Indonesian Gado-Gado salad

Not fresh and not quite cooked, with a lovely mixture of vegetables and topped with an unusual peanut sauce. This salad was a lovely diversion from our usual repertoire.  A fresh change with an exotic flare to it, it was received with great enthusiasm.

Chicken Livers & Pineapple

Simple yet delicious, this recipe is great for those who love liver. You can serve it to start the meal or as an appetizer on toasted baguette slices but it will also be excellent as a main dish with rice or mashed potatoes. The chicken livers are grilled, then fried in a sweet pineapple sauce with a lovely hot tang from green chilli peppers. Simple in principle and simple to make, this is a great little recipe you should all try.

Marcy’s Mushroom shtrudel

A major innovation to our menu is the enthusiastic adoption of mushrooms in our kitchen. After years of rejection from the children we challenged them to taste something with mushrooms and surprisingly they liked what they tried. Suddenly mushrooms became sought after  – fried in an omelette or in pasta sauce, in a stew or on a pizza – mushrooms are now a welcome ingredient.

When mushrooms are the order of the day one of my favorite dishes is mushroom quiche. So, the other day while looking for a recipe I found this- Marcy’s mushroom strudel.

Hot and Sour Szechuan Soup

The snow has started malting outside. Most likely it has something to do with the tilt of the earth and the days getting longer but at first I was sure it was because of the soup. Drinking the first bowl I felt the warmth spreading through my body, my mouth was so hot I felt every breath was spreading the heat all around. It’s just that kind of soup, once you eat it you feel like you could breathe fire.

Now, to put things in proportion, I should just say that I’m not one of those who eat raw chillies for fun. I like spicy food but I’m not addicted to the painful sensation of hot foods like some people I know. This soup is hot but it’s a nice kind of spicy many would appreciate, the kind that warms you up not the one that makes cry.

Eggplant Parmigiano Wendy

We have a guest on the blog! Thursday morning, my mom came over to our house to join in on the cooking. I even made her bring along her camera so that she could take pictures to accompany her post. So, without any more delay, I’m proud to introduce: Gila Levy’s guest post:

Edit: ….a week later…

Who am I kidding?  She’ll never write this…she thinks it all came out terribly wrong… although it didn’t really.

I chose a few recipes out of the CD, and went shopping. Eggplants are in season now and out of two parmigiano recipes we chose this one. Mostly because it said Wendy in the title.

This recipe is a good one but my mom is too critical of her own work. Admittedly, a few things could have been better, but this is our first try and it still came out quite nice. Some of the eggplant was still slightly bitter, but the seasoning was refreshingly different and I liked it very much.

We will try this again sometime soon, and then update this post. I’m quite sure this recipe will prove itself to be just great.

RECIPES INDEX>Vegetables>Eggplant>EGGPLAND PARMIGIANO WENDY

Cheese and Chive Soufflé

Never made a soufflé before. Always found it to be a little too complicated and pompous. I mean, really–all that trouble for girls food? Where’s the meat?!

Yes,I know; silly and childish. I too realized that, so when I saw this recipe, I decided to give it a shot.
It looked easy enough in theory. Few simple stages…chop, mix, beat, bake… and that should be it. Only thing is I don’t know if it came out the way it’s supposed to be.

I know soufflés are supposed to be very airy and delicate, and it was at first; but as it cooled it started sinking. I guess I should read through the tips and tricks to see if there is anything I missed.

Nevertheless, it tasted great and all the people who tasted it liked it. Not that there were many of those, since it was finished very quickly.

RECIPES INDEX>Eggs, Dairy Souffles & Crepes>Souffles>CHEESE  & CHIVE SOUFFLE

Zucchini, mint and pine nuts quiche

Quiche– can’t go wrong with a dish with such a name. People like quiches: they sound French, they’re impressive, and they look healthy too. But then I used to think quiches were a hassle to make. Too many recipes, too much work, too long to make…

Still, when we have dairy, we need something nice. When the occasion calls for something with a fresh smell of pastry, and the aroma of herbs from the garden, and ripe vegetables, rich cheeses and cream…the answer is quiche. And the surprise: it’s not that complicated!

I got this recipe from my brother, Liron. He taught me the general formula and then how to improvise.  As the saying goes: …Teach someone to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.

Ginger carrot soup

The second recipe I made for dinner last week was a carrot soup.  I have a folder with all the recipes I want to try out first, so I looked through the different soups. It’s hard to choose since they all sound delicious (that’s why I chose them…), but since it couldn’t be dairy and I didn’t have all the ingredients for some of them, my choices were narrowed down to just a few. Having plenty of carrots in the fridge, I chose Ginger carrot soup. Now, we’ve had many kinds of carrot soups in the past, some with ginger too, but still I wanted to try uncle Archie’s version.

Usually, carrot soups are sweetish, with cinnamon or nutmeg. Sometimes they’re refreshing, with orange peel or lemon and even fresh ginger. This recipe on the other hand is spicy, with a strong taste from cumin and coriander. It has carrots of course, but also leeks, zucchini and potatoes. It is heavily seasoned too, and since I put in too much of the spices, it came out quite strong. I guess I got “curried” away!

I don’t know where this recipe originates from, but it tastes Indian. Like the Chicken Tarka, it too has a nice blend of spices, the scent of which blends well with the vegetables. I like spicy food, so I really enjoyed the soup. But I will make it again with the right quantities, to see how it works out. Nevertheless, quite a few people round the table asked for seconds, so I guess others liked it too.

Gefulte* fish

Made these for Passover for the family’s seder (yes I know, that was more than a month ago…).  Granted, if this was just one of the recipes I’ve come across in the files I’d never have even tried it. But this isn’t just a recipe for fish balls; this recipe is in the Favorites folder under “Jewish & Manne family”. I love the traditional food of the holidays and gefilte fish is one of my favorites too.  We make gefilte fish every year but this time I wanted to try out uncle Archie’s recipe. It was a good opportunity too, since we were having seder at my sister’s place with the whole family, so they could all try it out. Few modifications needed, couldn’t find red snapper so I had to go with the traditional carp in the mix.

And the verdict:

It’s a little more complicated than the recipe I know, but I guess it’s worth it since everyone loved them. Well worth being in the Favorites; now I have to see what else is in that folder…

RECIPES INDEX>Jewish & Manne family>FAVORITES

*I know most people spell it gefilte but in the files it is called “traditional gefulte fish”. I guess since it’s via Yiddish (from the Ger. gefüllter), there is no one right way of spelling it…

Beetroot Carpaccio

This is a keeper. Why? Because it’s impressive and special, but at the same time easy and quick. There are several variations for beet carpaccio and you can see them on the occasional menu, but still many people haven’t heard of it–so it’s good for making an impression. Oh–and no need for any cooking skills or know how…  it’s that easy. So what’s the secret? Good ingredients and the way it’s served.