Salted Caramel Matzoh Crunch with Chocolate

Passover is almost here. It feels it. The weather is changing and unpredictable, the clocks have been reset for summer time and the air has a festive flair to it.

It is a time for Matzo and Matzo meal cakes, cookies, fritters and snacks. Surprisingly, few snacks are on offer during this period that are both made of matzo meal and taste good. Those wishing to enjoy a decent sweet snack tend to use other ingredients over matzo as base such as marzipan, nuts or chocolate.

I think I know why. I think its about nostalgia. Once a year, during Passover, unidentified cookies appear on supermarket shelves. They bear strange name and are manufactured by unknown companies. This happens every year. The coconut and peanut cookies taste as they did when I was growing up. They are the taste of Passover, along with the Gefilte fish, and it wouldnt be one without them.

However, be that as it may and with the utmost respect for nostalgia, I cannot put them in my mouth. They taste awful.

This is a recipe written by Marcy Goldman over 20 years ago which I found about a year ago and put a pin in it, until now. It was worth the wait.

This is an insanely indulgent confectionery without the faintest flavor of nostalgia despite the fact Matzo spread with chocolate is what the Passovers of my childhood tasted of.

It has everything one can wish for: salted butter caramel, chocolate and the option to creatively customize it to a sin of your liking. Oh, and its dead easy to make.

Happy holidays.

Caramelized Matzoh Crunch with Chocolate

Recipe adapted from here

4 to 6 sheets of matzoh


200 Salted butter, cut into chunks


1 cup (firmly-packed) light brown sugar


1 cup dark chocolate (70%cocoa), coarsely chopped

Topping of your choice,

(I used

Roasted pumpkin seeds

Cinnamon sugar )

Line a baking tray completely with foil making sure it goes up the sides. Preheat the oven to 175°C degrees.

Line the bottom of the sheet completely with matzoh, breaking extra pieces as necessary to fill in any spaces.

In a medium-sized heavy duty saucepan, combine the butter and sugar, and cook over medium heat until the butter begins to boil.

Boil for 3 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Remove from heat and pour over matzo, spreading with a heatproof utensil.

Put the baking sheet in the oven and bake for 15-20 minutes, until the syrup darkens and gets thick.

While it's baking, make sure it's not burning. If so, reduce the heat.

Remove from oven and immediately cover with chocolate chunks. Let stand 5 minutes, and then spread smooth with an offset spatula.

Now comes the fun creative part.

You can sprinkle with a mixture of seeds and nuts, I sprinkled a handful of roasted pumpkin seeds, but sunflower seeds, sesame, walnuts, hazelnuts and almonds will also work. You can add raisins or candied orange peel for a fruit & nut combo or.

Another option is to omit the dark chocolate altogether replace it with white chocolate and sprinkle with roasted coconut flakes, or simply have it with the salted caramel.

Let cool completely in the refrigerator, then break into pieces and store in an airtight container until ready to eat.

Poached egg on rice. Again

Not again. Yes. Again.

I have managed to catch yet another cold this winter. I say winter; I mean whatever one can call summer in March…

Whatever it is, its calling for comfort food and a good opportunity to visit an old favorite, good old Poached egg on rice. Nothing beats this favorite.

Ever since I discovered the Japanese method for cooking rice that’s how I cook mine. the seasoning part I do my way. Cold pressed sunflower seed oil is magical, with a dominant flavor of sunflower seeds its not suitable for cooking, only seasoning. Mixed with a few drops of freshly squeezed lemon juice, the rice is ready to receive the egg like bread awaits butter.

This is my chicken soup, porridge and comfort all in one.

Poached egg on rice

Serves 1

1 cup short grain rice

1½ water

1 fresh egg, at room temperature

2 Tbs Cold pressed sunflower seed oil

1 Tbs freshly squeezed lemon juice

Sea salt, to taste

White peppercorns, freshly ground, to taste

Tahini

Put the rice in a heavy duty medium sized saucepan. Cover and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for 12 minutes without lifting the lid. Remove from the heat and leave to rest for 5 minutes.

Transfer the rice to a large bowl. Add the oil, lemon juice, salt & pepper fluffing the rice using a spatula. Cover the bowl and prepare the poached egg.

