Month: May 2012

Spring Meal with Friends

Cakes Desserts Baroness Tapuzina

Pasta with Sauteed Cherry Tomatoes and Garlic

As I started describing in my last blog post, Mr BT and I went to our friends Cassia and Massimo for a festive Yom Ha’atzmaut meal: we brought the lamb and dessert and Massimo made the primo piatto, pasta with sauteed cherry tomatoes and garlic. The cherry tomatoes were sauteed in a lovely extra virgin oil oil from our favorite olive oil producer, the Jahshan family in Kalanit near Tiberias, and he also added about six cloves of fresh garlic that we bought at Shuk Ramle a week before. The cherry tomatoes were bursting with sweetness and the garlic gave the sauce a slight fiery touch. It was bellissimo!

Cassia and Massimo also provided the wine we all bought at the La Terra Promessa Winery in Kibbutz Gat. The winery is run by Sandro and Irit Pelligrini. Sandro is originally from Parma, Italy and his wife Irit’s family is originally from Cochin, India. The winery is in southern Israel near the buffalo farm that we like to visit to buy their delicious buffalo yogurt, cream and cheeses, which are now available a some supermarkets around the country. La Terra Promessa wines were a pleasant surprise: fruity, full-bodied with a wonderful bouquet, and featuring grapes that are relatively uncommon here in Israel, such as Primitivo. They also had a very interesting Emerald Riesling that was dry, instead of the usual semi-sweet Israeli wines made from this grape. Sandro and Irit also have a restaurant that has received good reviews, featuring dishes from both their Italian and Cochin heritages.

Buttermilk, Raspberry and Almond Cake

For dessert, I made a soft almond and buttermilk sponge cake filled with raspberries which we served with Massimo’s homemade limoncello. His limoncello is some of the best I have ever had and he has promised to show me how to make it when I can find some unwaxed organic lemons.

Buttermilk Raspberry Cake and Lemoncello

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Raspberry-Almond Buttermilk Cake
This is a quick and easy dessert that is perfect for Shabbat or anytime.
Ingredients
  • 140 g 1-1/2 cups ground almonds or almond flour
  • 140 g 1 stick or 10 tablespoons butter or margarine
  • 140 g 3/4 cups sugar
  • 140 g 1 cup self-raising flour
  • 1 egg or 2 eggs for a parve cake
  • 3/4 cup buttermilk omit for parve cake
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 300 g 2 cups raspberries, fresh or frozen or any other berries
  • 2 tablespoons flaked almonds
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 180C (350F).
  2. Place a piece of round parchment in the base of a 20cm (8-inch) springform tin and grease the tin with butter or margarine. Place the ground almonds, butter, sugar, flour, egg, buttermilk and vanilla in a food processor and blitz until combined.
  3. Spread half of the mixture in the cake tin and then scatter the raspberries over the batter. Dollop the remaining batter on top and spread with a pallet knife. Sprinkle the top with the sliced almonds and bake for approximately 50 minutes or until golden brown on the top.

Two Variations of Roasted Spring Lamb with Orange and Herbs

Holidays Lamb Main Course Passover Pesach Yom Hatzmaut Baroness Tapuzina

Hollyhocks

Spring has sprung all over Israel and after a rather sad period in my life, I am basking in the beauty of nature’s bounty. Over the past few weeks, Mr BT and  I have travelled to the north and south of the country visiting dairies, wineries, open markets, flower shows and renewed my spirits and zest for life. I think my father would be a bit annoyed with me for taking so long to post, but I just wasn’t ready until now.

Before Pesach, I bought two 1/4 lambs (shoulder and ribs) which I didn’t have a chance to cook during the holiday, but I found two great opportunities to roast them: the Shabbat after Pesach and Yom Ha’atzmaut (Independence Day). Over the years, I have made some very interesting lamb dishes: some of them from recipes I found and some inventions of my own. These recipes are a collaborative effort between Mr BT and me. Oranges go beautifully with lamb, because they cut the fattiness of the meat, so the first lamb shoulder was marinated in wild and farmed oranges, rosemary, garlic and mustard and the second one was marinated in za’atar, rosemary, garlic, anchovy, and mustard.

I used wild oranges for the first recipe that we collected from trees near where we live. These trees are a natural hybrid that grow wild by the side of the road leading to our village and are sourer than regular oranges, in fact too sour to eat as they are or to drink the juice.

Lamb Shoulder with Oranges, Rosemary and Garlic

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Slow Roasted Lamb with Wild Oranges, Rosemary and Garlic
Ingredients
  • 1 quarter lamb shoulder and ribs, approximately 6-7 kilos (13 - 15 lbs)
  • 2 medium farmed oranges quartered
  • 3 medium wild oranges or 3 large lemons quartered
  • 1 head of fresh garlic if available or regular garlic
  • 2 heaping tablespoons seedless Dijon mustard
  • 2 large sprigs fresh rosemary leaves only
  • 1/2 cup freshly squeezed orange juice
  • 1/4 cup olive oil
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon pepper
Instructions
  1. Place all of the ingredients in a food processor and pulse until the mixture is still slightly chunky. Do not puree.
  2. Place the lamb in a roasting pan and marinate it for 2 hours, turning it over after one hour.
  3. Cover the lamb with aluminum foil and put in a preheated 150C (300F) oven for approximately 6 hours or until the meat is fork-tender.

On Yom Hatzmaut, we brought the second lamb dish to our friends Cassia and Massimo’s house. Massimo is a Florentine who is also an avid cook and wine lover in true Italian and Florentine fashion. He makes delicious jams, the best limoncello I have every had, and his pasta dishes would make all Italians cry with joy. I will post more about this dinner in my next post. Mr BT and I always enjoy travelling around Israel with them looking for interesting food places to visit and just hanging out.

Slow-Roasted Lamb with Wild Oranges, Za'aatar and Anchovies

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Slow-Roasted Lamb with Orange, Za'aatar and Anchovies
Course: Main Course
Cuisine: Mediterranean
Author: Baroness Tapuzina
Ingredients
  • 1 quarter lamb shoulder and ribs, approximately 6-7 kilos (13 - 15 lbs)
  • 1-/12 heads of fresh garlic if available or regular garlic
  • 3 tablespoons of fresh za'atar or fresh oregano
  • 1 small jar anchovy fillets in olive oil
  • 1/2 cup olive oil
  • 3 heaping tablespoons seedless Dijon mustard
  • 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
  • 3 large sprigs fresh rosemary leaves only
  • Juice of 3 medium oranges
  • Juice of 1 lemon
  • 1/4 cup pomegranate molasses
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon pepper
Instructions
  1. Place all of the ingredients in a food processor and pulse until the mixture is still slightly chunky. Do not puree.
  2. Place the lamb in a roasting pan and marinate it for 4hours, turning it over after 2 hours.
  3. Cover the lamb with aluminum foil and put in a preheated 150C (300F) oven for approximately 1-1/2 hours and then 120C for 6 hours (I cooked it overnight) or until the meat is fork-tender.