A Muslim Helps a Jew Christen a Tajine (Tagine)

Several months ago, I bought a tajine, intending to start using it right away.  But when I took it out of the box, I found the tajine rather intimidating.  It’s easier to preach “be brave” than to practice it.  I gave myself all sorts of pep talks, ranging from the “you can do this,” and “what’s the worst that can happen?” encouraging words to the stern “suck it up” talk that all parents have delivered to a whining child at some point.  Nothing seemed to make me actually move from caressing the beautiful tajine to using it. 

After my husband got tired of looking at the unused tajine sitting on the counter, he put it away. That did it!  Now I was determined to make him pull it back off the high shelf that I can’t reach (where he usually hides the chocolate I think) and get to work. 

Amanda, my tajine godmother, helped me with encouragement, her tajine tutorial, and one of her recipes (below).  I took the plunge last night.  And as a good 21^st Century godmother would do, she stayed by her phone, answering plenty of DMs (direct messages on twitter) as I cooked.  I’m now officially a tajine-lover, with the missionary zeal of a recent convert. 

A few notes before we get to the recipe:

Click to read more ...

Shepherd's Pie

When it comes to comfort food, many people harken back to their childhood.  In my case, I harken back to someone else’s childhood.  Growing up I didn’t eat mashed potatoes.  Or if I did, my mom made them from a box of dried flakes in the amount needed for a specific meal.  We certainly never had leftover mashed potatoes in the fridge, begging to be eaten or used in another dish.

Fast forward to my first years married to a guy who is as proud of his Irish ancestry as could be.  I learned that mashed potatoes never come from a box and that one always makes a huge pile of them.  Leftover mashed potatoes are not a problem or wasted food; they are the beginning of shepherd’s pie.

Shepherd’s pie is basically chopped meat and small pieces of vegetables, mixed with an herb, tomato, and Worcestershire sauce-seasoned broth, topped with mashed potatoes and baked.  There are no fancy ingredients or techniques and leftover veggies work fine as long as you cut them up into small pieces. You can make individual pies in ramekins or oven-proof bowls or make a larger pie in a pie plate or casserole dish.  It’s a great dish to freeze; easy to defrost and bake on a cold evening when you don’t have the energy to fuss.

Shepherd’s Pie

Click to read more ...

How to Make Great Latkes

Last week I made homemade strudel with two friends.  (We used a recipe passed down to one of the friends from her Aunt Shirley.)  To say that our dough was not “blogworthy” is putting it mildly.  We did have a great time, but there were moments when I wondered whether we were baking or making a Three Stooges movie.

After we put our strudel in the oven, I suggested that we research how to stretch the dough.  We found a couple of videos online with tips that would have been helpful – if we’d watched them before making the dough instead of afterwards.  I will get back to strudel-making, but only after a detailed look at how the pros do it. 

The strudel adventure reminded me that cooking or baking tips can make the difference between a grand accomplishment and a “wonder-where-I-went-wrong” escapade.  Given that it is Hanukkah (or Chanukah, or Hanukah), I figured that a compendium of latke-making tips might help those of you who still have a few potato pancakes left to fry.  And since there are 8 days of Hanukkah no matter how you spell it, guess how many tips I have for you?  Whether you use a basic latke or potato pancake recipe or one of the many recipes for latke variations, these tips will help you cook, freeze, and reheat them.  All that's left is the eating, and I bet you don't need any help with that.

8 Tips on How to Make Great Latkes

Click to read more ...