Middle East Take on Quinoa Salad and Stuffed Mini Peppers

Middle Eastern Quinoa Salad

While the debate about Quinoa’s knitniyot status continues to rage on, I would like to encourage you all to make the most of this wonderful source of protein, which is an edible seed that is related to vegetables such as beets and spinach, because next year it may be off the table for Ashkenazim.

Here’s a really great way to use quinoa in a salad and make it very Mediterranean in flavor. Tabbouleh salad is very popular round these parts. Personally, I’m not a big fan of bulgar, so I don’t make this. By substituting quinoa for bulgar, not only do you make this salad kosher for Pesach, you also, in my opinion, make it a lot tastier.

After making this salad, I then threw some mini red peppers into the oven to roast, and stuffed them with the salad as a really pretty and delicious starter. Israeli supermarkets and green grocers have been flooded lately with these wonderful mini red peppers, which are sweet and crunchy, and great to snack on. I took some of the bigger ones to roast and stuff, and it’s a hit. It is a little finicky, but work around the table was that it’s worth it.

MIDDLE EASTERN QUINOA SALAD

Roasted mini peppers stuffed with quinoa salad

Ingredients

1 cup raw quinoa

½ red onion very finely chopped

2 medium-sized ripe tomatoes very finely chopped

2 cloves garlic crushed

1 cup of chopped fresh parsley

½ cup chopped fresh mint leaves

1 tablespoon chopped fresh coriander (optional)

Juice of half a lemon

About ¼ cup olive oil

Salt and pepper to taste

How to do it

1. Preparing the quinoa: Rinse the quinoa in a strainer under running cold water for about 2 minutes. Boil 2 cups of water in a saucepan, and add the strained quinoa, a pinch of salt and 1 tablespoon of olive oil. Bring to the boil, and turn down the heat to low. Allow to simmer for about 20 minutes or until all the water has cooked away (I always check after it’s been cooking for about 15 minutes to make sure it doesn’t overcook.) Turn off the heat and fluff the quinoa with a fork. Allow to cool completely.

2. Soak the chopped onion in a bowl of cold water for a minute or two – this will eliminate the very pungent flavor and mellow the onion a bit. Strain.

3. Place the cooled quinoa into a medium-sized bowl and add the vegetables and herbs. Mix through.

4. Dress with the lemon, oil, salt and pepper, and mix. Taste and add more of any of the dressing ingredients to taste.

Serves about 6.

Mini Peppers

FOR STUFFED MINI PEPPERS

Ingredients

20-24 large mini red peppers

About one third of the salad

How to do it

1. Pre-heat the oven to 180°C (350°F).

Slit the peppers from top to bottom

2. Wash and dry the peppers, do not remove the stalks. Using a small serrated knife, cut a slit down the length of the pepper leaving just a few millimeters at the top and at the bottom.

3. Cover a baking tray with baking paper and grease it with about 1 tablespoon of olive oil. Place the peppers on the baking tray and roast in the oven for about 15 minutes. Then turn the peppers over and roast for another 10 minutes or until the peppers start taking on dark brown patches. Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely.

Roasted mini peppers

4. Using a very small teaspoon, stuff some of the quinoa mixture into each pepper. Serve at room temperature.

Serves about 4.

The 10-minute Asian pasta salad

Last week I promised to post the easiest cold Asian pasta salad I make, which goes really well with Chicken Satay. Then the storm set in and I posted warm dishes instead. Now our regular sunny winter is back and it’s time to keep my promise because making sold salad no longer seems ridiculous in this weather.

This pasta salad is really the quickest you can imagine. In the time it takes to cook the pasta (which is usually around 10 minutes, hence the headline), you prepare everything else and it’s done. You can use regular spaghetti – number 3 works well – or you can use egg noodles. Both will come out equally well. You can add any additional vegetables you want. I make it plain because the kids love it that way, but this is a really good base for whatever you want to add.

