But hopefully things will improve since Avi and I are in South America right now. We went on a vacations which we’ve planned for the last year and a half. So this means that Room for Dessert is also going on a vacation until early April, when we’ll be back home. Meanwhile I’ll post now and then about interesting food we’ll meet along the way. See you guys on the other side!

Ok, I guess it pays up most of the time.. As a formerly impulsive person, patience was a quality that was hard for me to acquire. Someone who enjoys instant pleasures and loves succeeding without putting in too much effort, finds it hard to get around the idea of a long process that brings fruit only on its end, and God forbid, even carries with it a few failures along the way. But like a few other qualities, my Grandpa, growing up, and life itself have taught me to overcome those urges, to wait.

Growing sourdough at home requires patience. Sourdough is, in fact, natural yeast, that replace all or almost all the yeast in recipes. It also enriches the products you make from it with a slightly sour taste, which cannot evolve in simple breads you make using regular yeast with no starter dough or lengthy making processes. The initial sourdough growing takes a few days, during which it usually needs to be fed once a day. After it’s ready it will also require some once a week TLC in the form of water and flour.

It took me 2 failed attempts and a successful third one to get my sourdough right. As soon as it started spreading that wonderful yeasty scent, I began looking for good sourdough bread recipes. I’ve tried 2 so far, both of them by Eric Kayser, a very talented French pastry chef. The first recipe I tried was of baguettes, which turned out tasty but I wasn’t that pleased with the texture. The second recipe I tried produced the most wonderful ciabatta breads! I tweaked with the recipe a bit - using whole wheat flour and bread flour mixed together, and I also let it rise for much longer than specified in the recipe, simply because of circumstance.

The ciabattas turned out having a wonderful stiff crust, big holes, which I adore seeing in breads, and a marvelous and balanced taste. Patience is required when making this recipe, it needs to rise 4 different times, but it is definitely worth your while.

Some notes and tips about the bread:

* There are two types of sourdough - a stiff one, that looks like a regular dough (in French: Levain dur), and a liquid one (in French: Levain liquide). The recipe in this post makes use of levain liquide.

* I used the clear instructions on Joy the Baker’s blog to make the sourdough. She has written a great step by step guide to preparing and maintaining sourdough, photos included.

* When I refresh my sourdough, which happens once a week, except for the water and flour I also add to it half a teaspoon of honey, which is a good choice of food for the yeast. A good friend from my pastry course, Idan, gave me this tip a few weeks ago. This doesn’t affect the taste of the products made from it, or at least not that I’ve noticed.

Cibatta au levain liquide / Adapted from Eric Kayser
Makes 4 ciabatta breads

Ingredients:
375 gr bread flour
130 gr whole wheat flour
1/4 tsp active dry yeast
150 gr levain liquide
350 ml water, warm
2 tsp salt

Directions:
1. Place both types of flour and the dry yeast in a bowl and mix them together.
2. Add in the rest of the ingredients except for the salt. Start kneading.
3. When the mixture starts forming into a dough, add the salt. Knead for 10-12 minutes.
4. Let rise at room temperature until double in volume. With my sourdough it took about 6 hours.
5. Fold the dough to get some of the air out of it, and let rise again until double in volume (again, about 6 hours).
6. Move the dough to a working surface, be careful and try to avoid getting any air out of it at this point. Divide the dough into 4 equally sized parts. Let rise an hour at room temperature.
7. Gently shape each part into a ciabatta, by gently pulling the dough from each side. Don’t worry if the shape isn’t perfect, the most important thing is to keep as much air as you can inside the dough. Let rise for 45 minutes at room temperature. Meanwhile preheat oven to 500F (260C). If you have a baking stone, place it in the lower third of the oven before preheating it.
8. If you want to produce a harder crust, sprinkle some water into the oven before putting the breads in it, which will create a moist environment. Bake the breads for about 10-12 minutes, or until knocking with your finger on one of them produces a hollow sound.
9. Let cool for at least 15 minutes before serving.

Or at least the best I can remember ever tasting. A few weeks ago Nir, a good friend of Avi’s from work, invited us over to watch the finals of the “Big Brother” show, the Israeli version. I obviously felt a need to bring cake, so what if Nir’s house is 10 minutes away from ours But since we’ve only talked about meeting a few hours before the show, I didn’t have much time on my hands. Exactly on time I remembered seeing this cake on Fanny’s wonderful blog, and drooling on it several times.

I made the cake in a large loaf pan, and I also kept enough batter for 2 muffin sized cakes, so I’d be able to taste the cake before bringing it for people to eat in the evening. The instant my lips touched the warm and soft cake, I fell in in love! A chocolate cake that looks quite innocent and ordinary on the outside, completely takes you by suprise when you get to taste it. So rich and fudgy on the inside, with an intense chocolate flavor and a very pleasant sweetness. I’ve probably told you by now that Avi says that I use the description “the best ______ I’ve ever tasted” much too often, but when I told him that this was the best chocolate cake I’ve ever had, he looked at me for a second and simply said “yes”.

