squash soup with gondi

This recipe is the result of my travels and fascination with the Sephardic kitchen, combined with an American classic: butternut squash soup. This recipe is a melange of Jewish influences and in some ways, reflects the diversity that is Israeli cuisine. The hawaj, which lends a depth of exotic spice and warm nuance, is a staple of Yemenite soups that can be enjoyed in the Kerem Teimanim (Yemenite neighborhood) of Tel Aviv. Cilantro and coriander seed add a citric tone and contrast to the Gondi dumplings, a staple on every Persian Jewish family’s Shabbat table. Gondi dumplings are made from chickpea flour and ground chicken and are the Sephardic rival to the Ashkenazi matzo ball.

The base of this soup is butternut squash, but it is delicious with whatever pumpkin or squash is available and to your liking.

Recipe:

Soup:

½ butternut squash, peeled and diced

1 large yellow or white onion, diced into large pieces

Garlic, 4 cloves

1 baking apple, peeled and diced into large pieces

Hawaj, 1 tbsp

Black pepper, ½ tsp

Coriander seed, ½ tsp

Mustard seed, ½ tsp

Cilantro, ½ bunch

Cumin, ½ tsp

Olive oil, 4 tbsp

Salt, to taste

Water

Gondi:

Chickpea flour, ½ cup

Ground chicken, ½ lb

1 large yellow onion, grated

Turmeric, ½ tsp

Cumin, ½ tsp

Cardamom, ½ tsp

Salt and pepper to taste

Cube squash, apples, onion, and garlic and toss with spices and olive oil.  Arrange on cookie pan or oven pan and roast in oven for about 40 minutes at 400 degree heat, or until vegetables are slightly roasted, but not dried out. While the vegetables are roasting, mix the ground chicken with chickpea flour, spices, grated onion and salt. With oiled hands, form the dough into walnut-sized balls.

After vegetables are roasted, put them into a large pot and combine with 2 cups of water to start with, let boil, then add the Gondi dumplings and simmer for 1.5 hours.  Remove the dumplings, add the cilantro, and with an immersion blender blend for about 5 minutes.  You probably need to add more water than your intuition might tell you!  Then return soup to the stove and heat, adding water for the right consistency (a bit thicker than a chicken soup). Return the dumplings to the soup and serve.

greek stuffed squash blossoms: κολοκύθανθοι γεμιστοί με ρύζι

It has been too long, my fellow food lovers! I have been busy cooking and photographing, but not writing. The queue is long with plenty of dishes waiting to be posted.  I will try to post more often.

I am happy to be writing in the midst of summer harvest bliss!  The farmers markets are bursting with beautiful fruits and vegetables.  Yesterday at the Brookline Farmers Market here in New England, I was in heaven!  My Mom is visiting and we scoured the market in the blistering heat for the best the market had to offer.  Fortunately and unfortunately, the market had everything to offer and we could only take what we could carry.  That included squash blossoms, a very rare and special find.  Squash blossoms are from the vine of the zucchini or other summer squash plant.  They are bright orange and beautiful! They're also quite delicate, which probably explains why they don't pop up more often in farmers markets and especially, supermarkets.

Most people, at least in the United States, fry squash blossoms filled with herbed ricotta cheese.  That's good, but I prefer the traditional Greek way of stuffing them with a fragrant rice and serving with Greek yogurt, similar to dolmadakia or gemista.  You can substitute the blossoms for grape leaves, amaranth leaves, cabbage, tomatoes and more.  It's the quintessential summer dish, best served at room temperature with a dollop of Greek yogurt and sprinkle of lemon.  Normally, the recipes call for long grain rice, but if you have short grain rice, it works wonderfully. That's what I used last night. I would even argue that it might be better, given that short grain rice is starchier and sticks together nicely, like in sushi.

I recommend making these and then waiting an hour or two before eating them, so they have a chance to come down in temperature.  They are also good cold, or, if you are hungry as hell, eat them hot.

20 squash blossoms
1 1/2 cups of rice- short or long grain (white recommended)
1 onion, finely chopped
1 tomato, grated
1/2 bunch of fresh herbs including dill, parsley, mint, oregano, verbena, finely chopped
salt, pepper, olive oil
a few lemons

If the blossoms are clean enough, I don't recommend washing them. Once they get wet, they are extremely difficult to work with.  Instead, just open them slightly, remove the stamen if preferred (I preferred to do this), and try not to rip the flower (not so easy as my Mom will attest to). Chop most of the stem off the flower, but leave a little so you have something to hold onto if you eat them with your hand. Don't eat the stem though, it's bitter and hairy!

