Beetroot á la Dagmara

My beautiful friend Dagmara also knows what to do in the kitchen. Just the other day she invited me for lunch and made this tasty starter. Since then I have been eating this dish at home  - for lunch and dinner. Yummy! I've added lemon zest and pumpkin oil to the recipe (forgive me). A perfect starter to kick start a dinner party.

Beetroot  (four ppl)

4 pre-cooked beetroots

300 grams goat yogurt

2-3 tbs raw tahini

A handful of parsley

zest from 1 lemon

Juice from half a lemon

salt

To serve:

60 grams rosted pine nuts

Pumpkin oil

1. Chop the parsley finely. Add goat yogurt, tahini, zest and the lemon juice. Mix well and season with salt.

2. Slice the beetroot. Put on a serving dish in a circle and add the mix on top. Sprinkle over rosted pine nuts and carefully drop pumpkin oil around.

Enjoy! 

Sardinia

If you like italian food, go and check out Chef Roy Soffer's new restaurant in old Jaffa. Simple, good Italian food in a nice atmosphere and for a very resonable price. Worth a visit. Book a table in advance, the place is full almost every night.

Location: Kedumim square, old Jaffa.

Tel:  03-683-2211

Workshop with Meir Adoni

Bishulim (Culinary Institute of Israel) offers a lot of workshops and courses with famous chefs in israel. I just saw pictures from this workshop with Chef Meir Adoni (owner and chef at Catit). I'm signing up asap, the pictures say it all. Check out Bishulim's website for more info (Bishulim).

Chocolate Meringue

This is my very secret recipe for super delicious chocolate meringues. Please don't share (lol). I have since young age always loved meringue. When it was my turn to bring something for Friday snack in school I always made super big jumbo meringues (still do). 

This is a recipe that makes the meringue hard and crunchy on the outside but soft and chewy on the inside, just like in the coffee shops. Chocolate meringue makes a great side to vanilla ice cream but they are also just as good to hover in like that (I prefer the hovering). 

Chocolate Meringue 
  
Ingredients (make approx. 4 big)

180 g sugar

3 egg whites

1/2 tsp salt 

50 g dark chocolate

1. Heat up water in a pot and put a bowl (heatproof of course) over.

2. Add the eggwhites, sugar and the salt and start mixing over the simmering water. Mix for approx. 5 minutes untilt the sugar crystals completely dissolve. 

3. Take it off the heat and keep mixing until it gets cold.

4. Melt the chocolate and fold it in to the eggmix. Fold only a few times, we don't want it to mix completely, only get strips of chocolate. 

5. Put in the oven at 125C degrees and bake for approx. 1 hour.

Enjoy!

For all you Cookbook Lovers

Tip: Check out the cookbook Fresh Flavors from Israel by Ruth Oliver and Orly Pely-Bronshtein and Shaily Lipa-Angel . In the book you can find many good recipes for new Israeli food and flavors. It's also a great book if you are looking for inspiration for the holidays (leg of lamb stuffed with haroset, just saying).

You can buy the book here: Fresh Flavors from Israel

Tahini Ice Cream

 

For the tahini lover I introduce tahini ice cream. Sounds weird? Wait until you taste it. This is a creamy and spicy ice cream that is very easy to make. It does not require an ice cream machine wich can be considered a big plus for us normal people. The condensed milk helps the ice cream to set and get a nice creamy texture. 

Tahini Ice Cream

1 can of sweetened condensed milk

500 ml heavy cream

3-4 tbs of raw tahini

zest from 2 lemons

juice from 1/2 lemon

A dash of cinnemon

1. Beat the cream until soft peaks form. Fold in the condensed milk and the tahini.
2. Add the lemon zest and the juice and keep folding it in, be gentle. 

2. Put the batter in a box or in individual serving cups. Dust the cinnamon on top and put in the freezer. I recommend to leave it over night. 

Serve it with berries or fresh fruit!

Enjoy!