For instructions on how to poach an egg check out this link.

place the poached egg on top of the rice and drizzle with tahini. You can also add caramelized onion, sautéed leek and fresh ginger, grated parmesan… the rice is your oyster.

Sabich on Sourdough Bread

Every once in a while a dream can come true. It sounds cheesy, I know. But I don’t mind it. One of my dreams came true. I dared to dream a pretty ridiculous dream and it was a matter of before the dreamy seed turned to a reality in full bloom. Just in time for spring.

Like the a good run of Tetris, for one moment everything fell into place.

This is my way of thanks.

I seem to have a soft spot for Sabich. This is truly odd since I have never once in my life stopped at a sabich stand and ordered one. It is also strange since the Sabich is mainly prominent in the centre of Israel, not exactly my childhood terroir.

And yet this is my second post on the wonders of the delightful combination of eggs, eggplants and tahini on bread. In fact, now that I’ve made it at home I have no interest on sampling the street version. I will keep this fantasy unfulfilled for a little while longer. When the time is right.

I made this for Saturday brunch the other day. the local version of eggs benedict I sliced 2 pieces of homemade sourdough bread and piled everything on top of them. It's what Saturdays should be.

Feel free to add or remove the toppings, keeping the key ingredients: carbs, eggs, eggplants and tahini.

Sabich on sourdough bread

(Serves 2)

1 medium sized eggplant

Crushed sea salt

Freshly ground white peppercorns

Ground Sumaq (available at any spice shop)

A few thyme sprigs

A dash of Balsamic vinegar

Olive oil

4 medium size sourdough slices (or any dark bread)

Honey (Clearly the secret ingredient)

2 hard-boiled eggs

Chopped pickled lemon (optional)

A handful of chopped parsley

A handful of chopped mint

Tahini

Sriracha (any other hot chili sauce will do)

Freshly grated nutmeg, to taste

Crushed sea salt, to taste

Freshly ground white peppercorns, to taste

1/2 lemon

Begin by oven roasting the eggplant.

Preheat the oven to 220°C.

Wash the eggplant and dice into small cubes. Place in a roasting tray and toss with the sumaq, thyme, salt, pepper, vinegar and olive oil.

Roast in the oven for 20-35 minutes, until the pieces are a light brown color.

This can be made up to 3 days in advance, if kept covered and refrigerated.

To assemble the dish spread a thin layer of honey on the bread slices. Slice the eggs into 5mm thick pieces and place evenly on the bread.

Scatter the roasted eggplant and pickled lemon, and generously drizzle the tahini.

Sprinkle the chopped mint and parsley and season with salt, pepper, nutmeg and chili sauce.

Squeeze the lemon on top and serve with a glass of Arak or Vodka.

Spicy Sweet Potato Spoon Bread

It’s a rainy Saturday. Finally. The setting is ideal: It’s the final days of February, and not a heat wave in sight. A monsoon is happening outside and I get to sit in my PJ’s at home, dry and warm. Just me, the blessed Internet and whatever I have at hand to cook. Some weekends are just about that.

Hmmm. What do I have to play with? The cupboards are pretty empty as I didnt go to the market this week. We're talking a few sweet potatoes. Thats it. Its all that I needed.

A while ago I found a treasure trove at my parents’ house. Among the vintage cookbook was also “The NY Times Bread & Soup Cookbook” by Yvonne Young Tarr that came out 34 years ago.

Its divided by types of cuisine, and each chapter lists short typical breads and soups recipes, including some risqué recipes such as Frog legs soup, a hot cucumber soup (that’s under the ‘diet’ section) and sheep’s head broth. They don’t make cookbooks like this anymore; few ingredients, several guidelines and an inherent simplicity that is true to the recipes' identity.

I decided to take a trip down the ‘American Plain & Fancy’ chapter and make a spoon bread. Spoon bread is not really bread, but more of a moist though solid savory pudding, apparently prevalent in parts of the Southern US.

Slicing a piece with a knife wouldn’t get you far, hence its name ‘spoon bread’.

The easiest recipe ever, any cookbook that takes me half way across the world in no time without leaving my house in search of random ingredients is on my good side.

