Vegetables

Roasted Potatoes

Medium or small white or red potatoes

Olive oil

Salt and pepper

Garlic (optional)

Herbs (optional)

Cut medium potatoes in quarters, or small ones in halves. In a bowl, toss lightly with olive oil, salt, coarse-ground black pepper, and optional freshly squeezed garlic. Line a cookie sheet with tin foil, rub the foil with olive oil, and place the potatoes on it, skin sides down. Roast in 400 degrees for 30- 40 minutes, or until easily pierced with a knife. Serve hot, warm, or cold, sprinkled with optional fresh herbs of your choice (dill, parsley, chives, oregano, thyme...)
David makes "French fries" by cutting russet potatoes in wedges and proceeding as above. Yummy!

Potato Latkes (This recipe is for a crowd. Half the recipe will make eight good-sized latkes.)

4 large russet potatoes

2 eggs

1 teaspoon salt

Dash pepper

3 tablespoons flour

1 tablespoon grated onion

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

Butter and oil for frying

Peel and grate the potatoes. Rinse in cold water (or else they turn black and yucky in no time) and drain. Beat the eggs and add to the potatoes with the other ingredients. Drop the mixture by the spoonful onto a hot frying pan well greased with a mixture of butter and oil (butter for flavor, oil to keep the butter from burning). Flatten the pancake and fry until golden brown on both sides. Add butter and oil as needed to keep the cakes sizzling. (No point trying to save calories here...Chanukah only comes once a year! ) Serve as hot as possible. Ideally, one person fries and others eat. In reality, put the pancakes on a baking sheet and keep warm in a 250-degree oven. Some serve the latkes with applesauce or sour cream. I like them best plain.

Rutabaga Casserole (Lanttulaatikko)
6-7 large rutabagas (about 10 cups cooked and grated)
2 eggs, beaten with a fork
1/4 cup half-half
1/4 cup fine bread crumbs
1 tablespoon maple syrup
Abt. 1 teaspoon salt (to taste, depending on how salty the cooking water was)
1/2 teaspoon white pepper
3/4 teaspoon nutmeg
2 tablespoons butter, melted
(These amounts are approximate. Go by taste.)Peel and cook the rutabagas in lightly salted water until tender. Grate in a food processor. Mix well with the eggs, half-half, bread crumbs, maple syrup, and melted butter, and season with salt, pepper, and nutmeg. The taste should be a little sweet and a little peppery. Turn into a buttered casserole. Smooth the top and sprinkle lightly with fine breadcrumbs. Make parallel lines of small indentations on the top with a small coffee spoon. Put a few small pats of butter on top, and bake for 45-60 minutes in 375, until the top is lightly browned and the casserole is sizzling. — You typically make this a day or two in advance. If so, bake for only 45 minutes. Then refrigerate it, and reheat for 30 minutes in 375 just before serving.

Carrot Casserole (Porkkanalaatikko)  
8 carrots
3/4 cup rice
2 cups water + 2 cups milk
1 tablespoon butter
2 eggs, beaten
2 tablespoons maple syrup
Salt and white pepper to taste
2 tablespoons butter, melted 
Peel, boil, and grate the carrots. Set the heat to medium and cook the rice in lightly salted water until all water is absorbed. Lower the heat and add the milk one cup at a time, stirring often to keep the milk from boiling over or burning to the bottom. Cook until the milk is absorbed. Mix the rice and carrots together and add the seasonings.
Turn into a buttered casserole. Smooth the top and sprinkle lightly with fine breadcrumbs. Make parallel lines of small  indentations on the top with a small coffee spoon. Dot with butter and bake for 45-60 minutes in 375 degrees. -- Just like the rutabaga casserole, you can make this a day or two ahead.

Cabbage Casserole (Kaalilaatikko)
1 head cabbage, sliced thin

2 cups beef bouillon
1/2 cup medium grain rice

1 onion, chopped
1-2 tablespoons butter
(1/2 lb. hamburger - optional)

3/4 cup cream
Salt and pepper to taste

A little molasses (about a tablespoon)

Bread crumbs and dots of butter for the top

In a small pan, sauté the onion in the butter until golden, 15-25 minutes. While the onions are cooking, put the cabbage, rice, and bouillon in a large pot and cook until almost all the liquid is absorbed, 10-15 minutes. (In another pan, brown the hamburger and break into small pieces.) Add onion (and hamburger) to the cabbage with the cream, salt and pepper, and molasses. Pour into a buttered casserole, sprinkle lightly with bread crumbs, dot with butter, and bake about an hour in 350. - This is also quite nice without the meat.

