Spicy Spinach Sidedish

Spinach is one of my least favorite veggie. However, driven by the hope that one day will live a healthy life, I did my best to combine it in different recipes and sometimes I succeeded to create tasty recipes that suit my anti-spinach palate.

Like today, for instance, when I was courageous enough to combine it with a spice I am not using that often - if ever: carom (or ajwain, that I got courtesy of SpiceKitchen UK). A combination of caraway, cumin and fennel, it contains thyme and has a bitter taste (a mixture between anise and oregano). Therefore, I tried to combine it with other ingredients that may alleviate its sparkling: pistachios (salty, Turkish ones) and my beloved garlic, plus the olive oil used for frying. 

Overall, it went out pretty tasty. It's super fast to prepare and it makes it into a tasty sidedish for a main meat meal. For a vegetarian combination, you can add some freshly sliced tomatoes with cheese, or some freshly boiled potatoes.

Ingredients
- 2 generous tablespoons of olive oil
- 2 teaspoons carom seeds
- 4 big garlic cloves cut in rounds
- around 20 pistachios, halved
- 100 gr. baby spinach leaves, carefully cleaned

Directions:
In a medium pan, heat the oil at 250C. Add the carom seeds and fry it for a couple of minutes until it starts sizzling. Add the garlic and keep mixing with the spices for another 2-3 minutes. Continue with the pistachio for another 2-3 minutes. Add the spinach in small batches while mixing. As the spinach is slowly frying, mix all the ingredients a couple of time.
Serve it fresh and lukewarm.

Preparation time: 15 minutes

Cooking time: 15 minutes

Bon Appétit!

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A Spicy Delicious Lamb Recipe

I am not posting so often meaty recipes, but lately, I've fall in love with lamb and its rich texture and tastes, therefore, it was a great experiment to test a couple of delicious spicy matches. As usual, the mixture between sweet and savory is one of my favorite combinations, therefore, expect a lot of unusual matches in this recipe. Unfortunatelly, for various - very serious reasons - I did not keep any picture of the ready meal...As for now, you should believe my genuine words.

Ingredients

450 gr. lamb

100 ml. lime juice

50 gr. grated ginger

150 ml. honey

2 tablespoon Ras el Hanout spices from Spice Kitchen UK, part of the Brand Ambassador Programme

50 ml. walnut oil

9 medium-sized walnut cloves

150 ml. red wine

Directions

Rub the lime and the ginger on both side of the meat. It will help to diminish the unpleasant lamb smell which is obvious especially when the meat was deeply frosten before being used. Rub the honey on both sides and the Ras el Hanout spices. 

In a pan, add the red wine, the walnut oil and the cloves.

Heat the oven at 250C.

Turn the meat on both sides every 45 minutes. If you want it throughout, it will last at least 2h30 until perfectly ready.

As lamb is a bit difficult kind of meat, you better eat it warm, shortly after preparing it. After heating and reheating for a couple of times, the meat will most likely have the texture of a plastic sponge (unfortunatelly).

As a side dish, roasted potatoes with rosmarin, plus a fresh tomatoes and cucumber salad will be a very good choice. A glass of red wine with an aromated fruity texture is the best match, with add-on to the wine-soaked meat.

Serves: 4

Preparation time: 20 minutes

Cooking time: 3 hrs.

Bon Appétit!

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Cheesy Spicy Latkes

I've finally convinced myself to cook this Hanukkah, although in a completely diet-mood. However, once I ordered my first sufganyot from Benedict Berlin, I instantly switched to the holidays mood and succeeded to create even a new latkes recipe that I am happy to share it now. Although the holidays are long over, you can eat those latkes on other occasions too, as it makes it a good companion to regular meals all round the year. 

Ingredients
18 small potatoes peeled
2 small onions shredded
3 medium-size eggs beaten
1 cup matzo flour
1 cup shredded Emmentaler or yellow Cheddar shredded cheese
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon Ras El Hanout, from Spice Kitchen UK, received as their Brand Ambassador
1 big cup of oil for frying
1 small carrot to keep it in the frying pan in order to avoid the sticky burning of latkes (it is a traditional tip among Jewish food bloggers and it works)
5 tablespoons of plain yogurt for serving

Directions

Mix the potatoes with the spices, eggs, cheese and matzo flour until you have a compact mixture. Warm the oil in the pan at least 10 minutes before starting the cooking. Make by hand a small ball of latkes and add it to the frying pan. Turn it on both sides until perfectly cooked.
Put each latkes on both sides on a napkin in order to absorb the extra oil.
Serve it warm, accompanied with a fresh cold plain yogurt topping.

Preparation time
15 minutes

Cooking time
45-50 minutes

Serves: 15 small latkes

Bon Appétit!

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Spicy Cauliflower with Black Sesame

Cauliflower is such an easy match for a variety of flavors, especially spices, allowing the culinary imagination to easily fly away. My experience - although limited - is that you rarely can get it wrong with cauliflower, such a versatile vegetable which keeps a good and healthy company to heavy meals. I've tried this recipe during the Hanukka holidays, when everything is filled with oil and was in desperate need of some healthy side dish. 

Ingredients

1 medium-sized cauliflower, with separated florets

1 teaspoon za'atar

1 teaspoon Berbere spices, received part of Spice Kitchen UK Brand Ambassador Program

1 teaspoon black sesame

2 tablespoons olive oil

1/2 teaspoon salt

Directions

Warm the oven at 250C, at least 10 minutes before starting the baking. On a sheet pan, smear the florets with olive oil - preferably on both sides, then add the various spices and the salt, also on both sides. Let it bake while turning from a part to another every 10 minutes. When ready, add the black sesame and mix it a couple of times.

