Category: Appetizer

Greek Salad with Feta Croutons

Well hello there everyone! It seems like forever since I’ve actually blogged a new recipe here on BIB! I’ve been in full on cookbook mode these passed few weeks and I couldn’t be more excited about how things are moving along! I was so nervous about how I’d be able to juggle the cookbook, social media posting, messages and blogging but somehow it’s been working. Blogging has definitely taken a back seat, and for the first time in six years of blogging, I’ve starting skipping a week or two here and there. There was a time I thought everything would come crashing down if I didn’t post every. single. week. but lo and behold, the blog is still here and everyone is alive and well.

The truth is, it was hard getting back into it but I couldn’t let Chanukah go by without a few special recipes. I mean, it really is my favorite holiday and as many of you now, it’s both my birthday and Anniversary as well! Chanukah is my favorite time to fry up something crazy, make something Greek and go all out in the dairy department, and I’ve combined all three in this awesome salad!

Most of you have eaten Greek salad about a million times in your life, but you’ve probably never tried tried frying the feta into croutons. Yes! I said FRYING THE FETA INTO CROUTONS! How awesome, right?? At first I wasn’t even sure if it would work but a Chanukah miracle happened (early) and the feta fried up beautifully! It was also my first time using Trader Joes cholov yisroel feta which apparently has been a hidden treasure for the past several years, and OMG is it decadent. It’s crazy salty (which I kinda love), but oh so smooth and it also slices so, so nicely without crumbling. The breadcrumbs really help cut through all that saltiness, and with a forkful of veggies, it’s the perfect little bite.

It’s funny because I was never really much of a feta person, probably because I never had really good feta, so Greek salad wasn’t really on my list of faves. It might also have to do with the fact that I’m not a fan of goat or sheep milk products, and most feta is made with sheep milk. I’m so crazy sensitive to the taste, that I can tell if my butcher used the meat grinder to grind lamb before he grinds the beef, because I can taste even the slightest hint of it. And it’s so, so sheepy. I mean, I’m no picky eater but I just. can’t. swallow it.

What’s crazy is, I decided to give the Trader Joe’s sheep’s milk feta a try because so many people told me it was the best feta they ever ate (it’s imported from Israel after all), and even though it had the absolute, most slightest hint of sheep, I was able to tolerate – and even enjoy – it.

So, if you can find Trader Joes best kept secret, go grab a package for this awesome recipe, or use your favorite brand. This post is not sponsored by TJ’s, although how amazing would that be, right?

Greek Salad with Feta Croutons

2 heads romaine lettuce
1 pint grape tomates, cut in half
1 English cucumber, sliced
1 red onion, thinly sliced into half rings
1 cup black olives, sliced
lemons, for serving

Spread all the ingredients out on a platter and top with feta croutons. Drizzle with lemon dressing.

Lemon Dressing:
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil (use light if you don’t like the flavor)
1/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 tsp oregano
1 tbsp honey
salt and pepper to taste

Add all the ingredients to a container and shake vigorously before serving.

Feta Croutons

1 package feta cheese, cut into cubes
1 cup panko crumbs
1/2 tsp dried basil
1/4 tsp lemon zest
salt and pepper, to taste
1/3 cup flour
2 eggs, beaten
1 cup canola oil, for frying

Prepare three bowls for dredging. Place the flour in one bowl and season with salt and pepper. Place the eggs in a second bowl and season with salt and pepper. In a third bowl, combine the panko crumbs, basil, lemon zest, salt and pepper.

Heat the oil in a saucepan (I prefer to use a small saucepan so I can use less oil, a wider pan will require more oil to make it deep enough for frying).  Dip the feta cubes in flour, then egg, and then panko crumbs. Fry in oil until golden brown and drain on paper towels. You may make the croutons a few hours in advance and warm in the oven to crisp up before serving (if necessary).

Related Recipes:

spinach pappardelle with feta and fried poached egg
harissa whipped feta with za’atar eggplant chips
summer tomato feta salad
roasted eggplant parmesan with feta

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Salmon En Croute with Creamed Leeks

Salmon en croute is one of my favorite dishes to serve for the holidays. It plates up beautifully, it’s so festive and it’s a winning dish all around! I mean who doesn’t love anything wrapped in buttery, flaky dough, amiright?

I usually go with a simple mustard and brown sugar mixture over the salmon, but I decided to take things up a notch using some of the traditional symbolic foods of the holiday, like honey and leeks. I love that you can incorporate more of those foods into the plated dish as well, and I went with pomegranate seeds and chioggia beets, ‘cuz could you just look at them?