Cabbage Pie (Kaalipiirakka)
1 head cabbage, chopped

2-3 tablespoons beef bouillon or water
1-2 tablespoons butter

Salt and pepper to taste

A little molasses, maple syrup, or brown sugar
A little apple cider vinegar

Pepperidge Farm puff pastry sheets or homemade short crust pastry
An egg, beaten with fork

Saute the cabbage in butter until wilted and slightly browned. Add the bouillon, lower the heat, and braised the cabbage until quite soft, at least an hour. Season to taste with salt, pepper, vinegar, and brown sugar or molasses/syrup. The cabbage should be slightly sweet and sour. Let cool completely. - Roll out pastry dough into two rectangles. Place the cabbage on top of the bottom crust, then cover with the top crust. Turn the edges under, seal, and flute. Cut small slits in the top crust, paint with beaten egg, and bake in 375 degrees until nicely browned, about 30-45 minutes.

Braised Red Cabbage

1 head red cabbage, shredded

1 large onion, sliced thin

2-3 tablespoons butter

1 tablespoon flour

2 tablespoons vinegar

1/2 cup red wine and 2 tablespoons broth

Salt and black pepper

1 large, tart apple, grated

Sauté the onion in the fat, then add the cabbage and continue sautéing until the cabbage is slightly limp. Add the flour and toss well. Add the liquids, the salt and pepper, and the apple. Lower the heat, cover, and simmer for about an hour. Add the jelly and cook for a few more minutes. If the cabbage is too liquidy, spoon the cabbage into a serving casserole and boil the liquid down until syrupy; then add to the cabbage and toss well. This dish is fine made several days ahead and reheated -- in fact, it'll taste even better.
 
Spinach Casserole

1 large bag baby spinach

1 1/2 cup half-half

3 eggs, lightly beaten

3/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon sugar

1 1/2 cup grated Swiss

1 cup cottage cheese

Boil the spinach for 5 minutes in lightly salted water. Squeeze out as much water as you can, and chop and sauté the spinach in butter until all water has evaporated. Mix the rest of the ingredients together, add the spinach, and pour into a buttered 8 x 12 baking dish. Bake in 375 degrees until browned on top and center seems set. Serve hot or cold. (Makes 24 small squares as a cold appetizer.)

Janson's Temptation

5 large potatoes, peeled and sliced

1 yellow onion, sliced thin

1 2-oz. tin anchovy fillets, with juice

1/4 cup butter

3/4 cup cream

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a buttered or oiled baking dish, place a layer of half the potatoes. Add a layer of onions, then anchovies, then the remaining potatoes. Dot with butter and the anchovy juice. Bake ten minutes. Add half the cream and bake ten minutes longer. Add the remaining cream and bake 50 minutes longer.

Shaksouka (Israeli)
Shakshouka, from the Hebrew word leshakshek meaning "to shake", is a spiced egg and tomato dish which Israelis are happy to eat for breakfast, lunch or dinner.

Olive oil

1 large yellow onion, chopped

1 green bell pepper, chopped

1 red bell pepper, chopped 

2 cloves of garlic, minced

4-6 tomatoes, preferably fire-roasted, chopped 

Large can of stewed tomatoes

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1 teaspoon paprika, preferably smoked 

A sprinkle of red pepper flakes 

4-6 eggs, one per person, or 3 meat or chicken balls per person

Salt, pepper

Fresh cilantro, parsley, basil etc., per taste

In a large frying pan, heat olive oil and saute pepper, onion, and garlic until vegetables have softened and onion has turned translucent, 5-10 minutes.

Meanwhile, mix together tomatoes, cumin, paprika, red pepper flakes, and salt in a bowl.  (I used a large can of chopped tomatoes and added six fire roasted tomatoes, chopped up. Also a handful of my own sun dried tomatoes.) Stir tomato mixture into onion mixture. Simmer, uncovered, until tomato juices have cooked off, about an hour or more. 

With eggs: Make 4-6 indentations in tomato mixture; crack eggs into indentations. Cover the skillet and cook until eggs are firm but not dry, about 5 minutes.

With meat balls: Place cooked meat balls on top of the sauce, turn them once to coat with the sauce. At this point, you can refrigerate, and then bake until hot and bubbly, about 40 minutes in 375. 

Serve with pita, over Israeli couscous cooked in chicken broth.

Pickled Beets

4 lbs beets

Brine

6 dl water

3 dl sugar

1/2 tablespoon salt

1 tl whole white peppers

1 tl whole cloves

25 g horseradish, sliced thin

3 dl distilled vinegar

1. Wash beets well and put them in a pot in salted water. Bold until done, half an hour to an hour depending on size.
2. Pour out the hot water and replace with cold water. Let cool for a while. Peel the beets, slice, and layer in clean glass jars.
3. Combine all brine ingredients except vinegar and boil for about five minutes, stirring once in a while. Add the vinegar and bring to a boil briefly.
4. Pour the hot liquid over the beets in the jars. The liquid should cover the beets completely.
5. Close the jars while still hot and let cool. Refrigerate.
6. Let stand for a few days before eating. They will keep, refrigerated, for several months.