Tami's Salad Dressing

1/3 cup white wine vinegar
1/3 cup brown sugar
3 tablespoons mayonnaise
1 teaspoon crushed garlic
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
Salt and pepper
1/4 cup olive oil

Combine all ingredients in a jar. Then add oil and shake again to combine.

Roasted Cauliflower Salad

Recipe by Jessica Seinfeld

1 head cauliflower
4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1/4 cup pine nuts
1/2 pomegranate
2 spring onions, thinly sliced
2 tablespoons chopped flat-leaf parsley
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar

​Heat the oven (with the oven rack in the middle) to 425°F.

Cut the cauliflower into small florets and put on rimmed sheet pan. Drizzle with 2 tablespoons of the oil and sprinkle with 1/4 teaspoon of the salt, 1/8 teaspoon of the black pepper, and the red pepper flakes. Toss to combine and spread into a single layer. Roast until charred and just tender, about 25 minutes.

In a small pan, toast the pine nuts over medium heat until golden brown, 3 to 5 minutes.

Cut the pomegranate half in half again. Over a medium bowl, slide your thumb between the skin and the seeds to loosen. Pick out the white membranes. Slice the scallions and chop the parsley and add to the bowl. Add the vinegar and the remaining 2 tablespoons oil, 1/4 teaspoon salt, and 1/8 teaspoon black pepper. Stir to combine. Fold in the pine nuts.

Serve the cauliflower on a platter or large plate and spoon the vinaigrette over the top. Serve at room temperature.

Mango and Lemon Curd Pavlova

6 eggwhites
330g caster sugar [1.5 cups]
1 tsp white wine vinegar
1 tsp cornflour, sifted

1 tsp vanilla-bean extract
1 jar of Lemon Curd
1 cup (250ml) thickened cream, whipped to stiff peaks
1 mango, thinly sliced
Mulberries, to serve

Preheat oven to 110°C. To make pavlova, whisk eggwhites in an electric mixer with a pinch of salt until just before stiff peaks. Add sugar, 1 tbs at a time, whisking constantly until thick, glossy and sugar dissolves. Fold in vinegar, cornflour and vanilla.

Draw a 20cm circle on reverse side of a sheet of baking paper and place on a baking tray. Spoon meringue over circle to create a dome. Bake for 20 minutes, then reduce heat to 90°C. Cook for a further 40 minutes or until crisp and dry. Turn off oven and leave the meringue in oven, with the door ajar, for 3-4 hours until cooled completely.

Gently swirl together lemon curd and cream. Spread over meringue and top with mango and mulberries to serve.

Zucchini and Corn Fritters

1/2 small zucchini (50g), grated
80g canned corn niblets or frozen corn niblets
1 egg, beaten lightly
olive-oil cooking spray

Combine zucchini, corn and egg in a small bowl; season. 

Heat a small non-stick frying pan over medium heat; spray with oil. 

Spoon fritter sized mixture into pan and cook for two minutes each side or until golden and cooked through. 

Cholent

This amount feeds about 6-8 people, double the recipe for a larger crowd. For a vegetarian version, just leave out the meat.


1/2 kilo beef goulash [beef cut into small cubes]
1 top rib bone [can also use smoked bones for a smokey flavour]
2 onions - chopped
2 cloves garlic = minced or finely chopped
tablespoon olive oil

half cup soup mix [split peas and barley], rinsed
1 can butter beans [lima beans] - drained
6 potatoes - cut into medium sized pieces
3 carrots - cut into small slices
1 parsnip - chopped finely
1/3 cup tomato puree or ketchup
1/3 cup soy sauce
salt and pepper
1 tablespoon Vegeta flavoring

You can add any spices you want to, such as cumin, paprika or chili flakes.  Sefardi Jews add raw eggs, still in the shell, which cook along with everything else, and absorb the colour and flavour of the cholent.

Fry onion in the olive oil for about 10 mins, then add garlic and beef goulash pieces and cook for a few minutes until meat is browned on all sides.  Then add all the other ingredients and cover with water. Bring to boil and then allow to simmer, or leave on very low heat, or use a slow-cooker.  Cook for as long as you like, minimum 8 hours, maximum 22 hours.

