Kusa b’Jibn: Zucchini-Cheese Frittata

I found the following delicious recipe in Poopa Dwek‘s Aromas of Aleppo:

Yield: 4-6 servings

Ingredients

• 2 pounds zucchini or yellow squash chopped (about 5 cups)
• 1 onion finely chopped
• 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 6 eggs, beaten
• 1 pound Muenster cheese, grated
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 tablespoon butter, cut into 6 pieces

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 F.
2. In a large skillet saute the squash and onion in the vegetable oil for 8 minutes, or until the squash is crisp-tender.
3. In a large bowl, combine the eggs, cheese, squash-onion mixture and salt. Stir well
4. Pour the contents into a 2-quart baking dish. Dot the top of the mixture with butter. Bake, uncovered, for 40 minutes or until lightly browned.

Enjoy, gentle reader. Enjoy!

CS

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Something to Break Today’s Fast With

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Beef with Scrambled Eggs

In our never ending quest to bring you easy to make, succulent recipes we scour the web, and consult countless cookbooks in order to find the hidden and not so hidden pearls. Following is a recipe we adapted from 1 Ground Beef, 100 Recipes by Linda Doeser:

Serves 6

Ingredients

• 6 tablespoons margarine
• 1 onion, sliced
• 1 garlic clove, finely chopped
• 1 pound 2 ounces ground beef
• 2 tomatoes peeled and sliced
• 1 small red bell pepper, seeded and diced
• 1 tablespoon Balsamic vinegar (OR you can make your own vegetarian Worcestershire sauce)**
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley, plus extra to garnish
• salt and pepper to taste
• toast with margarine to serve

Directions

1. Melt the margarine in a large pan. Add the onion and garlic and cook over low heat, stirring occasionally for 5 minute, until softened. Add the ground beef, increase the heat to medium and cook, stirring frequently and breaking it up with a wooden spoon, for 8 to 10 minutes, until evenly browned.
2. Add the tomatoes and bell peppers, reduce the heat and simmer, stirring occasionally for 15 minute, until the meat and vegetables are tender. Stir in the Balsamic vinegar or the vegetarian Worcestershire sauce and parsley; season to taste with salt and pepper.
3. Lightly beat the eggs in a bowl and season to taste with salt and peppe. Add the eggs to the pan and coo, stirring for a few minutes until lightly scrambled.
4. Garnish with parsley and serve with immediately with toast.

–OoOX0XOoO–OoOX0XOoO–OoOX0XOoO–

**Vegetarian Worcestershire Sauce

(Source: “20 Minutes to Dinner: Quick, Low-Fat, Low-Calorie Meals,” by Bryanna Clark)

Yield: about 2 cups

• 1 cup cider vinegar
• 1/3 cup dark molasses
• 1/4 cup soy sauce OR mushroom soy sauce
• 1/4 cup water
• 3 tablespoons lemon juice
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1 1/2 teaspoons dried mustard powder
• 1 teaspoon onion powder
• 3/4 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon garlic granules
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/8 teaspoon ground cloves OR allspice
• 1/8 teaspoon ground cardamom

Combine all ingredients in a blender. Pour into a saucepan and bring to a boil. Store in refrigerator.

(http://www.jewishfood-list.com/recipes/condiment/worcestershireveg01.html)

I made it earlier in the week and will make it again this coming Sunday, be’ezrat Hashem (it was that good). So… enjoy, gentle reader, enjoy!
CS

Egg Salad

I like egg salad, it is one of my favorite breakfast foods, and even part of a fast lunch.  When I came to these shores in 1962, I soon learned to enjoy it with mayonnaise as opposed to my mother’s spartan combination of chopped hard boiled eggs with small amounts of salt, pepper, and a bit of olive oil. Egg salad comes in many variations, but, David Lebovitz‘ recipe is superb:

Enough for 2 or 3 sandwiches

My uncle once told me a funny story: about forty years ago, he once set out to make a recipe that called for capers and he thought that he would use fresh, rather than something from a jar. He looked and looked and looked and couldn’t find fresh. He could only find the pickled ones, which he later realized were how capers were prepared and sold. And now, every time I open a jar I think of his story. I like a little bit of chopped capers in my egg salad, or something a bit vinegary. You could also use some chopped cornichons or pickles – and their juice – in place of the capers.

You can use any kind of pepper powder that you want. Note that if you use a red one, it will turn the color of the egg salad a somewhat fiery shade of red.

6 hard-boiled eggs
1/3 (70g) cup mayonnaise
1 1/2 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1 tablespoon (drained) capers, chopped
1 1/2 teaspoons caper juice
3/4 teaspoon pepper, such as Isot (Urfa), black pepper or red pepper powder
sea salt
optional: 3 tablespoons sunflower seeds

1. Peel the eggs and chop them into pieces.
2. Mix the eggs in a bowl with the mayonnaise, mustard, capers, caper juice, pepper, and a good sprinkle salt. If desired, add the sunflower seeds.

To serve, spread on toasted grainy bread, then garnish with additional salt, pepper, and some chopped chives.

Enjoy, gentle reader, enjoy!

CS

Something to Break Today’s Fast With

I’ve been looking to break the assoro beteives fast with something different than my usual (cheeses sandwiches, yogurt, orange juice, danish and coffee), considering it’s winter and it’s quite cold, I figured I should go for some of my youth’s comfort food, like my mother’s fritattas. I barely remembered her ingredients (and yet I dare call them comfort food), thus I had to go looking on the web and I found something made with ingredients I have on hand.

