Category Archives: Food

Brazilian Sweet Potato, Tomato and Carmelized Onion Soup

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The Eye of Ha-Shem to Bring you a taste of Heaven, like this soup will!
The Eye of Ha-Shem to Bring you a Taste of Heaven, like this soup will!
Sopa do Batata Doce (Brazilian)

I got this recipe from an old Boulder High School buddy, who is a foodie like me. We are still good friends. I love it when folks bring me new recipes. He uses chicken or beef stock, but since my husband is vegetarian, I usually make all dishes vegetarian unless I know he won’t be eating them. If you make the Roasted Root Vegetable Stock recipe below, like I do, you will not miss any flavor. If you don’t have time to make this stock, make sure and use some kind of vegetable or other stock, even if it is something from the store (for shame!). It really gives this soup a better flavor.

2-3 white sweet potatoes (sometimes called Hannah or Japanese sweet Potatoes, you can also use the orange kind, but it is better with the white ones)
2-3 onions
4-6 medium flavorful tomatoes
4-8 Tablespoons unsalted sweet butter

4-8 or more cups of Roasted Root Vegetable Stock or stock of your choosing.

Roasted Root Vegetable Stock:

Wash well all the veggies. It is better to not peel any of them for this stock. Chop up a bunch of veggies, I use carrots, celery (including the tops with the leaves), onions, turnips, parsnips, mushrooms, etc.. big chunks are fine. Combine all of the veggies in a large bowl and toss with some olive oil, salt and pepper and some fresh herbs like parsley, (stalks and all) and don’t forget several cloves of garlic.

Throw all of this onto a baking sheet and bake at 350-400º for about an hour. During that hour use a large spoon or spatula and move the veggies around a few times. Start a large pot of water to boil on your stove and dump all of the veggies into it. At this point I add chard or beet greens or kale, just a few leaves chopped up. Let all of this water and veggies boil and simmer for at least an hour, if not more. Strain the veggies through a colander with cheese cloth or a very clean thin dish towel over a strainer into another large bowl or pot. You can use a pan or spoon to press out all the good veggie juice into your strained stock. You can let this cool and freeze for future use or start making the soup, right now!
Peel and chop sweet potatoes
Simmer sweet potatoes in stock until cooked
Peel and chop onions and sauté onions in some of the butter until they are carmelized, which I think takes about an hour or more. You must cover the pan the onions are in and stir frequently and keep the flame on pretty low.
Chop tomatoes
Add tomatoes and onions to soup
Cook a few more minutes
Puree the soup
Add the rest of the butter
Add good salt and pepper to season
Garnish with parsley or use some of Esti’s Parsley Sauce to spice this up a bit.

Enjoy!

Nicole

Pico de Gallo for ShaKia

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ShaKia my new Granddaughter and I. She loves this recipe and I promised her I'd upload it as soon as I got home.
ShaKia, my newish Granddaughter and I, she loves this recipe and I promised her I’d upload it as soon as I got home from visiting with her and my daughter and her intended.

Fresh Salsa makes any meal much better. This is very easy to make. The trick is to cut everything really tiny and to have the cilantro clean and dry. Prepare the garlic the way I have already outlined multiple times (Perla’s Peppers, Esti’s Parsley Sauce). This Salsa will keep for about two days at the most. It’s really best fresh. If you want to use if for longer, cook up the remainder and blend it up and keep if for a few more days in your refrigerator.

2–4 fresh tomatoes

2–5 serrano or jalapeño peppers

a good bunch of cilantro, well cleaned and fairly dry

one white onion

juice of ½ lemon or lime

4–6 cloves of garlic (with centers removed)

salt and pepper to taste

Chop up the peppers, very finely (it’s best to use a chopper tool if you have one) and put them in a medium size serving bowl. Then chop up the tomatoes and add this to your bowl. Add the chopped onion, lemon juice, pressed garlic, salt and pepper and the chopped cilantro and mix it all up. The spiciness of this salsa depends on the spiciness of the individual peppers you use and the amount. Adjust to taste. I occasionally use habañeros in this salsa, when I know I won’t have visitors who can’t handle that level of heat.

Jewish Mother Warning:

When handling any fresh spicy peppers, wear vinyl/plastic/nitrile gloves (if you have any cuts on your fingers). If you aren’t using gloves, wash your hands two times with warm water and soap, immediately following cutting of peppers. Wash your hands after discarding the gloves as well, because you may not realize you got a drop on your hands. Do not skip this step, it is very important! The oils from the freshly cut peppers are very harmful to your skin and can truly cause terrible pain and if you forget and rub your nose or eyes, you will know what all those attacked by pepper spray know, basically torture that can incapacitate you. If you do forget and rub your eyes by accident, get in a warm shower and open and close your eyes in the stream of water for five to ten minutes until the burning stops. (I learned this from Poison Control, who I called one time, when I myself forgot this step and was suffering mightily.) I have never had this problem again, and the warm water shower solved my problem.

