Beef Stew with Okra and Herbs

As a fan of fresh okra dishes, I’m always delighted when they are in season again, and immediately start to use them in different dishes.  One of my most favorites is the Sephardic dish of braised okra (click HERE for recipe), which I make often. This time, I’ve decided to prepare a version of it, with the addition of beef and fresh herbs.

Leeks with Rice

After the fairly heavy meals of Thanksgiving weekend, I opted for a lighter, vegetarian dish. As I had some nice fresh leeks at hand, I recalled a simple and tasty dish from the Sephardic cuisine:  “Prassa con Arroz”, i.e. “leeks with rice” – and was quickly set on making it.
The dish includes mostly leeks, with very few other ingredients and minimal seasoning, which let the unique fresh, oniony leeks flavor shine.

Filo Triangles with Zucchini-Tomato Filling

The following tasty and crispy filo triangles are a quicker version of the Sephardic savory “Boyos” pastries (click HERE for recipe), which require a fairly lengthy preparation of their delicate dough. Here, I’ve used store-bought filo pastry, and filled it with the traditional tasty zucchini-tomato filling, which is also used for making “Burekitas” (click HERE for recipe).

Sephardic Spaghetti and Cheese Bake

Unlike last week’s time consuming recipe, the following recipe requires very little effort or ingredients.
The original bake, which is known in the Sephardic cuisine as “Makarron reynado”, is a simple mix of cooked spaghetti, Feta cheese, eggs and milk, baked until set and golden.

Shredded Braised Skirt Steak with Tomato-Parsley Rice

Skirt steak is one of the most flavorful beef cuts. The outer part is mostly suitable for pan-searing or grilling (see recipe HERE), while the inside part is more suitable for slow cooking, which is the method I used in the following recipe.

Candied Pomelo Rind

The following recipe came from my maternal grandmother, who was raised in the Sephardic Jewish community of Izmir. The making of jams, confitures and sweets was an important part of every household, and the guests were greeted with an assortment of small plates of these delicacies, along with coffee.

Sephardic Fresh Fava Beans with Onions and Mint

Unlike green/string beans, fava beans are more familiar to most in their dried form. They are also called broad beans for a reason, as they are substantially broader and bigger than green beans.

Grape Leaves Stuffed with Rice and Herbs

Stuffed grape leaves are known all over the Mediterranean, where they are mostly stuffed with rice and herbs, and in the Middle East, where a meat filling is more common.

Burekitas with Zucchini-Tomato filling

The Sephardic cuisine offers quite a few versions for Burekitas, small hand pastries, with various types of dough and fillings (check THIS post for more information about them).

Eggplant and Chickpea Soup

After all the elaborated foods of the holiday’s season, it’s time for some simple, hearty dishes. The following rustic soup, which comes from my maternal grandmother’s Sephardic kitchen, is just what is needed on a cold winter’s day.

Sephardic Tomatoes-Peppers Sauce with Fried Eggplants

Tomatoes-peppers sauce, or “Salata Kocha” (i.e. “cooked salad”), as it is known in Ladino, is a condiment that can be found in any Sephardic household at any given time.