Gluten Free Tahini Cookies

Do you remember these amazing Tahini Cookies (in English here) By Sharon Sa'ar I made? I changed the recipe a bit to make it Gluten Free. Enjoy.

Last night

Fresh burrata with grilled tomatoes, lemons and hot peppers, almonds, lemon rind, frozen basil and pomegranate and pumpkin seeds for appetizer. We made dinner last night for our loving family, it was delicious.

In my kitchen

New creations in my kitchen, recipes will follow soon.

EVO

Beautiful ads by EVO for Birch & Waite. More here.

Tortillas Recipe

I was very curious about making tortillas at home. Growing up in Israel I never ate Mexican food before I came to Los Angeles, I'm not a fan of beans and don't eat a lot of cheese, but there are a lot of similarities to the Israeli food in the way the fresh vegetables are prepared. I also love chicken, brown rice, avocado, cilantro and lime. So I decided to give it a try. First I used this flour, I followed a few recipes on the internet but wasn't sure when the tortillas were ready and how high my flame should be, the tortillas came out dry and broke. After talking to a friend she got me the right flour and a tortillas presser, we made a few tortillas together to make sure I cook them the right way. Here is my take on the recipe:

1cup Maseka corn masa flour
Pinch of salt
Scant 3/4 cup distilled water

1. Prepare the tortilla presser, cut a ziplock plastic bag along the top and sides and place on the tortilla presser.
2. In a medium bowl mix the flour and salt, add the water slowly mixing with your fingers. The dough should be smooth and not dry or sticky. I used almost 3/4 of a cup, there were one to two tsp left. 
3. Pinch off some dough and roll it between your hands to create a ping pong size ball.
4. Open the bag on the presser and place the ball on one side of the bag, fold the other side over the ball and press down with the presser. I cooked them while making them, but you can make them first and then cook them.
5. Preheat your non stick pan or griddle over medium heat and cook the tortillas for one or two minutes on one side. When the edges look a little lighter in color than the rest flip the tortillas, the top side should also look a little lighter in color then the un-cooked side. Cook for one or two minutes, then flip it again and cook for another half a minute to a minute.
6. Remove the tortillas with a spatula to a plate covered with a towel. Wrap the tortillas with the towel and let them steam for a few minutes as you're finishing to cook the rest of the tortillas.
7. Serve immediately.

The tortillas should be fluffy, soft and tasty. Enjoy!

Homemade Tortillas

I made tortillas from scratch last night with some chicken, rice and lentils, cilantro, lime and roasted kabocha. Recipe to follow.

Halva Ice-cream

I made halva ice-cream from scratch for dessert, I served it on top of berry clafoutis, it was one of the best desserts I've eaten. I used Yotam Ottolenghi's recipe Halva ice cream with chocolate sauce and salted peanuts. I usually don't like very sweet desserts, but when tasting the ice cream I had to add a few ingredients to reach my high expectations. I doubled the amount of halva and added 2 1/2 tsp of honey. It was delicious. You'll find more info about the clafoutis here.

Homemade Almond Milk

It takes only once to get hooked. I started making almond milk a couple of weeks ago and it's the best milk I've ever tasted. Very simple with amazing results. I used this recipe, I also keep the almond meal and bake it on 200º F for two hours, stirring occasionally. I didn't try it yet, but I promise to keep you posted. Give it a try, it's worth it.

Artichoke

Our first artichoke, 18 months in the making, almost gave up on it. It's a completely different flavor when you pick, cook and eat it. Best artichoke I've ever eaten. Three small ones are still growing.

Purple Broccoli

New purple broccoli in the garden, I'm ready to try this beautiful vegetable. I've found a very simple recipe here. It looks like a perfect combo. Have a great weekend. Xo

Winter Colors Salad Recipe

Here is the original recipe translated from Hebrew (without the cookie bags) of Sharon Haspel Sa'ar amazing Winter Colors Salad. I tried my best to keep the originality of the ingredients and instructions. Thank you Sharon for the yummy salad and the beautiful photos. Enjoy.

Winter Colors Salad

This post is about my dear friend Sharon Haspel Sa'ar amazing recipe Winter Colors Salad. When I saw her post about the salad I fell in-love, first with the colors (I'm a designer after all) then with the ingredients. As you know me by now I like doing things my way. I followed Sharon's recipe, I made the dressing exactly as she instructed, but I didn't have chestnuts, yams or cookie bags. I replaced the yams with small regular potatoes, and added different colored carrots from our garden. I also added cabocha to the mix. I roasted it with the peel, I didn't want it to get dry. When it was ready I added the orange part to the salad. I baked everything at 375ºF for 45 minutes or so in a baking sheet covered with foil. I broiled only the potatoes a little bit longer. The warm salad came out amazing. Thank you Sharon for another amazing recipe. Xo

Note: the link is to a recipe in Hebrew, I'll ask Sharon if I could translate her recipe to English.

