Please welcome reader Kate for today’s interview and recipe.

1. Name, Family, Location, Website. Kate, One Tired Ema, Modi’in, Israel. Married with a daughter (5.5) and a son (3.5).
2. Describe family meals and your mother’s cooking style. My mom cooked really great, homey food. Nothing terribly fancy or restaurant quality, but I don’t remember complaining much. My stepfather was on a very low-sodium diet long before it was trendy, and my mom adapted to cooking without salt by using interesting spices and herbs. We ate a lot of fish. There was salad every evening. I learned to balance a plate of food with a protein and a starch and a vegetable and a salad; lots of colors. I had to set and clear the table.
   My grandmother was famous in the family for making complicated things from scratch, like blintzes and cream cheese rugelach. They were delicious, but my mom never made those things. Ultimately, I think seeing fresh everyday food, well balanced meals, and healthy snacks in my house were far more important than the fancy repertoire.
3. How is your cooking style different from your mother’s? I’ve kept kosher since I was in college, which is probably the biggest difference. (Years ago I loved the cioppino that she made!) But in terms of style, I think I’m pretty similar. I make fewer lettuce salads in favor of more straight-up vegetables, perhaps, because prepping salad is so time consuming compared to rough chopping some vegetables and throwing them into the oven to roast. In the winter I’m always cold, so I make more soup than my mom did. In the past five years or so, I’ve come to realize that salt definitely has its place as well, particularly after doing more baking—bread baking in particular.
4. When did you start to cook and how did you learn? I’m sure I began to help in the kitchen when I was small, peeling vegetables. I probably offered opinions on what to eat, because I’m like that. I first began to cook family meals when I was 11. When my mother was pregnant with my brother and on partial bedrest, she developed an extreme aversion to raw proteins, especially chicken. She would go upstairs to her bedroom and yell down instructions for prepping the chicken and putting the rest of the meal together. I didn’t do anything complicated, but I definitely wound up with some basic skills from that time. I did a lot of fancy sandwiches in the toaster too, along the theme of a Reuben sandwich.
5. Do you entertain and in what circumstances? What is the largest event you have hosted? We entertain on Shabbat, usually two to three times a month. Other than the big housewarming we threw ourselves in December (50 people for snacks and desserts), we stick to smaller groups. We can fit 12 at our dining room table, fully extended, and I won’t go over that. Sometimes we have a kids’ table of four if the kids are all under six or seven and will just go off and play anyway, but I really like to have a maximum of two conversations going on at once. My ideal meal to host is six adults.
6. Sample weekly dinner menu:
   (Adults)
   • Sunday: Shabbat leftovers
   • Monday: A vegetarian soup or stew, perhaps with a baguette
   • Tuesday: Pasta with some sort of vegetable topping, or rice with tofu and vegetables
   • Wednesday: Leftovers, sandwiches (grilled cheese or tuna), or takeout
   • Thursday: Omelets or homemade vegetable burrito wraps (rice, beans, corn, diced tomatoes, and cheese)
   • Friday (meat): A vegetarian soup; chicken (I rotate several varieties) or turkey meatloaf; a cold vegetable side dish (like a tomato salad or garlic-dill green beans); a warm vegetable side dish (like roasted or grilled vegetables); rice, pasta, or quinoa side dish. And dessert, of course.
   • Friday (dairy; usually when we do not have guests): Vegetarian or dairy soup, fish, pasta, salad.
7. How has your cooking style changed over the years? I’ve simplified and streamlined. I make more of an effort to use seasonal and local fruits and vegetables. In the United States, I loved to shop at summer farmers’ markets and joined a CSA in the summer of 2008. When we had more free time as a couple, I made more complicated things (and my husband washed a lot of dishes–the importance of that cannot be emphasized enough!). Once I prepared Albondigas, a Mexican meatball soup, and made beef stock from scratch, starting with marrow bones. It was great soup, but now I cannot contemplate how I was able to do something that intense for only an appetizer!
8. What is your biggest cooking challenge? My biggest challenge is cooking for my kids. Thankfully they eat healthfully—they love fruit and will readily eat whole grain rice and pasta—but like only a small range of vegetables (my daughter will not eat anything with tomato of any kind anywhere near it) and veto certain types of preparation (they are not fans of grill marks). We are working on politely refusing and/or trying new foods once. It’s boring for me. But I remember having my own food weirdness when I was young—no cheese, no salad ingredients—and now I like almost everything. More interesting food will be available to them—on Shabbat at a minimum—and they hopefully will grow into it, like I did.
   My secondary challenge right now is doing more from scratch. In the United States there were a few convenience items, like boxed organic vegetable broth and jarred marinara sauce, that I used all the time. In Israel those things are very expensive, so I make my own. It’s not difficult, but it requires more time and advanced planning, which isn’t my strong suit.
9. What cookbooks have inspired you? I love the Moosewood cookbooks. I have four of them. I love the idea behind America’s Test Kitchen cookbooks and Cooks Illustrated magazine, and I find them interesting reading, but as a kosher cook, I frequently can’t follow the recipes they develop. (They’ve played with all the recipe variations already, and some kind of non-kosher element usually makes the dish.) Williams Sonoma and the Mayo Clinic have put out a couple of nice cookbooks as well; I have one and my mom has the other. I am a sucker for gorgeous food photography and for soup, so I treated myself to Deborah Madison’s Vegetable Soups. I get a lot of use out of the Empire Kosher Chicken Cookbook. And I crib interesting things from the Internet all the time. The whole family, minus my daughter, loves Israeli Kitchen’s recipe for majadra. Her tip for adding crushed garlic to the rice? Genius. I should have been doing that for the past 10 years.
   10. What do you enjoy on Cooking Manager? Do you have suggestons for future posts? I like the recipe posts, and the tips for a more efficient kitchen, which I have trouble applying because I’m busy in the morning and my kids are around all afternoon. Although the kids love to help me make challah, and my little one likes to help me prep string beans, their help is mostly in the “hindrance” category.
10. Please share a favorite recipe.

