I had two immediate thoughts when I heard those little motors purr to life: devil’s food cake with strawberries & frosting, and walnut basil pesto.

It's the start of strawberry season here in Israel, and this year's crop is GORGEOUS

Elbowing my way to the basil

I used my favorite devil’s food cake recipe for the cake’s base, and a fantastic “marshmallow” frosting recipe that is dairy-free, smooth, silky deliciousness. For the pesto, I simply made my favorite dairy-free, free-form version which includes walnuts, lots of basil and some fruity, organic olive oil, delivered by our egg and honey man, Amnon.

Enjoy!

Super-spreadable Fluffy White Icing, adapted from The Modern Baker by Nick Malgieri

You need a little patience to make this swiss meringue recipe, but I promise it will pay off. The most important thing to remember is to whisk continuously, both while the meringue is over the bain-marie (simmering water) and once you pull it off the heat, until it has reached the desired texture. 

4 large egg whites

large pinch of salt

2/3 cup sugar (I use organic/natural sugar)

1/2 cup light corn syrup (do NOT grease your cup to help the corm syrup slide out! Your egg whites will not firm up if mixed with even a tiny drop of oil)

Half-fill a saucepan with water and bring to a boil over medium heat.

Combine the whites, salt, sugar, and corn syrup in the bowl of an electric mixer (or any bowl, if you are using a hand-mixer — just make sure the bowl sits over the water, not in the water). Whisk ingredients by hand, just to combine.

Regulate the heat under the pan so that it boils gently and place the bowl on the pan. Whisk gently, just to keep the mixture moving, until it is hot (~130°F/55°C) and the sugar is dissolved. Place the bowl on the mixer and whip with the whisk attachment until the icing has cooled and becomes white and fluffy. It will look silky and will hold medium-firm peaks.

Our new years weekend was full of delicious food and walks in the park, and I continue to be amazed at all the “relaxing” we manage to cram in to a one day weekend here in Israel.

Auralee and her friend, Moriya in the Wohl Rose Garden

mashing chickpeas for hummus

Before I share the the recipe for the delicious poppy seed bread that we enjoyed on Shabbat and all week long, there are a couple of quick housekeeping issues I’d like to mention:

1. Sybil Kaplan, the author of The Wonders of the Wonder Pot, has contacted me via the blog, and offered copies of the cookbook for those who have requested. Her e-mail is: syb1023@aol.com

2. Ironically, after a year of bemoaning the absence of Earth Balance Vegan Spread (my favorite butter substitute, available only in the States), I have been contacted by someone who is part of the campaign against the use of palm oil (one of the main ingredients in Earth Balance), who is trying to raise awareness of all the nasty effects of palm oil cultivation in rain forests around the world. Take some time to research this issue if you are an Earth Balance-lover, and here is a link they asked me to pass along : http://www.change.org/petitions/save-the-orangutans-now#

And now onto the Makoweic!

This recipe, which is similar to babka or strudel, was adapted from about.com

Polish Poppy Seed Bread (makoweic), makes one very large roll, or two small ones

1 1/4 tsp dry active yeast

1 cup warm milk (no more than 110°F, or you will kill your yeast)

2 cups all purpose flour

2 cups whole wheat flour

1/3 cup sugar

1/2 tsp salt

3 eggs (med-smallish)

2 oz. (4 Tbs.) melted butter

For the filling:

1 cup ground poppy seeds (the place in the shuk where I bought mine ground them for me, but you can use a coffee/spice grinder)

1/2 cup sugar (I used less, maybe 1/3 cup)

3 oz. softened butter

1/2 cup hot milk

1 tsp lemon zest

Make the dough:

In a small heatproof bowl, dissolve yeast in 1/2 cup of the warm milk.

In the bowl of a stand mixer or a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, salt and eggs. Add remaining 1 1/2 cups warm milk, butter and yeast mixture. With the paddle attachment, or by hand, beat until smooth. Dough will be sticky at this point.

Scrape dough into a clean, greased bowl. Sprinkle the top with a little flour and cover. Let stand in a warm place for 1 hour or until doubled in size.

Meanwhile, make the filling: combine all filling ingredients and mix very well.

Punch down dough and turn out onto a floured surface. Shape dough into a rectangle (or two smaller rectangles, if making 2 loaves).

