Dalia's Kitchen: lemon

Crepes with Sour Strawberries

Image by ITP Publishing

As expected, I have been running around town since I returned to Dubai a few days ago. Things pile up when you go away for a month, and even more so when you run a few bakeries. But I don't mind at all, I was quite excited to do the school run again after that long and gorgeous holiday.

Having said that, I still didn't get the chance to upload my images, but I promise I will do so as soon as I can. In the mean time I will leave you with the sweet ending to the French menu I started sharing in earlier posts. Crepes with Sour Strawberries, a true delight!

Having grown up in Paris, where every corner has a crepes stand, you get used to eating them quite often. For breakfast with a little marmalade or lunch and dinner with cheese, mushroom and a fried egg or loads of other yummy toppings. So I can literally have these thin, delicate and buttery bits of dough any time of day.. And these sour berries give it such a summery feel. Perfect for steaming Dubai these days ;)

For any of you who are in Dubai and have little ones, Kitsch Cupcakes is holding "My little Cupcake" workshop at Burjuman over the weekend. It's free of charge and allows your munchkins to decorate their own cupcakes. I'll be there with my little Phares and hope to see some of you lovely mommies there too.

Off to dinner at Roberto's in DIFC to catch up with friends I haven't seen in a while.

Much love, D xx

Serves 4 – 6

Prep & Cook Time: 25 minutes

· 2 eggs

· 2 cups flour

· 3 cups milk

· 2 tbsp white sugar

· 1/3 cup melted butter

· 1 tsp salt

· 1 pack fresh strawberries, remove steam, cut in small pieces

· 2 tbsp lemon juice

· icing sugar to dust

1. Mix the strawberries with lemon juice and set aside.

2. Using a whisk, cream the egg, sugar and salt. Add the flour and milk alternatively.

3. Finish by incorporating the melted butter.

4. Heat a nonstick pan on medium heat. Melt a small knob of butter, then pour one generous soup scoop of crepes batter and fry for a minute or so on each side.

5. Top with the berries and a generous sprinkle of icing sugar. Delightful!

As featured in Harper's Bazaar Arabia September 2012

Lemon Pots

D's Chicken Tajine

I'm finally back after quite a break! We spent a week in LA and another week in NYC and I must say it was amazing to be back in that bustling city I love so much.. I will write about my US foodie adventures in the next post, but for now I will share my delish Chicken Tajine recipe as promised over the weekend..

I had to go through some unexpected personal stuff when I got back from the States, and so I took a few days to do absolutely nothing.. I spent the time enjoying Phares and his first babbles, do loads of therapeutic cooking and watch plenty of silly TV which kept my mind off stuff.. One of the not so silly shows I watched was Jamie's Oliver's food escapade to Marrakesh.. I love Jamie, he's so simple, cooks from the heart and anyone who knows me knows I have a weakness for the British boys :)

I've been to Marrakesh a few times.. It's a beautiful city with loads of yummy food.. I remember spending fun times with dear friends eating gorgeous pastries while sitting in the courtyard of lovely Riads (large villas converted into boutique hotels).. So watching Jamie make a Beef and a Chicken Tajine the other day, made me want to get into my kitchen and do my own version of this Moroccan comfort food..

I didn't have whole chicken pieces so made this with frozen chicken breasts I had in the freezer. I also used Iranian dried fruit which my beatiful Mami in law Ronnie got fot me. It is my version of a Tajine, with what I had in the pantry and it turned out delish so I hope you enjoy it ;)

Much love,

D xx

Easy. Prep & Cook Time 1h30

Serves 4 - 6

8 chicken breasts
1 large onion chopped
4 garlic cloves, minced
2 cups butternut squash, cut into 2cm chunks
juice of 1 lemon, then cut it into quarters
1 cup green olives, pitted and halved
2 tbsp lemon marmalade
1/2 tsp chili flakes
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp turmeric
1 tbsp zereshk (dried Iranian berry)
3 cups chicken stock
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
1/4 cup chopped parsley
salt and pepper to taste

In a large pot (cast iron or tajine pot if available but not necessary), heat a little olive oli and sear the chicken breasts until golden brown on each side. Remove from the pan and set aside.

Add a little more oil and cook the onions and garlic for a few minutes, deglazing the pan. Return the chicken back to the pot and add all the ingredients apart from the parsley.

Bring everything to a boil, then cover and simmer for about an hour or until the chicken is tender and I like it even a little shredded. When ready, add the parsley and let the Tajine stand for about 10 minutes. Make the couscous by following the instructions on the pack, and sprinkle with a little parsley and serve with the Chicken Tajine. Enjoy!

Lemon Madeleines

Veal Limone

As mentioned a few days ago, I've been ordered to slow down my pace a little these days as I'm apparently too active, hehe.. And so I have been working from home as much as possible and even finished decorating the baby's room, thanks to my incredible sis Joujou - I LOVE YOU (in case she didn't know :) I think I'm probably the only woman on the planet that had not gotten one single baby's item until now so late in the pregnancy, in my 8th month! I don't know why I kept thinking I still had time but apparently I don't have that much time left anymore, so Joujou dragged me to the stores and we got some adorable stuff for the little one :)

Yesterday, the lovely Kate from Harper's Bazaar asked me to recommend a yummy and romantic dish from my blog, and I thought of this one. So I'm refreshing this very old D's Kitchen post, which so deserves a second run as it's absolutely delicious!

The first time I made Veal Limone, was in my first year of college, after becoming addicted to the Veal Limoni at Cipriani's restaurant in Downtown New York.. It's best to do this dish for only a few people as veal scalopines are tricky to do for a large group since they have to be seared quickly in a pan. Serve this with some simple linguine on the side (olive oil, salt and pepper) or some fluffy rice as the lemon sauce is perfect for it!

Easy - Medium Difficulty. Prep & Cook Time: ~25minutes
Serves 2- 3

8 thinly pounded veal scaloppines (the thinner the scaloppines, the yummier the dish)
1/4 cup of lemon juice
1/2 cup of white wine
1/2 cup of chicken stock
a little flour for drenching
a large knob of butter
olive oil
2 tbsp chopped parsley
salt & cracked pepper to taste

Preheat the oven at 180C. Heat a pan (stainless if possible) on med-high heat. Drench the veal in a little flour, removing the excess. Then add a little olive oil and a knob of butter to the pan, when it sizzles place the veal, searing them quickly about 30 - 60 seconds on each side. Put them in a oven safe dish and place them in the preheated oven or warming drawer to keep them warm.

Now deglaze the pan with the white wine, scraping all the yummy brown bits. This is what gives this dish ALL the flavour, so keep on scraping! Add the lemon juice & stock and simmer until it thickens a little. Add the knob of buttter, salt and pepper to taste and finish with the chopped parsley. Take the veal out of the oven, and pour the Limoni sauce over them. Beautiful!

Crepes with Sour Strawberries

Lemon Pots

D's Chicken Tajine

Lemon Madeleines

Veal Limone

Lemon Mint Granita

Spaghettoni al Limone

Phiphi's Roasted Fish

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