Tomato Basil Penne Pasta

On Monday night, we made a delicious pasta dish and sauteed vegetables. Instead of going to the Shuk, we went to local supermarkets to find the few ingredients that we needed. Today's lesson: ITS WORTH THE TRIP TO THE SHUK! The prices at all of the local supermarkets were a lot higher than prices in the Shuk. From now on, we are headed to the Shuk for most of our ingredients.

We made a pasta dish called Tomato Basil Penne Pasta. The recipe calls for shredded mozzarella cheese and grated parmesan cheese, but we could only find blocks. So we settled for that and attempted to shred our own mozzarella and make our own parmesan flakes! They turned out pretty well, but we didn't get any pictures before it all melted. Mmmmm, doesn't it look delicious?

As noted in a previous post, Chef Brian had told us to put salt in the water, not oil, when making pasta. After the pasta was ready to be strained, we made sure to shock it, to stop it from cooking. Thanks for the advice, Chef Brian! It worked out well.

We told ourselves that we would leave some pasta out for anyone who might not like our Tomato Basil Penne Pasta. We forgot and had to scoop it out of the tomato basil mixture. Woops!

We also sauteed some zucchini, red peppers, and onions. Because of the limited cooking space and supplies in our apartment, we were unable to saute all of the vegetables in the same pan, at the same time. In the end, the dish tasted delicious anyway. Nothing can stop us! 

Cukes and Beans

Tonight we cooked our very first dinner! It was pretty low key, but still required a lot of work. We chopped up the tomatoes, cucumbers and Arab cucumbers that we bought at the Shuk today.

We then made hard boiled eggs.

 They turned out beautifully.

 
We bought baked beans from the makolet (a small neighborhood market) down the street from our apartment. When we got home, multiple people tried opening a can with a few different can openers. Unfortunately, none of them worked too well. Finally, Sarah heroically opened the can, but with a splat.

We also made some guacamole. Along with each of the things we prepared, we put out pita from the shuk, cheeses and who can forget chumus!

First Shuk Adventure

Today was our first day at the Shuk. We took a wonderful tour. We learned first hand which vendors would give us the best meat, fish, vegetables, and fruit. We bought delicious olives from an olive vendor.

We learned the layout of the Shuk and the different street names.

We were introduced to a cousin of the cucumber: the Arab cucumber. After some research online, we aren't sure that they are actually called Arab cucumbers, but that's how they are referred to at the Shuk.

They are yellowish or light green and have fuzzy outsides, just like peaches. They taste a lot like cucumbers, but with a little more crunch and more of a lemony flavor. Not everyone in our family liked the Arab cucumbers, but everyone was at least brave enough to try them!

A nice surprise was seeing how nice some of the vendors were. One member of our tour was feeling a little faint (she's fine now), and a bunch of vendors rushed to help. One offered a chair, the flower vendor misted her with his plant mister, and another offered sugar water and said, "drink, drink. שתי, שתי!". Of course, it wasn't all paradise because we met our fair share of gruff vendors too. Looking forward to going back for our next adventure at the Shuk!

We've Arrived!

We made it to Israel! One of the first things we did was drink שוקו בשקית (chocolate milk in a bag). Although it may sound strange, it is quite delicious!

Then we moved into the apartment, unpacked our suitcases, and got ready for Shabbat. Michal's sister, Sarah, cooked a yummy meal for friday night dinner. 
 
After a relaxing (and hot) shabbat in Jerusalem, we are now ready to start cooking. Tomorrow morning we're taking a tour of Machane Yehudah in order to familiarize ourselves with the Shuk.

Our Aprons

With all the cooking that we'll be doing this summer, we thought it would be cool to design our own aprons. Today we bought and decorated them.

Our first project of the summer!

Instead of diving right into the food, we decided to start with some paint. 

We finally finished, and they look great. Ready to cook!

 

 

The final product

We wrote בתיאבון on our aprons because בתיאבון (pronounced b'tei avon) is the hebrew equivalent of Bon Appetite.

Our First Cooking Lesson

Last week, we headed to Michal's Uncle Brian's restaurant, The Cutting Board, in Ridgefield, Connecticut (http://www.cuttingboardct.com/). There we learned some knife skills and the basics of spices. After chopping a bunch of onions, carrots and squash, we watched the dishes transform from raw vegetables to delicious meals.

Chef Brian talks about different cooking techniques.

While we were learning from Brian, our friend Melissa stopped by to join in the fun. We can't wait to get started in Israel!

Michal (left) and Melissa (right) watch and listen to Chef Brian at work.

Tip: When cooking pasta, add a pinch of salt to the water to flavor the pasta. Adding oil to the water will not keep the pasta from sticking together. First, shock the pasta so it stops cooking by running the pasta under cold water. Once you have shocked the pasta, adding a little olive oil can help to prevent sticky pasta.

Welcome!

Welcome to our blog! Our mission this summer is to go to Machane Yehudah, an outdoor marketplace in Jerusalem, each day and to come home with ingredients to prepare dinner each night. It might take us a while to master the art of cooking, so join us as we embark on this journey. We might even post some pictures, recipes and the occasional cooking tip!