In the original recipe there is also a chocolate syrup that you’re supposed to pour on top of the cake after taking it out of the oven. I’ve made it but ended up not using it, since in my opinion it makes the cake overwhelmingly sweet.
Since then I’ve already made the cake again, and brought it to a Hannukah social gathering that our friends Daniel and Dana organized last week, and there too it was a huge hit.

Some notes and tips about the cake:

* In the original recipe Fanny says that you can make the cake by mixing all the ingredients with a wooden spoon. The first time I made it I tried to use a wooden spoon but couldn’t get all the many ingredients incorporated, and the butter, that is soft but not melted, didn’t make it any easier. So in this recipe I really recommend using a mixer, unless your hands feel strong enough for a vigorous mixing.

* Something we’ve learnt in the pastry course - Cakes baked in loaf pans tend to crack on top. The place of the crack can be controlled, so it will be nice and symmetrical. The way to do it is by passing a knife or a thin spatula in the middle of the cake (lengthwise), which will determine that the crack will be in the middle.

* If you, like me, often forget to take the butter out of the refrigerator in advance for cakes that require soft butter, you can cut the cold butter into cubes and place them in the microwave for 10 seconds. If it isn’t soft yet, place it for another 10 seconds, and so forth until the butter is soft, but note that it’s only supposed to be soft to touch, but not melted.

If you’re in the mood for cute little shapes, you can slice the cake
and use a cookie cutter to create beautiful mini cakes from each slice

Ultra Chocolate Cake / Slightly adapted from a recipe by Nigella Lawson
For a 30X11 cm and 7 cm deep loaf tin

Ingredients:
200 gr plain flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
50 gr cocoa powder
275 gr caster sugar
175 gr butter, soft
2 eggs
1 tblsp natural vanilla extract
175 gr chocolate, melted
80 gr double cream
125 gr boiling water

Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 170°C. Grease and line the loaf tin with baking paper, making sure you cut it well above the rim so you’ll have handles to later get the cake out from its tin.
2. Place all the ingredients except the boiling water in the bowl of a mixer. Mix using a paddle attachment until the batter is smooth.
3. Slowly incoporate the boiling water and mix until smooth.
4. Place the batter in the tin and smooth its top. If you want, see tips on how to control where the cake is going to crack while baking.
5. Bake for 50-60 minutes, or until the cake is firm to the touch.
6. Cool the cake.
7. Before serving you can sprinkle Dutch cocoa powder on top of it, or powdered sugar or grated chocolate (dark, milk or white).
8. Keep in an airtight container at room temperature.

There are times when my need for baking arises merely for satisfying a craving for a sweet delight, that catches me ever so often. On these occasions I need a quick recipe at hand, one that I can whip up in a heartbeat and enjoy the finished baked good within an hour. Other times I feel like making a more complicated dessert, one that requires the patience to follow numerous steps throughout the recipe, and then the final assembly of the complete dessert. It is like therapy for me. Also, when I need to impress someone with a beautiful dessert, recipes of the second kind I mentioned are the ones that are gonna do the trick.

Here I made 24 cupcakes with no graham cracker and chocolate
base, so they turned out quite short

Two friends of mine started working at the same company a while ago, and needed to throw an entry party for all the other employees. They asked my help with making two desserts that will be croud pleasers - both to taste and to watch. The first one I chose is a dessert you really can’t go wrong with when bringing it to a party - its beauty gets a lot of ‘wow’s from the croud, and its taste doesn’t fall behind. The second are these cupcakes, which I’ve seen on the Martha Stewart’s show during the cupcakes week she hosted a while back. They are the bestsellers at “Trophy Cupcakes” in Seattle, and for a good reason - they have a crispy base made of crushed Graham Crackers and butter, a thin layer of dark chocolate above it, on top of that a moist chocolatey cupcake, and to seal the deal we’ve got a so tender marshmallow-flavored meringue frosting. Did I convince you yet? Those 3 different textures are heaven in your mouth, and I urge you to taste all of them at once, and not eat each layer separately.
The girls said the party was a success and that both the tart and the cupcakes were gone so quickly. If you’re in for a little effort, try these. You’ll thank me.

Notice the crispy bottom

Some notes and tips about the cupcakes:

* You don’t have a burner? Don’t worry, you can brown the meringue in the oven as well. Leave the oven on after finishing baking the cupcakes, and switch it to grill mode. Prepare the meringue according to the directions below, pipe it on top of the cupcakes and put them back in the oven until the meringue gets a color that you’re pleased with (some like it more brown than others).

* Don’t feel like sweating for these beauties? You can also ommit the 2 bottom layers (the Graham Crackers and the bitersweet chocolate), and simply make chocolate cupcakes topped with meringue. Note that in this case your cupcakes will be lower in height than the original ones, if you make the specified quantity (24). If you want them higher, simply make 2-3 less.

