Pan de Muertos

Feliz Dia de los Muertos! 

In high school my favorite class was Spanish.  Probably because my teacher was great and used things like music and food to get us interested in class.  On a couple of occasions she asked us all to make a Spanish/Latin American dish to bring in for the class.

Someone in our class brought Dead Bread, or Pan de Muertos.  I'd like to say it was me and that I made it...but that probably is my literary take and far from the truth.

Pan de Muerto is a soft sweet orange bread.  It is something like challah bread meets brioche meets freshly sweet oranges.  It is so delicious! 

The basic recipe is here.  Check on it frequently and take it out a bit earlier - it is best when it is soft and moist!  Yumm!  You'll wish you'd celebrated every Dia de los Muertos!

Paul's Ossobucco - New Favorite!

I'm smiling just thinking about the delicious ossobucco my husband made for me last night.  It all started when I saw this delicious recipe I saw for Braised Short Ribs with Ancho-Chili Spiced Syrah Reduction that I saw last week.  Ahh..it looked so good and the sauce ancho-chili syrah - does that not sound AMAZING!  So after a few days of drooling I set out to get all the fixin's.  

I live in Israel right now, and don't speak Hebrew.  The meat counter/butcher is one of the more intimidating places to go.  So I did my research and found out what short ribs looks like and set off to the shi-shi grocery store which has the best meat.  And they didn't have any ribs.  Dang it.  I circled the store for about 20 minutes waiting for google translate to load on my phone, and then I confirmed for my self that they in fact had no ribs in the deli nor in the freeze. Dang it!  Okay...I'll just do another great meat with the sauce....that one please.

Another 20 minutes on the computer when I got home revealed that I was the proud owner of $22 worth of ossobucco (which isn't that much in Israel).  Ossobucco takes cooks for about 4 hours so we were not going to have that for dinner.  Luckily (well...kind of) Paul was sick the next day, freeing up his afternoon to make a delicious dinner!

The recipe I found at Eats Well With Others (such a creative name!) sold me.  " It is lemony and caper-y and you will squeal the entire day while it is cooking in your kitchen."  Ahhhhahaha! When I came home from work I opened the door, smelled the delicious ossobucco in the oven, and squealed like a giddy foodie! 

It tasted every bit as amazing as it smelled and sounded.  In fact, it was the best meal that I can remember.  This is the type of stuff that you order at a restaurant and then go back every chance possible.  The best part about having this delicious meal at home is that, when no one is looking, you can lick the plate!

Smushed Cheesy Toast

Its lunchtime here in Israel, and though it isn't a rainy day and there is no sign of what I know to be fall, I really wanted one of these squishy cheesy toasts.  I don't know what it is really called, but the Americans I know (who don't speak Hebrew) refer to it as the smushed sandwich, the Israeli's refer to it as a cheese sandwich and I think the women who makes it calls it toast.  So - smushed cheesy toast it is.

The woman who sells these speaks not a word of English, though I think she understands a lot.  Or she is a good guesser.  She greets me in Hebrew and (I think) asks me what I'd like.  I say "toast with onion" and point at the bin of bagels...and expressionlessly she grabs an onion bagel. How did she do that? There are lots of kinds of bagels in there! Then she asks me (I think) in Hebrew what I'd like on it.  Now I respond in half Hebrew, half English: "Cheese, agvaniot, pitriot, pesto sauce, that one...yiroque..yes!"  Sometimes I'm not sure if I said green or blue - or if the word in Hebrew even uses the color - but she still gives me the green onions. 

Once I've exhausted my Hebrew words and the options at her salad bar, she closed the bagel and places in a sandwich/panini maker.  And i wait....and wait....and wait.  It takes quite a while.  Usually while I'm waiting I try desperately to remember the Hebrew word for sauce.  I listen to other people order, hoping they say it.  I know what it is, I just can't remember.  It doesn't matter, because I remember the word "shum" and the only garlic thing she has is the delicious sauce. 

After about a 10 minutes wait, this delicious crunchy, gewy, smushed, cheesy toast is mine.  The toast is nice and firm and crunchy and contrast very well with the stringy cheese inside.  Some of the veggies are crunchy and some are warm and mushy (and when your Israeli colleagues order for you, you get an extra juicy crunch in the corn).

This women should expand.  Her delicious squishy cheesy toast is only US$5.  I wish I could save half for later (because it is kind of big and if you put a lot of veggies like me it is very filling) - but of course, I end up eating the other half "while its warm."  It would be the perfect rainy-day lunch...if it ever rained.  Alas, here is to smushed cheese toasts on a not-so-rainy day!