Room for Dessert - Food Blog

Avi and I had our first date (it was April 8th, 2005, almost 3 years ago!) at a great Italian restaurant named Bellini. It was the best first date I’ve ever had - it lasted for 6 whole hours, and every minute of it was absolutely wonderful! Don’t get alarmed here, we didn’t eat for 6 straight hours, after the restaurant we went to a pub
At Bellini, which is ever since our favorite restaurant in Israel, we ate, among other things, a super delicious pasta with eggplant, mushrooms and honey.

Whenever we go to Bellini, it’s always a sure bet that we’re gonna order that dish, all the other stuff in our menu are to be decided when we arrive at the restaurant. Last time we’ve been there, I’ve noticed a hint of an oriental taste in it, which was kinda weird - suddenly noticing a new fact about a dish I’ve been eating regularly for years. I was almost certain it was soy sauce. It was then that I decided that I’m gonna try and make this at home, after figuring out some of the main ingredients it contains.

Last Friday we had a Friday nigt with no family gatherings planned, so I figured I’d give it a shot. My expectations weren’t high at all, since I’ve already tried doing reverse engineering on recipes just by their taste and the list of ingredients I think they contain, and it didn’t come close to the real thing. For example, when we were in Italy, we ate the best dinner there at a small restaurant in Pistoia, that was recommended by Lonely Planet. One of dishes we ordered, and the one that I remember its taste exactly till this day, was pasta with a superb black olives sauce. Tried to make it home, was nice, but not even close to that divine taste.

But boy was I up for a sweet surprise! The sauce came out wonderful, and tasted 99% exactly like the one at Bellini!! Avi and I were both shocked with pleasure, every bite we took was an absolute paradise! The tastes of the soy and honey along with the white wine and brown sugar I’ve added blend together to create a marvelous pasta sauce! Serving it with Feta cheese aside, and adding a little of it to every bite you take completes the tastes celebration that’s going on in your mouth. I HIGHLY recommend this one!

This is also my entry for this week’s Presto Pasta Night, a blog event kindly held weekly by Ruth at Once Upon a Feast.

Farfalle with eggplant, honey and soy sauce / Self recipe
Makes 2 servings

Ingredients:
250 gr farfalle, cooked by manufacturer’s directions
3 Tbsp vegetable oil
4 garlic cloves
1 medium sized eggplant
4-5 medium sized fresh mushrooms, finely chopped
3 Tbsp white wine
3 Tbsp soy sauce
2 Tbsp honey
1 1/2 tsp light brown Demerara sugar
For serving: grated Feta cheese

Directions:
1. Slice the eggplant, scatter salt over all the slices from both sides, and let rest for an hour.
2. Wash the eggplant, dice them into small squares, so they won’t take ages to cook.
3. Warm the vegetable oil in a pan, add the garlic cloves and fry them for about a minute.
4. Add in the eggplant and mushrooms and fry until the eggplant is completely soft (about 15 mins, maybe a bit more).
5. Add the white wine, stir, and fry until the wine has almost completely evaporated.
6. Stir in 2 Tbsp of the soy sauce and all the honey.
7. After about 5 mins stir in the brown sugar.
8. Add the cooked pasta into the sauce, add the remaining 1 Tbsp of soy sauce and stir until the pasta gets a bit darker color (from the soy sauce).
9. It’s highly recommended to serve it with grated Feta cheese alongside, the tastes combination is simply exciting!

פרפלה ברוטב חצילים, דבש וסויה סטייל מסעדת בליני / מתכון עצמי - מירי רביבו
עבור 2 מנות

רכיבים:
250 גרם פסטה, מבושלת ע”פ הוראות יצרן
3 כפות שמן
4 שיני שום
1 חציל בינוני
4-5 פטריות יער בגודל בינוני
3 כפות יין לבן
3 כפות סויה
2 כפות דבש
1 1/2 כפיות סוכר חום דמררה
להגשה: גבינת פטה מגוררת

הכנה:
1. חותכים את החצילים (עם הקליפה) לפרוסות, ממליחים, ונותנים לזה לנוח כך כשעה וחצי, להוצאת המרירות.
2. לאחר מכן שוטפים את החצילים וחותכים אותם לקוביות קטנות, על מנת שבעת הבישול לא ייקח להם הרבה זמן להתרכך.
3. מחממים שמן במחבת ומטגנים את השום כדקה.
4. מוסיפים את החצילים והפטריות ומטגנים עד לריכוך מוחלט של החצילים (כרבע שעה, אולי טיפה יותר)
5. מוסיפים את היין הלבן, מערבבים, ומטגנים עד לאידוי כמעט מלא של היין.
6. מוסיפים 2 כפות מהסויה ואת הדבש ומערבבים היטב.
7. לאחר 5 דקות מוסיפים את ההסוכר החום.
8. מסננים את הפסטה ממי הבישול ומעבירים אותה למחבת עם הרוטב. מוסיפים את כף הסויה הנוספת ומערבבים עד אשר האטריות משחימות קלות (מהצבע של רוטב הסויה).
9. מומלץ בחום רב להגיש את המנה עם גבינת פטה מגוררת בצד, שילוב הטעמים הוא נפלא!