Here is one recipe I adapted from chow.com:

Onion, Mushroom, and Goat Cheese Mini Frittatas Recipe

by Amy Wisniewski

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter, plus more for coating the pan
• 1 medium yellow onion, medium dice
• Freshly ground black pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon finely chopped fresh thyme leaves
• 8 ounces cremini mushrooms
• 4 ounces chèvre (goat cheese)
• 9 large eggs
• 2 tablespoons whole milk
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt, plus more for seasoning the onions and mushrooms

Directions

1. Heat the oven to 350°F and arrange a rack in the middle. Generously coat the wells of a 12-well muffin pan with butter; set aside.
2. Heat 1 tablespoon of the oil and the measured butter in a medium frying pan over medium heat until the oil is shimmering and the butter has melted.
3. Add the diced onion and cook, stirring rarely, until it is a deep golden brown, adjusting the heat as necessary if it starts to brown too much, about 30 minutes. Season well with salt and pepper, add the thyme, and stir to combine. Transfer the mixture to a medium bowl.
4. Meanwhile, clean, trim, and slice the mushrooms 1/2 inch thick; set aside. Crumble the goat cheese into pea-sized pieces and set aside.
5. Return the frying pan to medium heat, add the remaining tablespoon of oil, and heat until shimmering. Add the sliced mushrooms, season with salt and pepper, and cook, stirring rarely, until golden brown, about 10 minutes. Add to the bowl with the onion. Add the goat cheese to the bowl and stir to evenly combine; set aside.
6. Place the eggs and milk in a large bowl and whisk until the eggs are broken up and evenly combined with the milk, about 1 minute. Add the measured salt and whisk to combine.
7. Divide the onion-mushroom-cheese mixture evenly among the wells of the prepared muffin pan. Fill each well almost to the top with the egg mixture.
8. Bake until each frittata is puffed and the center is just set, about 12 to 15 minutes. Remove the pan to a wire rack until it’s cool enough to handle, about 5 minutes (the frittatas will deflate). Run a small knife around the perimeter of each well to loosen and remove the frittatas. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Enjoy, gentle reader, enjoy and have an easy fast!

CS

Shakshuka

When I lived in Israel, I discovered the Sephardic cuisine. Growing up in Uruguay, I had occasional eaten over by some of my Sefaradi friends but never encountered most of the delicacies I found in the Holy Land. One of this discoveries was Shakshouka, therefore I felt compelled to scour the web in search of easy recipes for it.

What is Shakshouka, you ask? Wikipedia describes it as:

Photo from: Wikipedia

Shakshouka (Arabic: شكشوكة‎; Hebrew: שקשוקה‎) (also shakshuka, shaqshuqa) is a dish from Maghreb consisting of eggs cooked in a sauce of tomatoes, peppers, onions, and spices (often including cumin, turmeric, and chillies), and usually served with white bread.

[..] Shakshouka is now a staple of Tunisian, Algerian, Egyptian, Moroccan, Somali, and Yemeni cuisines, and is also popular in Israel, where it was introduced by Tunisian Jews.

And here is the Wikibooks recipe for Shakshouka:

Ingredients

• 6 tablespoons of frying olive oil
• One tablespoon of sweet paprika
• 6 cloves of garlic finely chopped
• One large sweet red pepper diced
• One Chili pepper (red or green) diced
• 6 ripe tomatoes diced
• Ground fresh black pepper
• Salt to taste
• 6 eggs

Procedure

1. On a high flame, heat the oil for about half a minute.
2. Add the paprika and blend well.
3. Add the garlic and peppers, and turn to low flame. Cook for about ten minutes – until the peppers have slightly softened.
4. Add the tomatoes and spice it with salt and pepper and then blend it.
5. Bring it to a boil, taste it and if necessary – add spices to get the taste refined.
6. Makes six dents in the mixture. Into each dent put an egg yolk, and spread the egg whites around.
7. Continue to cook on low until the egg whites have coagulated.
8. Serve the Shakshouka with black bread and fresh parsley.

From the Spanish language blog: Absolut Marruecos, we bring you this authentic Morrocan recipe:

Photo by: Absolut Marruecos

shakshuka con huevos

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
  
• 1 grated onion
  
• 7 ounces water
• 36 ounces tomatoes, chopped
• 2 tablespoons rice
• 1 tablespoon parsley
• 1 tablespoon green pepper, chopped
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 5 eggs

Directions

1. Sauté onion in very hot oil until just golden.
2. In a pot add the water, tomatoes, let it boil for 5 minutes.
3. In a separate pot cook the rice.
4. Add the parsley, salt, pepper and green pepper.
5. Carefully break the eggs one at a time and drop on the tomato pot.
6. Cook for about 40 minutes on medium flame.

When Mia Cooks, adds an interesting variation:

Photo by: http://when-mia-cooks.blogspot.com/

Ingredients

• 1 small red onion, chopped
• 2 tbsp chopped bell pepper
• 4 to 5 large ripe tomatoes, chopped
• 2 tbsp tomato paste
• 1 cup veg broth
• 1/4 cup peas
• 1/4 cup corn
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 tsp chilli powder
• salt to taste
• coriander/cilantro leaves
• Vegetable oil

Actually, it’d be better if you boil the tomatoes and then peel and chop them. But I forgot….heck, ok, I was too lazy.

1. In a pan, heat a tbsp of vegetable oil.
2. Add the chopped onions and bell pepper and saute for a few minutes.
3. Add the tomato paste, chopped tomatoes and veg broth.
4. Add the peas and corn as well. Season with salt and chilli powder.
5. Simmer and allow to cook till the corn and peas are cooked and there’s some liquid left.
6. Break the eggs into the base.
7. Break the yolks with a spoon, cover and simmer. If you like your eggs runny, remove it well under a minute. I don’t, so i let it cook for 2 minutes till it firmed up. Add chopped cilantro and serve with bread.

Enjoy gentle reader, enjoy!

CS