Cafe Liz

Loquat lemon mint sorbet

It seems there’s quite a demand for a loquat sorbet recipe. I’ve actually been planning to make one for a while, but a request from a reader in Malta (echoed by others in Israel) told me that now’s the time — after all, the season’s almost over. So, as the weather becomes warmer, what better way to serve our last loquats than frozen into a smooth sorbet with mint and lemon? Continue reading Loquat lemon mint sorbet…

Dirt cake

Spot the impostor: It’s not a plant, it’s a cake. It only looks like a plant. (OK, a fake plant. But still.) I got this recipe from my mom, who’s been playing it for laughs since I was a child. This is my second year making it myself (for a different crowd each time, of course), and it gets a good response, even once the “dirt” cover is broken and people start digging into the cake. There’s just something about eating out of a flowerpot that amuses people. Continue reading Dirt cake…

Passion-fruit citrus cheesecake

This cheesecake has a fabulous, tangy flavor, thanks to the passion fruit, orange and lemon. It also almost ended in complete and total disaster due to my impatience.

It’s been quite a while since I’ve made a cheesecake — about 51 weeks, right around last year’s Shavuot, to be precise — and I kind of forgot the importance of letting the cheesecake take its dear sweet time to cool down. In my haste, I removed the baking ring a few minutes after this gorgeous, golden cheesecake came out of the oven, and watched in horror as the perfect top split and the cake collapsed into a pile on its tinfoil wrapping.

Fortunately, not all was lost. Continue reading Passion-fruit citrus cheesecake…

White asparagus comes to Israel

For the past few weeks I’ve been working on a side project, and it’s finally been published. The whole thing started after I noticed a few lonely bunches of white asparagus at the Carmel market, as if the sellers were testing the waters to see if anyone would buy. This was the first time I’d seen it fresh since we were in Italy last year. After encountering it again (and finally purchasing) at the Tel Aviv port farmer’s market, my curiosity was piqued: Until now, white asparagus was virtually impossible to find in Israel.

It turns out that’s going to change. As I found out (and as my article explains), the Agriculture Ministry is hoping to launch a program to teach farmers to grow white asparagus. This means that you can expect to see more of it in the comping years, and that you’ll be able to enjoy it for less than the cost of a trip to Europe. Exciting stuff.

So here you go: The PDF version and the JPEG of the newspaper page, and the online version (sadly, without the photos).

Asparagus recipes to follow in the coming days.

Authentic Spanish gazpacho

This is another recipe I learned from my time in Madrid, in Sra. Pilar’s kitchen. Summer was at its peak, the days were regularly 40 degrees Celsius, and she’d keep a big, glass bowl of cool gazpacho in the fridge. We’d put a few ladlefuls in a bowl and eat it on the oilcloth-covered table, with a handful of crunchy mini-breadsticks. Simple food.

The key to good gazpacho is in the tomatoes. They have to be rich, ripe and red; otherwise the soup will have no flavor. That’s another reason that gazpacho suits the summer. Continue reading Authentic Spanish gazpacho…

Grape leaves stuffed with cranberries, garlic and rice

Now is the season to pick grape leaves. Not that I have access to a grapevine; but plenty of other people do, it seems. One of them apparently dumped a pile of fresh leaves next to the scales at some stall buried deep in the Carmel market this past weekend. Now, stuffed grape leaves take a lot of time to prepare, and I didn’t really think I’d have that much time this week, but what can I say? I was intrigued, since I’ve never worked with fresh grape leaves before, only pickled ones.

As it turns out, there’s not much of a difference between fresh and pickled, especially not once they’ve been cooked for a very, very long time. This very long cooking is crucial, since many a stuffed grape leaf has failed me by coming out too tough to chew after only, say, an hour on the stovetop. But this time around, I figured out a new and improved way to make my grape leaves perfectly tender: the pressure cooker. Continue reading Grape leaves stuffed with cranberries, garlic and rice…

Loquat peach waffles

These waffles are light and fruity, probably because they contain nearly half a kilo of fruit. This is a good way to take advantage of Spring’s bounty with a decadent breakfast.

I’m still going through my bucket of loquats, which are sweet and ripe. Peaches are definitely coming into season, because two weeks in a row we’ve come home from the market with little specimens that turned out to be sweet and juicy. I blended the two fruits together to make this sweet, fragrant waffle. Continue reading Loquat peach waffles…

Fresh pasta with asparagus, seared eggplant and basil

The weather is beautiful, and the asparagus stalks at the market are looking like the fresh, young shoots that they are. Simply beautiful. I could take a bunch of asparagus and put it in a vase in my living room, but then I'd have a vaseful of asparagus in my living room. But you get the idea.

In any case, asparagus this nice demands to be accompanied by other fine ingredients. When I decided I wanted to eat it with pasta, I knew the pasta had to be something interesting, preferably freshly made. So I made my own whole-wheat pasta. I wound up tossing it with the asparagus, seared miniature eggplants, Romano cheese, fresh basil and olive oil -- nothing too complicated, just fresh, simple ingredients, which make for a wonderful, fresh-tasting dish. Continue reading Fresh pasta with asparagus, seared eggplant and basil...

Lag Ba’omer: Food you can stick in the bonfire

Tonight is Lag Ba’omer, the bonfire holiday, and the air will soon be thick with the smell of smoke. One of the possible interpretations for the holiday is that it marks the Bar Kochba rebellion in 132 C.E., which failed and led to the Romans destroying the Jewish settlement in the Land of Israel. No better reason to celebrate, right? Continue reading Lag Ba’omer: Food you can stick in the bonfire…

Pan-fried potatoes with kumquat-orange-basil glaze

It’s well past kumquat season here, but I’ve been saving a few lonely specimens in my fridge for a rainy sunny day. The problem is that unlike fine wine, fresh fruit doesn’t always cooperate when you try to “save” it. As far as these kumquats and I were concerned, the time was now or never.

I’d been planning to turn the winter’s last kumquats into a citrusy glaze to serve atop golden brown potatoes, and that’s just what I did. The recipe in my mind came out quite well when tried with actual food. Continue reading Pan-fried potatoes with kumquat-orange-basil glaze…