Brown sugar cake

Brown Sugar Cake

I was very lucky to handed this recipe from Efi’s mother, and definite favorite amongst all! In fact while writing this to you I am digging in to the cake, it is such melt in your mouth!

I find this cake so unique and in fact have never come close to seeing anything like it before.  As for the name, I am sure that this is not the original name but that is how it was translated to me and I kind of like it.

This is one of the easy cakes to bake, trust me…

1^st mixture:

3 eggs

1 cup oil

1 cup fresh orange juice

¼ cup white sugar

2 Tbsp vanilla sugar

2 cups flour

2^nd mixture: 

¼ tsp cinnamon

1 cup crushed walnut

1 cup brown sugar.

1^st mixture: Combine all the liquids, mix well, then add dry ingredients, mix well.

2^nd mixture: In a separate bowl combine the cinnamon, crushed walnuts and brown sugar.

In a baking tin pour half the contents of the first mixture, add all the contents of the 2^nd mixture on top and then add the remaining contents of the 1^st mixture.

Bake at 180 C. Sprinkle with sugar powder once cooled.

Efi's mix grill

This is such a delicious dish! I have never actually prepared myself, not even assisted, this is 100% Efi’s dish. This is the first time I have watched him and recorded it cause it is well worth sharing!

4 chicken breasts cut up

1 tub of chicken liver

1 onion

2 potatoes chopped

1 sweet potato chopped

1 Tbslp fresh parsley

2 tomatoes chopped

1 aubergine

1 Tbslp turmeric

1 tsp harrief

1 egg beaten

½ cup chicken stock

salt and pepper

In a dish, mix together your chopped onion, potatoes, parsley and spices so that everything is mixed through evenly, drizzle with some olive oil. 

Brown quickly and then turn the heat down and cook till just before the potatoes become to soft. 

Move the ingredients in the pan to one side so that you can brown your chicken and liver on the other side. 

Mix all ingredients together, add the 2 chopped tomatoes and aubergine, pour over the chicken stock and let simmer till meat is cooked through. 

Add your beaten egg and mix well.

This must be served with Tahini dressing and an Israeli salad on the side! Simply delicious! 

A Special Shabbos! (Chicken and herbs)

I laugh at myself when writing this cause it seems that every Shabbos is special lately, or I find some reason or other to convince myself this one is especially special!

I have two reasons for claiming this, one being that we were unable to have Shabbos at home as we spent the weekend away at a Guest House for Efi's birthday.  I missed Shabbos so much it is almost heart sore not being able to plan and cook for Shabbos in our home.  Secondly it was the last Shabbos for this Jewish Calendar.

So I decided that I wanted to do everything in my power to prepare the most most melt in your mouth, bring back memories, typical Jewish Israeli dishes. 

This proves to be very difficult in reality I am afraid! More so lately as besides that fact that I have a very demanding position and work under some stress, I have recently started a Internet marketing course through a local university that has proved to be quite time consuming with what little time I have left after I arrive home from a long day in the office. My gym workouts are suffering as a result too. Nonetheless, us women are able to multitask, not right?

I unfortunately should of prepared the stuffed grapevine leaves the night before, but this did not work out accordingly as planned. And so came Friday I worked ferociously in the kitchen. I am afraid that due being pressed for time I was unable to record step-by-step procedures of preparing the grape vine leaves, so I shall leave that for a future blog post when I am able to record it correctly since it does possess some challenges for the rookie as I discovered!

Now if you do not know already, Efi REALLY likes chicken! Any kind of chicken as long as it is chicken. Therefore I am constantly looking for different ways to prepare a whole chicken, chicken pieces, chicken breasts either grilled, baked, fried, steamed (you get the picture).

For this Shabbos I had cut chicken pieces that I decided I was going to prepare in my 30cm Casserole Dish.

Whole chicken either left whole or cut up, skinned or left on as you prefer

1 onion

1 leek

Tblsp fresh rosemary, chopped

Tblsp fresh parsley, chopped

3 carrots

1-2 stalks of celery

Brown the onion and leek and add your chicken to brown. Throw in your vegetables and herbs, cover and bake in the oven for approximately 30mins. Turn and toss, season with salt and pepper and return back to the oven but this time to grill for approximately 15mins. Your herby chicken is ready!

I served this with sweet potatoes that were brushed with olive oil and grilled for approximately 30-45mins, the stuffed grape vine leaves, which I will leave for another post and an Israeli salad.

Good Shabbos and Shabbat Shalom! 

Sasha’s Chicken and Tomato Casserole

Since receiving my Le Creuset casserole dish last week and knowing full well the reason it was purchased as a ‘gift’ I have felt the pressure of cooking my first dish in this beautiful piece of craftsmanship! And oh boy did I feel the pressure…came Friday morning I was literally showing sweat beads from nervousness. I just could not decide what it was that I shall make in my new Casserole for the first time that would set the precedent of what would come out for years to come.  

And so I took one look in the fridge for what would complement the chicken I wanted to prepare, and just pulled out what I had. I based this dish on what I ate one on one of our trips to Israel that Efi’s mom prepared for Shabbos except she had a whole chicken that she stuffed with rice and vegetables on the side, I however had only skinned chicken pieces and vegetables on hand. And so I started, only wishing for the best…

This dish was prepared in a 30cm casserole dish.

