Foodbuzz 24, 24, 24: 5 Stars Dinner at Home… But Will the Kids Eat It?

Are you a foodie? Are you a foodie and a parent? Do your kids share your passion for food? Or do they give you a hard time?

I am a foodie and a picky eater in a choosy finicky, or conscious eating way. Since we got married, I got my husband all excited about food too. Our kids, however, are a different story. We have a one-year-old girl who is willing to try anything, almost, but changes her mind about what she likes and dislikes quite often. And we have a kindergartener who challenges us more.

I always try to cook family friendly food (hence the name and essence of my blog) that we will all like. I compromise a lot between what I really love to cook and eat and what kids usually prefer (we all know what THAT is). I really go a long way to make them happy but I draw the line when it comes to junk food. We have never ordered pizza or any other take-out and we never set foot, (or car), at any of the junk fast food places (Well, not willingly. Oh, how I hate those kiddies birthday parties at Chuck E Cheese). Once a month I might prepare an upgraded pizza (see recipe here) or a Mac and Cheese but then I use real wonderful artisanal cheeses.

My son can be a picky eater even when it comes to dessert. He always prefers a candy (from Halloween and birthday parties… ) over a fresh home-baked cake. Can you believe it?! (Click here to see the cakes). On one hand, this kid can tell the difference between goat cheese, feta, parmesan, Gouda, Swiss, Brousin, mozzarella, cheddar… and of course, a cheese stick. On the other hand, he is a typical 5 years-old. After a few years of trying different strategies with the kid, I have decided – enough. This is not really working anyway and I’m getting bored with the food that we eat. We’re going back to what mommy likes to cook and eat. So OK, no chilies and no Bobby Flay food yet, but a few weeks ago I cooked dinner and the menu was:

Young onion tart with cantal, applewood-smoked bacon, and Herb salad
From “Sunday Suppers at Lacques” cookbook


Butternut squash, butter lettuce, arugula and apple salad
Inspired by Ina Garten’s recipe from her new cookbook “Back to Basics”

It was heavenly.

Why this menu?

The choice of the menu was affected by our decision to eat less meat and chicken following a few posts I wrote about the cruel conditions under which animals are raised. (No, we’re not becoming vegetarians, just eating a smaller amount of animals and less frequently. If you care about conscious eating, see my second blog “Good Food and Bad Food”)

I knew the menu will be a tricky one with the kids. However, I decided to make it anyway because I was very curious about the recipes and I fell in love with “Sunday Suppers at Lacques” cookbook (there’s a short review at the end of the post). The food was so amazingly delicious. And this is an understatement. Really. It was like a 5 stars restaurant dinner but only at home. (And by “5 stars” I mean in flavor, not in labor-intensive preparations). The baby devoured the tart. She had crumbs all over her face and in her beautiful and funny hair. The kindergartener? He, surprisingly, ate the onions on the tart. The onions! He never eats onions. He declares a ban on onions, and onions, you know, are the base for many many dishes. He ate it and said that it was good! Then I told him: “you know, those are onions”. His answer: “no, this is a new kind of chicken”.

Since we loved the tart and salad so much, I wanted to make them again. Tonight I have recreated this dinner to show you: 1) the challenges foodie parents face with young kids at home, 2) how amazingly delicious these dishes are, 3) how fantastically simple and easy it can be to cook a 5 stars dinner at home, and, of course, 4) the funny comments and reactions from the kids’ point of view.

The menu:
* Onion tart with gruyere, applewood-smoked bacon, and Herb salad
* Butternut squash, butter lettuce, arugula and apple salad
* Good wine (not for the kids) – Meadow 2007, Ross Andrew winery, Oregon (Something local that the guy at the grocery store recommended with my menu. Thanks, Bruce! It is a lovely wine.)
* Home-made cinnamon ice cream (you have been so good to read this long post up to this point, so I give you a bonus – dessert. Actually, we always have dessert on the weekend, remember the cakes?)


