Category: Lunch

Artisan Toast, 6 Ways

Making my own sourdough bread has been on my wish list for years. I love the dark, crunchy crust on the outside and the chewy, tender crumb on the inside. Give me some sourdough bread and I’m a happy gal.

I’ve even turned my husband into a sourdough snob and now that the Artisan Bakeshop has opened in my neighborhood, we splurge on their bread every week for Shabbat. We can’t go back to regular Challah even if we wanted to. We are sourdough snobs, period.

Well, somehow, G-d was listening to my inner sourdough goddess when I ended up sitting right next to the Queen Of Sourdough at the recent Kosher Food Blogger Conference. Chaya Suri (also known as Spice & Zest) is a talented home cook who doesn’t shy away from a challenge. She taught herself the ins & outs of sourdough when she began her starter three years ago, and she’s never turned back! She makes sourdough everything – crackers, pizza, pretzel buns, pita, challah, even sweets like babka and donuts! I invited her over for a hands-on sourdough class-turned-artisan toast party and Oh. Em. Gee. you guys. Her bread is insane. And now, now I have my own starter blooming in the fridge, and my own batch of sourdough bread ready to be baked! I’ve hopped on the sourdough train and I’m never turning back!

The best part of cooking together with another foodie is that we speak the same language. Chaya Suri loves using herbs and spices in her cooking (hence the name Spice & Zest, soon to be a food blog!) and her creations are healthy, creative and full of flavor. I drool over her Instagram posts and I can’t wait to cook with her again! Of course I picked her brain about some of her favorite cookbooks, kitchen tools and spices, and lets just say my Amazon shopping cart is loaded to capacity.

So first things first, Chaya Suri came with her cast iron pan, a batch of ready made dough and sourdough starter. We baked up her bread and a quick batch of her amazing (and easier than ever) sourdough crackers and then started on a new batch of sourdough bread from scratch. To say I was a little overwhelmed by the whole you-need-to-take-care-of-your-starter-like-another-child thing is an understatement. I’ve been known to kill every plant I ever had. But I’m going to try. And if my starter “chokes”, I’m just going to have to bother the Queen of Sourdough for a fresh batch! ;)

After we put together our 85% hydrated dough, we set it aside for the autolyse stage (don’t ask me what that is, just hire Chaya Suri for your own class!) and got started on our toasts. Artisan toasts are all the rage right now, and being a huge fan of Zak The Baker, I couldn’t wait to put together my own Artisan bites.

In true Zak the Baker style, I even made a custom chalkboard for the occasion!

We made some fun combos including avocado toast with persimmon and pomegranate (with pomegranate molasses and sriracha salt!), Gingerbread toast with my own homemade gingerbread pecan butter (it’s as good as it sounds!), camembert toast with port cranberry jam, berry toasts with creme fraiche, honey & lime, feta toast with tomatoes, olives and za’atar (because I always HAVE to have za’atar on the table) and finally, a spicy cheese toast with preserved lemon and harissa (because you know I’m obsessed with the stuff).

My favorite, hands down, was the avocado persimmon toast, followed closely by the gingerbread and the feta with za’atar. The others came close behind because they were all winners!

What are your favorite artisan toast combinations? Share them with me in the comments below!

Avocado Toast with Persimmon & Pomegranate

artisan bread
mashed avocado, lightly seasoned with lemon and salt
persimmon
pomegranate seeds
pomegranate molasses
sriracha salt

Spread the avocado over the toast and top with persimmon and pomegranate seeds. Drizzle with pomegranate molasses and sprinkle with sriracha salt.

VARIATION: Use thinly sliced jalapeno instead of sriracha salt.

Feta Toast with Za’atar

artisan bread
feta cheese
tomatoes
black olives
za’atar
chives
lemon olive oil (available at Trader Joes)

Crumble the feta over the toast and top with tomatoes and olives. Garnish with chives and sprinkle with za’atar. Finish with a drizzle of lemon oil.

Gingerbread Toast with Pecan Butter

artisan bread
gingerbread pecan butter (recipe follows)
molasses
chopped pecans
freshly grated nutmeg

Spread the pecan butter on the toast and drizzle with molasses. Top with chopped pecan and garnish with freshly grated nutmeg.

Gingerbread Pecan Butter

7 oz. pecans, approximately 2 cups
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp ginger
1/8 tsp nutmeg
1/8 tsp cloves
1/8 tsp sea salt, or, to taste
2 tbsp molasses or silan
2 tbsp brown sugar

Toast the pecans at 400 degrees until fragrant, about 5 minutes and set aside to cool. Place in a food processor and blend until the pecans turn into butter, about 4 minutes, scraping down the sides of the bowl as you go (it may take longer, depending on the strength of your food processor). Add remaining ingredients and blend until smooth.

