Whole Wheat Seed Bread

Bread Baroness Tapuzina

I have always wanted to make a hearty multi-grain bread, but never found a recipe that inspired me to make it until a few days ago. I finally found a recipe that incorporated all of the things I wanted in my bread: flax seeds, rolled oats, sunflower seeds and pumpkin seeds. I used pomegranate molasses instead of sugar in this recipe. It turned out beautifully. It is a hearty bread, full of seeds and has a very nice moist crumb. I will definitely make this again.

 

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Whole Wheat Seed Bread
Servings: 1 large loaf
Ingredients
  • 2 1/4 cups whole wheat flour
  • 2 1/4 cups dark whole wheat flour
  • 50 g fresh yeast
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 6 tablespoons sunflower seeds
  • 6 tablespoons flax seeds
  • 6 tablespoons shelled pumpkin seeds
  • 2/3 cup rolled oats
  • 2 cups water
  • 4 tablespoons pomegranate molasses
  • 2 egg white
  • Egg yolks + water for egg wash
Instructions
  1. In a large bowl, combine the whole wheat flour, all-purpose flour, yeast, and salt.
  2. Seed and Oat Mixture
  3. In another bowl, mix the seeds with the oats.
  4. In a saucepan, combine the water and molasses and warm the mixture over low heat until a thermometer reads 120 to 130 degrees F (50 to 55 degrees C) .
  5. First Knead
  6. Add the liquid to the flour mixture with the egg white. Mix together until a soft dough forms. Turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface. Knead for 10 minutes; then shape into a ball. Lightly oil a large stainless steel bowl. Add the dough and turn to cover the dough with the oil. Cover the bowl with a tea towel and let rise in a warm place for 2 hours until doubled in size.
  7. Ready for Second Rise
  8. When the dough has risen, punch the dough down with your fists and add all but 2 tablespoons of the seed mixture working it into the dough. Shape the dough into a baton. Place on a silicone covered baking sheet and cover the baton with a tea towel and let rise for 1 hour until doubled in bulk.
  9. Oven Ready
  10. Preheat the oven to 180C (350F). Brush the top of the bread with the egg wash and sprinkle on the reserved seed mixture. Bake the bread for 30 minutes or until the loaf sounds hollow when tapped on the bottom. Remove the bread from the pan and cool on a baking rack.

Ice Cream – Middle Eastern Style

Desserts Fruit Fruit Dessert Ice Creams/Sorbets Baroness Tapuzina

L to R: Roasted Apricot-Almond Ice Cream and Tehina-Pistachio Ice Cream

It is quite hot here now and I thought it was time to pull the ice cream maker out again. I took a look at my long list of ice cream recipes and really didn’t see anything that tickled my fancy, so I started thinking about what ingredients are available right now and one of them was fresh apricots. As most of you know by now, I love to experiment with different ingredients and I didn’t want to make some ordinary apricot ice cream, so I thought about what spices would go well with apricots…. ras al hanout. I got the idea for this ice cream from a recipe from a fellow blogger, Mike’s Table. He is hosting a blog event called “You Scream, I Scream, We All Scream for Frozen Desserts“. I can’t wait to see the other entries.

The other ingredient I have wanted to experiment with for quite a while is raw tehina (sesame paste). I didn’t want to use sugar to sweeten the tehina because it just didn’t sound right to me, so I decided the perfect sweetener in keeping with its Middle Eastern roots would be date honey, also known as silan in Hebrew.

The apricot ice cream came out nice and creamy with a strong fruity taste, although perhaps not quite as acid as I would have liked. Next time, I will try adding some dried sour apricots as well.

The tehina ice cream is creamy and has a smoky sesame flavor that is reminiscent of halva. It is not too sweet and the pistachios add a nice crunch. Next time, I will add some chopped dates to the mixture.

They are both delicious ice creams and will be added to the top of my ice cream recipes.