The Recipes:

Young Onion Tart with Cantal, Applewood-Smoked Bacon, and Herb Salad
Don’t skip making the herb salad. It will be a huge huge mistake. It is so unique and to die for.
Slightly adapted from Suzanne Goin, “Sunday Suppers at Lucques”
Serves 6-8

1 sheet frozen all-butter puff pastry (I used two 8*9-inch sheets)
1 extra-large egg yolk
½-pound sliced applewood-smoked bacon
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 cups sliced onions, red and white
1 tablespoon thyme leaves
½ cup whole milk ricotta, drained if wet
¼ cup crème fraiche
1/3 pound Cantal, Gruyère, or Comté cheese, thinly sliced

½ cup flat-leaf parsley leaves
¼ cup tarragon leaves
¼ cup chervil sprigs
¼ cup 1/2-inch-snipped chives
A drizzle super-good extra virgin olive oil
½ lemon, for juicing
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

Preheat the oven to 400°F.
Defrost the puff pastry slightly and unroll it onto a parchment-lined baking sheet. Use a paring knife to score a 1/4-inch border around the edge of the pastry.

Stack the bacon slices in two piles, then cut crosswise into 3/8-inch rectangles or lardons.

Heat a large sauté pan over high heat for 2 minutes. Add 1 tablespoon olive oil, and allow to heat another minute. Add the bacon, and sauté over medium high heat 4 to 5 minutes, until slightly crisp but still tender. Reduce the heat to low, and toss in the young onions, thyme, and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Stir together a minute or two, until the onions are just wilted. Toss in the onion tops, and remove to a baking sheet or platter lined with paper towels to soak the fat, and to cool a bit.

Place the ricotta, egg yolk, and 1 tablespoon olive oil in abowl and whisk until smooth. Gently fold in the crème fraîche and season with 1/8 teaspoon salt and a pinch of pepper. Spread the ricotta mixture on the puff pastry within the scored border. Lay the Cantal over the ricotta, and arrange the bacon-onion mixture on top.

Bake the tart 20 to 25 minutes, rotating the baking sheet once, until the cheese is bubbling and the crust is golden brown. Lift up the edge of the tart and peek underneath to make sure the crust is cooked through. (If you underbake the tart, it will be soggy.)

Toss the herbs in a small bowl with salt, pepper, a drizzle of super-good olive oil, and a squeeze of lemon juice.

Cut tart to wedges and serve with herb salad.

Butternut squash, butter lettuce, arugula and apple salad
Inspired by Ina Garten’s recipe from her new cookbook “Back to Basics”
Serves 4-6

1 (1 1/2-pound) butternut squash, peeled and cut in 3/4-inch dice
Good olive oil
1 tablespoon maple syrup
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
4 teaspoons apple cider vinegar
2 tablespoons sliced shallot
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
4 ounces baby arugula
½ head butter lettuce, torn into 2 bite-size pieces
1 apple, thinly sliced
1/2 cup walnut halves, toasted
3 tablespoons dried cranberries

Preheat the oven to 400°F.
Place the squash on a sheet pan. Add 2 tablespoons olive oil, the maple syrup, ½ teaspoon salt, and ½ teaspoon pepper and toss. Roast the squash for 20 to 30 minutes, or until tender.

To make the vinaigrette, mix the cider vinegar, shallot, and mustard in a small bowl. Whisk in ¼ cup olive oil, salt, and black pepper.
Place the arugula and butter lettuce in a large salad bowl and add the roasted squash and apple. Add the cranberries and walnuts. Spoon just enough vinaigrette over the salad to moisten, and toss well.

Cinnamon Ice Cream
Make this at least 1 day ahead just to be on the safe side that the ice cream has the right consistency.
Slightly adapted from Suzanne Goin, “Sunday Suppers at Lucques”
Makes 1 quart

2 cups whole milk
2 cups heavy cream
2 cinnamon sticks
¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
4 extra-large egg yolks
½ cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract*
1 teaspoon hazelnuts extract*
Pinch ground cinnamon for serving*

Place the milk, cream, cinnamon sticks, and ground cinnamon in a medium pot. Bring to a boil over medium heat. Turn off the heat, cover, and let the flavors infuse about 30 minutes.

Bring mixture back to a boil over medium heat, stirring occasionally. Turn off the heat.
Whisk the egg yolks and sugar together in a bowl. Whisk a few tablespoons of warm cream mixture into the yolks to temper them. Slowly, add another ¼ cup or so of the warm cream, whisking to incorporate. At this point, you can add the rest of the cream mixture in a slow steady steam, whisking constantly. Pour the mixture back into the pot and return to the stove.

