Cafe Liz

Eggplants stuffed with herbs and rice

Here in the Levant we like to stuff things. It’s a habit picked up by all the places that used to be part of the Ottoman empire and its neighbors. Because rice is never so good as when it’s cooked packed inside a vegetable, and picks up its flavors and aroma during cooking.

Since stuffing isn’t limited only to peppers, which are born hollow and ready to be stuffed, there are special tools to help with the job. Previously I used a paring knife, but inspired by Sarah and Miriam’s posts on Nazareth, I picked up a special hollowing tool, for seven shekels (Photo after the jump). I got it from a little store on Jaffa’s Jerusalem boulevard, where the shopkeeper showed me an Egyptian pound someone had passed off as 10-shekel coin earlier that day — both have a bronze disc surrounded by a silver border, except the pound has a picture of a pharaoh and is worth, um, about 1/20th of a 10-shekel coin. Continue reading Eggplants stuffed with herbs and rice…

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Tangy tomato okra soup

If you’re like me, and you don’t see 33-degree Celsius weather as a reason not to indulge in a hot bowl of soup, this recipe is for you. It’s simple, and it doesn’t have too many seasonings. It doesn’t need to — summer’s fresh bounty adds flavor enough.

One thing this soup is not is gummy. One of the excuses people have for not liking okra is the viscous sap. Fortunately, that can be done away with by frying the okra. The okra is fully cooked in olive oil before it is added to the soup, which leaves only the okra flavor, and none of that gumbo-type texture. Continue reading Tangy tomato okra soup…

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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…

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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…

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Tabouleh — chopped parsley salad

Tabouleh is parsley salad worth its weight in gold. Each individual ingredient needs personal, painstaking preparation. Cutting the vegetables is an art form. This is another dish I learned during my time in Haifa, from my roommate Naifeh. We would have tabouleh days, and the girls would sit around together, metholodically chopping ingredient after ingredient.

You can’t cheat by using a blender — it simply won’t work. I had an ex-boyfriend who didn’t believe me, and he wound up with parsley pesto. May that serve as a warning to you all. Continue reading Tabouleh — chopped parsley salad…

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Confetti pasta with nuts, raisins and parsley

This oil-based pasta sauce is sweet and salty from the raisins and olive tapenade, and contains everything from onions and garlic to nuts and a big handful of parsley. I think I once had something similar at a fancy restaurant. Plus, it’s an easy dish to make for potluck dinners. Continue reading Confetti pasta with nuts, raisins and parsley…

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Lentil vegetable soup

I’m back from my visit to the United States, back to the land of good, cheap vegetables. The first thing I did on the morning after we landed was to visit our neighborhood vegetable shop, the Ibn Gvirol Shook, where they had indeed noticed our absence (it’s nice to be missed, no?). In any case, I came home with an armful of fresh vegetables, for about half of what it would have cost me at that lovely grocery store on the corner of Amsterdam and 74th. I was quite happy. Continue reading Lentil vegetable soup…

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Zucchini soup

This is a nice, sunny yellow soup for dreary days. A roommate of mine in Haifa used to make something similar. I should note that what we call “kishu” (קישוא) here isn’t actually what the rest of the world considers zucchini — it’s a pale, light green, squash shaped like a miniature baseball bat. Continue reading Zucchini soup…

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Fasoulyas (green beans)

When my mother talked about the foods of her childhood, this was always on the list, but for some reason, I never recall eating it at home. I got the general gist of it when we went to Greek restaurants and all my older relatives would coo over the green beans, however. Even though these green beans were soft and overcooked (some would say well cooked), much like the green beans I recall eating in Greece, I prefer to stir-fry mine for only a matter of minutes, so that they retain their crisp, crunchy texture and bright green color. Continue reading Fasoulyas (green beans)…

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Coconut pumpkin soup

This soup was a hit at our Thanksgiving dinner in Jerusalem. It’s a good way to prepare pumpkin left over from Halloween or Thanksgiving, but then again, it’s also a good excuse just to go out and buy pumpkin. Continue reading Coconut pumpkin soup…

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