the others away. Za’atar is a spice blend mainly consisting of dried thyme and sesame seeds, and it is very versatile. You can mix it with olive oil as a dip or use it to cook fish and meat.
Next up was a stop in a basement where they made sugared almonds in something that looked like a cement mixer. The sugar coating is white and sweet, and later on we bought some to take back to our offices. They disappeared very quickly!
Before we got to cook ourselves, we got to watch this man cook some very nice savoury pastries. He was the local chef in a neighborhood kitchen, which means that he would cater for all main events in the residential area he works in. And I would love to hire this guy, his pastries were so nice. We ordered them in many restaurants, but no restaurant could top his.
He basically made a Syrian version of puff pastry, making a dough of flour, water and salt, and brushing it with butter several times as he was rolling it out. He then rolled it out very thin and placed balls of the cheese and parsley mixture on. He then covered it with another layer of the dough, and cut out little squares around the filling, like ravioli. These were then deep fried until colden and crisp on the outside and the cheese mixture had melted on the inside. They were amazing when they came straight from the pan!
On the way to the hotel and our cooking session we made a pit stop at a street food vendor who cooked something similar to a pizza or quesadilla on a big metal barrel that had a fire inside. The top of the barrel was rounded and he placed a thin round of dough on it, spread some tomato sauce on it and sprinkled some cheese, let it cook until the dough was cooked through and crisp and rolled it up. This was really tasty too! But melted cheese is like bacon, isn’t it – hard to resist?!
When we finally reached the hotel we each got a nice warm towel to refresh us with and a lovely glass of juice. After a few minutes in their covered courtyard we were ready to cook. The kitchen was on the top floor, with a rooftop terrace outside, and we got to meet the very charismatic chef.
The menu was printed on letterheaded paper and showed lots of new things for us. The dessert for example contained both cheese and semolina! The girls told us that they put down a lot of time trying to come up with good menus, as they have to change it seasonally. Among the dishes we got to cook this day was fatoush, a salad as classic as the tabbouleh; a lovely lentil salad with pasta, pomegrante seeds and arabic croûtons; a chilli dip with ground almonds; sautéed spinach with Syrian spices; chicken parcels with rice inside; and the dessert with was semolina parcels with rose petal jam. We also got to try another dessert which tastes like cotton candy, but the texture is different. It is silky and not sticky at all.
With our meal we got to try two Syrian wines, a white and a red. I didn’t particular like the white wine, as it was rather sour, but it was fun to try local wine. The red wine was much nicer and was nice to drink with our meal. We also got to try the local spirit arak, it tastes of aniseed and is served the same way as French pastis, with water and ice. But the arak was too strong for me. Both the aniseed flavour and the alcohol flavour were strong even when diluted. Fun to try though.
Our culinary tour started around 10am and we had finished eating around 4pm. It was a lovely day and well worth the $65 we spent each. I felt that I got closer to the local cuisine, and seeing what spices and ingredients the chef used was valuable knowledge.
You find more information on the website: Damascus Fork.
Among the little bits we ate on Friday was these cuties; prawn cocktail on salad leaves with crushed rosé peppercorns on top. The recipe is courtesy of Nigella, but I can’t remember which cookbook/series it is from. It is a very easy recipe to remember, and only takes minutes to make, but I like the little individual portions and that all you need is a napkin to eat it.
Please note that this dish requires rosé peppercorns, which is not the same as pink peppercorns. They can be hard to find, but it gives the dish that extra oomph, so it is worth searching for.
Prawn cocktail on salad leaves
1 1/2 little gem lettuce
100 g large Icelandic peeled prawns
150 ml mayonnaise
2 tbsp ketchup
a splash or two of tabasco
lemon juice
salt
white pepper
crushed rosé peppercorns (not the same as pink peppercorns)
Mix mayo, lemon juice, tabasco and ketchup. Season with salt and white pepper. Add the prawns. Rinse the lettuce and place the leaves on a platter. Place 2-3 prawns and some sauce on each leaf. Crush the rosé peppercorns with a pestle and mortar and sprinkle on top. Serve immediately.
On Friday my best friend and her fiancée came to stay, and we had a lovely weekend together. And I’m not just saying that because they brought Swedish pick ‘n mix and a lovely gift with them, but because we always have a great time together.
We managed to get a table at Terroirs on Friday and shared a bottle of Prosecco before we went home and had a nice dinner. We had an early night so we could get up early and beat the crowds to Borough Market. It is lovely to be there early and not have to fight your way through. It is just impossible not to buy anything here, so Madagascan vanilla pods, comte cheese, goose fat, lovely olive oil and dried fried onions came with me home, and Claes bought a lovely bottle of red for our dinner. We then took a stroll on Marylebone high street and stopped for lunch, and because the sun was shining we took another stroll on the Southbank and walked from Westminster to London Bridge. Afterwards it was nice to chill in the pub and watch the rugby. We were pretty tired when we finally sat down for dinner at home. And in the middle of it, I started to feel really rubbish. Feverish and tummy ache. Again. Not the best way to end the evening, and unfortunately I wasn’t feeling too good yesterday either, so we had to skip the brunch at York and Albany, sob. But feeling better after day in bed and a good night’s sleep. Just really bad timing… But we managed to have a great weekend together regardless, the important thing is the company!
Scandelights 