* 8 egg whites for the frosting?? Are you crazy?? Well, no There are many recipes that leave me with a lot of whites in my freezer, and that’s a beautiful opportunity to use them. You can also make only half of the recipe for the frosting, and simply top each cupcake with a smaller amount. The original recipe results in a very generous frosting amount for each cupcake, so half of it would still be good.

We used up the small meringue amount that was left along with a bit
of leftovers from the pie crust and made meringue topped cookies. YUM!

Chocolate Graham Cracker Cupcakes with Toasted Marshmallow / Adapted from Trophy Cupcakes’ recipe
Makes 24 cupcakes

Ingredients:
For the cupcakes:
2 cups plus 2 tablespoons sugar
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon cocoa powder (not Dutch-processed)
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 flat teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
1 cup whole milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 cup boiling water
1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
80 gr unsalted butter, melted
2 Tablespoons orange juice
150 gr bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped

For the frosting:
8 egg-whites
2 cups granulated sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350F (180C) degrees. Line 2 standard muffin tins with cupcake liners; set aside.
2. Sift sugar, flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt together into the bowl of an electric mixer. Add in the eggs. Using the paddle attachment, mix ingredients together on low speed, until the batter is uniform.
3. In a large bowl, mix together milk, oil, vanilla and boiling water. Add to flour mixture and beat on medium speed for 30 seconds. Scrape down sides of bowl and continue mixing on medium speed until the batter is uniform.
4. Place graham cracker crumbs, melted butter and orange juice in a large bowl; stir until well combined. Check the mixture - if you can take some of it between your fingers and unify it into a shape that doesn’t fall apart and all crumbly - that’s what where looking for. If still too crumbly, add some more juice, spoon by spoon, until you get it right.
5. Place 1 tablespoon graham cracker mixture into the bottom of each prepared muffin cup. Use a tablespoon or the bottom of a small glass to pack crumbs into the bottom of each cupcake liner. Place a teaspoon of the chopped chocolate above it. Reserve remaining graham cracker mixture and chocolate for topping.
6. Transfer muffin tins to oven and bake until the edges of the graham cracker mixture is golden, about 5 minutes.
7. Remove from oven and fill each muffin cup three-quarters full with cake batter. Sprinkle each with remaining chocolate and graham cracker mixture.
8. Return to oven and bake, rotating pans halfway through baking, until tops are firm and a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean, 18 to 20 minutes.
9. Transfer muffin tins to a wire rack and let cupcakes cool in pan for 10 minutes. Remove cupcakes from pan and let cool completely.
10. Prepare the frosting: Place egg whites, sugar, and cream of tartar in the heatproof bowl of an electric mixer. Set over a saucepan with simmering water. Whisk constantly until sugar is dissolved and whites are warm to the touch, 3 to 4 minutes.
11. Transfer bowl to electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, and beat, starting on low speed, gradually increasing to high, until stiff, glossy peaks form, 5 to 7 minutes. Add vanilla, and mix until combined.
12. Pipe the frosting on top of each muffin. If you don’t feel like piping, place spoonfuls of the frosting on top of each cupcake and arrange it nicely.
13. Slightly burn the frosting using a burner, or put it back inside the oven (see tips).

Many of my preferred foods are tastes I acquired overtime. Take wine, for instance, drinking it is a ritual I love so much nowadays, but used to cause me a lot of “yuck faces” in my earlier years. The same goes for Tiramisu. The coffee dipped ladyfingers (I also wasn’t very fond of coffee in the past), the alcoholic taste that was too strong too often, and the fact of it being a cream based dessert, which I didn’t use to like back then - all of these made me not understand what the fuss is all about.

The yolks, after beating them by hand

Nowadays it’s one of  my favorite desserts. I think it started 2 years ago, while being on a trip to Tuscany. We ate a zabaglione based dessert which was actually perfect at the wonderful San Jacopo restaurant in Pistoia (Via Crispi 15, Pistoia) . Zabaglione is a traditional Italian dessert, made of egg yolks (heated to a temperature that destroys most bacteria, not to worry), sugar and an alcoholic ingrdient, tipically Marsala wine. It is also the base of the Tiramisu, in classic recipes.  

The yolks with Marsala and sugar, before heating

The Zabaglione is ready!

In Israel there are many “light” versions for Tiramisu, and I don’t mean from the calories point of view. Some of them omit the eggs, some of them replace the mascarpone with plain white cheese, and more changes that cause the recipe to drift further away from the original one. And as much as I like tweaking with recipes and adapting them, in this case, only the original version for me, please.