 © 2012 Jill Schweber and Channa Waje, all rights reserved

Blueberry Dreams

the yearly batch of my father's blueberry jam

Picking blueberries requires patience, to actually fill a bucket takes time. It's not for everyone, but if you learn to like it, you will never stop. Being in the woods, listening to the sounds, smelling nature and picking blueberries is therapy and meditation (probably better).

Blueberry Jam

1.5 liters of blueberries
0.6 liter of sugar
1 ml of sodium benzoate (E211 food preservative)

1. Clean the freshly picked wild berries and mix with sugar in a pot. Leave
for a couple of hours so the mix gets juicy.
2. Heat slowly and simmer for 20 minutes. Shake (do not stir) the pot now
and then.
3. Turn off the heat, shake the pot carefully and skim off the foam.
4. Dissolve the natrium benzoate in a few spoonfuls of the hot jam and mix
with the rest of the jam.
5. Pour into warm and very well cleaned jars (rinse with some natrium
benzoate dissolved in water and dry in low heat in the oven), seal and keep
cool.

Tip: Make Swedish pancakes (= thin pancakes) and on top put whipped cream and homemade blueberry jam. Do I need to say more?   

you might meet one of these while picking blueberries

A Guide to Mexican Food and Adventures

Do you want to win a book about easy to prepare Mexican food with beautiful Baja California pictures? We are giving away this great cookbook to one of our readers. All you have to do is comment with an email address and link our blog on FB before the 15/8! (And yes, we are sorry that the book is in Swedish – but the photos are lovely).

By: Lennart Waje and Michel Wide with chef Richard Waje

Blueberry Muffins with Crumbs

mamma Birgitta's blueberry muffins

Every summer in Sweden my mom makes these super tasty blueberry muffins with crumbs. We eat them together with our mandatory afternoon coffee in the garden (overlooking the green woods around our house). They have a strong blueberry flavor and a taste of Swedish summer.

They make you think about the true treasures of our woods in the north. Living abroad, especially in the Middle East where there are no woods and no water, makes you think about the things we take for granted back home. Like milk and freshly picked blueberries straight from the woods for breakfast – every day all through July and August.

(And all Israeli friends, 20 trees is not a forest.)

Blueberry muffins

Crumbs

12 tsp of butter, divided in to pieces

2 cups of flour

1 cup granulated suger

1 cup dark brown sugar

1/2 tsp cinnamon 

1/2 tsp salt

1. Mix all the ingredients in a mixer until crumbs starts to form. 

Muffins (makes approx. 24)

1 cup of corn oil

5 1/2 cup of flour

1 1/2 cup of sugar

3 + 1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

3 big eggs

2 1/2 cup of milk

3 cups blueberries 

1. Mix flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in a bowl and set a side. 

2. In another bowl mix egg, milk and oil. Add the dry ingredients and mix until completely combined. 

3. Add the blueberries, gently add them by folding them in with a spatula or a spoon. We don't want them to break!

4. Fill the muffin cups with 2/3 of the batter (it's recomended to use a cupcake baking tin to hold the muffin cups in). On top add the crumbs. 

5. Bake in the oven on 175C degrees for approx. 20-25 minutes. 

Don't forget the coffee!

This is where it all happens!

Seafood Heaven

Seafood cocktail in Mexico 

I am a huge fan of Mexican food and so is a big part of my family. Most of it is easy to make and the ingredients are very straightforward. And of course, if you like coriander and chili you will just love Mexican food.

Here is a very not kosher seafood cocktail from the Swedish cookbook Waje Wide och en kock – Baja California (Waje Wide and a chef). The book is about food and traveling and the authors eat and cook their way through Baja California. My father Lennart Waje and my uncle Richard Waje are the people behind the book together with the photographer and graphic designer Michael Wide.

I will of course make sure to post a good recipe later on for simple tacos and maybe also my moms amazing flan.