Cook the custard over medium heat 6 to 8 minute, stirring with a rubber spatula, scraping the bottom and sides of the pan. The custard will thicken, and when it’s done will coat the back of the spatula. Off the heat, add the vanilla and hazelnut extracts and mix. Strain (in a fine mesh sieve) and chill at least 2 hours in the refrigerator. The base should be very cold before you churn it. Process in an ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions.

Serve with a sprinkle of ground cinnamon.

*My additions.

Kiddies comments and reactions:

Herb salad
I put some salad on my son’s plate. He immediately burst into tears. E.: “I don’t like salad. Take it out of my plate. I want a new plate”. Me: “OK, I’ll take it out”. E. :”no, I want a new plate”. Me: “I’ll wipe it clean”. E.: “you can’t wipe out the flavor”. Me: “relax already. Here, see? It’s all gone”.

R., that’s the baby, on the other hand, didn’t try it at all. The minute she saw it, she threw it away from her tray and onto the floor. E. finds it very amusing and laughs loudly. She was however, very interested in a long stem of chives.

Butternut squash salad
Me: “how about this salad? This lettuce taste very nice”. E.: “no, I don’t like salad”. Me: “OK, what about eating the ingredients separately but not the lettuce?” E.: “OK”.

R. tried to eat the lettuce but had a hard time chewing on it since she has only 2 tiny teeth. She made a funny face and spitted it out. Well, at least she tried. She ate the squash but can’t eat the berries and nuts (choking hazards).

Onion tart
E. eats the bacon on top of the tart, and then stops. Me: “why don’t you eat all the “pizza””? E.: “it has onions. I don’t like onions”. My husband: “you ate the onions last time and liked it”. E.: “No I didn’t. I don’t like onions”. Me: “OK, just take them out and put it on the side of your plate and finish eating it”. Then he takes a bite and me and my husband see the onion hanging from the side. There’s a moment of silence… he ate it! Didn’t say a word.

R. loves this tart. No complains on her part.

Ice cream
Me: “today we have home-made ice cream!” E. – “I want a candy on the ice cream because ice cream alone doesn’t taste good to me.” Me: “you need to choose – ice cream or candy”. E: “then candy”. At the end he chose a Scooby Doo push up Popsicle, leftover from his birthday party last spring. Me: “how can you choose a Scooby Doo over home-made ice cream?” E.: “I’ll eat ice cream another time”. Me: “so why don’t you eat the Scooby Doo another time and tonight you’ll eat ice cream?” E.: “because that is what I chose”.

R. – this is the first ice cream she had in her life! She loved it. She even managed to feed herself with a teaspoon for the first time.

Some photos taken by E. who likes to take pictures and do some food styling

Conclusions:
For this kind of dinner, send the kids to someone else’s home, like grandma and grandpa, if you can. Open a bottle of good wine, dim the lights, and have a nice, quiet dinner at home with good adult conversation, because this is the best food. I tell ya. And young kids are just too… too young to appreciate it. One day I’m sure they will.

Good night... Bye bye...

The Cookbooks:

“Sunday Suppers at Lacques” by Suzanne Goin
I have heard about Lacques cookbook here and there, don’t remember exactly where… so I borrowed it from the library (that’s what I do before deciding if I am going to buy a book or not). There is something about that book that makes you fall in love with it immediately. I can’t quite tell what it is. I really love that it is arranged by seasons. (Already an excellent reason to love a cookbook). But there’s something beyond that. Could it be the simplicity of its sophistication or the sophistication of its simplicity? There’s something very earthy, rustic, yet terribly smart and chic about it. The recipes I have read seem to be pretty easy to make, the photos are gorgeous. Everyone should own a copy of this book.

“Back to Basics” by Ina Garten
The Barefoot Contessa… no need to elaborate what I love about her, like so many millions of people around the world. I thought that owning 4 of her cookbooks is enough but I just couldn’t resist buying the fifth one. It is just as good and beautiful as the previous ones.

Wow! You have made it this far! It is a loooong post. I admire you! I do.
Would you like to subscribe to my blog? Click here.

Thank you for reading! Nurit.

Thank you Foodbuzz!