Spicy sweet potato Spoon bread

Heavily adapted from

“The NY Times Bread & Soup Cookbook” by Yvonne Young Tarr

(Serves 4)

1 large sweet potato

2 Tbs butter (I used clarified butter)

2 Tbs cold press sunflower seed oil

1 Tbs sugar

¾ Tsp grated nutmeg

¾ Tsp crushed white peppercorns

½ Tsp mace

¼ Tsp cinnamon

2.5 Tbs whole-wheat flour (can be substituted for a gluten free recipe)

1/8 Tsp salt

1 egg

Topping

A handful of pumpkin seeds

A handful of flax seeds

Scrub the potatoes and boil until tender but not to soft, as whole chunks are always a pleasant surprise to stumble upon.

Preheat the oven to 220°C.

Peel and mash with the butter and oil. Add the sugar, spices, flour and salt and mix thoroughly.

Beat the egg and stir into the mixture.

Pour into a buttered pan and sprinkle the seeds on top.

Bake for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Cool the bread in its pan on a wire rack.

Cut into squares and serve warm or at room temperature.

Update: this spoon bread is even better topped with a slice of anchovy.

Speculaas Pâte sablée

I spent quite a great portion of last week accessorizing my kitchen.

One of my most prized possessions are my pestle and mortar. A small, mass produced ceramic version, its not the giant raw marble kind I would ideally have, but it does the job since I only buy my spices whole and raw (they taste a world better).

Ever since my trips to the Netherlands I have been obsessed with the Speculaas spice mixture and have recreated it in cakes, pastry, and meringues. Speculaas combines cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, ginger, cardamom and white pepper, but I use whatever is at hand for an aromatic constant gratification.

I now mostly use salted butter in pastries. I find that is balances the sweetness, and also acts as an enhancer, resulting in dough, tart bases and meringues with a complex and round flavor, adding another layer of complexity to the overall result as opposed to just being ‘sweet’. Nothing in life is black or white, and similarly neither are flavors sweet or savory. Its all about balance and a dialogue between two extremes.

This spice mixture has proved extremely successful in short crust pastry as a base for a lemon curd tart. The sharp fragrant spices in the pastry are enhanced by the salted butter and bring out the zest in the smooth lemon curd.

Speculaas Pâte sablée

(for a Ø20cm tart case)

For the dough

1 cup flour, sifted

½ cup confectioner’s sugar

Speculaas spice mix (see recipe below)

90 gr cold butter (I use salted), cut into small pieces

1 egg

Speculaas spice mix

4 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp cloves

1 tsp mace

1/3 tsp dry ginger

1/5 tsp white pepper

1/5 tsp cardamom

1/5 tsp coriander seeds

1/5 tsp anise seeds

1/5 tsp nutmeg

Using a pestle & mortar or a coffee grinder, grind the spices together (Its ok if you leave some spices out). Set aside.

In the bowl of a food processor mix the flour, sugar, Speculaas spice mix and butter. Pulse until the texture resembles coarse sand.

Stir in the egg and pulse only until the dough pulls together.

Alternatively, if your food processor is broken (!) you can make the dough using your hands.

In a large bowl mix the flour, sugar and the spices. Sprinkle the butter pieces over the dry ingredients and, using your hands, work quickly to combine the mixture until the texture resembles coarse sand. Add the egg and work only until the dough pulls together. The most important thing is not to fiddle too much with the dough.

Turn the dough out onto a work surface and knead just to incorporate any dry ingredients that might have escaped mixing.

Pat into a ball and flatten into a disk.

Chill the dough, wrapped in plastic, for at least an hour.

Preheat the oven to 180°C.

On a lightly floured baking sheet, flatten the disk with a rolling pin. Lift the dough and give it a quarter turn. This prevents the dough from sticking to the surface.

Lightly dust the top of the dough or the rolling pin with flour as needed, then roll out until the dough is about 5mm thick.

Using the paper as aid, flip the dough into a tart pan with removable bottom, then peel off the paper.

Lightly press the pastry into bottom and up sides of pan. Roll your rolling pin over top of pan to get rid of excess pastry and with a thumb up movement, press the dough into pan.

Roll rolling pin over top again to get rid of any extra pastry.