Now, don’t be afraid to make this salsa. It’s worth it. Just WASH YOUR HANDS!

Moroccan Seven Vegetable Cous Cous with Hot Sauce, in memory of BB Cohen

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BB Cohen in Oukamaiden, Morocco with Etan Lev, April 9, 2013
BB Cohen in Oukamaiden, Morocco with Etan Lev, April 9, 2013

My Uncle BB Cohen, may his memory be for a blessing, passed away on Sunday, March 30th, 2014. He was 88 years old. I last saw him with my youngest son. We spent two glorious days with him in the Atlas Mountains and ate good food, took good walks, and shared stories and family. We then rejoined my son’s companions on the school trip we were on. I am so grateful for this final time of connection with BB. I have so many good memories and a CD he gave me of his piano playing. You can read more about my visit with him in the piece called Omar and the Bowls that is at the end of my post called It’s a Small World.

What follows here is the basic veggie dish I make to go with about ten other dishes, coming later. There are seven vegetables that go into this dish and you can pick and choose which seven you use. My husband doesn’t eat bell peppers, so I never include them, but make a separate dish with them, Perla’s Peppers, already up on this site. If you like bell peppers, use them in this dish as one of your seven.

The Hot Pepper Sauce can be made all the time and can be used every day of your life, to the delight of your family and friends. It is absolutely essential, in my opinion, for any couscous recipe to add some spice. The actual flavors of this dish are very delicate and sweet, the cinnamon, saffron and coriander being the main flavors. For those who don’t like spice, the dish is perfect without it. For those who do need a little kick, this Hot Pepper Sauce is different from others due to the cumin, VERY Moroccan!

Also, I am not giving instructions about how to prepare the actual couscous grain here. That is a three page process that many others have written about. Perhaps one day. I recommend you do look up how to actually prepare couscous, the grain itself, according to the Master Directions given by Paula Wolfert from her book, Couscous and other good food from Morocco. There is no point in making nasty couscous mush to go with the vegetable dish, but unless you take the time to prepare the grain properly, serve the vegetables with a millet bread or some other grain.

This recipe and the Hot Pepper Sauce are my adaptation from the Sunset Vegetarian Favorites cookbook and also Paula Wolfert’s book mentioned above.

Moroccan Seven Vegetable Cous Cous with Hot Sauce

  1. two large sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into small cubes or use fresh pumpkin or some other sweet gourd/squash
  2. several handfuls of fresh green beans, cut into small ½ inch pieces (instead of bell peppers for those who are allergic to bell peppers, otherwise use bell peppers!)
  3. two-four large tomatoes, chopped

  4. one or two large cans of garbanzo beans (rinse off the gooey juice) or the equivalent amount of fresh cooked ones

  5. two-three medium size zucchinis chopped into small little wedges

  6. one-two turnips (peeled and cubed into small pieces)
  7. one large parsnip (peeled) or other vegetable of your choice, cut into smallish pieces

¼– ½ cup of olive oil

1–2 large onions finely chopped

2–4 teaspoons fresh ground coriander

2–4 teaspoons cinnamon

juice of one to two lemons

¼– ½ cup water

½ to a full teaspoon of saffron threads

dash or more of salt

Heat the oil and add the onion, coriander & cinnamon, stirring frequently until the onions are soft (5–10 minutes). Stir in the sweet potatoes and mix often for about two minutes. Add the parsnips, turnips, tomatoes, green beans, garbanzo beans, water, lemon juice, saffron threads and some salt. Cover, reduce heat and simmer for 15–20 minutes. Mix in the zucchini, after the sweet potatoes and other veggies have cooked, they need less time. Cook for another twenty to forty minutes, stirring gently and on low heat. You can let this dish sit for a while before serving in a good covered pot, if you aren’t cooking in a traditional Moroccan Tagine style dish.

Serve over couscous and make sure and use the Hot Pepper Sauce as it makes this dish. This recipe w/out the pepper sauce is very savory, not spicy, the Hot Pepper Sauce adds the heat and you can use as much or as little as you wish. I also like to add fresh feta or some other crumbly salty cheese as it gives the flavors another contrast. Again, I serve the feta on the side. I prefer goat or sheep’s milk feta, but use whichever one you like.

