I know you probably thought that I was over you. That I had…given up. That suddenly we just…lost it.
But, it’s not you, it’s me, really. Well, it’s not me, really, it’s my computer, and it’s my winter vacation. Fortunately for all of us, it’s also all the left-over/loser ingredients in my fridge before embarking on our vacation travels and family hopping. This recipe is yet another “whatever is in the fridge” type of recipe.
In all honesty, I will never go back to traditional pesto. I like it. But it’s oily, it’s fattening, and basil is out of my budget. This is better. Kale is cheaper, its freshness is bolder and clean. The pistachios are grounding, the lemon is bright and tangy, and the few pinches of parmesan are salt and creamy. And that’s JUST the pesto part!
Topped with sweet and crunchy caramelized onions and sprinkled with shaved gouda cheese on whole wheat dough, this is the perfect light flatbread to pair with a salad and a glass of white wine.
What you need:
pizza dough (Trader Joe’s, this recipe, whatever your favorite flatbread is)
one onion; sliced
1 tsp sugar
oil for frying
3 1/2 c kale
2-3 tblsp olive oil
1/4 c parmesan cheese
juice from 2-3 lemons (to your taste)
1 c unsalted pistachios
salt (to taste)
1/2 c gouda cheese; grated
How to do it:
Preheat your oven to 450 F. Roll the dough out into a rectangle roughly 13 x 7 in – or whatever shape you prefer. Place the dough into the oven with a little olive oil painted onto the edges until the edges begin to brown. Slice your onion and cook with with the oil and sugar over medium heat until the onion browns and becomes soft. Meanwhile, throw all the “pesto” ingredients into a food processor until it looks like a paste. Remove the bread and spread the pesto all over it. You will probably have a little left over. When the onions look brown and crispy cover them all over the flatbread and sprinkle grated gouda evenly all over, including the edges. Place back into the oven for another 10 minutes or so – or at least until the cheese begins to bubble and the underside of the flatbread has browned. Enjoy!
Hi friends! I am having a major computer issue – and it’s the last week of finals – so as soon as this is settled, I will post something new. Please keep stopping by and checking in or subscribing to my blog (on the right hand side) so that you can stay in the loop every time I do post. Thanks for your patience!
I’ve been waiting till I thought you could think about food again.
I hope you all had delicious Thanksgivings, ate over 3000 calories, and were shocked when you woke up hungry.
This was one of the appetizers that I brought to our Thanksgiving dinner, and although not so much pull-apart ish as the first loaf I baked, incredible – melted Asiago and Parmesan cheese baked into each slice and tempered with the earthy freshness of the thyme and the warm flavor of the leaves of elephant garlic (which is not garlic at all but, rather, bulbous looking thing from the onion family that tastes subtly garlicky and looks like a leek–google image it). This recipe is inspired by my favorite local bakery, Arizmendi, where they have the best bread+cheese+buttermilk+cheese+cheese goods. One year I got one as part of my birthday present because I loved it so much. This is better. You MUST try this, if you decide not to try anything else on this blog.
And just look at it! It’s like the shar-pei puppy of bread baking!
You'll notice this picture looks different from the one above. This was the first loaf I made, with rosemary, and it was way more "pull-aparty" then the second life. I'll tell you why below.
2 tblsp leaves of elephant garlic; can find this at an Asian market (you can use leeks/green onion instead with a tsp of garlic)
1/2 tea spoon sea salt
For the dough:
2 c whole wheat bread flour
1 c all purpose flour
1 packet of yeast (2 1/4 tsp)
3 tblsp sugar
1 c warm water (baby-bottle temperature or warm enough that you can hold your finger in it for several seconds w/out freaking out)
This was the first time I made the recipe, when I let the dough rise for the right amount of time and used rosemary. It looks very different from the second batch, arguably WAY better. But if you stick to times, it will still taste great and should pull apart like this so you don't have to cut the slices.
But if you let it rise longer it will probably look like this, be less pull aparty, but be fluffier and taste better!
