Cafe Liz

Toasts with loquats, cheese and basil

Quick to put together and fun to eat, these toasts take advantage of the onset of loquat season. I picked up a whole bucket of loquats at the Carmel Market for about 3 shekels a kilo this weekend. Admittedly, they were somewhat bruised looking, hence the price, but that means they’re super-ripe and sweet. Anyway, they actually go very well with cheese and basil. Continue reading Toasts with loquats, cheese and basil…

Happy Independence Day!

Today is Israel’s Independence Day. Like all Jewish holidays, it starts in the evening, which means it makes an excellent opportunity for fireworks. We celebrated with a picnic on our roof. For whatever reason, every municipality has its own display or two, and since Gush Dan is so crowded with cities, and we’re so centrally located, we saw no fewer than a dozen different firework displays over the course of the evening. Givatayim started things off, followed by Ramat Gan, possibly Bnei Brak and a few other municipalities off in the distance that we couldn’t identify. Tel Aviv, of course, took the cake — possibly because we were on a roof a block away from city hall. If we’d been any closer, we’d have been singed.

In any case, parties must have food. Independence Day is traditionally a barbecue/meat holiday, but since I was in charge of things, I pulled together a few simple salads to keep us going between firework displays. The following provided steady supply of light food for 10-12 people. Total preparation time: No more than an hour. Continue reading Happy Independence Day!…

Savory roasted loquats and plums

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 and appetite.

Loquats, or shesek (שסק) in Hebrew, have been coming into season for a few weeks now. I put off buying them until now, as the price dropped from 20 shekels a kilo to … well, I admit I didn’t actually check the price when I bought them today. In any case, shesek season is now in full swing, so expect more loquat recipes. Continue reading Savory roasted loquats and plums…

Five days in Budapest: Foods and places we liked

We just spent a wonderful five days wandering Budapest, city of beautiful architecture and fabulous cakes. I have particularly happy memories of one particular chocolate cream cake coated in marzipan (in the top photo), from a small cafe near our hotel. Here are some of the things we enjoyed eating and doing (lots of photos inside) Continue reading Five days in Budapest: Foods and places we liked...

Passion fruit coconut sorbet

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. They were going for six shekels a kilo, and these fruit are incredibly lightweight.

Passion fruit are so flavorful that I made this ice cream with three ingredients alone — passion fruit, coconut cream and sugar. It came out a beautiful buttery yellow, flecked with black passion fruit seeds, with a rich, creamy texture and a lovely flavor. Continue reading Passion fruit coconut sorbet…

Green tea ice cream

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). Continue reading Green tea ice cream…

Asparagus with sesame oil and herbs

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 change the spirit of the dish. Continue reading Asparagus with sesame oil and herbs…

Banana amaretto waffles

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). Continue reading Banana amaretto waffles…

Roasted red pepper salad

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 else needed (I’ll be adding a bit of seasoning anyway). Continue reading Roasted red pepper salad…

Matzo balls with vegetable soup and Middle Eastern spices

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 my own modest version.

Since there’s no chicken in our kitchen, this soup’s flavor had to come from something else. I put a bit of hot paprika in my matzo balls, and made a vegetable-intensive soup with Middle Eastern spices to go with them. There’s something to be said for matzo balls with a spicy kick. Continue reading Matzo balls with vegetable soup and Middle Eastern spices…