Cafe Liz

Yemenite zhug

Here I am, making zhug, even though I’ve never really been a big fan. Not liking something has never kept me from trying to make it myself.

Plus, I find something intrinsically interesting about making condiments. Things like mustard and mayonnaise, they’re usually considered ingredients in their own right, something you get ready-made. But that doesn’t mean you need to take them as a given; they, too, can be made.

Zhug (סחוג), also written skhug or schug, is a Yemenite condiment, one you usually find topping falafel or hummus, or smeared in sandwiches. None of these are things I regularly eat, but I’m loving my zhug as a red-hot, super quick seasoning for orange soups. Continue reading Yemenite zhug…

Happiness is stuffed vegetables when it’s raining

Nothing like a cold, rainy day to make me want to turn on the oven and whip up a massive tray of stuffed vegetables of all shapes and sizes. It takes about an hour to bake, and you’ll find me here, huddled next to the oven door the entire time.

You can stuff way more than just peppers — I started with six peppers, then moved on to two zucchini and four tomatoes. You could give onions the same treatment; I just wasn’t in the mood. Baking all these vegetables together in the pan adds flavor to the entire dish, though.

There they are, hot out of the oven and overflowing with rice Continue reading Happiness is stuffed vegetables when it’s raining…

Vegetable salad with buttermilk and dates

This is kind of like an Israeli salad bathed in buttermilk. I was inspired by all the creamy salads we had in Hungary, except there they use sour cream, and I prefer buttermilk. And fresh vegetables. The effect is creamy but light. Continue reading Vegetable salad with buttermilk and dates…

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…

Pumpkin pepper soup

I was inspired to buy sweet dried peppers after reading up about chili. Mind you, these particular recipes happened to be packed with meat, so I wasn’t going to make them anytime soon, but the peppers in and of themselves seemed like a good idea. So they sat on our kitchen table for a while, and I’ve been randomly adding them to things. Such as today’s pumpkin soup. This is a very simple, mild soup with very few ingredients, and it tastes quite good. Continue reading Pumpkin pepper soup…

Bean spinach soup with a tomato base

I wasn’t going to post another soup, since they all kind of look the same, but this one came out really well. The cinnamon adds a nice touch, and all that spinach adds good flavor. In any case, I think it’s great to show what you can do without soup mix or premade broth — it’d be nice if certain restaurants were to catch on that you really don’t need these things in proper cooking. Continue reading Bean spinach soup with a tomato base…

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…

Cheesy stuffed peppers

These cheese-filled peppers are quick and easy, and since this blog seems to be reading like a travel log, I should probably mention that we were served similar stuffed peppers at our hotel in Bulgaria. Continue reading Cheesy stuffed peppers…