Hot Pepper Sauce

In a small pan on a low flame combine ½ – ¾ cup olive oil, when the oil is warm to hot add 3–5 teaspoons of fresh ground red pepper (cayenne); 2–4 teaspoons fresh ground cumin seed (use the Sabatu/Suribachi to grind your cumin seeds); 2–3 cloves of garlic, pressed (be careful as the oil is hot, you can press the garlic into a small bowl and slip it into the oil if you are worried about oil splattering); ¼ – ½ teaspoon of salt. Cook over low heat, stirring with a chopstick until all of it is well–blended (5 minutes).

Enjoy and Live your life with gusto!!!!!!

View from BB's home in Ouka
View from BB’s home in Ouka, now he flies above these mountains, free as a bird!

Heavenly Halek-Persian Charoset

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Pesach Table at the Feldman Home 2012
Pesach Table at the Feldman Home 2012
This recipe, which my friend Marjorie Feldman first brought to my attention, has become the favorite at my house and many folks prefer it to the more traditional apple and honey version. I always make both and have now added a third variety, which I will post up here shortly.

Halek/Hallaq (Persian Charoset) is completely different from Ashkenazi recipes. It is firmly Mizrahi and Sephardic and consequently and rightly has a very strong set of flavors. It is also pricey to make in large quantities, because the dried cherries, nuts and apricots, when you use organic, cost a pretty penny. In general Passover is the time of year I just spend way too much money. I have even made a category for it in my bookkeeping and the food I buy at this time of year is no longer just under groceries. It has its own moniker so I can keep some track. If you aren’t making this for thirty or more people it is not so expensive. I quadruple this recipe and have enough for the meal and usually some left over for the next day as well.

  1. 1/4 cup almonds
  2. 1/4 cup pistachio nuts
  3. 1/4–cup walnuts
  4. 1/4–cup raw pumpkin seeds
  5. 1/4–cup hazelnuts
  6. 1/8 cup coarsely chopped pitted dates
  7. 1/8 cup coarsely chopped prunes
  8. 1/8–cup raisins light and dark
  9. 1/8 cup coarsely chopped dried apricots
  10. 1/8 cup coarsely chopped dried cherries
  11. 1/4 cup red wine (good red wine, kosher for passover and not sweet wine)
  12. 2 teaspoons red wine vinegar (kosher for passover if you can)
  13. 1/4 teaspoon Advieh which is a mixture of 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon, 1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom,1/4 teaspoon ground cloves, 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger. There are many other versions, but these ingredients are easy enough to get a hold of almost anywhere. If you have access to an Iranian or Persian market of some kind, get some Advieh from them instead.
  14. 1/4-1/2 teaspoon rosewater

Finely chop the nuts in a processor. Mix the nuts, fruits, wine, vinegar, Advieh and rosewater to achieve a moist textured consistency. This stuff keeps very well and should be very moist and sticky. You can make it a day ahead.

Traditional and Terrific Apple-Cinnamon-Honey and Walnut Charoset

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Seder Table in Feldman Home in Roseburg, Oregon home of Foon Winery
2012 Seder Table in Feldman Home in Roseburg, Oregon
home of Foon Winery

I first learned this recipe in the kitchen of my first boyfriend Matt. His mother Marsha Yarus was my first Passover and Charoset instructor supreme and I have never found a better traditional recipe than hers. It is important that you use enough sweet wine for this recipe, and as in all my recipes, don’t skimp on anything!

Traditional Wine Soaked Charoset

  1. one box of Matzos (not egg or flavored, just plain ones)
    10 or so good apples
  2. 1–2 cups of finely chopped walnuts (I mean really finely, either in a food processor or take your time and get those walnuts very tiny if you are doing it by hand)
  3. 1–3 cups of Manishewitz brand or other Sweet Kosher Wine (this is the Cough Syrup of the wine world, but you have to use this sickly sweet stuff for this recipe. It’s the only recipe I will ever tell you to use this kind of wine for)
  4. lots of cinnamon
  5. lots of honey

Chop up the apples into really tiny little pieces, really, really tiny pieces, skin and all. Chop up the nuts into really tiny little pieces. Combine these in a large mixing bowl, grind up 4–5 Matzos with your hands into small pieces. You can put them in the food processor to get them tiny, you can also do this with the nuts. DON’T do a food processor for the apples. Sprinkle liberally with lots of cinnamon, pour the wine over all of this and stir it up, then add a bunch of honey. Charoset should be sticky and pasty, like the mortar it is supposed to represent. It will taste right to you at some point. You may have to add more Matzos, more honey, more nuts and more cinnamon depending on your taste buds. This should be prepared an hour or two before the Seder, it gets less yummy over time and the consistency changes as the wine, honey and matzos soak. I usually put five or six small bowls of this around the table and along with my Persian Halek and the Sephardic Date Balls there are then three different kinds of Charoset on offer at my Seder (traditional Passover meal)