What's for dinner?

Simple, healthy, organic and very tasty dinner. Green salad with carrots, cucumber and green onion. Lemon herb chicken (I got the recipe from the Israeli chef Haim Cohen but made a few changes). Black rice that is extremely good for you and sautéed peas, mushrooms and zucchinis in olive oil and some salt. • For the chicken I used chicken thighs instead of a whole chicken. I cut and peeled only one lemon instead of two. I used 1 tbs fresh thyme leaves for the first stage and 1 tsp of dried thyme leaves for the second. I also used lemon zest (from the first stage lemon) in the second stage. I used honey instead of sugar and cooked everything on the stove following the same instructions adding only 1/2 cup of water instead of 1 cup. I turned on my oven to broil and made sure the thighs are nicely browned. Enjoy.

Garbanzo Beans & Cabbage

As promised, this is the dish I made with our organic, home grown cabbage. I followed this recipe but changed a few things. Here is what I did (I marked the changes I made in bold):

INGREDIENTS

• 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 medium potato, scrubbed and cut into tiny dice
• 3-4 sprigs fresh thyme (or 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme)
• 1 shallot, minced
• One 15-ounce can garbanzo beans, rinsed very well and drained
• One cut dried Thai chile pepper (optional) 
• 3 cups (8 ounces) very finely shredded green cabbage
• fine-grain sea salt

DIRECTIONS

1. Pour the olive oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. When hot, add the potatoes and spread them evenly in the pan. Cook the potatoes for 5-10 minutes or so, make sure you scrape and toss the potatoes during cooking so that you can get each side browned and cooked through.
2. Add in the fresh thyme, onion, Thai chile pepper and the garbanzo beans and spread all around the skillet. Let cook, undisturbed for 5 minutes to brown just a bit, then scrape and toss again. Cook until the beans are nicely browned on both sides.
3. Stir in the cabbage and cook for a few minutes. Sprinkle with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper. Stir and toss again. Once the cabbage has wilted down, the dish is ready.

What's for dinner

Duck breast and brown rice with orange vegetables, lentils, raisins, currants, dried cranberries and almonds.

Spinach Gomaae

Uri made us Spinach Gomaae last night, it's a perfect Japanese dish made out of spinach and sesame seeds. Very yummy and healthy. Here is the recipe, and here is some info about sesame seeds. Enjoy!

Tonight Treats

I'm responsible for tonights treats. We have Mini Turkish Delight Cookies by Ella and Orna, Tahini Cookies by Sharon Sa'ar (recipe in english here) and Black Currant Friands by Yotam Ottolenghi, recipe here. • For the Friands I used one cup of blueberries and one cup of raspberries instead of fresh currants. I didn't add the melted butter and my 12 cup muffin pan was perfect (it's a different size than mentioned in the book). I got 15 delicious friands. On the first round I used silicon cupcake holders, they are perfect, no need to butter them at all. • Enjoy.

Honey Roasted Carrots with Tahini Yogurt

Another wonderful recipe from Yotam Ottolenghi's book Plenty More. I used carrots we grow in our garden. You can find it here. Enjoy.

Chocolate (and cinnamon) Krantz Cake

I love the combination of yeasted dough, and chocolate and cinnamon melting together. I followed this recipe by Yotam Ottolenghi from Jerusalem: A Cookbook with a few changes. • I used 4 1/4 cups of flour and instant yeast for the dough • I didn't use any lemon or orange zest • I didn't use nuts, and I added 1 tsp of cinnamon to the filling • I baked both cakes at 375º F for 30 minutes per the recipe instructions, but they weren't baked all the way through. After the cakes cooled down, I preheated the oven to 350º F and baked them for 25 minutes. Next time I'll bake the cakes at 350º for about 45 minutes or so. Here you can find some notes about the cake. Enjoy.

Tomatoes

It's tomato season again. We have six or seven different varieties in our vegetable garden. There are three is the photo above, two yellow and one red, not sure about the names but they are very yummy. Some basil, hot pepper from the garden too and olive oil and salt. Bon Appetite.