Category Archives: Dinners

Potato and Mushroom Gratin

by | 2 Comments

Every month, I’m lucky enough to get the newest Bon Appetit in my mailbox (subscribe here). I always look through it and bookmark all the recipes I want to try. There are way too many, so I like to try at least one recipe from each issue. Back in November, I saw a recipe for a gratin and knew I had to try it. I just didn’t know it would take me MONTHS to actually do it. Not that it was hard or anything, but there are just SO many recipes on my to do list that I don’t always get around to making some until way later than I want. And sometimes when new recipes come along and the ingredients are already in my pantry, older ones just get pushed aside (but never forgotten, because of course I write them down).

Does anyone know a good way to cure myself of this too-many-recipes-on-my-to-do-list syndrome? That doesn’t involve turning off food network or browsing cookbooks. Because otherwise I would be bored. Continue reading …

Lachmagine

by | 18 Comments

Lachmagine is a classic mazza, a “small bite” Syrian Jews often eat before dinner. It’s kind of like a mini pizza, but instead of sauce and cheese we put tamarind and meat on it. It’s a staple in many homes on Shabbat and holidays.

Continue reading …

Company Pot Roast

by | 2 Comments

I have seen this episode of Barefoot Contessa many many times. Ina makes this pot roast with some baked potatoes. It’s such an easy recipe, though you do need a whole bunch of ingredients to make it. I finally decided to try it, and it was definitely worth it! The pot roast is soft and flavorful, and the sauce is thick and delicious over rice or couscous. I dipped garlic bread in mine. yum! It’s also a pretty forgiving recipe, so if you don’t have some of the ingredients, don’t fret! Continue reading …

Veal Yadayim/Grandma Rena’s Veal & Tomato Sauce Pasta

by | 2 Comments

Growing up, we always thought Grandma Rena was the best cook! Our parents still make fun of us that we liked her can of Hunt’s tomato sauce over a box of boiled pasta better than theirs, but what can we say, there was something special about it.

Recently, our dad started buying veal so that our mom could recreate his mom’s veal pasta. We’ve been trying to recreate her recipe, and while it will probably never be as good as grandma’s, we can come close to it.

Continue reading …

Charred Tomato Soup

by | 6 Comments

Tomato soup is one of those amazing winter recipes. You can have it with noodles and cheese to make it a one-pot meal on a snowy evening. And it just improves in the fridge, so you can take leftovers for lunch! I had been thinking about making tomato soup with a can of tomatoes I had in my pantry when I watched Alex’s Day off. She combined fresh and canned tomatoes for an even more intense tomato flavor. Sure, her tomatoes looked better than the pinkish ones that I found in the supermarket, but after charring them on the stove and cooking them in wine, they really add some amazing flavor.

Continue reading …

Noodles and Kelsonnes, Revisited

by | 8 Comments

A while back, Stephanie posted about kelsonnes, a traditional Syrian stuffed pasta dish. While many people use pre-made dough, making it from scratch is not so hard. It’s pasta that you can make without a pasta maker, so it’s totally worth it. The stuffed pasta is so giant that you get a ton of cheese, which is amazing. We usually eat these with egg noodles baked with butter. The buttery noodles get nice and crispy, mmm.

The recipe said that it yields 60 kelsonnes. I made 50. It really depends on the thickness of the dough. And no, I don’t serve/eat all of them at once. I usually make about 4 per person (of course we serve this alongside other traditional Syrian foods) and freeze the rest for an easy dinner later in the week.

I made individual bowls of noodles and kelsonnes here. You really don’t have to do that, but I like to take advantage of my oven proof bowls, so I do. If doing it this way, reduce the oven time and watch them closely. You don’t to burn the noodles too much!

Kelsonnes, adapted from the red Deal Delights cookbook:

For the dough:

  • 5 cups flour
  • 2 eggs
  • Pinch of salt
  • About 2 cups water

For the filling (I cut the original recipe in half for you – otherwise there is WAY too much leftover cheese):

  • 1 pound meunster cheese, grated finely (I use the grating disc in my food processor), about 5 cups
  • 1 egg
  • Pinch of salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon baking powder

Directions:

1. Make the dough: combine flour, eggs, and salt. Add the water in a slow stream and mix together until you get a soft dough.

