Lahvosh Bread

Lahvosh Bread.

So easy to prepare.  It shows up in this large round cracker style.  Simply lightly, wet it down.

Then break it up into smaller pieces onto a plate.

This stuff is yummy.  We typically have it with butter at dinner time.  The kids eat it up like it's going out of style.  The girls' grandmother loves it because in it's dry (cracker-like) state, it keeps for a long time and since it's flat, she just stores it on top of her fridge.  

So, you can buy this in a lot of places.  The girls' grandmother happens to get hers online from Valley Lahvosh Baking Co. in Frensno CA.  A little background on this place, it was founded in 1922 by Gazair Saghatelian.  Gazair was a master baker  in his native Armenia and was well known for creating his deliciously different breads and cracker breads.  Today, Valley Lahvosh is run by his youngest daughter Janet and her daughter Agnes in it's original location.  How's that for longevity?

Read further if you want a little more history about this stuff.

"There are many different flatbreads baked throughout the easter Mediterranean, the Middle East and India--from pita or naan--but lahvash is perhaps the oldest. This bread-in-various shapes and sizes, and in textures ranging from soft and pliable to crisp and crackerlike--is a staple throughout Armenia and in parts of Georgia, Iran, and Lebanon. Armenian lahvash has been prepared in the same way for thousands of years: Long sheets of dough are stretched and baked in a clay oven similar to an Indian tandoor. The nomadic peoples crisscrossing Asia knew a good thing when they saw it: A filled and rolled-up lahvash sandwich might be the ultimate in picnic fare (easily transportable, its food, eating utensil, and container all in one). Lahvash is also delicious served with stews such as Morrocan tagine or an Indian curry, or with a favorite dip."
- foodtimeline.com

Try it.  You'll like it.  I promise!

Seriously.. Thoughts?

Bean & Meat Casserole

Okay, this is what the girls' grandmother calls and "Armenian-ish" recipe.  It's something her mom used to make all the time and it has a lot of the Armenian elements.  It's also super super good, so I'm including it.

So here's what you'll need:

1-6 cans of green beans (not french cut)
1-2 cans diced tomatoes
20 oz of  tomato sauce (in the picture above she used 1 8oz can and 1 12oz can).
Seasonings you like - she uses garlic salt, season salt, & lemon pepper and sometimes a tsp of paprika
2 large onions
1 lb of ground beef
4 pats of butter

(Note: Amounts vary based on the size of your casserole dish.  For her sized casserole dish she used: 5 cans of beans, 1 of diced tomatoes, 1 1/2 large onions and almost all  20 oz of tomato sauce.)

Put the meat on a large skillet on med-high and brown until it's crumbly.  Add the seasonsings when the meat is about half done.

While the meat is cooking, open up all your cans.  This is a good kid job - you don't want to get carpol tunnel or anything right?  Start with the butter in your casserole dish.  Then add a layer of beans, topped with some of the diced tomatos and about half an onion.

When the meat is done, put a layer of meat and top that with about half of your tomato sauce. 

Add the rest of the beans.

Then finish off the onions, tomatoes and finally the meat topped with the rest of the sauce.  If your casserole will hold more, you can hold back some of the meat and sauce to do another layer of beans.  

Cook at 375 until the onions are cooked.  Everything else is already cooked but the flavors blend while cooking so even if you leave out the onions, cook this for at least an hour.

You can cook this a day or two before serving and then just put it in the oven at 350 until it is warm enough to serve.  This is often served with bulghur pilaf.  Both of these items taste as good or better warmed up so make a large batch of each and eating it twice in a week saves a lot of time.

Serves 6-12 people but there's usually left overs.

Seriously.. Thoughts?

Armenian Wheat Pilaf

If you liked Rice Pilaf, you'll probably like Wheat Pilaf too.  Although in fairness, the Lone Wolf likes the rice pilaf better.  I'm just saying.  But to be fair, I'm giving you a recipe for both. Maybe you can hold a pilaf taste off with your family.  Just let me know which one wins okay?

Wheat Pilaf is more of an every day pilaf, where rice pilaf was typically used for special occasions.  I'm not prejudiced against wheat or anything.  I promise I don't have any anti-wheat sentiments or anything like that.  The rice pilaf and  I don't have any special deals going and I'm not getting any kick-backs.  I don't make up the rules here people, I just report the facts.  Wheat = Everyday.  Rice = Hoity Toity Special Occasions.  That's just the way it is.


It's made basically the same way though.  You'll need:

2 Cups of #4 Bulgher wheat (you can get this online if you can't find it locally)
1 Cube of Butter
1 Cup of Vermicelli bits
2 Cups Hot Water
2 Tsp Salt
2 tbs grapeseed oil or extra light olive oil if you can't find grapeseed

Brown the vermicelli bits in 2 tbs of light oil.  Stirring is the key here.  You cannot stop stirring.  It's best if you can find a big kid to do it for you.  I mean, why strain yourself when you have children?  

Once the vermicelli bits are brown, remove from heat and add 1/2 cube of butter.  Do not substitute with margarine - it will go horribly wrong.  Trust me on this one.

