Cafe Liz

Banana oatmeal muffins

What’s driving me to bake in the middle of this infernal summer? Maybe it’s heatstroke. Or maybe it’s the surplus of overripe fruit in the house. And it just might have something to do with the cute new cupcake wrappers I ordered off eBay.

I had three mushy bananas sitting on the counter that needed to be dealt with. I had the idea to toss them into a muffin of some sort. Since I didn’t have a tried and trusted banana muffin recipe, I figured I’d be just as well off throwing together the usual suspects, er, ingredients and seeing what came out Continue reading Banana oatmeal muffins…

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Brunch: Poached eggs in bird’s nests, and grilled asparagus

This brunch looks complicated, but it’s actually quite quick and simple to pull together: You pack the kadaif noodles into bowls and stick them in the toaster, toss the asparagus (or vegetable of choice) into a pan to grill, and let the eggs boil for a minute or two in the meanwhile. Then you assemble it. That’s all.

As a bonus, it tastes good and looks nice — the nest comes out crunchy and buttery, and soaks up the liquid egg yolk. And fresh vegetables are (almost) always welcome. Continue reading Brunch: Poached eggs in bird’s nests, and grilled asparagus…

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Rose-flavored cupcakes

Trendy western baked goods meet traditional local flavors in these rose-scented cupcakes – a delicate whiff of rose gives these cupcakes a dreamy, Middle Eastern flavor where you least expect it. Rose and pistachio, a combo frequently found in baklava, mesh seamlessly with the buttery crumb, and create an elegant dessert that’s food-coloring free. Continue reading Rose-flavored cupcakes…

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The cupcake craze

Once there were none. Now, cupcake boutiques are popping up on nearly every major street in Tel Aviv, like mushrooms after the rain (or, if you will, cupcakes at a child’s birthday party).

It all began not long ago, in late 2008, when this blog was still in its infancy. Continue reading The cupcake craze…

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Green tea brioche with sweet beans

Much like we westerners like Japanese food, but alter it to suit our tastes, Japanese people like western food, but often with a Japanese twist. At the Uomo subway station in Tokyo, there's a little bakery full of western-style breads (OK, there are actually tons of such bakeries), where you take a tray and neatly fill it with pastries from the display (with tongs, of course). Here it is that we discovered green bread -- green tea flavored, to be precise, with ribbons of sweet azuki bean filling. And it was excellent.

In Japan, green tea and sweet beans are popular flavors for many things, but for some reason, it hasn't caught on anywhere else I've ever been. This means if you want these flavors, you'll have to make it yourself. Continue reading Green tea brioche with sweet beans...

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Simple Spanish yogurt cake

“If you show me how to make a cheesecake, I’ll show you how to make a Spanish yogurt cake,” my friend Arturo said. After his first Shavuot in Israel, he’d developed cheesecake envy. And how could I refuse an offer like that? Continue reading Simple Spanish yogurt cake…

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Ravioli with mulukhiya and sweet potato

A decidedly local green has started poking through the mass of exotic mushrooms, Thai eggplants and other cultivated specialties at the Carmel Market -- shoots of mulukhiya, a Middle Eastern specialty somewhat strangely known as Jews' mallow. In some markets around Israel, especially those catering to a more mixed Arab-Jewish population, it's quite common -- at the Ramle market, you can get cultivated mulukhiya even when it's out of season, as fellow blogger Sarah told me -- but in Tel Aviv it's a good deal less common.

Mulukhiya, also written mloukhieh, is the Arabic name, which is also used in Hebrew; some sources say the name comes from the similarly written Arabic root for "royal." It's a member of the jute family, corchorus, a word that means, somewhat less elegantly, "mucose."

Uncooked mulukhiya has a smell that somewhat reminds me of asparagus; the cooked stew has gumbo-like properties that will please people who like okra in all its gooeyness. While obviously the number of ways to prepare mulukhiya varies along with the number of cultures (households? cooks?) who call the dish their own, but one traditional, fairly common means of preparation calls for plucking the leaves from the long, spindly stems and quickly boiling them into a viscous stew, flavored with fried garlic. This is the Egyptian method, and can also be found in Israel, as I confirmed with some of the friendly market sellers.

I picked up a bunch from the stand behind the juice-seller on Yihyeh Street (parallel to the main Carmel strip), who also offered me a few fresh chickpeas and tiny sour plums to try. I picked up about 400 grams at 10 shekels a kilo, which isn't bad, although you only use the leaves, not the stems (which make up the bulk of the weight). Since then, I've noticed mulukhiya being sold at some of the greens stands inside the main Carmel strip, too.

Since making my mulukhiya into a stew would have been too obvious, I decided to incorporate it into a filling for ravioli, mixed with sweet potatoes. After all, why not? Continue reading Ravioli with mulukhiya and sweet potato...

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Carmelized fennel root

They say that people either love licorice or hate it, and the licorice battleground happens to fall right through the middle of our household. Since fennel has what I would describe as a licorice flavor, I’ve never been a big fan. But this recipe, which I’m blatantly, um, borrowing from renowned Israeli chef Rafael Cohen, made me love fennel — at least, so long as its caramelized in butter and sugar.

The preparation is quite easy — basically, you’re steaming the fennel, sliced open and lying in a pool of butter and sugar, until its soft, and the underside has turned a caramelized brown. It’s also perfect for spring, because what better way to enjoy the season than to sink your teeth into a juicy green vegetable?

I should probably mention that I found huge, beautiful organic fennel roots at the Tel Aviv Farmer’s Market at the port, which is now being institutionalized with its very own building there. Continue reading Carmelized fennel root…

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Passover mushroom croquettes

Pork-obsessed Spanish cuisine is not known for being kosher friendly, but classic croquettes can easily be made not only kosher and vegetarian, but kosher for Passover, to boot.

Croquettes are breaded dumplings filled with a bechamel cream, flavored with any number of things. I learned the technique from my friend Arturo, who threw himself a croquette birthday party with seven different kinds of dumplings — including ham, shrimp, ham and shrimp … and then for the vegetarians, mushroom and spinach. Arturo was nice enough to invite me over during his three (!!) days of preparations, so after watching seven batches of croquette fillings come off the flame, I felt confident enough to give it a go myself. Continue reading Passover mushroom croquettes…

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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…

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