Turkey Meatballs: a quiet resurrection

Once upon a time, I had an active cooking blog. Then life got in the way, and I neglected it. But over lunch in Tel Aviv yesterday, a good friend who is the mom of a 2-year-old asked for recipe ideas that were easy, nutritious, and that you could eat from all week. Easy.

For the past few months, after I’ve decided to cut back on dairy and soy, I’ve started making these turkey meatballs every Saturday and eating them all week, at work or home. They answer all the criteria of busy moms, but also of single ladies and gents trying to eat well and save some money.

So now it’s Saturday, and I’ve made them, and so the blog is quietly resurrected.

Turkey Meatballs (קציצות הודו)

Serves 1 single lady for a whole week, or a family for 2 days

Total time: 1 hour (20 minutes unattended)

• 1/2 kg Ground turkey (or chicken)
• 1 onion
• 3 garlic cloves
• A generous handful of parsley + cilantro (or one or the other, or another herb you really like)
• 1 carrot, peeled
• 1/2 cup panko (GF alternative: a potato)
• 1 egg
• 2 tsp Cumin
• 1 tsp each salt and pepper

1. Preheat the over to 200 c (400 f)
2. Line a baking sheet with baking paper
3. In the food processor, throw in the onion, carrot, garlic, and herbs, and mix until paste-like
4. In a large bowl, mix the veggie-herb mixture with all the other ingredients
5. Turn into disk-like balls, and pan fry in olive oil for 2 minutes on each side
6. Stick in the oven for 20 minutes

Ways to enjoy these:

• Right when the come out of the oven
• Cold when you need a late night snack
• Reheated and served with Tahini + spicy sauce (my preferred method)
• In some tomato sauce
• Next to a side of veggies/rice/couscous, etc…

A New Jew(ish) year is upon us!

Y’all! I’m back! There’s been a lot of cries from different quarters about this absence, but I’ve actually been cooking like never before. Sadly, this has been always at night, and with a painful lack of natural light for pretty pictures. However, I did feed many of you (you know who you are, Semu, MarBaz, Goldie, Rafi, Liavikoo) and am hoping to feed many more of you in the new Jewish year. Fall is my favorite time to cook, and I am also in the process of buying a real dining table (suggestions welcome).

One new thing I’ll be doing this year is HOPEFULLY cooking for strangers, in addition to cooking for friends. I have joinged the awesome Kitchensurfing team, and I am hoping to bring my passion for deliciousness to parties, brunches, and cooking classes around New York.

If you know people who need my services, do send them my way! You will receive a delicious meal and my undying devotion in return!

Here’s a little taste of what I made this past week at Kitchensurfing: these are goat cheese tartlets with figs and honey, and they felt very Rosh HaShana appropriate. Recipe is here (and yes, I’m aware her pictures are amazingly better, but it’s not fair, she does this for a living) — they are labor intensive, but impressive and delicious!

Shana Tova to all who are celebrating, and those who aren’t!

 

 

No cookies?

This is how I feel when there are no cookies:

So, in order to avoid such a terrifying situation, I present to you cookies two ways: extremely easy, and very involved but worth it!

The easy ones are almond chocolate cookies, from one of my favorite blogs, Matkonation. This Israeli blog is run by real photographers and food stylist, and it even has an English version. Please don’t compare my photos to theirs, they are not even close. Nevertheless, you should definitely try this gluten free, extremely easy recipe (you’ll notice that I used regular chocolate because I only had a little bit of white left, so these are black and white).

How cute are those napkins?!

So now, from the easier to the more difficult– the following are the so-called TKOs, named after Thomas Keller, who apparently makes them at Per Se. The irony, of course, is that Per Se is down the street from me, but I have yet to visit. In the mean time, I must admit that these cookies will buy you some serious time. They do require some love and patience, but man, they are SO worth it.

In Our Times

I couldn’t have conceived of a better culinary project for girls’ weekend than making croissants. I’ve been wanting to try these for years, and now that I’ve made them I’ve learned several important lessons:
1. You need a LOT of counter space
2. You definitely need a ruler
3. If you have a giant dog, crate him up
4. These are literally one of the best things you’ll ever make, but they require both time and patience
5. To follow up on that point– The depiction of Merrill Streep and Steve Martin making these in It’s Complicated is inaccurate, but they WILL make people fall in love with you.

My BFF Sue the sous chef, and her momma, and the great Dane, made these and ate almost every last crumb. There was definitely BLT ingredients involved for them, and pimento cheese, for moi. There was also chocolate in some of these bad boys.

The recipe (with helpful origami-style illustrations) came from the always amazing Cook’s Illustrated.

I will probably never eat a mass-produced croissant again.

There’s Hemingway in the background

Belatedly

I finally downloaded photos that have been on my phone since October, which is incredibly embarrassing but true. I found these pretty images of red pepper penne, a great recipe that does not reheat well. Make it when there’s a bunch of you to eat it on the spot.

Make sure you disable your fire alarm before roasting