Cooking time

30 minutes

Preparation time

10 minutes

It makes it a good side dish for both meaty and diary menus. Especially for the latkes, it was my favorite companion. You can also serve it as an entrée, together with a fresh salad - cherry tomatoes with cucumber, with or without oil. The Berbere spices are giving to the meal such a heavy consistency that it changes completely the otherwise bland cauliflower flavor. 

Bon Appétit!

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An Easy Nourishing Pumpkin Cream Soup

I am so bad with soups. I hardly have any favourite myself and I haven't cooked too many in my life. Time for a challenge! My plan is to make the next days and weeks, until mid-December, the latest, the days of soup, putting my imagination and modest cooking skills at work, while preparing at least once the week a nourishing soup for me and my lovely little family.

The first installment in the series, a nourishing pumpkin cream soup as you never ever tasted before (be aware, there are many spices involved - as usual).

Ingredients

- 1 medium sized pumpkin, without seeds, sliced into quarters

- 50 gr. unsalted cashews, turned into powder in the food processor

- 1 tablespoon salt

- 1/2 tableespoon Aleppo Pepper from Spice Kitchen UK, part of their Brand Ambassador Program

- 1 teaspoon grated ginger

- 1 teasopoon turmeric

- 2 tablespoon olive oil

Directions

In one lukewarm liter of salty water at 250C, add the pumpkin and let it boil until very soft. When ready, add it to the food processor together with the ginger and turn it into purée at medium speed for at least 2 minutes. In a pan, add one by one the purée, the turmeric, the oil, salt, Aleppo Pepper, cashews and 1/3 cup water. Simmer slowly until boiling. Let it boil for another 5 minutes.

The taste of all this? Eclectic, nourishing and complex. The ginger brings some sparkle where the cashews and pumpkin and the olive oil are nourishing. The Aleppo Pepper and salt are the spicy balance that you need to lighten out, while the turmeric adds a special taste and colouring. I would bring some sesame salty crackers as a company, but maybe the next time, as this time, excitment was so great that I hardly had the patience to snap some pics for the blog.

Preparation time: 15 minutes

Cooking time: 1 hour

Serves: 2

Bon Appétit!

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Baked Eggplant with Cheddar Cheese

My and eggplant...we have a very complicated story between us, but I keep doing it as much as I can, especially when my hungry imagination is ready to add some spices that may challenge my first (bad) impression about it. 

This time, I wanted to test my new Zwilling, a present from a dear friend, and decided that, among other things that I am planning to prepare, eggplant is the easiest, affordable one. Especially when some spices, courtesy of Spice Kitchen UK, part of their Brand Ambassador Program are added. The result was surprisingly tasty, rich in flavors and made it into a good side dish for a milky-/cheese-based meal. I will only add some fresh cucumber and tomato salad, for a touch of freshness and call it a good meal! 

Ingredients

- 1 medium-sized eggplant
- 3 cloves garlic, finelly minced
- 1 pinch salt
- 1/2 teaspoon Fenugreek
- 1/2 teaspoon Berbere which are a combination of many spices, such as red chilli, garlic, black peppercorns, cardamom, onion. It also has fenugreek, but I personally wanted a stronger presence of this spice, therefore I added it as a separate ingredient too.
- 1 tablespoon lemon zest
- 2 slices of Cheddar Cheese - you can also use Edamer Cheese and any other hard cheese variant.

Directions

Roast the eggplant on the stove at 250C, turning it on all sides at least for 45 minutes. Peel it well, careful to clean all the black parts. Slice it and put it into the baking pan. Warm the oven at 250C, at least 10 minutes before starting the baking. Add the lemon zest, the salt, the spices, the garlic. Be sure that you turn the eggplant on both sides to smear the ingredients properly. Add the cheese on the top.

Bake it for around 45 minutes. 

Serve it warm. The spices and the lemon zest add a complex, sweet-sour taste and consistency to the eggplant. 

Preparation time: 15 minutes

Cooking time: Roasting: 45 minutes. Baking: 45 minutes

Serves: 2

Bon Appétit!

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Couscous Salad with Ras-el-Hanout and 'Kofu'

When I don't travel in the Middle East, I am trying to bring the Middle East to my home - or to my plate, to be more precise. With my bag full of spices from Spice Kitchen UK, part of their Brand Ambassador Programme, I am bringing the rich world of flavour of the East to my West-Berlin kitchen. 

And there are many opportunities coming to my door, almost begging me to take them, prepare them and further share them with my readers. A couple of weeks ago, I've purchased from a local store Kofu, produced in Berlin, using the culinary wisdom of Israel. It is a special kind of tofu, using chickpeas flour. Available in different variants, including simple, mine was the falafel-one, which means that it has the usual spices used for the preparation of this special Oriental dish. I am generally very skeptical when it comes to the non-Asian attempts of producing tofu - I've tried way too much from the Bio sortiment and none was really satisfactory compared to the usual original results. Kofu seems to be a completely different story with an unique taste, not necessarily the usual soybean one, but healthy, smooth and adaptable enough to a variety of ingredients and dishes.

Another great discovery I had is that there is a before and after using Ras-el-Hanout in your couscous everything. This spice made of dozen of ingredients - among which cardamom, rose petals, paprika salt, ginger, coriander, cloves and turmeric, to mention only few of them - gives actually THE taste to the couscous. All the other occassions when you had this typical Moroccan dish are past and not a very glorious one. Ras-el-Hanout brings flavour, strength and unique memories to your plate. With every single bite of my couscous dish I felt like being back from a long - foodie - sleep. All the years when I only added salt, or only za'atar were a nightmare, as nothing compares to taste revelation of a couscous done right. Feel free to try by yourself and you will experience by yourself this unusual enthusiasm. 

