Cafe Liz

White cheese with capers and herbs

We are blessed by a wealth of fresh, young cheeses as well as healthy herbs, so I threw all of the above together, along with my home-pickled capers, to make a quick salad.

I happen to have Thai basil and pineapple sage growing quite robustly on my patio. These herbs have different flavors than their more standard counterparts (basil and sage), which you’re more likely to find around here, but any combination of fresh herbs that suits your fancy would be quite good in this dish.

The cheeses — a 50-50 mix of diced mozzarella balls and tsfatit — are from my favorite cheese stand at the Carmel market, which gets them from the Sharon dairy. They’re at their peak for all of two days after purchase, but so good that you won’t want to leave them any longer than that. Continue reading White cheese with capers and herbs…

Eggplant in balsamic vinegar and pomegranate syrup

This soft eggplant dish has a tangy taste from the pomegranate and balsamic vinegar, while red onions add a bit of jewel-like color. You could toss some pomegranate seeds on top as well when they're in season.

On a slightly related note, look at this weird eggplant we saw at the Carmel market: Continue reading Eggplant in balsamic vinegar and pomegranate syrup...

Seared lentil salad with eggplant, carrot, parsley and mint

I needed an easy dish to bring to a vegan friend’s potluck dinner — something substantial, but also something that could easily be prepared in large quantities. Voila — seared lentil salad. Continue reading Seared lentil salad with eggplant, carrot, parsley and mint…

Do-it-yourself capers — a picking and pickling guide

We're used to seeing capers sold in little gourmet jars, and served in gourmet dishes at gourmet restaurants. Capers, it turns out, are a weed.

They grow wild around the Mediterranean, and Israel is no exception. Capers are referenced in the bible, and hung from the walls of Jerusalem over the centuries. In fact, apparently they're one of those plants that people have to pull out, because they're just that common. Continue reading Do-it-yourself capers — a picking and pickling guide...

White asparagus and purple potatoes with emmenthal and fennel

This mild-flavored dish plays with colors — white asparagus, purple potatoes. OK, maybe for some of you white asparagus isn’t such an oddity, but around here it is. In fact, it’s just beginning to make its presence felt in the market, as I described in a newspaper article. Continue reading White asparagus and purple potatoes with emmenthal and fennel…

Refreshing drinks for summer

It’s officially hot. Hot as in I don’t want to do anything that involves moving, all I want to do is sit in front of the fan. Fortunately, a light, refreshing summer drink can do much to make the heat more tolerable. Especially if that drink is prepped, sitting in the fridge, just waiting for you to drink it.

I currently have three such drinks in the fridge. All are easy to prepare, and best chilled — meaning you make them, and then drink them over the next week. So long as you don’t add sugar, this is also quite a healthful way to quench your thirst. Continue reading Refreshing drinks for summer…

Rice noodles in coconut rhubarb curry

Most recipes for rhubarb involve turning it into mush, without taking advantage of the beautiful, red stalks’ appearance. Thai food often involves a mix of tart, lemony flavors. Hmm, I know! I’ll use the rhubarb in a stir-fry, with Thai seasonings!

I was inspired to make a savory rhubarb recipe by the New York Times, which put the vegetable into an Indian-inspired curry. Meanwhile, as I was planning dinner, I had this idea of making rice noodles in a coconut curry, and everything just fell into place. The rhubarb wound up being a great addition; its tart flavor nicely offset the coconut, lemon juice and cilantro, and it looked great sliced into thin sticks along with some purple carrot.

The end result isn’t exactly Thai, but more importantly, it tastes good. Continue reading Rice noodles in coconut rhubarb curry…

Rhubarb apricot jam

I’ve been thinking of looking for rhubarb for a while now. Fortunately, rhubarb found me. I ran into it at the Carmel market this past Friday, for the first time. Rhubarb isn’t that well-known here — it’s grown locally, but this is only the second time I’ve seen it being sold in Israel. In the time it took me to buy a bunch (for 15 shekels), at least three people came and asked what this weird vegetable was, and then spent some time looking quizzically at it before moving on.

Indeed, it’s kind of a hard sell to people who don’t know what it is. Unlike something like, say, apricots, which you can neatly split in half and give to people to taste, rhubarb needs to be cooked. Not only that, how do you explain that this vegetable that most resembles celery is actually baked into desserts? It might be a while before rhubarb really takes hold here. (Photos after the jump) Continue reading Rhubarb apricot jam…

Dulce de leche cheesecake

My friend Leonie gave me a jar of organic goat’s milk dulce de leche from Sde Bar. It so happened that I had another identical jar that had been sitting in my fridge for the past year, so I knew I had to use it quickly — I like dulce de leche, but we don’t eat it on its own. So, I decided to turn it into a cheesecake.

On another unrelated note, this is my 100th post … how exciting.

This dulce de leche has quite a strong flavor of goat’s cheese, so I mixed it with regular, cow’s milk cream cheese (3% fat) in order to dilute it a bit. The end result still has a hint of that goat’s milk flavor, but is not overpowering. Continue reading Dulce de leche cheesecake…

Cold sesame noodles with cucumber and wakame

It’s getting a little too hot to eat warm food. Fortunately, these sesame-coated noodles are cold and refreshing. This preparation is vaguely Japanese-inspired, due to the wakame and soy sauce, but with a local twist of tahini. To the best of my knowledge, you can’t readily find tahini in Japan, because if you can, I’m not sure why our friends there asked us to bring a kilo of it with us when we came to visit. Continue reading Cold sesame noodles with cucumber and wakame…