The final Zabaglione cream, the color of the bowl is a good indication
of the color the final cream should have

I’ve made Tiramisu for the first time for a dinner we’ve invited my Mother to. Mom remembered eating the most divine Tiramisu ever in a little restaurant in the marvelous Positano in Italy. I was aiming high, I know.. It was then that I’ve also discovered how easy it is to make Tiramisu, despite of what I thought before. The result was delightful - a classic and so tasty Tiramisu. I really love how the marsala taste goes wonderful with the coffee and cocoa. Although the one in Positano still remained my Mom’s number 1, the one I’ve made entered the honored 2nd place

The meaning of Tiramisu is “pull me up”, referring to the coffee and alcohol taste that strike you as soon as the first piece enters your mouth.  At Avi’s office they are playing a “20 questions” game once a week (a sort of a trivia game), and Avi is always proud of the fact that he knows all the answers to the food related questions. A few weeks ago there was a question about the meaning of Tiramisu, and apparently, I’ve never tought him that But on the bright side, on your “20 questions” you will surely know the answer

Some notes and tips about this Tiramisu:

* If you don’t have Marsala wine, or don’t like its taste, you can easily replace it with Port or even Brandy.

* When dipping the lady fingers in the coffee, make sure to do it as fast as you can, we don’t want the cookies to be mooshy.

* Coffee - the recipe calls for strong coffee, that’s in order for the coffee taste to remain in the lady fingers, despite the short dipping. How strong should the coffee be? According to your taste. I usually drink my coffee with 1 tsp of coffee in it, so strong for me means 1.5 or 2 times that amount.

* Sprinkle the cocoa powder over the Tiramisu just before serving, otherwise it will become moist from the cream layer, and will not be that attractive - tastewise and lookwise.

* Individual desserts always look better and more appealing to me. You can definitely make this recipe also in individual glasses. If they’re quite small, break the lady fingers to adjust them to the cup’s size.

* Folding the whipped cream into the Zabaglione is required in this recipe. Folding means gentle stirring, and is meant to prevent a beaten batter to lose the air that we’ve worked hard to introduce into it. One way of folding is holding the spatula in a manner that it touches the bottom of the bowl, and begin moving it in a form of the digit 8, while you cover as much of the bowl’s area as you can. After the folding process your batter should be uniform, though, so make sure it is before stopping.

* In order to give your Tiramisu the perfect finishing touch, use Dutch processed cocoa powder. Its taste is mild and wonderful, and it lacks that disturbing biterness of the simpler ones.

Tiramisu / Anna Maria Volpi
For a 20X25 cm pan, or a 20X30 cm pan, for a shorter Tiramisu

Ingredients:
4 large egg yolks
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup Marsala wine (see tips for substitution options)
450 gr Mascarpone cheese
250 ml heavy cream
25-30 lady finger cookies (depends on the pan size you’ve chosen, and of the size of the cookies)
1 1/2 cups strong coffee
2 tsp sugar

Dutch processed cocoa powder, for sprinkling on top

Directions:
1. Prepare the coffee in a small bowl, stir in the sugar and let cool.
2. Place the egg yolks in the bowl of a double boiler. Beat them well by hand, until fluffy and their color becomes lighter (about 5 minutes).
3. Add in the sugar and Marsala wine and beat until incorporated.
4. Place the bowl on top of a double boiler and whisk until the zabaglione mixture thickens (this happens just before boiling point - when small bubbles appear).
5. In a separate bowl whip the cream until soft peaks.
6. In a separate bowl mash the mascarpone until creamy.
7. Pour the zabaglione mixture upon the mascarpone and mix until incorporated.
8. Add in the whipped cream, and fold it into the zabaglione-mascarpone mixture (see tips about folding).
9. Assemble the Tiramisu: Lightly soak the ladyfingers in the coffee, one at a time and each one from both sides, arrange them as the bottom layer in the pan. Spread half of the cream over the lady fingers, then soak and arrange another layer of lady fingers, and spread the remaining cream mixture upon them.
10. Chill for at least 3 hours before serving.
11. Just before serving, sprinkle with cocoa powder. Serve within 48 hours from the preparation time, after that the lady fingers will become too mooshy.

There is something magical about Friday afternoons. The street’s commotion is slowly fading away, and is replaced with tender and soft clouds of calmness, that descend all over town. Cooking aromas rise from the neighbours, letting our senses imagine what great meals are being cooked for the Friday night family dinner. All this atmosphere excites me a great deal, and that’s one of the reasons Friday afternoons are my preferred baking time.

The shaped challah, before rising

And after rising… chubby and cute

In my early years I’ve never been very much of a family person, and most of the time I used to look for outdoor activities. And then there was this moment when I started enjoying and appreciating that nice family time at dinners, and now I’m a big fan. Those holiday times, when folks at work are constantly complaining about that family overdose - these times are heavenly for me!

I’ve made this challah for the first time a couple of years ago, when we were about to go and dine with Avi’s family. Everyone, including me, loved it so much that there hasn’t been a dinner I haven’t brought it to ever since. And though I found many tempting challah recipes along the way, I wasn’t able to bring myself to try them, knowing that I’ve already got the winner in my hands.