The salad I prepared is easy, can be prepared in less than one hour and can be eaten both cold and warm, alone or in combination with meat - preferably chicken, in the summer as during the winter, as part of the lunch or the dinner menu. It suits the vegan or vegetarian, the healthy mother or child.

Ingredients

- 1 cup couscous

- 1/4 cup tablespoon cooking oil

- 2 medium-size eggs, beaten

- 10 small can champignons, halved

- 1/2 tablespoon Ras-el-Hanout spice

- 1 pinch salt

- 1/2 cup lemon zest

- 2 medium-size tomatoes, finelly cut

- 125 gr. Kofu Falafel-flavored tofu, cubed

Directions

In a medium-sized pan, add the oil, and let it fry, at least 10 minutes before starting to cook, at 250C. Add the couscous and eggs and 1 cup water and stir slowly. Add the Ras-el-Hanout and salt and lemon zest, and keep mixing every couple of minutes.

On another pan, slowly fry first the champignons and on another, the cubed Kofu. You can either fry them deep or just warm them a little bit. Once ready, add them to the bowl. 

In the bowl, add the couscous, the tomatoes and the other ingredients and mix them well.

Your healthy meal is ready!

Preparation time: 15 minutes

Cooking: 30 minutes

Serves: 3

Bon Appétit!

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Spicy Sweet Potatoes with Onions and Zucchini

It started as an experiment: I was trying to match my heavily spicy hamburgers. Although an easy tomatoes and cucumber salad would have been enough, I was ready for some more spices. This time, added to my plate of veggies.

Ingredients
- 3 big sweet potatoes, peeled
- 3 scallions, chopped
- 1 big zucchini, cut into rounds
- 1 medim-size white onion, finelly chopped
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon Ras el-Hanout from Spice Kitchen UK, part of their Brand Ambassador Program
- 2 tablespoon cooking oil

Directions
Preheat the oven at 250C, at least 10 minutes before starting the baking. Add the baking paper to the pan. Add one by one the veggies, and mix them well. Sprinkle the oil, the salt, pepper and the spices. Let it cook until ready, turning the veggies on all sides every 20 minutes or so.

Preparation time: 15 minutes

Cooking time: 1h30

I've personally found this mix as a great addition to my meaty plate, but it can also be served as an individual dish. The eclectic Ras el-Hanout - the crown of North African Spices, which includes at least 30 ingredients as diverse as cardamom, anise, ginger, turmeric and nutmeg - adds a complex taste to the dish. It balances the sweetness of the potatoes and diminishes the strong flavor of onions, with a sweet, mild note. Especially recommended to spices' lovers, but also to anyone looking to experiment rich, new flavors. 

Bon Appétit!

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10 Spicy Burgers for Hot Tasty Days

Hot days ask for spices. Lots of them. And long meals eaten outdoors. Grills and barbecues and cold beers and white wines. All the good things in life.

For me, a delicious summer meal should involve meat. And my newly discovered love for spices. A burger, preferably, with a glass of sparkling white wine and some roasted veggies on the side. As simple as that.

Let's start with the meat part, for now. I am a big fan of meat, but consumed moderately - once the week, and only kosher. Which means that sometimes I depend on the available supermarket offer. I am not living in America after all, where the range of kosher meat is amazing and you only need ideas to make all those meaty dish to happen. Before the Jewish High Holidays, I wanted to offer myself a meat overload, in preparation of what was supposed to come. Just to be sure that my stomach is getting ready. 

As a busy mom, frozen burgers are the answer to many serious foodie problems. All you need is to defrost them and add the right ingredients and salad - very easy fresh tomato and cucumber salad, for instance. 

Happy owner of a 10- beef burger pack, I started to build up our star of the lunches for the next days. Luckily, the generous reserve of spices I got from Spice Kitchen UK, part of their Brand Ambassador Program, solved 99,9% of my questions and challenges. 

First, need to defrost the burgers. Therefore, I place them on baking pan for around one hour. 

Meanwhile, the search for the best spices, began. I tried to use at least 8 different spices, spread to every burger. One got a special treatment, as I wanted to try a gourmet variant, with a truffle oil addition. This is the only burger that got some oil, as for the rest, I only used spices.  

I smear the spices on both sides of the burgers, to be sure that the flavors are equally distributed all over. 

Ingredients

I've used the following selection of spices (for each side of the burger, I used 1/4 teaspoon). When not mentioned otherwise the spices were offered by Spice Kitchen UK:

- Fenugreek - was the best surprises. Its hints of roasted maple, which means both a sweet and bitter add, it melted perfectly with the original beef flavor. Note to myself: experience more with this amazing spice.

- Harissa - is a classical Moroccan hot spice, but it cannot get older. Recommended if you love your meat hot and very spicy!

- Aleppo Pepper - it is a very versatile spice, that adds a fruity pleasant note. Pleased to discover it matches meat as nicely as it does with avocado.

- Urfa Biber - it never disappoints when it comes to coming together with meat. It adds that special flavor and balance that goes very well with any kind of meat (tried with turkey and now with beef and nothing to complain about).

- Ras el-Hanout - it is a very rich spice, which has an impressive list of ingredients (from star anise to rose petals, cumin, turmeric, paprika and nutmeg, among many others). It goes very well with foods which are 'neutral' (not with a very strong flavor, such as corn or couscous) and opens up a complex range of tastes and impressions.

- Berbere - it never disappoints when it comes to meat, and I was very happy to reinvent a - despicable at a time - childhood traditional meal. It has a balance of tastes, from very spicy (paprika, black peppercorn, red chilli, garlic), to moderate mild ones (fenugreek and cardamom). 

