I'm making some of my favorite Middle Eastern dishes
with a Midwest touch.
I'm going to need to loosen a button on my pants
to eat all this.
Crispy, fried, squash falafel
with spicy chipotle ranch drizzled on top.
That is frickin' awesome.
Super hearty and meaty twice baked potatoes
with smoky harissa ketchup.
-They are total dream boats. -Get it?
Because the potatoes are shaped like boats.
For dessert, my basbousa,
a nutty and sweet semolina cake
coated in heart cherry compote.
That smells heavenly.
And delicious date cream soda floats
with homemade no-churn froyo to spoon and sip on the side.
I'm into you. Let's eat.
Look at these beauties.
Hey, this is me, Molly Yeh.
This is my husband Nick.
This is our growing family.
And this is our farm on the North Dakota-Minnesota border,
the place where I eat, sleep, and breathe food.
I adore the colorful, fragrant vibrancy
of Middle Eastern cuisine,
which actually meshes deliciously
with Midwest cuisine.
So I'm putting together a dinner
with some of my favorite combinations.
For dessert, I'm baking up my take on a basbousa,
which is a sweet semolina cake.
And I'm loading it up with juicy tart syrupy cherries.
It's a super great snacking cake
because it holds its moisture for so long.
I'll start by mixing up my dry ingredients.
I'm starting with semolina flour,
which is signature basbousa cake.
And it's a coarse flour, which lends a
great hearty texture to this crumb,
Two-thirds of a cup.
And semolina is also what's used to make pasta.
So make a basbousa one day and pasta the next day.
Half a cup of shredded unsweetened coconut,
which adds really lovely warm flavor
to the crumb of the cake.
And I'm using unsweetened coconut
just because I'll also be adding some sugar.
And it's getting sugar in the syrup.
Half a cup of almond meal, which I've toasted
to bring out those nutty notes.
And I just heated this in a dry skillet for a few minutes
until I could really start to smell it.
This is just finely ground almonds.
You don't always see nuts in a semolina cake,
but I love a nutty cake.
What can I say?
And then two-thirds of a cup of all-purpose flour.
Two teaspoons of baking powder to give the cake lift.
And then three-quarters of a teaspoon of kosher salt.
All this is to combine.
So a basbousa is an Egyptian semolina cake.
And it's soaked with syrup.
It is so flavorful.
You can serve it right out of the pan.
And because it sits in that syrup,
it stays lively for a really long time.
So it can just hang out on your counter.
And then you can have a nibble of cake
for absolutely no reason at all.
To this mixture, I'll drizzle in
six tablespoons of olive oil.
I love an oil-based cake as a snacking cake
because you don't have to worry about softening butter.
And the olive oil here
will add that moisture and richness.
And of course, just a hint of that olive oil flavor,
which is delightful.
And then a quarter cup of heavy cream
with half a cup of whole milk.
It's a perfect ratio of cream to whole milk
for moisture and richness.
And I'll whisk this together.
This is part of my batter.
I just got to whiff of those almonds.
I'll set aside this mixture and then whip up my eggs.
I've got 3 eggs here.
I'll plop them into my stand mixer.
And I'll beat them with three quarters of a cup of sugar,
as well as a splash of almond extract
to enhance the almond flavor of the nuts
and the dry ingredients.
I've got my whisk attachment here.
And I want to whip these up for a good few minutes
until they're pale and fluffy and aerated.
And that'll add some nice airiness to the cake.
When I can see the tracks of the mixer
and the mixture has lightened, it's ready to go.
I'll get this off of my mixer and then fold it in
with the rest of my batter.
I'll do this gradually,
taking care not to deflate the eggs.
And whipping the eggs separately
and then folding them in
adds lift and makes for a really fluffy cake.
Batter looks great.
I've got a greased nine by nine square metal pan.
I haven't lined it since I'm going to be serving the cake
right out of the pan.
Once it's soaked in syrup,
you just want to keep it where it is.
And I'll stick this in the oven at 350 degrees
until the center is springy and a toothpick stuck in
comes out with just a couple of crumbs.
