BEEF SHAWARMA

I love Shawarma, I've been eating Shawarma all my life but because of its very elusive sauce I was never able to make it myself. Once in a while, whenever I remember, I try to do some research about it but never really found the right taste or ingredients. The sauce's taste was literally under my tongue, for it is both familiar and yet difficult to pinpoint. The easiest way to find out what the ingredients are was to buy a Shawarma franchise and sign a contract stating that you can't use or divulge the ingredients to anything or anyone other than the business, so it was not a choice. Finally, early this year I discovered how to make the sauce. It was accidental, I simply asked as I always do, and instead of the usual “sorry we cannot tell you” reply, the store owner blurted it out without thinking. There you go, I hope you enjoy this meal as it literally took me over 10 years to finally get it right.

INGREDIENTS:
4 cuts(approximately 200 grams each) – Beef Sirloin (T-Bone and Porterhouse can also be used)
1 can – Garbanzos (Chick Peas)
1 small block - Cheese
1 to 2 pcs – Cucumber (small)
1 to 2 pcs – Tomato (medium)
1 can – All-purpose Cream
1 small pack (around 25 grams) – Sesame Seeds
1 pack (6 to 12 pieces) – Shawarma wrappers (burrito wrappers can be used)
Worcestershire Sauce
Rock Salt

Rub a pinch of rock salt (about as much as a small spoonful) on both sides of a piece of steak. Do this to all 4 steak cuts. Then neatly lay all steaks on plates and slather Worcestershire sauce on both sides of each cut, not too much though, just enough to wet the entire surface. Saute for about half an hour.

Open a can of Garbanzos then drain to get rid of the water. Place all the Garbanzos in a blender or chopper, pour in the whole can of all-purpose cream and the pack of sesame seeds. Blend them all together until everything is puree'd. Pour the contents into a small bowl and set aside. This will be the secret sauce of your Shawarma.

Now cook the steak any way you want. I used my turbo broiler and set it to maximum heat for about 20 minutes. You can use an oven at 350 degrees and 20 minutes, or use charcoal and broil the steaks till cooked, or simply fry them on a skillet with vegetable oil. You can even boil them, but they will not be as flavorful. I'll leave that choice up to you.

Cut the steaks up into smaller than bite sized pieces and set the cutlets aside for later.

Slice the cheese, tomato and cucumber into very thin slices and set aside.

Microwave the pack of Shawarma or burrito wrappers and put them aside.

Lastly, take one wrapper from the pile and, using a spoon, scoop up some steak and place them on the wrapper. Add a few pieces of cucumber, tomatoes, and cheese. Apply generous amounts of secret sauce and fold close the wrapper.

Eat up!

MULTI-CHEESE TOMATO BASIL HAM PIZZA

This pizza recipe has a vegetarian variation. If you want a veggie pizza, omit the ham from its ingredients and you're all set. I've cooked this pizza only twice, the other day and today. When I invented this pizza I realized that I should have used at least 4 red bell peppers because only 1 was available then. Today I decided to put shredded bell peppers in the “mix”, but I think it was better when I cut them into strips and topped the pizza with it, that's what I'll be teaching you. Another thing, the other day I only had mozzarella and Parmesan cheese available, but today I found two other cheese, cheddar and dutch, so that's what I added now to the overall ingredients. Feel free to fix and adjust on your own since this is still a recipe that's not yet final. Expect adjustments if I discover new things and fix this recipe in the future.


INGREDIENTS:
1 Block – Mozzarella Cheese
1 Cup – Parmesan Cheese
1 Block each – Other types of cheese
10 to 12 Pieces – Fresh Red Tomatoes
4 Pieces – Fresh Red Bell Peppers
250 Grams – Sliced Ham
2 Pieces – Pizza Crust (any flavor available at your nearest supermarket or bakery)
100 Grams – Fresh Green Basil Leaves
1 Bottle - Hot Sauce (I use Tabasco)

First, slice the mozzarella cheese into thin strips, enough to completely cover the whole pizza with almost no gaps.


Second, cut the red bell peppers in half and clean the insides keeping only the outer shell. Place them all face down in your oven toaster, or if you don't have one you can pierce them with a barbecue stick and roast them on your stove fire. Do this until the raw crunchy quality of the whole vegetable becomes a bit burnt and soft.


Third, mince and dice up all the other cheese, the basil leaves, and all the tomatoes.




Fourth, cut the ham up to half-inch squares.


Fifth, get a bowl and mix together all the minced and diced cheese, the basil leaves, and the tomatoes. Throw in the Parmesan cheese and mix them all thoroughly.



Sixth, spread the basil, tomato and cheese mix evenly and completely over both pizza crusts. It's a thick spread so don't worry about putting too much. You have 2 pizza crusts anyway so divide the mix among them both.


Seventh, use the mozzarella cheese to completely cover both pizza's. Place the mozzarella on top of the basil, tomato and cheese mix. Don't worry if some of the surface area is not overed since the mozzarella will melt over everything when heated.


Eighth, cover the top of the mozzarella with the ham squares. I recommend you use up all the ham so you don't have any left overs. It doesn't matter whether or not there's enough ham to cover the pizza's. The more the merrier.

Ninth, cut up the bell peppers you roasted earlier to thin strips and place them on top of the ham. You can decorate the top of the pizza any way you want with the bell pepper strips, or you can just throw them on there if you want.



