Friday, April 29, 2011

What I Ate: Fried Halloumi Salad and Pomegranate Molasses Glazed Pork Tenderloin

I have this great cookbook I bought in Dubai called When Suzanne Cooks. My sister is a big fan of this woman, who I guess is like the Paula Dean of Arabia or something and her cookbook is really lovely and accessible.

The photos are fantastic and makes my mouth water and makes me want to jump into the kitchen asap. I think my sister and I are the only ones that have reviewed this on Amazon; if you click on the photo, it will take you to the Amazon website.
The fried Halloumi salad is really delicious, only I can't sprinkle it with lovely pomegranate seeds right now as they are quite out of season.

One of the main ingredients Suzanne uses over and over is Grenadine Molasses (Pomegranate Molasses). This works great in salad dressings, cooking with veggies, and as a glaze over meat. I am already half way through my bottle that I bought in Dubai so I need to get myself to a Middle Eastern grocer pretty soon or I might start going through withdrawals.

I have made chicken thighs using the molasses with olive oil and lemon juice and garlic and it was delicious. And then I tried it on pork tenderloin and was even more satisfied with the results!
Of course you won't be finding any pork recipes in When Suzanne Cooks but I like to adapt freely and consider myself a bit of a fusion cook. I know that is an overly used phrase, but I think it is an accurate one. I don't like to confine myself to one region but would rather take great ideas from lots of regions and then put it together with what I can buy locally.

If you are at all interested in Middle Eastern cooking, this is a great start!

2 comments:

  1. That looks delicious...but what's halloumi?? There are several middle eastern markets by my home. I will be checking the shelves for that molasses the next time I'm in there. Yum!

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  2. Halloumi is a cheese from Cyprus and used in Greek and Middle Eastern cooking that is amazing because it has a really high melting point. It doesn't taste so interesting straight from the fridge but if you fry it in a cast iron skillet or grill it, it is delicious!

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