Some notes and tips about the challah:

* You can use this dough also for making sweet rolls, which you can shape as you please - as regular round rolls, or in an 8 shape, a knot shape or simply braided, as the big challah shown here in the pics.

* Extra crunchiness - Avi prefers his challah with raisins. But this bread will also welcome dried cranberries, or walnuts or even chocolate chips. Add them to the dough after it has finished the first rising process, and you’ve taken all the air out of it.

* The recipe indicates to brush the bread with beaten egg before inserting it into the oven. This gives it a great intense color and contributes to a crunchier crust. But there are times when I prefer it less golden and less crunchy - and then I simply brush it with water, instead of the egg.

* Yeast - I know quite a lot of people that have yeastofobia. This may have been a reasonable fear 10 years ago, when the yeast weren’t of the quality they make them nowadays, and you had to jumpstart them using some sugar and water. Today there’s no need for that, and also no need for your fear. As long as you use the yeast before their “use by” date, and follow the recipe (that will usually tell you to add the yeast to the dough ingredients apart from the oil and salt, which could kill them), there’s really nothing to be afraid of.

* Yeast 2 - Most of the time I’m using active dry yeast, simply because they last longer. If I’m using just a part of a yeast package, I seal it as much as I can, and refrigerate it. That’s how I found it best to keep them.

* Converting fresh yeast to active dry yeast - you should use a third of the quantity of fresh yeast specified in the recipe when you want to use dry yeast instead.  If you want to convert the other way around - multiply the dry yeast quantity specified in the recipe by 2.5-3 in order to use fresh yeast.

Sweet Challah / Carine Goren
Makes 2 challah breads

Ingredients:
1 kg all-purpose flour
50 gr fresh yeast (or 17 gr active dry ones)
3/4 cup sugar (or 1/2 a cup if you prefer it less sweet)
2 eggs
1 3/4 - 2 cups lukewarm water
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 Tbsp salt

1 egg, beaten, for brushing before baking (optional, see tips)
sesame

Directions:
1. Place the flour in a bowl and mix the yeast into it.
2. Add in the rest of the ingredients and knead at medium speed for about 10-12 minutes, until the dough is shiny, and sticks a bit to the bottom of the bowl, but isn’t sticky all in all.
3. Grease the surface of the dough with a little oil, cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let rise until the dough doubles its volume.
4. Divide the dough into 2 even parts. Divide each part into 3 even parts, and roll each one of the into a stripe, and braid the 3 stripes of each challah together. If you want to do a more elaborate braid, made out of 5 stripes instead of 3, divide each one of the 2 dough parts into 5 even stripes. Then give numbers to the stripes from 1 to 5, pinch all the 5 stripes together on one of the ends, then put no. 1 over no. 3, then enumerate the stripes again in the new order and put (the new) no. 2 over no. 3. Enumerate the stripes again and put no.5 over no. 2, enumerate again and repeat the whole process (1 over 3 and so forth).
5. Place the shaped breads on a pan lined with parchment paper, and let rise until it doubles its volume.
6. Brush the breads with the beaten egg or with water (see tips), scatter sesame all over them, and bake in an oven preheated to 350F (180C) for about 35 minutes, or until golden (on all sides, bottom as well). Another good indication for knowing that the bread we’ve baked is ready, is to knock on its bottom, if the sound it makes is hollow, you can take it out of the oven.
7. Cool and serve.

Crustless pies and me are not good friends. I ignore their existence and they ignore mine, and in my eyes, this is a great relationship in this case. It’s just that a person that loves pastries in all shapes and forms such as myself, simply cannot enjoy just the filling of what could be a great quiche.

For Sharon’s (my sister in law as of last Wednesday) bachelorette party, I was asked to bring a crustless pie. Instinctively I started looking for a good quiche recipe. Since the primacy and recency effects work so well, I’ve decided to make this goat cheese and dried tomatoes quiche, which I last made only a week before that, when 2 very good friends of hours - Hadas and Yaron - came over for lunch.

This quiche recipe caught my eye in a very good Israeli pastry cookbook called “Sheshet pastries”. I was caught mostly because of its beautiful photo in the book, but also because of how simple it is to make it look so beautiful. Also, it tastes wonderful, and the recipe is very accurate, as are all the recipes I’ve tried from that book.

Some notes and tips about this quiche:

* Dried tomatoes - in Israel we have 2 kinds - marinated in olive oil or plain and simple dried tomatoes. Both are great for this quiche, but if you use the plain ones, marinate or brush them with a little olive oil before using them, so the ones that peek out from the filling will not burn during baking.

* Tips about making shortcrust can be found in the tips section of this post.

