Ottolenghi's Delicious Dinner Recipe

I really can’t believe summer is nearly over. I haven’t baked or cooked as much as I had hoped. I am going to blame it on our air conditioning being broken from May to early August.

 But I have cooked Ottolenghi’s One Pot Puttanesca recently, from his Flavor cookbook, and it didn’t disappoint.

 

3 T Olive Oil

6 cloves of garlic, minced

One 15 ounce can of chickpeas, drained, rinsed and dried

2 t paprika

2 t cumin (ground)

2 t tomato paste

Salt

2 cups parsley, roughly chopped

2 t lemon zest

3 T capers

¾ cup green olives – roughly chopped, pits removed

9 oz cherry tomatoes

2 t sugar

1 t caraway seeds

9 oz orecchiette pasta (I used bow tie)

2 c vegetable stock

¾ c plus t @ water

Black pepper

Directions

In a large sauté pan (that has a lid), combine 3 T of the olive oil, the garlic, chickpeas, paprika, cumin, tomato paste and ½ t salt. Cook over medium heat. Cook for 12 minutes uncovered, stirring occasionally. Remove 1/3 of the chickpeas for later.

In a small bowl, combine the parsley, lemon zest, capers and olives. Add 2/3 of this mixture to the sauté pan, along with the cherry tomatoes, sugar and caraway seeds and cook for 2 minutes over medium high heat, stirring often. Add the pasta, stock, water and ½ t salt, and bring to a summer. Decrease heat to medium, cover and cook for 13 minutes or until the pasta is al dente.

Stir in the remaining parsley mixture and garnish with reserved chickpeas.

Add salt and pepper and serve.

 

New Cookbook for me

 The Bundt Collection was calling my name.

First cake I made from this cookbook was a HUGE hit at my office.

Black Cocoa Bundt Cake

Ingredients:

 1 1/4 c unsalted butter, at room temperature, cut into chunks

2 1/2 c white sugar

4 large eggs

1 1/2 t vanilla (I use this vanilla) 

1 1/2 c all purpose flour

2/3 c black cocoa

2 1/2 t espresso powder

1 t kosher salt

3/4 t baking powder

3/4 c buttermilk, room temperature

DO NOT PREHEAT OVEN

Generously spray a 10 cup bundt pan with Pam with Flour.

In a bowl of a mixer, add butter and sugar and mix for 3 to 4 minutes. Scrape the sides. Add eggs one at a time while beating, and then add vanilla.

In a separate bowl, put the flour, cocoa, espresso powder, salt and baking powder together.

To the mixer, add 1/3 of the flour and 1/2 of the buttermilk. Stir. Then add 1/3 of flour and the rest of the buttermilk while mixing; and then add the remaining of the flour. 

Pour batter into pan and put in cold oven and bake at 325 for 50-55 minutes. Test by using a toothpick.

Flip onto wire rack with cake in pan but cake on pan. Remove pan after 15 minutes. Let cool.

Vanilla Bean Glaze

1 c confectionary sugar

3 T whipping cream

1/2 t double vanilla

1/2 t kosher salt

Mix all ingredients together in a bowl. Put on the cake when cool.\

Eat Your Books

 As you may know, I have a few cookbooks. I have more than a few. When I get a new book, I mark down (using post it notes) which recipes look interesting. And then I put the book on the shelf and hope I remember what recipes are in there. 

I plan my menus weekly, and go through some of the books searching for the perfect recipe for the week (who is eating dinner at the house and how much time I have to prepare the meal). 

One of my community members, Robin, suggested Eat Your Books.

Here is how EYB describes itself:

Eat Your Books is a website for people who love cookbooks and love to use great recipes. If you have a cookbook collection, you probably get a lot of pleasure from browsing your books - but there are times when you haven't got time to look through them all to find a recipe. Or maybe you feel you're not using them as effectively as you'd like, sticking to familiar recipes or not branching beyond the current favorites.