- Black Pepper - from my own reserve of spices...- as simple as that. Pepper, especially the black one, always adds a particular spicy note to every meal, and to some cocktails too (Bloody Mary, anyone?). I smeared over the burger also 1/2 teaspoon of truffle oil, my purchase from www.viani.de.

- Special Grill Mix - a mix available in the Turkish stores in Berlin, which has: paprika, pepper, chilli, coriander, garlic and celery salt.

Directions

Preheat oven at 250C.

Leave the burgers to cook, while moving them from a side to another every 20 minutes or so.

Serves: 10

Preparation time: 15 minutes+the time requested for the burgers to defrost

Cooking time: 1 hour

Bon Appétit!

Disclaimer: Spices offered for review by Spice Kitchen UK, but the opinions are, as usual, my own.

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Corn on the Cob with Ras El-Hanout, Salt and Butter

Many autumns ago, corn used to be my main meal for the final weeks of August and mid-September. Mostly eaten as corn on the cob, it only involved salt, and a lot of time spent in the boiling temperature of the kitchen while boiling corn after corn. It was all what I was eating for lunch and dinner and the natural sweetness of the corn was what I needed for that part of the year. 

Meanwhile I grew up and my tastes become more complex. Many years I just avoided corn on the cob, because too proletarian for my newly acquired preferences. Also, it was not so easy to find that countryside corn sold in the farmer's markets in the old country. A new world was opening to me and it was no place for that past any more.

However, once I settled up and diversified my life and food experiences, the old recipes and life stories were just another opportunity to share an unique story. My story.

Therefore, why not using them as a basic for just another spicy experience?

Ingredients

- 2 normal size corn
- 1 tablespoon salt for boiling the corn and another tablespoon for smear it on all sides of each corn
- 1 liter cold water
- 2 tablespoons butter, one for each corn

- 1 tablespoon Ras El-Hanout

Directions

Preheat the water at 250C. When almost boiling, add the corn and let it boil for at least 45 minutes. If the corn is too ripe, you can wait as long as one hour. When ready, take them out of the water and smear the butter all over each of the corns. Add salt and the Ras El-Hanout, spreading it all over the surface. You can use a cooking easel if you want an almost perfect coverage.

Serve it warm or at the room temperature. Reheat, if necessary, in the microwave.

A typical spice for the North African cuisine, usually mixed with couscous, this spice-mix of Ras El-Hanout has at least 25 different ingredients, among which: turmeric, paprika, salt, nutmeg, ginger, cumin, coriander, cinnamon, black pepper, cardamom, sugar, all spice, clalli powder, star anise, cloves, rose petals. Only the mention of each and every one of those ingredients stirs tasty memories therefore you can imagine how does it taste the full combination added on the corn. The butter creates a special fluidity adding a milky note.

You can also use this corn mixture as a main ingredient of a salad, eventually together with tomatoes, onion, avocado and some olive oil. 

Preparation time: 10 minutes

Cooking time: 45 minutes-1 hour, depending on how ripe the corn is.

Serves: 2

Bon Appétit!

Disclaimer: The Ras El-Hanout spices were offered by Spice Kitchen UK part of their Brand Ambassador Program, but the opinions are, as usual, my own. Their Ras El-Hanout was a 2-star great taste award winner in 2017.

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Wraps with Oyster Mushrooms Filling. Bonus: Pasta with Truffle Oil

I love to cook with mushrooms, from the usual white/brown sortiment available on the market to the chaterelles/Pfifferlinge. As a child, I used to go often foraging and even became for a while accustomed with the edible wild types available in the old country. Nowadays, I can find a wild variety of mushrooms availble in the German supermarkets and my curiosity to try something new every autumn wins over my reluctance that I might reignite old allergies. Until it happens - hopefully never again -, I would keep experimenting and every time I am more than happier with the results.

For the opening of this autumn season, I played a bit with the oyster/Austern mushrooms mix, foraged from Poland and sold in a 200 gr. plastic box at the Edeka superstore.

The mild pastel colours of yellow and pink are delicious and they look like wild and bizarre creatures of the nature. Preferably, you have to prepare them at least 24 hours upon purchase, even if you keep them in the fridge, as they are delicate enough to alter easily.  

The filling recipe I used it both for a veggie wrap - using some perfectly thin and mouthwatering pancakes aimed for my Peking duck (recipe to be revealed in a next delicious post), but also for a pasta.

Oyster mushroom filling

- 200 gr. oyster mushrooms, finelly cut
- 2 tablespoon sunflower oil
- 1 big onion, finelly cut
- 1 big carrot, finelly cut into small cubes
- 1/2 teaspoon salt

- 1/2 teaspoon of za'atar from Spice Kitchen UK which made me the honor of being their brand ambassador. (Za'atar is my favorite spice in the whole world and one of those ingredients I cannot live without in my kitchen and a full review of their variant - which is not so bold in terms of flavor as the one I am used with from the Shuk in Jerusalem, but still is doing a great job in foods - coming up soon on the blog.)

Directions

Preheat the oil in the pan at 250C. Add the onions and fry them until turned gold. Add the za'atar, the carrot and the mushrooms and mix them well.

Preparation time: 15 minutes

Cooking time: 20 minutes

Additional ingredients for the wraps

In order to prepare the wraps, some additional ingredients are needed. I tried to combine those that can balance the usual bitter sweet/bitter almond taste of this type of wild mushrooms. The measurements are provided for one wrap.

