Annals of the Caliphs' Kitchens Page 151
A Recipe for wast (filled sandwich) made by Ibn Dihqana:
Choose a round and thick bread made with fine, bran-free flour (raghif samik huwwara). Using a knife, cut it crosswise in half and set it aside.
Take meat of cooled sikbaj (beef stew soured with vinegar) and shred it. Finely chop leaf vegetables (baql).
Cover the [cut side of] one piece of the bread with the [chopped] vegetables followed by another layer of the prepared meat. Sprinkle the surface with pleasant tasting salt followed by chopped cheese, chopped olives, and [chopped] walnuts, almonds, pistachios, and pine nuts. Put another layer of chopped vegetables and cover the [the filling] with the other half of the bread [cut side down]. Keep the prepared sandwich pressed [using a weight] for about an hour. Make as many as you wish of these sandwiches following the same rule.
Cut the filled sandwiches into squares and then cut them into triangles (shawabir). Arrange the pieces on a platter (jam) and serve them, God willing.
Esther's Redaction:
Bread:
I made a Gluten Free bread so that certain people would be able to try it. Below is the recipe I used. I made the dough a day or two ahead. I followed this recipe because I wanted a yeast bread with a slight sourdough flavor and a firmness that could hold up to the hour pressing of the sandwich. I halved the recipe to make enough for 2 loaves, and I used half the dough for my first one. Unfortunately I made the dough too wet and it wouldn't hold it's shape and it turned into a flat, hard pancake.
This is a loaf I made in a previous batch and the one I just did.
Then instead of trying to add more of the dry ingredients from this bread I decided to add the ingredients from this recipe but making some alterations to save time or to make the 2 recipes compatible.
The dough was still too wet to hold up free form so I decided to just give up on that and bake it in something.
I coated an oven safe bowl with olive oil and put some batter in it to about half full then I put the rest in my cast aluminum dutch oven (coated with foil, then olive oil...I remember how hard it was to get the bread out the last time when I only oiled it.) I put the ceramic bowl in the cold oven and turned it on to 400 degrees F. After 10 minutes I put in the pot. After about 10 more minutes I turned the heat down to 350 degrees F. I cooked them both together until the small one tested done and I moved it to a cooling rack, I took out the other one when it tested done.
With all of the maneuvering these are the ingredient amounts I ended up using:
1/2 cup brown rice flour
1/4 cup + 2 TBSP sorghum flour
1 cup millet flour (I can't find millet flour here so I grind my own)
2 3/4 cup tapioca flour
1/4 TBSP yeast (can use 1 TBSP if you don't want to take 2-3 days to make bread)
2 tsp kosher salt (or to taste)
3 1/2 tsp guar gum
2-2 1/2 cup warm water
2 large egg
1/2 cup olive oil
2 1/2 TBSP sugar
2 TBSP lemon juice
I can't be sure how much water I actually used because when I put the ingredients in the food processor to blend them till smooth a bunch of the water overflowed and went all over the counter. What's listed is a guess. Next time I'll use my stick blender. The ingredient mix must have been good because I still ended up with a firm crust and somewhat firm bread. Cooking the bread in the ceramic oven safe bowl was perfect. I ended up with a bun shape.
For the non-gluten-free sandwiches I used store bought Torta Sandwich Rolls which are almost square and then cut the sandwiches in half diagonally.
The Meat:
I read through several recipes on how to make sikbaj (beef stew soured with vinegar) and decided to use those as inspiration rather than following one exactly. I took a 3.9 lb. beef chuck pot roast, rinsed it and put it in a slow cooker. To this I added 2 TBSP chopped garlic, 1/2 cup chopped onion (I had a mix of red and yellow onions), 1 cup finely diced or grated carrot, 1/2 tsp dried thyme, 2 tsp kosher salt. Coarsely grind together 1/2 tsp whole black pepper corns, 1 tsp whole coriander seed, 1/4 tsp whole celery seed and add it to the pot. Add 1 cup balsamic vinegar and 1 cup water. Cook on low over night or up to 18 hrs. Add 1.3 oz chopped parsley and 1/3 cup more balsamic vinegar cook 1-6 hours more. Then remove the meat and shred it. Mix in the chopped vegetables and enough of the broth to make the meat moist. Use right away or refrigerate.
Nut Mixture:
Toast together 1/2 cup pine nuts and 3/4 cup slivered almonds (whole almonds would work but I didn't have them). Put them in the food processor along with 1/2 cup walnut halves and 1 cup pistachios. Grind coarsely (makes 3 cups.) Remove the nuts from the food processor and add two 6 oz cans of black olives (drained) and .42 lbs Manchego cheese and 5.7 oz Formaggio Piave (aged over 14 months) Both cut into cubes. (You can use any aged cheese, these are just what I chose. I would've liked to have gotten Halloumi which is an actual middle eastern cheese but it was much more expensive.) Instead of adding salt right before this layer I added 1 tsp of kosher salt into it and ran the food processor on low until it was blended but with chunks. I stored this mixture in a sealed container in the refrigerator until ready to use.
The mix of chopped nuts, olives and cheese
Vegetable Mixture:
1.9 oz of roughly chopped parsley
4.5 oz arugula
.1 oz mint
.5 oz spinach
Added 1 oz sweet basil finely chopped
Finely chop together.
Because I made this a couple of days ahead I mixed the greens with 1/2 tsp lemon juice and 1 tsp extra virgin olive oil to keep it fresh.
To make the sandwiches I followed the recipe and cut the cold bread crosswise like a hamburger bun. I spread a layer of the chopped greens on each cut side, followed by a nice thick layer of shredded beef on one piece of bread. Then I put a layer of the nut/cheese/olive mixture on the other half of the bun and sprinkled coarse salt on both sides. Then I put the top on and pressed it down with my hand for a minute till it seemed to hold together. I sliced it crosswise into triangular pieces as directed and when it was time to serve arranged the sandwiches on a platter.
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