It’s really amazing how so few ingredients that all already have a permanent space in my kitchen can come together in such different and delicious ways! This fried rice is different than what you’d get at a Chinese restaurant, because rather than the egg being mixed in, it tops off the rice. It’s better this way (because you know how I feel about runny egg yolks)!
Category Archives: Dinners
Roasted Turkey Leg
Turkey is something that we usually only ate when we had a lot of company for Shabbat dinner. And in that case, we’d roast a whole turkey with celery, carrots, onions, and spices. It was good, and really the only way I knew how to eat turkey. Stephanie and I used to baste it every so often, and then when it was hot, but cool enough to handle, carve it. I never actually ate turkey at the dinner table because I’d pick at it while carving. Oh, we also had turkey on Thanksgiving. But this was not made in our house, so I had no idea how it was made. Continue reading
Whole Wheat Pasta with Lamb, Tomato and Cumin
Shabbat shalom and welcome to our first installment of recipe and wine pairings! This is a quick, yet special Shabbat dinner and here are two great kiddush wine options for you to enjoy with it.
Many food magazines and websites give wine suggestions with their meals, but they never ever suggest kosher wines. And why would they, they’re not kosher websites. But we are!
Mechshe Basal, or Stuffed Onions
There are a lot of things you can stuff with hashu to turn into a meal. This time, I used ground turkey and (half-cooked) brown rice to make a healthier mechshe.
Since our mom doesn’t like onions, this mechshe wasn’t something we ate much growing up, but it’s definitely still one of my favorites! I love the flavor of slow-cooked onions, which get sweet and caramelized in the oven, and the contrast with tart tamarind sauce is perfect.
Since stuffing these is quite a process, I like to make a double batch and freeze half, so that next time the cravings hits, I can cook up a batch right away; no need to defrost, just cook the frozen onions for a bit longer.
Spinach and Cheddar Souffle
As you know, I’ve made a chocolate souffle before. And while it was amazingly delicious, it definitely wasn’t a meal. So I decided to try my hand at something new, and something that home cooks are way too often scared of: savory souffle! This souffle with cheese and greens was SO easy to make, I promise! Of course, I used an Ina recipe. One that I actually didn’t see online, but rewound my DVR to make sure I got all the measurements and ingredients right.
Pizza with Baby Artichokes and Lemon Ricotta
Springtime means artichokes, a vegetable I’ve gotten familiar with these past few years, but this spring marks the first time I’ve ever made baby artichokes.
Baby artichokes are a smaller, fully mature variety of the globe artichoke. The fun part about them is that there’s no choke to be found in these little guys, so with a little bit of trimming, the whole thing is edible. I guess they should really be called artis?
Herbed Salmon
I’ve been trying to incorporate more fish into my kitchen, and this fish is a good way to start. It’s easy, comes together super-quickly and it’s tasty; just what you’d expect from Ina Garten!
Fassoulieh Experiment
Or fasullieh. I’m really not sure how to spell it, and it doesn’t matter because it’s not English. In English, these are Great Northern Beans. These beans absorb flavor really well, so they are great in this dish. They take on the meaty flavor of the marrow bones, and tomatoey flavor from the tomato paste. Serve it over rice, and you have a perfect Shabbat dinner side. Or a nice weeknight meal. Continue reading
Not (Onion) Soup
When this recipe was republished in the New York Times a few years ago, Jessica and I cut it out and sent our brother to the supermarket right away to buy those eight onions so we could make it for dinner that night. “Eight onions!?!” Marc said? Yes, eight onions. We sliced them by hand that time, but now I have a food processor and discovered the slicing blade, so it was easier this time.
Egg Barley with Meatballs
If you’ve never been to the Second Avenue Deli, you should go. Right now*. The food is amazing. Though many say it’s not the same as it used to be, it’s still worth a trip.
We used to go to the one on Second Avenue and Tenth Street all the time. When they closed, the first thing I did was buy the 2nd Ave Deli cookbook. I then bookmarked about half the recipes in the book, and actually made quite a few of them. When the new restaurant opened on 33rd and 3rd, I kind of forgot about my cookbook, and got my health salad fix at the deli. Continue reading