Although you can use any kind of wrap, those pancakes for crispy duck by Ming Foods - for the kosher conscious, the good news is they have the stamp of the London Beit Din. They are very delicate, with a predominant gluten taste, but which melts perfectly with the ingrediens of the wrap (both duck and oyster mushroom filling).

As I tried to focus on the vegetarian options, my choice was for a rich addition of fresh vegetables. Therefore, I added to the list of the ingredients:
- 1 avocado
- 2 small pigeon-hearted tomatoes, halved
On taste, you can also add a teaspoon of olive oil, black olives/halved, fresh cucumber slices, or half a boiled egg, a touch of fresh parsley or dill, some belly pepper or scallions or corns. I would dare a bit and try with some pistacchio too, as a gourmet balance to the oyster mushrooms or pumpkin seeds as well.
Use the ingredients from your kitchen closet as your oyster and you will not get disappointed!

I added one tablespoon of oyster mushroom filling in the middle, surrounded by avocado and tomatoes. 

Serving: the filling is enough to fill at least 10 fat wraps

Rolled it gently and...here we are! The Veggie wraps are ready! Fresh, tasty, ready to be eaten. 

A perfect addition to your breakfast plate or for a weekend family afternoon. If you have children, you can involve them in the choice of the fresh ingredients and the wrap setting as well. It may be a replacement for a DIY afternoon, if you insist!

Additional ingredients for the pasta

Stuffed with wraps, I went out to walk for a while to work out the filling, during which a new foodie idea pop-up into my hungry mind. What about using some little bit of filling for some pasta and another secret ingredient that I love?

All being said, I boiled some 100 gr. of shell pasta in salty water. As additional ingredient, I only added a single thing. Which is not cheese but....1 tablespoon of truffle oil. A special bottle I got from a friend, made in the North of Germany and strong as a glass of pure whisky. Perfect if you look for some culinary hardcore and to be consumed moderately - maximum once the month.

Preparation time: 10 minutes

Cooking time: 15-20 minutes

Serves: For one portion you need: 1 cup fresh pasta, 1 tablespoon of oyster mushroom filling and one teaspoon of truffle oil. Mix them well and...

Bon Appétit!

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Red Beet Salad with Berbere Spices and Olive Oil

I cannot figure out how my gourmet life was before I started discovering spices. Most probably it was undernourished, bland, unattractive and tasteless. For someone like me, with a complicated personal history to foods, that pinch of spice added to a plate dramatically changed the taste for good. Spices create unforgettable taste memories that stay with you at least until the next spicy experiment. The more I explore this world of flavors and fragrances, the more I realize how infinite the possibilities of matching and combining are.

As this year I was selected as one of the brand ambassador for the multi-awarded Spice Kitchen UK, my newly discovered passion for spices got a professional direction, as I have to work hard to combine the flavors with usual foods I am using regularly in my kitchen. The experiences are unique, as it gives a completely new life to foods that I was very reluctant to try and prepare before. For instance, red beet. My Eastern European heritage didn't change the fact that I simply cannot stand the smell of it. As for the taste, I find it completely bland - boring, in literary terms - therefore, on the list of 'you better no bother to bring them at home'. Anyway, boiling and preparing them may involve a lot of red traces as...they are called red beets  for a reason. I love a good cold borscht, but preferably prepared by my Russian/Ukrainian friends.

All being said, have no idea what happened to me to decide spontaneoulsy yesterday to purchase some little round dirty looking red beets. Maybe the fact that I haven't created anything worth in my kitchen for a long while, or that the Jewish New Year, the Rosh Hashanah is approaching and needed to boost a bit my creativity? Not sure, but I decided to make the effort and brought the small little something at home. A salad - with olive oil, mint and salt - was an easy solution, but I was looking for something more memorable, able to create those food memories that I may long for in my non-foodie moments. 

As usual in such situation, a look into my spices' cabinet always helps. This time, I wanted a perfect spice, which challenges the original down-to-earth taste of the beets. Aleppo Pepper was a bit too simple while the sumac with its fruity waves was not strong enough to add something to the original taste and the risk was that it gets simply lost into the strong beets flavor. Couple of more minutes of deliberation and I finally set for for Berbere, a spice that I didn't explored too much until now. An basic ingredient in the Ethiopian and Eritrean kitchen, it adds hotness to the meals, with its exquisite combination of: chili pepper, garlic, ginger, basil, nigelly, fenugreek, onion cardamom. A fantastic mix that promised to alter and enrich the red beet.

Once everything was settled, let's start the hard spicy work!

Ingredients

4 small red beets

1 tablespoon olive oil

1/2 teaspoon Berbere spice

Directions

Peel the beets. Add them to hot boiling salty water and let them to boil until tender. Once ready, cut it into small slices. Add the olive oil and mix. Spread the Berbere spice and mix. Let it rest at least 20 minutes before serving. Serve it either at the room temperature or cooled in the fridge.

The result: mindblowing! It kept from the original red beet flavor the sweetness and added it to the hotness of the other ingredients. This modest salad was a star at my table. Although I used it as a started, it goes very well as a side dish for salmon or for various mets.

Serves: 2

Preparation time: 10 minutes

Cooking time: The beets need at least one hour to boil properly. 

Bon Appétit!

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3 Ways to Use Your Sumac Spices

If you are having a tasty visit to any of the genuine Middle Eastern - especially Persian - restaurants, you may find on the table in addition to salt and pepper, also a reddish powder. It is sumac, made of red berries and sprinkled over a variety of foods, from salads to lamb, chicken and fish. It has a fruity salty taste, which may create a good balance by the marinade and add a fresh note to the hummus or fattoush. 

Part of my mission of brand ambassador for the multi-awarded Spice Kitchen UK, I included sumac as part of my list of favorite spices. Exciting adventure, as before that, I only shyly tried sumac in restaurants but never experienced its texture and flavor on my own.