Prick bottom of dough, cover and freeze for about 10 minutes.

Line unbaked pastry shell with parchment paper and fill the tart pan with pie weights or beans (make sure the weights are evenly distributed over the entire surface).

Bake the crust for 10 minutes.

Remove the pie weights and the parchment paper and bake for a further 5 minutes.

The crust should be dry and a light golden brown color.

Allow the crust to cool on a wire rack before filling.

Spinach with Sesame sauce

Tel Aviv was designed as a tapestry. A series of boulevards cross and intersect the city and much like a gorge those seem to gather and collect the street life, doubling as an intimate communal space and a place for interaction. This is where cyclists, pedestrians, coffee drinkers, dog walkers, pensioners, strollers, stoners, and first date-ers all share a narrow urban stretch.

I live close by to such a boulevard, though far enough that I don’t live in it, as such. Four small huts are strategically spaced on it: One sells fruit and vegetable juices of all kinds, colors and seasons. I’ve been eying the cold coffee and banana drink, and would have tried it already had it not been for the copious amount of sugar it contains.

The second hut is always busy but I recall the fresh seasonal salad consisting of mostly canned vegetables.

The third is ‘Friday brunch’ hut. I think it must be the free seat, the weekend newspapers and it's relative isolation from the bustling boulevard. Just what I need on a Friday.

The fourth café serves good coffee and occupies tables and chairs that belong to the boulevard. The miniature picnic tables nailed to the ground are co shared with locals and passers-by, and on a mild summer evening like the ones we’ve been experiencing for the past week (on a what should be a cold February), you want to seat outside with friends and enjoy a cup of tea in the night breeze. So we made tea, took the teapot and grabbed a table. Conveniently we ordered some cookies from the café and at one point an ice cream tub from the nearby all night store made its way to our table.

Moments like this remind me why I love this place and why it is like no other.

With this weather stews and soups are out the window. Its back to light food that’s better suited to the current climate. There’s a particular variety of spinach that has caught my palette. Locally it is called “Turkish spinach”. Its has soft, large flat leaves, its sweeter then the ‘meatier’ kind and you can also eat the stalks. When blanched it exudes a luminescent green color and its flavor intensifies. Since most of the food I enjoy makes a great companion to a pure sesame paste (ie. Tahini), spinach is no exception and it was a joyous moment when I discovered a Japanese recipe that celebrated this combination.

The recipe calls for making the paste from the seeds, which replace fat and oil rarely used in Japanese cooking. Having a suribachi at hand helps, though a regular mortar and pestle (or an electric grinder) will do the job.

This is a simple dish to make and if you use a good, high quality Tahini the sesame paste-making phase can be skipped, while the spinach can be substituted with other vegetables like green beans or roasted sweet potatoes.

Spinach with Sesame sauce

(Recipe taken from yasuko fukuoka “Classic Japanese”)

Serves 4

Ingredients

450 gram Spinach

Sesame sauce

1/3 cup sesame seeds (I used Natural brown sesame seeds)

2 Tbs Shoyu (Japanese soy sauce)

1½ Tsp caster sugar

1½ Tbs Dashi stock or the same amount of water with a pinch of dashi-no-moto (Japanese stock)

Make the sesame sauce. Grind the sesame seeds in a suribachi , a mortar and pestle or an electric grinder if you must.

Transfer the crushed seeds to a small bowl and stir in the shoyu, sugar and dashi stock. When mixed it should be a thick paste.

Blanch the spinach for 30 seconds in boiling water.

Drain and cool under running cold water, to stop the spinach from cooking any further.

Drain again and lightly squeeze out excess water.

Gently mix the sesame sauce with the spinach. Serve garnished with dried Yuzu, sesame seeds and shredded Nori (available in specialty food stores selling Japanese products).

Note

To make a different type of sauce the sesame seeds can be substituted with walnuts or peanuts.

Lemon Drizzle Cake with Lemon Icing

Its been one of those weeks. I planned on making, cooking and baking, there was some roasting and frying involved too. And then a cold hit me, congestion along with a ‘ I can’t smell, taste or hear anything’ sort of sensation. No problem, I’m flexible, I can adjust. This called for chicken soup, and my first one ever at that.