Eggplant Parmigiana

1 large eggplant - or 2 smaller ones, cut into 1/3 inch slices

Flour seasoned with salt and pepper

3 cups Passatta
230g shredded mozzarella cheese
1⁄3 cup grated parmesan cheese

Dredge eggplant in seasoned flour and fry in oil for a few minutes until golden on both sides.

Line base of baking dish with some passatta.

Place one layer of eggplant onto the passatta.. Sprinkle with half the mozzarella and half the Parmesan. Repeat layers.
Bake 20-25 minutes or until mixture is bubbly.

Granny's Chocolate Brownie Cake

1 Cup Cocoa
3 Cups Sugar
2 Cups Flour

2 Tsp Baking Powder [if using self raising flour, leave out baking powder]
2 Tsp Vanilla
8 Eggs
1 Cup Oil

Pinch of Salt

Mix cocoa, sugar, flour and vanilla. Add in eggs, salt and oil, mix on low speed.  Bake at 350 for 30 - 40 minutes - depending how uncooked you want it. If you want it like grannies cake then it may need 45 - 50 minutes, all depends on your oven, just keep checking!

Icing:  Melt dark cooking chocolate with some butter or margarine.  Optional: scatter 100s and 1000s on top of icing.  Cut cake into small squares.

Carrot Tzimmes

600g carrots sliced
1 tablespoon butter *
1 tablespoon oil
3 tablespoons honey

2 tablespoons sugar
3 tablespoons lemon juice
salt and pepper

Mix all of the ingredients in a medium saucepan and bring to a boil over high heat. Cover, reduce the heat and simmer gently until the carrots are crisp tender, about 25 minutes. Remove the cover from the pan, raise the heat and cook the carrots until most of the liquid has evaporated and the sauce is thickened, about five minutes.

*If making parve, use 2 tablespoons oil and omit butter.

Humus and Spiced Beef

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 pound (450 grams) lean ground beef
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/4 teaspoon ground coriander seeds
1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric
1/4 teaspoon ground paprika
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup (60 ml) chicken stock
2 cups hummus


Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the beed and cook until browned, about 10 minutes. Stir in cumin, cinnamon, cayenne pepper, coriander, paprika, turmeric and salt and cook for 1 minutes to toast the spices. Pour in the chicken stock and cook until reduced, about 5 minutes.

Maple Syrup Salmon

⅓ cup real maple syrup
 ¼ cup soy sauce
1 Tbsp sesame oil

½ tsp black pepper, freshly ground
½ tsp garlic powder

Combine the salmon and sauce in a baking pan and marinate 45 minutes in the refrigerator, turning half way. Preheat oven to 400˚F and bake salmon in the same pan (with the sauce) for 20 minutes or until flaky and cooked through. 

Easy Tiramisu [large]

500 g savoiardi sponge finger biscuit
400 mls double cream

500 g mascarpone
1/2 cup icing sugar
1 tsp vanilla essence
1/4 cup coffee liqueur
500 mls espresso coffee (liquid)
2 Cadbury Flake


In a large bowl whip the cream until soft peaks.  In separate bowl add the sugar and vanilla to the mascarpone and stir through, then combine the cream with the mascarpone mixture.

Combine coffee and coffee liquer.
Layer bottom of rectangular dish with biscuits, pour over half the coffee and liquer mixture so biscuits are soggy. Then spread with a 3-4 cm layer of cream mixture evenly.

Keep layering biscuits and cream until cream mixture is finished. Top with crumbled flake bars. Cover with gladwrap and refrigerate for at least 2-3 hours, or preferably overnight.

Bon Vivant Cake

Ingredients For Base 

8 egg whites
1 cup caster Sugar
250 g  ground Hazelnuts or other ground nuts

Chocolate Topping 

8 egg yolks
125g butter or margarine
3/4 cup castor sugar
200g-250g good quality dark chocolate

Base 

Line 9"x 13"baking pan with greaseproof paper. Beat egg whites until stiff, adding 200 grams of sugar gradually. Mix in hazelnuts by hand. Put in cake tin and bake on 160C for 1/2 an hour. 

Chocolate Topping 

Melt chocolate with butter and allow to cool [use a bowl on top of a pot of boiling water so it doesn’t burn]. Beat egg yolks and sugar.  Pour cooled chocolate mixture into egg yolk mixture by hand. Pour chocolate topping over base and cook in the oven for 30 minutes [the chocolate will still be softish, it will harden up when cool]