How to do it:
*Tip: if you let your bread rise longer than the recipe states, which I did, you will get a loaf like the one pictured above. It won’t pull apart as easily if you stick to these rising times, but I think it tastes better because it’s fluffier. And who cares anyway about pulling it apart? Just slice it! However, you may get lucky and get the taste and the pull apart-i-ness.
In a medium sized mixing bowl, combine yeast and sugar, and then add water the water and give it a quick stir. Add your 2 c of whole wheat flour and mix it together. Take one tblsp from your cup of all purpose flour and sprinkle it onto the counter; turn the dough out onto it and tblsp by tblsp add the rest of the all purpose flour, kneading all along for about 10 minutes. By the last few tblsp the dough will seem really dry, like it doesn’t need any more flour, but stick with it. Pour about 1 tblsp of olive oil into a bowl and spin your dough in it, flip it and spin it again to get the dough completely covered with oil. Cover bowl with a plastic bag and let rise in a warm place for one hour or until it doubles in size. Don’t let it rise for more than this unless you want the less pull-aparty bread (which is probs better).
Once it’s done rising, punch it down like it’s your Contracts final and your ready to…just punch it down. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Turn it onto a surface and roll out the dough with a glass cup so that it’s roughly 20 in wide by 12 in high. Brush a tsp or two of olive oil on the dough and add your “filling” mixture (but reserve a handful or two for the end). Press your hands gently on the dough to get the ingredients sort of stuck. Pieces will fall off but it’s okay! With a pizza cutter or knife you trust, cut the dough length-wise into 6 strips. Then stack the strips on top of each other. More pieces will fall off; it’s okay! Then cut through that stack (you’ll need a knife here) into 6 squares. Now, take each stack and place it in a 9×5 bread tin (or whatever tin you have available–it’s okay) with the filling side facing you. Sprinkle any remaining cheese or goodies on top and on the sides. Drizzle some olive oil over the top and toss that puppy in the oven for 35-40 minutes. Check at 30 minutes because ovens vary! Enjoy!
1. Pronunciation: “Muh-rock Koo-beh Ah-dome” = Red kubbeh soup. Kind of a mouth full, so let’s just call it “kubbeh.”
2. Kibbe/kubbeh/kubbi/kubba: sort of a “tuh-may-toe v. tuh-maw-toe” deal here = dough balls (made from semolina or bulgar) stuffed with ground beef (vegetarian suggestion below). Apparently there are over 17 kinds throughout the Middle East.
Best place to get it in Jerusalem? Befriend a Kurdish person, or go to Ima kubbeh bar in the Machaneh Yehuda market. Can’t make it to Jerusalem? Last I heard, Ima restaurant opened in New Jersey. Dying NOT to go to New Jersey? You can follow this recipe.
For the last year or so, my good friend Tamar has been blogging about being a “half breed,” (she is half Kurdish and half Ashkenazy/American) on her website halfbreedhaven.com. For some of us, having a dual identity ain’t no thang. We tattoo it on our arms, we write college admissions essays about it, and think it makes us unique or special in some way. I, for one, always wait for a wave of shock to pass over the face of a person whom I have just told I am half Persian to. They look for arm hair, they stare at my nose, and they almost can’t help themselves but say, “but you’re…so white!” And I just smile and feel grateful that I don’t have to wax my back hair.
It wasn’t until I moved to Israel that I learned from friends like Tamar that for many Israelis with Middle Eastern and North African roots, the places they “come from” are often a huge source of shame.
BUT, when it comes to food, ain’t no one gonna’ brag harder than a little Kurdish boy about his mama’s kubbeh. His mama’s kubbeh is better than your mama’s kubbeh, better than your mama’s mama’s kubbeh, and if your mama’s mama’s mama wasn’t Kurdish, you bes’ believe they are better than hers too! Indeed, food seems to be one aspect of “life in the old country” that no Jewish community dared to leave behind on the trek to Israel.
