Cafe Liz

Buckwheat pancakes

Sometimes ideas come out of nowhere. For some reason, I had the idea to make buckwheat pancakes. I’m not sure I’ve even had them more than two or three times, but it’s an American southern classic, and I guess the sound of the name just said breakfast to me. So we made buckwheat pancakes.

Buckwheat is not actually related to wheat; in fact, it isn’t even a grain. It plays a role in different cultures around the world, and my favorite use is probably in Japanese soba noodles. It also appears in Breton crepes and polenta variations. Plus, it’s gluten-free. Continue reading Buckwheat pancakes…

Israeli breakfast — the best of brunch in Tel Aviv, and a mustard-blue cheese omelet

Brunch is beyond a tradition in Tel Aviv -- it's a culture. Every self-respecting restaurant offers a breakfast menu, which invariably includes "Israeli breakfast" -- generally speaking, some form of eggs, a leafy or chopped vegetable salad, assorted white cheeses, a few other spreads, some bread, coffee and/or fresh juice. The main variation is in the creativity of the spreads, the quality of the ingredients and the price.

(In the photo: Breakfast at the Brasserie. A review of my favorite brunch places is at the bottom of the post.)

Just how much is this a tradition? Everyone likes going out for breakfast, often in the early afternoon, but who prepares this at home? Well, we do, every weekend. Continue reading Israeli breakfast — the best of brunch in Tel Aviv, and a mustard-blue cheese omelet...

Restaurant: Brunch at Piccotto in Zichron Yaakov

We happened upon this restaurant while strolling through Zichron Yaakov, looking for a place to eat brunch. It turned out to be an excellent deal in a very pleasant setting — about a dozen mezes, alongside fresh-baked bread, coffee and an omelet/shakshuka of your choosing, for 56 shekels a person (about $13).

Fresh vegetables and local herbs played a large role in the mezes, of which all but one (the smoked salmon) were vegetarian. Lots of tahini sauces, and lots of fresh zaatar. My favorites included the sprouted lentils in sage oil (I’m already sprouting my own in order to create an imitation), seared peppers with feta and smoked eggplant salad. Here’s the full menu in Hebrew. Continue reading Restaurant: Brunch at Piccotto in Zichron Yaakov…

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…

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…

Bimuelos (sweet Passover dumplings)

My mother learned to make bimuelos from her maternal grandmother, who brought the recipe with her from Istanbul, along with her special bimuelo pan. I don’t know anyone else who makes bimuelos for Passover, beyond my immediate family. And it’s a pity. They’re quite good. The word bimuelo merely means a fried dough delicacy in Judeo-Spanish. You could consider my family’s version a kind of Sephardi matzo ball — the batter is similar, but instead of being cooked in chicken broth, we fry ours, boil them in honey-sugar syrup, and then serve them doused in sweet cream. We eat them for breakfast every day of Passover. How could you go wrong?

Passover bimuelos have made the holiday for me ever since I can remember, yet they seem to be a lost art. Over the years, I’ve tried searching for the word on Google. In 2003 I turned up a whopping three hits. By last year things had slightly improved, up to about 20, including a Judeo-Spanish dictionary, a lecture in Ladino, a few articles about Hanukkah sweets, and a dozen photos I’d posted over the past few years. This leads me to think the world is in need of a bimuelo revival. Continue reading Bimuelos (sweet Passover dumplings)…

Spring frittata with purple cauliflower and green beans

I’m not entirely sure this merits a recipe, but it certainly merits a photo. So I might as well explain how I made it.

We’ve been buying purple vegetables since we discovered them at the Friday farmer’s market in the Tel Aviv port. They definitely liven up any meal. And yes, it seems the color of the cauliflower bled slightly onto the egg. Continue reading Spring frittata with purple cauliflower and green beans…

Amaretto french toast

This burst of cold weather we’ve been having is making me want heavy, sweet foods for breakfast, which we eat at an hour that others would consider lunch. Hence, brunch.

I recently bought a bottle of amaretto, and I’ve been looking for ways to use it — I bought it with baking in mind, far be it from us to actually drink liquor. So I added a bit to my french toast. By adding amaretto and milk, I came up with something that was a little more like bread pudding, but a lot quicker to prepare. No baking in this recipe. Continue reading Amaretto french toast…

Kumquat pancakes

I don’t usually eat kumquats, but they look so cute that I’m occasionally tempted into buying some at the market (this happens quite frequently, and with quite a variety of different foods). Kumquats are known as “Chinese oranges” (תפוז סיני) in Hebrew, and I have to say I find this much more logical than the English name, as it actually tells you something about what it denotes. For instance, based on the English name, you would never know that kumquats are small, tangy citrus fruit, with a mild, zesty peel and a small amount of tart flesh inside. They happen to be in season right now, along with a huge variety of other citrus fruits, including the “Chinese lemon” (what on earth could that be called in English?) and my favorite, blood oranges.

By the way, the best place to get citrus right now is one of the stands in the Gaza market section of the Carmel market (parallel to the main strip). One of the guys there has a huge selection of different kinds of grapefruits, oranges, clementines, lemons and pomelos. He once labeled pomelit as “bamlat” (במלט — I kid you not — when spelled properly, it’s פומלית), which is really funny if you know some Arabic and Hebrew and appreciate linguistic humor. Anyway.

In any case, I’ve had the kumquats sitting in my fridge for a while now. I guess I bought bad kumquats, because many of them went bad in the time it took me to figure out what I wanted to do with them. In any case, I knew I wanted to throw the survivors into some kind of sweet food, since kumquats would go well anywhere you would think to use citrus zest — it’s merely a milder flavor than orange or lemon. Our pancake brunch presented itself as an excellent opportunity. Continue reading Kumquat pancakes…

Spinach shakshuka brunch

Our kitchen floor is covered with bags of vegetables — I hadn’t been to the Carmel Market in weeks, due to our trip to the U.S., and the attempt to empty the fridge that preceded it, so when we went this Friday, I got a little overexcited. The advantage to this is that everything is in plain sight, which means I’m more likely to use all the fresh vegetables. So this Saturday, we wound up with a spinach shakshuka for brunch. Continue reading Spinach shakshuka brunch…