I’m honestly surprised it’s taken me this long to put my challah recipe on the blog. The truth is, I am not an expert bread maker but I’m pretty proud of this challah, which was a recipe given to me by a family friend (challah is an Ashkenazi Jewish bread, typically eaten on holidays for…
Date syrup, sometimes called date honey, date molasses, rub, or silan, is one of my favourite things. It’s the ‘jelly’ to the peanut butter and jelly of the Middle East (date syrup and tahini on bread is magical). It has a rich sweetness and depth of flavour that corn syrup doesn’t – and its flavour…
Hawaij is a Yemenite spice mix, which comes in both a savoury version and a ‘sweet’ one, used in Arabic style coffee. It contains ginger, cardamom, nutmeg, mace, cinnamon, and clove. This warming spice blend is perfect not just in coffee, but in lots of American autumn favourites, like pumpkin bread, or in this case,…
Jeweled rice is a Middle Eastern rice recipe that often contains fresh herbs, nuts, and fruits and is made for special occasions (I usually make it during Rosh Hashanah), and this stuffing takes that concept and adapts it both for Thanksgiving and grains native to the Americas: wild rice, and quinoa. It is a healthy-ish,…
Thanksgiving is about the sides, right? While I fully believe in indulging from time to time, I also try to make sure that there’s healthier options on our Thanksgiving table, perhaps so I don’t feel so bad about getting seconds (or thirds?). I love cauliflower mashed ‘potatoes’, but then I love cauliflower in all its…
Tahini sauce (or what we call tahina in our house) goes with nearly everything, in my opinion. It’s perfect for roasted vegetables, for grilled meats, for sandwiches, spread on bread and topped with za’atar, as a base for hummus or mutabbal, or over a fresh salad. I’m going to show you how to make tahini…
Today (September 23rd) is actually Za’atar Day! Za’atar is a spice used throughout the Levant – made from a type of wild thyme, or hyssop. Its official name is ‘origanum syriacum’ and it’s classified as part of the oregano / marjoram family of plants. It grows wild in many places and in late summer and…
Fatteh, meaning ‘crumbs’ in Arabic – is a bread salad. Most people are familiar with fattoush, which is ubiquitous in most Middle Eastern restaurants; fewer people are familiar with fatteh – which is more of a home dish, an end of the week meal to use up any leftover bits and pieces and stale bread….
With C at Grandma’s house for the last weekend before school started, my husband and I took a quick trip up into the mountains together. On our way up I spotted a fruit stand and I immediately took note for our journey back. There is nothing I love more than a local roadside produce stand,…
My daughter is vehemently anti-squash in any form. I’ve roasted it, fried it, stuffed it – and her response every time is still a resounding ‘nope’. She’ll delicately scoop out the innards of kousa mahshi (stuffed courgette) leaving the sad, hollowed out shell behind. I’m not exactly pro hiding vegetables in food, but I also…
