Have a hankering for bagels but your local shop isn’t open right now? No problem! These homemade bagels are easy to make and super customizable. Make up a batch and believe me, even the kids can roll them out. Get everyone in the kitchen, have some fun and the end result is delicious. Just don’t forget the lox and schmear!
Read More
When the holidays come around, we all start thinking about cookies! Cookie swaps, trays, and even parties all centered around holiday themed cookies. I love making the cookies of my youth, cookies I have been eating and making since I was little with my mother. One of our favorite customs was to recreate our favorite Italian American bakery classics at home.
Read More
As an Italian, I have been eating meatballs my entire life and the recipe has been passed down to me from my mother who learned it from her mother. I believe they are the best meatballs you will ever taste.
To make these meatballs taste just like Mamma's, you will need to make her sauce too! Click here, for the recipe for Brodo Di Mamma.
Read More
I have always been fascinated with Cuba. A place where the culture is dynamic and rich and yet, riddled with struggle and oppression causing so many to flee the country they love. Upon arrival from Cuba, they flocked to where other Cubans had already landed, taking each other in, and helping until a family of aunts, grandparents, parents and children could carve out an American life for themselves.
Angela Diaz Porta came to the US when she was seventeen years old. She is an incredible person and talented cook. Angela cooks traditional Cuban food for her daughters and grandchildren to this day.
She cooks many delicious dishes, but for me, she made Cuban Black Beans. A staple to any Cuban dinner table, served with rice, this dish is simple and yet spectacular.
Read More
My latest Heirloom Kitchen landed me in Lebanon with an Iraqi woman, from England. Yes, you read that correctly, Scheherazade ‘Cherie’ Jafar was born in London, England and then moved with her family to Bagdad, Iraq until she was ten years old. At that point, she returned to Bathe, to study. At nineteen, she married and headed to America as a young bride.
Because of her diverse background, Cherie is versed in a number of different cuisines. She cooks dishes from her native England and Iraq but also makes a number of Lebanese dishes taught to her by her mother-in-law. It was fascinating to go through her little recipe book with her. A link to her well traveled past, her hand written recipes come from her homeland, her in laws and also her place of birth. She can throw together an authentic tabboleh, Middle Eastern stew and finish the meal with an English bread pudding.
Through our conversation, we got to cooking the most delicious zucchini dish from the middle east, Kousa Mahshi. Savory ground beef with rice all stuffed into a zucchini. It was delicious, simple, and healthy. Try this Lebanese stuffed zucchini made by an amazing English woman from Iraq and you will not be sorry!
Read More
Recently, a quick road trip to Brooklyn landed me in beautiful Haiti with my culinary guide Nikki. Nikki came to the U.S. in the mid 1980s to explore New York City, the art world, French literature and a new exciting life.
She eventually settled in Brooklyn with her son and has called it home ever since. While we cooked, she played Haitian music so that when I closed my eyes; the smells and sounds truly transported me. We spoke about her life in Haiti, her family and favorite dishes her mother and grandmother cooked for her as a child.
Nikki made sure to teach me dishes that truly represented Haitian cuisine. We made a rice with a very special mushroom, djon djon that only grow in Haiti. In addition, we made Cashew Chicken, a very well known (and delicious!) dish.
Read More