Goats cheese and dried tomatoes quiche / “Sheshet Pastries” cookbook
Makes a 10 inch quiche

Ingredients:
For the crust:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 flat tsp salt
150 gr cold butter, diced
1 egg
1-2 Tbsp water, if needed

For the filling:
250 ml heavy cream
3 eggs
1 Tbsp all-purpose flour
salt
black pepper
1/2 cup dried tomatoes, chopped
200 gr soft goats cheese, sliced
cherry tomatoes brushed with olive oil, for decoration

Directions:
1. Prepare the crust: Process flour, salt and butter in short pulses in the food processor, until crumbly. Add in the egg and process in pulses only until a dough is formed. If the mixture is still crumbly, add in the water and process in pulses just until a dough is formed.
2. Flaten the dough, and form a flat circle out of it, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for one hour.
3. Roll out the dough to a 1/2 cm thick sheet, cover the tart pan with it. Using a fork, make even holes over the whole bottom surface. Freeze for 20 minutes.
4. Preheat oven to 350F (180C).
5. Blind bake the crust for about 10-15 minutes (it’s recommended to do it with some baking weights, for more info see tips here), until the crust only starts becoming golden.
6. Take the crust out of the oven and let cool. Meanwhile prepare the filling:
7. Beat the heavy cream together with the eggs. Sift the flour over the mixture, and beat until the mixture is uniform. Add in salt and pepper and mix them well.
8. Place the chopped dried tomatoes and sliced cheese onto the crust. Pour the egg mixture above it and decorate with the cherry tomatoes.
9. Bake for about 35 minutes, or until the filling is firm and golden.

Every year when winter is right around the corner, Avi declares happily: “Let the soup season begin!”. This statement makes us both very happy, thinking that we are going to make dozens, if not hundreds of soups this upcoming winter. A few months later reality slaps us right in the face, realizing that the number of soups we’ve made isn’t the one we hoped for.

We’ve broken a new record last winter, when Michael, a friend from work who once worked as a cook for some of the better restaurants in Tel-Aviv, lent me the “Soup Bible“. As the name implies, this really IS a soup bible, with over 200 soup recipes, one looking yummier and more tempting than the other. Would you believe me when I say that we didn’t even try out one recipe from that book?! This year is gonna be different! (Yeah, yeah, we say that every year)…

A few weeks ago, I met a very very good friend of mine, with whom I’ve lost contact a couple of years ago. My fault. Yep, sadly I’m not so good at keeping in touch, even with people who are important to me, like Roni. A lot has happened in both our lives ever since, so Roni invited me to hers and her husband’s place, to catch up a bit. Since no social gathering is complete without something tasty to chew on, Roni offered me this great vegetables and groats soup she had made. I obviously asked for the recipe, and this soup was the one to open our soup season. And what a great opening it was!

The soup is real easy to make, very rich in flavor and vegetables, and the groats make it so thick and comforting - wonderful for a cold autumn evening. Go on, make it, and may us all have a great winter!

Some notes and tips about the soup:

* Roni says that you could add even more vegetables - according to your taste and cravings - such as pumpkin, zucchini, turnip, beetroot, etc… Just make sure to slice the vegetables into relatively big pieces, so they won’t fall apart during the cooking process.

* Chicken soup - this recipe calls for it, and let’s face it, we aren’t always up to making 2 soups for finally ending up with one. What I usually do is use powdered chicken soup and mix it in hot water - it does the trick wonderfully and quickly. If the MSG in those things is bothering you, nowadays they sell a natural version of those powdered soups - containing natural ingredients only. I use it and find it just fine.

* To my opinion, some alcohol addition can boost almost any dish. If you’re with me on that one, feel free to add 4-5 Tbsp of white wine between stages 5 and 6 in the recipe.

Vegetables and Groats Soup / Roni Schmitz
Makes 4-6 portions

Ingredients:
1 big onion
100 gr tomato paste
1 tsp sugar
2 medium sized potatoes, cubed into big cubes
3 big carrots, cut to stripes, lengthwise (we love carrots, so I’ve put some more)
1 parsley root, peeled and cut into quarters
1 celery root, peeled and cut into quarters
2 celery stalks, including leaves
1/2 parsley bundle (about 10 rich branches)
1/2 dill bundle
2-3 garlic cloves, chopped
1/2 cup groats
chicken soup, until all vegetables are covered (I needed about 2 liters)
salt
pepper

Directions:
1. Fry onion until starts to become golden.
2. Add in the tomato paste, stir, and let fry for several minutes, but make sure it doesn’t start to burn.
3. Add in the sugar and stir.
4. Add in all the ingredients on the list, except (and not including) the garlic. Stir well.
5. Add in the garlic and keep frying for a few more minutes.
6. Add in the chicken soup, until all the other ingredients are well covered. Add the groats.
7. Cook on medium flame until the vegetables soften. Lower the flame to the minimum and keep cooking for 30 more minutes.
8. Pour into serving plates and serve, recommended with some chopped parsley above it, or some chopped chives.

There are quite a few Krembo recipes all over the net and then some more in cookbooks, but none of them tempts me more than this original one. Yes, the store bought ones, wrapped with a thin layer of aluminium foil, the same one that a single taste from it fills your mouth with a tender silky cloud of goodness. Personally I prefer my Krembo vanilla flavored, but here in Israel, debates can go on and on about which is the best flavor - vanilla or mocha.

