Here’s a handy chart for cooking times of common and not so common beans and legumes.
(more…)

Humans, in our arrogance, have devised numerous ways of taking a fruit or vegetable and dissecting, dissolving or distorting it from its natural state to make it into something, well, delicious. I’m not knocking the natural state of produce that Hashem blessed us with, but sometimes, we don’t want to have to do all that chewing.

(more…)

In my previous post, I just went on and on about finding a bag of dried kaffir lime leaves in an Asian food store outside of Machane Yehuda. But what do you do with them?

Kaffir Lime

Grown in Southeast Asia and Hawaii, the kaffir lime tree produces small, pear-shaped citrus fruit with a skin that’s bright yellow-green, bumpy and wrinkled. The glossy, dark green kaffir lime leaves, which are used in cooking, have a unique double shape and look like two leaves that are joined end to end. Dried kaffir lime rind and leaves, which have a mysterious flora-citrus aroma, can be found in Asian markets. Fresh leaves, which have a more intense, fragrant aroma, are sometimes also available.

Its flavor is lemon-but-not-lemon, lemongrass-but-not-lemongrass. It’s Kate’s (played by Catherine Zeta Jones) mystifying saffron sauce ingredient in No Reservations.

Kaffir lime leaves can be used like bay leaves, added to release their aroma, then removed from the pot or pan before serving, or they can be cut, crushed or pulverized in a mortar and eaten directly. Dry leaves can be reconstituted by soaking them in warm water for 8-10 minutes.

The sweet butter and the sweet leeks and the sweet carrots… Sweet!

Do not let anything caramelize on the bottom. This is not an earthy, hearty soup. This is a smooth, rich soup.

Yes, there is a lot of butter in the recipe. So don’t eat the whole pot at once. It works out to two teaspoons in a pint, which is a normal portion of soup with an extra bit of sin thrown in.

“But there’s no cream in the Creamy Carrot Soup!” you exclaim. Hush now, and make the recipe.