Eat Your Books can help you find recipes in seconds - we're the only website to have indexed the most popular cookbooks, so you can include them in your online searches.You might also like to use recipes from other sources and with Eat Your Books you can do a single search across ALL your recipes, no matter where they are.  

With Eat Your Books you can create your own personal Bookshelf and you can find recipes across:

• Your cookbooks - tell us which cookbooks you own. If we haven't indexed a favorite book, use the EYB indexing tools and do it yourself.  

• Your food magazines - add that stack of magazines, all the most popular magazines have been indexed.  

• Great food blogs and websites - add Food52, David Lebovitz, Smitten Kitchen, 101 Cookbooks and many more.  

• Your own personal recipe clippings - bring some order to your clippings files by using the EYB indexing tools.  

• Your favorite online recipes - using the EYB Bookmarklet you can add any online recipe to your collection.

Eat Your Books is NOT a recipe site, so you won't find the recipes here, but you will be able to find them and if there is an online version of the recipe there will be a link to it.  

It costs $30 a year to sign up. Once you are a member you select the cookbooks that you own to your bookshelf. I would say 99% of my cookbooks that I own have been indexed, so I don’t need to add anything else. I have a few books that are not indexed (mostly community groups that published cookbooks for fundraising), and I haven’t had the time to volunteer to index them.

Once your books are entered, you can search your recipes (and you can filter for ingredients, and course (Asparagus and side dish); and the titles appear (with the cookbook and page number).

It is life changing, especially if you belong to a CSA and get weekly boxes. You can search for that ingredient and find a recipe in a book that you already own.

I have already searched their list of cookbooks that will be published in 2023. That is very nice.

Let me know what you think.

Instant Pot - No Fry Refried Beans

 

During the summer of 2022, Adam and I went to Cabo, and I ate alot of refried beans. I have been thinking about all the amazing things I had while in Cabo. Tonight, I made a super easy Instant Pot bean recipe that I will be making again and again.

No-Fry Refried Beans from Instant Pot Miracle (with some modifications)

Serves 6-8 adults

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups dried pinto beans

5 cups fat free vegetable broth

4-6 sprigs of fresh cilantro

1/2 t plus 1/4 t cumin

 1 bay leaf

1 T canola oil

1/2 cup finely chopped onion

1 small jalapeno pepper seeds removed (I only used 1/2)

3 garlic cloves minced

salt and pepper

Rinse beans with cold water and remove any shriveled beans or discolored beans. Add beans to Instant Pot. Add broth, cilantro, and 1/2 teaspoon of cumin and 1 bay leaf. Close the lid and select MANUAL and chose HIGH PRESSURE for 40 minutes. When complete, allow a natural release.

Pour beans into colander set over a large bowl to catch the bean liquid. Discard cilantro and bay leaf.

Pour 1 1/2 c of bean liquid into a measuring cup.

Press sauté on the pot. When hot add oil. Then add onion, jalapeño and garlic and cook for 3 minutes. Stirring occasionally. Press cancel and add cumin. Add bean liquid.

In a blender pour the contents of the pot and blend VERY quickly as to NOT make it smooth. Add salt and pepper to taste.

My First Ukranian Recipe

 I pre-ordered Budmo, during the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and had been waiting for the release. My first recipe, Bell Peppers, was a big hit.

Serves Six

Ingredients

3/4 cup rice (white regular)

salt and pepper

6 medium orange peppers

2 T Canola Oil

1 medium yellow onion, diced

1 large carrot, grated

1 T tomato paste

2 cups canned diced tomatoes

2 cups vegetable stock

1 T cream

1 pound of Morningstar Grillers 

1 bay leaf

In a small saucepan, combine rice with enough water to cover it by two inches, and a pinch of salt. Bring to a boil over medium high heat and cook for 10 minutes. Drain rice and let cool.

Cut off the stems of each pepper and remove the seeds.

In a large sauté pan, heat oil over medium heat. Add onion and carrot and cook for 9 minutes. Stir in tomato paste and cook for 1 minute. Add canned tomatoes and stock. Stir, turn up heat to medium high. bring to simmer and then stir in the cream. Season with salt and pepper and remove from heat.