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Roasted Apricot-Almond Ice Cream
Ingredients
  • 12 ripe apricots
  • 2 teaspoons ras al hanout
  • 1 tablespoon sugar plus some for sprinkling
  • 2 tablespoons honey
  • 1 cup double cream
  • Small squeeze lemon juice
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • 3 egg yolks
  • 1/2 cup whole milk
  • 1/2 cup whole almonds with the skins
Instructions
  1. Roasted Apricots
  2. Preheat oven to 220C (425F). Cut the apricots in half, remove the seed, and place the halved apricots, cut side up in a baking dish. Sprinkle them with sugar and the ras al hanout. Roast them in the oven until they are caramelised (as shown in the picture above). Let them cool for 20 minutes. Puree the apricots, honey and any juices from the baking dish in a food processor or blender. Transfer to a bowl and mix with 1/2 cup of the cream, lemon juice and vanilla. Mix well and set up in an ice bath with a strainer on top.
  3. Ice Cream Base
  4. Meanwhile scald the remaining 1/2 cream and 1/2 cup of whole milk, talking care not to boil it. In the bowl, beat the egg yolks and 1 tablespoon of sugar until creamy. Temper the eggs with a scoop of the hot cream and slowly add the rest. Place the egg-cream mixture in a clean saucepan and cook at medium heat, whisking constantly, until the mixture is thick enough to coat the back of spoon.
  5. Pour the cooked custard through the strainer, discarding the solids, into the cooled apricot mixture and whisk all together. Place a piece of plastic wrap directly on the surface to prevent a skin from forming and put in the refrigerator for about six hours.
  6. While the custard cools, toast the almonds on a cookie sheet in a 200C (400F) oven for about 5-10 minutes, shaking them halfway through to prevent burning. Once they have cooled, cut the almonds in half.
  7. When the custard is cold, place it in a ice cream maker, and follow the manufacturer's instructions. Add the almonds during the last minute or two of churning. Transfer to the freezer and eat when ready.

 

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Tehina-Pistachio Ice Cream
Ingredients
  • 1 cup raw tehina raw sesame paste
  • 2 cups full fat milk
  • 1 cup double cream
  • 4 egg yolks
  • 1/2 cup date honey silan
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla
  • 3/4 cup roasted pistachios roughly chopped
Instructions
  1. Scald the milk in a saucepan, taking care not to boil. Remove from the heat and add the tehina, mix well, cover, and let steep for about an hour. In a bowl whisk the egg yolks and date honey.
  2. Rewarm the milk mixture and strain into the yolk mixture, constantly stirring, using a spatuala to extract as much of the milk-tehina mixture as possible. Discard the solids.
  3. Tehina Ice Cream Base
  4. Place the egg-tehina mixture in a clean saucepan and cook at medium heat, whisking constantly, until the mixture is thick enough to coat the back of spoon. Strain the mixture once again, and cool over ice-cold water. Chill in the refrigerator, add the double cream and churn it in an ice-cream maker according to manufacturer's instructions.

Cherry Heaven

Israel Travel Baroness Tapuzina

I was so excited when I purchased my new computer because I new it would make blogging so much better. However, a few days after I hooked everything up, my monitor blew up, literally! I was sitting a my desk, reading my email and all of a sudden I heard a pop, the monitor turned black and a puff of smoke came out the top of it! So, I have been monitorless for a while. Now, I am up and running again and I have a few things to tell you about while I was monitorless.

Just picked Queen Anne cherries, Bulgarian cheese, sheep cheese, Gouda cheese

I went to a cherry picking festival at Kibbutz Rosh Tzurim with my husband and a colleague from Germany. We drove 45 minutes to the beautiful Judean Hills which always reminds me of the rugged terrain in Provence. The festival had booths with people selling kosher charcuterie, local wine and pottery. They also offered a free tractor ride around the kibbutz.

It was very hot, but there was a large crowd eager to pick big juicy red and Queen Anne cherries. We picked cherries, or rather my husband had a great time climbing trees picking the cherries, and my colleague and I had fun eating them! Don’t worry, we kept plenty to bring home with us. The Queen Anne cherries were tastier than the red ones. I was really impressed that my husband could still climb trees considering he hasn’t climbed one in over 40 years!

The trees were covered with netting so the birds couldn’t eat the cherries. This kibbutz packs and sells its cherries for the shuk (open market) and the local supermarkets. The cherries that were available for picking at the cherry festival were the last of the crop. They were juicy and sweet, especially the ones my husband picked from the top of the tree. Unlike the older trees that grew as nature intended, the new ones were espaliered, like apple trees, to make the fruit easier to pick.

We packed a nice picnic lunch consisting of:

Baby greens, dried apricots, cranberries and walnuts with a mustard vinaigrette
Stuffed grape leaves
Roasted eggplant slices
French bread
Bulgarian cheese
Sheep cheese
Smoked Gouda cheese
Olive oil potato crisps
Pomegranate iced tea
Just picked Queen Anne cherries
Dried fruits and nuts
Chocolate-hazelnut cookies

Other people at the festival came up to us and complimented us on our beautiful picnic. One woman even took a picture of it with her mobile phone. We though this was a rather ordinary picnic and had a laugh about it.