QUICK ASIAN PASTA SALAD

Quick Asian Pasta Salad

Ingredients

500 g (1 lb) spaghetti (#3) or egg noodles (Note: The egg noodles usually come in 400 g packages, so just use the same quantities of dressing – it won’t be a problem)

Dressing

3 tablespoons canola oil

3 tablespoons soy sauce

2 tablespoons vinegar or rice wine vinegar

3 tablespoons sugar

a few drops of sesame oil

1 teaspoon mirin (optional)

Optional vegetables (use all or any if desired)

3 green onion chopped

1 small red pepper sliced and halved

½ small red onions thinly sliced

½ cup cooked corn kernels

1 medium carrot julienned or very thinly sliced

1 stick celery thinly sliced

How to do it

1. Cook the pasta as per the instructions on the package (do not overcook). Drain and rinse with cold water until the noodles reach room temperature.

2. While the pasta is cooking, mix all the dressing ingredients till combined.

3. Toss the dressing through the pasta and add the vegetables if desired.

Serves about 6.

The Mexican Corn Salad I Discovered on Kibbutz

Sharon’s Mexican Corn Salad

I met my friend Sharon on my day of arrival in Israel in January 1989. We were both starting a kibbutz ulpan, and we hit it off right away. We managed to stay in touch on and off through the years, and now that she lives back on kibbutz with her husband (who she met on kibbutz) and kids, we are regularly in touch. Theyrecently hosted us for lunch on the patio of their new house, overlooking the Mediterranean sea. Sitting in the fresh sea air gave us all a hearty appetite, so it was just as well that she whipped up a gorgeous lunch. One of the highlights was a crunchy, fresh Mexican corn salad. I couldn’t stop eating it, and took recipe instructions from Sharon before I left (as well as permission to publish here).

I love corn, and when you combine it with red pepper, red onion and fresh coriander, it’s a pretty as a picture and just as good to eat. I used fresh corn that I boiled and cut off the cob. In spite of being a powerhouse of fresh, gorgeous fruit and vegetables, Israel has not quite come to grips with growing good corn. Trips to North America have educated me as to how fresh corn should really taste, and unfortunately, Israel’s just not there. So for those of you living in Israel, I recommend using frozen corn, which is generally much tastier than its fresh counterpart. For those of you who live in countries like the US and Canada, where fresh corn is a dream, please go fresh with this recipe.

Thanks Sharon!

SHARON’S MEXICAN CORN SALAD

Ingredients

About 3-4 cups corn (fresh will be from about 6-8 ears)

1 small red onion quartered and sliced

2 red peppers chopped or about ¾cup of roasted peppers sliced

3-4 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro

Juice of 1 lime or 1 small lemon

¼ cup olive oil

½ teaspoon sugar

Salt and pepper to taste

How to do it

1. For fresh corn, boil the corn until it’s cooked. Allow to cool and then run a sharp large knife down the sides of the corn, as close to the husk as possible, to slice the kernels off. For frozen, defrost using boiling water and drain when soft.

2. Mix the corn, onion, pepper, and cilantro in a bowl.

3. Whisk the lime/lemon juice, oil, sugar, salt and pepper. Pour over the salad and allow to sit for a while before serving. This salad can be made a day in advance. The flavors are enhanced when the salad sits overnight.

Serves about 8.

A very summery salad: baby potato, tomato, asparagus

Roasted Baby Potato, Cherry Tomato and Asparagus Salad

Oh, summer! It’s the season where creative salads can take the place of hot vegetables as side dishes, and make a table look wonderfully colorful and bright.

At the start of the summer, I glanced at a recipe for a potato salad with a difference in a newspaper or magazine, and then I promptly forgot where I read it. So I decided to put together my own version and include some of my favorite summer additions. My salad is a roasted baby potato and cherry tomato salad with blanched asparagus in a red onion vinaigrette. It’s a wonderful salad that raises the level of the old fashioned potato salad and adds lots of color and flavor. My recipe is for the full version, where you oven roast the potatoes and the cherry tomatoes. But you can also boil the potatoes instead (although I highly recommend the roasted version as the potatoes emerge form the oven with a sweetness you can never achieve in a pot of boiling water), and you can use sun dried tomatoes in olive oil (again, I recommend the home made version which is a little more work but the flavor is just wonderful).