Somewhere along the way I found out that the Krembo’s filling is made out of unbaked egg-white foam. The disaster! I immediately stopped eating them, and haven’t for a really long time. Luckily I became interested in the pastry world a while back, it was then that I discovered that the egg-whites are being heated before beating them, to a temperature that kills most bacterias that can potentially reside in them. This revelation made me better my ways again, and so Krembo reappeared in my menu occasionally.

So, in honor of the most welcome autumn, here is a Krembo recipe, that is very close to the original one. I made the cookie base out of crashed petit-beurre biscuits, which I mixed with melted butter and with a little orange juice. They turned out yummy, with a delightful orange aroma. For the filling, I followed a recipe published by “Feldman”, a company that produces Krembo, and it turned out exactly like the original one. Finally, I also used Feldman’s recipe for the chocolate coating, although it turned out way too thick, so I diluted it with some oil. It turned out softer than the store bought one, but far better, because of the use of a good quality chocolate.

Some notes and tips about the Krembo:

* I made the base cookies too small, and so they weren’t able to hold the right amount of filling. I made them about 4 cm in diameter, and I recommend making them about 6-8 cm length diameter.

* The best way to fill the cookies is to pipe the filling upon them. It’s quite easy, not to worry. Just hold the piping bag straight above the center of the cookie, and press it until the whole cookie’s base fills up. Then slightly lift up your hand and pipe another layer, and so on, until there is enough filling on the cookie.
Not in a piping mood? Simply take a spoonful of filling and place it on top of the cookie. Then use the spoon to neatly arrange the filling.

* How do we coat the Krembos? By simply dipping them inside the chocolate mixture.

Krembo / Inspired by a recipe by “Feldman” company
For 40 small Krembos or 30 medium ones

Ingredients:
For the cookies:
170 gr petit-beurre biscuits
100 gr butter, melted
2-3 Tbsp orange juice

For the filling:
5 egg-whites
1 cup sugar
1 Tbsp gelatin powder
3 Tbsp water
1 tsp vanilla extract

For the coating:
300 gr bittersweet chocolate
100 gr butter
Vegetable oil, for diluting the mixture

Directions:
1. Prepare the cookies: Preheat the oven to 350F (180C).
2. Crash the biscuits in a food processor. Add the melted butter and mix until crumbly and moist. Add in 2 Tbsp of orange juice and mix until homogenized. Then check if the dough is now firm enough in order to take a small bit and make a sphere out of it that will hold its shape. If not, add another Tbsp of juice, otherwise skip it.
3. Roll out the dough, and cut cookies from it, using a cup or a round cookie cutter.
4. Place the cookies on a pan lined with baking sheet, and bake for about 12 minutes, or until golden.
5. Meanwhile prepare the filling: In a double boiler heat together egg-whites and sugar while stirring, until most of the sugar melts (60C temperature, if you have a sugar thermometer). Remove from heat.
6. Place the gelatin in a small bowl, along with the water. Let stand for 15 minutes. Place the bowl in the microwave for 30 seconds, and then stir the mixture. Beat the egg whites mixture and add the gelatin and vanilla extract to it. Keep beating the whites until the mixture cools down and the foam is stable and stiff (stiff peaks).
7. Pipe the filling on top of each cookie (see tips). Freeze the uncoated Krembos until you finish preparing the coating.
8. Prepare the coating: Melt together the chocolate and the butter. If you’re doing it in the microwave, make sure to do it in 30 seconds intervals, in order to not burn the chocolate. Let the mixture cool for 15 minutes. Now is the time to dilute the mixture, by adding in some oil. Add in the vegetable oil, tablespoon by tablespoon, until the coating is thin enough to allow us to dip the semi-frozen Krembos in it. Dip each Krembo in the coating, and place to dry on a baking sheet. Keep them in the refrigerator, and take them out a few minutes before serving.

Before going there I told Avi that he’s gonna taste one of the world’s best kitchens. He really took my word for it, loving my Mom’s food so much, part of it traditional Romanian. When we got there we realized that most of the dishes I told him about contained pork meat, which Avi doesn’t eat… Avi ended up giving Romania “The Schnitzel Country” title, and we indeed ate there some great schnitzels, about one of them I’ll tell you in a future post.
Every trip of ours, deliberately or not, eventually turns out being mostly about food. And of course - so did this one. So those of you who plan on taking a trip there, here are the things, the way we see them.

The first thing I looked for were traditional Romanian restaurants. Actually, most restaurants there are traditional Romanian, except a few ethnic restaurants - we saw 2 Italians and 1 Chinese. A great traditional restaurant we’ve been to several times was “La Mama” (meaning “At Mom’s”), it’s a chain and has several restaurants in Bucharest, and everything we ate there was great. Especially recommended is their wholemeal bread (in the photo below), a wonderful meat balls soup, and an awesome schnitzel topped with corn flakes instead of bread crumbs. You will see mostly locals when you go there, they really love it since the portions are generous and the prices - reasonable.

