Extra Schmaltz!

So this is actually a ridiculously simple beet salad, but I got it from my friend Melanie who just got back from Morocco. Apparently she knows at least two other recipes for beet salad, but this is her favorite: 4 small-medium sized beets 1/2-3/4 cup beet juice(produced by boiling the beets) juice of one lemon 2-4 Tbsp sugar (to taste) Boil beets whole, then cool, and remove skins. Dice. Mix the juice produced from boiling them with lemon juice and sugar. Pour the sauce over the diced beets. Serve chilled as an appetizer. She also serves most dishes with a really simple side salad as well: Cucumbers Tomatoes Salt (more than you think) Vinegar (white is fine) Olive Oil Remove the seeds from the tomatoes, then dice. Dice cucumbers. Combine everything. Apparently this is just the basic salad they eat with everything, but it's very refreshing for those of us who like cucumbers.

Here's an easy and colorful potato side dish that uses the cheerful but under-appreciated turmeric. I've only made it in the pressure cooker, but it will probably work in a regular pot if you simmer it carefully. Only use enough potatoes that they will cover the bottom of your pan in a single layer. They look better on the plate, but here's the basic idea. The wedges will be fluffy on the inside, slightly translucent, and obviously, bright yellow. 2-4 russet potatoes, peeled cut in wedges 3 cloves garlic, chopped 3 Tbsp. oil 1 tsp turmeric 1 Tbsp. salt 1/2 tsp. white pepper 1/2 tsp. ground coriander (optional) hot water In the base of your pressure cooker, heat the oil until moderately hot. Add the garlic and saute until it just begins to turn golden. Add the turmeric and stir so it colors the oil and begins to release its fragrance, about 30 seconds. Add the potato wedges, white pepper, salt, and coriander to the pan and toss the potatoes so they are coated in the turmeric...

The first harvest of my garden has arrived, in the form of red radishes! The variety I grew is called Shunkyo Semi-long and I chose it because it matures quickly. Unfortunately (or so I thought) these radishes are too spicy for comfortable snacking or use in salads. I couldn't let them go to waste, but I just didn't know what to do with them! Fortunately, though, I emailed the wonderful Maangchi , who runs a fantastic Korean cooking blog and whom I've corresponded with in the past. She responded right away with a recipe idea: water-style kimchi ('mul kimchi'), which she recently made with similar radishes. Take that , rabbits! This style of kimchi has more liquid than what you find in the most common style of kimchi available in the store, though it is made in a similar way: a short and simple fermentation. The recipe that Maangchi sent me doesn't use red pepper flakes, which is a nice change from the usual red kimchis you find. The results are boldly spicy, cr...

This is the 100th post on the blog! Good work, family--I think we've created something wonderful here. Keep on postin'! Now that I'm writing this 100th post, I feel like I should commemorate it with some kind of special recipe, but this is just what I made for dinner tonight. In the end I guess that's the most appropriate thing to post, since the only theme for our blog is "food the Magidows cook". I learned this recipe from my roommate, JiJY, and it's the 'dry' style of pad thai, rather than the saucier American style. You can use any meat and add vegetables as you like, though it's best kept simple. The most important trick is to keep the noodles undercooked, since you want them to stay robust at the end. Tamarind sauce can be a little harder to find, but most Asian stores carry it--unfortunately there are no substitutions for this and you need it to proceed. If the paste is very thick, thin it with hot water so that it pours readily but stil...

An ode to rice noodles! Today I had fun exploring the international grocery stores in Rochester. Rice and Spice, an Indian place, is great and I got excellent service there. The shopkeeper helped me find everything on my list and even gave me some recipes. The Asian Food Store was really seedy and kind of freaked me out a little bit (especially the half-wit working the meat counter), but I found some amazing glazed pork and was inspired to make this meal. I love Singapore noodles, even though they have nothing to do with Singapore, but they are hard to find. I've been meaning to figure out how to make them and today was the perfect chance. The dish is a lot like fried rice in that you use little bits of vegetables and meat, whatever you have on hand, except that it's made with rice noodles and seasoned with curry powder. I used chicken thighs and some glazed pork, and left out the traditional shrimp. Feel free to improvise and conduct Operation Icebox. Update: Check out t...

