Queezle_Sister's Reviews
2 recipe(s) reviewed. Showing 1 to 2Sort by: Title 
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Recipes for an Arabian Night: Traditional Cooking from North Africa & the Middle East
By David Scott
Pantheon - 1984
Almond Soup : page 35
Surprisingly tasty - for a simple and unusual recipe.
My assignment for our next cookbook club is soup, and because there is generally a lot of food at these events, I want something not too heavy. This recipe caught my eye as I've never tried an almond soup.
An onion is sautéed in butter, flour added, and then chicken broth is carefully mixed in. This is cooked to thicken slightly, and 1C ground blanched almonds are added (I used Bob's Red Mill Almond Flour/meal). This is then allowed to simmer for about 1/2 an hour, and then 1C cream is to be added (I used 1/2C half and half, and 1/2 C whole milk). Salted and peppered and you are ready to go.
Both my teenage kids thought this sounded terrible, and they were begging me for top raman. But once they tasted it, they loved it. In fact, I might have given this soup a 3 (flavors are nice, but not really complex), but they insisted it should be a 4.
This soup is probably good enough to take to my dinner, but I'm hoping to test another recipe or two before Saturday.
useful (1)
Chick-pea Harira : page 41
These flavors just did not really come together. I had high hopes for this recipe. It sounded interesting - the cookbook says this is the food with eaten to break the fast during Ramadan. The recipe starts off in the usual way for a Moroccan dish - with cinnamon, saffron, onions, etc. The soup is prepared with chick peas and rice. At the end you thicken it a bit with flour, add eggs, and then lemon. The final flavor was overly sour, and the Moroccan spices were barely perceptable.
My kids declared this inedible after two bites. I could eat it, but eventually gave it to the chickens.
useful (0)