Now, this isn’t really a recipe for mustard jibben! It’s a recipe for a tart, but I didn’t feel like making dough! (Even though it’s super easy to make.) Baked egg dishes without buttery doughs are still delicious! And what are they called? Well, we call them jibben. Plus, Jess just made a tart, so we’re mixing things up a bit here.

Just like Adele, I bookmarked this recipe long ago, but never got around to making it. When I was brainstorming what to make for our company, I found this way up in my recipes folder, and saw that it had leeks. I LOVE leeks!! And I also had some Grey Poupon in my fridge from when I made that mustard chicken. And of course I had eggs.

I wasn’t sure how it would turn out. I mean, I don’t really love mustard. It’s good as an ingredient, but I’m not a fan of it as a spread on sandwiches. I was afraid the flavor would overpower everything else. But really, the mustard and rosemary combo was subtle and delicious!

Mustard Jibben adapted from the New York Times

Ingredients

• 3 carrots (not too fat), trimmed and peeled
• 2 leeks, white and light green parts only, cut lengthwise in half and washed
• 2 rosemary sprigs
• 4 large eggs
• 1/2 cup ricotta cheese
• 2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
• 2 tablespoons grainy mustard
• Salt and pepper

Directions

1. Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Line a baking sheet with a silicone baking mat or parchment paper. Grease a tart pan or pie dish and set aside.
2. Cut the carrots and leeks into slender bâtons or sticks: First cut the carrots lengthwise in half, then place the halves cut side down on the cutting board and cut crosswise in half or cut into chunks about 3 inches long. Cut the pieces into 1/ 8- to 1/4-inch-thick matchsticks. If your carrots were fat and you think your matchsticks don’t look svelte enough, cut them lengthwise in half. Cut the leeks in the same way.
3. Fit a steamer basket into a saucepan. Pour in enough water to come almost up to the steamer, cover, and bring to a boil. Drop the carrots, leeks, and 1 rosemary sprig into the basket, cover, and steam until the vegetables are tender enough to be pierced easily with the tip of a knife, 10 to 15 minutes. Drain the vegetables and pat them dry; discard the rosemary sprig.
4. In a medium bowl, whisk the eggs together with ricotta. Add the mustards, season with salt and pepper — mustard has a tendency to be salty, so proceed accordingly — and whisk to blend. Taste and see if you want to add a little more of one or the other mustards.
5. Put the tart pan on the lined baking sheet and pour the filling into it. Arrange the vegetables over the filling — they can go in any which way, but they’re attractive arranged in spokes coming out from the center of the tart. Top with the remaining rosemary sprig and give the vegetables a sprinkling of salt and a couple of turns of the pepper mill.
6. Bake the tart for about 30 minutes, or until it is uniformly puffed and lightly browned here and there and a knife inserted into the center of the custard comes out clean. Transfer the tart to a cooling rack and let it rest for 5 minutes before removing the sides of the pan.
7. Serve hot, warm, or at room temperature (or lightly chilled).

I really like couscous, but it can get very boring. So I decided to layer it with some healthy stuff and make it sorta like a lasagna. I thought it was a hit! And so did Richie, who ate two bowls of it for dinner.

I was inspired to make this dish when my friend Danielle told me about a great couscous dish her mother made. Her ingredients were pretty much the same, but she used canned tomatoes and mixed everything together, more like a traditional couscous. When Danielle called it a couscous lasagna, I knew I had to try it. Plus, I’m on a healthy greens kick, so I was excited to use kale and spinach in the same dish.

This dish did not disappoint. Some of the best things about it were that it could be assembled on the weekend and then baked for dinner one night. Serve it with a flaky white fish for a full meal. And a salad if you’re having company. Easiest dinner ever!

Couscous can be boring, which is why cooking it in veggie broth is a must. It would just taste too bland otherwise. Good thing I always have homemade vegetable broth in my freezer. I use my vegetable scraps and peels to do it, one day I’ll show you how I do it.