Maple-Ginger Butternut Squash* Soup

(Note for Israeli readers: It’s worth it to seek out butternut squash for this recipe. In my opinion, the enormous pumpkin-like winter squashes more readily available in Israel yield a thinner, less tasty result.)

• 1 T olive oil
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 stalk celery, diced (optional)
• 2×1 inch piece of fresh ginger, peeled, diced or grated
• 2 medium butternut squash, peeled, seeded and cubed
• 5-6 cups vegetable stock
• 1/4 cup pure maple syrup
• salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

Instructions
Heat oil in a soup pot, saute onion and celery on medium until soft, about five minutes. Add about 2/3 of the ginger and stir for a minute. Add squash cubes and stock to cover. Bring to a boil, then simmer on low until the squash cubes are soft. Puree with an immersion blender. Stir in maple syrup and reserved ginger; salt and pepper to taste.

Thanks, Kate, I enjoyed reading about your family and your cooking adventures.

Previous interview:

Borekas: Interview with Tikva Sasson

From Tuna Surprise to Persian Chicken: Interview with Ariela

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Interview with Kate: Maple-Ginger Butternut Squash Soup

Pumpkin Soup

It’s funny to be writing a post about substitutes for soup powder or canned broth.  Soup powder was invented as a shortcut to making soup the good old-fashioned way. With apologies to my vegetarian readers, the best soup is made by simmering bones or meat in water for a good long time.

Why not use powder or cans? Processed soup may contain monosodium glutumate, starches, artificial flavors and preservatives and excessive amounts of salt. Monosodium glutumate adds flavor but gives some people  stomach problems. And while we do need starch and sodium in our diet, it’s better to have control over how much and in what form.

Soup powder is meant to add flavor and texture. But we can do that with simple foods that we have at home. Try one of two of these techniques the next time you make soup. Adjust flavors along the way, write down your successes, and soon you will find yourself making great soup from scratch.

1. Use meat, chicken or vegetable broth. Simmer bones and other parts of meat that you don’t need (sometimes butchers give them away) for several hours. You can also cook the edible parts until cooked through, take them out, separate the meat for another dish (or the soup) and return the bones to the pot.
2. Make stock from the carcass of roasted chicken or turkey. Cover it with water and simmer on the stove or in the crockpot.
3. Use drippings from roasted meat.
4. Store broth in small containers or make ice cubes to add to soup or other recipes as needed.
5. Sauté mushrooms or onions until brown to add rich flavor.
6. Fresh herbs (coriander, dill, parsley) and greens (spinach, beet greens, chard, cabbage) make a huge impact. Chop and add in the last 10-20 minutes or as a raw garnish.
7. Fresh vegetables are the heart of good soup. In addition to mushrooms, onions and greens, you can include celery (with leaves), pumpkin, carrots, potatoes, sweet potatoes, turnips, beets, leeks, peppers, chili peppers, or squash. Adding a small amount of an unfamiliar vegetable is a great way to introduce it to the family.
8. Experiment with different-sized vegetables. Chopping them finely or pureeing them at the end makes soup thicker. To make mushroom barley soup, my friend Amanda grates and sautés half the carrot, onion and mushrooms. She adds the rest in larger pieces along with the cooking water.
9. Roasted vegetables add a distinct flavor.
10. Add a starch like rice, barley, quinoa, or oatmeal. These add texture, but you will need extra seasoning to offset their bland taste. Add them early enough so they will cook through.
11. Add cooking water from pasta or vegetables. The cooking water from beans adds richness.
12. Add Tamari sauce, flavored vinegar, or lemon juice. Tamari is similar to soy sauce but made of fermented wheat. It is high in salt so don’t overdo it.
13. Make your own mix with dried herbs or spices.
14. Experiment with spices. Try ginger, cumin, turmeric or paprika. And don’t forget good old fashioned black pepper.
15. Add homemade white sauce to make a cream soup.
16. Add a can of tomatoes or a few tablespoons of tomato paste.
17. Add beans or legumes. Red lentils cook quickly and don’t need pre-soaking. Puree larger ones for picky kids.
18. Add salt if you must, but experiment with cutting down the quantity. My husband has become sensitive to over-salted foods.
19. Don’t forget leftovers from vegetables, meats, stews, sauces and other soups. Add at the end and return the soup to a boil.
20. Add a garnish when serving such as croutons, fresh chives, yogurt, or sliced radishes.