This post is Avi’s. I am writing it and took the photos, but other than that, it’s all his. He came up with the idea, created the recipe and made the dish. And how yummy that was! This is one of two recipes (and counting ) he came up with lately, I hope we make the other one soon, and if it turns out to be a keeper as well - we’ll be sure to post about it.

That being said, this post is a part of the Presto Pasta Night blog event - it’s a weekly event, hosted by Ruth at Once Upon a Feast, and it’s all dedicated to pasta recipes. How cool is that? (Those of you who visit here often already know that Italian food is my favorite, but I bet you didn’t know that one of my best friends calls me “Paaaaasta”, because I always say this word with a mellow-and-totally-in-love-tone).

A couple of weeks ago, I don’t remember exactly when and how, Avi came to me with the idea of making a cream and raisins pasta sauce. The only other sweet-ish pasta sauce I’ve ever tasted was a divine one (at a restaurant named Divina, imagine that ), it was a cream based sauce with a touch of orange. Yum! So Avi’s idea reminded me of exactly that sauce, and evidently his idea sounded awesome.

Last Saturday he got around to making it. He used onion and garlic in his recipe, which I thought wouldn’t accompany the raisins very well, but it turned out that the man knew what he was doing! He also added a touch of lemon to the sauce, which was subtle but at the same time gave it a great taste-hint and aroma. All in all it turned out to be a great sauce, the light sweetness of the raisins is a great match to cream based pasta sauce, and it also was a great match to the goat cheese filled ravioli that it was wrapped aound.

I’ve filed this post under both Main Courses and First Courses, since in Italy pasta is usually a first course, whereas for Avi and me (and for many restaurants here in Israel), it’s definitely a main course.

Cream and raisins pasta sauce / Avi Revivo
Makes 2 portions

Ingredients:
2 small onions, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, crushed
250 ml cream (we used 15% fat)
1/2 - 3/4 cup raisins (we used mixed - dark and light)
2 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
5 Tbsp white wine
salt, pepper
milk, for thinning the sauce if necessary

Directions:
1. Fry the onion until brown and caramelized.
2. Add the garlic and fry for 1/2 min.
3. Add the white wine, stir well and cook until partially evaporized.
4. Add the cream, lemon juice, the raisins and salt and pepper according to your taste. Stir well and cook for about 15 mins. If during the process the sauce gets too thick, add a little milk to it and stir well. Serve with grated parmesan cheese.

רוטב שמנת וצימוקים לפסטה / אבי רביבו
עבור 2 מנות

רכיבים:
2 בצלים קטנים, קצוצים דק
2 שיני שום כתושות
250 מ”ל שמנת (אנחנו השתמשנו ב - 15% שומן)
1/2 - 3/4 כוס צימוקים (בהירים וכהים, מומלץ לשים כמות גדולה יותר של בהירים)
2 כפות מיץ לימון סחוט טרי
5 כפות יין לבן
מלח, פלפל
חלב, לדילול הרוטב במקרה הצורך

הכנה:
1. מטגנים את הבצל עד השחמה וקרמול.
2. מוספים את השום ומטגנים כחצי דקה.
3. מוסיפים את היין הלבן, מערבבים היטב ומבשלים עד לאידוי חלקי.
4. מוסיפים את השמנת, מיץ הלימון, הצימוקים, ומלח ופלפל לפי הטעם. מערבבים היטב ומבשלים כ - 15 דקות. אם במהלך זמן הבישול הרוטב הופך סמיך מדי, מדללים עם מעט חלב עד שמגיעים למרקם הרצוי, מערבבים היטב. מומלץ להגיש בליווי גבינת פרמזן מגוררת.

Pizza night is such a great tradition! Whenever I see in movies or TV series families that have a weekly pizza night - I want to have one too. It’s such a nice together-time, and when the theme is such a tasty treat - how can one refuse it?