Some links and related posts:

Good Food & Bad Food blog
Sometimes it’s Pizza for Dinner
A cake for the weekendHome-Made Food is the Best!
Cooking with Kids: “Feast Lesson”
Baking with kids: Chocolate-banana cookies, recreating the magic

Very Happy

I love buying books. Especially cookbooks. It makes me very happy.
So this week I am very happy.
7 times happy!

I already have 112 cookbooks (after giving away 5 cookbooks this week) and don’t get me started on the food magazines. Dozens of those. I’m an addict, I know.

So I bought 5 new cookbooks for an average price of $16 per book – how cool is that?!
While you can buy cookbooks for lower prices in all kinds of online stores and at Costco, my preferred store to buy food-related books is Jessica’s Biscuit. It is the only store I know where you can buy cookbooks at such low prices + get FREE shipping + receive an extra FREE cookbook as a gift + a FREE yearly subscription to a food magazine! That actually brings the price down to about $11 per item! Is that a sweet deal or what?!

The service is great too. You can actually talk to a living person if you need help and find their contact info in a few seconds – it’s in their logo (and not spend 2 hours trying to find it like I did last time I shopped online at a store, starting with A... and needed customer service. What a waste of time).

So what did I buy?

1. A Platter of Figs and Other Recipes by David Tanis (for $22.75 instead of $35)

This is the book for anyone who wants to gather and feed friends around a table and nurture their conversation. It’s not about showing off with complicated techniques and obscure ingredients. Worlds away from the showy Food Network personalities, Tanis believes that the most satisfying meals—for both the cook and the guest—are invariably the simplest. Home cooks can easily re-create any of his 24 seasonal, market-driven menus.


2. Lunch Lessons Changing The Way We Feed Our Children By Ann Cooper (For $13.77 instead of 22.95)

This recipes-filled guide offers delightful alternatives to the school lunch frustrations, and helps parents help kids learn how to identify and appreciate healthy foods and make better choices about their lives in the future.
Packed with step-by-step activities including 100 recipes arranged by season--this family resource brings parents and kids together in the kitchen to learn exciting and wholesome meals ands an empowering approach to food and health.


3. The Art of Simple Food by Alice Waters (for $20.98 instead of $35)

Culinary phenomenon Alice Waters proposes an entirely new way to cook and eat--simple, local, sustainable, and, above all, delicious. With 20 lessons for teaching core principles and over 200 flawless recipes, this is the basic handbook that every cook, new or experienced, must add to his or her collection this year.


4. Mark Bittman's Quick and Easy Recipes by Mark Bittman (for $11.37 instead of $18.95)

In sections that cover everything from appetizers, soups, and sauces to meats, vegetables, side dishes, and desserts, Mark Bittman’s Quick and Easy Recipes from The New York Times showcases the elegant and flexible cooking style for which Bittman is famous, as well as his deep appreciation for fresh ingredients prepared with minimal fuss. Readers will find tantalizing recipes from all over, each requiring basic techniques and only a handful of ingredients.


5. Making Of A Chef Mastering Heat At The Culinary Institute Of America by Michael Ruhlman (for $12.80 instead of $16)

Ruhlman learns fundamental skills and information about the behavior of food that make cooking anything possible.

6. I got Gourmet Ireland cookbook (free)
7. a full year subscription to Gourmet magazine (free)


The kids got a new toy too. They are happy and playing with the books' box for hours...




And, a message to my friends:
Next year, when you buy me cookbooks for my birthday (always a good and safe choice for a gift. You can’t go wrong), don’t go to Barnes and Noble or Borders and buy a book for 100% full price (usually $35 per book give and take a few $). Go to Jessica's Biscuit and save money on your purchase. And buy food books there for you too.


For those who are wondering what’s in it for me?
Yes, I get a % of the sales. But it’s not coming out of your pocket.
And nonetheless, you get a sweet deal.
But if you know another store where you get a better deal, do tell and share with me and the other readers. Thanks.


Recipes from the books will come soon.
I have already tried the Chicken Tagine with Pumpkin and Chickpeas recipe (OK, I admit, with a few shortcuts). Next one on my list is the Lamb Osso Buco with Orange, Lemon, and Capers recipe.
Tonight maybe I’ll make Pasta with Alfredo Sauce from Mark Bittman’s book.