Spread the filling over the rectangle(s), leaving some room on all sides. Roll up like a jelly roll and seal the ends.

Place on a greased sheet pan and allow to rise again for 45 minutes or so.

Brush with additional butter and bake at 350°F until golden brown ~45-60 minutes.

The week before last, another old staple that I’ve been avoiding also made an astoundingly brief appearance in our kitchen (Jeff and I both proclaimed them “dangerously good”) — chocolate chip cookies. Olive oil was the shortening that replaced Earth Balance Margarine, based off a great recipe my friend Liz sent over from Organically Cooked.

And muffins have resumed their rightful place as the breakfast food of choice in our house, with Auralee helping more than ever to sift, beat, stir, and lick the bowl. We are currently on a mission to “healthify” the cafe’s recipe for chocolate chip and apple cinnamon, respectively, with terrific results thus far — more on those in a future post.

Enjoy this simple and easy to adapt recipe. Play with it, and make it yours!

Everything-New-is-Old-Again Chocolate Chip Banana Bread 

Makes one 9 x 5 inch banana bread 

2 large eggs

1/2 cup goat yogurt (feel free to use cows’ milk yogurt or buttermilk)

1/3 cup canola oil

1/2 cup sugar (I use cane sugar)

3 medium, ripe banans, well mashed

1 cup all purpose flour

3/4 cup whole wheat flour

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp baking soda

3/4 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp freshly grated nutmeg

1/3 cup mini dark chocolate chips.

Mix the wet ingredients including the mashed bananas, plus the sugar, in a large bowl. Add the dry ingredients, being careful not to over-mix, and fold in the chocolate chips. Bake in a greased 9 x 5 pan at 325°F for one hour until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. If humanly possible, cool on a rack before slicing.

When I was growing up we weren’t big latke-makers in our family. My childhood memories of potato pancake-eating are blurry — a soggy, cold latke on a plastic plate after my school’s Hannuka concert, a mini-latke here or there at a synagogue event. To be honest, I did not begin making my own latkes until 5 or 6 years ago and quickly discovered that there were actually many more options than the usual potato-onion-and-salt- meet-hot-oil, varitety. After several years I felt confident that I had made up for my lack of latke-practice in my youth and was confidently and cluelessly serving up mediocre latkes to family and friends, without much thought. Until now.

This Hannuka, working at the cafe, I’ve gotten the chance to participate in a great deal more latke-making than in all my past years combined and have seen what goes into getting a consistent product that our customers are pretty crazy about.  I’m not saying that makes me an expert, but I have learned some useful tips that I thought I’d share:

1. You will never manage to squeeze all the moisture out of your potatoes, so just do the best you can and move on. In past years, I’ve squeezed, wrung, and used a half roll of paper towels trying to dry my grated potatoes — and the darn latkes still didn’t always stick together in the end. Give your grated potatoes a squeeze before you add them to mixing bowl, and then again, right before they go into the frying pan. If you follow the rest of these rules, that oughta do it.

2. Ignore the no-flour rule. Some of my go-to cookbooks are just dead wrong when they say that adding flour to your latkes will make them dense or heavy. A little flour (half a cup per 6 or so potatoes) adds body and helps soak up some of that excess moisture. Obviously you can make latkes without flour as well, but it certainly won’t harm them, and may make it a little easier to get a uniform product.

3. Salt is not optional. Potatoes are bland. Try biting into one and you’ll see. Latkes in their original form have just three or four ingredients. Without salt, you’ve got yourself an oily, golden paperweight.

4. FINELY grate your potatoes, onions and whatever other vegetables you put into your latkes. The large holes on your grater are going to give you pieces of potato that are too big to distribute evenly throughout the latke mixture. Using a food processor or the small holes of a box grater will give you the size you need.

5. If you are not using eggs, use another binding agent. Cornstarch works great.

6. OIL, oil, oil, oil. The foods we eat on Hannuka are fried because we are celebrating the oil in the temple burning for 8 days and nights. Latkes will not fry up properly in a pan coated with pan-spray or a shallow layer of canola. You need inches of oil here and it needs to be hot. Latkes should take a couple of minutes to become golden brown, on each side. Test one to see if your oil is the right temp, and don’t forget to squeeze ‘em right before sliding them into the pan.

