Shakshuka

Lately, Ed and I have not been in the mood for a meat meal, so I make pasta or pizza or a big salad and such. These days it’s really easy (also delicious) to put together a tasty vegetarian dinner. One of our favorites is Shakshuka - originally a North African dish but popular everywhere now. I season it differently from time to time (there’s a good recipe for Indian style Shakshuka right here on my website). But this one is my old standby. It’s seasoned with basil, which I realize is not traditional in North Africa or anywhere in the Middle East. But we like it this way. We also prefer a thick, chunky tomato base rather than a more sauce-like version that’s typical of restaurant Shakshuka that we’ve tried. Here it is; it’s a nice dinner but also a feast of a weekend breakfast.

SHAKSHUKA

• 1/4 cup olive oil

• 1 medium onion, chopped

• 1 red bell pepper, deseeded and chopped

• 2 small habanero or other chili peppers, deseeded and finely chopped

• 1 large clove garlic, finely chopped

• 6-8 plum tomatoes, chopped

• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh basil

• 1 tablespoon lemon juice

• 8 large eggs

• 3/4 teaspoon zatar

Heat the olive oil in a large sauté pan over medium heat. Add the onion, bell pepper, and habanero peppers. Cook for 4–5 minutes or until softened slightly. Add the garlic and cook briefly. Add the tomatoes, basil and lemon juice, stir, cover the pan, turn the heat to low and cook for 8–10 minutes, stirring occasionally, or until vegetables are very soft. Crack the eggs into a small bowl one at a time then transfer each one next to the other over the vegetables. Cover the pan and cook for 4–5 minutes or until the eggs are set but yolks are still slightly runny. Sprinkle with zatar. Serve each person 2 eggs and some of the vegetables.

Makes 4 servings

Blueberry Buttermilk/Yogurt Muffin

It’s not exactly blueberry season here. In fact it’s gloomy and a big rain and windstorm is likely. And I do have some blueberries that aren’t exactly perfect summer blueberries. So I decided to use them to make some blueberry muffins, which are exactly perfect and also cheerful looking enough to brighten my morning.

I usually have buttermilk in my house because I like to bake with it. I also have a canister of buttermilk powder just in case….. however, if you don’t have buttermilk you can use plain kefir or yogurt (stir it to loosen it a bit) or use 1 tablespoon lemon juice plus enough milk to equal one cup and let it stand for 5 minutes. 

Brighten your day with these:

BLUEBERRY MUFFINS

• 4 tablespoons butter

• 1-3/4 cups all-purpose flour

• 1/4 cup sugar

• 1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder

• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda

• 3/4 teaspoon salt

• 1 tablespoon grated fresh orange zest

• 1 cup buttermilk or 1-1/4 cups plain yogurt, stirred

• 1 large egg

• 3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

• 1 cup fresh blueberries

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Place 10 muffin liners inside a muffin pan or lightly grease the hollows. Melt the butter and set it aside. In a bowl mix the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt and orange zest. In a second bowl, mix the buttermilk, egg and vanilla extract. Pour the liquid ingredients plus the melted butter into the flour mixture and stir only to blend ingredients (do not mix vigorously). Fold in the berries. Drop the batter in equal amounts into the prepared muffin tin cups (the number will depend on the size of the muffins) to about 2/3 filled. Bake for 22-26 minutes, depending on size, or until a cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean.

Makes 10

Broiled Grapefruit

Broiled Grapefruit

Hanukkah’s over and I am already on to New Year’s weekend, contemplating what to serve to my cousins, who always stay for a few days.

Years ago, our “group” — the cousins, Les and Neil, plus my sister-in-law Eileen and brother Jeff — agreed that on New Year’s Eve we would have a day of hors d’oeuvres rather than a big sit-down dinner. We break the day up into separate eating times so that at noonish we will have such goodies as Almond Crusted Chicken Nuggets and Lamb kebabs and a dip or two: Potlagela and Matbucha for sure and probably hummus.

Later on we’ll feast on Pizza with Spinach, Tomato and Cheese, Romanian Cheese Turnovers and an assortment of cheese and crackers accompanied by the Pepper Jam I made last summer from the chili peppers in my garden. Maybe some Lox and Cream Cheese Spread.

Dessert — always one of the apple pies I made last fall. And I’m thinking — Irish Whiskey Cake, because it is one of the most scrumptious cakes ever created.