2. Combine filling ingredients, set aside.

3. Split the dough in half and roll out each half of the dough on a floured surface to 1/8 inch thickness.

4. Drop a heaping tablespoon of the cheese mixture every 3 or so inches on half the dough (make sure you have enough room to close the dough between – see picture).

5. Cover the mounds with the other half of the dough.

6. Cut out the rounds with a round cutter (about 2 1/2 inch).

7. Repeat with remaining dough.

To assemble the dish:

For 4 people you will need:

  • 1 pound bag egg noodles
  • 12-20 kelsonnes, depending on how much your eaters like them
  • 3 tablespoons butter
  • Some salt

1.Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

2. Bring a large pot of water to a boil.

3. When boiling, add the kelsonnes. Boil for 5 minutes before adding the pasta.

4. Boil according to the time written on the package. Drain.

5. Combine butter, a pinch of salt, noodles and kelsonnes in a large casserole. Mix until the butter melts.

6. Bake in oven for 20 minutes, until the top noodles begin to brown and get crispy.

Cashew Chicken

by | Leave a comment

For some reason I was really craving Chinese food. So I found this recipe, printed it out and hung it up on my fridge. I went to Trader Joe’s and I bought a bag of cashews. I found kosher hoisin sauce. I defrosted some chicken cutlets that had been hanging out in my freezer. And now dinner for the next night was planned and prepared, so I went out for dinner with some friends. When I came home, I discovered that David cooked the chicken for dinner tomorrow! And we didn’t have any more cutlets, but we had plenty of chicken! So I didn’t want to shop for more chicken. So I gave up, the rest of the ingredients all sat unused and unloved in the kitchen and the recipe stuck to my fridge. Until one day I decided to buy chicken cutlets again and make cashew chicken for dinner!

Why am I telling you all of this? Well, I don’t want you to make the same mistake I did. Make this chicken! It comes together really quickly, it’s healthy (add more veggies when cooking to make it even healthier!) and the leftovers make a great lunch.

Next time I have a craving for something new, I think I’ll try sweet and sour chicken.

Cashew Chicken slightly adapted from Thyme for Wine

Ingredients:

  • 1 1/2 lbs. boneless, skinless chicken breast, cut into 1” cubes
  • 1 tablespoon cornstarch
  • salt and pepper
  • 2 tablespoon vegetable oil, divided
  • 4 cloves garlic, minced
  • 3 ancho peppers, cut into 1” pieces
  • 5 leeks, cut into 1” pieces (I only had leeks, so I used those instead of scallions, which would make more sense)
  • 2 tablespoon rice vinegar
  • 3 tablespoons hoisin sauce
  • 1/4 cup water
  • 3/4 cup toasted cashews (4 oz)
Directions:
  1. Toss the chicken in the cornstarch in a medium bowl until coated. Season with salt and pepper.
  2. In a large cast iron skillet, heat half the oil over medium-high heat. Cook half the chicken, tossing for about 3 minutes until browned. Transfer to a plate.
  3. Add remaining oil and chicken to the skillet, along with the garlic, green pepper, and leeks. Cook, tossing for another 3 minutes until chicken browns.
  4. Return first batch of chicken to the pan. Add vinegar; cook for about 3o seconds until evaporated. Add hoisin sauce water; cook another minute tossing until chicken is cooked through.
  5. Remove from heat and stir cashews.
  6. Serve immediately over rice.

Shallot Red Wine Steak Sauce

by | 6 Comments

Sometimes I like to cook up a couple of big juicy steaks, mix up a salad, and call it dinner. David likes it, too. But sometimes, plain old steak gets boring. I’m not one to dip my steak in ketchup, but I want something to eat my steak with. Something good. Well, that brings me to our  next recipe: shallot and red wine steak sauce. This whole meal fits together quite nicely, almost like a puzzle where the steak fits into the sauce and then the sauce with the glass of red wine you are drinking with dinner. Because it’s the same wine, you see.

