My friend brought this mezze over for Shabbat dinner (Friday night). Her Kurdish-Iraqi grandmother used to make it. It’s teenager friendly. My 13 year-old son, who’s an adventurous eater but eggplant hater, loved it. You can serve with other mezzes…
Every year for Thanksgiving, I let my American friends be in charge of the traditional holiday dishes while I’m in charge of cooking a few vegetable sides and plant-based mains. However, if you’re looking for authentic classic American Thanksgiving dishes,…
As much as I love desserts and sweets, for some reason I am not a big fan of sweet potatoes on their own. They’re too intense for me. I love them only when their sweetness is balanced with acidic and…
According to Wikipedia, Baba Ganoush is a Levantine dish. According to me, it’s Shabbat at my mother’s. She has been making it every Friday for Shabbat dinner since I was a kid. Some people make their baba G with tahini…
Even as a recipe developer I sometimes don’t know what to make for dinner. When nothing comes to mind I start rinsing and peeling the vegetables I have on hand. And while doing so something interesting happens. I start cooking…
We, my immediate and extended family and I, live on side dishes. Instead of making a main dish with a side dish, we make two or three vegetable dishes with a condiment on the side or a bunch of mezzes…
Carrot isn’t the most exciting vegetable, right? But when you steam it lightly, to soften it just slightly, then mix it with homemade harissa (or store-bought) and lemon juice it becomes the sultan of the garden. So make a lot…
I know that many of you don’t like eggplants, but you know how I always say, “You must try it again and again until your palate is hooked.” Especially when the eggplants are roasted in a Dutch oven for an…
On hot summer days, when I can’t eat anything but vegetables, I like to roast any vegetables I have on hand and serve them with some sort of grain, such as rice or couscous, cilantro, parsley, or dill, and toasted…
When you have some 1 or more fresh or wrinkly jalapeños that you’re not sure what to do with, make this Yemenite chimichurri. It would last for a month and you can use it during the week on avocado or…
The aroma of burnt peppers always reminds me of home, my mother’s house in the Negev, the desert of Israel. Every Friday noon my mother burns, directly on the flames, green hot peppers for matbucha (spicy cooked tomato salad), and…
Potato salads come in all shapes and sizes, and I love every single one of them. However, if I had to pick a favorite, it would be this soul-gratifying one right here. This humble, easy-to-make salad is an absolute flavor…
A non-Israeli friend of friends made this dish for Fourth of July, while we were visiting them in Montana. She told me that if she had known that we were Israeli, she would have made something else. I am glad…
I usually make this when I have leftover basmati rice. If you don’t have leftover rice, it takes 12 minutes to cook basmati (but make sure you wash it thoroughly). You can make it with one type of herb or…
I made this dish for lunch with friends and served it with hummus, tahini and burnt peppers and everybody loved it, except for my son, Leo, who doesn’t know yet how much he loves eggplants. Alex, my younger son, who…
My older sister, Liraz, gave me the recipe. I love how she makes it, but she lives 6,745 miles away from me. God knows when I’ll be able to fly again. This is a great side dish. The other day…
Many times I look at the vegetables and let them tell me what to do with them. This is exactly what I did with the Japanese yams that I bought in the Korean supermarket (They were organic, small and cute…
This is the kind of dish I consider humble yet smart. Where the ingredients speak for themselves.
I like to make this lentil shepherd’s pie when a vegan friend comes over for dinner—it impresses and satisfies EVERYONE. People can’t believe my mashed potatoes don’t have any milk or butter – that’s the magic of olive oil and…
I learned to cook from both of my parents, mostly from my mother. But I learned to improvise from my father. He taught me not to stick to a script and not to let anything stop me from cooking, even…