An invention of the 1982 Silver Palate Cookbook, Chicken Marbella has been a perennial dinner party favorite ever since. For those unfamiliar, the dish is a startlingly good combination of olives, capers, prunes, oregano, garlic, red wine vinegar, brown sugar, and white wine. Continue reading “Marbella, Meet Kumquat”
I love sweet potatoes, and I love the idea of sweet potato soup but too often it ends up being bland or overly sweet. Sometimes its a little too much like baby food, or there’s too much cream to thicken it up. I was sick all last week and so of course I wanted soup. But I also didn’t want to make something that was overly involved or complicated; I was sick after all and it was a nasty virus. So I decided to make sweet potato soup, but with attitude. Continue reading “Sweet Potato Soup with Attitude”
I first tasted cilantro pesto a few years back at August restaurant in New York. It came spread on toasted baguette as an accompaniment to a shared starter of steamed mussels; it was a revelation. I have been craving and making it religiously since then. Continue reading “Cilantro Pesto”
If you live in Israel, then chances are you have a bottle (or three) of arak lying around. And, if you’re like me, you don’t reach for it all that often. Similar to other anise-flavored spirits like Greek ouzo, French pastis, Turkish raki and Italian sambucco, arak is often consumed in shot form or sipped as an aperitif. It gets its nickname, the Milk of Lions, because a splash of water turns the liquid from clear to milky white and mellows the flavor slightly. (To read more about the history, distillation process, and cocktail recipes check out my article on the subject in the Jew and the Carrot). Continue reading “Cooking with the Milk of Lions”
Chicken piccata is one of those dishes that has a permanent place in my repertoire and ends up in frequent rotation. As a light, citrusy dish it’s a summertime favorite, but it really is good year round. Chicken breasts are dredged in flour and browned, then a quick veil of a sauce is made using the pan drippings, butter, lemon juice, parsley, and capers. This time I also added wine, with much success. Continue reading “A Lemony, Briny, Chicken Dish for your Repertoire”
Maybe you have heard of lemon posett, but the first time I encountered it was about a year ago at Huckleberry, an unbearably cute neighborhood cafe in Santa Monica that has some of the best breakfast and pastries on the planet. It’s a completely unassuming dessert served in a ramekin or small bowl, pale yellow in color, and not very exciting to look at. But one swipe of your spoon through this silky, creamy delight is all it takes to realize you’ve come across something special. Continue reading “The Best Dessert You’ve Never Heard Of”
The recipe is inspired by a recent meal I had at Cordelia restaurant in Old Jaffo in Tel Aviv. They served me a ricotta and spinach-stuffed tortelloni with shrimp and Champagne butter sauce (essentially a Champagne buerre blanc) that made me swoon. This is my attempt at a weeknight version of that seductive dish. The sauce is subtle in flavor and buttery, while the shallots absorb the Champagne flavor and lend some bite to the dish. Continue reading “A Weeknight Champagne Sauce”
It doesn’t get much simpler than fresh pasta: flour and eggs are combined to create a dough, which is then rolled out into any shape and any thickness you want. It’s quite magical really. And while I dearly miss the pasta maker attachment for my KitchenAid stand mixer, I’ve made pasta with nothing more than my own two hands and a wine bottle as a rolling pin. Continue reading “Fresh Pasta without the Gadgets”
I can’t explain it, but I suddenly had a craving for fried vegetable fritters with homemade mayonnaise as a dipping sauce. I was skipping Hebrew and I guess felt like making it worthwhile. It was an incredibly specific desire, and I could even taste the exact ratio of mellow creaminess to bright lemon in the mayonnaise. Lucky for me I had all the ingredients on hand – egg, oil, lemon, breadcrumbs, zucchini, leftover artichoke. Before breading the vegetables I whisked a little seltzer into the egg, which made the batter nice and light. Use any thinly sliced vegetables you have on hand and serve this as a starter or snack. Then use the leftover mayonnaise to slather on sandwiches or dip fries into. Continue reading “Fried Vegetable Fritters with Homemade Mayonnaise”
I brought a small container of saffron back from New York and have been waiting to use it. As the world’s most expensive spice (a pound of dry saffron requires at least 50,000 flowers and 15 hours of manual labor) you can’t just use the stuff willy nilly. On the other hand, a little does go a long way, especially if you soak it in liquid first. But what to use it on? My last saffron recipe, Rigatoni with Wine-Braised Chicken and Saffron Cream, would be hard to live up to. I’d been craving risotto, so Risotto Milanese it was. Continue reading “Risotto in the Style of Milan”