And that is a perfect night at home, good food, a glass of wine and great company.

Shallot & Red Wine Steak Sauce

Ingredients:

  • 2 steaks (make sure they have some fat on them, you’ll need it!)
  • 1 gigantic shallot, or 2 regular sized ones, cut into rings
  • 2 springs of thyme, leaves only
  • 1 cup red wine
  • olive oil
  • salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

  1. Turn on your broiler (this step is optional; you can really cook the whole steaks on the stove, but my tiny apartment + a lot of smoke = angry smoke alarm) and line a baking sheet with tin foil
  2. Sear the steaks in a little bit of olive oil in a heavy-bottomed pan for 4 minutes on each side (you may need to do this one at a time), or whenever they lift up easily. I used my dutch oven, because I have a limited collection of meat cookware.
  3. Remove the steaks to the prepared baking sheet and let them finish cooking in the broiler (or a plate if they’re done).
  4. Lower the flame, add the shallots to the pan with a pinch of salt and cook for 8-10 minutes until the shallots cook down and become soft.
  5. Add the thyme and wine and raise the fire. Reduce the sauce by about half.
  6. Spoon the sauce over the steaks and eat.

Meatless Mondays: Vegetable Pot Pie

by | 11 Comments

Another Ina meal. What can I say, she has such fabulous recipes that are perfect just the way they are, but also really easy to tweak. This one needed some tweaking. A vegetarian recipe using chicken stock? What’s the point! So I used store-bought vegetable stock…don’t worry, all this chopping and peeling let me make 3 quarts of my own vegetable stock for next time.

I also switched around the vegetables (but of course kept the butternut squash, because it’s my favorite. Can you tell?) and omitted some ingredients that I didn’t have – Pernod? No thanks. The fennel gives enough anise flavor for me. And while I know saffron gives a great color and flavor, I can’t bring myself to spend the money on it. Maybe if someone buys it for me I’ll try it next time.

Recently I’ve been craving chicken pot pie. I see recipes in cookbooks and on TV and think it just sounds so good. With this cold weather here, a big bowl of steaming veggies covered with flaky pie crust is just what we need for a 1-bowl dinner. It’s also a hearty way to make a Meatless Monday meal!

Vegetable pot pie, adapted from Ina Garten:

  • 2 yellow onions, chopped
  • 1 fennel bulb, sliced
  • 6 tablespoons butter
  • 1/4 cup olive oil
  • 1/2 cup flour
  • 1 1/2 cups butternut squash, cubed
  • 1 1/2 cups carrots, chopped
  • 1 cup celery, chopped
  • 3 potatoes, peeled and diced
  • 1 1/2 cup frozen peas
  • 1/2 cup parsley, finely chopped
  • 2 cups vegetable broth
  • 3 tablespoons heavy cream
  • Kosher salt
  • Pepper
  • 1 recipe flaky pie or tart dough, or your favorite pie crust

Directions:

1. Make sure all your vegetables are chopped to the same size.

2. Combine the butter and olive oil in a large pot and add onions and fennel. Saute over medium heat for ten minutes, until lightly browned.

3. While the onions are browning, bring a pot of water to a boil. Boil the potatoes for ten minutes and remove with a slotted spoon to a bowl.

4. Boil the butternut squash, carrots, and celery for five minutes. Drain and add to bowl.

5. Add flour and mix. Turn heat to low and cook for 5 minutes, until all the flour is absorbed. Mix occasionally.

6. Pour vegetable broth into pan and mix until thickens.

7. Add vegetables, including peas, into sauce.

8. Add parsley and mix.

9. Divide dough into six oven-proof bowls or two nine-inch pie plates.

10. Cut dough into 6 pieces. Roll each piece flat. Wet edges of bowl, and place pie crust over the bowl.

11. Brush will egg wash, and sprinkle with salt and pepper.

12. Bake at 375 degrees for an hour until the top is crispy and the vegetables are bubbly and hot. Let cool for about ten minutes, because it’s going to be very hot!