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Mirza Ghassemi: Persian Eggplant Tomato Dip

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We have made it abundantly clear over at NewKosher how much we love Persian food, from Bulgar Soup to Pomegranate Walnut Chicken. This dish, a creamy eggplant and tomato dip, will absolutely knock your socks off. While we pretty much stuck with a traditional recipe, we did add one special ingredient: ras el hanout, a Moroccan spice mix. You can use red onion as we suggest, but white onion is more traditional.

While it is presented here as a dip, the almost beefy taste of the roasted eggplant, ground with garlic and tomato, could make an amazing parve marinara sauce for pizza or pasta. Just omit the ras al hanout.

Mirza Ghassemi
(serves 4 to 8 people)

1 large eggplant
1/2 small red onion, finely chopped

Roasted Parmesan Potatoes: A Shabbat Pot Luck Favorite

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Almost every Shabbat/Shabbos dinner I attend is a potluck. And normally, I am just too busy to make anything. So like most mooches, I bring the cheapest bottle of wine or some parve dessert that no one likes.

If your dinner is vegetarian, though, this recipe will be your life saver. It takes ten minutes and you will look like a culinary genius.

1 bag of frozen cubed potatoes (sometimes called Potatoes O’Brien or Southern Style hash browns) thawed in the refrigerator
2 cups of grated parmesan cheese
1/4 cup olive oil
2 tbsp mixed Italian seasoning
salt/pepper to taste

Thaw potatoes in the fridge. They only need a few hours, but you can do this a day in advance. If you forget, it’s fine. They will just take longer to cook. Or you can microwave them to room temperature. See how easy this is, already?

Slit open the top corner of the frozen potato bag and squeeze out [Read more…]

Oreo S’mores

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Lag B’Omer is a great holiday, because you get to build campfires! When I think campfire, I think s’mores. And thanks to Eatocracy, we have a new way of remixing s’mores with, of all things, Oreos.

The recipe is simple: twist and pull apart an Oreo. Roast a kosher marshmallow (not all marshmallows are kosher, so make sure to check for a label). Smash the two together, and bon apetit!

Chag Sameach!

Cardamom Americano

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I am a gourmet coffee NUT! Espresso, mocha latte, iced coffee, cappuccino…if it has the noble bean, water and some form of cream, I’m on it.

This is a very simple, very decadent coffee drink featured in the NewKosher vegan cookbook. I have made a small change by making it an espresso drink instead of traditional coffee, because I found that the crema (the oily brown foam that rests on top of a well made espresso drink) is enough cream that one does not need to adulterate the drink with cream, milk or soy.

In fact, most coffee drinking outside of the United States is not coffee as we know it. While traditional coffee that Americans drink is a rough ground coffee bean and slow filtered water, the Americano is more or less a watered down espresso: about double the water of an espresso “shot”. This makes a small, powerful cup of coffee with enough caffeine to bring you to life, without having to make an entire pot.

The flavor in this drink comes from cardamom pods and sugar. In theory, you could make a cardamom simple syrup with equal parts sugar and water, simmering the green pods until they impart their Indian citrusy flavor, but I feel that my method saves time and actually uses less sugar.

Cardamom Americano

One shot of strong, high quality espresso (don’t skimp on this — buy something that is not instant, and ideally not from the United States. The Swiss and Italians know what they are doing)

One shot glass full of hot water

Three green cardamom pods

One teaspoon sugar

Place three cardamom pods in a small espresso cup. Pour in hot water and sugar, stirring well. It helps to lightly mash the cardamom pods when they are fully soaked, but do not crush the pods as swallowing or biting into whole cardamom is really unpleasant.

Add the coffee and stir. Serve with biscotti, a hookah, or whatever your pleasure is.

Homemade Chocolate Espresso Sauce

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Homemade chocolate syrup or chocolate sauce is key in my favorite drink: a homemade iced mocha! This chocolate sauce recipe is not a dieters delight at all. With butter, sugar, espresso, milk and of course, chocolate, this amazing sauce is truly decadent.

1½ cups of milk
1 oz (30 g) of butter
4 tbsp of sugar
4 tbsp of cocoa powder (any kind will do)
½ tsp of vanilla essence
1 “shot” of espresso (higher quality is better, but a twice brewed coffee will work in a pinch)

Melt butter in a saucepan. Add cocoa, sugar, vanilla and stir constantly until well combined. Take off the heat and add milk and espresso, continuing until sauce gets syrupy, but still a little thin.

This is the secret. Take off the heat and place chocolate sauce in a chilled bowl or place the entire pan in an ice bucket, stirring constantly. The sauce will become very thick, very quickly, and will have a beautiful glossy shine. If it’s still too thin, put the sauce back on the heat and repeat.

To make an amazing mocha, just add two or three heaping tablespoons of the sauce to a shot of expresso and cold milk.

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