A recipe – Meatballs with Spaghetti

New York timing is even worse than “Sinai time” or “Ethiopia time”. In Sinai (Egypt), everything takes l o n g e r, shwaye shwaye (slowly slowly) and there is no reason to rush. With the Ethiopians (at least my Ethiopian friends in Israel) it is simple: they are always late. It can be 10 minutes late or even an hour.
Here in New York it is a mix, nothing starts on time (the subway is great excuse, and also great example), and most people run late as a routine.
And what keeps surprising me is that it looks like they don't really care - they don't care they are late and they don't care that they made you wait.


So take a deep breath and lets start to cook.

Ingredients

Whole-wheat Spaghetti (amount for 4 people)

For the Meatballs:

1 pound ground beef

1 egg

3 tablespoons bread crumbs (or - semolina, wheat germ)

1 tablespoon cumin

Salt and pepper

For the sauce:

2 big onions – chopped

4-5 tomatoes - chopped

2-3 cloves crushed garlic

1/2 cup of water

salt & pepper

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 tablespoon dried oregano or basil (or – bunch of fresh leaves)

Directions

1.     Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Cook the pasta in boiling the water for 8-10 minutes or until done; drain and wash immediately with cold water (to stop the cooking process).

Meanwhile:

2.     Put all the ingredients of the meatballs in big bowl and mix together. Put the bowl aside (best in the refrigerator).

3.     Heat the oil in a large wide saucepan; add the onions and garlic and fry while stirring.

4.     Add the tomatoes and stir for 3 minutes. Add the salt, pepper and the dried oregano or basil (if you use fresh leaves – add them just before serving).

5.     Lower the heat and cover the pot. Cook for about 10 minutes (until you get a nice sauce and not just chopped tomatoes).

6.     If you don’t have enough sauce, add the water and bring to a boil.

7.     Lower the heat.

8.     Shape small balls from the meat mixture and add them gently into the pot.

9.     Bring to a boil again, cover the pot, lower the heat and cook for 20 minutes.

10.  Serve with pasta and Parmesan cheese

A recipe – Red Beets Soup

I remember one time when I was a kid, two orthodox Jews knocked on our home door and asked for a donation for their Yeshiva. It was quite common those days in Israel. When my mother opened the door and these guys started talking with her. She immediately said, without even thinking twice, “I am sorry but my mother is not at home” and closed the door. My mother was at her 40s, and though I still think she looks wonderful, even then in the late 80's she didn’t look like a girl…

Oddly enough, I found myself using the same tactic. Once in a while, someone knocks on my door and starts lecture me about the gas bills, the electricity bills, X bills or Y refund… 

I always have the same answer: “Sorry, I am subletting”. Even if it is not relevant, they usually don’t know what to do with that and just leave.

 

 

Ingredients

2 potatoes - peeled and cubed

3 – 4 medium red beets

1 onion - peeled and cubed

2 cloves garlic - sliced

5 cups of water

1 tablespoon cumin

Salt & pepper

1 tablespoon olive oil

Directions

1.     Put the beets in a pot and cover with water. Boil and cook for about 15 minutes just until you can peel the beet. (The easier way to peel the beets is simply hold them under running water and gently peel them with your fingers. The shell will remove smoothly)

2.     Heat the oil in a large pot; sauté the onion and the garlic until the onion is soft and translucent, then add the potatoes and fry while stirring. 

3.     Cut the beets to cubes and add to the pot. Stir all together for 2 minutes.

4.     Add the water (5 cups) and the cumin, salt and pepper, stir and bring to boil, cover and lower the heat. Cook for 40 minutes.

5.     Turn the heat off.

6.     If you have a hand blender – blend all together inside the pot until they reach a desired consistency. Turn the heat again and bring to boil.

If you have a blender – pour the soup into the blender container and blend for 2 minutes until desired consistency. Pour the soup back into the pot and bring to boil.

A recipe – Orange soup

I live in denial! As long there is no snow, I can’t internalize that the winter is already here.

Every morning before I even open my eyes I check the weather, and if it is 34 F degrees and up, it is ok. 
I don’t know how 34 F (0 C degrees) became my comparison point – is it cold or is it ok?

Suddenly I realized - it’s not okay, even 40 degrees is too (F***) cold!

