Mulligatawny Soup


¼ cup butter

1 qt carrot, halved and and sliced thin crosswise

1 qt onion, diced1 qt celery, peeled and sliced thin crosswise

1 qt potato, peeled and diced small

4 cloves garlic, sliced thin

Sachet
(loosely tied in cheesecloth, tied with butcher’s twine)

2 pcs lemon grass, bashed, rough chopped

2 bay leaves

1/8 tsp mace

4 cloves

Pinch of saffron

½ Tbsp Szechwan peppercorns
----------------------------------
1 gal water

1 pint pistachio nuts

1 pint cashew nuts

1 pint piquillo peppers (or roasted peppers) chopped fine

1 pint tomato diced

1.5 Qt spinach leaves

½ cup Curry butter (4 oz softened, but not melted butter, with 1.5 Tbsp curry powder, evenly mixed)

In a large pot, melt butter and add carrot, onion, celery, potato and garlic. Cook until the vegetables are completely tender. Add sachet and water. Bring to a simmer and add both nuts, piquillo (or roasted red peppers) and the tomato. Reduce by half. Next, add spinach and curry butter and cook for 2 minutes longer. Season to taste, adding lemon juice if necessary. Take approximately half of the finished soup, and pulse just until vegetables are lightly broken apart. Return back to pot of soup and heat through.

Busy after a long day? Important family obligations? Wouldn't it be nice to have a fridge full of food ready to go? --and no, I'm not referring to that stuff packaged in pretty boxes that you zap in the microwave and tastes like the box it came in. I'm talking about fresh, homemade food made right in your home, except you didn't have to deal with the shopping, OR the chopping, OR the packaging, or even the cleanup! You may want to cook for you and your family, but you simply don't have time. I enjoy dedicating time and making great food for others. I've got different meal plans to satisfy you, your family and friends. I also offer private lessons, if you'd like to do it yourself. Talk to me about your food needs. Sandy@thekoshertomato.com

I don't remember exactly where I heard that, but it makes me laugh! An egg truly is a remarkable food. I find that many people overcook their eggs and don't like the way it tastes. Try it this way, and see for yourself: It's got a completely different flavor, it is absolutely delicious! This morning, I had a simple breakfast of just 2 eggs, and coffee [Israeli nescafe, my favorite] but it was so satisfying! I like to season my eggs with salt and a pinch of cayenne and I gently scramble them with a fork. I then heat butter in a small saute pan over low heat and when it starts to foam-- I add the eggs. I take a rubber spatula, and stir the eggs in the middle, bringing the outside, to the inside and just when I see the protein start to coagulate, [the curds start to firm up] I add a few crumbles of Bulgarian feta cheese, and take it off the heat! [crucial point] At this point, the eggs are soft, and have a delicate texture and flavor. I recently made this for a snack for myself and Jesse [ the director of the CKCA] after a class...served with rye crackers. Simple, yet scrumptious!

Not everyone on the train has a cooler full of groceries and wears a chef jacket...but I grew up taking the subway, and I enjoy it. [though rush hour can be a bit frustrating] I especially liked the time I was on my way back from a client and a culinary student approached me and asked me questions. We talked for a while about setting goals and his was to open a catering business. "It's all about determination" I told him. Seeing the look on his face, made me remember that feeling I got when I was first starting out in culinary school. Everyone....and I mean everyone had something negative to say. Whether directly or indirectly, they basically told me it wasn't going to happen for me. I didn't believe it, because I knew I was hungry. [pun intended] Seeing the look on this kid's face let me know that he was hungry too. Maybe sometime in the future, I'll see him on the train...wearing a chef jacket.

According to the economics professor at the California Institute of Technology [Antonio Rangel] that might just be what our minds think. He conducted a study where he told participants that he was using 5 different wines, when in reality there were only 3. He also told them that the ones that were more expensive, were the less expensive bottles and vice versa. He passed each of the participants through an MRI scan while sipping the wine with a special, longer straw; and measured the activity in the brain. Rangel was being interviewed by a host on WBAI 99.5 FM and discussed that everything was relative. There are a lot of factors involved, in how your brain reacts to the feeling of drinking wine [how thirsty you may be at the time] for example. Also, if you believe or expect the wine to be better, because the price seems to reflect that...then you may just have a more pleasant experience. We might not have such a pleasant experience however when wine prices go up, they said.