PALESTINE: Meat, Potato, and Tomato Bake (Kafta Bil Sanieh) with Palestinian Cucumber Salad

This is a stunning dish. I imagined serving it at a dinner party, as it is the definition of easy elegance! That being noted, I would make some changes to it, if so. By the time the potatoes cooked through, the meat was a bit dry. So I would either parboil or pre-bake the potatoes, then reduce the baking time. And/or I might add some bread soaked milk to the meat, to make the patties more tender by soaking up some of the juices. This also took well more than 45 minutes of cook time. But Palestine is a bonus meal anyway — outside my initial OWW scope of cooking from each of the World Bank recognized countries — seemed OK that the cook time was outside the OWW confines.

If you've never used sumac before in a salad, I highly recommend!

Meat, Potato, and Tomato Bake (Kafta Bil Sanieh)

1½ sweet onions

1 large bunch parsley

1½ teaspoon ground allspices

1 teaspoon cumin

1 teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon ground cinnamon

½ teaspoon ground black pepper

½ teaspoon red pepper flakes, optional

1 lb ground lamb, beef, or mix of both

4 large Roma or plum tomatoes

2 Yukon gold potatoes, about the same diameter as the tomatoes

1 tablespoon olive oil

Salt and pepper, to taste

1. Preheat oven to 375° F.

2. Cut 1 onion into quarters and add to a large food processor, along with the parsley. Finely chop.

   Combine with the meat: Add in 1 teaspoon of the allspice, cumin, salt, cinnamon, black pepper, and red pepper flakes, if using. Pulse again until fully combined. Add to a large bowl and mix in the meat, using your hands if need be, until well combined.

3. Slice the tomatoes into thin, ~¼-inch, slices. In 3 quart baking dish, arrange the tomatoes neatly, either circling the dish if it's oval or round or in rows if it's rectangle or square. Peel and slice the potatoes, aiming for as thin a slice as you can get with your knife. (But do hand cut them.) Tuck a slice between each tomato slice. Next, cut the half onion into thin slices. Tucks some slivers between the potatoes and tomatoes.

4. Take a small ball of the meat, slightly smaller than a gold ball, and shape into a thin patty. Tuck the patty between a tomato slice and a potato slice. Repeat with the remainder of the meat.

5. Sprinkle with the remaining half teaspoon of allspice, and liberal amount of salt and pepper. Drizzle with the olive oil and 2 tablespoons of water.

6. Cover the baking dish with foil and place on a half sheet pan for 60-75 minutes, until potatoes are fork tender. Remove foil, and broil 3-5 minutes, until top of potatoes are golden.

7. Serve with rice, pita, and/or salad.

   
   

Palestinian Cucumber Salad

4 Persian cucumbers

4 Roma tomatoes ir a pint of cherry tomatoes

½ cup chopped parsley leaves

½ cup chopped mint leaves

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 lemon

½ teaspoon sumac

Salt and pepper to taste

1. Dice the cucumbers and tomatoes and add both to a medium bowl. Add in the parsley and mint and stir.

2. Drizzle with the olive oil. Squeeze the lemon overtop. Add in the sumac and stir all together. Season to taste.

#stunningfood #prettyyeteasy #kaftabilsanieh #kafta #cucumbersalad #palestine

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FUN FACTS:

• Olive groves cover nearly 45% of the agricultural land in Palestine, and some individual olive trees in the region are estimated to be more than 3,000 years old. There is one ancient olive tree, known as Al-Badawi, which some experts estimate to be more than 4000 years old!

• Palestine does not have its own active national currency; instead, people commonly use the Israeli New Shekel, Jordanian Dinar, and — occasionally — the Egyptian Pound.

• In Palestine, Christmas is observed three times a year: on December 25 according to western tradition, on January 7 according to Greek Orthodox tradition, and on January 19 according to Armenian tradition.