I’m a late joiner to the “I ❤ eggplant” club. Having grown up with a French mother, I was no stranger to vegetables of all types, including Brussels sprouts and cauliflower hearts, but eggplant was never on the menu. That all changed when I sampled a friend’s baba ghanoush dip. This smoky spread, creamy and light with a mild citrus tang, is the perfect accompaniment when eaten with fresh challah,…
Cinnamon toast, crisp slices of bread still warm from the toaster, spread with melting butter and a heavy dusting of cinnamon and sugar, was a snack that healed all disappointments when I was growing up. Skinned knees, ignominious math test results, and bad haircuts, could all be assuaged (at least somewhat) by a slice or two of this treat. Lately, I’ve found myself craving zwieback. This light crunchy biscuit, only…
After a busy day, I looked at the clock and realized that the dinner hour was upon us; in fact I had exactly twenty minutes to get supper on the table. Thankfully, I usually prepare a double recipe of tuna croquettes, my regular Tuesday night blue-plate special, and freeze half. I raced to the freezer and looked everywhere for my stash of fish patties but came up empty-handed. Clearly I…
I stared glumly at the smoking wreckage of my kitchen. Homemade doughnuts had seemed like the perfect dessert for this evening’s Chanukah dinner party. Drawn in by the three page color spread in Gourmet magazine, the yeasty scent of freshly fried doughnuts beckoned. Maybe this would become a cherished annual family activity. Eight hours later, every surface in the kitchen was covered with flour, a slick sheen of oil covered…
Last Sunday morning I looked up into the sky and felt the first flakes of snow falling gently on my face. And then I watched in amazement as the snow continued to descend steadily the rest of the day. By 5:00 p.m. there was an accumulation of at least six inches on my driveway as we inched our way down the street to a Covid-compliant family wedding, our first nuptial…
When I flipped through the pages of Samantha Server’s latest cookbook, Midwest Made: Big Bold Baking from the Heartland, the title of this recipe, The Only Banana Bread You’ll Ever Need, made me stop for a minute. Banana bread? I haven’t made banana bread in 20 years. I don’t even buy bananas anymore. However the picture of this banana bread with its sugary, crunchy topping sent me rushing out to…
Dining out in one of the late, lamented kosher Chinese food establishments in Toronto was a treat that my husband Stephen and I enjoyed with family and friends over the years. We craved the combination of sweet, salty and spicy flavors that characterize Oriental cuisine. The two of us always gravitated to the “all-you-can eat” buffet table, no matter that we usually couldn’t eat more than a single, small, helping…
Once upon a time, pre-Covid19…I carefully studied the pictures of the salads on offer at the kosher Aroma Espresso Bar, where I was meeting friends for lunch. Each offering looked more inviting than the next, but my eye was repeatedly drawn back to the sweet potato lentil salad. Vibrant green arugula. Shiny dark lentils. Chunks of orange sweet potatoes. All tossed with a dressing of lemon and olive oil and…
As a young girl, rushing home from school on baking day, I was greeted by the mouth-watering, sweet scent of cookies. There were chocolate drop cookies, sour cream cookies and my favorite, chocolate chip cookies, covering the surface of every counter. Packed away in special corrugated boxes that my father designed (that’s what happens when you’re in the paper business. No Tupperware in our house!), and stored in the freezer,…
Last week as Americans went to the polls, recipes for foods to relieve stress abounded on every news site and cooking blog that I visited. Featured favorites ranged from savory babka to lasagne with homemade pasta, chicken soup, macaroni and cheese and everyone’s favorite comfort food, tomato soup and grilled cheese. These are all very worthy suggestions but I didn’t notice anyone mention my favorite stress buster: potatoes. Making roasted…