The oven roasted/dried tomatoes are a really wonderful ingredient, and so versatile. You can use them standalone as a great addition to a brunch table, with cheeses and breads – they’re delicious on fresh bread with any kind of cream cheese. You can also add some cubed feta or Bulgarian cheese and thinly sliced red onion and serve them as a salad. This is also a great way to generate amazing flavor out of cherry or small vine tomatoes that have no taste (it happens sometimes.) When I buy tomatoes that are tasteless I always oven dried them. This draws out their flavor and it’s really amazing to taste the difference.

ROASTED BABY POTATO, CHERRY TOMATO AND ASPARAGUS SALAD IN RED ONION VINAIGRETTE

Ingredients

Salad

Olive oil

About 1 kg (2 lb) baby/new potatoes unpeeled and washed

About 500g (1 lb) cherry or small vine tomatoes sliced in half

Salt and pepper

1 bunch fresh asparagus (about 20 spears) with the ends snapped off*

A handful of chopped fresh parsley

Dressing

1 whole head of garlic (roasted)

1 small red onion or half a red onion

½ cup olive oil

2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

2 tablespoons red wine vinegar

2 teaspoons grainy Dijon mustard

1 teaspoon sugar

Salt and pepper to taste

How to do it

Potatoes all roasted and sweet with garlic for company

1. Pre-heat the oven to 180°C (350°F)

2. Place a sheet of baking paper on a baking tray and sprinkle it with olive oil. Place the potatoes on the tray along with the head of garlic. Roast in the oven for about an hour, stirring after about half an hour. When the potatoes have browned a little and a fork slides very easily through one, they are ready. Remove from oven and allow to cool. Cut into bite sized chunks – not too small.

3. Turn the heat up to 220°C (430°F).

4. Place a sheet of baking paper on a baking tray and sprinkle it with olive oil. Place the tomatoes, cut side up, on the paper. Sprinkle them with some salt and pepper and roast them for 15 minutes in the middle of the oven.

Oven roasted/dried tomatoes

5. Lower the temperature of the oven to 150°C (300°F) and continue to roast them for another 30-45 minutes or until they have shriveled to about half their size (don’t et them burn – when they start turning a brown color, it’s time to take them out). Allow to cool.

6. Bring water to a boil in a large pot (make sure the pot is wide enough for the asparagus to lie in fully submerged. Add some salt when the water starts boiling. Add the asparagus to the boiling water. Boil for no more than 2 minutes from the time the asparagus hit the water. Remove the asparagus and plunge them into a bowl of ice water (this keeps the green color from fading and stops the cooking process immediately so the asparagus remain crunchy). Drain. Cut into bite sized pieces.

Asparagus snapped to get rid of the hard bits

Now you have all the components of the salad cooked, it’s time to make the dressing.

7. Place the red onion, cut into smaller chunks, in a food processor, and process it using the large chopping blade. Then add the rest of the dressing ingredients and the roasted garlic cloves and blend till combined. Mix together will all the salad ingredients and serve.

Waiting for the dressing

Note: You can easily adjust the quantities in this recipe for a larger salad. Double the dressing quantities and keep the leftovers for another day.

*The way to remove the hard ends of fresh asparagus is simply to take the spear of asparagus in both hands and bend until it snaps. Where it breaks is the point where the spear becomes hard. Discard the hard ends. (You can snap a few at a time).

Back to normal eating with a delicious couscous salad

It’s time to get back into a routine after the excitement of Yom Ha’atzmaut. Like most Israelis, we ate a lot of meat last week. So for my first recipe of this week, I thought I’d go meatless with a vegetarian couscous salad. As summer approaches, this is a great recipe for the seasonal repertoire. It works well as a side-dish that you can make a day before and serve on Shabbat re-heating. It’s also a really simple standby recipe that’s great to make when you have vegetarians over as it’s really filling.