Couscous with Sauteed Greens and Tomatoes, inspired by my friend Danielle:

Serves 4-6

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups couscous
• 1 teaspoon + 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons+ 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 1/2 cups vegetable broth
• 1-2 large tomatoes, sliced thickly
• 1 bunch kale, stemmed and washed
• 1 bunch spinach, rinsed
• Black pepper
• 1 cup shredded muenster cheese

Directions:

1. Cook the couscous: in a medium pot, boil the vegetable broth with 1 teaspoon salt and 2 teaspoons olive oil. Add the couscous, turn off the fire, cover, and let steam for 5 minutes.

2. Fluff the couscous and set aside.

3. Saute the greens: in a large pan, add the olive oil and place over medium heat.

4. When the pan is hot, add the kale and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Cover, checking and mixing every 2 minutes.

5. When wilted, add the spinach and the other 1/2 teaspoon salt. Add pepper, if using. Check periodically and mix until both greens are wilted.

6. Assemble: in a rectangular casserole or dish, layer 1/2 the couscous and top with 1/2 the greens. Top with slices of tomato until the top is covered. Sprinkle 1/2 the cheese over the top. Repeat.

7. Bake: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. When hot, add the dish and bake, uncovered, for 30 minutes, or until the cheese is browned and the tomatoes are soft.

Lamb chops are not something you can make very often. They’re very expensive for a very little bit of meat (maybe you’re paying for the bone, so save it! Make stock!). That being said, they are a perfect “special occasion” food. Is it someone you love’s birthday? Add a couple of lamb chops to make it extra special. Or, maybe you’re celebrating your graduation after five years of graduate school? Whatever your reason for celebrating, these lamb chops are easy and amazing. Make sure to buy good lamb, too. Don’t want to spend all that money just to have an okay treat.

Believe it or not, these lamb chops were somewhat of an impulse buy for me. I have never cooked lamb chops before this! They were very easy and very impressive tasting. It makes me want to eat these more often. I actually got the recipe from the Fairway recipe and advertisement magazine they give out at the front of the store, though it seemed to be a pretty classic flavor combination for lamb.

 A little warning about grilling these indoors: your entire kitchen/apartment/house will be smoky. Lamb is very fatty and you will be in a big cloud of lamby smoke, so open all the windows!

Lamb Chops, adapted from Fairway

Makes 6 lamb chops

Ingredients:

• 2 garlic cloves
• 1 tablespoon rosemary
• 1 teaspoon thyme
• Pinch of cayenne pepper
• Sea salt
• 6 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 6 lamb chops, about 3/4 inch thick

Directions:

1. Chop the rosemary, thyme, and garlic very finely.

2. Using a mortar and pestle or small food processor, make into a paste with the salt, cayenne, and olive oil.

3. Spread mixture on to the lamb and marinate in the refrigerator for at least one hour.

4. Bring the lamb to room temperature outside of the fridge for 20 minutes.

5. Put your grill (indoor or outdoor) on high heat and grill for 2 minutes on one side.

6. Flip over and grill for 3 minutes on the second side.

7. Serve and enjoy!

Aha – I got you! you’re wondering why a kosher blog is featuring a sandwich with the main ingredient as bacon! Well, Jack’s Gourmet has an awesome new-ish product on the market called facon, which is dry cured beef! I’m not sure how it compares to the real stuff, but I do know it’s awesome. We baked it up to make it crispy and put it on a fresh, toasted sourdough bread with some lettuce and thick slices of tomato – voila! an easy, delicious, and filling dinner! 

If you can’t find facon, but live in Brooklyn, Pomegranate has some good bacon options – I think lamb, veal, and beef. I’ve bought it before, but never baked it up like I did with Jack’s Gourmet facon.

Okay, so now I’m mad. I bought my facon at Fairway, and I paid $6.99! Usually they have great prices, but the MSRP for facon is 5.99 and they’re selling it online for 4.99. I feel ripped off. Good thing I love Fairway for other reasons.

Another note: A while back, I read about how healthy watercress is! So while traditionally you use a little bit more of a crispy and big leafed lettuce for a BLT (I think), I wanted to be super healthy! So, I used watercress as the lettuce in this. It was great! Really.

Oh, and I didn’t add any mayo. I was thinking of making a garlic aioli and spreading it on the bread, but I changed my mind and just dressed the lettuce with a tiny bit of oil, balsamic, salt and pepper. It was great.