So, kubbeh soup, what is it? Think: your first sourdough baguette after the Atkins diet. Think: making it through “camel” pose in hot yoga without barfing. Think: a warm chocolate chip cookie right out of the oven while the chips are still soft and kinda burny on your tongue in the best kind of way. Kubbeh soup is satisfaction, repose, and, despite feeling thankful for my fair-skinned, hairless, Russian/Polish roots, it is an INFINITELY better version of matzo ball soup.
Like ice cream, Kubbeh soup comes in a couple different colors and flavors: Hamoutsa (lip-smackingly sour, tangy and practically inedible, in my opinion), Metaphonia (sweet, lemony and tomato-based) and then the beet-based version of Metaphonia. Sadly, no Kurdish grandmother taught me how to make this, but it is pretty darn close to the real deal. And, in case you were feeling like a smarty pants, the irony is not wasted on me that this post is about preserving traditional food recipes though I am taking liberties with the recipe. Nevertheless, I hope you enjoy it!
Makes about 12 servings
What you need (*You can use any veggies you want. Common ones are: zucchini, celery, carrots, and beets)
2 cups beets; peeled and coarsely chopped
2 small sweet potatoes; peeled and coarsely chopped
2 cups of carrots; chopped at varying lengths
three handfuls of kale; chopped (you can use spinach or any other green)
1 medium onion; diced
4 heaping tblsp tomato paste (almost one small can)
8 cups vegetable/chicken stock
1 cup water
1 tsp garlic; minced
juice of 3 lemons (if you have lemon salt, you can use this too or in replace of the lemons, but start slow)
olive oil
salt & pepper (quite a bit, but taste as you go)
For the kubbeh:
4 cups semolina
2 cups water
1 cup fresh parsley; finely chopped
1 small onion; finely chopped
1 tsp garlic; minced
1 lb ground beef (you can use whatever meat you love) *if you want to make this VEGETARIAN, blitz anything vegetarian that you like together: celery, mushrooms, almonds, tofu and use that instead*
Just to start: this soup gets better as the days go by, like most soups. So be happy if you have some left overs.
In a large pot, heat up a few tblsp of olive oil. Toss in the onions, and after a few minutes, add the garlic and cook until the onions are translucent. Add the beets, carrots, sweet potatoes (whatever veggies you want, really) and saute together for a few minutes. Then add the tomato paste, stir it all together and add the stock and water. Simmer on medium for an hour uncovered. When you’re about to enjoy the soup, add the lemon and/or lemon salt and season with salt & pepper to taste.
While it’s simmering away, over medium heat, toast the baharat spice with a tblsp or two of oil until you smell its fragrance. Add the onions and saute until translucent. Add the meat, parsley, salt and pepper and cook until the meat is done, breaking it up with a knife or fork as it cooks.
In a small bowl, combine the semolina and water and let it sit until the semolina soaks up all the water. It should not be crazy sticky but it should NOT be wet. If it is, add a little more semolina. Once the water is absorbed, make ping pong sized balls by rolling it between your hands.
Don't repeat my mistakes. Make yours FLATTER than this!
Flatten the ball in your hand, make a slight cavity in the center, and place as much meat as will fit in the cavity so that you can still pinch up the edges and roll it back into a ball.
Place the balls into the soup, as many as will fit without crowding, and cook for another 30 minutes. The balls will soak up all the flavor and get bigger. *Tip: try to reeeeally flatten that dough out. You don’t want heavy kubbeh balls because it’s incredibly filling even when they’re light.
A little overcrowded in that bowl. It was a really shallow dish!
I think I figured out how to make Cafe Bezalel’s EXTRAORDINARY jam.
Now, if you’ve never had it and you’re wondering what it is, and why I’m calling something with cherry tomatoes and star anise “extraordinary,” you are probably in good company. I can actually assure you that you are because those two thoughts crossed my mind when I first learned the ingredients in this jam.