Lastly, place the pizzas in the oven toaster at maximum heat, approximately 10 to 15 minutes depending on the wattage. To make sure you don't burn your pizza, watch it carefully and take note of the time so you can set the timer next time around. Since my oven toaster is small I have to cut both my pizza's in half, and you might have to do this too.



Bon appetit! Slice it up and add Tabasco to taste.


* You don't have to use ham, salami is another very delicious alternative, or any seafood like prawns.

CARBONARA - White Sauce Spaghetti - Meat and Seafood Sauce

This is a very tasty pasta dish with white sauce, you have to make extra because I guarantee everyone will get seconds. Like all spaghetti type dishes, carbonara is only the sauce, the noodles are pretty much the same as any other pasta meal.

INGREDIENTS:
1 Kilo - Noodles (flat, regular, thin, it doesn't matter)
200 Grams - Bacon
250 Grams - Sliced Ham
4 Cans - All Purpose Cream
2 Cans - Thinly sliced Button Mushrooms (approximately 500 grams)
½ Cup - Butter
1 Bottle - Olive Oil
- Salt and Pepper

Get a medium sized frying pan and throw in all the bacon. Fry the bacon until they become crispy, looking medium to dark brown in color. Take the bacon out and place on a chopping board. Let cool. Dice them up to very small pieces and set aside.

Place all the ham in the same frying pan, make sure there's enough oil, if not just add from the olive oil bottle. Fry until it starts to curl or cook to medium well, then take them out and let cool. Cut them up like little squares, approximately half an inch size.

Add more olive oil in the same frying pan and throw in all the sliced mushrooms. Continuously stir them so they don't stick to the pan and burn. Toss in a big pinch of salt, you'll want to make this batch of mushrooms salty. Taste the mushrooms once in a while as you add salt until you get your preferred level of saltiness.. After they're a bit dark brown in color, take them out of the pan and set them aside.

Mix in half-cup of butter and 4 cans of cream into the same frying pan. Continuously mix to avoid sticking and don't stop until the cream starts to boil. Add all the mushrooms, ham, and bacon while continuously stirring the cream. Taste this sauce once in a while and add salt and pepper if you like. I prefer more salt myself as the cream is usually very bland. Set all of this aside or transfer into a serving bowl or similar container.




Get a large pan or anything you can use to boil the noodles. Fill up the pan with water, you'll want the noodles swimming in it. Add approximately 2 spoonfuls of olive oil in the water after it starts to boil, then dunk all the noodles inside. Continue boiling until you notice that the noodles become soft. Pinch it or taste it to make sure they're cooked. Get a strainer and pour all the water and noodles into it over a sink so as to separate the noodles from the boiling water. Run cold water through the noodles for a few seconds to cool it down a bit to avoid the noodles sticking to each other. Transfer the warm noodles in a serving bowl or equivalent container.




Bon appetit. You can add some grated cheese on the side if you want or some toasted bread, but I rarely do that as this dish very flavorful by itself.

* If you want to make seafood carbonara, just substitute the bacon and ham with prawn and squid rings.

JR's Cooking Equipment

Here are pictures of my cooking stuff. Maybe they're not usual things in your house but I assure you that there are many ways to cook a cat.



First, the good ol' Microwave Oven, a very useful device when heating food but have the characteristic of sagging up whatever you use it with. Microwave oven's save us a lot of time when heating food and that's about it, it's not so good if used as a main cooking device.

Second, a Rice Cooker, again you can cook rice without it but it makes life easier for those who eat rice a lot.

Third, the Toaster Oven, a great heating device because it doesn't sag up the food like when using a microwave, the only draw back is it takes much longer and the heat is on the outside. I usually heat the food first with the microwave then transfer it to the oven toaster for crisping and drying.

Fourth, the Turbo Broiler, one of the best devices I have. It cooks the food with hot air. I'm not sure if this is a common item in your house but it is in mine. I make a really mean turbo chicken dish, so good you'll probably cook two whole chickens at a time because one just isn't enough.

Fifth, the usual knives and chopping board set.

Lastly, my seasoning cupboard. Contents vary, but the average stuff in it are soy sauce, ketchup, mayonnaise, vinegar, wasabi, mustard, fish sauce, worcestershire, citrus or lemon juice, sweet and sour sauce, tabasco, maple syrup, etc. etc. etc.

JR's Unique Cooking Style

I've been eating, ah este, cooking all my life. The very first dish I learned to cook when I was around 8 years old was cheese omelettes, and ever since I've been the king of omelette making, at least according to those who have tried them.

The main thing about me is that I never studied nor took any short or long courses in cooking, and I don't like reading recipes. The only times I use recipes are when I want to cook dishes but don't understand what they're made of, which is really very rare. I brush through the recipe ONCE, and then gather all the ingredients I can recall, adding my own during the process, and finaly cooking it my way without ever looking back at the recipe. Sometimes I ask some friends, or my mom who I'll always regard as the greatest cook in the whole world, to tell me what the ingredients are for the dish I want to cook, then I usually take it from there.

Don't you just hate it when you find a recipe you really want, maybe over the internet or from a book, and then find our later that it's more of an add for you to buy a certain brand's mix or product? Well, that's one thing you'll never find here. I love eating all the dishes I'll place in this site, and if it's not good I won't even bother telling the world how to cook it.

I also don't like cooking food whose ingredients are out of this world, or not available in my house, so most of the dishes I cook use what I readily have in my cupboard. Same goes with the type of appliances I use, if it's not cheap or available in my house, I won't bother trying out dishes that need me to buy something unusual or expensive.