Turkish Salad (Salat Turki)

Turkish salad most often appears on the table as part of  a colorful meze selection. It makes a good party salad, too, because you can make it a day or two ahead and it will still be wonderful. Note how healthy it is, too – low in fat and chockful of Vitamin C.  Here’s my [...]

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Bruschetta (and how to say it)

A reader asked me what bruschetta is. It’s Italian for “toasted bread with toppings.”  A handy, quickly-assembled appetizer or  snack. If your toppings are substantial, add a glass of wine and you have a meal. All you need is some good bread, fresh or a few days old, plus olive oil, garlic, and any topping [...]

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The Green Edition of the Kosher Cooking Carnival Is UP

Go to Ilana-Davita’s site to track down what the kosher folk are cooking these days. You’ll see that many of us are focusing on lighter fare – and shedding pounds.

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Humble Helper…The Onion

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Peperonata

This is such an easy dish. You don’t need to make a lot, just choose two or three colors of ripe bell peppers. Have ready a handful of basil leaves, olive oil, 1 clove of garlic per pepper, salt and black pepper. If basil isn’t in season,  a dusting of oregano does very well instead.
Rinse [...]

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Pickled Lemons

Pickled vegetables in vivid colors decorate all our food, from falafel eaten out of hand to restaurant tables set with good china and cloth napkins. And there’s a good reason for that. The gem-like colors attract your eyes, then the sharp aroma of vinegar and salt rises up and makes your mouth water. You reach [...]

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Butternut Squash Stuffed with Quinoa

Lately quinoa has been on my mind. It’s one grain (seed, really) I never paid much attention to, till I tasted a fresh salad of it with cubed cucumbers and tomatoes. The salad looked like tabbuleh. It  had sharp accents of thinly sliced red onion and was seasoned with plenty of olive oil and lemon [...]

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Rice Pudding With Drunken Raisins

I don’t know about other folks, but I tend to buy all kinds of beans and grains and rice and stash them away in the freezer. Then I forget I bought them and buy all over again. Maybe it’s a genetic throwback to some ancient foremother  – a primeval anxiety to store proteins and carbs [...]

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Cool Beans: Fava and Choumous

Floury dark fava beans set down in a nest of yellow choumous and a beige ring of tehinah, topped with a brown hamine (long-cooked) egg. Parsley, to offset the earthy flavors. Lemon juice, to balance the dish with a little acidity, and a generous drizzle of good olive oil.  On the side, pickles for piquancy, [...]

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Pennies Towards Heaven

“If a man puts his hand out on the street, you have to put something in it.”
My Dad said that often. I think of him when I’m running around town with not a minute to lose and suddenly a person looms up, blocking my way, mumbling blessings and holding out a hand. All I want [...]

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