Kefta bel Zeitoun, Algerian Stuffed Olives on a Bed of Fennel, Fenouil aux Olives Farcies

I know I said earlier that I would post about Algerian flat breads and pasta dishes this weekend, Well this weekend was more hectic than expected. And my poor quality digital camera refused to function properly most of the time.

I was thinking about leavened and unleavened flat breads that we top with different vegetables in Algeria and I thought of this dish that is usually eaten as a meze or kemia. It is also used as a topping for flat bread, a kind of "pizza" that we usually call Khobz bel plus whatever topping.

 

Traditionally the meat for keftas was cut into little pieces and pounded. If you have the time I suggest you try this method for keftas, the texture is superior.

Ingredients for kefta:

18-24 large green olives
18-24 d'olives vertes

1/4 pound ground lamb or beef
125 gr de viande hachee

1 egg
1 oeuf

1 teaspoon spice blend of cumin, coriander and fennel
1 cuillere a cafe d'epices

1 teaspoon of paprika
1 cuillere a cafe de paprika

Ingredients for bed of fennel

1 bulb of fennel, thinly sliced
1 fenouil

1 onion sliced
1 oignon

3 cloves of garlic
3 gousses d'ail

a few sprigs of flat leaf parsely
Persil plat

Extra virgin olive oil
Huile d'olive

Salt
Sel

Water
l'eau

Method:

Oven 300F (150C), cook 2 hours or more until tender.

1) Combine all the ingredients for the kefta in a bowl and combine very quickly do not over work the meat, stuff the olives with the mixture. If you have leftover kefta make little meatballs.

2) Put the fennel and onion slices and whole garlic cloves in baking dish, drizzle with olive oil, season with salt. Add the stuffed olives and enough water to reach mid level in the baking dish, cover with foil and place in oven.

This is delicious as a starter on pieces of grilled bread spread with a little Algerian tomato jam.

Note: The olives can also be stuffed with a mixture of finely chopped nuts, garlic and herbs. The olives will give off some of their brine during the cooking process, do not season the fennel too much with salt. During the last 15-20 or so of cooking remove the foil, stir the olives and fennel to add some color to the dish.

Algeria Algerian Cuisine Algerian Recipes Algerian Food Algerian dishes Cuisine Algerienne Recettes  Algerienne North African cuisine Maghreb Cuisine

Comments

[brigitte]

tes boulettes me font très très envie
dommage que tu sois si loin .........
amitiées

[Rachel]

I'm so excited to discover this blog... I lived in Morocco for two years and learned how to cook a lot of Moroccan food from my in-laws... I'm curious to compare the similarities and differences between Algerian and Moroccan cuisines, nshuf l'farq baynhum... l'deed!

[Andre]

Innovative dish, yet it is so ancient. Never would have thought of such a simple combination.

Farid, your recipes of traditional Algerian dishes are magnificent.

[Jilal]

A yemmA yemma ezzietoun lakhder bel batata ya la h'beb