Charcuterie

We recently had a delicious dinner at Charcuterie, a small restaurant in a quiet alley in the Jaffa market. Since opening in the shuk hapishpeshim (flea market ) two years ago, many other eateries/bars have followed. We started by sharing a plate of home-made cold cuts and then moved on to our main dishes: beet root gemelli pasta with spinach and smoked salmon and entrecote with braised Jerusalem artichokes and green beans. Our dinner was perfect. Chef-owner Vince Mustar, also of the Container, does a perfect job of mixing the magical after hours of the market with a delicious selection of homemade sausages, pancetta, prosciutto... (the list goes on) alongside simple pasta and fish dishes. We had a wonderful time, though some friends have mentioned having a hit or miss dining experiences here.

Charcuterie
3 Rabi Chanina st.
Jaffa
tel 03 6828843

A sneak peak...

This year we had the privilege of attending the first year studio presentations at the Bezalel Department of Architecture (Tom, as a teacher and Rena as a guest critic). Here's a sneak peak at some of the projects. More to come soon...

Why oh why?

Utter boredom (and suffering). That is what I went through when I went to see Love Fire, the new work by Yasmeen Godder. I could not connect to the choreography and found the piece to be cliche. Well, next time I'll stick to Batsheva.

Baked Split Banana

Baked Split Banana

Ingredients
1 ripe banana
1/2 tsp. light brown sugar
cinnamon for dusting

The Recipe
Preheat the oven to 180 C.
Split the banana in half, lengthwise. Sprinkle with sugar. Bake in the oven for 10 minutes. Dust with cinnamon and serve.

Breakfast at Manta Ray

On a recent Saturday morning we walked along the beach to Manta Ray and sat down to their widely known breakfast. We ordered a zucchini and onion omelet and poached eggs. The breakfast was served with a big basket filled with delicious breads and various spreads- tahini, cream cheese, and jams. We also ordered a morning mezze of cured matthias (herring). We once very much enjoyed eating at Manta Ray, but with time their menu, satisfies less and overall, we were a little disappointed. We'd like to see them renovate and update the menu. It's not enough just to have the beach location, you need to back it up.

Manta Ray
Alma Beach
Tel Aviv
tel 03 5174773

Red/Green Tahini (Techina) Spread

Tahini (or techina as it is called in Hebrew) is a basic ingredient in the Israeli kitchen. It is eaten everywhere and by everyone; smeared with a pita, spread on a sandwich, as a salad dressing or in our kitchen, on soba noddles. Tahini cookies are favorite sin of mine too. The core to a good tahini recipe is a good raw tahini paste (or techina golmit). You can find very good options in Israeli grocery stores, but the best raw tahini paste we found was in the Machane Yehuda Market in Jerusalem.

For the Red (Roasted Pepper) Tahini Spread
Ingredients
1/2 cup raw tahini paste (i like to use Harduf Organic Tahini from whole sesame, but any good tahini paste, like Yona or Gamal will do)
10 roasted and peeled red peppers
juice from 1/2 lemon
2 garlic cloves, peeled
1 piece ginger, the size of a garlic clove, peeled
1 chopped red chili (use half if you don't love spicy)
salt and pepper to taste

The Recipe
Blend all the ingredients in a food processor. Add salt and pepper to taste. The spread can easily be turned into a salad dressing by thinning it out with a little bit of water.

For the Green (Herb) Tahini Spread
Ingredients
1/2 cup raw tahini paste
1 bunch of parsley
1 bunch of coriander
10 basil leaves
juice from 1/2 lemon
2 garlic cloves, peeled
1 piece ginger, the size of a garlic clove, peeled
1 chopped red chili (use half if you don't love spicy)
salt and pepper to taste

The Recipe
Blend all the ingredients in a food processor. Add salt and pepper to taste. The spread can easily be turned into a salad dressing by thinning it out with a little bit of water.