I used to have a New Year’s Day brunch for the group, but haven’t done that for years. It was always too much food and too much work and so it’s just the cousins and us for plain old breakfast, meaning smoked fish and bagels.

Plus fruit of some sort.

This year I decided the fruit will be one of the simplest recipes I’ve ever made. Broiled Grapefruit. Honestly, it doesn’t get easier than this:

Broiled Grapefruit

• 4 medium red or pink grapefruit

• 4 tablespoons turbinado (or other crystal) sugar

• cinnamon or grated nutmeg

• Aleppo pepper or cayenne pepper, optional

Preheat the broiler with the rack 4-6 inches below the heat. Slice each grapefruit in half,** then (preferably using a serrated grapefruit knife) cut around the edges of each half to loosen the flesh, then cut the flesh into segments inside the shell. Place the prepared grapefruit halves on a baking sheet. Sprinkle each half with equal amounts of the sugar (each whole grapefruit (2 halves) will get about one tablespoon of sugar). Sprinkle lightly with cinnamon or nutmeg. Add a hint of pepper if desired. Broil for about 6-8 minutes or until the surface is caramelized.

Makes 4 servings

**I also slice the bottom of the grapefruit halves so they are more stable on the baking pan.

Fruit Streusel Mini-cakes

Fruit Streusel Mini-cakes

As anyone who knows me or reads my posts knows, I do not like to waste food. So recently, when I overcooked some rhubarb, I wasn’t about to trash it. Because —anyone who bakes knows — fruit sauce (applesauce, peach sauce, even mashed avocado, etc.) is very useful for making muffins, quickbreads and cake.

I decided to make muffins, but rather than use a basic muffin recipe, I tinkered with an old recipe for applesauce cake and decided to go with that. Even though they look like muffins and they’re baked in muffin tins, I call them mini-cakes because the texture is more cake-like than muffiny.

I guess that means you can eat them for breakfast but also serve them for dessert (an ice cream accompaniment would be good).

If you prefer cake, use a 9” cake tin.

Fruit Streusel Mini-cakes

Streusel:

• 1/3 cup quick cooking oats

• 1/3 cup all-purpose flour

• 1 tablespoon sugar

• 3 tablespoons butter cut into chunks

Mini-cakes:

• 1/3 cup sugar

• 1/4 cup butter

• 1/2 cup stewed fruit puree

• 1/3 cup plain Greek style yogurt (or use sour cream)

• 1 large egg, beaten

• 1-1/2 teaspoons freshly grated orange zest

• 1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour

• 1 tablespoon baking powder

• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda

• 1/2 teaspoon salt

• 6 tablespoons orange juice

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Make the streusel: Combine the oats, flour and sugar in a bowl and mix the ingredients together. Add the butter. Using fingers or a pastry blender (or a food processor on pulse), work the butter into the dry ingredients until the mixture is crumbly. Set it aside.

The mini-cakes: Lightly grease 9 muffin tin cups. Beat the sugar and butter together with a hand mixer or electric mixer set at medium speed for 2-3 minutes or until the mixture is smooth and creamy. Add the stewed fruit puree, yogurt, egg and orange zest and beat the ingredients for 2-3 minutes or until smooth. Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a bowl. Add half the dry ingredients to the butter mixture and beat until well blended. Add half the juice and beat until well blended. Repeat with the remaining ingredients. Pour equal amounts of the batter into the muffin tins. Sprinkle equal amounts of the streusel on top of the muffins. Bake for 22-25 minutes or until a cake tester inserted into the middle comes out clean.

Makes 9

Sugar Crusted Blueberry Muffins

This year’s blueberry crop has been magnificent. We’ve been eating them for snacks and with granola or cereal for breakfast and with some shlag for dessert.

But I’ve also made several kinds of quickbread, muffins and such. I give away a lot and always put some in the freezer just in case I get some unexpected company.

These sugar-crusted muffins were especially delicious so I am making them again when my cousins come for a summer sleepover.

Coffee, some eggs and muffins — breakfast is done.