BLTs

Makes 3 sandwiches

Ingredients:

• 6 slices sourdough bread, sliced and toasted 
• 1 package of Jack’s Gourmet facon
• 1 cup watercress, washed and dried well
• 3 thick slices of tomato
• Olive oil
• Salt and pepper
• Balsamic vinegar

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees

2. Place the slices of bread on a sheet pan and toast in the oven for 5 minutes.

3. Remove the bacon from the package and put into a basketweave pattern, kinda like this, but using two slices across and two down. If some slices are longer than others, feel free to trim them, etc.

4. Bake the bacon until crispy, mine took about 15 minutes.

5. Dress the watercress with a splash of vinegar, a splash of oil, and a pinch of salt and pepper.

6. Lay three of the toast slices on a plate.

7. Divide the lettuce between the slices and top with the tomato.

8. Top with bacon and the second slice of bread.

9. Eat right away!

Hosting Friday night dinner is not as easy as my mother makes it look; especially when you have a baby who loves to climb all over the place. To make it easier, I decided that my recipes needed to have five ingredients or less—and no fussy stuff!

Nothing that will burn to a crisp if—WHOA, THAT WAS A LOUD ONE!—mommy needs to drop everything and go change a diaper or three…and maybe play a few rounds of peek-a-boo. I can’t even tell you how many times my mom and aunt complimented my food; coming from great cooks like them—serious compliments!

First, the main course:

Ina Garten’s Indonesian Ginger Chicken

Make it the night before, let it marinade and pop in in the oven. There is so much liquid in this recipe that it was still delicious even though I forgot about it and left it in the oven for an extra HOUR. Whoops.

Ingredients

• 1 cup honey
• 3/4 cup soy sauce
• 1/4 cup minced garlic (8 to 12 cloves) (I used the whole head)
• 1/2 cup peeled and grated fresh ginger root
• 2 (3 1/2 pound) chickens, quartered, with backs removed   (I used legs)

Directions

1. Cook the honey, soy sauce, garlic, and ginger root in a small saucepan over low heat until the honey is melted. Arrange the chicken in 1 layer in a shallow baking pan, skin side down, and pour on the sauce. Cover the pan tightly with aluminum foil. Marinate overnight in the refrigerator.
2. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
3. Place the baking pan in the oven and bake for 30 minutes. Uncover the pan, turn the chicken skin side up, and raise the temperature to 375 degrees F. Continue baking for 30 minutes or until the juices run clear when you cut between a leg and thigh and the sauce is a rich, dark brown.

Stay tuned for the rest of Adele’s Friday night dinner, later this week!

It’s like a kibbe flavored pie. You put the shell on the top and bottom and fill it with delicious tadbileh. Oh, and make extra tadbileh. Because your kids will love to eat that plain. That’s right, they just love it. At least mine does.

Ingredients:

• 1 pound tadbileh** (spiced ground beef filling)
• 1/2 cup pine nuts (you can omit this if you want to. Or put sliced almonds, instead. they’re expensive!)
• 1/2 pound ground beef
• 2 cups fine bulgur (cracked wheat), rinsed in cold water and drained
• 1/2 cup grated onion
• 1 teaspoon tomato paste
• 1 teaspoon ground allspice
• 1 tablespoon ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon Aleppo pepper
• 1 tablespoon kosher salt
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

2. Make the filling: combine the tadbileh and pine nuts.

3. Make the crust: combine the ground beef and bulgur in a medium mixing bowl.

4. Pass the mixture through a meat grinder – or – process in a food processor for one minute.

5. Return to the bowl and add the grated onion, tomato paste, allspice, cumin, Aleppo pepper, and salt. Mix well.

6. Grease a 12-inch round baking dish – or – a 13×9 inch dish with the oil.

7. Cover the bottom of the dish with half the crust mixture (about 1/4 inch depth) and press to form a smooth surface.

8. Spread the filling evenly over the bottom crust.

9. Top with the remaining crust.

10. If using a round pan, cut into wedges by dipping your knife in cold water. If using a rectangular pan, make a diamond pattern. Use a sharp knife to get clean lines.