In a bowl, mix together the grillers (frozen) and cooked rice. Season with salt and pepper. Stuff the peppers with the rice mixture. Stand the peppers in a pot large enough to hold them but not so they crush each other. Then pour tomatoes sauce around the peppers. Insert bay leaf into sauce. Put pot on medium high heat and when the sauce boils turn down to low and cover. Heat for 40 minutes.

Put each pepper on a plate and serve with sauce. Make sure bay leaf is put into the compost bin and not on a plate.

Cardamom Chickpea Cookies

 Another great recipe from the cookbook, Persian Food from the Non Persian Bride.

Ingredients:

2 cups chickpea flour

2 T all purpose flour

1 1/4 c powdered sugar

1 T cardamom

1 1/2 sticks of butter (or parve butter)

Directions

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Put a silpat on a sheet pan.
• Combine everything but the butter
• Melt the butter (on the stovetop or in the microwave)
• Mix melted butter into the dry ingredients. It will be VERY dry.
• Press the dough together and flatten to about an inch thick. Use a small cookie cutter (about an inch big) to cut out cookies and place an inch apart on the sheet pan.
• Bake 15 minutes; cool on wire racks. Cookies are very delicate and crumble easily.

Delicious Easy Dinner

 Yotam has NOT disappointed me!  Just made his ONE PAN ORECHIETTE PUTTANESCA and all four of us thought it was delicious!

5 T Olive Oil

6 garlic cloves, minced

1 15 ounce can of chickpeas, drained, rinsed and dried

1 t paprika (I get mine from the Spice House in Evanston, IL)

2 t cumin (again, from the Spice House)

2 t tomato paste

salt

2 c parsley, chopped

1 t. lemon zest

3 T capers, drained

3/4 c green olives, pitted and cut in half

10 oz grape tomatoes

2 t sugar

1 t caraway seeds (from the Spice House)

9 oz orecchiette pasta - dry

2 cups vegetable stock

3/4 c water

pepper

In a large sauté pan (that has a lid) combine 3 T olive oil, garlic, chickpeas, paprika, cumin, tomato paste and 1/2 t salt and cook over medium heat.  Cook for 12 minutes, uncovered, stirring every once in a while.  Remove 1/3 of the chickpeas and reserve in a bowl for later.

In a small bowl, combine the parsley, lemon zest, capers & olives.  Add 2/3 of the parsley mixture to the pan, with the grape tomatoes, sugar and caraway seeds and cook for 2 minutes on medium-high heat, and stir.  Add pasta, stock, water and 3/4 t salt and bring to a simmer.  Decrease heat to medium, cover and cook for 12 minutes (see if the pasta is done, and if not cook another two minutes).

Stir in remaining parsley, 2 T olive oil and chickpeas.  Add a bit of pepper.

Serve.

All of my Cookbooks - 188 of them

I finally did it.

I created a spreadsheet of ALL of my cookbooks!!!

