First Friday Foray

Hello Friends.  It’s been a while, I know, but I am back in the kitchen after my most recent hiatus.  I took last summer off to go to Middlebury Vermont and learn Spanish (long story). Then I took a deep dive into my other passion, garment sewing.  I’ve been teaching fit classes, making a new wardrobe for my changing body and building my fabric stash (don’t judge me).  But the other day I was teaching a cooking class on Zoom and I realized that I have this very nice collection of cookbooks which I reference all the time when teaching, but which I rarely cook from anymore.  Having recently committed to paring down my possessions to things I really love, enjoy and/or need; I began to eye those shelves with a combination of distress and love.  I love my cookbooks and it distresses me that I seldom use some of them. Yes, I know collecting cookbooks and cooking are two different hobbies, but still…. So, I have decided to justify, I mean utilize, my collection.  I thought long and hard about how to do this and landed on the idea of making one special meal a week.  Friday is a good day for this as it is the day during the week when I don’t have many other obligations, and since Saturday is my “off” day when I have no workouts and often no teaching obligations. 

Not being one to waste time, I dove right in this past week.  I decided to start with one of my newer acquisitions a book called 52 Shabbats by Faith Kramer.  This book takes you through several global cuisines and has a lot of vegetarian or veg friendly options. Plus, it is a beautiful book  so I could not resist it when I ran across it in a museum gift shop.  I decided to start with a whole roasted cauliflower dish that sounded simple. Reader, it was not simple.  But the picture was so gorgeous.  And anyway how bad could it be? So, here is my journey into the world of global Jewish cuisine.  Spoiler:  in the end it was worth it.

Here is a picture of the book. Even the cover is gorgeous.

I started planning my menu over the previous weekend, and then made a shopping list.  This is where, as my late father-in-law would say, “the fit hit the shan”. This is the ingredient list from the book:

 Whole Roasted Cauliflower

2 large or 2 small heads of cauliflower

Za’atar marinade (Let’s not even talk about how difficult it is to find za’atar or the ingredients for za’atar in a regular store)

Paprika

Olive oil

Tahini

Pomegranate molasses (OK, this is a real thing somewhere but not northwest Philly. I ended up making my own which actually wasn’t that hard, but still, girl…)

Chopped fresh herbs (parsley, dill, mint or a combination).

Chopped red onions

Harissa (sigh)

 Apparently za’atar is not a spice mix that is readily available at your local Giant food store. Several trips to various grocery and specialty stores and a lot of time mixing my own za’atar and making my own pomegranate molasses led to this beautiful and delicious main course.  I also used my own Harissa recipe.  The little spanakopita bites were purchased frozen.  So, I ended up with this beautiful table.  For dessert I made a plain yellow cake using the buttermilk cake recipe from my book.  I whipped some cream, sliced and sugared some strawberries and served it all up on the wedding china that I had for some reason been saving for a special occasion. Take a look, it was wonderful. I’m liking this a lot. Next week I may crack open a favorite cookbook of mine called Love Soup and make something wonderful for my hubby’s birthday dinner.  Stay tuned.