Another restaurant that I couldn’t wait to get there already was “Carul cu Bere“, a restaurant located in a beautiful gothic building, and that is open for 129 years. I remembered it as a very good restaurant from when I was little. We actually found there a great Romanian eggplant salad and an oh so tasty mamaliga dish, served with cream, yogurt and chees (it was the second time Avi tried to taste and like mamaliga. The tasting part went ok, but he failed to like it, again…). Other than that, the rest of the dishes were pretty mediocre. But I think what dissapointed me most in this trip was to discover that I no longer like the Romanian kebab. I tasted it twice, and it seemed too salty in both.

After fulfilling my hunger to traditional Romanian food, I started wondering where does the pastry world stand in Romania. When we left Romania, in 1989, there really wasn’t much of anything, but the pastry shops there were very good and updated to the current world’s pastry trends. I was dissapointed to discover that the pastry shops there, most of them anyway, are still stuck in the 80s’. One great chain we’ve found there though is called “French Bakery”. We ate a perfect butter croissant and a wonderfully fluffy and rich chocolate chips muffin.

2 Recommendations we have regarding street food are the “Fornetti” chain and the little windows behind them stands a woman selling delightful Romanian doughnuts. On our first day we began seeing a lot of little Fornetti shops, a small line of people standing outside of each one. We didn’t get the fuss, but decided to try it, thinking that if it makes so many people happy, it can’t be that bad. We found there the most wonderful cheese filled puff pastry we’ve ever tasted (better even than the best burekas I’ve eaten in Israel), although there are various fillings, even sweet ones, all of them great!
The doughnut shops I knew from when I lived there back then, their divine taste hasn’t changed, just many various filling options have been added.

Coffee-wise Romania was a bit dissapointing. In other European countries such as Spain, France and Italy, every single espresso we drank was marvelous. In Romania we had a wonderul espresso on our second day there, at “Cafe Geisha”, a small coffee shop designed in a japanese style. We’ve tried in vain to recreate the success again.

I almost didn’t see any ice-cream shops in Romania. In the beautiful old city of Brasov though, I ate a wonderful ice-cream near the black church, a little over-priced but great.

We spent our last day there at Anca’s house. Anca is a very good friend of my Mom. While drinking our morning coffee we saw on TV a live broadcast from a bread market held in a park, not far from where we were. Of course we rushed over there! A lot of stands were arranged all over the park, selling bread and many related products. There was one stand where a lot of people stood in line for. Obviously I joined the line, thinking that the best bread is right there. Was I right! After a short period of about 5 minutes, and 4 RON (the Romanian coin) later, I had a wonderful bread in my hands!

You can find more photos from our trip on Avi’s blog. He wrote one post about street photography there, and there are 1 or 2 more to come.

Yesterday I started my patisserie course! I’m so excited, and it was so much fun, eventhough the whole day was theory only. Next time we’ll start doing the real things! I never imagined a class schedule can be so much fun!

And for dessert, I’ll leave you with a traditional Romanian cheese cake. The cake is very easy to make, doesn’t require a mixer or food processor, you can make all of it with just a wooden spoon. I made it for our good friends - Guy and Lisa, that came to visit.

Romanian Cheese Cake / Recipe from a Romanian recipes site
For a 20X30 cm rectangular pan

Ingredients:
For the dough:
7 Tbsp milk
7 Tbsp vegetable oil
6 Tbsp sugar
1 egg
1 flat tsp baking soda
350 gr (2.5 cups) all-purpose flour

For the filling:
500 gr ricotta cheese
2 eggs
200 gr powdered sugar
80 gr butter
2 flat Tbsp semolina
20 gr vanillated sugar (or 2 tsp vanilla extract)
grated zest of 1 lemon
100 gr light raisins (optional)

Directions:
1. Prepare the dough: in a small saucepan heat milk, oil and sugar. When it starts to boil, remove from heat and let cool until just warm.
2. Move the mixture into a bowl, and add the egg, baking soda and the flour. Mix until a dough is formed.
3. Divide the dough into 2 parts. Roll out both of them on a floured surface into a rectangle of the pan’s size. Don’t worry, the dough is easy to work with.
4. Place one of the dough parts on the bottom of a pan lined with a baking sheet.
5. Preheat the oven to 350F (180C).
6. Prepare the filling: Melt the butter and cool it until just warm.
7. Add in all the rest of the filling’s ingredients, and mix until a homogenic mixture is formed.
8. Pour the filling onto the dough in the pan, and spread evenly.
9. Using a fork, make holes on the other half of the dough, then place it on top of the filling.
10. Bake for about 35 minutes, or until the top part turns golden.
11. Cool, powder with powdered sugar before serving.