New York Times Passover Cooking

Mostly Muffins

The Complete Vegetarian Cookbook - America's Test Kitchen

The Complete America's Test Kitchen TV Show Cookbook

Turtle Truffle Bark

Entertaining on the Jewish Holidays

Smoothies

Risotto

When Pies Fly

Molto Italiano

Food of Life: Ancient Persian and Modern Iranian Cooking and Ceremonies

Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams at Home

Jeni's Splendid Ice Cream Desserts

America's Great Deli's

Rose's Baking Basics

The Bread Bible

The Cake Bible

The Pie and Pastry Bible

Rose's Heavenly Cakes

Fast Cakes

Betty Crocker's New Cookbook

The Complete Italian Vegetarian

The BITC Family Cookbook

How to Cook Everything Vegetarian

Jewish Holidays Cookbook

I'm Just here for More Food

I'm Just here for the Food

American Cake

The Chubby Vegetarian

Myers and Chang at Home

Flour, too

Flour

Baking with Less Sugar

Pastry Love

Mastering the Art of French Cooking

Baking with Julia

The Hello Kitty Baking Book

The Great British Bake Off Big Book of Baking

500 Cupcakes: The Only Cupcake Compendium You'll Ever Need

Ballerina Body

Cookwise The Hows And Whys Of Successful Cooking Cookwise

Ebelskievers

Baking at Home with the Culinary Institute of America

The Mensch Chef

Look and Cook

Cooking with Mickey - Around our World

New England Soup Factory Cookbook

Waffles:  Sweet and Savory Recipes for Every Meal

Persia

The Greatest Cookies Ever

Zingerman's Bakehouse

Vegetarian Planet

Cooking in Everyday English

Bon Appetit Desserts

Mrs. Fields Best Cookie Book Ever

Kosher By Design - Cooking Coach

Kosher By Design - Entertains

Kosher By Design Brings it Home

Kosher By Design - Passover

Kosher By Design

Kosher By Design - Lightens Up

Kosher By Design Short on Time

Kosher By Design - Teens and 20 Somethings

Bobby Flay's Throw Down

Modern Art Desserts

Just a Bite

Brunch

Short and Sweet

Vanilla Chocolate

Butter Sugar Flour Eggs

Favorite Bread Machine Recipes

Make it Ahead

Back to Basics

Foolproof

Family Style

At Home

The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook

Cook like a Pro

Cooking for Jeffrey

The Bread Machine Cookbook III

The Bread Machine Cookbook II

The Bread Machine Cookbook

Jewish Holiday Baking

Cucina Ebraica

Passionate Vegetarian

Soy Desserts

The Whole Soy Cookbook

Old School Comfort Food

Maple Syrup Cookbook

The Laptop Lunch User's guide

Skinnytaste One and Done: 140 No-Fuss Dinners for Your Instant Pot®, Slow Cooker, Air Fryer, Sheet Pan, Skillet, Dutch Oven, and More: A Cookbook

The Art of Chinese Vegetarian Cooking

Madhur Jaffrey's World Vegetarian

The Community Table:  Recipes & Stories from the JCC in Manhattan & Beyond

Cup Cooking

Thanksvegan - A Vegan Cookbook for the Harvest Holiday

The Jewish Vegetarian Year Cookbook

Mom and Me Cookbook

Pretend Soup

Honest Pretzel

Moosewood Cookbook

Sunlight Café

Vegetable Heaven

Enchanted Broccoli

Moosewood Restaurant Low Fat Favorites

Bouchon

King Arthur Flour Cookie Companion

King Arthur Flour Baker's Companion

Luscious Lemon Desserts

Spice and Spirit Kosher for Passover Cookbook

Spice and Spirit the Complete Kosher Jewish Cookbook

A Passion for Ice Cream: 95 Recipes for Fabulous Desserts

The New Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone

This Can't be Tofu

Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone

Saffron Soul

Olive Trees and Honey

The Food Lab

Shabbos Under Pressure

The Cook's Encyclopedia of Chocolate

James McNair's Pizza

James McNair's Pizza Vegetarian Pizza

Bittersweet

Divine Kosher Cuisine

The Hadassah Holiday Cookbook

The Cookie Book

Moosewood Restaurant New Classics

Moosewood Restaurant Simple Suppers

Cooks at Home

Perfect for Pesach

Cupcakes Year Round

Sticky, Chewy, Messy, Gooey

Jamie Oliver's Meals in Minutes

Ottolengi

Plenty

Jerusalem

Simple

Plenty Moore

Nopi

Crepes

The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook

Smitten Kitchen Every Day

Rising:  The Book of Challah

Indian Vegetarian Cooking from an American Kitchen

The Instant Pot No Pressure Cookbook

Crowding the Plate

Bread Machine Magic

The Gourmet Cookbook

The Garlic Cookbook

Fresh from the Vegetarian Slowcooker

The Vegetarian Chili Cookbook

Joy of Cooking

Rosie's Bakery All Butter, Fresh Cream, Sugar Packed No Holds Barred Baking Book

Rosie's Bakery Chocolate-Packed, Jam-Filled, Butter-Rich, No-Holds-Barred Cookie Book