Desperate to know how to make this, on three different occasions I pretended to have a severe allergy to certain ingredients in jam (???…I don’t know. It worked.) in the hopes that some generous person (read: fool) would tell me how to make this truly extraordinarily flavored treat. And someone did! Well, sort of. In true to-the-point Israeli style, each of the servers told me: cherry tomatoes and anise. So, I just filled in the blanks…sugar, lemon, sugar, sugar, date honey, you get the idea. And then I added plums because I couldn’t really get the color right. You really have to try this, if for no other reason than just to marvel at the combination. You don’t even have to eat it! Give it to a co-worker as a gift! Or to that guy down the hall… 😉 But why wouldn’t you eat it
Soooo….you’re welcome. I hope you enjoy it! Let me know your thoughts!
Makes about 8 oz, maybe a little more
(*Just one quick thing: this recipe will depend upon the type of cherry tomatoes you find. The ones I had in Israel when I made this were reaaaally sweet–those long, tear-drop shaped ones. But the rest of us can just add extra sugar/honey.)
What you need:
2 c cherry tomatoes; halved (amount after slicing)
1/2 c dark plums; chopped (optional)
1/2 c sugar + 1/2 c date honey
1 tblsp lemon juice
2 star anise seeds
How to do it
Over medium heat, combine all the ingredients. Bring it to a boil, constantly stirring for about 10 minutes. When film begins to form spoon it off and discard. After about 10 minutes, let it simmer for about 5 more minutes. You don’t have to stir it but keep an eye to make sure nothing is sticking and burning. Turn off the heat, let it sit for about 10 minutes or so and then transfer to a jar. It stays good for about 2 wks.
I don’t know that Adam thought about the repercussions of making such a delicious tomato sauce when he did a couple of weeks ago. Had he, I’m nearly certain he would have kept his talents under cover because we’ve had it four time since! That night, brainstorming dinner ideas, he very casually mentioned, “You know, I could make this really tasty tomato sauce that my aunt Danielle in Israel makes. She squeezes the tomatoes with her hands!” My eyes shot out of my head. Um, where have you been hiding this recipe, mister? It’s a good thing I have you locked into my future, otherwise I’d have to make a move fast!
Before getting carried away, I have to admit that I really didn’t think it was going to be anything special. I tried to make a “freshly squeezed” tomato sauce for Shakshuka once, thinking, “this must have been how people did this in the good old days…” and it was a disaster–tasteless, overly chunky, BORING! But this sauce, Adam’s sauce, is unbearably delicious. In fact, and I’m not lying to you, I just got some on my keyboard because I went into the kitchen to snoop for remaining globs stuck to the pot. It is so, so, must-try-this-right-now good and only takes about 15-20 minutes to prepare.
Makes 4 servings (if you like “medium-light” sauce); Makes 3 servings (if you like “heavy” sauce)
What you need:
6 tomatoes; (2 chopped and 4 peeled + squeezed–you can just peel them with a peeler)
about 20 porcini mushrooms (or 2 small box packages); quartered
2 1/2 tblsp canola oil
1 1/2 tblsp water
1/2 c fresh basil; chopped
1 tsp salt
1 tsp black pepper
1 red onion; finely chopped
2-3 tsp garlic; minced
1 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tsp dried oregano
One peeled tomato “got away” in this picture
How to do it:
In a saucepan over high heat, heat the oil, water, mushrooms and onions, stirring occasionally. After you see that the onions have begun to brown and you the fragrance becomes strong, add the garlic, salt, pepper, spices and chopped tomatoes. Take the peeled whole tomatoes and squeeze all the juices out into the saucepan. Drop the remaining tomato into the saucepan. In the last five minutes or so, add the chopped basil. After 15-20 minutes, stirring occasionally, your sauce will be ready! Season according to your preference. Enjoy!
Leah Goldberg wrote: Perhaps only migrating birds know/ Suspended between earth and sky/The heartache of two homelands.
