Chickpea & Jerusalem Artichoke Soup
When I was a kid my mother made this chickpea soup once a week during the winter. It doesn’t snow in the Negev, the desert of Israel but it is freaking cold. I always say that the winter in New…
7 Plant-Based Mains For Cold Days
Here are our most favorite, plant-based main-dishes for puffy-coat weather or semi cold swather weather. They’ll keep you warm, cozy and nourished. Except for the slow-roasted eggplant, the rest of the dishes are kid friendly (well, my kids and their…
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…
Wintery Fruit Salad With Rosemary
I remember the night and the place where my husband and I discovered the amazing combination of fruits and rosemary. It was back in 2010 when we moved to Los Angeles from Israel and visited Sage Vegan Bistro in Echo…
Epic Baba Ganoush
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…
Indian Style Okra & Zucchini
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 in hand. And while doing so something interesting happens. I start cooking…
Gluten-Free Yeasted Bread
Everyone should learn how to make bread even if they live above a boulangerie. When I made my first loaf at age 24, I felt the same sense of freedom and achievement I felt when I passed the driving test…
Indian Style Yellow beans
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 vegetables dishes with a condiment on the side or a bunch of mezzes…
African Stew with Peanut Butter
I adapted the recipe from Mark Hayman’s cookbook What The Hell Shall I cook? Mark adapted it from Hugh Jackman. I googled the recipe to see where it originally came from; Central and West Africa but I was wondering who’s…
Moroccan-Style Carrot With Harissa
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…
Moroccan-Style braised Vegetables & Chickpeas
This dish is based on a Moroccan fish recipe which my mother and grandmother used to make only on weekdays. God forbid if you made it for Shabbat dinner. Moroccan Jews can be very particular about weekday food vs. Shabbat…
Baked Nectarines, Peaches & Plums
I intended to make a fruit crisp but I accidentally over processed the nut mixture into a sandy mixture. So I mixed it with 1 egg to fix it and the crust came out chewy, like nougat. It was tasty…
Eggplant, Shallot & Scallion Stew
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…
Roasted Eggplant, cauliflower, Zucchini & pumpkin Over Couscous
In the hot summer days, when I can’t eat anything but vegetables, I like to roast any vegetables I have in hand and serve them with some sort of a grain, such as rice or couscous, cilantro parsley or dill,…
Oat & Yogurt Sandwich Cookies
When I am in Trader Joes I rarely stroll the cookies and sweets aisle. Some days – days when the universe seem to be an asshole – it’s a torture to pass by my favorite Maple Leaf Cookies or cookie…
Smoky Bell Peppers
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…
Moroccan Cooked Tomato salad
You can’t write about salada matbucha without writing about Yeruham. The Jewish Moroccan spicy tomato cooked salad and my hometown in the Negev, the desert of Israel, go together. The aroma of tomatoes cooked with garlic and charred green spicy…
Potato & Caramelized Onion Salad
There are so many versions of potato salads. I love them all. One of my favorite is the potato and herb salad and this one. It’s humble, easy to make and delicious. The caramelized onions gives it extra sweetness and…
Toasted Israeli Couscous With Pine Nuts, Currants & Parsley
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…
Turkish-Style Yeasted Flatbreads
Most bread recipes normally take 1-2 hours to proof, this dough needs only 30-50 minutes. Another convenient fact is the number of ingredients; 2, flour and yeast. I adopted the recipe from Musa Dagdeviren’s magnificent cookbook The Turkish Cookbook .…