Couscous vegetable salad

For this one, I use the instant couscous because it’s hardier than the home-made version, and it’s also a lot quicker to prepare. Make sure you buy the heavy couscous, which will stand up to being kept in the refrigerator and won’t get mushy.You can also improvise with the vegetables – these are my favorites for this recipe, but you can have lots of fun adding your favorite vegetables as well.

COUSCOUS VEGETABLE SALAD

Ingredients

1 350g (12 oz) bag heavy couscous

2-3 tablespoons olive oil

2 medium carrots finely diced (a fine dice means that the slice should be about 2 mm wide at most – the width about 5 mm)

2 sticks celery diced

1 large onion chopped

2 red peppers chopped

1 cup frozen or canned corn

4-5 cloves of garlic crushed

2 tablespoons fresh chopped parsley

A dash of cumin (optional)

How to do it

1. Heat the oil in a wok or large skillet.

Sauteed vegetables for the salad

2. Add the onions, carrots, celery and red peppers and saute until they are just softening (about 4-5 minutes). Add the garlic and stir.

3. Add the corn, parsley and other spices and saute until the corn is thawed.

4. Prepare the couscous according to the instructions on the bag. Make sure to toss the couscous through with a fork once it’s done.

5. Mix the couscous and the vegetables together.

Serve at room temperature or slightly chilled. Serves about 8.

Eggplant Made Simple

The way I see it, eggplant is to Israeli cuisine what herring is to Eastern European Jewish cooking. What am I on about? When I was growing up, my mother was the queen of herring, and prepared this salty fish in so many different ways: Pickled herring, Danish Herring (in a mustardy sauce), Russian Herring (in tomato sauce), pineapple herring (yes indeed, in a cream sauce!), chopped herring (that Jewish party favorite, served with kichel), and, horror of horrors, baked herring, or as it was known in our house “gebakte herring” – an awful herring-based meat loaf that couldn’t easy double as an instrument of torture. Baked herring was without doubt one of the main culprits in Eastern European Jewish cooking never quite making it as one the the world’s great cuisines. I can still smell the stench of the baking herring permeating through the house…

While my folk spent many an hour dreaming up new and exciting ways with herring, here in Israel, the eggplant seems to have taken on a similar role, only, in my humble opinion, the results are much tastier. Any trip to an Israeli supermarket or local eatery will present you with an array of different eggplant salads – eggplant in tehina, eggplant in mayonaise, roasted eggplant salad, spicy eggplant, and then there’s fried eggplant slices, and more. One of my favorite ways to serve eggplant is the locally popular half eggplant with tehina. This is one of the most elegant ways to serve Israeli “herring”, and is extremely easy to prepare. It’s a great side dish for a BBQ or any other meal. It’s parev and of course, vegetarian, so it ticks many boxes.

I recommend looking for smaller eggplants so that you can give a half an eggplant per serving instead of having to cut them in half at the table.

For this year’s Yom Ha’atzmaut, why don’t you give this simple dish a try, and watch your guests be very impressed.

ROASTED EGGPLANT SERVED WITH TEHINA

Ingredients 

Roasted Eggplant Served with Tehina

6 small eggplants

Olive oil

2/3 cup of raw tehina

About 2/3 cup of cold water

2 small cloves of garlic crushed

The juice of half a lemon (or more, to taste)

½ cup chopped fresh parsley (about half is for garnish)

Salt to taste

How to do it

1. Pre-heat the oven to 180°C (350°F)

2. Wash the eggplants, snip off the spikey part of the stem leaves and slice them length-ways down the middle. Brush the cut side of each half with some olive oil (the oil will be absorbed into the eggplant and it will not seem oily, but don’t add more.)

3. Place the eggplant halves cut side down directly onto a clean oven rack. (Tip: Place an oven tray below the rack covered with a piece of baking paper or foil to collect the drippings and keep your oven clean.) Bake for about 40 minutes or until the cut sides are brown and the flesh is soft. Remove from the oven and allow to cool.

