shain

'Orzo' is barely, 'riso' is rice. The small pasta named 'orzo' is named so after it's resemblance to barley, but since it's also similar to rice (more so IMO), it is also named 'risoni'. I'm still working on my Italian skills, but as much as I know, 'barlo' is not word in it. This gets more confusing in Hebrew, where 'orez' is rice (barley is "se'ora"). The orzo pasta is more common toasted, as a shape of ptitim (Israeli couscous). I'm actually not a fan of this shape of ptitim - I like the ring shape best, stars second, then the common spheres, and the rice shaped last (They all taste the same, but those shapes are way cooler ).

Orzotto (pearled barley, cooked risotto style). With mushrooms (champignons and shimeji), cooked in butter. White part had added cheese, pepper and nutmeg, pink part has a little bit juice and soy sauce. I think I enjoy the barley texture better than regular risotto (very al-dente, yet not hard at all).

Quick stir fry of soft tofu in sambal oelek.

Basbousa (semolina cake), with coconut and lemon zest. Baked until crisp and lightly soaked in a syrup of honey, rose geranium, rose extract and lemon juice. Served warm with lightly sweetened tangy whipped labneh. Basbousa is usually baked in a pan and sliced, but I opted to bake it in a muffin tin, in order to keep the crisp edges (the middle loses crispness from the syrup). If you never had one, the texture is grainy from the semolina and coconut, and very moist. The lemon in the syrup acts to balance the sweetness (though I make mine less sweet than most). Took only 15 minutes of work, 2 bowls and 30 minutes in the oven.

Zucchini charred on a lightly oiled pan until browned in spots but still very crisp. Flavored with zaatar, lemon zest, lemon juice, sumac, parsley and black pepper. Below it (hard to see) a briefly cooked chunky tomato sauce with plenty garlic, some anise seeds and zaatar. A chunk of crisp rice tahdig with coriander seeds. Tart labneh.

Buttermilk pancakes. Warm maple syrup mixed with butter not shown.

Brunch, menemen (turkish style shakshuka - eggs are gently scrambled instead of poached), with feta and sumac, a little tahini. Crisp bread and olives.

last night's supper, a big bowl of spaghetti with pesto I had in the freezer.

It helps the crust stay crisp. With any bread, the crust gets softer as steam is leaving the cooling bread. So after it is cool, the second bake dehydrates the crust back to crispness, but the interior doesn't have enough time to get too hot, and so very little steam escapes. The convection fan helps to dehydrate it even faster.

Rye bread from the bread topic. Peas, eggs and (not too much) mayonnaise salad. With dill, pickled cucumbers, apple vinegar and red bell pepper. Crudite platter. Butter and cottage cheese.

57% whole meal rye loaf with a little yogurt, caraway, and malt syrup at 82% hydration. 2 days of rest in the fridge. Twice baked on a baking steel with steam: Preheated to 240dC, lowered to 220dC and baked for a total of 45 minutes. Chilled for almost un hour and baked a second time for 15 minutes at 180dC with convection fan on. My shaping was a little loss, as I'm not used to working with sticky rye dough and wanted to hasten before it will stick to everything in sight. This only costed me with a few tunnels in the loaf - I can live with that. Crust is thin and crisp, darker then seems in the pictures, perhaps a tad to dark, as it is a tad bitter at the edges. Crumb is a little dense and very moist, very tender and creamy, very little chew. Tastes woody, earthy, a little sweet, only a hint of the caraway.

Looks great. I can't wait for winter to come over here - So many soups to be made! Dinner was bucatini with smokey baked eggplants, mushrooms browned in butter and tomatoes. Also onion, garlic, sage, oregano, thyme and smoked salt. Finished with pecorino romano and pepper. I'm very happy with it, really tasty, if I can say so myself. Smokiest baked eggplant I've ever tasted/smelled, very different than the smokiness of grilled eggplant.