Camembert Toast with Cranberry Port Jam

artisan bread
camembert or brie
spiced port cranberry jam (recipe follows)
chopped pistachos or walnuts

Spread the cheese over the toast and top with jam and chopped nuts.

Spiced Cranberry Port Jam
1 12oz. bag fresh cranberries, rinsed
3 cinnamon sticks
3 strips lemon zest
4 peppercorns
3 cloves
1 cup Port
1/2 cup brown sugar

Add cinnamon sticks, lemon zest, peppercorns and cloves to a spice bag, or create your own using a piece of cheesecloth (just tie the corners together).

Place spice bag, wine and brown sugar in a saucepan and bring to a boil over medium heat. Add cranberries and return to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes, until cranberries burst and the sauce thickens. Remove from heat and rest until completely cooled. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

Spicy Toast with Preserved Lemon & Harissa

artisan bread
St. Pauline or Edam cheese
preserved lemons
harissa

Place the cheese on the toast and top with preserved lemon and harissa.

VARIATION: Use labneh or soft Israeli cream cheese. Garnish with parsley.

Berry Toast with Honey, Lime & Creme Fraiche

artisan bread
creme fraiche
fresh berries
good quality honey
lime zest
lime juice
demerara sugar

Spread the creme fraiche on the toast and top with berries, lime zest and a drizzle of honey. Squeeze a little lime over the top and sprinkle with demerara sugar.

VARIATION: add fresh mint, or, mix vanilla bean into the creme fraiche.

Chaya Suri’s Sourdough Crackers

1 cup spelt flour
1 cup starter (does not have to be hydrated)
1/4 cup oil

Mix the ingredients with a spoon until combined into a dough. Wrap in plastic wrap and leave on the counter for 6-12 hours. Roll the dough out between 2 layers of parchment paper until thin and cut into squares. Top with fine sea salt, or use fresh thyme, garlic powder and black salt (as pictured). Bake at 400 degrees for 15-20 minutes, until browned and crispy.


If you want to get started on making your own sourdough, here are some of Chaya Suri’s book/tool recommendations. To attend one of her sourdough workshops, email her at cookwithspiceandzest@gmail.com.

Tartine Bread
Tartine Book No. 3
Sourdough
Lodge cast iron pan
Proofing Basket
Bread Making Container (stainless steel is not recommended)
Bread Lame
Flour Sack Towels
Bench Scraper

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Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links, which means that a small percentage of every purchase made through that link goes to help support this blog.

Zoodle Shakshuka

If a food could be my bestie, it would be shakshuka. I can’t get enough of the stuff. Why do I love it so much? Lets count the ways…

    1. it’s sweet.
    2. it’s spicy.
    3. it’s saucy.
    4. it’s got runny eggs.
    5. it’s got runny eggs. (I love runny eggs OKKKK?)
    6. it’s easy to make.
    7. you can dip fresh pita in it.
    8. you can make so many varieties.
    9. you can eat it for breakfast, brunch (my favorite), lunch or dinner.
    10. it’s Israeli and Israel is my <3

Speaking of #10, I’m sharing this recipe with you all in honor of the #LOVEISRAELFOOD which is the brainchild of my fellow Brooklyn foodie and Instagrammer Aliza Salem (follower her @theghettogourmet!). Aliza put together a fun foodie campaign in support of Israel, where we all share our favorite Israeli dishes on Instagram! Go out and buy some Israeli products and post a photo of your dish with some of these hashtags:
#buyisraelicookisraelibakeisraeli, #loveisraelfood, #changeforisrael and #onenationoneheart! I can’t wait to break the internet with all our droolworthy dishes!

I’m getting in the spirit of things with this zoodle shakshuka, because I had to bring together two of my favorite things: zoodles and shakshuka! I spiralized both zucchini and yellow squash, to give this a 2-tone effect, and it came together in no time. Who doesn’t love that!

Zoodles are all the rage these days, so if you haven’t hopped on the zucchini noodle train, it’s time. I wrote all about the different tools that you can use to prepare zoodles a little while ago, so give it a read!

If you’re not much of a reader, I’ll sum it up for you in one sentence. For quick and easy zoodles, use this and for a fun tool that you can use with lots of different produce, use this. It’s that easy my zoodle novice friends.

And if you’re looking for some inspiration for the #loveisraelfood campaign, you know you’ve come to the right place. You can try stuffing some roasted eggplant like this, or grilling up some halloumi like this. You can go a little crazy with halva flavors like this and this or work in some za’atar like this and this. Of course you can go more classic like falafel and shawarma or go a little crazy with rosewater or harissa. Whatever you do, it’s sure to be delicious. B’taavon!