7. Drain on paper bags. As with all fried foods, you will maintain the latkes’ crispiness if you let paper bags, as opposed to paper towels, soak up the oil after frying.

Happy Hannuka and happy frying!

Linda, the owner of the cafe, holding a plate of Mali's A-MAZING levivot.

At home, I’ve been trying some new recipes from around the web, some of which are not traditional Hanukka foods but may become so in our family, like Sarah’s kurdish carrot fritters.

I added some cumin, fennel and coriander to her recipe, and though they did not look quite as beautiful as Sarah’s, we gobbled them up.

I also loved Liz’s post on traditional Moroccan doughnuts (recipe included).

And these banana fritters from Dishing Up Nirvana, are on the weekend agenda without a doubt. They look unbelievably good.

Wishing you all a Happy Hanukka! Enjoy this sweet, joyful, and delicious holiday.

Having two very wonderful constants does help create a sense of home, wherever we are. And so do pancakes with syrup or jam, midweek, made in my favorite cast-iron pan, and served to my little bean who is late to school as a result of our indulgent breakfasting.

Whole Grain Pancakes from the Gourmet Cookbook, adapted slightly.

I realize that separating and whipping egg whites first thing in the morning (especially by hand, as is the case for me) is not everyone’s idea of a fun way to start the day. I promise that folding the fluffy whites into the batter does make a wonderful difference in the pancakes’ texture, as does the medium- to coarsely-ground corn meal. These pancakes are both light and hearty and, if you are judicious with the syrup, I don’t see any reason why they can’t be considered a healthy breakfast. 

1 1/4 whole wheat flour

1/3 cornmeal

3/4 Tbs cane sugar

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

2 large eggs, separated

1/4 cup vegetable oil

1 1/2 cups soy/rice milk, mixed with 1 tsp apple cider vinegar, set aside to curdle for a few minutes

Whisk the dry ingredients together in a large bowl and set aside.

Whisk the egg yolks, curdled soy milk, and oil together in a large mixing cup or small bowl. Mix into dry ingredients.

Beat the egg whites in a separate, clean bowl until the just hold stiff peaks (even soft peaks is fine, you don’t want it to be too difficult to incorporate them into the batter). Gently fold the whites into the batter, trying to not allow them to deflate too much as you do so.

Heat a cast iron or other non-stick skillet and lightly grease. Fry pancakes over medium heat for a few minutes on each side (flip when you see bubbles just forming on the edges and a firming-up overall). Enjoy!

Although, for such a small cafe, we have a fairly extensive menu at Belinda, there are two items on our menu that are the back bone of the cafe’s business: soups and quiches. Every day we have at least two or three freshly made vegan soups. People always ask (for reasons of health and kashrut) if they contain cream or milk and are surprised when we tell them that none of our soups are made with dairy. Although I can’t give away any recipes, I will share a couple of soup-making secrets that contribute to their deliciousness.

Roi, serving a bowl of minestrone

1. Fresh ingredients: We get fresh produce delivered to the cafe every morning, and what looks best often determines what Mali (head chef) decides to turn into soup. No limp or frozen veggies, and absolutely no powders, bouillons, or artificial flavor enhancers. 

2. A good base: All of our soups are made with nearly-caramelized onions. We gently and slowly saute a large batch of onions in a lot of oil  each evening and use them in our soups the next day. They give the soups a wonderful depth of flavor.

3. All or partial puree: Nearly all the soups we serve (with the exception of the vegetable, minestrone and one or two others) are either partially or fully pureed. Pureeing part of the soup creates a rich body and the illusion of a cream-base.

4. Extras: Don’t be shy with the salt, pepper and other seasonings, and use coconut, (unsweetened) soy or almond milk if you really need an added cream-element.

Here are some excellent soup recipes from around the web (okay, they’re bloggers I know and love…), and a couple of my favorites from this blog as well. Stay warm & have a happy winter!

Miriam’s soup trio post, from her blog, Israeli Kitchen. Three easy, vegetarian/vegan soup recipes; jerusalem artichoke, tomato mint, and lentil soup, from one of our blogger evenings on the town.

Liz’s orange-lentil soup, an easy and delicious variation on a vegetarian classic. It was tough to pick just one off her awesome blog, so while you’re there, have a look around.

