Modern Flavors of Arabia 2

I know this is my second post about cooking this month, but during the holiday season I made a small dent in the recipes I have been wanting to try. On my February 19, 2013 blog posting I began attempting to make Middle Eastern recipes from the cookbook, Modern Flavors of Arabia. I have made a little progress through the cookbook. Although, none of the recipes I have completed in the cookbook are recipes that I have grown up with, they have been an adventure of their own.

• Baked Baklava Cheesecake
• This recipe was a lot of preparation and I took shortcuts that I shouldn't have done during the preparation stage. First, my parents did not have a cake pan deep enough for me to put all the batter in one pan; therefore, I decided to make a cheesecake following the recipe and then a nut-free cheesecake for my sister since she has a nut allergy. The first mistake I made was not taking out the phyllo paper out to defrost before making this recipe; therefore, it was cracking and tearing constantly. Therefore, defrost the phyllo paper hours before preparing the recipe. The recipe has you make a nut mixture (walnuts, cinnamon and sugar) for the top of the cheesecake and for a middle layer; hence, this is where I made my second mistake; I forgot to put the second layer of nut mixture. Additionally, I did not make or put the syrup topping on the cheesecake in fear that it would be too sweet and the baklava would become soggy. Despite my mistakes, the cheesecake still came out good, but I think I prefer regular baklava. I made the cheesecake a day before serving it.

A sliced of the baked (nut) baklava cheesecake without syrup topping.

Side view of the baklava (nut) cheesecake). I was very cautious on how much phyllo paper to put in the crust and on top because I was afraid it would burn, but the concern was unnecessary.  If I was to make this recipe again I would definitely double the amount of phyllo paper used.

Aerial view of the baklava (nut) cheesecake without syrup.

Baked Baklava (nut) Cheesecake fresh out of the oven.

Unbaked baklava (nut-free) cheesecake with uncooked phyllo paper on top.

The unbaked nut and nut-free cheesecakes without phyllo paper yet.

•  Date and Orange Scones
• I have documented my love/hate relationship about scones in previous posts. The hate part of the relationship is that they are a lot of work, and they only taste good fresh out of the oven. HOWEVER, these scones were AMAZING even four days later. They are my favorite scone experience EVER! 

Finished product. If you look close enough you can see some "bizarre" looking shaped scones; that is because my niece and I used a variety of cookie cutters to cut the dough. Once the scones were cooked the shapes were highly abstract.

Baked Date and Orange Scones.

•  Kofta Meatballs with Sweet & Sour Cherry Sauce

This is a picture of the meatballs raw. The cooked meatballs were good but they became amazing with the cherry sauce. This recipe was very good as a leftover as well.

•  Spicy Fries

Picture of uncooked fries with all the ingredients. The fries were definitely a little spicy. 

•  Spicy Chicken Wings

Picture of baked chicken wings. If I was to make this recipe again I would double the spices in the recipe.

•  Kofta Sandwich

This is a picture of the kofta patties raw. I made the homemade sauce to go with them.  This is another recipe I would double the amount of spices if I was to make them again. I served them on pita bread and with fresh baby spinach.