This recipe is perfect for getting back on track after Thanksgiving. It will take most of the day to cook, but just 10 minutes to throw together. Some years we actually start it while we’re cleaning up, and leave it to cook slowly all night long. Except for the scallions and ginger, there’s a good chance you already have all the other ingredients. The only labor-intensive part of this recipe is the time spent looking through the bones for bits of meat. But don’t feel the need to go looking for every last piece. Whatever you have will be enough. If you don’t see much turkey on the carcass, that’s fine too. Since most of the flavor comes from the bones themselves, the broth will be delicious whether or not the bones are stripped clean. Continue reading
Category Archives: onions
YOUR HEALTHY PLATE: October Soup
I was looking back through old posts, and discovered this one from 2011, eleven years and almost 1000 posts ago. Though I do not remember who gave me this recipe, I do know that it came from someone I was working with at the time.*
I arrived home from work one particular evening to find my daughter frying onions, and I asked her what’s for dinner. “I don’t know,” she said, “this is as far as I’ve gotten.” Her amusing reply put me in mind of a guy named Jeff whom I had met many years prior. He became famous in our family, and remains there to this day, because of something he used to say: “First I fry the onions and garlic, and then I decide what to make for dinner.” And that is what my daughter was doing. Continue reading
Grandma Rosie Hits a Home Run (the holidays are coming!)
Today I want to share a recipe that is a wellspring of memories. The women, the teamwork, the heavenly aromas, the busy kitchen, the arriving family, the great big table, the special dishes, the silver. And the food. Simple recipes with amazing flavor. Here is my Grandma Rosie’s recipe for vegetarian chopped liver, which she made the way her own grandma did, with a wooden bowl and mezzaluna. If you’ll be using a food processor instead, which is probably the case, read to the very end for those instructions.
I have exceptionally fond memories of sitting at the kitchen table with the grownups while they worked to prepare the food, listening wide-eyed as they debated the relative merits of various ingredients and their provenance, chattered about errant siblings, and bragged about their above-average children and grandchildren. I remember feeling very grown up when I was finally old enough to take a place in the lineup. When my chopping arm got too tired to continue, I would pass the bowl, usually to my mother, an aunt, or one of my grandmothers. Continue reading
Making Special Meals Even More So (plus a recipe)
The other day my son-in-law and I were talking about my upcoming plans to pass along some of our dishes (the ones we use for meat meals), and instead start using my mother’s beautiful china. Those dishes, which lived happily and visibly in my parents’ house for sixty-plus years, have not been used at all for the past 10 or 15 years, and it seems a waste for us not to be using them now. So it will be out with the new, and in with the old. And also, since we don’t eat meat very much anymore, chicken and turkey not more than once or twice a month, and beef no more than once or twice a year, I had the idea to move the meat dishes out of the kitchen itself, and into a little pantry off the kitchen. That way, they will be nearby when we need them, but the rest of the time we will be able to fill the kitchen cabinets with items we use a lot more often. Continue reading
YOUR HEALTHY PLATE: Canned Soup
Let’s say you have no get-up-and-go. Let’s say you did, but you used it all up dealing with your boss, your kids, your spouse, your self, your neighbor, your coworker, or your pandemic. Then let’s say that it’s dinnertime and you wish you had it in you to throw together something more nourishing than breakfast cereal or potato chips, but you don’t. What follows is a great recipe for when that day comes. Continue reading
YOUR HEALTHY PLATE: Orange Soup (Marak Katom)
In the past week I received a lot of requests for Orange Soup (marak katom), which I mentioned as having been my inspiration for last week’s Purple Soup (marak segol) recipe. So I checked out a whole lot of recipes, and I used those plus the large pot of Orange Soup I made two weeks ago to come up with a version to share here. Please note that you will need an immersion blender to make Orange Soup. And, in case you like words and their derivations, Marak Katom is named for its orange color, which happens, in Hebrew, to be a completely different word (kah-tome) than the fruit (tah-pooz). Continue reading
YOUR HEALTHY PLATE: Purple Soup
In Jerusalem, “Orange Soup” (Marak Katom, or מרק כתום), made with a mixture of sweet potatoes, carrots, and squash, is very popular at this time of year. When I was at the market last week buying ingredients for orange soup, I also noticed some beautiful purple potatoes and, nearby, packages of carrots like jewels, ranging from butter yellow to crimson to dark purple. Prior to the vendor realizing I was buying the ingredients for orange soup, he tried to convince me to buy the purple potatoes instead of the sweet potatoes. He had a recipe in mind, too, and suggested that I consider making mashed purple potatoes. A nearby customer even joined in to say that they are delicious with a little bit of thyme and date syrup. “You won’t regret it!” she said. Once the vendor realized my intention for the sweet potatoes, however, he raised his palms toward me, tipped his head slightly, and said something to the effect of “Oh, well, okay, in that case!” Orange soup is the kind of recipe that everyone makes in their own slightly different way but, at the end of the day, orange soup is orange soup and it’s not to be messed with. Continue reading
YOUR HEALTHY PLATE: White Bean + Celery Salad with Bonus Recipe for Potato-Celery Soup
You know that feeling when you have no idea what to make, and you look in the refrigerator hoping to be inspired by what you see? This past week I found a huge bunch of celery* from my kids’ weekly CSA (community supported agriculture) box, which they receive year-round in Jerusalem. Celery is in season right now, so I decided that this salad would be a good choice. Notice all the colors and textures that make this dish so pretty and so crunchy. Continue reading
YOUR HEALTHY PLATE: Thanksgiving Weekend Squash Heaven
Here’s another recipe to share around. Even after you’ve eaten all the turkey and stuffing and gravy and mashed potatoes and cranberries and Brussels sprouts and mac+cheese and pumpkin pie and whatever else your family always makes for Thanksgiving, there is often a squash or two left on the counter. Here is something very special that you can do with that squash, a breathtaking way to elevate it to an honored spot at the table.
YOUR HEALTHY PLATE: Vegan Cholent (Crockpot Stew)
Last weekend, I made this recipe for the first day of Sukkot, the fall harvest festival, and we ate it inside our beautiful sukkah that my husband built last week. It warmed us from the inside out in the chilly 50 degree weather. And then it was gone, I mean really GONE, just a few hours later. Even my father, who said “I don’t like cholent,” ate a huge bowlful and said he changed his mind. Please make a note of that. Continue reading