Just call this Simanim Salmon En Croute ‘cuz it’s not only tasty, but so fitting in every way. And if you need a recap on the symoblic foods of the holiday, read this. I’ve also got a handy simanim recipe roundup from a couple of years back and then of course there are my other great simanim dishes like this couscous, this angel hair pasta, this beautiful appetizer and this holiday salad.

Growing up, Rosh Hashanah was a serious holiday and we always kept things intimate with just the family and a simple, traditional holiday meal. It’s that one time of the year to really focus on self introspection and prayer and I like to follow suite without complicating my menu. I don’t go all out with a bunch of different salads and desserts – I just keep my meal well-rounded with an appetizer (round challah with honey, fish and salad), entree (meat or chicken, tzimmes and roasted vegetables, beautifully plated) and a slice of honey cake with caramelized apples to finish the meal. Then I wrap things up and open my tehillim, because there is oh so much to pray for.

I find that there’s no need to overdo your menu when you learn to serve composed dishes that complement each other. Sometimes, when you make too much food, the beauty and flavor gets lost because there is just too much to go around. When I was in culinary school, my teacher gave the example of a woman wearing a simple pearl necklace versus someone who in dripping in lots of (too much) jewelry. Which one makes a better statement? Sometimes clean and simple is the better way to go.

Salmon En Croute with Creamed Leeks

4 slices center-cut salmon fillet, skin off
2 tbsp honey
salt and pepper, to taste
1 large leek, or two medium, sliced into half rings
2 tbsp refined coconut oil*
1/4 cup coconut milk*
4 puff pastry squares, or 1 sheet cut into 4 squares
1 egg + 1 tbsp water, beaten
sesame seeds

Method:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Heat the coconut oil over medium heat and add the leeks. Saute until wilted and starting to brown and caramelize. Add the coconut milk and season, to taste, with salt and pepper. Simmer until creamy.

Season the salmon with salt and pepper and drizzle with honey. Spread leeks over the salmon and wrap in puff pastry, seam-side down. Brush the puff pastry with eggwash and sprinkle with sesame seeds. Cut a few diagonal slits in the pastry, taking care not to slice through the salmon. Bake for 20 minutes.

Serve warm over mixed greens with pomegranate seeds, shaved beets (chioggia beets pictured) and a light dressing of oil, lemon (or orange) juice, salt and pepper (or use this dressing).

NOTES:
* if you are sensitive to the flavor of coconut, you may use olive oil or trans fat free margarine in place of the oil and almond milk (or nondairy milk of your choice) in place of the coconut milk. Alternatively, you may leave out the milk for a less creamy texture.

** Feel free to add carrots, apples or any other simanim of your choice to the salad.

Related Recipes:

smashed potatoes with leeks
simanim fritto misto
honey fig roasted salmon
honey mustard salmon

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Asian Lettuce Wraps

Summer has officially begun! Last week, we made the 3  hour trek to the Catskills in Upstate New York where we spend our summer. I’m more of a city gal myself, but the city heat is unbearable, so I welcome the cool mountain air, rolling hills, grass and trees (something we majorly lack in Brooklyn)! The ten weeks we spend here fill my kids with vitality like a tank fills with gas. The long summer days spent carefree in the the outdoors are life’s best medicine, and I’m so thankful I get to give it to them.

As for me, some of my best memories are the ones I spent in the bungalow colony as a child. I love waking up to the smell of the mountains, and when I sit outside sipping my coffee and listening to the birds sing their song, it’s like pure heaven. But I can do without the endless laundry (they change like four times a day!), constant meals (all the swimming and biking makes them ravenous), and not seeing my husband the whole week (someone’s got to pay for all the food and laundry detergent we go through lol!).

I’m not really sure how much I’ll be able to keep up my blogging from here. I didn’t bring any props with me and I’m keeping things simple in the kitchen. But I did bring my camera and I loved the challenge of putting together a summer recipe without all of my fancy ingredients and food styling stuff. It’s also a learning experience working with different natural light, so I was happy to prepare these simple summer wraps and blog about them. Otherwise, I’ll be keeping things light around here, and probably blogging a lot less than usual. But I hope you’ll all be taking a break too!

Wishing you a light, healthy and refreshing summer!

Asian Lettuce Wraps

2 lbs dark meat turkey
3 cloves garlic
2 tsp fresh grated ginger
2 tsp sesame oil
2 tsp grapeseed oil (or other neutral flavored oil)
2 tbsp soy sauce.
1 1/2 tbsp lime juice
1 tsp sriracha plus more for garnish
kosher salt, to taste
Boston lettuce
optional toppings: carrot sticks, radish, scallions

Method:

Heat the sesame and grapeseed oil in a skillet and add the ginger and garlic. Saute until fragrant but not browned. Add the ground turkey and season with salt. Cook over medium heat, breaking it up as it cooks, until the turkey is crumbled and no longer pink. Add the soy sauce, lime juice and sriracha and stir to incorporate.

