shain

Jerusalem artichokes and mushrooms sauted in butter, with wine, thyme, garlic, pepper. Aged Gouda. Pasta with ricotta and nuts (walnuts, hazelnuts), Parmesan, nutmeg and marjoram. Wine and a lettuce salad.

Matzo cubes. We like ours with a byte to them, just airy enough to float and absorb broth, but defiantly not tender. I flavor mine with lots of pepper, some dill and a bit of nutritional yeast. Here's how they look pre-slicing. The shape is a bit silly, but it saves so much work, and no body complained yet. Though I don't think my grandma would approve.

I think that sugar cooked to the right stage can be pulled into strands that might produce a pleasant crunch. It might take some trial and error to reach the right thickness. In order to protect them from moisture one can either coat them in chocolate. A coating of coconut or cocoa fat might also work. I wonder what the end goal is.

I made a couple of matzo casseroles over the recent days. One is with leeks, scallions, kashkaval and feta. The other with chard, coriander seeds and feta. Both are using the same base with different vegetables and flavorings added. Those are essentially savory matzo brei or a matzo strata. Recipe for the former is here:

Strawberries, ricotta with vanilla and lightly sweetened, hazelnuts, toasted marzipan.

Now I fancy me some stir fried matzo balls. Or maybe matzo ball tteokbokki. I surely should make it a resolution to eat more dumplings.

I think this is often the result of tradition. Like not pairing fish with cheese. After all, pizza is just bread with things on it (don't kill me - you understand what I mean :P) and artichoke in sandwiches is nothing new.

I only ever used frozen artichoke hearts for pizza (fresh ones have better usages, IMO, and pickled ones have a distinct flavor that I didn't want). I sliced them and gave them a brief pan fry with butter and chilled them. They didn't seem to soften much further in the oven. Very tasty over a white pizza, finished with lemon zest and just a few drops of juice.

Made clear vegetable soup for Passover (chicken soup style). Lot's of veggies (carrots, zucchini, cabbage, parsley roots, celery, celeriac, kohlrabi) and herbs (dill, parsley). With freshly made egg noodles and pepper. I plan on making kneidlach as (matzo balls) well.

So what would a vegetarian shepherd eat?

Vegetarian shepherd's pie. Mushrooms, carrots, peas, celery, onion, spices. and flavorings. Layers of mashed potatoes with some chunks left, cheddar cheese, malt and nutmeg. Breadcrumb topping for texture. Local stout beer. Salad and pickles.

Pearl barley congee with spinach and miso. Shiitake and champignon fried in butter, toasted walnuts, egg with chili oil.

A slow cooked stew of tofu, eggs, potatoes, carrots, radish, wood year mushroom, button mushrooms. Flavored with toasted chilies, cassia, lots of bay leaves, start anise, coriander seeds, a little cumin, peppercorn. Soy sauce, oyster sauce, rice wine, sugar, MSG. Finished with black vinegar, scallions and cilantro. Chili oil and sesame sauce on the table. Fire roasted eggplants with chopped mushrooms in "strange flavored" sauce and scallions. A simple sour-sweet cucumber salad with peanuts.

Those rolls are very similar in appearance to ones we get around here - which are topped with a mixture of zaatar, toasted sesame, garlic, olive oil and probably some starch. I guess this should work with any similar mixture of fat ans spices.

Cabbage stuffed with mushrooms and buckwheat, some tomatoes, egg as a binder. Flavored with caramelized onion, garlic, dill, tarragon, coriander seed.

Right, I never had an Indian curry with okra other than that I made myself. I did leave quite firm but not very crisp. As for Chinese prep, I can also see it working well in hot pots, and also as a cold appetizer, maybe with fish-fragrant sauce, or a sesame based one. And also simply stir fried e.g. with garlic and soy sauce.

Okra stewed in spicy tomato sauce and in soup is very common around here, possibly the most common methods of making it. It becomes silky and creamy but still has a tender byte, which is quite enjoyable - it also absorbed flavors well. Much better than stewed green beans, which I think is criminal to cook past the squeaky stage. That said, I prefer both vegetables stir fired or sauteed, with some crispness.

Usually a short boil followed by whichever cooking process is desired (baked here). I guess our gut biome is used to beans and other high fiber food.

Potato and sunchoke gratin. Salad, pickles, wine.

Smoked paprika and a single drop of high quality liquid hickory smoke. I avoided the stuff for years after having a bad experience with it. I recently purchased a new one, unbranded, from a local craft store (supplies for beer making, sausages, smokers etc). The owner opened it for me to smell and it's something else. None of the acrid scent I associated with it. I do like adding paprika or chipotle to round it up with the more charred/open-fire tone they have.

Smokey split pea soup with lots of celery, onion, stock, dill, lavage, pepper. Croutons, fresh peas. Khinkalli with spiced mushroom filling (browned onion, cumin, coriander seed, garlic, dill, cilantro parsley, pepper, chili). With the traditional meat filling, they are a bit like soup dumplings, but with a thicker wrapper. The mushroom filling did well in being flavorful and creating juice. Steaming is not traditional, but works better than boiling, especially with my poor shaping skills.

Slow cooked mixed legume soup with various vegetables and grains (kohlrabi, turnip, carrots, celery, parsley root, onion, mushrooms), spices and herbs, etc. Served with warm crisp bread and sour cream, some dill. The leftovers were great with pasta. Roasted stuffed cabbage filled with lentils, mushrooms, wheat berries, spices (incl coriander seed, paprika, pepper, caraway, allspice). Served with sour cream and stewed sweet peppers with wine vinegar, tarragon and dill.

Tom yam kathi - tom yam with coconut cream. Prawns, mushrooms, tofu, tomatoes, vegetable stock, started with red curry paste and added more fresh aromatics and spices (mostly ginger, lemongrass, coriander seed). Rice noodles. Yam som o - pomelo salad with chili, kohlrabi (mostly for some crisp-crunch), scallions, mint, cilantro, peanuts, classic dressing - fish sauce, lime juice, dark sugar (all out of palm sugar), lime zest.

Seems mostly legit. Preserved lemons are not very common in shakshukas in Israel, but not unheard of and surely not un-traditional. One thing is that the recipe sounds very sweet, with the tomato paste and sugar both. If you have decent tomatoes and peppers, then they should be sweet enough once cooked down and reduced. Same with the vinegar, seems quite a lot. I'll also mention that there are endless versions - some with a sauce cooked for a long while - deep and sweet. Some cooked for minutes - bright and fresh. Make sure you have good fluffy bread to eat it with (shakshuka is rarely eaten with pita). If you have leftovers, they are great in a sandwich (challah bread is best, but a pita or a good sub also works). And while not everyone share my tastes, I also have to encourage people to try and serve shakshuka with lemony tahini sauce, which together is one of my favorite things. Sorry for all the text, is it so obvious that I love shakshuka?

A nice variation over raisins. I did add orange zest (it's really adds a lot).