Therefore, my first encouter involved learning how to use it in some easy, classical combinations, but as soon as I got a strong foot on the spicy ground, I moved forward creating one unique - and unusual - recipe. 

Here are my three ways to use sumac in the kitchen. And it is just the beginning, as I feel bold enough to try even more creative recipes. Wait and see until the end of the post...

Summer salad

Summer was amazingly long in my part of the world, which allowed me - when I was not relaxing in the countryside - to create a couple of healthy recipes. I substituted salt with sumac which added even more freshness and a special taste to the salad. My favorite variant that I will keep doing it regardless of the season involved: finely chopped cucumber, canned corn, and finely chopped small tomatoes. The amount of sumac is on taste, but I personally added 1/4 teaspoon. No oil, no balsamico. Just those veggies and the fresh touch of sumac.

Rice

If you grew up with rice - which I didn't - you don't need to read cooking books to learn how to properly boil it or what spices to add. I did the hard way - and don't regret it - which also involved that I needed a lot of time to properly learn how to prepare and use basic cooking ingredients, such as rice. My favorite combination involved jasmin rice with a generous sprinkle of sumac on the top. To be served as a separate meal, or in combination with chicken or fish. As I usually find rice bland and tasteless - the water among the meals - sumac is a welcomed diversion which makes me reconsider the flavor qualities of the rice.

Banana smoothie with tahini and sumac on the top (yes, you've read it right!) 

And now, the exciting recipe is finally coming, after writing what an experienced cook will rightfully call 'platitudes'. This latest combination I tried - over and over again - this weekend and I confirm it is so tasty that my guests convinced me that I definitely need to share the recipe as well. It also uses an ingredient which is so popular nowadays - tahini, especially in addition to sweets. I've personally found it a very special smoothie, with an unforgettable taste. 

Ingredients:

400 ml. canned coconut milk

2 1/2 big size banana, cut into cubes

1 teaspoon tehina

1 teaspoon brown sugar or honey - if you want some extra sweetness

1/4 teaspoon sumac

Directions

In the blender, add the coconut milk, the banana, tehina and sugar. Mix them well at moderate speed for maximum 3 minutes. Pour into glasses, add the sumac on top and let it to rest in the fridge, at least 30 minutes before serving. 

Preparation time: 10 minutes

Serves: 3

Disclaimer: Spices offered by Spice Kitchen UK for review, but the opinions are, as usual, my own

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A Touch of Urfa Biber to Your Asparagus

Asparagus - or spargel, in German - is one of those foods that I can easily live without, but once the year, when the season is in full bloom - mid-May and end of June - I want to try it, for creating at least one new recipe. In most cases, I consider it a relatively bland food, without any special features and no taste to long about for the rest of the year.

This year, I tried to use my treasure of spices from the multi-awarded Spice Kitchen UK, part of their Brand Ambassador Program. Not an easy choice given their exquisite collection of top spices, but in the end I decided to add to my hard boiled - 25 minutes at 250C - asparagus the Urfa Biber (Isot Pepper). Part of the red pepper family, this spice adds a mild flavor to the dish, not too salty, not too hot, just that pinch that bring taste to the otherwise neutral asparagus. I usually add salt - especially when matchen with boiled potatoes, but this time it was just enough to bring the healthy life - read it taste - to my dish. All you need is half teaspoon of this magic black spice spread all over your dish.

You can pair it with a cold white wine and life couldn't get any better... 

Disclaimer: Spices offered by Spice Kitchen UK, part of their Brand Ambassador Program, but the opinions are, as usual, my own

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Spicy Coconut Soup with Nutty Tofu

I have such a bad and toxic relationship with soups...I either don't like them so much or very successful in preparing them. However, for the healthy sake of the baby I am doing one once in a while - with the promise to do it more and better the next time. Also, given my big dental problems in the last weeks - that kept me mostly hungry and badly fed - I had to reconsider my options and challenge my cooking skills, by introducing new soups into the menu. Especially after trying the available ready-made options - vegan - on the market, that unfortunatelly I've found completely unattractive flavor-wise.

For a long time I wanted to try some coconut soups and even kept for weeks a can of coconut milk but wasn't brave enough to open it and start adding ingredients. This Friday though, I was hungry enough to make that spectacular change. As usual in such cases, it worked out very well and I promise myself to try again at least every week. 

In this case of a very eclectic combination, my aim was to balance the oily coconut milk taste and the strong peanut tofu with some spicy accents, which may balance and diversify the flavor in a smoothly, not outrageously spicy way. Both Harissa and the chili interacted pretty well with the scallions creating during boiling a new and exquisite spicy taste. As I was always very careful with Harissa, this time I realized how much I can actually use this spice in complementary combinations and I can't wait to experience more with it. 

Ingredients

400 ml. canned coconut milk

1/2 teaspoon sesame oil

100 gr. peanut tofu, cut into small cubes

2 medium-size scallions, cut into small rounds

1/4 teaspoon Harissa spice from Spice Kitchen UK

12 small champignons, halved

3 small bites of red chilli

7 leaves of coriander

Directions

Add the ingredients, one by one, and mix well every time. Heat at 100C and mix well once in a while. After it's starting to boil, wait for at least 5 minutes.

Serve it hot!

Serves: 2

Bon Appétit!

Disclaimer: Harissa spices were offered by the Spice Kitchen UK as their brand ambassador, but the opinions are, as usual, my own.