The Rosie's Bakery All-Butter, Cream-Filled, Sugar-Packed Baking Book

The Passover Gourmet

The new Soy Cookbook

Passover Seder Made Simple

Sephardic Heritage Cookbook

Hershey's Best Loved Recipes

The Kosher Baker

Persian Food from the Non-Persian Bride: And Other Sephardic Kosher Recipes You Will Love

Soframiz

Spice:  Flavors of the Eastern Mediterranean

The Chosen Appetizers and Desserts

Hello, Cupcake

Bread Machine Cookbook - Betty Crocker

The Official Vermont Maple Cookbook - Second Edition

The Bakers' Dozen - Recipes from the CIA's Apple Pie Bakery Café

The Lemon & Lime Cookbook published by Hamlyn

A Favorite Recipe Collection:  Beverages & Much More from Ocean Spray

Bundt Classics Cookbook - Nordic Ware

Potatoes Mashed and More Published by Hamlyn

The Instant Pot Miracle

Sisterhood Temple Beth El Cookbook

Temple Emanuel Sisterhood Cookbook

The Great American Chocolate Cookbook

The Cranberry Cookbook - Hamlyn

Vegetarian Times Low Fat and Fast Mexican

Vegetarian Times Low Fat and Fast Asian

Vegetarian Times - Complete Thanksgiving Cookbook

The Low Fat Jewish Vegetarian Cookbook

The Ultimate Ice Cream Book

The Ultimate Brownie Book

A Baker's Field Guide to Cupcakes

Simply Scones

Tasty Traditions

The 47 Best Chocolate Chip Cookies in the World

Joann Chang's Browned Butter Peanut Rice Krispie Treats

An amazing recipe - makes 24 amazing treats

1 cup unsalted butter
seeds scraped from 1/2 vanilla bean
2 ten oz bags of regular size marshmallows (not mini)
1 t kosher salt
6 cups rice krispies
2 cups salted roasted peanuts, chopped
Peanut Butter Ganache

Spray a 9 x13 pan with Pam.

In large pot, heat butter over low heat.  Add vanilla seeds and heat until butter is melted.  Let is brown.  Watch carefully.

Add marshmallows and salt and while on the low heat stir with a spoon until marshmallows are melted.  Remove pot from heat and add cereal and nuts.  Stir.

Pour into pan.

Then start PB Ganache:  Melt 10 oz of semi sweet chocolate on a double boiler.  Whisk in 1 cup of creamy peanut butter one tablespoon at  time until smooth.  Whisk in salt.  Pour over treats.

Cut into 24 pieces once PB is firmed up.

Chicken for Rosh Hashana

I really enjoy trying new recipes for the holidays.  One recipe that is perfect for Rosh Hashana is from Kosher By Design - Cooking Coach by Susie Fishbein

Pomegranate Honey Chicken

1 chicken - cut into pieces
1/2 cup honey (to measure honey spray PAM on the measuring cup, and then pour the honey into the measuring cup)
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 pomegranate juice
1/4 cup teriyaki sauce
2 T cornstarch
1 t tomato paste
1/2 t dried thyme
2 cloves fresh garlic, minces
1 T non dairy margarine
fresh pomegranate seeds (garnish)

Line a roasting dish with tin foil.  Arrange the chicken into a single layer.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees

In a pot over medium heat, whisk the honey, brown sugar, pomegranate juice, teriyaki sauce, cornstarch, tomato paste, thyme and garlic.  Bring to a summer over medium heat until thickened (maybe two minutes).  Whisk in the margarine.  Reduce heat.  Cook for one minute.  Brush the sauce on each piece of chicken, and then pour the extra on all the pieces of chicken.

Bake uncovered for 45 minutes.  Baste every 15 minutes.  Transfer chicken pieces to a serving dish and spoon the sauce over the chicken.  Place a few pomegranate seeds onto the chicken pieces.