I'll start checking for doneness at 28 minutes.
And while that bakes, I'll whip up
my syrupy cherry compote.
I love the fruity, slightly sour flavor
that cherry brings to this party.
And cherries and almonds go so well together.
I've got my simple syrup going here already.
It's just equal parts sugar and water
with some lemon juice
to balance out all the sweetness.
And I'll pour in some cherries.
These are just halved and pitted.
And you can use fresh or frozen.
I'll stir these around and allow them to cook
just so that the cherries soften.
But I don't want them to completely break down.
I like seeing the big chunks of cherries
on top of the cake.
One of the things that makes basbousa so good
is that they're soaked in a sugary syrup.
Makes them sticky and moist and so delightful.
I've essentially got the syrup here,
but with some cherries tossed in,
because cherries are everywhere here
when they're in season.
All right, this looks great.
I'll remove it from the heat.
And then I'll flavor it with some vanilla bean paste,
about a teaspoon.
You can use vanilla extract, too.
But vanilla bean paste is thicker and it has
a flecks of actual vanilla bean pod in them.
And then a splash of orange blossom water.
It's floral and so unique.
It's not front and center.
It's just a very subtle specialness.
It's really good.
Let me get my cake out of the oven.
[inhales, exhales]
Almond smell is a smell I could smell all day long.
It's puffed up.
It's golden.
While it's still hot,
I'll poke some holes everywhere,
which will help it absorb the syrup.
And I like drizzling the syrup on while it's still hot.
The heat kind of thickens and caramelizes the syrup
just a touch.
And it absorbs better that way, too.
I'll pour this all over the cake.
Look at that vibrant cherry color.
Hello.
And lastly, some toasted sliced almonds
will be really pretty.
Add crunch and say, "This cake has almonds in it."
It's ready to eat.
That is one of the perks of a basbousa,
is that you don't have to wait for it to cool.
You can just dig in right now,
which is exactly what I'm going to do.
Oh, I love seeing the contrast of the white cake
and the pink parts.
It's almost like tie-dye.
Mmm.
It's so flavorful.
That texture is so awesome.
It's hearty.
It's coarse.
And it's also syrupy and sweet.
Mmm.
This is one dream cake.
Next, every farmer's favorite meal,
meat and potatoes in one succulent boat.
For the beefy side dish of every farmer's dreams,
allow me to introduce you to my meaty,
twice-baked potatoes.
They're hot spuds, jam-full of spiced, fatty ground beef,
and finished with a spicy, sweet harissa ketchup.
They are total dream boats.
Get it?
Because the potatoes are shaped like boats?
I'm starting with a few russet potatoes
that I've poked all over and roasted till soft
at 425 for about an hour.
Now I'm just hollowing them out
to make holsters for essentially big meatballs.
We get really good potatoes around here
because, in addition to sugar beets and wheat and corn,
there are lots of potatoes in this region.
I love potatoes in all forms.
Before I go on to the filling, I'll season the boats.
The difference between a bland, dumb potato
and a really delicious potato is a proper amount of salt.
And I'll just let these hang out
while I whip up my filling.
So I've got the potato innards here.
To this, I'll add a pound of ground beef,
some yellow onion and garlic
that I've just cooked down until soft,
One and a half teaspoons of kosher salt.
And now for my spices, a teaspoon each of cumin,
coriander, and paprika.
And these are spices that I use all the time
when I'm cooking Middle Eastern food.
These are actually inspired by a Libyan dish called mafrum,
which consists of a potato
that you essentially stuff with a little meatball,
and then you fry it and braise it in a red sauce.
It is so comforting and delicious.
But in a move inspired by a Midwest classic,
I am doing this in the style of a twice baked potato.
And then a quarter teaspoon of cinnamon.
It'll add lovely warmth.
And then some crushed red pepper for a little more heat.
I'll toss in some chopped parsley and cilantro.
And some mint, which I just love with meat.
My mom would make twice-baked potatoes
all the time when I was little.
Half the time they were from scratch,
half the time they were from frozen.
And they were always obviously super-duper cheesy.
I loved them.
Here I go. Mix this all together.
