Cafe Liz

I’m always sad to see the various fruits fade out of season, to return only in a year. Fortunately, others are always arriving in their stead. At the neighborhood greengrocer today, as I was mourning the present passing of the citrus fruits, soon to be followed by strawberries, I was pleased to see that plums and loquats were ready to fill the gap. Well, not really. All fruits have their own special place, at the very least in my heart [...]

Passion fruit is downright weird — it’s ripe once the peel begins to wrinkle, at which point you slice it open to find it filled with yellow goo. Not the kind of texture you’d usually associate with fruit. That said, it’s a fabulous ingredient for cooking — full of intense, tangy flavor. It also happens to be in season. I picked up a bucket full of passion fruit for less than five shekels (about $1.25) at my favorite corner greengrocer. [...]

This was another one of our favorite foods in Japan, even if one particular ice cream cone dripped and left green stains on my favorite skirt. I prepared it almost the same way I made another kind of tea ice cream — the Thai tea ice cream recipe I posted a while back. The only differences were the kind of tea I used, and a few drops of food coloring (yes, I admit it).

I was looking for a fresh way to prepare a springtime bunch of asparagus I picked up at the market — something light that would let the flavor of the asparagus dominate. This simple salad incorporates fresh herbs, another great springtime ingredient. I used a few leaves of sage and zaatar, which I have growing on my patio, but if you don’t have any zaatar, you could substitute oregano or thyme. I don’t recommend using dried spices, since that would [...]

This batter yields a soft, mildly banana-flavored waffle, good enough to eat without syrup. I found sweet, ripe bananas at the shook, which were perfect (for waffles as well as any other baked good).

This is a very simple roasted pepper recipe I learned while I was living in Madrid, from my landlady/host Sra. Pilar in her high-ceilinged apartment in the upscale neighborhood of Salamanca. That was quite possibly the most I’ve ever paid to rent a room, but I guess it was worth it, since I’m still making her recipes nearly a decade later. Red peppers are an amazing thing. Roast them in the oven, and they come out as a dish, nothing [...]

Sorry Maneschevitz, but I see no reason to make matzo balls from a mix — they’re pretty simple to make from scratch. I also think that the whole search for the perfect matzo ball recipe is a bit overrated. Matzo (matzah) balls are basically matzo meal mixed with egg, and everything else is simply a matter of taste. Maybe I’m saying this because I haven’t tried the world’s best matzo ball yet, but until that time comes, I’m happy with [...]