After posting last week, I began worrying that I have been straying from my Jerusalem-inspired cooking and settling with recipes that are simply easy to make. This is probably because Trader Joe’s is at my beck and call, the onions are pre-chopped, the lettuce is pre-washed, the peppers are roasted and peeled, and the artichokes are have been marinating for months. That’s right, I said it: although finding a job might be near impossible, cooking in America is E.A.S.Y. But like anything easy, there is nothing gained in the process.
Whatever the reason is, I’m missing Jerusalem these days–young women in casual clothing with mane’s of braided hair sipping coffee on Shatz St. at all hours of the day and night; old women chafing my heels with their shuk carts and barreling through the herds of men to get the perfect potato; men singing hymns from the “old country” and lamenting the loss of their quaint neighborhoods to wealthy Americans who don’t even speak Hebrew. I miss my lettuce being covered in dirt and my onions looking like war casualties. Hell, I even miss that weird gelatin stuff inside my pomellos. What the hell was that anyway?
Which brings me to today’s post: chocolate, tahini and pistachio bark. Something delicious and quick with the perfect amount of Jerusalem inspiration.
What you need:
3 cups of dark chocolate morsles/chunks/chips/whateva works, folks
1/2 c raw tahini (if I did it again I’d probably try 1/2 c + 2 tblsp)
3/4 c ground pistachio (not too ground up though–you want there to be bites of pistachio in each crunch); I just put the shelled pistachios in a bag and crushed them with the back of a glass
How to do it:
Melt the chocolate in a double boiler or in the microwave. While it’s melting, spread the pistachios (reserve some for decorating at the end) on parchment paper on a baking sheet.
Once it’s melted, add the tahini and mix it in with the tip of a knife, swirling and marbling. You will have to stick the knife all the way to the bottom and bring the tahini upwards to combine it all. Pour the mixture over the nuts. Pour a few tblsp worth of tahini in a cup and then get some of it on your knife.
Swirl that into the mixture to make it look more marble-like, returning your knife to the cup until it looks how you want it to. Sprinkle the remaining nuts on top.
Place in the fridge for 2.5-3 hrs and then break it into pieces. Store in the fridge because the tahini doesn’t harden as well as the chocolate and you don’t want a melt-fest on your hands. Enjoy!
Shame on me. I’ve been a little tardy with my posting this week. As an apology, I’m posting two recipes that I’m calling “cheaters,” because you can put them together in NO time and together they almost amount to the time of making one meal. Chocolate bark is, like, the easiest thing ever. You can’t screw this up. You can’t even make this take more than 10 minutes. So, if you’re looking for a recipe to complain about, this ain’t it! But what this IS is the perfect thing to make as a holiday gift, for your children if you’re a busy working mom, or even just as an impressive looking dessert. Please also check out this BEAUTIFUL chocolate, tahini & pistachio bark!
What you need:
1 lb dark chocolate (I use the 72% bars from Trader Joes, but chocolate chips or regular chocolate bars are fine)
1/2-3/4 c assorted nuts/dried fruit–depends on how many “goodies” you want in your pieces (grab your favorite trail mix, assortment of dried fruit–dried cranberries, almonds and apricots are a great combo, but salty peanuts or broken pretzel pieces would be fantastic, too, I think)
1/2 tsp orange zest (*optional, but I forgot to put this initially)
1 piece of parchment paper and a baking pan (do NOT use wax paper–it will stick and ruin your day)
How to do it:
Melt the chocolate over a flame in a double-boiler OR in the microwave. While it’s melting, place your parchment paper on a pan and lay your nuts/fruit on it, spread out kind of evenly. Once it melts, add your orange zest.
Pour the chocolate over the nuts, directly onto the parchment paper. Tilt the pan back and forth so the chocolate evens out, somewhat. The thicker it looks, the thicker your pieces will be. The more you thin it out, well, you get the idea…Feel free to sort of spread it around with your plastic spatula.
Place in the refrigerator for 2-3 hours. Once hard, break into pieces of bark and store in tupperware in fridge. Just a fair warning: this kinda melts quickly once it has been out of the fridge for a bit, so serve with napkins. Enjoy!