For the zoodle shakshuka recipe, head on over to the Arutz Sheva blog!

Other Shakshuka Recipes:

baked portobello shakshuka
garbanzo bean shakshuka
spaghetti squash shakshuka 

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Sous-Vide Stuffed Eggplant
with Pistachio Dukkah & Tamarind Tahini

So I’m sitting on board a Jetblue flight en route to Florida, noshing on my Terra Blues, drinking a diet coke, and working on my blog post via (free!) Fly-Fi. We were lucky enough to score an empty seat, so my very active 23-month old (who’s on the last free flight of his life) is all buckled in and on his way to a white-noise nap. You gotta love Jetblue!

I really wanted to get in this last post before Sukkot because I started a trend a couple of years back where I post a STUFFED recipe in honor of Sukkot and the harvest festival. Traditionally, holipches/holishkes (stuffed cabbage) is served up on Sukkot because we want to celebrate the abundance of the harvest season. Fall is when farmers harvest their wheat in Israel, and stuffing vegetables with filling symbolizes their desire for a year of overflowing harvest. Any stuffed recipe is well suited to honor this custom, including my “ratatouille” mechshie, savory eggplant mechshie, globe zucchini mechshie and of course, stuffed cabbage!

This year, I really wanted to take it up a notch, and since stuffing eggplant is one of my favorite things, I decided to give stuffed sous vide eggplant a try. I recently met a talented chef who was touting the benefits of sous-vide vegetables, and when he told me that sous-vide eggplant is literally soft as butter, I just had to give it a try! I had just got my new Sous Vide Supreme and what better way to use it than to test this technique!

Truth be told, my first try at sous-vide eggplant was an #epicfail. The eggplant was tough and not altogether cooked and after some research, I learned that since veggies tend to float in the water bath, you need to weigh them down to ensure proper cooking. My second try was successful and the results were soft-as-butter-delicious!

Now if you’re going to sous-vide eggplant, you have to have a sophisticated stuffing to match the modernist cooking technique. Roasted eggplants stuffed with Israeli salad is a regular in my house, as well as my
roasted eggplant parmesan, but as delicious as those recipes are, they are still homey comfort foods that wouldn’t do justice to my sous vide eggplant. I really wanted the eggplant to be the star, so I wanted to accessorize it, but not fully outfit it, to borrow some fashion terms :)

If we’re talking food fashion, there’s nothing more fashionable than nut and seed blends right now, so pistachio dukkah was just the thing! I recently did a #myspicerack spice roundup on my Instagram feed, and when I posted about the pistachio dukkah that my sister sends me all the way from Aussie, I got lots of recipe requests! I decided to make my own version from scratch with fresh cumin and coriander seeds from Holon, my favorite Middle Eastern market in Brooklyn. The results were incomparable to the blend my sister had been sending me. It was just so amazingly fresh, crunchy and and nutty, I don’t know why it took me so long to make my own! And you don’t even need a fancy spice grinder, a simple food processor works just fine!

Now that my pistachio dukkah was done, I needed a creamy sauce to bring it all together, but just plain old tahini wouldn’t do the trick. After visiting the amazing tahini store in Shuk Machneh Yehudah in Jersualem, I knew that you could mix so many things into tahini – both savory and sweet, so I decided to go with tamarind. Tamarind paste is both sweet and sour, so it’s a great balance to the salty dukkah spice and sweet pomegranate seeds. Top it off with some chopped parsley and you’ve got it all – color, texture, and balance, just the way food should be. Happy Stuffing!

Sous Vide Roasted Eggplant

1 eggplant, cut in half lengthwise
2 tbsp olive oil
salt and pepper, to taste

For serving: pistachio dukkah (recipe follows), tamarind tahini (recipe follows), pomegranate seeds and fresh chopped parsley.

Method:

Set the water bath of your sous-vide machine to 185 degrees.

Season the eggplant with salt and pepper. Fold the top of the vacuum-bag over itself to form a cuff. Slide the eggplant halves into the bag and add olive oil. Unfold the edge of the bag and vacuum seal.

Place the eggplant into the water bath and use the rack or a heavy dish to keep the eggplant from floating. For best results, make sure that the eggplant is fully submerged in the waterbath. Cook for 90 minutes.

OPTIONAL: For added smoky flavor, pat the eggplant dry and place flesh-side-down on a baking sheet. Drizzle with olive oil and broil until the skin is charred.