We had a very nice time and will definitely go back next year.

Shavuot 2008 – Updated

Bread Cheesecakes Fish Shavuot Baroness Tapuzina

Being away for most of May didn’t give me a lot of time to decide what to make for Shavuot this year. I decided to keep it simple and not over do it. My menu was:

Salad of baby mixed greens with nectarines

Trout stuffed with dried apricots and pistachios

Mashed potatoes with basil

Steamed broccoli

All of the dishes were delicious. I have to admit the trout dish really caught my eye because of the unusual stuffing. I would have never have thought that apricot and pistachios should be stuffed inside of any fish, but it really married well with the trout. The sour apricots and the crunch of the pistachios lent such a nice flavour to the mild flavour of the trout. I will definitely make this again.

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Trout Stuffed with Dried Apricots and Pistachios
Ingredients
  • 25 g/1oz white breadcrumbs
  • 55 g/2oz dried sour California apricots, finely chopped
  • 2 tablespoons parsley or coriander finely chopped
  • 40 g/1-1/2 oz pistachio nuts finely chopped
  • 55 g/2oz melted butter
  • Salt and pepper
  • 2 fresh whole trout gutted and rinsed
Instructions
  1. Preheat the oven to 180C (350F).
  2. <img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3037/2597675181_ce46f4dd53.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="Apricot-Pistachio Stuffing"
  3. Place the breadcrumbs, apricots, parsley, pistachios, half the butter, salt and pepper into a bowl and mix well.
  4. Stuffed Trout
  5. Place each of the trout on a large sheet of buttered foil on a baking tray. Spoon half the mixture into each of cavities. Brush the trout with the rest of the melted butter and enclose the foil around each of the fish to form two parcels. Place the tray into the oven for 25-30 minutes. Remove from the foil and serve.

 

I know you are going to say that every French baker is going to sentence me to death for making brioche with whole wheat flour, but I have to tell you that the bread was delicious. Okay, it wasn’t as delicate as regular brioche, but it is was still very tasty.

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Whole Wheat Brioche with Dried Fruit
Servings: 2 loaves
Ingredients
  • 1/2 cup hand-hot water
  • 1 tablespoon dried yeast or 25g fresh yeast
  • 3 tablespoons sugar
  • 6 large eggs room temperature
  • 4-1/2 cups whole wheat flour or white flour for traditional brioche
  • 2 teaspoons salt
  • 226 g 2 sticks butter, at room temperature
  • 1 cup of mixed dried fruit such as cranberries, raisins, apricots
  • 1 egg mixed with 1 tablespoon milk for egg wash
Instructions
  1. Combine the water, yeast and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment.
  2. Let stand for five minutes to let the yeast and sugar dissolve.
  3. Add the eggs and beat at medium speed for one minute, until well mixed. At low speed, add two cups of flour and the salt. Mix for five minutes. Add an additional two cups of flour and mix for five minutes. Still on low speed, add the softened butter in chunks and mix for two minutes, scraping down the beater and sides of the bowl, until well blended. Sprinkle in the remaining 1/2 cup of flour.
  4. Use the dough hook or knead the dough by hand for two minutes. Scrape the dough into a large buttered bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Refrigerate overnight.
  5. The next day, allow the dough to sit a room temperature for one hour. Grease two loaf pans. Turn the dough onto a lightly floured board and cut in half. Pat each portion into a rectangle, then roll up each rectangle into a cylindrical loaf. Place each loaf, seam-side down, into a greased pan. Cover the pans with a damp towel and set aside to rise at room temperature until doubled in volume, 2 to 2-1/2 hours.
  6. Preheat the oven to 180C (350F). When the dough has risen, brush the top of each with the egg wash and bake for approximately 45 minutes or until the top springs back and it sounds slightly hollow when tapped. Turn the loaves onto a wire rack to cool.

Torta di Chioccolata al Forno con Vaniglia e Nocciola (Perugian-style chocolate hazelnut cheesecake)

This cheesecake is to die for! I used Israeli 5% white cheese instead of cream cheese and it was just as creamy, but with a lot less calories. I am not a big chocolate eater, but this was made with 60% bittersweet chocolate and it was just sweet enough. I really liked that this recipe did not call for a lot of sugar and the hazelnuts really make the cake. I felt like I was eating a Perugina Baci. Smacking delicious it was.