11. Pour the vegetable oil over the crust (this is important! It’s what keeps it moist) and bake for one hour.

12. Serve hot or at room temperature with lemon wedges, tahine, and Israeli salad to go with it.

**Tadbileh:

Ingredients:

• 1 cup chopped onion
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 1 pound ground beef
• 1 teaspoon ground allspice
• 1/4 cup pine nuts
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt

1. In a skillet, saute the onion in the oil over medium-high heat until soft, about 3 minutes.

2. Add the meat and continue sauteing, constantly stirring and breaking up the meat with a fork, for about 9 minutes, until most of the liquid has been absorbed and the meat is fully browned.

3. Let cool.

4. Add the allspice, pine nuts, and salt.

5. Yields 1 pound (8 cups) of filling.

File this recipe under “delicious dinners you can cook while caring for a 5-week-old.

I haven’t posted a recipe in a while. Aside from cheatingly prescheduled recipes, that is. It’s been hard to eat since this little guy arrived, let alone cook, photograph and blog!

David loves crispy chicken; just spiced and baked or broiled, finished with some hot sauce. I like to mix things up a bit. This recipe, with it’s flavorful and crunchy topping, is the best of both worlds. Plus, it was so delicious, it didn’t even need hot sauce!

Crispy Mustard-Roasted Chicken adapted from Ina Garten’s Foolproof. 

Ingredients:

• 4 garlic cloves
• 1 tablespoon minced fresh oregano leaves
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 2 cups panko (Japanese bread flakes)
• zest of 1 lemon
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• about ½ cup Dijon mustard, such as Grey Poupon
• 1 (3½- to 4-pound) chicken, cut in eighths

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
2. Place the garlic, oregano, 2 teaspoons salt, and 1 teaspoon pepper in a food processor fitted with the steel blade and process until the garlic is finely minced. Add the panko, lemon zest and olive oil and pulse a few times to moisten the bread flakes. Pour the mixture onto a large plate.
3. Pat the chicken dry and season all over with salt and pepper. Spread mustard on both sides of each chicken piece, and then place skin-side down only into the crumb mixture, pressing gently to make sure the crumbs adhere. Place the chicken on a sheet pan crumb-side up. Press the remaining crumbs on the chicken pieces.
4. Bake for 40 minutes, then raise the heat to 400 degrees and bake for another 10 minutes, until the crumbs are browned and the chicken is cooked through.

Off to Pomegranate I went for some corned beef. I was hoping the butcher would grind it for me, you know, to make my life a little easier/less messy, but he told me no! When I told him why I wanted it, he looked at me like I was crazy, and told me under no circumstances was I to grind my corned beef. Instead, he explained, I was to slice it, cut it into strips, and then using my biggest chef’s knife, chop it into tiny pieces. He said the texture would be much better for a hash and he would never grind corned beef (this got me thinking – anyone ever try a corned beef hamburger?). So I got home and did just that.

The corned beef hash was a hit, by the way. Leftovers were browned on the griddle and served with eggs. Delicious. But not for breakfast.

Corned Beef Hash, adapted from the Second Avenue Deli Cookbook:

Serves 3-4

Ingredients:

• 1 pound corned beef, very finely chopped
• 3 cups peeled and boiled red potatoes, chopped into 1/2 inch pieces
• 1 tablespoon oil
• 1 cup chopped onion
• 1/2 green pepper
• 1 clove garlic
• Some pepper

Directions:

1. In a large bowl, combine corned beef and potatoes. Set aside.

2. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

3. Heat oil in a large skillet and saute the onions until they start to soften.

4. Add the green peppers and the garlic until they soften and the onions turn brown.

5. Remove with a slotted spoon and add to the bowl with the corned beef and potatoes.

6. Add the pepper and mix all ingredients well.

7. Grease a baking pan and spread corned beef mixture so it’s even (and about an inch thick)

8. Bake for 20-25 minutes, until crust is browned.

9. Serve alone or with some poached eggs.

Just so you know, two pounds of mushrooms is really a lot of mushrooms, so if you don’t want to buy all portobellos, I don’t blame you! I’m here to tell you that you can mix with cheaper mushrooms and it will still be tasty! (I know, because I was feeling cheap at the store the day I made this, and I still made a delicious sauce). Next, maybe think I’ll try the classic beef version! Even though beef is way more expensive than mushrooms, even portobellos…