Divide the turkey among lettuce cups and top with carrot sticks, sliced radish and scallions. Finish with sriracha.

NOTE: to make these Paleo/Whole30, use coconut aminos instead of soy sauce and substitute hot sauce for the sriracha.

If desired, you may pickle the carrots and/or radishes as follows:

OPTIONAL PICKLES
julienned carrots, sliced radishes, sliced cucumbers
1 cup rice vinegar
1 cup water
1/2 cup sugar
1 tbsp kosher salt

Bring the vinegar, water, sugar and salt to a boil. Remove from the heat. Add veggies and set aside to cool. Refrigerate until ready to use.


Related Recipes:

quinoa pad thai
curried chicken lettuce wraps

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Lasagna Roll-Up Blintzes

I don’t know about you, but the only thing that keeps me from making blintzes on Shavuot is the crepe-making. The rest of the process is fairly easy, and I don’t even mind the light frying. But those crepes, man they are hard to nail down.

My mom so hates the crepe-making process that she’s been ordering her crepes ready-made from a caterer for years. Instead, she puts her attention on delicious homemade fillings – creamy potato with deeply caramelized onions and sweet cheese with an apricot sauce for dipping. I’m getting hungry just thinking about it!


I’m all for finding the easier way around dishes and this lasagna roll-up blintz hack is no exception! I love me some savory lasagna roll-ups, filled with spinach-flecked creamy ricotta and oozing with cheesy mozzarella, so why not go sweet, amIright? Dredging the sweet-filled pasta sheets in Corn Flake crumbs and frying them really takes it over the top, and I’m one happy crepe-free Momma.

What I really love about these decadent Shavuot treats is that they truly resemble blintzes, and if you want to stay away from the fryer, just go ahead and serve them up without the breading. You can add some chopped nuts for texture, and of course the requisite sour cream and strawberry sauce. Cuz blintzes without sour cream are a sad, sad thing.

Those of you that have been following my diet journey over on Instagram know that I’ve been staying away from delicious carby treats like these for the past couple of weeks, so I had to send them straight out of the house as soon as I was done making them. I don’t have the willpower to say no to a piping hot plate of sweet, crunchy, cheesy pasta rolls, do you? If your answer is yes, please tell me your secret ‘cuz I’m gonna need it come the cheesecake holiday.

We’re pretty low key when it comes to dairy in my house – I only serve it once a week, and it’s usually pizza, mac ‘n cheese or baked ziti. But Shavuot? Shavuot is the time for cheesy French onion soup, 4-cheese lasagna, a cheese board of your dreams, and of course plenty of cheesecake and blintzes. And lets not forget the dairy ice cream either. G-d help me survive this decadent holiday!

I’m thinking I’ll have to have some healthy options at the table too. Like these cheesy stuffed mini peppers, this three-cheese rollatini rose pie, the most amazing kid-friendly broccoli poppers, plus these cutesy roasted eggplant parmesan starters.

Now if we’re talking the decadent part of the meal, obv we have these insane roll-ups, which will be an amazing side to my caramelized peach and gouda quesadillas and 3-cheese broccoli pull-apart buns for the kids.  I’m thinking goat cheese ice cream for dessert, and definitely my Torah cannoli, ‘cuz that’s what the holiday is all about – stuffing our face with cheese and the giving of the Torah.

I’m pretty stoked to be hosting my mom for the first time this year – she’s usually the one who hosts, so I better get my menu planned. Stay tuned, I’ll share it with you soon. In the meantime, have a look at the Index for some inspiration!

Lets get rollin’!

Lasagna Roll-Up Blintzes

1 package lasagna noodles
16oz. ricotta cheese
8 oz. cream cheese, softened
1 egg yolk
1/3 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp lemon juice
pinch of salt
3 eggs
3 tbsp heavy cream or whole milk
3 cup Corn Flake crumbs
canola oil, for frying
powder sugar, for dusting

Method:

Cook the lasagna noodles according to the package directions. Drain and spread the noodles on a light greased surface. In a large bowl, mix the ricotta cheese, cream cheese, egg yolk, sugar, vanilla, lemon juice and salt.

Spread a heaping spoonful of the cheese mixture over each lasagna noodle and roll the noodles up. Place seam side down on a baking sheet and freeze for 30 minutes.

