Category: Dinner

Golden Milk Carrot & Apple Soup

I wait all summer to put on a granny sweater and whip up a warm mug of golden milk! The healthy drink, sometimes called Turmeric Tea, stems from India, where they add fresh turmeric to warm milk for it’s anti-inflammatory properties.

Golden milk is the Westernized version of the Ayurvedic drink, popularized by bloggers worldwide. The immune boosting drink usually includes:

coconut milk
black pepper
cinnamon
turmeric
ginger
raw honey

To get the most health benefits out of the tea, fresh and whole spices are used and the honey is added at the end, without heating. With curcumin from the turmeric, piperine from the black pepper, and MCT’s from the coconut milk, golden milk is said to improve memory, relieve joint pain, improve blood pressure, reduce LDL cholesterol and prevent cancer!

With Rosh Hashanah around the corner, I decided to incorporate my favorite winter drink into a Simanim-filled soup and the results were absolutely delicious! I think adding apples + apple cider to my soups is my new thing – a burst of apple in every bite!

Now I think the only thing better than the health benefits of Golden Milk is adding carrots – our parents always told us it was good for our eyesight, right? And don’t they say that an “Apple a day keeps the Dr. away?” Golden Milk just got an upgrade.

The New Year is looking extra sweet.

Golden Milk Carrot & Apple Soup
YIELD: approximately 10 cups

2 tbsp olive oil
1 large leek, white party only, thinly sliced (2 cups)
2 1/2 lbs. carrots, peeled, trimmed and roughly chopped
3 McIntosh apples, peeled and roughly chopped
4 c vegetable stock
2 c apple cider
1 tsp ground turmeric
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2” knob of fresh ginger, grated
salt and pepper, to taste
1 cup coconut milk, plus more for garnish, optional
1-2 tbsp honey

Method:

Heat olive oil in a large soup pot. Add the leeks and saute until softened. Add the carrots, apples, stock, cider, turmeric, cinnamon, ginger, salt and pepper and bring the mixture to a simmer. Cook until the carrots are soft, about 30 minutes. Blend with an immersion blender and add the coconut milk and honey, to taste (depending on sweetness). If the soup is too thick, add water, stock or more apple cider until desired consistency is reached.

To serve, swirl in coconut milk and add a drizzle of honey, freshly ground black pepper and a cinnamon stick, if desired.

NOTE: if you don’t like coconut or you have an allergy, leave it out and add more stock, cider or water.

This soup may be frozen.

Related Recipes:

curried carrot and sweet potato soup
roasted butternut squash, shallot and apple soup
cream of leek soup

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Sweet Chili Broccoli Salmon

I have a confession to make: I can’t spell brocolli. I mean broccolli. No broccoli! Thank G-d for auto-correct because I just can’t get it right.

I’ve always been a good speller but I’ve got a few mindblocks:
broccoli
nauseous
exercise

It’s a good think I don’t get nauseous from eating broccoli after I exercise otherwise I’d have 3 typos in the same sentence, ha!


Actually speaking of broccoli, it’s one of my favorite veggies, and I can legit eat an entire tray in one sitting! I love it raw, I love it steamed, roasted and stir fried. I’m not even partial to fresh broccoli, the frozen stuff is just fine for my standards, so long as it’s thawed properly and not mushy. Mushy brocolli is gross, Mushy brocolli doesn’t deserve to be spelled correctly.

So for all you broccoli lovers out there – thaw your frozen broccoli, never boil it! I like to run the frozen broccoli under cold water just to lightly thaw and then stir fry over high heat. That’s it. Perfectly tender broccoli every time.

Sweet Chili Broccoli Salmon

olive oil cooking spray
2 lbs. skinless fillet of salmon, cut into cubes
2 eggs, beaten
salt and pepper, to taste
1 cup flavored breadcrumbs
3 tbsp sesame seeds, plus more for garnish
24oz. frozen broccoli florets
1 tbsp grapeseed oil
13oz. bottle sweet chili sauce
1 scallion, thinly sliced
prepared rice, for serving

Method:

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and spray with olive oil cooking spray. Set side.

Place eggs into a small bowl and season with salt and pepper. Place breadcrumbs in a second bowl and mix with sesame seeds.

Dip the salmon cubes in eggs and breadcrumbs and place on baking sheet. Spray generously with olive oil cooking spray. Bake for 15 minutes.

While the salmon is cooking, place the broccoli florets in a strainer in the sink and run water over it until mostly thawed. Pat dry.

Heat oil in a skillet and stir fry the broccoli over high heat until tender. Add the sweet chili sauce to coat.

When ready to serve, add the salmon to the broccoli and coat completely with the sauce. Garnish with scallions and serve with rice.