It's hard to describe, not exactly rubbery, but not crisp, you can bend them, but you can also break them apart (but better not do so with bear hands). They were fridge dried for a month or so. My weak food processor does a decent job grinding them, and I don't bother removing the seeds.

Dried chillies about to be ground into flakes. They are tiny and fierce. There are already new chilies to pick of the plants...

There is no real recipe for dukkah, it changes from one region to next and from one family to another. Sesame, coriander are almost always included, and so does a nut of sorts, I use peanuts, but almonds, pistachios or hazelnuts should work as well. The other ingredients are some spices and salt. TJ's version seems to be quite high on the anise notes, I haven't had a version such as that, but it does sound good, and is definitely not inauthentic. My recipe is (roughly) as follows : - 3 parts sesame - 1 part coriander seeds - 1 part peanuts - 1 part cumin seeds - a little salt Toast the ingredients well in a pan or an oven until very aromatic, nutty and browned. Peanuts are best toasted independently or bought pre toasted (you can use slated peanuts - just omit the salt from the recipe), they take longer to toast due to their size. For the same reason, the coriander is best placed in the pan a minute before the rest of the spices (cumin and sesame). Place the toasted ingredients and salt in a food processor and pulse to receive a somewhat coarse mill. If you make a large amount, it is best stored in a fridge or freeze. It is great with breads or eggs. And I prefer to match it with browned butter, rather then olive oil.

I've seen it done in cheesecakes (but as Jeanne said, I think it was more of a blondie then a real cookie). Have you thought about using baked cookies in the cake mix?

Supper: Baked pasta with sour cream, fromage blanc, and scallions. A little garlic and plenty of pepper. Topped with bread crumbs toasted in butter. Baked in a wundertopf.

Brunch: Omelette with dukkah; peas and bell pepper with scallions aniseed and dill; toast with white cheese and dukkah; a not big enough plate.

Pad woon sen - Mung bean noodles with tofu, mushrooms, peas, carrot, kohlrabi, scallions, cashews; with a smoky sauce. I also made a big batch of gefilte fish to give to my parents (I don't eat fish, and definitely don't eat gefilte fish ).

A dear friend invited us to her party, and served this stunning spread of (mostly) Filipino fare. Definitely not food you see often in Israel. Also desserts

Roasted sweet potato, carrots and kohlrabi - with seeded mustard, malt syrup, dill seeds a little chili. Served with red lentils dal, with fenugreek, malt syrup, cumin, onion and amba.

Well, it's not something I've given much thought to. I think that to be a kugel in my eyes, it must be: Made of noodles / flat pasta - not extruded pasta (Or potatoes for potato kugel). Bound with eggs, so that it is cohesive. Have an "Ashkenazi flavor profile" - For a savory kugel that will mean ingredients like black pepper, onion, carrots, cabbage, mushrooms, maybe sour cream or farmer cheese. For a sweet kugel, cinnamon, nuts, dried fruits, apples, sour cream or farmer cheese. Be mostly brown. And if it's not a kugel, I'd probably call it a pasta casserole.

I do love savory baked noodles/pasta, but I never made one that I'll classify as a kugel, I'll usually opt for for more interestingly/boldly flavored recipes. Also I strongly agree that thin noodles are only for Yerushalmi kugel (which is delicious!). Never heard of kugel with pineapple, but it sound good. I also really like kugel with cheese, but it is most commonly flavored with raisins and cinnamon. This is amazing! It could be a really cool snack - a box full of nuts and bolts

I love almost any sort of sweet noodles/pasta dish. Big bonus points for being really quick to prepare.

Apple kugel. Made with flat egg noodles, granny smith apples, cinnamon, raisins, walnuts & pecans, red wine, and dark brown sugar. Basked covered in a low oven, then allowed to crisp in an hotter oven. At least in my opinion, kugels are not exactly desserts, but rather more suitable for brunch or breakfast. This is way it is important that it won't be too sweet. I forgot to take a sliced picture, so I provide you with one from some time ago: It is fun to pull the noodles apart.