In went the chicken, along with a deconstructed cauliflower, some carrots, leeks and parsley root. For good measure and herbal aroma there was dill and parsley and I even threw in some smoked ham.

As if this pot of comfort was not enough, when it was time for healing I made a simple form of knodels straight from the Shtetl; mixture of egg, flour, pepper and some grated Parmesan mixed together and plopped by the teaspoon into a saucepan of boiling water.

Whilst the process was a source of comfort, by the end of it the cold was there and so was the crave for comfort. Am I immune to the powers of chicken soup?

Luckily, a Saturday Tchulnt provided me with the consolation I was looking for.

It is my personal belief that anything that plans to show up next to Tchulnt has to keep light, tart and zesty. Dessert is no exception and since lemons are in season, I decided to make a lemon drizzle cake from a recipe I bookmarked long ago from Coco & me, a blog written by Tamami who runs a chocolates & cakes stall holder at London’s Broadway Market.

I modified it slightly, based on my preferences and what I had in my pantry.

The cake turned out chewy, zesty, and all round lemony, with a pleasantly fresh tart frosting. If I’m to be honest, it was quite difficult to stop sampling it, which is why I always prefer to leave my cakes at others’.

Lemon Drizzle Cake with Lemon Icing

(20cm spring form pan)

Ingredients

Zest grated from 1 lemon

1 Tsp sugar

4 eggs

1 cup + 1 Tablespoon unrefined sugar


A pinch of salt

½ cup sour cream
 (I used heavy cream)

4 Teaspoon squeezed lemon juice


1 2/3 cup plain flour

½ Tablespoon baking powder


100g Ghee (clarified unsalted butter)


Zest of 1 unwaxed lemon + 1 teaspoon unrefined sugar

For the lemon syrup to drizzle:

3.5 tablespoons lemon juice

60g castor sugar

For the lemon icing:

7 teaspoons lemon juice

200g icing sugar

For the garnish:

Roughly chopped pecan nuts

Chopped dried orange peel

Line the bottom of the baking tin with baking paper.

Butter the baking tin sides then move around some flour in it so that it clings to the sides. Tap out excess flour and store the prepared tin in the refrigerator until needed.

Grate 1 large unwaxed lemon and mix it with a teaspoon of sugar (remember not to grate the bitter white pith). Set aside.

Preheat oven to 180 degrees C.

In a large steel mixing bowl, loosely whisk the eggs, using an electric whisk.

Put the mixing bowl above a pot with simmering hot water (bain marie) and whisk the eggs with the sugar for 5 to 10 minutes until light cream in color, and thick in texture.

The egg mixture should look like it tripled in quantity.

Remove the bowl from the heat source.

Put together sour cream, lemon juice, lemon zest and salt in a separate bowl and then whisk it into the egg foam.

Sift the flour and baking powder and fold into the batter.

Warm the clarified butter to just above body temperature.

Take a little of the cake batter and mix it in to the butter dish. This will ensure that the butter mixes in evenly & quickly.

Fold it into the rest of the batter and make sure it is thoroughly folded Pour the batter in to the prepared cake tin and bake for 35 to 40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean.

While the cake is in the oven, make the lemon drizzle syrup. Heat castor sugar with lemon juice in a small saucepan until the sugar has dissolved and melted completely.

When the cake is ready quickly de-mold it from the tin and turn upside down on an oven tray so that the bottom is now the top of the cake. This way, you have a leveled top surface perfect for the flat icing.

If the cake has risen too much you can also level the opposite surface using a sharp knife, ensuring a flat base.

Place the cake-tin wall back around the sponge, keeping the hot lemon syrup from spilling everywhere.

Skewer the sponge and spoon the hot syrup over it. Let it soak in to the hot sponge.

For the lemon-icing place the icing sugar in a small bowl and pour in the lemon juice. Stir to a paste.

Place the cake on a level surface and pour the white icing in the middle, all in one go letting some drip to the sides.

While the icing is still wet garnish the top with the orange peel and chopped pecans.

For an extra glossy icing put the cake back in a pre-heated oven (230 degrees) for under 1 minute.

Wait for the icing to harden and do not try to move the cake while the icing is soft, as it will crack the icing surface.