But, back to reality, if I’d let myself eat pizza in the evening once a week, I wouldn’t get very far (cause I wouldn’t be able to pass through the door). But there’s no harm in pizza nights every now and then, right?

So for a while now I’ve wanted to try to make home-made pizza. My childhood memories from home made pizza (not at my home, we didn’t make pizza at home, but at friends’ houses) aren’t so hot - I remember very thick dough (and I like thick dough, but that was too much even for me) that tasted nothing like a real pizza dough, sauce that on a good day would never resemble to the real thing, and some cheese. This held me back from making pizza at home for a really long time (silly me!), thinking that with home kitchen equipment there is no way I can produce pizzeria-style pizza (WRONG!). Lately though, while browsing through food blogs, and watching results of fellow bloggers and fellow food forum members here in Israel, I saw really impressive results.

I also figured that it could be nice to start using that new baking stone that we received among the presents for our wedding. So for the past couple of weeks Avi and I talked almost every night about making pizza at home (actually every time we talked it sounded something like this: Avi: “When are we gonna make pizza?” Me: “As soon as we buy a pizza pan“). Yeah, that’s me, I love to have all the right gadgets before I make any kind of food. It’s really the best excuse I’ve found to buying all sorts of great cooking gadgets!

Yesterday I bought the pizza pan and decided to surprise Avi with a home-made-pizza-night. Boy, am I happy I used the recipe I used! It belongs to Maggie, she is a friend from an Israeli food forum, actually a virtual friend, because I’ve never met her. She is SO talented! Every picture of every dish she ever makes would make your mouth water in a second, and she also tells the story of the recipes she gives so gracefully - I really admire her! Last but not least - she also lived in Italy for a period in her life, and she knows a lot about Italian food.
The pizza turned out delicious! The dough was so great to work with, I almost wanted to crawl into the mixer’s bowl and lie down to sleep on it! It made a superb crust, and eventhough I slightly overcooked it, it still had a wonderful taste. The sauce was also very tasty, and to sum it all up - I really recommend this wonderful recipe. Thanks so much, Maggie!

Place the dough on the pizza pan

Spread a little amount of the sauce on the dough. Notice here that
I’ve put a lot of sauce, because I didn’t read the recipe carefully.
This didn’t produce a wet dough at all, though.

After partial baking add cheese and toppings

And the final result (try to not overcook the margins, as I did)

Pizza / Slightly adapted from Maggie’s recipe
Serves 4-6 people

Ingredients:
For the dough:
500 gr bread flour (I didn’t have so I used all-purpose flour)
1 Tbsp salt
1 Tbsp sugar
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 Tbsp dry yeast
1 1/4 cups warm water

For the sauce:
1 fresh tomato, grated
100 gr tomato paste
1 flat tsp sugar
2 garlic cloves, crushed
2 Tbsp olive oil
salt
pepper

For the pizza:
200 gr mozzarella cheese

Directions:
1. Put the flour and salt in the mixer’s bowl and stir them well using a spatula. Add the yeast and stir well.
2. Add the rest of the ingredients and knead for 10-12 mins.
3. Cover the bowl and let rise in a warm place until doubled in size.
4. Place the baking stone in the oven (if using one) and preheat the oven to the highest temperature available.
5.Punch down dough and knead briefly. Form 2 large pizza bases from it, or 4 smaller ones.
6. Place the dough on a pizza pan. Make the sauce, by mixing all the ingredients together and stirring them.
7. When the stove has reached the highest temperature, spread only a small amount of the sauce on top of the dough. Start spreading from the center and slowly spread towards the ends, leaving a small part of the crust uncovered with sauce.
8. Bake the dough and sauce for about 10 mins, or until the margins are half baked.
9. Get the pizza out of the oven, spread more sauce and scatter the cheese and other desired toppings. Put back into the oven until fully baked.

We also made a little focaccia from the dough

פיצה / עיבוד קל למתכון של מגי מפורום מתכונים של תפוז
עבור 4-6 אנשים

רכיבים:
לבצק:
500 גרם קמח לחם (השתמשתי בקמח רגיל)
1 כף מלח
1 כף סוכר
2 כפות שמן זית
1 כף שמרים יבשים
1 1/4 כוסות מים חמימים

לרוטב:
1 עגבניה, מגוררת
100 גרם רסק עגבניות
1 כפית שטוחה סוכר
2 שיני שום, כתושות
2 כפות שמן זית
מלח
פלפל