Chag Sameach everyone!

Spring Flowers and Red Fruit

Custard French Baroness Tapuzina

The flowers we planted at the new house are doing well as are our herbs. The round pot in the background of the picture above contains rosemary and lavender, which remind me of our trip to Provence.

We also planted za’atar. I can’t wait to put some on roasted chicken and in my homemade bread.

Does anyone know what these are called? I know the purple one is a petunia, but I am not sure about the others. I fell in love with them at the nursery. They picture does not show the amazing colors. They are a vibrant orange, vibrant red and vibrant fuchsia.

I just happened to have some sour cherries that were begging to be put into something, so I decided to make a creamy sour cherry clafoutis. This recipe is from one of my favourite food writers, Paula Wolfert, who is an expert on Southwestern French cuisine and Moroccan cuisine. My husband and I were lucky enough to be recipe testers for her new edition of The Cooking of Southwest France. The clafoutis recipe is very easy to make and you can substitute any summer fruit you like. It is also good with apricots or plums.

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Limousin Cherry Clafoutis
Adapted recipe from The Cooking of Southwest France : Recipes from France's Magnificent Rustic Cuisine by Paula Wolfert
Ingredients
  • 300 g 1 pound sour cherries, fresh or frozen, pitted (optional) and patted dry with paper towels
  • 1/2 cup granulated sugar
  • 1/2 cup flour plus more for dusting
  • Pinch of salt
  • 3 large eggs lightly beaten
  • 1 cup milk
  • 1 cup half and half
  • 50 g 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened, plus more for the dish
  • 2 tablespoons Cognac or brandy
  • 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
  • Confectioners' sugar for dusting
Instructions
  1. In a bowl, toss the cherries with all of the sugar except for 1 tablespoon. Spread the cherries out on a baking sheet and freeze for 1-1/2 hours. If you are using frozen cherries, remove them from the box and follow the instructions above.
  2. Meanwhile, in another bowl, whisk the 1/2 cup flour and salt. Whisk in the eggs. In a small saucepan, heat 1/2 cup of the milk with 3 tablespoons of the butter until the butter melts. Whisk the warm milk into the flour mixture just until smooth. Whisk in the remaining milk and the cream. Add the Cognac and vanilla, cover and let rest at room temperature for at least 1 hour.
  3. Prebaked Clafoutis
  4. Preheat the oven to 220C (425F). Butter a 22 cm (9 1/2-inch) deep-dish pie plate or a well-seasoned iron skillet and dust with flour. Spread the cherries in a single layer in the pie plate, adding any sugar from the baking sheet to the cherries. Whisk the batter again and pour it over the cherries.
  5. Bake the clafoutis just above the center of the oven for 20 minutes, or until the top is just set and golden. Top with the remaining 1 tablespoon of granulated sugar and 1 tablespoon of butter. Bake for an additional 20 minutes, or until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean. Transfer to a rack to cool. Dust with confectioners' sugar, cut into wedges, and serve.

Never Forget – Yom Hashoah 2008

Israel Baroness Tapuzina

The Last Lesson by Fritz Hirschberger (1912-2004)

A Nazi guard talking to a nine year old Jewish boy who is on his way to be gassed in an Auschwitz gas chamber:

“Well my boy, you know a lot for your age”
“I know that I know a lot, and I also know
that I won’t learn any more,”
replies the boy.

From the sworn testimony of witness Wolken. 1965 trial of Nazi criminals. Frankfurt am Main, Germany. From the book account Auschwitz,; page 88, by B. Nauman. Publisher F. A. Praeger, New York, NY.


Southern Fried and Syrian Passover

Beef Chicken Middle Eastern Pesach Baroness Tapuzina

The real secret to good fried chicken is the marinade and authentic southern fried chicken is marinated in buttermilk. Since we keep kosher, I had to find another alternative to achieve the same tenderizing effect that buttermilk produces….. lemon juice. And, since we are not allowed to use flour during Passover, I used matza meal instead, and although it doesn’t stick as well as flour, it worked beautifully. This produces a nice lemony-garlic fried chicken. It is definitely finger licking good.