To serve, place the eggplant on a serving dish and sprinkle generously with pistachio dukkah. Drizzle with tamarind tahini and garnish with pomegranate seeds and parsley.

ROASTING (NON-SOUS-VIDE) OPTION: Place the eggplant flesh-side down a baking sheet. Drizzle with olive oil and season, to taste, with salt and pepper, Broil on high for 20 minutes, until skin is charred and the flesh is soft.

QUICK & EASY OPTION: roast the eggplants, sprinkle with pistachios and za’atar, drizzle with store-bought tahini and garnish with pomegranate and parsley.

Pistachio Dukkah
Dukkah is an Egyptian spice blend made up of nuts, sesame seeds, cumin and coriander. You can add your own mix of spices to customize and make it your own.

1/2 cup raw pistachios
1/4 cup sesame seeds
1/4 cup coriander seeds
1/8 cup cumin seeds
2 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp dried thyme
1 tsp kosher salt

Method:

In a dry pan, toast the seeds and set aside. Toast the pistachios and add to the seed mixture. Pulse the spice blend in a food processor until desired consistency is reached (I like it with a bit of texture). Add the thyme, oregano and salt. Store in an airtight container.

TIP: For long term storage, I recommend storing in the freezer as this keeps the nuts from going rancid.

Tamarind Tahini

1/4 cup tahini
1/4 cup water
1-2 tbsp tamarind paste, or, to taste
salt and pepper, to taste

Add all the ingredients to a bowl and whisk to combine. Store in an airtight container in the fridge.



This post was sponsored by Sous Vide Supreme. All opinions are my own. 

Other Eggplant Recipes:

Roasted eggplants stuffed with Israeli salad
roasted eggplant parmesan
roasted eggplant parmesan with feta
za’atar eggplant chips with harissa whipped feta
miso-glazed eggplant

Other Stuffed Recipes:

“ratatouille” mechshie
savory eggplant mechshie
globe zucchini mechshie
stuffed cabbage!

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Halloumi Cheese Waffles with
Tomato Jam & Balsamic Syrup

I am UBER excited about today’s post, I’m even using the word uber! You see, I dreamed up these halloumi waffles a couple of weeks ago and I wasn’t quite sure how they would turn out. Sometimes when I think up something really outside the box, it can be a bit much, but this, this just worked so harmoniously, I am still dreaming about it!

If you’ve never heard of halloumi before, it’s a semi-hard sheep’s milk cheese that’s like a cross between feta and mozzarella. Because of it’s high melting point, it’s one of the few cheeses that you can actually grill (or in this case, waffle iron). And I don’t mean grill between two slices of bread. You can grill this cheese on it’s own and it retains it’s shape and texture!

Many people don’t know this about halloumi. In fact, I decided to do a little Instagram contest to see who could guess what kind of waffle this was (using the picture below). There were 57 guesses and only one person guessed haloumi (chanazweiss won a copy of my ebook!). Some of the others were really intriguing (like fluffernutter, tofu, tahini, coconut flour, cottage cheese, cauliflower….). I guess I’ve got my fill of waffle ideas for a while.

You can find halloumi in the cheese section of most supermarkets nowadays, but it is most popular in Israeli cuisine. I’ve seen it grilled and fried, but my favorite preparation is the halloumi salad at Blueberry Cafe in Brooklyn. It’s got grilled peppers, cherry tomatoes, mushrooms and onions with crispy breaded cubes of fried halloumi and a sesame teriyaki dressing. They call it a salad, so I convince myself that it’s healthy, because it’s JUST. THAT. GOOD.

In keeping with the Middle Eastern spirit of halloumi cheese, I created a silan-sweetened tomato jam as well as a balsamic syrup that’s kissed with the amazing flavor of date honey. Silan is one of my favorite Middle Eastern ingredients and it works so well in these condiments (well in anything, really).

I know this is one of those recipes where you roll your eyes and think, “Looks good but it’s too much of a patchke“, but do yourself a favor and go for it anyway. Once you plate this baby up, the marriage of salty cheese with a crispy exterior, sweet tomato jam, acidic balsamic and bitter arugula will dance on your palate and hit every note!

With Nine Days of dairy coming up soon, we can all use a little something different, so get outside your comfort zone and grill up some halloumi. You can thank me later.

Halloumi Waffles

1 14oz. pkg halloumi cheese
olive oil
arugula
tomato jam (recipe follows)
balsamic syrup (recipe follows)

Method:

Remove the halloumi from the package and pat dry. If the cheese is thick (this depends on the brand you purchase), divide it in half. Brush the halloumi with olive oil and heat up your waffle iron. Grease your waffle iron well and add the cheese. Cook until the the cheese has developed a brown crust (resist the urge to open your waffle iron too early or the cheese will fall apart).

