Cafe Liz

Ravioli with Jerusalem artichoke and roasted garlic

It’s not really an artichoke, but we call it that anyway — Jerusalem artichoke, or sunchoke, is a root vegetable that happens to have an artichoke-like taste. It doesn’t have any real connection to Jerusalem, either, for that matter; it’s actually native to the United States.

Despite its deceptively being a foreigner, Jerusalem artichoke is quite common in markets here. As a tubor, it’s easier to prepare than artichoke, in my opinion — just skin it and cook, as opposed to the laborious artichoke, which hides its meat inside layers upon layers of thorny greens and thistle (smart). Continue reading Ravioli with Jerusalem artichoke and roasted garlic…

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...

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…

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…

Garlic greens paste with romano and walnuts

On the advice of friends, we are now the proud owners of eight massive heads of garlic, stems still attached. Apparently this is garlic season, so now is the time to stock up for the year. There are several reasons to do so, our friends told us — the garlic that we usually buy, which comes neatly packed in little plastic nets, is grown in China and processed with chemicals. Now, I couldn’t confirm that, but it turns out that China produces 77 percent of the world’s garlic supply, so the claim is entirely plausible. We’re also big proponents of buying local.

You can currently buy fresh garlic heads at the Carmel Market — we saw the heads alone selling for 20 shekels a kilo, while the ones with the stems attached, which our friends recommended, were going for 8 shekels a kilo in the Gaza shook section. There, we found a huge, smelly pile of garlic, with robust bulbs attached to several-foot-long stems and somewhat decaying leaves.We bought 8, for 22 shekels.

Most people who buy garlic this way leave the plants to dry (the garlic heads shrink in the process) and then braid the stems. Now, while it’s quite pretty to have a garlic braid hanging in your kitchen (and supposedly good luck to boot), that seemed like an awful waste to me — why not cook the greens instead? Continue reading Garlic greens paste with romano and walnuts…