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Passover Fried Chicken with Lemon and Paprika
Ingredients
  • 3/4 cup fresh lemon juice
  • 6 medium garlic cloves crushed
  • 4 teaspoons sweet paprika
  • 3/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
  • 2 3 pound chickens, cut into eight pieces each
  • 1-1/4 teaspoons salt
  • 2 cups matzo meal or more
  • 3 eggs beaten
  • Canola oil
Instructions
  1. Combine first 4 ingredients in large non-aluminum dish. Add chicken, turning to coat. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight, turning chicken pieces over twice.
  2. Line 2 baking sheets with wax paper. Season matzo meal with salt and pepper.
  3. Drain chicken pieces and blot dry with paper towels. Dip chicken into matzo meal. Next, dip chicken pieces into egg and, finally, dip again in matzo meal, coating completely. Shake off excess matzo meal.
  4. Chill the chicken for 30 minutes.
  5. Heat 1.5cm (1/2 inch) of oil to 180C (350F) in heavy large skillet. Add thigh and leg pieces of chicken to the skillet, taking care not to crowd. Cook until golden brown and springy to the touch. When cooked, place on paper towels to drain. Add chicken breasts and repeat procedure.

My husband decided to surprise me this Passover with a bag of potato flour. I have never cooked with potato flour in my life and cannot remember anyone in my family using it. So, I wanted to find something interesting to make with it. I once had a cake made with potato flour and really disliked the texture. I remembered seeing a recipe once for crepes made with potato flour and decided to marry those with a Syrian meat filling I found from Poopa Dweck. She just wrote a beautiful cookbook about Syrian Jewish cooking and I must buy this book. I saw it at our local bookstore and it has my name all over it. The meat filling is called Hashu and it is typically used to fill vegetables. My husband adapted the recipe by adding pomegranate molasses and hot paprika. It is delicious and worked nicely with my chive crepes.

How do you like the kosher squid to the right of the crepe? That is my husband trying to be clever with the leftover crepe batter. 🙂

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Syrian Passover Meat Crepes
This recipe is adapted from Aromas of Aleppo: The Legendary Cuisine of Syrian Jews by Poopa Dweck.
Ingredients
For the crepes:
  • 4 Tablespoons potato starch
  • 1 cup water
  • 4 eggs
  • 3 tablespoons of chopped fresh chives
  • Salt and Pepper
  • Olive oil
For the Hashu (Aleppian Ground Meat and Rice Filling)
  • 500 g 1 pound lean ground beef
  • 1/3 cup short-grain rice white or brown
  • 2 teaspoons ground allspice
  • 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
  • 1-1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
  • 1/2 teaspoon hot paprika
  • 2 tablespoons pomegranate molasses
  • 1 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
  • 1 onion finely chopped (1/2 cup)
  • 1 cup pine nuts
  • 1/4 cup water
Instructions
For the crepes:
  1. In a small bowl, slowly add the water to the potato flour and mix thoroughly. Add the potato flour mixture, chives salt, and pepper to the beaten eggs and mix well. Heat a non-stick crepe pan over medium heat. When hot, add a little oil to coat pan. Stir batter and ladle about 4 tablespoons into the skillet. Immediately swirl batter to spread the pan.? Cook until bottom is light brown. Flip crepe and cook for about 1 minute until speckled. Fill the crepes with about 3 tablespoons of the meat filling and roll. Heat rolled crepes in a 150C (300F) oven for about 5 minutes or on a Shabbat plate until heated through. Do not over cook.
  2. Syrian Hashu Filling
For the Hashu (Aleppian Ground Meat and Rice Filling)
  1. Soak rice in cool water, enough to cover, for 30 minutes. Drain.
  2. Combine all ingredients in a large mixing bowl. Mix well with your hands. Add the meat mixture to a frying pan, add water and start breaking the meat in to small pieces. Cover until the rice is cooked through for approximately 10 minutes.

Next Year in Jerusalem!

Cakes Chicken Ice Creams/Sorbets Pesach Baroness Tapuzina

We had a small, but lovely seder last night. All of the new dishes I made were delicious.

We started the meal with my husband’s salmon in a tarragon sauce. The sauce was made with dijon mustard, fresh tarragon, white wine and garlic. I could have done a better job of decorating the plate with herbs or something. I will try to remember that for next year.

The next course was my matza ball soup which I have already blogged about. It was enjoyed by all.

The main course, Chicken Tagine with Apricots and Spiced Pinenuts was outstanding. I will definitely make this again. The sauce is a beautiful blend of apricots, saffron and ginger. It has the most amazing flavor and the crunch and spiciness of the pinenuts really compliments the dish. I recommend making this dish the day before you want to serve it to allow all of the flavours to infuse the chicken. We served this with a steamed artichoke and the rice below.

