Years ago my brother-in-law, who is a tall, blue-eyed, blond-haired WASP from Ohio, told my sister, who is a tall, brown-eyed, olive-skinned Jew from New York, that when he first laid eyes on her he was struck by her exotic looks. “Exotic!!?” she cried, “Where I come from, Meg Ryan is exotic.” Exoticism, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder and has everything to do with your frame of reference. (more…)
November 26, 2010
Sephardic food is simply exotic
Posted by Janet Amateau under History / Historia, Recipes / Recetas | Tags: cocina sefardita, foods of Rhodes, tomato sauce |[11] Comments
October 17, 2010
An announcement about cooking lessons
Posted by Janet Amateau under general / en general, Recipes / Recetas | Tags: foods of Rhodes, Sephardic cooking classes |[7] Comments
Quiet on these pages generally means there’s a lot going on off-screen… I am coming to the New York Tri-State area in January (and part of February) and will devote some of my time to teaching.
Classes will be organized around two larger themes:
1. Ottoman-Sephardic recipes
2. ‘mainstream’ traditional Spanish dishes of Jewish origin
If you are interested in either hosting a cooking class (at home or at another facility) or attending one in your area, please drop me a line and I’ll send you details via email.
I’m looking forward to this trip and hope to have the pleasure of meeting many of you!
– Janet Amateau
March 11, 2010
Why buy the whole cow…
Posted by Janet Amateau under Holidays / Fiestas Judias, Recipes / Recetas | Tags: foods of Rhodes, recetas pesaj, sephardic passover recipes |[3] Comments
Wow. No sooner did I announce online that I’m selling a Passover cookbook than someone wrote to ask why they should pay for my recipes when there are so many available for free on the web. So, here’s why… (more…)
March 1, 2010
If spring is around the corner…
Posted by Janet Amateau under general / en general, Holidays / Fiestas Judias | Tags: cocina sefardita, foods of Rhodes, recetas para Pesaj, sephardic passover recipes |[3] Comments
Winter is SO incredibly long and then suddenly – suddenly! – it feels like spring again. Okay, maybe not where you are. But last week we were still running around in winter coats and for the past two days I’ve been sporting Birkenstocks. Which can only mean it’s time to shake off the mothballs (ew!) and get ready for Passover. By the end of this week I’ll be rolling out a new edition of my annual Sephardic Passover recipe folio. Check back here, or subscribe, or leave a request in the comment box (it won’t be published) and I’ll let you know as soon as it’s ready. — JA
January 17, 2010
The glossary is back / Ha vuelto el glosario
Posted by Janet Amateau under Articulos en Castellano, Glossary / Glosario | Tags: cocina sefardita, foods of Rhodes, Jewish holiday foods, reposteria sefardita, sephardic food |Leave a Comment
My small-but-growing Sephardic food glossary is back online; there’s a link in the righthand column (or you can click here). You can still find any related articles I’ve written here on the blog (and slowly but surely I’ll put cross-referenced links on all the various entries).
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Mi pequeño-pero-creciendo glosario de comida sefardí esta’ online de nuevo; hay un hyperlink a la derecha (o puedes cliquear aqui). Todavía se encuentra aquí en el blog articulos relacionados que he escrito. Y empiezo 0 - finalmente! - a traducir todo en castellano.
July 31, 2009
Spinach Cuajado / Cuajado de Espinaca (recipe)
Posted by Janet Amateau under general / en general, Recipes / Recetas | Tags: cocina judia y sefardita, foods of Rhodes, sephardic food, spinach cuajado, vegetarian sephardic |[7] Comments
We’re deep into summer now, and one of the nicest things to eat on a lazy summer day is room temperature cuajado and a fresh salad - no need for a big spread every time you make cuajado, as it’s quite filling on its own.
Spinach was easily the variety we ate more often when Grandma and Aunt Reina were alive (as opposed to my favorite, zucchini cuajado), yet it was a dish whose aroma while baking was too intense for me. Once out of the oven, though, the flavors mellowed and I couldn’t get enough. Because spinach itself has a more intense flavor than zucchini, this cuajado needs a stronger cheese, too: pecorino romano instead of parmiggiano, which works perfectly with zucchini but would be too delicate here. So here’s my recipe for the spinach, also adapted from my Aunt Reina’s. The sesame seeds aren’t traditional, but they are within the bounds of tradition and a nice touch you might want to try out.
A serving note before you begin: (more…)
March 8, 2009
Mina
Posted by Janet Amateau under general / en general, Glossary / Glosario, Holidays / Fiestas Judias | Tags: Algerian Sephardic, foods of Rhodes, herencia sefardita, Jewish holiday foods, mina, Passover, Sephardic heritage |Leave a Comment
MINA (“MI-nä”) is an Ottoman Sephardic savory pie made from ground beef, onion and spring herbs, bound with eggs and sandwiched between layers of matza (moistened, of course). In my experience it is a specialty of Rhodes, where it is a star of the Passover repertoire. However, it is nearly identical to Algerian Sephardic méguena in all except its use of matza, which the Algerian recipe dispenses with altogether in the versions I am familiar with. (Algeria was part of the Ottoman Empire from 1536 to 1830 and had a substantial Jewish community).
There are vegetable minas as well; however, mina is not simply another kind of cuajado. A true mina contains no cheese, and eggs serve to bind the filling without dominating its appearance or texture.
As with mustachudos, mina offers another fine example of how symbolism is incorporated into Sephardic recipes, in this case repeating elements of the Seder plate: parsley and eggs to represent springtime and renewal and matza, of course, the unleavened bread of the Exodus that is eaten throughout the week-long holiday. Mina is served cut in large squares, which bring to my mind the bricks of the Egyptian pyramids – in shape only, as a well-made mina is delicate, moist and intoxicatingly delicious!
February 25, 2009
Mustachudos (glossary)
Posted by Janet Amateau under general / en general, Glossary / Glosario, Holidays / Fiestas Judias | Tags: cocina judia, cocina sefardita, fiestas judias, foods of Rhodes, Jewish holiday foods, mustachudos, Passover, Pesaj, sephardic food |[2] Comments
MUSTACHUDOS (“mōō-stä-CHŌŌ-thōs”) Here is a prime example of the way in which many Sephardic foods are infused with symbolism.
As a general rule, Sephardic custom doesn’t call much for cooking with wine. There are exceptions, of course, and these can be unusual enough as to impact the name of the recipe in question. During Passover, any wine consumed must be ‘new’; this means using either grape juice or young wine that is kosher for Passover. The mustachudo gets its name from this specific ingredient: musto in Ladino; mosto in Spanish and Italian, must in English. The name has absolutely nothing to do with ‘little moustaches’, despite the similar-sounding root word. (more…)