Sugar Crusted Blueberry Muffins

• 2 cups all-purpose flour

• 1/3 cup sugar

• 3/4 teaspoon salt

• 2 teaspoons baking powder

• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda

• 1 cup plain yogurt, preferably Greek style

• 6 tablespoons avocado oil (or use vegetable oil or melted, cooled butter)

• 2 large eggs

• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

• 1 cup blueberries

• 1-2 tablespoons crystal sugar (or use turbinado sugar)

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Place muffin liners inside a muffin pan or lightly grease the hollows. Mix the flour, sugar, salt, baking powder and baking soda in a bowl and set aside. In another bowl, combine the yogurt, avocado oil, eggs and vanilla extract and whisk them together until well blended. Pour the yogurt mixture into the flour mixture and mix the ingredients until they are well blended. Fold in the blueberries. Spoon equal amounts of batter into each muffin pan hollow. Sprinkle the tops with some of the crystal sugar. Bake for about 22 minutes or until a cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean.

Makes 10

Stewed Dried Fruit

I know some people think it’s too old fashioned, but I have always loved — still love — dried fruit compote.

Last year I wrote about it for The Nosher (My Jewish Learning) and got lots of responses! It’s the kind of dish that some people absolutely hate (until they try some updated version) but people like me love not just for the flavor but also the memories this dish conjures up.

I grew up in an Ashkenazi Jewish family so dried fruit compote was a given! My grandmother, who made it basically with prunes and the occasional dried apricot, called it kumput. The young kids, me included, hated it.

Years later I rediscovered the dish after trying something similar (Khoshaf) in Egypt and I’ve been tinkering with the recipe ever since. This is my latest version; a tasty and fitting dish anytime, but especially for the lovely holiday of Tu B’shevat (New Year of the Trees), which comes at the beginning of a new season in Israel when trees bring forth their first fruits of the year (this year the holiday starts at sundown on February 5th).

We eat compote with yogurt for breakfast but I’ve also served it with mascarpone cheese for dessert. It’s really good anytime.

Dried Fruit Compote

• 2 cups orange juice

• 1-1/2 cups water

• 1/4 cup honey

• 1 3” cinnamon stick

• 12 whole cloves

• 2 pieces of orange peel, each about 2-inches long

• 12 prunes

• 8-10 whole dried figs, cut in half

• 1 cup dried cherries, blueberries or cranberries

• 1 cup dried apricot halves

Place the juice, water, honey, cinnamon stick, cloves and orange peel in a saucepan large enough to hold all the dried fruit. Bring to a boil over high heat. Turn the heat to medium-low and simmer for 15 minutes. Add the fruit and simmer another 18-20 minutes or until the fruit is soft. Let the fruit cool in the pan. The sauce will thicken as the fruit absorbs some of it. Discard the cinnamon stick (you won’t find the cloves). Serve with the poaching liquid.

Makes 8 servings

Squash Streusel Muffins

Last Thanksgiving I had some cooked pumpkin left over after making some pies, so in an effort not to waste any food, I mashed some of the pieces and used a cupful to make muffins. They were so good that I made them again a few times but used cooked winter squash.

Even better!

Those muffins came in really handy for breakfast when I had sleepover guests for New Year’s weekend.

These are delicious with the streusel top — a nice nosh with afternoon tea or coffee — but they’re good plain too (just make them without the streusel).

Squash Streusel Muffins

 Streusel:

• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour

• 1/4 cup quick cooking or rolled oats

• 2 tablespoons white sugar

• 1/8 teaspoon salt

• 2 tablespoons vegetable shortening or solid coconut oil, cut into chunks (butter if desired)

Place the flour, oats, sugar and salt in a bowl and mix ingredients to distribute them evenly. Add the shortening and work it into the dry ingredients with fingertips or a pastry blender until the mixture looks like coarse meal. Set aside.

Batter:

• 1 cup mashed, cooked squash (canned pumpkin is fine)

• 1/2 cup white sugar

• 1/3 cup brown sugar

• 1/2 cup vegetable oil

• 1/3 cup oat milk (or other dairy or nondairy milk)

• 2 large eggs

• 1-3/4 cups all-purpose flour

• 1 teaspoon baking soda

• 3/4 teaspoon salt

• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

• 1/2 teaspoon grated fresh nutmeg

• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease 10 muffin pan wells. Combine the mashed squash, white sugar, brown sugar, vegetable oil, oat milk and eggs in a large bowl and whisk the ingredients for 1-2 minutes or until thoroughly blended. In another bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger and add the mixture to the squash mixture. Whisk or mix the ingredients for 1-2 minutes or until thoroughly blended. Spoon equal amounts of the batter into the prepared wells. Sprinkle equal amounts of the streusel on top of each muffin. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until a cake tester inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean.

Makes 10

Persimmon/Peach/Nectarine Muffins

Unlike so many other fruits and vegetables, persimmons have a real “season” and you can only get them for a couple of months — like now!

