All Posts By:

Nanette

Soups and Salads

Falafel Salad with Lemon Tehina Dressing

As we traversed the streets of the Geulah neighborhood of Jerusalem at 9:30 in the evening, the sidewalks teemed with shoppers accompanied by excited children and sleeping babies, everyone enjoying the cooler evening air. Welcome back Israel after a two-year Covid hiatus. With my cell phone clutched tightly to my ear, I listened attentively as my son gave me careful and detailed instructions directing me to his favorite bookstore in…

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Vegetables and Sides

Arbes Chickpea Snack

My ability to predict the gender of a baby is exceptional. After making a careful study of the expectant mother’s tummy and other anecdotal evidence, I make my pronouncement with great confidence and certainty. I have never guessed correctly. My consistency is unmatched. Whenever I have an inexplicable urge to cook up a big pot of arbes, the seasoned chickpea snack traditionally served at a shalom zachar, the party celebrating…

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Vegetables and Sides

Summer Vegetable Tian

August is a dream month for anyone who enjoys freshly picked local produce. In Toronto, where winter begins early and ends late, the selection of locally grown produce is limited during the colder months. However, with the arrival of summer, open-air markets and corner supermarkets abound with produce grown by nearby farmers, including both green and yellow zucchini, juicy, ripe tomatoes and slender, purple eggplant. This recipe for a tian,…

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Cookies, Cakes, Pies and Desserts

Old-Fashioned Sour Cream Coffee Cake

My mother made the most plush, tender sour cream coffee cake. It was moist and buttery, with the slightest sour cream tang and decked with a generous sweet, nutty cinnamon-sugar topping. Mysteriously, my mother stopped making my favorite cake around the same time that she began to harbor secret hopes of me wearing her wedding dress to my own nuptials. You didn’t have to be Hercule Poirot to solve that…

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Breakfast, Bread and Muffins

Malai Romanian Cheese Cornmeal Kugel

Inspiration for new recipes can occur in the most unexpected places. Like the dentist’s office. And no, my revelation did not come from the six-year-old well-thumbed magazines in the waiting room. I look forward to visiting the dentist not only because the sparkle in my smile is restored painlessly but because I also get to schmooze with my multi-talented dental hygienist, Rachel, about our latest kitchen exploits. On my last…

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Vegetables and Sides

Fresh Heirloom Tomato Salad with Feta

I lingered proudly over my son’s picture of his babies – plump, healthy and green. I’m referring to his tomato babies. My father was a virtuoso vegetable gardener. Every August, our backyard vegetable patch produced a bumper crop of juicy, red, sun-ripened tomatoes. I did not inherit his green thumb but I’m thrilled that his talent has been passed down to the next generation. However, growing your own tomatoes is…

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Breakfast, Bread and Muffins

Loaded Baked Frittata

In anticipation of the recent celebration of my niece’s wedding, we welcomed out-of-town family members for a weekend visit. Accommodating guests with arrival times that were at the mercy of whimsical airline schedules was a cinch with this recipe for loaded baked frittata, by Genevieve Ko, published in the New York Times. A frittata is an egg dish that can be served for breakfast, lunch, or supper. It tastes as…

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Cookies, Cakes, Pies and Desserts

Cocoa Streusel

Summer has finally arrived and every sunny day is a gift that I’m reluctant to squander. Homemade dessert is always appreciated but sometimes a pint of premium ice cream can save the day and send your guests home wearing happy smiles. Put your own special signature on that store-bought treat and raise it to the next level with the addition of a sprinkle of Dorie Greenspan’s deep, dark cocoa streusel. Published…

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Meat, Chicken and Fish

Honey-Mustard Chicken Tenders

Looking forward to the grandkids joining us for Shabbat, I thought long and hard about the menu. How would I entice them to join us at the dining room table when their most requested meal is invariably macaroni and cheese? When I saw this recipe for honey-mustard chicken tenders by recipe developer, Ali Slagle, published in the New York Times, I felt a glimmer of hope. But chicken tenders are…

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