If you are interested in knowing more about the book check out their web page: twow

Cóctel de mariscos

4 dl cold shrimp fond

1 dl tomato juice

2 tomatoes, diced

1 silver onion, finely chopped

100 grams of celery, finely chopped 

2 red chili pepper, finely chopped

juice from 1 lime

100 grams of precooked octopus, diced

100 g of raw scallops, diced

50 grams of precooked cockle

100 grams of precooked mussels

A handful of chopped coriander  

salt and pepper

1. Mix the fond with the tomato juice and onion, celery and chili. Season with salt, pepper and lime. 

2. Add the seafood and the coriander. 

3. Serve in a beautiful glass. 

Shrimp fond 

shells from 1/2 kg shrimps

1 tbs of tomato puree

1 onion, sliced

2 carrots, sliced

1/4 celery, sliced

2 garlic cloves, sliced

1 red chili, sliced

1 tbs of canola oil

 

1. Fry the vegetables lightly in oil in a big pot until they are soft but still without color. 

2. Add the shrimp shells and the tomato puree and keep frying for a few minutes. 

3. Add water just to cover and let simmer for 10-15 minutes. Remove all the foam.

4. Strain the fond and let cool.   

Don't forget to bring out a good Mexican beer to serve it with, or why not make a frozen strawberry margarita?

Enjoy!

Picture by: Lennart Waje

© 2012 Jill Schweber and Channa Waje, all rights reserved

Sharing Secrets

Picture by: Lennart Waje

Macarons can, if you ask me, be considered Gods gift to mankind. They have amazing color and flavor, there are a million different heavenly tastes to choose from, they are crunchy on the outside but yet chewy on the inside, and they have an amazingly soft filling in the middle (the gift).

Macarons They are a favorite in my book as you might be able to tell by now. I actually try to cut down on all other sweets just in order to have more space for my weekly dose of macarons (don't tell). There is only one problem yet to be solved: how do you make a perfect one? I have never before in my life spent so much time trying to succeed at something – and yet failed so miserably. 

As my lovely boyfriend likes to put it: "Is our trash eating macarons again this week?".

This is it, the moment of joy!

Baking class at Bishulim

I was of course the only one who baked a banana instead!

Bread

Last week in school we changed things up a bit and went in to the world of baking. We had a lovely class and made tons of different bread. We baked french classic baguettes, fruit breads and buns and brioche. Even though I completely lack patiens when it comes to baking (long waiting hours in-between), I found the class very interesting and delicious. In the end of the class when it was time to taste, we just took out a big jar of butter and dipped the bread. You should have been there, it was a full blown butter-war.

If you want to find out more about my school Bishulim check out their wedpage: Bishulim

Shushas Cupcakes

Picture by: Oren Cohen

Picture by: Oren Cohen

"Cupcakes are adorable and fancy. They make me happy and also more importantly the reciver happy. They are fun to bake because they are full of color and you can make them different every time. Cupcakes always give a little something back to the eye. They are also perfect for almost any occation. Who don't love a mini-cake?"

By: Shusha Biton

Cupcakes  

Ingredients (12 pieces)

125 grams of self-rising flour

125 grams of butter, softened

125 grams of casted sugar

2 eggs

2-3 tbs milk
      

Cupcake butter cream  

1 kilo of powdered sugar 

400 grams of soft butter

1 tbs milk

1 tsp of vanilla extract

Optional: You can add any flavor or color to the butter cream, choice of your own. It's also good without any extra flavor.

1. Heat the oven to 180C degrees.

2. Mix flour and butter with a mixer until you get crumbs. Add the sugar and beat in the eggs. Finally add the milk and mix until the batter is combined and creamy. 

3. Take out a cupcake tin and add the paper muffin cups. With a spoon put in the batter, approx. 3/4 in every tin. 

4. Bake for about 15 minutes until they turn golden brown. Let cool on a cooling grid. 

5. Start preparing the butter cream. Put half of the sugar in a mixer and add the soft butter, the milk and the vanilla. Beat until combined and add the rest of the sugar. Mix until fluffy. If you want to add color and flavor, do it in this fase. 