לפיצה:
200 גרם גבינת מוצרלה

הכנה:
1. מכניסים את הקמח והמלח לקערת המיקסר ומערבבים ידנית. מוסיפים את השמרים ומערבבים טוב.
2. מוסיפים את שאר החומרים ולשים 10-12 דקות.
3. מכסים את הקערה ומתפיחים במקום חמים עד להכפלת הנפח.
4. אם משתמשים באבן שמוט, מניחים אותה על רשת בשליש התחתון של התנור ומחממים את התנור לחום הגבוה ביותר.
5. מוציאים את האויר מהבצק ע”י מכת אגרוף ולשים קלות. יוצרים ממנו 2 בסיסים גדולים לפיצה או 4 קטנים יותר.
6. שמים את הבצק על רשת לפיצה (אם משתמשים). מכינים את הרוטב ע”י ערבוב כל החומרים.
7. כאשר התנור סיים להתחמם, מורחים על עיגולי הבצק מעט מאוד רוטב, עד השוליים שיהיו גבול הנחת הגבינה ושאר התוספות על הפיצה.
8. מכניסים לתנור ואופים כ-10 דקות, או עד ששולי הפיצה חצי אפויים.
9. מוציאים את הפיצה מהתנור, מורחים עוד מהרוטב בכמות הרצויה, מפזרים גבינה ושאר תוספות. מכניסים בחזרה לתנור עד לאפיה מלאה לפי טעמכם האישי(אנחנו אוהבים את הבצק זהוב ושעל הגבינה מתחילות להופיע נקודות זהובות).

Yeah, I know what you must be thinking right now… And you’re right! We ARE risotto junkies!
Yesterday evening was the first Friday in quite some time that we haven’t had a family dinner planned. I really love these quiet evenings every once in a while, and whenever such a Friday approaches - I make big plans of preparing big meals for just the two of us Yesterday was about the same, except that I kept feeling worse (I am sick for quite some time now) as the day progressed.

So we ended up preparing our favorite (comfort) food - Porcini Risotto. Last time I prepared it was also the first time, and I wrote down the recipe as I prepared the dish. This time I tested the recipe - printed it and followed it step by step, just to make sure that it’s complete and that I haven’t omitted any important details. The good news is that the recipe is accurate and gave us the same results as the last time, actually even better because this time I used better Porcini mushrooms. Also, if you can get your hands on some fresh Portobello mushrooms (the recipe also asks for fresh mushrooms), they really kick the taste up and are more recommended than the regular (at least in our markets, here in Israel) fresh champignon mushrooms.

The result is totally worth the time spent on carefully pampering and gently stirring the rice. I’m sure you will agree too, as soon as you taste this smooth and creamy piece of heaven! It goes wonderfully along with a glass (or two) of red wine - Merlot or Cabernet are both a perfect match for this dish, in our opinion.

The recipe, both in English and in Hebrew, can be found here.

Whenever anybody asks me what do I feel like eating, there’s a solid 90 percent chance that my reply would be “Italian”. This certainly hasn’t been so my whole life, but I can’t point out the moment in time when this love of mine began. All I remember is that until the age of 10 I absolutely despised pizza (that’s understandable, considering the awful pizza they made in Romania in the 80’s).
About 2 years ago, I discovered rissoto. Ever since, I’ve been a great fan, and it didn’t take long until I started cooking it at home. Seeing how easy it was to cook a great risotto at home, it really baffles me that many restaurants make it so far from perfect. All you really need is some patience on the stirring phase, and there you are. A good recipe might come in handy as well

Last November, while in Barcelona, we had a great Porcini risotto. It hapenned twice, at two different places, both on Ample street, in the gothic quarter. The first one was at Chardonnay restaurant, where we ate a single time, and luckily for us, the same day they served the porcini risotto on their menu-du-jour (we know that, cause we came back every single day until we left Barcelona, to check whether they may be serving it again…).
The second is called Boga. This is the restaurant we officially ranked as the best of all the ones we’ve been to in Barcelona. It had the porcini risotto on their regular menu, and every other dish we’ve ordered there tasted just divine! It was so good, we came back there 3 times!

