Carrot Ginger Dressing

September 23, 2011 by Stephanie | 2 Comments

The best part of going out for sushi is salad, because it comes with carrot ginger dressing! Jessica and I have been known to pick up a quart of dressing from our local sushi joint. That is, before we learned how easy it is to make at home!

Since I tend to experiment with Asian cooking, I always have most of these ingredients at home, such as rice vinegar, ginger and sesame oil. I did have to go out and find some miso paste, which was pretty easy; there are a few brands of kosher miso paste available at Whole Foods. Now that I have that, I can make this whenever the urge strikes, since it lasts in the fridge for quite a while. It’s also good to have around for my favorite lazy miso soup dinner, which consists of mixing miso paste with water and adding whatever veggies I have around, and maybe some greens or soba noodles.

While you’re picking up your miso paste, make sure to buy an avocado, our favorite vehicle for carrot-ginger dressing!

Pesto Roasted Tomatoes

September 4, 2011 by Jessica | Leave a comment

Your side dish can’t get easier than this. If you have pesto in your freezer (either store-bought or homemade will do?), then you can prep this dish in about five minutes. Have basil growing like a weed in your garden? Then it might take a bit longer to make, but it’s still pretty simple, and always a big hit. Continue reading …

Sweet Kaak

July 18, 2011 by Jessica | 6 Comments

Sweet kaak is nothing like regular kaak, except that it’s also kinda like a bread stick. Actually, it’s really more like a cookie made with orange zest. I usually don’t love orange zest, but for some reason I absolutely love sweet kaak. It’s a traditional Syrian treat, one that if I have in my cookie jar (okay, fine, I don’t have a cookie jar, but I do have airtight containers that I can leave on the counter and store cookies in) I will finish in about a day. Basically, they are sugar cookies that are twisted. Yum! Continue reading …

Banana Pops!

June 22, 2011 by Jessica | Leave a comment

On Monday I bought a Zoku Quick Pop Maker! I got home and put it straight in the freezer because I just couldn’t wait to try it out. And boy am I glad about that impulse buy! I had some overripe bananas hanging out on my banana tree (read: KA dough hook), and mixed them with just a teeny bit of sugar and some milk – voila, I made really healthy banana pops that rival those banana FrozFruits we used to eat on the beach (fine, more often we got coconut and strawberry. Claire always got lime).

Mustard Chicken Salad

May 19, 2011 by Jessica | 8 Comments

If you’re making meat for Shabbat lunch and want an easy and light dish, look no further than this mustard chicken salad. Yeah, I know, people will probably go crazier over the chulent you made, but this dish is simple, refreshing, and did I mention simple? You can serve it on top of a bed of romaine, like I did, or arugula, like Ina did. Or you can shred the chicken and cut the veggies a bit smaller and serve this in sandwiches, my favorite way to eat chicken salad. No matter how you do it, it’s a great Shabbat lunch. Continue reading …

Ejjeh Parsley

May 4, 2011 by Jessica | Leave a comment

Remember back when we made ejjeh potato? Though we posted it as a Chanukah treat, it’s also really a great lunch box staple along with this, ejjeh parsley. We also love making leek ejjeh for Rosh HaShanah, by the way. Continue reading …

Roasted Artichokes

May 1, 2011 by Stephanie | 8 Comments

It finally feels like spring and artichokes are here! I admit, artichokes used to scare me. Until a couple of years ago I’d had the frozen kind and the kind that came in a jar, but never the real thing. Then one day Jessica and I decided to buy some and learned how to boil them online. We were instantly converted to fresh artichoke people (while wondering who first figured out that there was a delicious heart hiding among the spiky leaves?!), but I’ve moved on to baking and roasting rather than steaming them these days.

Kaak, or Syrian Bread Sticks

April 27, 2011 by Jessica | 3 Comments

I have a confession to make. We made kaak a really long time ago. Probably more than 6 months ago, actually. We just never got around to writing up the post because the pictures were stuck on Adele’s camera, and because we had so many other interesting things to share with you. Better sooner rather than later, right?

Now that Passover won’t be back for another year, maybe we’ll make a giant batch of kaak for our freezer.

Kaak are bread sticks, but instead of being actual stick shapes, they are formed into rings. They are flavored with kemun, kizabrah, mahlab, and yansoon. Or cumin, anise, and cherry pit. I wouldn’t say that they’re hard to make, just time consuming. You need to shape each ring, then bake at two different temperatures. If you have two ovens, then this might be a little easier than it was for us. Anyone want to buy me a double wall oven? I promise you a batch of kaak! We baked these in Adele’s not-so-giant Manhattan kitchen. And hey, if we could do it there, then it can be done anywhere. You just have to have some patience. Continue reading …

Fassoulieh Experiment

April 10, 2011 by Jessica | Leave a comment

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

April 7, 2011 by Stephanie | 10 Comments

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.