This sweet potato and cilantro soup from Molly, is wishful thinking for me, since we cannot get chipotles in adobo sauce here. Looks delicious.

Pumpkin soup with Thai curry, a recipe I adapted slightly from 101cookbooks.

This borscht recipe was an unexpected hit last year, and caused me to shed my childhood aversion to the Russian staple.

Ari’s rules for customer behavior, brought to you by Tuesday and the letter F

1. Communicate clearly. A waitress/saleswoman is not there to help you work through your feelings about Greek salad or the color blue. If you need a few moments to decide, politely tell her that she can return in a couple minutes, instead of making her stand there awkwardly while you work through this important process.

2. If you are in a rush… don’t make it someone else’s problem. If your favorite morning drink takes more than 3 or 4 words to describe, you may want to make it yourself, at home, or save it for a leisurely coffee date with your friend/loved one. Ditto for breakfast orders.

3. Be considerate. Although clearing your plates or picking up clothes off a dressing room floor (or, even better, off the hooks) are standard parts of working in the biz, cleaning up dirty bandaids, soiled  diapers, chewed gum, or any other carriers of bodily fluids should not be your waitress/salesgirl’s job.

4. Respect the house rules. There are reasons why there are minimums for credit cards and why a place may not accept checks. Be prepared and carry a little cash when you’re out and about. Remember cash?

5. Use nice words. Please and thank you go such a long way. If you feel like you are giving respect and consistently not getting it from a place you frequent, consider simply not giving them your business. Unless of course they make the most kick-ass sandwiches in the free world, in which case just deal with it — you can’t have everything.

6. Watch this.

Some of the week’s eats:

Carrot Coconut Milk Curry Soup, from Gourmet. This is one of my favorite carrot soup recipes and we made it at the cafe this week. The recipe is actually for a chilled soup, but I think it is better hot. As you will see, they call for lime juice, which is hard to find in Israel — we substituted lemon juice, with great results.

My favorite oven-baked brown rice with the addition of apples, pumpkin, onions and mushrooms. Just saute some chopped onion with the pumpkin (cut into chunks), add chopped apples and halved mushrooms and saute until everything is slightly softened. Put the mixture on top of the raw rice (I used long grain this time), add the water as the recipe indicates, cover with foil and bake for the allotted time. Top with chopped walnuts and shaved pecorino.

Baked apples, from Simply Recipes. (I did mine without sugar.)

Cornmeal Hotcakes

And some things we’ll be eating very soon:

Coconut Pumpkin Bread – with a few of my own adaptations for what we have available here.

Vegetarian Shepard’s Pie, from What She’s Having

Lebanese Lemon and Vanilla Cake from Bon Appetit with thanks to Amy for the link!

Liz made her usual stop at Uzi-Eli’s gat juice shop to get warm with some of his spiced hot chocolate.

When Katherine arrived we headed into the Iraqi shuk to find some lunch. We chose a place tucked into the corner at the far end of the shuk, where the proprietor always sits outside beckoning to passers-by. Inside his unassuming looking eatery we were delighted to find an incredible variety of rice and vegetable dishes, as well as kubbeh soup, stuffed eggplant, and at least three kinds of ktzizot (meat balls). As soon as he opened the maqluba pot, we were all sold, and tucked ourselves into a corner table as the dishes began to arrive. Maqluba literally means upside-down, and it is another example of a dish I have seen much more in Jerusalem than I did in Tel Aviv because of its Iraqi origins (maqluba’s origins are disputed, of course, as with many dishes in Israeli and Middle Eastern cuisine). Usually it is made with meat, so I was delighted to find it offered entirely vegetarian, as a main dish.

After using the pitas to mop up any leftover sauce from the bamia (okra) and kzitzot, we headed over to Marzipan to peruse the sweets and pick up some chocolate rugelach. A month before Hannuka, the bakery already looks quite festive with sufganiot (traditional Hannuka doughnuts) and כדורי שוקולד – chocolate balls (you can read more about those Israeli treats in this article by Sarah of Foodbridge).

It's tough to contain one's excitement at the sight of those gooey, chocolatey rugelach -- only the best at Marzipan bakery

Tea at my place was next on the agenda. We sat around the space heater, sipping steaming cups of verbena as it began to pour. Thanks for coming to town, girls! Truffle hunting is next, so stay tuned….