6 pieces of skinned chicken thighs and drumsticks

5 Tblsp of tomato paste

1 Onion chopped

2 large carrots peeled and diced

A selection of mixed marrows (I used a total of 11 of those pictured)

3 large potatoes diced

500ml chicken soup

Salt and pepper for seasoning

Corn flour should you wish to thicken the sauce

Brown onion, adding Chicken to it and brown briefly before stirring in the tomato paste and chicken soup. Turn heat right down to a simmer and add your vegetables.

Pre-heat oven to 150C. Let the dish simmer for approximately 1 hour before transferring to oven, with the lid on, for approximately another hour.

I prepared a plain brown rice on the side to serve with.

I was most pleasantly surprised as it turned out to be one of my best creations, funny how that happens. This is one dish I will most definitely prepare time and time again.

Good Shabbos and Shabbat Shalom! 

The Israeli Salad

There is not a Shabbos that goes past without the Israeli salad; in fact I just cannot even comprehend a Shabbos dinner in our house with out The Israeli Salad on the table!

Preparing this salad is an art in my opinion. Only because I find that there is a difference in taste as to how it is prepared and I am extremely sensitive to this (don’t get me wrong, you can put anyone’s Israeli salad in front of me and I will guarantee you I will eat it!) I just truly appreciate the time and effort that goes into a well made Israeli salad.  When I have prepared this salad at my partners parents house for Shabbos there have always been surprise questions around the table asking who made the salad, and I can proudly confess that I have, and as much as most people find it a chore, it only gives me great pleasure!

There are many who make it with a machine or other kitchen utensils that does all the chopping work for you but I pride myself with doing it all by hand and take my time in doing so and give it all my attention.

Here I am going to share with you the basics of an Israeli salad. I remember when I first was introduced to The Israeli Salad I did not even know where to begin to make this salad as I was in awe as to how they managed to finely chop the ingredients.

So here I have tried to show you step-by-step the process by hand. You need to ensure that you have a knife that you are very comfortable to work with and well sharp for the best results. I work with a medium sized tomato knife.

For the best results you need to ensure that you have the firmest tomatoes to start with or it can be rather challenging and messy.

Cucumbers should preferably by the little Israeli cucumbers and should be as straight as can be to make the cutting work easier (but the local one we get here in Cape Town call English cucumbers will also do).

Season with salt and pepper to your taste, lots of lemon juice and drizzle of olive oil.

This salad is lovely with a good serving of freshly chopped flat leaf parsley.

For variations it is also lovely to add finely chopped Green Pepper or Celery to the tomato and cucumber.

The Sofrito! for Shabbos.

Both Efi and I have been craving a Sofrito for Shabbos and since we had invited some Guests, what better time could there be!

I find this dish so delicious, I love the combination of the spices used which are infused in all the juices that can easily be soaked up with Challah! And surprisingly not a difficult dish to prepare at all.

A typical Friday night dinner adopted from the Spaniards which in turn became the signature dish of the Sephardi Jews.

I have viewed a chicken, veal and lamb versions however I am so addicted to the version made with beef brisket that I have not been tempted by the others, however maybe one day I shall try. For this Shabbos however it will the version I have learnt out of Janna Gur’s book which is my favorite.

The Book of New Israeli Food (a culinary journey)

Ingredients:

1 ½kg beef brisket cut into large chunks

1/3 cup oil

8 small whole onions peeled

10 whole cloves of garlic peeled

¾ cup chicken/beef stock in water

1 tsp Paprika

1 tsp turmeric

1/2tsp curry powder

1/2tsp ground white pepper

1/2tsp ground allspice

salt and freshly ground pepper

8 potatoes cut into wedges

Oil for frying

In a heated pan, brown the beef. Grease a casserole dish (large enough to hold all the ingredients) with 5 Tblsp oil and lay in the meat, onion and garlic. I did not have the little whole onions on hand and therefore compromised with cutting the larger onions in wedges.

Mix the stock with the other spices and pour over meat and bring to a boil. Cover and cook for 1 hour over a low heat. Extra boiling water can be added should the liquid need to be topped up.

Preheat the oven to 150C.

Deep fry the potato wedges till golden and place on paper towel to drain the excess oil.

Arrange the potato wedges over the cooked beef, cover and transfer the dish to the oven for about 2 hours. Shake the saucepan once or twice to get the sauce to cover the potatoes.

The dish is ready when all pieces are tender.

I like to serve this with a selection of various salads and of course the Challah to soak up all those delicious Sofrito juices!

During dinner I was expressing my interest on a Le Creuset dish I have been having my eye on, the following day Efi surprised me with the most beautiful casserole dish by Le Creuset that I am almost bursting with excitement thinking of all the delicious dishes that I will now be able to prepare, including this Sofrito dish! He has since admitted that it was a selfish purchase made with him in mind.  Sneaky but cleaver of him, but believe that it was a win-win situation! J

So that is us for this Shabbos! Shabbat Shalom everyone!