I came up with this recipe at The Byway, when my roomies and I were famished and didn't have much in the house except some iffy potatoes, some freezer-burned sausage, and some fabulous pesto given to us by a friend. The whole turned out to be far greater than the sum of its parts and now this is one of my standbys. It can be made with either pasta or potatoes, but I think it's best with the more unexpected potatoes. This dish is especially welcome in the dead of winter when basil seems like a miracle. Here it is with pasta, but I assure you it's tastier with potatoes. 3-4 links of Italian sausage, sliced into rounds 2 handfuls of waxy potatoes (~1.5 lbs), cut into large-bite size chunks OR 3/4 box pasta 1 onion, diced into large-ish chunks 2 green peppers, cut the same as the onions (optional) 2-3 spoonfuls pesto Olive oil for frying Boil the potatoes in well-salted water until they're mostly cooked, but not falling apart (or make pasta). Drain well, reserving a cup o...

Well, I have actually NO idea how to cook a proper tajine, and in fact I've only eaten them a couple times. However, I was trying to get rid of ingredients, and this is sort of what resulted. When my friend gets back from Morocco, I will be sure to force her to teach me what she's learned. The proportions below are based on what I used, YMMV. Ingredients: 2 chicken thighs 2 carrots 1/2 large onion 1 can chickpeas (I added the liquid from this as well) 2 tomatoes 1 thai bird chili 5 or so allspice berries 1 or 2 cinnamon sticks 5 or 6 small bay leaves Pinch whole cloves Pinch whole cumin seeds A little chopped ginger A little curry powder A little ground tumeric Squirt of honey Put everything in crockpot. Add a bit of liquid (chicken broth, water)I put it on high for 4 hours, but you could probably throw everything together in the morning, put it on low, and return after work to food. I served it on couscous made instant style (approx equal parts boiling broth/water and couscous...

Someone just asked me for this recipe, so I figured I'd put it online as well: Kunaafa كنافة Main dessert: • Cheese- I recommend something fairly flavorless- either get special cheese at the Arab market, or mozzarella (without salt is probably best)- As much as you want. • Shredded Filo dough(probably one package is good) • 2 sticks butter Syrup: • 1.5 cups sugar • ¾ cup water • Optional: - 1 tsp. rose water - 1 tsp. lemon juice Main dessert: 1. Melt butter 2. Rip Filo pastry into slightly smaller chunks 3. Pour melted butter over Filo pastry- mix thoroughly 4. Butter baking dish. 5. Crumble cheese into pan 6. Put Filo on top of cheese 7. Put pan in oven at 425 until cheese is melted and Filo is golden brown. Syrup: 1. Mix sugar and water 2. Cook until syrupy. 3. Add rose water and/or lemon juice 4. Cook a tad longer. 5. Pour over cooked kunaafa (individually or on the same thing) Notes: - You can put pistachios over the kunaafa as well. - To keep it warm, you...

For mom's birthday I decided to make her some pelmeni (Russian dumplings) with my awesome new pelmeni-maker. I learned about this clever device when we had crazy Russian neighbors on Jackson Street, and the babushka of the house invited us over and made a batch of pelmeni. I hadn't come across the mold in any of the Russian stores around town so I turned to eBay and sure enough I found it there. I ordered it and it was delivered within 3 weeks for under $25. It's a fantastic way to decrease the labor involved in making tasty, tasty little dumplings. The instructions that came with it were very poorly translated into English, but Joe's roommate was able to translate them much better from the original Russian. So far I've only made meat-filled pelmeni, but the possibilities for fillings are boundless and could involve potatoes, vegetables, kasha, or whatever you can think up. Here's the step-by-step process I used with recipes along the way: The Dough This is a ba...

This might just be the perfect weeknight meal. Have you ever thought to yourself, "wouldn't it be awesome if there was a combination of scrambled eggs and macaroni and cheese that also contained ham and only took about half an hour to make?" Then this is the recipe for you! It's incredibly simple and deeply satisfying. Make this and a simple vegetable side and you'll be full for hours and possibly even ready to run a marathon. My version is fairly close to the original Italian style, but with more locally available ingredients. Instead of pancetta I used diced ham, and instead of romano cheese I used sharp white cheddar. Some recipes complicate things by adding peas or parsley, but really it's supposed to just be noodles, eggs, cheese, black pepper, and a little ham (you could even use leftover roast fowl instead). I'm an overachiever, so I made my pasta from scratch, but this is still totally delicious with boxed noodles. TIP: You must remember to reserv...