6. Put the butter cream in to a pastry bag with a nozzle of your choice. Depending on how you want your batter to look on the cupcake. Press out the butter cream on the cupcakes in a nice pattern. Decorate with something cute and eatable if you want, or serve them just like that.

Enjoy! (YUMMY)

Tip: 

•  The butter cream can keep in the fridge for three days if stored proper. Just make sure to mix it again before you use it to make it fluffy and easier to work with. 

•  If you want to find cool muffin cups or other cool baking stuff you can't find in a normal super market, check out the store Motek - Sugar Boutique on Sderot Yehudit 15 in Tel Aviv. If you are lucky you might meet Shusha, because she works there part-time.  

© 2012 Jill Schweber and Channa Waje, all rights reserved

Pecan Pie a la Shusha

"This pie I always for some reason bake with my younger brother, who loves it. When I bake I always like to have people around. I think baking is something you should do together."

By: Shusha Biton

Pecan Pie

Crust
100 g of butter, melted and warm
3/4 cup powder of powdered sugar
1 egg
2 cups of flour

Filling
1 cup maple syrup
1/2 cup of dark brown sugar
100 g of butter
1/4 cup sugar
3 eggs
1 ½ cups chopped pecans
1 ½ cups whole pecans
1 tablespoon heavy cream

1. Prepare the crust. Mix melted butter and powdered sugar. Beat in the eggs. Add flour and mix just until the dough is smooth and combined. 
2. With your hands, work the dough in to a template (with loose bottom). Flatten out the edges of the crust with a knife. Pick with a fork and freeze until assembly.
3. Prepare filling. Preheat oven to 180 degrees.
4. Heat maple syrup, brown sugar and butter and stir until the sugar and butter is completely melted. Cool slightly. Important!!! Divide the mixture evenly in to 2 bowls - one bowl, add sugar and eggs and whisk immediately (hot mixture so it is important to work quickly). Stir in chopped pecans. Pour in to the pastry crust and bake immediately for 30 minutes, until filling stabilizes the margins but still soft in the center.
5. Arrange whole pecans with your hands on the baked pie (Be careful, it's hot). Mix all the contents of the second bowl with heavy cream and pour over gently (heat slightly if the sauce is not liquid).
6. Return to the oven to finish baking for  another 10 minutes.
7. Remove from oven, let cool (preferably extract the pie from the pan while still warm) and refrigerate for two hours to make it stable.

Serve:
Slice and serve cold or slightly warm, with ice cream or whipped cream.

Enjoy!

Chocolate Tart

Picture by Oren Cohen

"My life is all about cooking and baking, and I love sharing my life with other people."

By: Shusha Biton

Chocolate Tart 

Crust 
100 g of sugar
200 g of butter 

300 g of flour 

1 egg  

Zest of one lemon 

A drop of vanilla extract

Filling

200 g of dark chocolate, good quality, at least 60% cacao

200 ml cream

Day one: 

1. Mix all the ingredients for the dough. Work with it until uniformed.

2.  Wrap the dough with nylon and refrigerate over night. This dough is enough for one big tin, or approx. 7-8 smaller (the one on the pic is 8 cm).
 

Day two:

1. Heat the oven to 170C degrees.

2. Take out the dough from the fridge approx. 5 min before starting to work with it. 

3. Roll the dough and place it in a baking tin, not to thin. Pick small holes in the dough with a fork to prevent it form swelling (you can also, if ambitious, put baking paper on the dough and add rice to the tin. That way it will stay in place in the oven).

4.  Bake for 15 minutes in the oven until a nice golden color. Let cool.

5.  Melt the chocolate.

6. Boil the cream and add the chocolate. If you want you can add nuts, coconut, chocolate pieces, or even hard candy to the ganache. Mix well. Let cool.

7. Add the chocolate filling to the tin with the pie crust.

8. Put in the fridge until it's completely cold and stiff.

9. Decorate with nuts, candy or fruit. 

  
Enjoy! 

© 2012 Jill Schweber and Channa Waje, all rights reserved