The disappointment of the night was the rice. It was a mixed rice, composed of persian white rice, thai red rice and wild rice. Unfortunately, the thai red rice colour bled onto the other rice and you could not tell there were three different types of rice. The wild rice was also not felt in the blend.

We concluded the meal with Nigella Lawsons’s Damp Apple and Almond Cake which should really be renamed. One of my friends said that the name is offputting and I would have to agree with her. However, in spite of the name the cake is delicious and very moist. It has just the right hint of apple and is not too sweet. It is dead easy to make and I will definitely make this again.

We also had my husband’s wild citrus sorbet which was made with wild grapefruits as well as a little lemon and orange that he picked from the trees lining the main road to our moshav. He also added a little simple syrup. You will never want to buy another supermarket grapefruit after you have had one fresh from the tree. The grapefruit flavour is so sweet and intense. The sorbet was cool and refreshing, and went well with the cake.

A Bittersweet Passover

Pesach Baroness Tapuzina

I have finalized my menu for the seder this coming Saturday. It is the second Passover that I have ever hosted. While I am happy to host the seder dinner, it will be a bittersweet seder for my husband and me. The sweet part is that we will get to use the beautiful seder plate, matza plate and matza cover that my beloved cousins gave us as a wedding present, but the bitter part will be that my beloved cousin, Michael, passed away in January and will not be here to help us celebrate the seder. He was a vital part of our seder for the past three years and his absence will definitely be felt. We will miss you Michael, but will carry on in your memory.

The menu is as follows:

Salmon with a Tarragon Sauce (instead of gefillte fish)

Chicken Soup with Matza Balls

Italian Haroset alla Famiglia Nordell

Chicken Tagine with Apricots and Spiced Pinenuts

Steamed Artichoke

Wild Rice Mix

Damp Apple and Almond Cake

Wild Citrus Sorbet (from the wild citrus trees around the moshav)

Pesach kasher vesameach lekulam (Happy Passover to Everyone) from Baroness Tapuzina and Family

Za’atar – A Biblical Plant

Fish Baroness Tapuzina

Za'atar mixture of sesame seeds, sumac and salt

Za’atar which is called hyssop in English is used to make tea, mixed with sesame seeds, sumac and salt and slathered with olive oil on bread, put on top of labane and in my case it is mixed with matzah meal as a coating for red mullet.

Moses Maimonides, a philosopher, rabbi and physician who lived in North Africa and Egypt, prescribed za’atar as an antiseptic, a cure for intestinal parasites, a cold remedy, loss of appetite and flatulence. Rubbing the sides of the head with za’atar oil was believed to reduce headaches. There is also a belief that this particular spice mixture makes the mind alert and the body strong.

I like za’atar so much, I am growing it in my new garden. It is also great chopped up and mixed into an omelet or a salad.

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Red Mullet with Za'atar Crust
Ingredients
  • 350 g 3/4lb small or 4 medium red mullet filets
  • 2 cups matza meal
  • 2 to 3 tablespoons za'atar mix
  • Salt and freshly ground pepper
  • 1 egg
  • 1 tablespoon water
Instructions
  1. In a plate, mix the matza meal, za'atar mix, salt and peper. In a separate bowl, whisk the egg and water.
  2. Place the fish in the egg mixture and mix until the fish is thoroughly coated and then dip in the matza meal mixture until well coated. Cook the fish in about 25mm (1 inch) of hot oil for approximately two to three minutes on each side or until flaky. Drain on a paper towel and serve immediately.

Here are some beautiful flowers on the way to our village:

These are called bottle brushes because they look like a bottle brush.

These flowers are Anemones in English and Kalanit in Hebrew, which is related to Kala, the Hebrew word for a bride, referring to the flower’s beauty. It is mentioned in the Talmudic scriptures and is referred to as Klonita.

The scientific and English name was derived from the Greek mythological word Anemoi, the wind gods. One of whom, the legendary Zephyrus was the west wind and bringer of light spring and early summer breezes. In ancient Greece, wreaths of anemones were used to decorate the altar of the Goddess Venus. Hence, the species name Coronaria.

In Arabic it is called Skaik-a-Na’amann, probably referring to a Canaanite god by that name, and mentioned also as a flower name by the Prophet Isaiah (17:10) “Because thou hast forgotten the God of thy salvation, and hast not been mindful of the rock of thy strength, therefore shalt thou plant pleasant plants” (In Hebrew “pleasant plants” is Nitei Naamanim).

During the Middle Ages, a wreath of anemone flowers was put on a sick person’s neck because it was believed to help cure him.