I’ll keep you posted,
Nurit

Thanksgiving-y Chicken Dinner

Our friends, the M. family, cook chicken every Friday. What a great idea! I used to drive myself crazy thinking what to cook for dinner every Friday. We like to have a nice dinner to celebrate the end of the week and beginning of the weekend. So, I embraced their idea and was looking for a recipe with home-style feel that will warm the heart and soul with seasonal spices and down to earth ingredients.

Dinner tonight was inspired by a recipe from one of my favorite cookbooks “Nightly Specials” by Michael Lomonaco. I cook from this book very often for the reason that it has many wonderful recipes like: Philly cheese steak; Roasted corn chowder with shrimp and tarragon; Beef and porter stew; Moroccan lamb stew; Alpine baked pasta; Coconut-scented basmati rice; Paella with chicken and sausage; Toasted barley and butternut squash; Pan-roasted halibut with asparagus, fava beans, and thyme broth; Floribbean-style tilefish pan-fried with limes, chiles, tomatoes, and avocado; Steamed bass with lemongrass and chile-coconut broth; Bitter greens and honey almonds… The list goes on and on, you got the picture.

I’ll just mention that the book has a recipe for the best French fries ever! And a very nice Flourless chocolate cake.
Anyway… let’s move on.

There is a recipe in the book for “Braised chicken with butternut squash, walnuts and sage” that I wanted to make. But I made so many changes in it that I think I can call it my own by now. I decreased the amount of spices to give the chicken a milder flavor than the usual Thanksgiving-y robust cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg combination so typical to recipes for the holiday season. And of course, like always, I made a few shortcuts, and added more vegetables. The result was terrific.

Thanksgiving-y chicken
Makes 4-6 servings

1 onion, medium diced
4 carrots, peeled and cut to large pieces
½ butternut squash, peeled, seeded and diced large
2 sweet potatoes, peeled and diced large
4 cloves of garlic, chopped
½ teaspoon cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon cloves
½ teaspoon ground ginger
Salt and ground black pepper
4 tablespoons olive oil
4 whole chicken legs, divided to thighs and drumsticks
2 tablespoon butter, cut to small pieces
Sage for garnish, optional

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
In a big pan, toss the vegetables with salt, pepper, the spices, and olive oil.
Generously sprinkle chicken on both sides with salt, black pepper, and olive oil. Add to the pan with veggies and mix so chicken gets some of the spices on it. Arrange nicely in the pan, chicken skin side up. Spread butter on top.

Roast for 50-60 minutes until nicely browned and skin is crispy. (If you like the meat falling off the bone, after 60 minutes of cooking time, reduce the temperature to 350 and roast for another 20-30 minutes.)
Add sage for garnish before serving.

Have a wonderful dinner.
Nurit

More dinner ideas:

A simple yet delicious fall stew

Grilling in the rain

Weekly meal plan - October 14th

Work & Cook: How to cook a dinner party for 6+5+2 on a conference day?

jamie’s dinners by Jamie Oliver

(The photo is copied from Jamie Oliver's web site and apears in his cookbook).

My friend T. brought me this cookbook for my birthday. I cooked Oliver’s recipes in the past and didn’t go crazy for them because of their simplicity – they don’t call him The Naked Chef for nothing (no, he doesn’t cook naked). Back then I was into more French style cooking, very elaborate, many steps, the more complicated the better, etc.

I changed my style of cooking after realizing two things: 1) I cook for hours and the food is gone in 20 minutes, and 2) I spend hours in the kitchen instead of spending time with my precious husband and kids. So I have done some serious rethinking. Then I started watching Jamie Oliver’s and Ina Garten’s shows on the Food Network channel and learned how I can prepare fabulous meals in no time.

It was a very helpful lesson as a personal chef too. Cooking in other people’s home the way I did before I would have had to move in with them. Not sure they would have liked that so much.

So this book is right kind of book for me now. I tried these recipes below. They were so easy to make and a no brainer. It’s a good book for the home cook (ooh, a rhyme!) who doesn’t have much time (another rhyme!).

Here is the recipe to the chicken in the photo above, taken from Jamie Oliver’s web site. It is basically, put everything in a dish and cook it ‘till it’s done.