Related Recipes:

sweet chili salmon with wasabi crust
broccoli parmesan poppers 
fish tacos with broccoli slaw

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Sabich Burgers with Peach Amba

On my recent trip to Israel, a humble pita sandwich filled with unlikely ingredients stole the show: The Sabich. A combination of fried eggplant, hard-boiled egg, hummus and Israeli salad  is stuffed into a pita and drizzled with tahini and amba, a pickled mango sauce similar to Indian chutney.

The origins of sabich go back to Iraq, where the sandwiches were traditionally eaten on Shabbat mornings. The Iraqi’s brought it with them when they immigrated to Israel in the early days of the state, and it’s named is said to be an acronym for main sandwich components:  salat, beitzah, hazilim (salad, egg, eggplant).

What makes sabich so good? it’s the mishmash of textures and flavors which seem to work so well together — crunchy, creamy, tangy and spicy in every bite!

But above all, it’s the amba that really makes the sandwich and everything else it comes in contact with! I first tried traditional jarred amba a few months ago and let me just say, it was NOT love at first bite. Unripe mango was cut into sticks and pickled in a spicy brine which did not please my palette in the least. But then, I tried the amba at Goldie Falafel in Philly and I was like WHAT. IS. THIS. SORCERY. So, I went to the source of all things Israeli Cuisine, Mike Solomonov’s cookbooks and I was on my way to the most amazing chutney I’d ever had.

So the best amba, I learned, is not, in fact, pickled. It’s cooked down into savory sauce that makes everything better! You can even blend it up into a smooth dip and use it to marinate meat or poultry – all of which I have tried with much success!

This summer, I decided to swap out mango for peaches, for a more seasonal sauce and it just blew it out of the park! Solomonov has done it with apples for topping latkes, and strawberries in the summer, which I’d love to try sometime too. Feel free to switch up your fruit to make it your own – just do it, you won’t regret it!

Sabich Burger
YIELD: 8 burgers

1 eggplant, sliced into 1/2″ thick slices
1 1/2 cups plain panko breadcrumbs
3 tbsp za’atar
2 eggs, beaten
1/2 cup flour
salt and pepper, to taste
canola oil, for frying
8 burger buns
8 eggs, prepared sunny-side-up
1/2 cup prepared hummus
1/2 cup prepared tahini
sliced tomato
cucumber ribbons

Method:

Set up a dredging station:

In one bowl, stir the panko crumbs with the za’atar and salt, to taste. In a second bowl, add the eggs with salt and pepper. And in a third bowl, add the flour with salt and pepper.

Heat some canola oil in a frying pan. Using one hand for wet ingredients and another for dry ingredients, dip the eggplant in flour, eggs and panko, shaking off the excess in between. Fry the eggplant until golden on both sides and drain on paper towels. Remove to a baking rack so the eggplant stays crispy.

When ready to serve, place some hummus on the bottom half of your bun, top with sliced tomato, cucumber ribbons, 1-2 slices of fried eggplant, sunny side up egg, amba and tahini. Serve immediately.

Peach Amba
adapted from Israeli Soul by Mike Solomonov

2 tbsp olive oil
1 small onion, diced
1 large clove garlic, minced
2 tsp mustard seeds
1 1/2 tsp ground turmeric
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ancho chili powder
1 tsp hilba (ground fenugreek)
1 tsp smoked paprika
4 medium ripe peaches, peeled and diced
1 tsp kosher salt
juice of 1/2 lemon

Method:

Heat the olive oil in a skillet and add the onion, saute until softened but not browned. Add the garlic and saute until fragrant. Add the mustard, turmeric, cumin, chili powder, hilba and smoked paprika and saute until fragrant. Add the peaches and salt and cook over medium heat, stirring frequently until the peaches break down and soften, about 15-20 minutes. If the mixture starts to stick to the pan, add a bit of water. Stir in lemon juice, cool and refrigerate in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks.

NOTE: if the amba is too tangy for your taste, add a squeeze of honey or maple syrup.

 

Related Recipes:

sabich latkes
amba bloody harry 
roasted eggplant shakshuka
harissa whipped feta with za’atar eggplant “chips”

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Roasted Summer Chicken

After weeks of summer prep and camp shopping, I am SO HAPPY that I can officially say welcome the start of summer. The kids are in camp. Everyone is settled in. And I am relishing every moment.

I try to keep dinners simple in the summer, but after a day of running around in the summer heat, and hours spent at the pool, my kids voracious appetites demand more than just frozen pizza. They are HUNGRY! I try to keep the fridge stocked with lots of fruits and veggies, plenty of protein in the freezer and fresh herbs on the window sill.

I think we all associate summer with barbecue but I try to do away with heavy bottled sauces and season food simply instead. Juicy seasonal tomatoes, fresh summer corn and a bunch of fragrant basil are always handy, which is how this delicious light summer dinner came together in no time. My kids literally licked their plates clean!

Now that corn is in season, here’s a great trick for cutting it!!