When butter is melted add the bulghur and return to heat and stir until bulghur is coated.

Add hot water.  It's important that the water be already hot, don't try to cheat and just add cold water, you won't like it.  Keep on the straight and narrow and follow the recipe!  Salt to taste, but start with 2 tsp.

Bring to a boil.
 

Cover and reduce heat to low and simmer for 25 minutes.

Now this is the most important part.  Just like rice pilaf, you MUST serve this on a platter or plate.  You cannot serve it in a bowl.  Sprinkle with pepper and viola!  Serves 3-4.  And just for kicks and giggles, this recipe can be double or even tripled.

I asked the girls' grandmother why the pilaf must always be served in a dish, and she said because her mother always did it that way.  Then she told me a cute story about how a woman she knew, always cut a little of the meat off of both ends of her roast before cooking.  When asked, she said her mother always did it that way.  Curious, they went to her mother, who said her mother always did it that way.  So at the next family gathering, they asked the original woman's grandmother why she cut a little of the meat off both ends of her roasts.  The grandmother said she used to do that because her roasting pan was always a little too small.  It just goes to show ya, traditions shouldn't be messed with.  Or is the lesson that you should have a bigger roasting pan?  I don't know, you figure it out, but while you're figuring it out, make sure you put your pilaf on a plate or platter.  Okay?

Seriously.. Thoughts?
 

Armenian Rice Pilaf

Let's talk about Rice Pilaf.

This isn't the rice pilaf you'll get at the average restaurant or out of a box.  This is strictly the Armenian version baby.  And it's the only rice of any kind that my Lone Wolf will eat.  Weird no?  But then, she really is a weird girl.  It's part of her charm.

GG and LW's Grandmother told me a story of how she learned to make this recipe over the phone.  Her mom would call a little before she left work, and tell her to start it, do the first step and then call her back.  Then she would give her the next step, and have her call back.  By the time she was ready to leave work all the steps would be done, and by the time she got home, the rice would be ready.  How's that for learning?

So, onto the recipe!

This is what you'll need.

1 cup of long grain rice
1/2 cube of butter
1/2 cup of vermicelli bits or 1 coil (or you can use thing spaghetti if you can't find vermicelli)
2 cups hot water (not pictured)
1 tsp salt (not pictured)
2 tbs grapeseed oil or extra light olive oil if you can't find grapeseed

Wash and drain the rice in a strainer and set aside.  Brown the vermicelli bits in 2 tbs of light oil.  Stirring is the key here.  You cannot stop stirring.  It's best if you can find a big kid to do it for you.  I mean, why strain yourself when you have children? 

Once the vermicelli bits are brown, remove from heat and add 1/2 cube of butter.  Do not substitute with margarine - it will go horribly wrong.  Trust me on this one.

When butter is melted add rinsed rice and return to heat and stir until rice is coated and changes texture (it goes a little whiter when done). Again, stir, stir, stir.  I find bribing kids with extra helpings works well.

Add hot water.  It's important that the water be already hot, don't try to cheat and just add cold water, you won't like it.  Keep on the straight and narrow and follow the recipe!  Salt to taste (obviously, she uses more than a tsp, but you can start there and add until it tastes right). 

Bring to a boil.

Cover and reduce heat to low and simmer for 25 minutes.

Now this is the most important part.  You MUST serve this on a platter or plate.  You cannot serve it in a bowl.  I have no idea why, but it's the family tradition, and since I'm just the evil-stepmonster just trying to fit in, who am I to interfere with family traditions.  Besides, some things are just better left as they are.

Sprinkle with pepper and viola!  Serves 3-4.  And just for kicks and giggles, this recipe can be double or even tripled.  If your family is anything like mine, you'll probably want to double or triple it just to keep the fighting over it down to a minimum.

Seriously.. Thoughts?

Dolma Casserole

So.. Dolma Casserole.  It's kinda like rice and meat mixture with veggies in a tomato paste, only a thousand times yummier.  Man I love this stuff.

This is what my GG and Lonewolf's grandmother had to say about this heavenly dish.

"Dolma, as used by my family of Armenians, refers to vegetables stuffed with a meat mixture.  The mixture I am using in my casserole is the same used for stuffing but to save time, I chop the vegetables up and layer them with the meat in a casserole.  The taste is roughly the same, some think it is better, but the prep time is cut significantly because you don’t have to find perfect veggies that will hollow out nicely for stuffing."

I love it when we're all about saving time, since as you know, all my spare time is spent on laundry.  Oh you didn't know? Yeah, you will.  I'll take photos.


This is made in two steps.  The meat mixture, and the veggie mixture before it's all combined together into one big dish of yummy goodness.

So, for the meat mixture you'll need to mix the following into a bowl and season to taste.

1/2 lb ground lamb and 1/2 lb ground beef.

1/2 cup of rice and 1/2 cup of large grain bulgur (I use #4 size).  You can bump that up to a 3/4 cup of each if you like it a bit more grainy.  Around these parts there are a lot of Armenian stores around who carry bulgur so it's relatively easy to get for me.  However, you can get it online if you need to.  It's worth the trouble.