Serve immediately with arugula, tomato jam, balsamic syrup and a drizzle of good quality olive oil.

VARIATION: If you don’t have a waffle iron, you can also grill the halloumi or pan-fry until crispy.


Tomato Jam

1.5 lbs. ripe tomatoes
2 tbsp silan
salt and pepper, to taste

Method:

Roughly chop your tomatoes and place them in a saucepan with silan and spices. Bring the mixture to a boil and reduce the heat to a simmer. Cook the tomatoes until they begin to fall apart and break them up with a fork. Continue to cook until the mixture thickens, about 45 minutes total.

NOTE: if desired, you may strain the jam through a fine mesh sieve to remove the skins.

Balsamic Syrup

1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
1 tsp silan

Pour the vinegar and silan into a small saucepan and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce the heat to a simmer and cook until reduced by half (or more, for a thicker syrup).

Related Recipes:

summer tomato feta salad
roasted eggplant parmesan with feta

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Grilled Radicchio with Black Sesame Dressing

I used to be afraid of trying new things. I’d turn my nose up on offal and cilantro and I swore off gamey meats like lamb and duck. But boy was I losing out. Trying new things allows you to expand your culinary horizons. It opens your palate to new flavors, and if you try things enough times, sometimes you realize that you don’t hate them as much as you think you did.

Case in point: radicchio. It’s bitter. Yes, bitter. And who would want to eat bitter lettuce, right?! That’s what I thought until I tried it a few times. First, I put it a handful in a big salad for a hint of bitterness and crunch. Then I shredded some into a slaw. And finally, I decided to go all out and grill it. Grilling lettuce is a must for summer and if you haven’t tried it yet – put it on your to do list! You can start with romaine for a grilled Caesar salad, and then move on to the more adventurous radicchio. Grilling the radicchio gives it a delicious smoky flavor, and topping it with sweet pomegranate seeds offsets the bitterness. Be sure to check out my tip for mellowing radicchio’s hard bite in the recipe below!

When De La Rosa sent me over some black sesame tahini, it was another lesson in trying new things. Black tahini is a lot more pungent than the traditional stuff and I’d never tried it before. The full-on sesame flavor really hits you, so you’ve got to go easy on the stuff. It’s also so incredibly black, you feel like you’re working with tar, or black paint. I bet it would make such a fun garnish painted on a plate, or better yet, made into savory ice cream (with a side of tuna tartare). I can’t wait to play around with it more, but for now, I started with a simple salad dressing that’s packed full of bright flavors like fresh ginger and lime. It’s so refreshing and unique, perfect for my grilled radicchio salad.

Aside for tahini, De La Rosa also carries a full line of oils, balsamic vinegar and wines. They believe in producing “Real Foods for Real People,” a philosophy that I strongly endorse. Their kosher, organic and GMO free products are made with the highest standards of quality and purity so be sure to check out their site for more of their products!

I’d love to hear about how you’re learning to try new foods this summer. Whether it’s radicchio, black sesame tahini, or that ingredient that you’ve always been to afraid to eat – brave it up (even if it means you have to spit it out!) and let me now how it goes!

Grilled Radicchio Salad

1 head of radicchio, cut into wedges
1/2 cup chickpeas, rinsed and drained
1/3 cup pomegranate seeds (how to deseed)
2 tbsp chopped parsley
black sesame salad dressing, to taste (recipe follows)

Method:

Heat up your grill over high heat. Cut the radicchio into wedges and drizzle with olive oil. Season with salt and pepper. Grill the radicchio for a few minutes on each side, until charred and tender.

Place the charred radicchio on a platter and top with chickpeas, pomegranate seeds and parsley. Drizzle with black sesame salad dressing, as desired, and serve.

VARIATION: consider roasting the chickpeas with za’atar or spices of your choice. Recipe here. You can also mix the radicchio with other greens, such as arugula.

TIP: To remove some of the bitterness from the radicchio, soak it in ice water for 1 hour. Drain well and and pat dry before grilling.

Black Sesame Salad Dressing

1/4 cup olive oil
2 tbsp De La Rosa black tahini (Purchase here)
2 1/2 tbsp lime juice
1 heaping tbsp honey
1/2 tbsp fresh ginger, minced
2 cloves garlic, minced
salt and pepper to taste

Add all ingredients to a bowl and whisk until emulsified.

Yield: 1/3 cup dressing


This post has been sponsored by De La Rosa. Follow them on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter. 

Related Recipes:

Pomegranate coleslaw
Ricotta and tahini stuffed figs
Fish with green tahini

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