International Recipes
Koubeba Syriani
Yield: 4 servings, about 3 meat rolls each
Ingredients
- 1 medium onion, quartered
- 1/2 cup coarsely chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
- 3 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
- 1 pound lean ground veal or beef
- 1/2 cup ground almonds
- 1/2 cup ground walnuts + 20 walnut halves
- 1/3 cup pine nuts
- 1/3 cup toasted bread crumbs
- 1/4 cup olive oil + more for brushing
- 1 large egg, lightly beaten
- 1 teaspoon Aleppo pepper or pinch of crushed red pepper flakes
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 20 pitted prunes
- 1 cup chicken or beef stock
- 2/3 cup dry red wine
- 2 to 3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
- Sprigs of fresh flat-leaf parsley, for garnish
Instructions
- In a food processor or blender, combine the onion, chopped parsley and lemon juice and pulse to chop.
- In a large bowl, combine the onion mixture, meat, almonds, walnuts, pine nuts, bread crumbs, oil, egg, pepper or pepper flakes and salt and knead into a homogenous mixture. Cover and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes and up to 4 hours.
- Heat oven to 450 degrees F.
- Shape 1/4 cup portions of the meat mixture into oval rolls and arrange in a 13 x 9 inch baking dish. Brush the rolls with oil and bake for 15 minutes.
- Meanwhile, insert 1 walnut half into each prune (you may need to halve the larger walnuts).
- Reduce the oven temperature to 400 degrees F.
- Arrange the stuffed prunes between the meat rolls, add the stock, wine and 1 to 2 tablespoons of the vinegar and bake for 15 to 20 minutes more. Baste with the pan juices, turn off the oven and leave the dish in the oven for 5 minutes.
- Taste the sauce and adjust the seasonings with vinegar, salt and/or pepper or pepper flakes. Garnish with parsley sprigs and serve.