4. Prepare the tehina: In a bowl, mix the raw tehina, lemon juice and crushed garlic. Slowly add the water, mixing until you get a thick, but slightly runny consistency (runnier than hummus). Add the chopped parsley and salt to taste.

5. Serve each eggplant half with some tehina sauce drizzled over the top. Sprinkle with some more chopped parsley to garnish.

Makes 12 servings

It’s gotta be Jewish ‘cos it’s cabbage!

There’s something about cabbage that conjures up my Eastern European, Ashkenazi “culinary” roots. My earliest memories of traditional Jewish cooking involved stuffed cabbage, hot borscht with cabbage, and pickled cabbage.  I have always loved cabbage, and these particular cabbage dishes are among my favorites when it comes to my own personal culinary heritage. And as soon as I get a chance, I will post a recipe for the hot borscht with cabbage, which I think is one of the best soups there is (even though I am alone in that opinion in my house).

When I was growing up, the cabbage in question was almost always white cabbage. But when I came to live in Israel, I discovered that red cabbage was extremely popular here, especially in salads. In fact, the one dish I’ve always made with red cabbage is my sweet and sour cabbage, has been met with astonishment from my Israeli friends, many of whom had never seen cooked red cabbage!

Curried Red Cabbage Slaw

So to my recipe…for Rosh Hashana, my friend Gili bought me one of the best gifts ever: “The Complete Guide to Traditional Jewish Cooking” by Marlena Spieler. This is a massive collection of Jewish recipes – some more traditional, others seem to just be good recipes that are kosher. All in all, it’s a wonderful and eclectic mix of recipes, and whatever I have tried so far has worked well. What I love about her Curried Red Cabbage Slaw is that it combines the red cabbage of Eastern Europe with the tangy curry flavor I grew up with in South Africa to create a fun and easy salad to make. You can make it dairy with the yogurt, for a creamier taste or you can leave out the yogurt for the parev version. I have significantly reduced the sugar she suggests, but if you prefer it sweeter, go ahead. With its robust flavors, this salad goes really well with meat dishes.

CURRIED RED CABBAGE SLAW

½ a head of red cabbage thinly sliced

1 red pepper thinly sliced

½ a red onion thinly sliced or chopped

4 tablespoons red wine or cider vinegar

1 tablespoon sugar

¼ cup plain yogurt (optional)

½ cup mayonnaise or ¾ cup if you aren’t using the yogurt

¼-½ teaspoon curry powder (the strength of different curry powders vary, so if the curry powder is very strong, use less)

Salt and ground black pepper

How to do it

1. Combined the cabbage, pepper and onion in a large bowl.

2. In a small saucepan, heat the vinegar and sugar until the sugar dissolves and pour over the veggies. Cool.

3. Mix the yogurt and/or mayonnaise, curry powder, salt and pepper and mix into the salad.

4. Leave to sit for a few hours and drain off excess liquid before serving.

Serves about six.

Brynn’s East Meets East Noodle Salad

This past Shabbat, I ate the most delicious Asian-style noodle salad I’ve eaten in a long time. My sister-in-law Brynn had added her own twist to an Asian recipe by adding, of all things, tehina, to the sauce. It’s a combination that really works and gives the salad a wonderful depth. I suppose if you don’t want to use the tehina or can’t be bothered to make it, then you can use about 4 tablespoons of peanut butter instead. But I highly recommend this version, which I have dubbed East Meets East Noodle Salad, as it brings together ingredients from the Far and Middle East into one dish.

I am so glad that Brynn agreed to share this recipe with all of us! It will certainly become a regular on my table and I’m sure it will on yours too. It works beautifully as a first course as well as a side dish. And the tehina raises the nutrition bar on this dish. It’s also easy to remember as you’ll see by the quantities.

Thanks Brynn!