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Non-alcoholic Spicy Tomatoes and Aleppo Pepper Cocktail

Since I tried for the first time Aleppo Pepper, a spice I've heard so many good things about and which did not disappoint me at all, I was thinking how I can use this versatile pepper in a new combination. And it seems that my mind needed at least two months until I finally took a decision. What about a cold tomatoes spicy summer cocktail, now when the weather finally looks much friendlier than a couple of weeks ago?

The results were more than satisfying and with a very special spicy result. By adding Aleppo Pepper to your tomatoes you can create an unique juice, healthy and energizing with an unique taste. The preparation takes minutes and unless you want your drink a bit more cold, you can drink it immediately. Accompanied by a meal or just as a refreshment, this non-alcoholic cocktail brings exotic tastes and impressions into your life. For yourself, a party or for a tasty date.

Ingredients

25 small heart-shaped small tomatoes, halved

1/4 teaspoon Aleppo Pepper from Spice Kitchen UK

1 pinch black pepper

1 full teaspoon brown sugar

300 ml. cold water

Directions

Add all the ingredients, one by one, into the blender and mix them at medium speed for 2 minutes. You can pour the juice into a straw first if you want to have a completely clean drink, but I personally preferred to keep the tomatoes skin as well. 

You can drink it within minutes after preparation or wait for at least half an hour with the drink kept in the fridge. Both variants are fine.

Before taking the first sip, be ready for an unique experience: elegant taste with unique spice traces, a beautiful colour and a genuine sweetness (the reason I wanted to avoid the white sugar and use the brown one; honey can also work).

Serves: 3
Preparation time: 10 minutes

Disclaimer: Spices offered by Spice Kitchen UK as their Brand Ambassador for review, but the opinions are, as usual, my own

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Chicken Liver with Boiled Potatoes and a Pinch of Berbere Spices

Let's talk about the most hateful children foods. For me, the top of the list was liver, any kind of liver, followed by spinach and lamb too. However, I am trying little by little to come along with those foods simply through the act of cooking them. Spinach is getting better, lamb I can accept once in a while, but the liver...it is a very hard job.

I still remember how desperate my poor mother was when once while cleaning the house discovered on the back of the coach small pieces from the very expensive and much praised liver she fought hard to get it on our table. Times changed and I am living now in a place where I can much easier find some kosher liver, but my relationship with this food was never better. Only the sight of the bloody liver - and the memory of the metallic taste (after all, liver operates as a sponge where all the toxines in the body are filtered and it is also that part of the body with the highest concentration of blood, which does not go away even though kashering) made me instantly puke. 

But there are some good healthy advantages of eating liver too, the most important being the high-concentration of iron, which is a great immunity boost. For the love of my son, though, I may change a lot of things in my life - and my diet too, therefore I gave my first ever try at cooking chicken liver myself. And eating it too, for the first time in over 16 years (yeah, I was a teen when I had it last). To be honest, it wasn't that bad - maybe the touch of Berbere spices from Spice Kitchen UK changed everything, who knows - and combined with some simple boiled potato and fresh slices of tomatoes was actually a very rich meaty meal. All you need to know is that you may need a lot of time for boiling and frying the liver, in order to be sure that the blood is going out. The combination of the Berbere spices (red chilli, garlic, coriander seeds, fenugreek, black peppercorns, cloves, paprika, onion powder, black cardamom, nutmeg, cinnamon, all spices and salt) with fried onions, oil and paprika challenged for good the original liver good. 

Ingredients
2 tablespoon cooking oil
1 medium-sized onion, finely chopped
1 medium-sized yellow bell pepper sliced
600 gr. chicken liver, frozen
2 tablespoon Berbere spices
1 tablespoon lemon juice - it helps when the meat is frozen as it may have a specific unpleasant taste

Directions

Pre-heat the oil in the pan for about 10 minutes. Add the onions and fry until golden. Add the paprika and keep mixing for another couple of minutes. Add the liver, the Berbere spices and 1 big cup of water and let to boil. Mix once in a while, to be sure that the ingredients mix well. Boil until the liver gets a dark brown colour. 

I personally prefered to balance the liver taste with some fresh veggies and the boiled potato. Mashed potatoes also work, or some green salad or avocado. I would dare to add even some couscous or boiled carrots. The most important is to do not have a flavor overload, but only to find that right balance between different ingredients. 

Verdict? As I will not change too much my opinion about liver -it would take another century until I will think about doing my own beef liver anyway and tasting it too - for health reasons I would actually love to try it at least a couple of times the year. With Pesach holidays coming up in a couple of weeks only, I would probably include the chicken liver on one of my regular menus for this time of the Jewish year. 

Preparation time: 10 minutes

Cooking time: 1 hour or until ready
Serves: 3

Bon Appétit!

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Add a Bit of Spice to Your Potato Kugel

A staple food for the Shabbat table, the potato kugel can be also a good comfort food during the week, especially during the winter when you need a piece of hot fat rich everything. I am usually a big fan of a very classical recipe, that require a minimum of ingredients, usually the classical combination. What may differ from a recipe to another are the quantities and the quality of the ingredients (especially when it comes to the kind of potato used). I personally have nothing against a bit of more oil once in a while, as long as it is part of a tasty meal. For the first time on my blog, I am sharing my potato kugel recipe, which this time has a secret ingredient, replacing the usual black pepper I am regularly using.

Ingredients
12 medium-size potatoes
1 tablespoon kosher salt
1/4 tablespoon Urfa Biber black pepper that I previously learned how to use a couple of days ago, part of my assignment as Brand Ambassador for Spice Kitchen UK
3 medium-size eggs, beaten
125 ml. sunflower oil

Directions

Grate the potatoes. You can also use a blender, but I personally didn't mind as the potatoes were relatively small and I was able to deal with them easily and painless. I keep the watery starch of the potatoes as it does absorb well during the baking. Add the ingredients one by one and mix well each time. After ready, pour the content into the Aluminium pan and let them rest for about 10 minutes.