I don't want to over mix this. I just want to make sure
everything is evenly distributed.
Okay, my meat is combined.
So I'm going to fill my potatoes.
I'm going to overflow it
so that it looks voluptuous.
These would be a great tractor meal
because they're handheld and they're potatoes,
so they hold their heat really well.
And then you've got your meat right there too.
You don't even have to worry
about packing an extra protein.
All right, I'll get these in the oven at 425 degrees
for about 30 minutes
until they're fully cooked through.
And while these cook,
we'll get going on the ketchup dipping sauce.
This sauce is sweet and spicy and tomato-y
and stars the love of my condiment life.
Ketchup.
Who do you think loves ketchup more?
Meat or potatoes or me?
And then I'll mix in a little bit of harissa.
Harissa is a Tunisian pepper paste
that is smoky and spiced.
It comes in a range of spiciness levels.
So you can start off with a little bit
and then taste and then add more if you want.
Harissa and ketchup go really nice together.
Just makes like a spicy ketchup with some substance.
That's it.
Let me get the potatoes out.
I can really smell that cinnamon.
I'll plate them up.
You can feel how crispy the skin got.
I'll finish with some parsley for some color
and nestle in some lemon wedges.
That hit of acidity at the end will go a long way.
All right, squeezing some onto this one.
I'm going to dunk.
Mmm.
It's so warming and hearty,
and that meat is perfectly spiced.
Dang.
These may be twice baked.
But they are three times as good and really heavy.
Coming up, falafel like you've never seen it before.
Get ready to drool.
For the main course, I'm making a variation
on one of my all-time favorite meals.
It's my squash falafel drizzled with creamy chipotle ranch.
They're crisp patties of herby, smoky,
protein-packed goodness
served on a colorful pile of veggies and grains.
I'm going to need to loosen a button on my pants
to eat all this.
I'm starting this off with dried chickpeas
that have been soaked overnight.
Resist the urge to use canned chickpeas
because those have too much moisture in them,
and they could cause your falafel to fall apart.
I'll toss these right into my food processor.
Falafel is one of the quintessential Middle Eastern foods,
and it's essentially a bean fritter.
Most commonly you see it made with chickpeas,
but it can be made with other types of beans too.
I'll toss in half the onion that's coarsely chopped,
four cloves of garlic, which is a lot,
but it goes so well with the butternut squash.
Loads of cilantro and parsley. I love that freshness.
One and a half teaspoons of kosher salt.
And then for my spices, a mixture of cumin and coriander is classic.
Get those woodsy notes from the cumin,
and then the slightly citrusy floral notes of the coriander.
The juice of half a lemon.
The lemon is doing double duty here.
It'll brighten up the flavor,
and then it'll also react with a bit of baking soda
to help prevent the falafel from being overly dense.
Two tablespoons of flour help bind the falafel together
and prevent them from falling apart.
A quarter teaspoon of baking soda
will react with the acidity in the lemon juice,
which gives a slight airiness to the falafel.
It prevents them from being overly dense.
And then one chipotle and adobo sauce
plus two tablespoons of the sauce
is not something I typically add to falafel,
but because this is squash falafel
and because squash and chipotle go together
like peanut butter and jelly, I'm adding it.
They give some heat, not a huge amount.
They're mostly here for the smoky deliciousness.
Now, before I add in the squash,
I'll pulse this all together.
80 to 100 times is the magic number
to get everything mixed up enough
so that the balls hold together,
but not overly blended to the point where it's a puree.
So you can test to see if it's ready just by
going in there with your hands and squeezing it.
And this looks perfect.
If it holds together like that.
You're golden.
This is where we deviate from my standard falafel recipe.
I'll remove the blade
and replace it with the shredder attachment.
And then I'll use this
to shred in my butternut squash.
And if your food processor doesn't have this,
you could just grate the squash by hand.
That's okay, too.
I've got six ounces of butternut squash,
which is going to contribute such cozy sweetness.
This is so satisfying.
So quick.
So now I have this beautiful mixture of falafel and squash.
I'll get in here with my spatula and mix it together.