In a shallow bowl, beat the eggs and heavy cream. In a second shallow bowl, add the Corn Flake crumbs and season with a pinch of salt.

Remove the roll-ups from the freezer and dip each roll in eggs and then cornflake crumbs, shaking off the excess each time. Work with a few at a time so that the rolls don’t start to defrost and lose their shape. Return the rolls to the freezer until you are ready to fry.

Heat a few inches of oil in a skillet and fry the rollups, turning so that all the sides are browned. Drain on paper towels.

Dust the rolls generously with powdered sugar and serve with strawberry sauce.

VARIATIONS:

– If you desire a smooth cheese filling, blend the cheese mixture in a food processor or blender (you may not need all the lasagna noodles as the volume of the cheese will decrease).
– Use equal parts graham cracker crumbs and Corn Flake crumbs for a sweeter breading.
– Serve with your favorite warmed jam or pie filling.

Strawberry Sauce

16oz frozen strawberries
2 tbsp sugar, or, to taste
1 tsp lemon juice

Add the ingredients to a small saucepan and cook until the strawberries are soft. Mash the berries with a fork to break them up and cook over low heat until thickened. If desired, blend with an immersion blender or serve chunky. Adjust sweetness according to your taste and the sweetness of the fruit.

Related Recipes:

spinach lasagna roll-ups
how to build a crepe bar
parmesan lasagna chips with pizza hummus
quick and easy lasagna

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Fruit Salad with Basil Honey Lime Dressing

To me, Passover, or Pesach, is all about tradition. I’ve never actually hosted the holiday in my own home, but I imagine that when I do, I’ll be making the same foods that my mother always made.

I have fond memories of my mom’s Passover ratatouille, mock chopped liver, beet salad and cucumber salad all neatly arranged in mason jars on the door of the fridge. She always had big jars of simple syrup on the counter, which she used to sweeten everything from chicken to fish, meat and nuts. Towards the second days, when everyone had enough of the heavy meals, she always diced up a huge fruit salad in our giant glass Pyrex. And she doused it in simple syrup too.

The simple syrup didn’t bother me, especially as a kid, because the fruit tasted like candy. But the bananas – they just threw the whole thing off. There were never really rules to what went into the fruit salad – it was whatever was leftover around the house – but it almost always had melon, kiwi, sliced bananas, walnuts, and oranges.

There was always someone in the house who was walking around scratching their throat from one of the fruits – probably the kiwi, and I think it was usually my sister. But we still ate it – bananas, oranges and all – and we sipped up all those sweet drippings from the bottom of the bowl like they were liquid gold. Ah, Passover memories.

While everyone is busy preparing trays of Passover brownies, whipping up macaroons and fancy pavlovas – I’m here to say that it’s really just about the tradition. Fruit salad may be simple, but it’s what my Momma always made, and it’s what I plan to make when I host Passover in my home in the coming years.

For this recipe, I’ve done away with all the fruits that I picked out of my Mom’s fruit salad – the awful mushy bananas, pithy oranges, and throat-scratching kiwi’s. Instead, I used melons, mangos, plums and nectarines, and fancied it up with a basil honey lime dressing (a lot healthier and more flavorful than the simple syrup of my youth!). Feel free to adjust this salad to your liking – adding more lime juice for extra tartness, or more honey for extra sweetness. And you can also switch up the herbs with some fresh mint instead of basil, if you so desire. Don’t forget to top it off with some coconut whipped cream and chopped nuts to really take it over the top!

Wishing you and your loved ones a very fruitful and happy Passover!

Fruit Salad with Basil Honey Lime Dressing

1/2 cantaloupe, peeled and diced
1/2 honeydew, peeled and diced
3 mangos, peeled and diced
4 nectarines, diced
4 plums, diced
handful of basil (about 20 leaves)
juice of 2 limes (3-4 tbsp)
1/4 cup honey
coconut whipped cream, optional
chopped nuts, optional

Method:

Add all the diced fruit to a bowl. In a food processor or blender, blend the basil, honey and lime juice. Alternatively, you may chop the basil into thin ribbons and mix with the lime juice and honey. Pour the dressing over the salad and mix. Serve with whipped cream and chopped nuts.

VARIATION: Feel free to use any fruit of your choice. Try using fresh mint instead of basil. Add lime zest for a stronger lime flavor.

NOTE: Add more or less honey, depending on the sweetness of the fruit.

YIELD: approximately 2 quarts.

Other Passover Desserts:

marzipan apple crisp
nutella banana ice cream
chocolate ganache tart with macaroon crust
raspberry sorbet

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