They’re a real treat, with tender flesh and, depending on the variety, somewhat apricoty or with a sort of sweet-pear-like flavor.

We don’t get a lot of persimmons where I live, so I grab some when I can. I eat them out of hand, like an apple, enjoying the moment I can feast on a real, rare seasonal treat.

But I also use them for cooking and baking: salsa, coffee cake, for example.

And these muffins, made with basic vanilla batter but covered with chunks of persimmon and then topped with crispy streusel.

I’ve made these muffins using peaches and nectarines, but if you can find a persimmon, I recommend chopping one for this seasonal wonder.

Persimmon Muffins with Streusel Top

Streusel:

• 1/4 cup quick cooking oats

• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour

• 1 tablespoon sugar

• 2 tablespoons butter cut into chunks

Batter:

• 1/4 cup butter

• 1 cup all-purpose flour

• 1/4 cup sugar

• 1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder

• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda

• 1/2 teaspoon salt

• 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

• 1 large egg

• 1/2 cup milk

• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

• 1 persimmon, chopped

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Make the streusel: Combine the oats, flour and sugar in a bowl and whisk the ingredients to mix them thoroughly. Add the butter. Using fingers or a pastry blender (or a food processor on pulse), work the butter into the dry ingredients until the mixture is crumbly. Set it aside.

Lightly grease 12 muffin tin cups. Melt the butter and set it aside to cool. Combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon in a bowl and whisk the ingredients until thoroughly mixed. In another bowl, combine the egg, milk, melted butter and vanilla extract. Pour the liquid ingredients into the dry ones and mix on low speed with a hand or standing mixer (or use a whisk) for 1-2 minutes, or until smooth and thoroughly blended. Spoon the batter into the prepared cake pan. Top each muffin with equal amounts of the persimmon pieces. Sprinkle with the streusel. Bake for about 25 minutes or until a cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean. Let cool.

Makes 12

Banana Applesauce Muffins with Dried Cranberries

When life gives you leftover bananas, you make banana bread.

Except — if you don’t have enough bananas, you can make muffins.

I have an “all-purpose” banana muffin recipe that I tinker with every time I make it. Applesauce is always part of the base but I change the seasonings and sometimes the type of sugar.

Because it’s cranberry-orange season, this most recent version includes both those ingredients. But, you know — you can skip the dried cranberries and substitute raisins or chopped nuts or chopped fresh fruit, and so on. And you can switch to cinnamon or nutmeg or lemon peel instead of the orange peel.

Such a versatile recipe! And freezable too.

BANANA APPLESAUCE MUFFINS

• 1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour

• 1 teaspoon baking soda

• 1 teaspoon baking powder

• 1/2 teaspoon salt

• 1-1/2 teaspoons grated orange peel

• 6 tablespoons coconut oil, melted

• 6 tablespoons sugar

• 1 large egg

• 2 bananas, mashed

• 1/2 cup applesauce

• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

• 1/2 cup dried cranberries (or raisins, chopped nuts, diced apple, etc.)

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Lightly grease 10 muffin cups (or use cupcake papers). Mix the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and orange peel together in a bowl. In the bowl of an electric mixer (or use a hand mixer) beat the coconut oil and sugar together on medium speed for about 2 minutes or until well combined. Add the egg and beat it in until thoroughly combined. Add the mashed bananas, applesauce and vanilla extract and beat for another minute or until the ingredients are well blended. Fold in the solid ingredients. Spoon equal amounts of the batter into the prepared muffin cups. Bake for 18-20 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted into center of muffin comes out clean.

Makes 10

Ataulfo Mango Carpaccio with Burrata

I had this for lunch again. If you’ve never feasted on slices of the ultimate ataulfo mango with the freshest burrata you are missing out on one of the most special and delicious meals ever. I garnished with a bit of red onion and mint, a squeeze of lime juice and some freshly ground pepper.

Heaven.

Ataulfo Mango Carpaccio with Burrata

• 1 Ataulfo (or similar) mango

• 2-3 ounces burrata cheese

• a few thin slices of red onion

• a few mint leaves

• lime juice

• freshly ground black pepper to taste

Slice the mango and arrange the slices on a dish. Add a piece of Burrata cheese. Garnish with some red onion and fresh mint, squeeze some lime juice over the ingredients, then season with the some freshly ground black pepper.

Makes one