Israeli couscous is another summer staple – it rounds out the meal, cooks in five minutes, and isn’t as heavy as other starches. But feel free to serve with any starch of your choice!

Roasted Summer Chicken

2 ears fresh corn, shucked
1 heaping cup grape tomatoes
4 chicken legs
1 tsp chili powder
kosher salt, to taste
juice of 1/2 lime
1/4 cup fresh basil, thinly sliced
1 tbsp olive oil
drizzle of honey

Method:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Place the corn on the bottom of a 9×13 pan, scatter tomatoes around the pan and top with chicken thighs. Sprinkle the chicken with chili powder and salt and spread the basil on top. Drizzle olive oil and honey and squeeze lime juice over the top. Cover tightly with foil and bake for one hour. Uncover, baste with the sauce and bake at 400 degrees for an additional 20-25 minutes, until chicken is browned.

Serve with couscous, quinoa or rice.

NOTE: if you dont have fresh corn on hand, you can substitute 1 package frozen corn (thawed) or 1 can corn, drained.

Related Recipes:

chimichicken
ratatouille roast chicken
corn and heirloom tomato salad with basil lime vinaigrette 

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Pastelon Shepherd’s Pie

Yes, it’s true – plantains and I are having a moment. Ok fine, not a moment, a year. Or three. Or four.

I’ve basically been a fan of plantains ever since my first Whole30 back in 2014. I didn’t even know what they were back then, but when I found Whole30-approved plantain chips in Trader Joes, I was all in. I started noticing the plantains at my local Caribbean grocery, and I learned to make my own chips as well as tostones (twice fried plantains) which I devoured with guacamole and tuna tartare (OK I’m hungry now).

I realized that plantains could make an amazing stand-in for the overused potato on Pesach, so I started to experiment further with different recipes. My plantain nachos were a big hit, and I heard from some readers who started to make my sweet and savory plantain tortillas all year long!

And then there was that summer when I discovered plantains at my local Shoprite in upstate New York and I ate my fair share of maduros – fried ripe plantains with a sprinkle of brown sugar and a squeeze of lime. Better than ice cream.

Plantains, like bananas, change color as they ripen – although unlike bananas, they can be eaten at any stage, so long as they are cooked. Green plantains are very starchy, while yellow and black ones are sweeter and a bit easier to peel. When plantains are fully ripened and black – they only look scary on the outside, but on the inside the plantains are still quite firm. It’s at this point that you can fry them in oil for maduros, or boil them up for mash.

I recently happened upon a recipe for Pastelon – a Peurto Rican lasagna that uses plantains instead of lasagna noodles. It made me think of using mashed plantains instead of potatoes for Shepherd’s Pie and that’s how this recipe was born! It makes a great one pot meal for Chol Hamoed, and can even be prepared and frozen in advance.

Wishing you and yours and Kosher & Happy Passover!

Pastelon Shepherd’s Pie

2 tbsp olive oil
1 medium onion, diced small
1 red pepper, diced small
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 lbs. ground beef
2 tsp cumin
1 tbsp smoked paprika
1 tsp oregano
1/2 cup sliced pimento stuffed olives
15oz. tomato sauce
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper

Mashed Plantains
5 black (ripe) plantains
2 tbsp melted refined coconut oil, divided
3/4 cup coconut milk
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp chili powder

Method:

Bring a pot of salted water to a boil. Peel the plantains and slice them in thirds. Add to the water and cook until soft and tender, 15-20 minutes. Drain (see note).

While the plantains are cooking, heat a cast iron skillet over medium heat and add the olive oil. Add onions and peppers and saute until translucent. Add the garlic and continue to saute until softened and fragrant. Add the ground beef and cook until crumbly, breaking it up as it cooks. Drain most of the fat that renders out of the meat. Add cumin, paprika, oregano, olives, tomato sauce, salt and pepper and bring the mixture to a simmer. Remove from the heat.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Place the drained plantains into a large bowl and mash with a potato masher. Add 1 1/2 tbsp of the coconut oil, coconut milk, salt and chili powder. Spread the plantain mash on top of the beef mixture and brush with remaining coconut oil. Sprinkle with chili powder and bake for 20-25 minutes.

VARIATION: You can also make a savory mash using green plantains instead of black. Add some sauteed onions and/or garlic to the mash for added flavor.

NOTES: If you don’t use coconut milk over Passover, reserve 3/4 cup plantain cooking liquid in this step to use in place of the coconut oil. You may also substitute any other oil instead of the coconut oil.

If you don’t have a cast iron skillet, you may prepare the meat in any oven-safe pot, or transfer the mixture to a pie or casserole dish for baking.

FREEZING: this recipe may be prepared in advance and frozen ahead of time.

Related Recipes:

plantain nachos
fish tacos with savory plantain tortillas
nutella crepes with sweet plantain tortillas

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