Heat the oven at least 15 minutes before starting the baking. 

Preparation time: 30 minutes

Baking time: 1h30 or until fully done

Cut into little cubes before serving. It serves around 16 cubes baked into a medium-size pan. In terms of the spice, I was careful not to use half of tablespoon but if you want a spicier kugel, you can dare. Urfa Biber brings a taste of sweetness while balancing the heavy taste of potatoes plus oil plus eggs. The texture is smooth and silky and the cover is so crunchy that I can hardly resist to not eat only the cover at once. You can have a bit of heavy cold sour cream on the side for an even better flavor balance. 

Bon Appétit!

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About a Different Kind of Pepper: Urfa Biber (Isot Pepper)

This is less a post about recipes and cooking ideas, but has as main character a very special kind of pepper: Urfa Biber or Isot Pepper. Part of my selection from the Spice Kitchen UK collection, with whom I've entered a partnership part of their Brand Ambassador program, I've received a couple of spices to test in the next weeks and months, starting with the very special Aleppo pepper.

The inspiration of Monday's lunch was something a bit different: a very black looking powder called Urfa Biber. Biber means pepper in Turkish, the country of origin of this special kind of pepper. Practically, it is part of the red pepper family, produced through a process of 'sweating': drying of the seeds during the day, followed by wrapping them tied during the day. Compared to other peppers, they are less spicy, with a warm note which creates a pleasant balance of flavors. 

I used it twice for my lunch: spread modestly on my fresh tomatoes, and as one pinch used for by very special barberry rice - 1 cup Jasmin rice, plus 25 gr. dried barberries (or Berberizen as they are called in German). The other part of the meal were Turkey cevapcici, brought to me by the kosher meat Of Tov company. Especially in the case of the rice, the urfa biber was a great balance to the mild sparkling taste of barberries, without pungency of any kind. Given that the day before I had a 25 km. hiking this meal was not only easy to prepare but also full of energy and fresh vitamins (barberries are rich in Vitamin C). 

As for the urfa biber, my short documentation indicates that it has a great variety of uses, among which: on roasted eggplants, fried eggs, but also brownies. Testing in process so keep an eye on my blog for updates.

Disclaimer: Spices offered by Spice Kitchen UK, part of their Brand Ambassador Program, but the opinions are, as usual, my own

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Ready for New Spicy Adventures. Avocado Toast with Aleppo Pepper, anyone?

When your mail box smells of fresh spices, you know that you just received something too good to be true! The multi-awarded Birmingham-based company Spice Kitchen UK selected my blog for their Brand Ambassador program and my selection of spices that I want to try for the next weeks and months was sent super fast, with a very responsive and friendly customer service that I rarely experienced, sending updates about the products I've selected and the stages of the delivery.

I've worked previously with this family run company, back in 2013, but since then they grew up and I - hopefully - got more experience in terms of both cooking and understanding flavors, so I am very excited about my next cooking adventures. Stay tunned for a lot of interesting recipes, original or adapted from my very rich collection of cookbooks.

Besides the hand-made spices, they also create award winning teas, which ranges from Earl Grey to Strawberries&Cream. Spice Kitchen UK is also involved in supporting several charities. It also concerned about the environment, as most of the packaging is recycled from other local businesses, in order to reduce the environmental impact and carbon footprint as much as possible.

My package included a very exquisite mix of spices, many of them in my kitchen for the first time: Baharat - a rich Middle Eastern spice mix combining black peppercorns, cadamom, cassia, cloves, coriander, cumin, nutmeg and paprika; Isot Pepper (Urfa Biber) - a dried Turkish pepper with a deep raisin, smokey flavour; Harissa - a fiery North African chill mix with dried red chilli, garlic, coriander, paprika and caraway; Star Anise; Berbere - one of the building blocks of Ethiopian cuisine, combining red chilli, garlic, coriander seeds, fenugreek, black peppercorns, cloves, paprika, onion powder, black cardamom, nutmeg, cinnamon, allspice and salt; Aleppo Pepper - dried chilli flakes wtih a hint of cherry-like fruitiness; Carom Seeds; Sumac; Za'atar - the first time when I will use for the regular cooking other za'atar than the usually one brought to me from Israel; Ras el Hanout - a traditional blend from Morocco, with lots of ingredients such as turmeric, paprika, salt, nutmeg, ginger, cumin, coriander, cinnamon, black pepper, cardamom, sugar, all spice, chilli powder, star anise, cloves, rose petals; Fenugreek. 

And yes, my future in the kitchen sounds as amazing as it smells!
What I also liked a lot about the small packages was that there are hints about where to use them, for salads or meats, which is very helpful, especially for those who are wondering how to match them.

Initially I wanted to start my adventure the next week, but as I was in the middle of preparing the breakfast, I couldn't resist to not start already playing with my spices. I began by spreading a discrete pinch of Aleppo Pepper on my avocado toast. And from now on, there will be no other garnish to my avocado toast. 

The fruity, spicy flavor of the pepper - you need to use only a little bit - interacted perfectly with the crunchy texture of the bread and the fatness of the avocado. It makes it into a great balance, bringing it some fruity sparkling that stays with you for longer. 

A great choice and I am happy that I followed my creative mind for trying this combination. My first encounter with Aleppo Pepper, a spice that I wanted to try for such a long time, was also special and can't wait to give more substance to my foodie dreams. 

Disclaimer: Spices offered by Spice Kitchen UK for review, but the opinions are, as usual, my own

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