1 can of diced tomatoes and 1-2 cans of 12-16 oz tomato sauce.  We like Hunt's.

Seasonings - lemon pepper, season salt, garlic salt, and onion salt.

A handful of chopped up parsley.

It will end up looking something like this.

Then, in a totally separate bowl (I don't know why, there's a little zen required here, just go with it) chop up the following veggies into bite sized bits.

1 large or 2 Japanese eggplants, 2-3 bell peppers in any color or mixed colors, 2 large zucchini squash and 2-3 large onions.  (Saying onions always comes out cajun to me, usually followed with garlic, pap-rika.. anyone remember that guy?)

Mixed, cut up veggies look like this.  In case you were confused! I want to note here that if you want more veggies and less meat, you can make twice as much veggie mixture and divide the meat into two casseroles.  This is great for feeding large crowds, or if you just can't get enough of the stuff after you try it!

In a large casserole dish, put several slices of butter around the bottom.

Then layer the veggies and meat until you run out of stuff or fill the casserole.  If you have extra veggies, cook them with some tomato sauce and add it to the casserole after the cooking.  Cooking causes the bulk to lesson, so there will be room.  Trust me here people, I'm an amateur at this.  I know what I'm talking about.

Rinse your meat bowl and tomato cans out with a little bit of water and add that water to the casserole.  The bulgur and rice will expand so you might have to add more water or another can of tomato sauce if it starts to look too dry.  A lot of this will depend on your oven and the size of your casserole dish, so you have to watch it.

Put the casserole in the over at 430 degrees.  After 30 mintues check it and if it's bubbling, turn the oven down to 375 degrees.  It should take about 2 hours to completely cook depending on your casserole size.  When the meat looks cooked and the rice and bulgur have expanded, you're done!

Now don't judge before you taste this.  I know it doesn't look like much, but man, your taste buds will love you forever. 

Serve with yogurt (which I will be showing you how to make later people!!), yogurt cheese - Laibne (I'll explain this, but I don't think we know how to make it at home) or sour cream as a topping.

That's it.  Whew!  Can't believe we got our first recipe under our belts.. literally, this stuff will definitely have you coming back for seconds and maybe thirds!

Seriously.. Thoughts?

Blend Well

Part of being an Evil Stepmonster is blending in with your new family.  This can take years and years and years before you feel like you're not an outsider anymore.

Does anyone remember the movie the Outsiders? Awesome flick!  And wow!  How hot were those boys? Seriously!  C. Thomas Howell, Ralph Macchio, Matt Dillon, Rob Lowe, Emelio Estevez, Tom Cruise and Patrick Swayze may he rest in peace.  If you haven't seen it, you must.  Rent it.  Now.  Go on.  I'll wait.

Some families never manage to blend together into one cohesive group.  The key here is patience, consistency, and being open to a new and different way of living.  There is no right way.  There is no wrong way.  You just have to keep at it.

10 years ago when I came into this already-made family, there was one little piece of family history that came to light pretty quickly.  Both of my two girls, are 1/4 Armenian.  Now, if you've never heard of Armenia, don't fear.  I hadn't heard of it either.  I was never too fond of geography or history, so I didn't beat myself up too much about this lack in my education and neither should you.  For those of you who know all about Armenia, and it's history, please feel free to get a snack, have a drink, whip up some brownies.  For the rest of us, let me give you a quick tutorial.  Just the facts ma'am.

Armenia is nestled between Turkey, Iran, Georgia and Azerbajian in the Middle East.  See on the map up there how nestled it is?  It looks comfy right? Wrong.  It has a pretty intense history which I'll hit on in later posts.  What's important here is that it's a Middle Eastern country.  And the girls' Grandmother is full Armenian from Armenia (meaning that her parents immigrated here directly from Armenia instead of say an Iranian Armenian who immigrated first to Iran before immigrating to America).  There are some subtle differences between the groups, but I really have no idea what they are.  I just know they're different.  See, I'm clueless even as I'm typing this up to keep you informed!

The girls' Grandfather was from the Midwest making the girls' Mom half Armenian.  And since their Dad, The Hubs, is Californian, that makes them 1/4 Armenian.  Geez.. I was told there would be no math, so I hope you guys got all of that!

What do you know? I hear you asking.  Don't think I don't.  You guys are so impatient!

What I do know is I've been slowly introduced to this culture through my children, their Mom and their Grandmother, but mostly through Armenian food.  It's got its own flavor and unique tastes from other Middle Eastern countries.  And lets face it, food brings people together.  And in a blended family, togetherness, is likely the only way this is all going to work.

With the help of the girls' Grandmother, I thought in some upcoming posts, I'd help you learn about the culture the same way I did, through your stomach.

From Rice Pilaf

and Stuffed Grape Leaves

And Hummus

To Armenian Pizza and so much more.

You might get some great new recipes.  You might learn some history and geography.  Or not.  Some of the food might make your stomach tilt a little to the left and leave you feeling woosy (one or two have that effect on me).  But in an effort to explore all aspects of the cooking culture, I won't leave anything out.  And maybe you'll discover you have a few little Armenian taste buds hiding inside you that you never knew about!

Seriously.. Thoughts?