Tender and crisp chicken legs with sweet tomatoes

This recipe takes literally minutes to put together but then requires slow, gentle cooking. However, in return for your patience, what happens in the pan from just a couple of ingredients is an absolute joy and never fails, so it’s a good one to serve if you have guests.

Serves 4

Ingredients

• 4 chicken legs, preferably free-range or organic, jointed

• sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

• a big bunch of fresh basil, leaves picked, stalks finely chopped

• 2 big handfuls of red and yellow cherry tomatoes, halved, and ripe plum tomatoes, quartered

• 1 whole bulb of garlic, broken up into cloves

• 1 fresh red chilli, finely chopped• olive oil

optional:

• 1 x 14 oz. can of cannellini beans, drained

• 2 handfuls of new potatoes, scrubbed

Preheat your oven to 180°C/350°F/gas 4. Season your chicken pieces all over and put them into a snug-fitting pan in one layer. Throw in all the basil leaves and stalks, then chuck in your tomatoes. Scatter the garlic cloves into the pan with the chopped chili and drizzle over some olive oil. Mix around a bit, pushing the tomatoes underneath. Place in the oven for 1½ hours, turning the tomatoes halfway through (I didn’t touch the pan until it was done – N.), until the chicken skin is crisp and the meat falls off the bone.

If you fancy, you can add some drained cannellini beans or some sliced new potatoes to the pan and cook them with the chicken. Or you can serve the chicken with some simple mashed potato. Squeeze the garlic out of the skins before serving. You could even make it part of a pasta dish – remove the chicken meat from the bone and shred it, then toss into a bowl of linguini or spaghetti and serve at once.

Jamie's recipe for Lamb with chickpeas, yogurt and pan-roasted veg

serves 4 – 6 (even 8-10, perfect for a holiday meal, or a big dinner party – N.)

1 leg of lamb, butterflied and opened up like a book

2 teaspoons coriander seeds

3 cloves of garlic, peeled and finely choppeda large bunch of fresh cilantro, chopped

a large bunch of fresh mint, chopped

1 x 14 oz. can of chickpeas, drained

sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

juice of 1/2 a lemon

1 x 500ml tub of natural yogurt (I used goat yogurt - N.)

12 baby turnips, scrubbed

a bunch of baby carrots, scrubbed, tops left on

1 butternut squash, unpeeled, cut into 8 wedges

2 red onions, peeled and quartered

1 whole bulb of garlic, broken into cloves

2 teaspoons ground cumin

extra virgin olive oil

Score the lamb on both sides. Using either a pestle and mortar or a food processor, grind or whizz up the coriander seeds with the garlic, fresh coriander, mint and half the chickpeas until you have a paste. Season the paste or "marinade" with salt and freshly ground black pepper, then add the lemon juice and yogurt. Place half of this flavored yogurt in a large plastic bag and add the lamb. Put the other half of the flavored yogurt in the fridge. Tie the bag up to seal it and turn it around to allow the yogurt to coat all the lamb. Leave to marinate for at least an hour, but up to 24 hours in the fridge.

Preheat the oven to 200C/400F/gas 6. Place the turnips and carrots in a roasting tray with the squash, onions, garlic and remaining chickpeas, then sprinkle with the cumin, salt and pepper. Drizzle with olive oil and toss together to coat. Remove the lamb from the marinade, then place the meat directly on the oven rack with the tray of vegetables on the shelf below. Cook for about 1 hour, tossing the vegetables halfway through. Serve the lamb well cooked with the vegetables and flavored yogurt on the side.

I am a fan.
Have an easy and fun time cooking!

To buy the book, click here.

If you liked this cookbook review, you might be interested to read:

Beef Goulash

Jewish Cooking For Dummies cookbook

Thanksgiving-y chicken dinner

Nurit

Jewish Cooking For Dummies cookbook

In the spirit of the Jewish holidays, here is a cookbook where you can find wonderful recipes, which are easy to make, of course.
Some of the recipes I have tried and liked are: Latkes, Oznei Haman/Hamantaschen, Haroset, Sufganiot, Blintz, Cheesecake, Noodle kugel with pears, Cholent, Tzimmes, Yemenite soup, the list goes on and on. There are many traditional recipes, Israeli, Mediterranean and Middle-eastern. I highly recommend this book.
To buy it online, click here.