EAST MEETS EAST NOODLE SALAD 

Ingredients 

East Meets East Noodle Salad

500 g (1 lb) spaghetti (I recommend #3 but use what you prefer)

Dressing

6 tablespoons vegetable oil

6 tablespoons soy sauce

6 tablespoons white, apple, or rice vinegar

6 tablespoons white sugar

2 tablespoons sesame oil

A splash of chili oil

Tehina

1 cup of raw tehina (sesame paste)

About ¾ cup water

2 large crushed garlic cloves

salt and pepper to taste

About 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice

Spring onion or toasted sesame seeds to garnish.

How to do it

1. Cook the spaghetti according to the instructions, till al dente

2. Mix all the dressing ingredients together in a jar

3. Prepare the tehina (do not add parsley)

4. Mix the dressing, tehina and spaghetti together.

5. Garnish with chopped spring onions, or roasted sesame seeds or both!

Serve cold or room temperature.

Simple Salads

I’m always reticent to post extremely simple recipes, not wanting to state what could be perceived as the obvious. But on the other hand, some of my simplest recipes invite the question: “How do you make this?” The fact is that when you’re making a full three course meal, it’s always nice to have some simple recipes to throw in that don’t require a long list of ingredients and also look and taste good.

One of my favorites is beet salad. I love beets and always have. I was raised in a home where borscht in the winter and cold beet soup served with cream and boiled potatoes in the summer were staples (and we called them beetroot). My husband and sons unfortunately hate beets, so it took me a long time to introduce this vegetable to our table, and I only make this when we’re having guests. But I make this whenever I can as it’s great as a leftover, which you can’t say for too may salads.

Beet and Mint Salad

The most difficult part of making this simple salad is dicing the beets, but as long as you are using a good, sharp knife, it shouldn’t be too much of a problem. The rest is a breeze.

BEET AND MINT SALAD

Ingredients

3 large beets

1 tablespoon chopped fresh mint leaves

4 tablespoons vinegar

1 tablespoon sugar

Salt and pepper

How to do it

1. Peel and dice the beets using a very sharp, large knife. The smaller the dice the shorter the cooking time will be – I cut them into approximate 1×2 cm pieces, but you don’t have to be scientific about it. Note: If you get beets with the stalks, which we hardly ever get in Israel, do chop the thick parts up and add them to the mix – they are delicious when cooked.

2. Place in a medium sized saucepan and cover the beets with water – about 5 cm (2 inches) above the beets. Bring to the boil and reduce the heat, simmering for about 30-45 minutes or until the beets are soft when tested with a fork.

3. Drain the water and leave to cool completely.

4. In an airtight container or dressing jar, mix the vinegar, sugar, salt and pepper well. Pour over the cooled beets. Add the mint leaves and mix. Taste and add extra seasoning if required.

Serves about 8.

While we’re on the topic of salads…

While I’m on the topic of salads, here’s one that is less of a “salad recipe” and more of a salad idea. Winter or summer, this is a fun way to serve corn.

All it involved is cooking about 5 ears of corn (or more). Once they are cooked and cooled down, slice the ears into 1 centimeter-wide (half an inch) rounds that look like little wheels, and cover them with your favorite vinaigrette dressing. I love serving this at BBQs but it works for any meal that takes place inside as well. So while little is required in the way of a recipe, here’s one anyway.

CORN WHEEL SALAD

Ingredients 

Corn Wheel Salad

5 ears of corn

For dressing:

1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil

2 teaspoons balsamic vinegar

1 teaspoon red wine vinegar

1 teaspoon freshly squeezed lemon juice

1 teaspoon sugar

2 teaspoons grainy Dijon mustard

¼ teaspoon granulated garlic powder

Salt and ground black pepper

How to do it

1. Cook the corn in boiling water for about 10 minutes (or until cooked when a fork tine easily pierces the skin of a kernel)

2. Let the corn cool and then slice the ears of corn into 1 centimeter-wide (half an inch) rounds

3. Whisk the dressing ingredients together and pour over the corn wheels.

Serves about 6.  Eat with your hands!