Extra Schmaltz!

This soup is from my good friend Artemis who I met in Jordan. It's a seriously delicious lentil soup, much more than the sum of its parts. I've copied and pasted the recipe from an email, hence the narrative style. Ingredients: Red Lentils 5-6 cloves garlic, WHOLE Onion 4-5 juicy tomatoes Veggies Oregano Broth Lemons Start with a relatively deep layer of olive oil in the bottom of the pan on a low flame, add several(As many as 5 or 6) whole cloves garlic(they're going to get super sweet anyway, so don't skimp)(don't chop them, but if you really want, you can squish them a tad. DON'T BURN THEM!). Cook garlic until it's fairly well cooked, then add onions. Cook onions for a while. Now here's the trick to the whole thing- get several tomatoes(3-5), the rounder hothouse shape, not roma, and cut the stems out, and then in half. No more cutting, just in half. Then put them _cut side down_ in the pan, and let them cook for a while, until they get really cooked ...

This recipe is adapted from something in the local co-op's circular. The sausage we used was sweeter turkey-chicken sausage (similar to the stuff you get from Cost-co) Ingredients: 1 Tbsp butter 3-4 cloves minced garlic 1 lb. sweet sausage in small pieces 1 lb. sliced fresh mushrooms (Preferably dry) white wine 1 1/4 c. heavy cream/half and half (this takes longer to cook obviously) Fresh parsley (approx 3 Tbsp - 1/4 c. minced) Parmesan cheese S&P (optional: a small shake of cayenne) Sautee garlic in butter briefly on low flame, then add mushrooms. Sprinkle with white wine and salt & pepper. Turn up heat, add sausage, and cook until browned. Add cream, parsley and some more white wine, then reduce until thick. Serve over pasta with shredded Parmesan on top.

For Valentines, I whipped up a nice batch of chocolate covered strawberries. The original recipe I saw called for you to "drizzle white chocolate over the top with a fork" but it turns out the white chocolate I had wasn't terribly drizzleable. We ended up putting it in a plastic bag with a hole cut out of one corner, frosting style, and distributing it that way. It's hot - watch your fingers. Chocolate covered strawberries: 6 oz semi-sweet chocolate 1-2 Tbsp butter 1 # strawberries, washed and dried well 2-4 oz white chocolate (optional) 1-2 Tbsp butter Heat the dark chocolate double boiler style with 1-2 Tbsp butter - I put it in a ceramic bowl over a saucepan of water. When the chocolate is liquidy enough, dip in and rotate the strawberries one by one until each is properly covered. Place on a cookie sheet with wax paper. When you're done with the dark chocolate, you can heat the white chocolate (with or without butter) and drizzle however seems best. Place in f...

I just realized that we don't have the family pancake recipe on here. I sometimes need to check it or give it to other people, so I'm going to upload it verbatim how Mom sent it to me back when I was living in the dorms. I prefer to add baking soda and acid as per the directions below - I'm sure we all have our own variations. Mom's Famous Pancakes Combine dry ingredients in bowl: 2 cups flour 2 tsp. baking powder 2 tbsp. sugar pinch of salt 1 tsp. cinnamon, cardomom, ginger (optional) handful of nuts (optional) Combine wet ingredients in something else: 2 cups milk 2 eggs 2 tbsp. oil or melted butter Mix blended wet ingredients into blended dry ingredients, but do not overmix. Have the griddle fairly hot, so they cook quickly, but do not burn. Paint or apply vegetable oil to surface before each batch. Fruit may be added to the pancakes as you go (blueberries, banana slices, etc.) Flip them as soon as they look ready - usually, small bubbles will appear, they will sta...

When peppers are on sale, it must be time for pizza! We got 8 big red ones and proceeded to roast them. There are two rules to this: (1) it won't work on an electric stove, so don't even try (you can, however, roast them on a barbecue grill); (2) do not do this right after you have just cleaned your range. Begin by putting each pepper above a medium-high flame. I was able to group two or three together on each burner. (I am really enjoying our "new" stove with the extra long burner in the middle. The pancake griddle that fits over it is seeing a lot of action). Using long tongs, turn peppers often. (I finally found the perfect application for my huge tongs with the silicone coated tips). You will begin to see the burn pattern from the flames and can turn them accordingly. The object is to blacken as much of the skin as you possibly can. As each pepper is done, place it into something with a cover. I often see recipes that suggest putting them in a plastic bag, but ...

This is not a real recipe per se - just sort of a meal idea, and you can add and subtract as you like. I bet it'd be really good with a bit of meat (chorizo), and I didn't have any cheese on hand, which would definitely make it better. Note also that you need either a metal skillet that's oven friendly, or you can try to pour things into a baking pan in the last step. Anyway, it's a Magidow classic: 1 can black beans 1/4-1/2 Bell pepper, minced 1/4-1/2 Onion, minced Jalapeno peppers to taste, minced Garlic, minced 3-4 eggs Cilantro Spices Preheat oven to 400. Saute peppers, onion and garlic with butter or oil on a low flame, preferably in an oven friendly skillet. While it's cooking, mince up some cilantro, toss it into the eggs, and beat. You could also add some cheese to the eggs as well. Add the beans, and whatever spices you want (cumin, chili powder, etc), cooking to reduce extra liquid if necessary. Remove from heat, pour the beaten eggs over the w...

It's hard to fathom how we don't have this recipe up yet. This dish is a standard mezze and breakfast item in much of the Arab world. It's often eaten during Ramadan because it's so nutritious and filling. You can use dry beans (Brown Egyptian Favas) by soaking them overnight and then slowly simmering them, or you can just use the beans out of a can. In some places they like to leave the fava beans whole, but in other places they like to mash up the beans (my preferred approach). The toppings are up to you and can range from simple to elaborate. Eat with bread. 1 can brown fava beans 1/3 c. parsley, chopped + garnish 1 clove garlic, crushed juice of 1 lemon 2-3 Tbsp. olive oil + garnish 1-2 tsp. salt 1 tsp. ground black pepper I also add: 1/2 tsp. cumin 1 pinch cayenne Heat the beans, liquid and all, until warmed through. Pour them into a dish. Mix in the parsley and garlic and then mash the beans with a potato masher (or leave them whole if you prefer). Mix in the lemo...

It's hard to find a good cabbage roll. Some of them are just absurdly large. Others are in a gross tomato sauce. A lot of them simply have too much rice and not enough spice. Well, problem solved! Here's my adaptation of this recipe from Almost Turkish. The lamb makes these pack a flavor wallop, but you can use beef instead. I like the texture of the barley better than rice and I wanted to use a whole grain, but you can use any other grain or leave it out entirely. If you can find a loose-head cabbage this will be easier, but just work with what you've got. 1 lb. ground lamb 1 large head of cabbage 1/2 c. pearled barley 1 onion, grated 1/2 c. parsley, minced 1/4 c. fresh dill, minced (or 1 Tbsp. dried) 2 cloves garlic, crushed 2 Tbsp. tomato paste 1 Tbsp. salt 1 Tbsp. olive oil 2 Tsp. ground black pepper 1 tiny pinch allspice 1 lemon, juiced 2-3 Tbsp. butter hot water Cook the barley (1:1.5, 15 minutes) until al-dente. Meanwhile, boil a large pot of salted water. You can...