Here is their recipe for honey cake:

Orange Hazelnut Honey Cake

1 teaspoon instant coffee
1/3 cup hot water
1 ½ cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
Small pinch of ground cloves
2 eggs
½ cup sugar
½ cup honey
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 ½ teaspoons grated orange zest, orange part only
½ cup hazelnuts, coarsely chopped

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Lightly grease an 8 x 4-inch loaf pan, line it with parchment or waxed paper and grease paper.

In a cup, dissolve instant coffee in hot water. Let cool. Sift flour with baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and cloves.

Beat eggs lightly in large bowl of mixer. Add sugar and honey and beat until mixture is very smooth and lightened in color. Gradually add oil and beat until blended. Add orange zest.

Stir in flour mixture alternately with coffee, each in two batches. Stir in hazelnuts.
Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake for 55 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted in cake comes out clean.

Cool in pan for about 15 minutes. Turn out onto rack and peel off paper.
When cake is completely cool, wrap it tightly in foil and keep it at room temperature.

If you liked this cookbook review, you might be interested to read:
Beef Goulash
jamie’s dinners by Jamie Oliver

Enjoy.
Nurit

More cakes:
Cocoa-Marzipan Pound Cake
Rose-orange cheesecake
Sour Cream Coffee Cake
Crostata with Summer Fruit
Blueberry crumb cake

Beef Goulash

Rosh Ha-Shana (a Jewish holiday) is coming soon and people are looking for good recipes. Naturally, some are asking me, but regardless, I feel pressured to post something, and it must be good, and easy, of course. So here is a winner recipe for beef goulash by one of my favorite top chefs, Wolfgang Puck (you will find more recipes on his web site, click the link).

I make this Goulash very often.

Wolfgang's Beef Goulash
Serves 6

*see my comments in ( ). I hope you won’t find it confusing. This is just to show you that cooking is no science. It is magic ;-)

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil (or canola oil)

4 cups onion, thinly sliced (2 onions)

1 tablespoon sugar3 garlic cloves, minced
1 tablespoon caraway seeds, toasted and ground (I use 1 teaspoon ground cumin, no toasting)

1 1/2 – 3 tablespoons sweet paprika (3 tablespoons in the book)

1 teaspoon hot paprika (or regular paprika/Spanish)

1-2 tablespoons minced fresh marjoram leaves (I use oregano)

1 teaspoon minced fresh thyme leaves (I just put the whole thing with the stem)

1 bay leaf

3 tablespoons tomato paste

2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

4 cups chicken stock (or 3 cups + ½ cup water)

2 1/2 pounds beef shank, cut into 2-inch cubes (I use beef chuck)

1-2 teaspoon kosher salt (2 in the book)

1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1. In a large sauté pan, heat the olive oil and sauté the onions and sugar until caramelized. Add the garlic and caraway seed. Cook another minute.

2. Add the sweet and hot paprika, marjoram, thyme and bay leaf. Sauté another minute, until fragrant (1 minute).

3. (add all the other ingredients at the same time…) Add the tomato paste. Deglaze with the vinegar and the stock and add the pieces of beef shank, salt and pepper. Bring to a boil, then lower to a simmer and cook until very tender, about 1 1/2 hours, stirring occasionally.

4. Taste and adjust seasoning with salt and pepper.

If there are any leftovers, I add them to soup. I’ll post a recipe for lentil soup where I use even just the sauce of the Goulash without the beef soon.

I highly recommend this book. It is one of my most favorite cookbooks. Many very easy recipes, and quick, perfect for a weekday cooking when we don’t have a lot of time to fix something good.

Other recipes I have cooked from this book:

Chinese five-spice spare ribs
Wine braised brisket of beef with caramelized pearl onions and dried apricots
Honey marinated beef satay
Pan-seared steaks with port-Dijon-cream sauce
Eggs en cocotte with smoked salmon and horseradish cream (it is much easier than it sounds)
Buttermilk-marinated chicken breasts
Whole roasted garlic chicken
Marjolaine cake
White and dark chocolate chunk cookies
Linzer cookies
Pizza
Minestrone soup
The list goes on and on…

Click to read more about the book: Wolfgang Puck Makes It Easy by Wolfgang Puck.

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Thanksgiving-y chicken dinner

Happy Holiday and happy New Year!

Nurit