Mushroom Bourguignon from smitten kitchen

Ingredients:

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 tablespoons butter, softened
• 2 pounds mushrooms, in 1/4-inch slices (I used a mixture of portobello, cremini and button mushrooms)
• 1/2 carrot, finely diced
• 1 small yellow onion, finely diced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 cup red wine (I used a cabernet sauvignon)
• 2 cups vegetable broth
• 2 tablespoons tomato paste
• 1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves (1/2 teaspoon dried)
• 1 1/2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1 cup pearl onions, peeled (thawed if frozen)
• salt and pepper
• 12 oz. cooked egg noodles, for serving
• Sour cream and chopped chives or parsley, for garnish (optional)

Directions:

1. Heat one tablespoon each of the olive oil and butter in a heavy sauce pan (I used my Le Creuset) over high heat. Sear the mushrooms and pearl onions for about three to four minutes—until they begin to darken, before they start releasing liquid. Remove them from pan.
2. Lower the flame to medium and add the rest of the olive oil. Saute the carrots, onions, thyme, a few good pinches of salt and a several grinds of black pepper into the pan and cook, stirring occasionally, until the onions are lightly browned, about 10 minutes.
3. Add the garlic and cook for one more minute.
4. Add the wine, scraping any stuck bits off the bottom, then turn the heat up to high and reduce it by half. Stir in the tomato paste and the vegetable broth.
5. Add the mushrooms and pearl onions back into the pot, along with any juices that have collected. Bring to a boil then lower the temperature and simmer for 20 minutes, or until mushrooms are very tender.
6. Combine remaining butter and the flour in a small bowl and stir it into the stew. Simmer for 10 more minutes. If the sauce is too thin, boil it down to reduce to the right consistency. Season to taste.
7. To serve, spoon the stew over a bowl of egg noodles.
8. If you want to be fancy, dollop with sour cream and sprinkle with chives or parsley to garnish.

Pizza is probably my all-time favorite food. I mean, what’s not to like? But sometimes I like to get creative with my pizzas. And maybe a little bit healthier. So this time, I wanted to make pizza that was made out of only vegetables. And it really worked, except that I had to add a little sprinkle of cheese on top, because cheeseless pizza is really not pizza at all.

Now some people (ahem, Zeke) would claim this dish isn’t pizza at all. But I beg to differ. I mean, instead of the crust you have this juicy portobello mushroom. Then you have your sauce layer (and you can use any kind of sauce you want – jarred is fine) and you have the best kinds of toppings around, sauteed veggies. Plus topped off with cheese, again, any kind of cheese you like best on pizza. It looks like a pizza. It tastes sorta like a pizza, and it’s probably ten times healthier than a pizza. Maybe 20 times healthier than that greasy kosher pizza store around the corner.

I list the vegetables I used, but you can use whatever you want, really. I just used all of our favorites. I served it with some garlic bread for a full meal.

Mushroom Pizza:

(serves 2, if each person wants 1 1/2 pieces)

Ingredients:

• 3 portobello mushroom caps
• 1/2 zucchini, chopped
• 1/2 yellow squash, chopped
• 2 plum tomatoes, seeded and chopped
• 1/2 head broccoli, cut into small florets
• Kosher salt
• Black pepper
• Tomato sauce (your favorite kind, I used a jar)
• 1/4 cup cheese

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

2. Remove mushroom stems and wash the mushrooms.

3. Brush mushrooms with olive oil and place on a baking sheet. Bake for 20 minutes, or until the mushrooms begin to soften and juice comes out of them.

4. While the mushrooms are cooking, add olive oil to a saute pan and place heat on medium.

5. Saute the veggies, adding salt and pepper to taste, mixing occasionally, until the veggies are soft.

6. Remove mushrooms  from the oven and top with tomato sauce.

7. Divide the vegetables onto the three mushrooms.

8. Top with cheese and return to the oven for 10 more minutes.

9. Serve with crusty garlic bread and enjoy!