Enjoy!

New Recipe

Sometimes I see a new cookbook at the library, and I check it out.  This time I checked out The Community Table - Recipes and Stories from the JCC in Manhattan and Beyond.  The first recipe I made was really good!  My husband and I really liked it.

Pappardelle with Ragu (originally made with lamb but mine is vegetarian)

2 T olive oil
2 medium carrots, peeled and finely chopped
1 medium onion, finely chopped
2 celery stalks, finely chopped
One package of vegetable grillers (vegetarian ground "meat")
2 t ground coriander
1 t rosemary
1 t thyme
1/2 t ground cumin
salt and pepper
2 T tomato paste
1/2 c red wine
1 28-oz can diced tomatoes
1 1/4 c vegetable stock
one pound of pappardelle pasta

In large pot, heat the olive oil over medium heat.  Add the carrots, onion and celery and cook for 5 minutes.

Turn up heat and add "meat" along with the coriander, fennel seeds, rosemary, thyme, cumin and salt and pepper.  Cook for 4 minutes.  Add tomato paste and red wine ad simmer for 25 minutes.

Cook the pasta for 8-10 minutes.  Drain.

Put pasta in the "meat" pot and stir, then serve.

Cookbooks

I love cookbooks.  I have quite a collection.  Some of my favorites are:

The Temple Emanuel Sisterhood Cookbook - as you might recall, Esther Muhlfelder and I co-chaired this book.  There are many tasty recipes in the book.  All tested.  My favorites are the Chocolate Mousse Cake and the Hamentashen recipe.

The Flour Cookbook - by Joanne Chang of Flour Bakery.  I love her cookbook and look forward to her savory one in 2013.  My favorite recipes from Flour are the Oreo Cookies, The Sticky Buns, The Banana Bread and the Brownies.

The Pie and Pastry Bible - This book changed my life.  I love pies, and had been having a hard time making pie crusts.  Rose Levy Beranbaum explained how to do it in the book, complete with the scientific reasons.  Now I don't skip the resting of the dough, because I know it is important to the finished product.

The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook - this cookbook is new this year, and I have only made a few of the recipes.  I have used her blog and I love it.  She is an amazing photographer and home cook.  Her blog recipes include a salted chocolate brownie recipe that I love.

My Binder - I have a three ring binder full of tested recipes that I love.  It is not published and one of a kind.  My favorite recipes are the lemon scones, Carol's BBQ chicken, vegetarian chili 9000, my mother in law's chicken soup and chocolate chip Mandelbrot.  This binder gets additions every year.  I would be lost without this cookbook.

Cookbooks and Parties

This post is really two posts in one.

CHANUKAH PARTY
I have been to my fair share of Hanukah parties.  Last night I attended the BEST one, that I have ever been to, thanks to TEMPLE EMANUEL in Newton, MA.  The latkes were good (my kids even agreed) and plentiful (in years past, not so plentiful).  The set up was roomy for 700+ people.  Then, we got down to the ruach.  The kids choir and the adults choir, and then THE FOUNTAINHEADS all the way from the land of MILK AND HONEY - ISRAEL!

The children, 100+, were dancing.  There was RUACH.  There was lots of RUACH.  We were celebrating being Jewish, and the kids were singing and dancing, and whooping it up.  It was wonderful.  So glad that I was there to witness my kids, and other kids, dancing like they were dancing to THE BEATLES!  It was wonderful.  The FOUNTAINHEADS really enjoyed themselves too!

COOKBOOKS
I have recently added to my collection:

http://www.amazon.com/Cooking-Everyday-English-Great-Flavor/dp/084873484X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1324473569&sr=1-1

http://www.amazon.com/Food-Life-Ancient-Persian-Ceremonies/dp/193382347X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1324473534&sr=1-1

and

soon:

http://www.amazon.com/Roses-Heavenly-Cakes-Rose-Beranbaum/dp/0471781738/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1324473555&sr=1-1