Anise & Sesame Cookies

These fragrant Spanish cookies, tortas (cakes) de aceite y anís, remind me of my grandmother’s anise biscuits, Reifat. I often wonder about their origin. Did the exiled Jews brought them to Morocco from Spain? Alternatively, did the Moors introduce them…

Potatoes & Sauerkraut Stew

I started to have a blast in the kitchen when I felt comfortable improvising and cooking without recipes. Now don’t get me wrong, I love being tucked in bed with a good cookbook or discovering a great recipe online but…

Lentils cooked with Eggplant & Tomatoes

I googled the history of lentils and learned a few interesting facts about them.   Man has been eating tiny dried lentils practically since the beginning. Wow, really? I wonder how my ancestors knew they were edible. By 6000 B.C.,…

Smoky Eggplant Dip

My favorite meals are those vibrant dinners which are assembled from a bunch of dips, sides and small plates instead of ordinary main dish-side-and-salad dinner. We eat like that everyday but it never gets boring because they are colorful and…

Smoky Eggplant & tomato Mezze

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…