There are some good smells going into my nose right now.
This is all mixed up and ready to form my patties.
I'll use this little ice cream scoop
so they're all uniform size.
And rather than shaping the typical balls
that you would get at a restaurant,
I do patties, which makes them easier
to use less oil when you're frying.
It allows you to shallow fry them
as opposed to deep fry them.
I'll set these onto my baking sheet
just to hang out while I shape the rest.
Falafel is a food that cancels itself out
because it's healthy since it's all beans,
but it's unhealthy since it's fried.
Life is all about balance.
All right, I'm ready to fry.
I've got a half inch of neutral oil heating here.
And you can check to see if it's hot enough
by just dropping in a strand of squash.
And if it sizzles like that,
you're golden.
So I'll gently lower these in and space them evenly apart.
You want to make sure that they have
enough oil on all sides of them
so that they're getting evenly cooked.
I'll fry these on medium high for a few minutes per side
until they're golden all over.
Mmm, smells like the food stands of my college years,
but with a little bit more squash.
Oh, yeah, that's a pretty color.
These look golden and gorgeous.
I'll get them out of the oil.
Transfer to a wire rack
so that any excess oil can drip off
and so that the bottom can stay crisp.
And then I'll fry up the rest
and then toss together a grain salad,
which will be the bed for these fancy falafels.
I start with a hearty base of chewy barley,
then plop on shredded romaine, red onion, sliced radishes,
blanched green beans, Persian cucumbers,
and a lemon wedge.
These bowls are stunning
and they're ready for their sunshine.
And they also need a sauce to hold it all together.
So because ranch flows like water in the Midwest
and Chipotle and squash are BFFs, friends for life,
I'm making chipotle ranch.
Easiest recipe in the world, a lot of ranch.
And then some of my adobo sauce.
And you can really just add this to taste
if you want it to be super spicy, add a lot.
If you just want it to be mild, add a little.
Every fried food needs something creamy
and cooling on top of it.
Typically with falafel, you have a tahini sauce.
But with this falafel, we're going for it, Midwest style.
Now to assemble,
I'll nestle on my gorgeous golden patties.
I'll drizzle it with my ranch.
Oh, yeah.
That is my dream right there.
I'm going to construct the perfect bite.
Mmm.
That is frickin' awesome.
The creaminess of the ranch with that crispy falafel shell
and that smoky chipotle.
Yeah, I'll be devouring this whole thing.
Still to come, a froyo float with sweet homemade soda.
It's creamy and dreamy.
For a fantastic, fizzy, finish to our meal,
I am making my date cream soda floats
with no-churn froyo.
They're sweet and creamy,
and they have the lovely dark flavor of dates.
I'll start with my date syrup,
which is just a syrup made of 100% dates.
This is a super common ingredient
in Middle Eastern cooking.
I was introduced to it on my travels to Israel,
and it goes by the name Ceylon.
And you can use it as a sweetener
in oatmeal or yogurt or smoothies.
I find it at health food stores.
You could, of course, get it online, too.
I'll combine this with some half and half,
which is the creamy element of my cream soda.
I'll whisk this together.
Looks great.
Let me get my glasses and ice cream.
This is my homemade no-churn frozen yogurt.
It's super creamy and super tangy,
and it is the easiest thing in the world to make.
I just whisked together cold, heavy cream
with whole milk plain Greek yogurt
for that richness and tang to stiff peaks.
Then fold in sweetened condensed milk,
making sure to incorporate it fully.
Plop that mixture into a loaf pan...
And freeze for four hours.
I love it in these floats because the yogurt
with the date flavor together is delightful.
I'll assemble by starting with some of my creamy date syrup
and then scoop in some of the froyo.
I am earning it.
I love how creamy and tangy this froyo is.
All right.
And now finish with soda.
It's so foamy.
Oh, yeah.
Ta-da-da-da. All right.
And then we drink... Oh, yeah, look at all that
foam at the top.
That's epic.
Going right for the froyo.
Mmm.
That's awesome.
The tanginess of the froyo
with the fizziness and the dark date syrup.
I'm into you.
Let's eat.