This trip left us with a serious craving for porcini risotto, but it mainly left me with a new challenge that I was determined to accomplish - that was making a similar-tasting risotto at home. I thought it would take quite some practice, but my improvised recipe worked wonderfully! You can surely imagine how happy it made me…

Porcini Risotto / Self Recipe
Makes 2 portions

For the mushrooms:
20 gr butter
1 small onion, peeled and finely chopped
140 gr various types of fresh mushrooms, finely chopped
15 gr porcini mushrooms, dried
1-2 Tbsp white wine
1 Tbsp parsley, finely chopped

For the risotto:
1 cup (210 gr) short-grained rice (such as Arborio)
60 gr butter
1/3 cup white wine
3-4 cups chicken stock (approximately, I’ll explain immediately)
salt, ground pepper

Prepare the mushrooms:
1. Let the dried porcini mushrooms stand for 20-30 mins along with a cup of boiling water.
2. Take out the mushrooms, but keep the water they have been staying in for further use.
3. Melt the butter in a frying pan, add the onion and fry it for 2 mins. Add the mushrooms and continue frying for 5 more mins.
4. Add the white wine and continue frying for 5 more mins.
5. Add the parsley, stir them in and fry for two more mins. Put aside.

Prepare the risotto:
1. Melt the butter in a cooking pot, add the rice and stir for about 5 mins.
2. Pour in the wine and continue stirring for 4 mins.
3. Pour in the stock, cup by cup. Only when it starts to run out of fluids, add the next cup. Continue doing so until the rice reaches the degree of softness you prefer (there’s a chance you won’t need all the stock). In this phase also add the water in which the porcini have stayed. This adds a great taste of mushrooms to the rissoto. My advice is to add it little by little and taste each time - until it reaches the flavor of your preference. I added 1/3 - 1/2 cup. During this phase it’s most important to stir constantly, so your risotto won’t stick to the pot. It should take about 20 mins in total.
4. Add the mushrooms, stir until well blended, add salt and pepper according to taste and serve immediately. It’s great to serve it aside with some grated parmigiano cheese.

ריזוטו פורצ’יני / מתכון עצמי - מירי רביבו

רכיבים:
לפטריות:
20 גרם חמאה
1 בצל קטן, מקולף וקצוץ דק
140 גרם פטריות מסוגים שונים (שמפיניון, יער, ירדן) קצוצות דק
15 גרם פטריות פורצ’יני מיובשות
1-2 כפות יין לבן
1 כף פטרוזיליה קצוצה

לריזוטו:
1 כוס (210 גרם) אורז ריזוטו עגול, שטוף
60 גרם חמאה
1/3 כוס יין לבן
3-4 כוסות ציר עוף
מלח, פלפל שחור טחון

אופן ההכנה:
להכנת הפטריות:
1. להשרות את פטריות הפורצ’יני בקערה יחד עם כוס מים רותחים למשך 20-30 דקות.
2. לסנן את הפטריות, ולשמור את המים שבהם הן הושרו לשימוש מאוחר יותר.
3. להמיס את החמאה במחבת, להוסיף את הבצל הקצוץ ולטגן למשך 2 דקות. להוסיף את הפטריות ולהמשיך לטגן למשך 5 דקות נוספות.
4. להוסיף את היין הלבן ולטגן עוד 5 דקות.
5. להוסיף את הפטרוזיליה, לערבב ולהוריד מהאש כעבור 2 דקות. לשמור בצד.

להכנת הריזוטו:
1. להמיס את החמאה בסיר בינוני, להוסיף את הריזוטו ולערבב במשך כחמש דקות, עד שהאורז עצמו חם ועטוף כולו בחמאה.
2. להוסיף את היין ולהמשיך לערבב כ-4 דקות נוספות.
3. להוסיף פנימה את הציר, מצקת לאחר מצקת. להוסיף את המצקת הבאה רק לאחר שהנוזלים מהוספת המצקת הקודמת כמעט ונספגו לגמרי. בשלב זה יש להוסיף גם חלק ממי ההשריה של הפטריות. זה ייתן לאורז עצמו טעם נפלא של פטריות. גם כאן ההמלצה שלי היא להוסיף בכל פעם מעט, לערבב ואז לטעום - עד שזה יגיע לטעם האהוב עליכם. אני הוספתי בין 1/3 ל 1/2 כוס. ממשיכים כך בהוספת נוזלים עד שהאורז מגיע לדרגת הרכות המועדפת עליכם. בשלב זה מאוד חשוב לערבב טוב את הריזוטו, על מנת שלא ידבק לתחתית הסיר. השלב הזה כולו אמור לקחת בסביבות ה-20 דקות.
4. להוסיף את תערובת הפטריות, לערבב עד שהן נטמעו באופן אחיד בריזוטו. להוסיף מלח ופלפל לפי הטעם ולהגיש מיד. אפשר ואף רצוי להגיש את הריזוטו עם גבינת פרמזן מגוררת בצידו - מעדן אמיתי!