To make the rice- Sauté the chopped onion with some oil in a small pot until translucent or just for a minute and then add rice, some salt and pepper and then fill the pot with just enough water to cover the rice and when boiling, cover until the water has been evaporated.  This is just to get the rice cooking a little bit and makes it easier to work with.  Once the water is evaporated, take off the lid, transfer the rice to a bowl and mix with the chopped herbs.  Let cool slightly and then fill the squash blossoms with the rice mixture using a small spoon.  Make sure to pack the rice in so it doesn't fall right out.  Pack a few spoonfuls, just enough so that you can still fold over the edges to close the blossom and be confined that it won't explode once the rice cooks and expands (but  because the rice is par-cooked, it won't expand as much).

Line your pot with lettuce or if you have none, olive oil and place the squash blossoms along the bottom.  Fill with water just to barely barely cover and squeeze the juice of one lemon in there for flavor as well.  Bring to a boil, cover and cook for about 20 minutes or until the water has evaporated completely.  Let cool before removing from pot.  Serve with Greek yogurt and a squeeze of lemon!

avocado and egg salad

Perhaps the most delicious salad I know, this avocado and egg salad is the perfect combination of winter treats: ripe avocado and citrus. I first had this salad with a lemon picked off the tree in a backyard in Tel Aviv, an avocado from the Shuk Carmel and a creamy hard-boiled egg. Together with some salt and a fork, the ingredients blend together to form a delicious salad, spread, dip, or however you want to eat it. It can be spread on a piece of toast or eaten all by itself. If you really like lemon, I recommend adding even an extra half or whole lemon.

1 avocado

2 eggs

1 lemon

salt to taste

Fill a small pot with water a couple inches high. Add the eggs, cover and put on high heat until it boils. Once it boils, turn off the heat and let sit for 12 minutes. Peel the egg and add it to a bowl with the avocado, whole. Add the juice of 1 lemon and salt to taste. Mush with a fork or a whisk until the egg and avocado are in small chunks around a creamy mix. Adjust for salt and lemon according to taste.

Serve with bread or by itself!

halva sandwich ugiyot: inaugural post

Halva sandwich cookies are the culmination of a few of my favorite things: halva, nut flour and chewy macarons: a little bit of Paris, a little bit of Israel and a little bit of... mashu! These came about from some extra halva that had been sitting on the counter for too long, as well as a desire to create a confection that trumps other halva cookies I've had in coffee shops and the like. They are: nutty, not too sweet, chewy and rich. I chose to fill them with dulce de leche, because, well, I had a jar of it in my fridge. I also tried raspberry jam and that seemed to please. With more time and inspiration, I could be convinced to fill them with a homemade halva cream or.... you tell me! These cookies are barely sweet- so they can handle a sweeter filling.

Some tips- if you don't have almond or hazelnut flour, which I didn't, you can can put some walnuts through the food processor until they pulverize (but before they turn into walnut butter). Treat these cookies as delicately as you would a macaron, that is, keep an eye on them in the oven and take them out as soon as you see any golden color. Taking them off the nonstick sheet is just as important- use a metal spatula with a clean edge, not one of those rounded plastic ones. You don't want the interior of the cookie to come out. You'll see what I mean when you make them.

200g halva (pulverized in food processor- about 1 1/2 cups)
100g hazelnuts, ground- or almonds, walnuts (3/4 cup)
75g all purpose flour (1/2 cup)

55g confectioner sugar, sifted (1/3 cup)
75g butter, softened (1/3 cup)
2 eggs

1/4 tsp. cinnamon

1/2 cup of filling - dulce de leche, raspberry preserves, etc

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Whisk butter, eggs, sugar. Add pulverized halva, nut flour, all purpose flour, cinnamon and mix until smooth. By hand or with mixer. There may be little chunks of halva; that's ok. Chill in fridge for an hour or freezer for 30 minutes.

Scoop little balls the size of a hazelnut to a grape (depending on how big you want them) and roll into a ball. The dough should be cold enough to do this without sticking to your hands. Put on nonstick baking sheet with at least 2 inches between balls. Bake in the oven for about 10 minutes or until very slightly golden brown. Let cool for a few minutes and then remove carefully with spatula. Spread on dulce de leche or preserves with a butter knife and match with the same size cookie to make the sandwich.

Store in a sealed container. Try to store them sideways, not on top of each other, as they are moist and will stick.