Ingredients

2 potatoes - peeled and cubed

3 - 4 carrots - chopped

1 sweet potato - peeled and cubed

½ acorn squash (or same size piece of pumpkin) - peeled, seeded, and cubed

½ cup of small red lentils – washed

2 cloves garlic - sliced

5 cups of water

1 tablespoon cumin

Salt & pepper

1 tablespoon olive oil

Directions

1.     Heat the oil in a large pot; add the garlic and the carrots and fry while stirring.

2.     Add while stirring the potatoes, sweet potato, squash and in the end the lentils. Stir all together for one minute.

3.     Add the water and the cumin, salt and pepper, stir and bring to boil, cover and lower the heat. Cook for 30 minutes.

4.     Turn the heat off.

5.     If you have a hand blender – blend all together in side the pot until desired consistency. Turn the heat again and bring to boil.

If you have a blender – pour the soup into the blender container and blend for 2 minutes until desired consistency. Pour the soup back into the pot and bring to boil.

6.     Garnish with parsley or seed mixture to serve.

A recipe – Fish with chickpeas, potatoes and carrots

My father doesn’t like the smell of fish, and he also had a childhood phobia of fish bones.

My mother never argued.

The result is that I ate fish for the first time when I was in my 20’s!

I don’t want to say that we didn’t eat well during my childhood. On the contrary, my mother is a brilliant cook and people say she makes the best Gefilte fish (fish balls made from a mixture of ground deboned fish).

I stopped eating gefilte fish when I was a kid after my grandmother asked me to buy a fresh fish for the holiday dinner. In those days you would choose the fresh fish from the aquarium and few minutes later it would be chopped and wrapped in paper.

 

Ingredients

1 Lb Cod fish (or Grouper) cut into thick slices

3 – 4 medium size potatoes – sliced like a French fries

3 carrots – sliced like a French fries

½ cup of chickpea (before soaking) – soak over night and cook for 30 minutes before using

4 cloves crushed garlic

Bunch of parsley (or coriander – stronger aroma)

2 ½ cups of hot water

1 tablespoon paprika

1 tablespoon cumin

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon pepper

5 tablespoon olive oil

Directions

1.     Heat the oil in a large wide saucepan; add the garlic and fry while stirring.

2.     Add the potatoes and carrots and stir for 3-5 minutes. Add the cooked chickpeas and stir for one more minute.

3.     At the same time – mix in a bowl: hot water, paprika, cumin, salt, pepper. Pour into the saucepan.

4.     Bring to boil, cover and lower the heat. Cook for 20 minutes.

5.     Take half of the vegetables out of the saucepan and put them into a bowl. Add the parsley evenly into the saucepan.

6.     Carefully add the fish, cover with the vegetables from the bowl, and cook cover for 20 minutes.

7.     While cooking, once in every few minutes, pour some of the sauce over the fish

8.     Serve with rice or couscous.

A recipe – Beet salad

I haven’t eaten clementines for about 20 years. If you ask me why I really won’t have a good answer. I don’t like the smell, I don’t like the feeling on your hands after you eat them… but I don’t really even remember what they taste like. Maybe I would like them if I tried them, but I don’t think I will.

Beets are the same. I have no idea why I’ve disliked them all my life. I’ve never eaten them. I think in my mind I relate them to food old people eat. My grandparents used to eat Borsht, which is a soup made of beets. I still imagine it doesn’t taste good, but the color is amazing.

When I traveled to Morocco I had no choice, as they served beet salad at every meal. And since I traveled during Ramadan, I ate everything I found!

And I liked them! A lot!

Ingredients

2 red beetroots 

2 cloves crushed garlic

2 – 3 tablespoon olive oil

2 – 3 tablespoon vinegar

Juice from ½ of lemon

Bunch of fresh parsley chopped (or coriander, or half and half)

1 teaspoon cumin

Salt & pepper

Directions

1.     Rinse the beets. Place in a pot, cover with water and boil until tender.

2.     Drain the beets, and slide the skins off. Allow the beets to cool, and then cut the beets as French fries.

3.     Mix the beets in a bowl with the remaining ingredients, seasoning to taste with salt and pepper.

4.     Prior to serving, taste the salad and adjust the seasoning if desired.