Now, on to cheater #2
Artichoke hearts, basil and shaved parmesan
At one of my favorite restaurants in Jerusalem, they serve a really simple and fantastic artichoke appetizer. For the longest time I couldn’t figure out how they made the marinade for the artichoke hearts so damn good. So, I just asked. And the answer was: we just open the jar. So, while I am normally one to make my bread instead of buy it, sometimes it pays to be lazy.
Serves: 2-3 people
What you need:
1 jar of artichokes “in brine” or in whatever marinade looks good to you
1/4-1/2 c of basil, cut into ribbons (how to do this here)
parmesan; shaved (the amount is up to you, but it should be about a piece of parmesan per artichoke)
How to do it:
Really? … Place the artichokes on the plate. Put the cheese next. Then the basil. Make it look pretty. Serve as a fast appetizer/lunch or side dish and enjoy!
I should have kept my big mouth shut. After all that gloating about San Francisco summer arriving, it has been raining, raining, raining on and off for the last week. So, a warm bowl of soup seems more appropriate than a cold bowl of ice cream. This is Adam’s mom’s recipe for pea soup, and even though I didn’t grow up with it, it is just as comforting as if I had. This is the perfect kind of soup for “dunking.” You don’t even need a spoon– you can just eat it with a big chunk of sourdough bread. Well, more like several big chunks of bread. It’s thick, filling, and the strong taste of peas is somewhat offset by the thyme and rosemary that give it a a little something special.
Makes about 4 large bowls of soup
What you need:
vegetable oil for frying
1 onion; chopped
4 1/2 c chicken broth
3 1/2 c water
2 1/2 c dry split peas
1/2-1 tsp salt (your preference)
pepper to taste
1 tblsp of dried thyme
1 tblsp dried rosemary
1 sourdough baguette for dunking (optional if you’re gluten-free)
How to do it:
Heat up the oil in your pot over med-high heat. Once they turn slightly goldeny brown, add some salt, give it a quick stir and add your peas, broth, water, and herbs. Cover until it boils and then lift the lid slightly ajar for about 30 minutes. Use a blender or immersion blender to puree the soup. Serve with big chunks of sourdough bread, or toast some of them to make croutons. Can top with a little parmesan cheese, if you like. Enjoy!
I know what you’re thinking: Um, Lauren, this post is about a month overdue. It’s not warm where I live anymore.
Well, allow me gloat for just a moment. Because the weather is pri-taaay, pri-taaaay nice in San Francisco these days. Now, whether or not you can get the wording right the first time, we have all heard Mark Twain’s famous saying that, “The coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in San Francisco.” Though Monday-Friday most of my life is spent inside of over-air conditioned rooms, the weekends are always a much-welcomed reminder that it is, in fact, summer in these parts. So you can imagine my surprise to have spent a Sunday afternoon, in October, in San Francisco in shorts and a tank top. And maybe your surprise is just coming from the fact that I was wearing shorts (yes, most people should really just not wear them). Well, after you eat this ice cream, you will definitely not want to be seen in shorts… No, just kidding.
So, this is my long-winded intro to: it’s warm in San Francisco, and I want to eat ice cream!
Sadly, my brother, sister, fiance and step-dad all hate rose water. Pooey for them because I like to cook with it and it’s in a lot of my recipes. So much to their dissatisfaction, the rose water & saffron ice cream was a serious downer. BUT, my loving and adoring grandparents devoured it and my dad and step-mom thought it sounded fantastic (and would have LOVED it had they tasted it).
The rose water gives the ice cream just a slight floral taste sweetened by the saffron. It has a beautiful bold color and the flavors to match, so if you don’t cringe at the thought of rose water, you should try it out. Even more so if you can find somewhere affordable to buy the saffron. My grandma hooked me up.
Use this recipe except replace fennel seeds with about 1/2 tsp of saffron and 2 tblsp rosewater. Add both at the stage when you would add the fennel. And skip the chocolate step. Enjoy!
my jerusalem kitchen 