What tricks can you share to make natural soups tastier?

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How to Make Patties from Anything and Everything

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Photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/galant/ / CC BY 2.0

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Twenty Tips to Avoid Soup Powder or Canned Broth

Wednesday is Recipe Day at Cooking Manager.

Reader Aviva-Hadass sent me a recipe for a vegetarian lentil casserole that can be mixed right in the baking pan. It bakes 70 minutes, or use your oven for something else at the same time. Or make it in the crockpot.

Lentil Bake

Serves 4.

Ingredients

• 3 cups broth
• 3/4 cups green lentils, although any color will do
• 1/2 cup brown rice
• 1/2 yellow onion, chopped
• 2 tsp Italian seasoning
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1/2 tsp pepper
• 2 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese

Instructions

1. Heat oven to 300° F. (150° C.).
2. Add broth, lentils, brown rice, chopped onion, and spices to 9×13-inch glass baking dish. Stir together and cover tightly with foil.
3. Bake at 300 for 1 hour and 10 minutes.
4. Remove foil and  sprinkle shredded cheese over the top.
5. Return to oven and bake uncovered for 20 more minutes, or until cheese is completely melted.

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Lentil Bake

Laurie Ashton is a Twitter friend who caught my attention with her recipe for sourdough challah. When Aleeza asked how to convert regular yeast recipes to sourdough I thought of Laurie, and sure enough, she came through with a clear and thorough explanation. Her guest post is below.

Convert Standard Yeast Recipes to Sourdough

Guest post by Laurie Ashton

I’m not a long-time sourdough baker – I’ve only been baking sourdough (wild yeast) bread for the last couple of years. Since I don’t digest commercial-yeasted bread well, I use sourdough exclusively, which also means trial and error in converting recipes to sourdough.

One of my first breads was a sweet bread that I regularly made for breakfast. Problem was, while it tasted great, it didn’t consistently rise, even after 12 hours. Plus, even on occasions when it rose, it looked butt ugly. What was going wrong?

Turns out I was using too much sourdough starter in my bread recipe. After much research, I learned that a good amount of sourdough starter is about 10 to 20% of the flour weight in fermented flour.

Since I know that’s going to be confusing, let me use an example with easy math. I like easy math.

Let’s say you use this recipe to make bread:

• 1000 grams flour (about 10 cups, depending on how you measure flour)
• 650 grams water (2 3/4 cups)
• 20 grams salt (4 teaspoons)
• 2 packages dry yeast

And let’s say your sourdough starter is 100% hydration (that is, a 1:1 ratio of flour to water by weight), then, with a 20% fermented flour target in mind, I would use this:

• 800 grams flour (1000-200, since I want 20% or 200 grams of the flour to be fermented in the sourdough starter)
• 450 grams water (650-200 because the starter is equal amounts of water and flour)
• 400 grams sourdough starter (200 grams flour + 200 grams water)
• 20 grams salt

You can use less sourdough starter than 10% fermented flour for sure. It’ll take longer to rise, which is a benefit to some people, like if you want the bread to be more sour. But in most cases, I wouldn’t use more than 20%. I say most because I do have a recipe or two where I do exceed the 20% by quite a bit, but those are the exception, not the rule.

What happened to my butt ugly sweet bread when I reduced the fermented flour amount from about 26% fermented flour down to around 12% fermented flour? Ugly old lady butt dimples disappeared, and instead, I had smooth, lovely bread. And it rose! Consistently! Every single time!

And my husband sang to me, “Baby butt, baby butt, baby butt buns, oh gimme my baby butt, baby butt, baby butt buns…” But he’s a little crazy.

I’m sure the question “Why 20%?” must be occurring to someone. I asked it, too.

If you use too much sourdough starter in the bread, then there isn’t enough food from the fresh flour for the wild yeast to feed on. With insufficient food to feed on, the bread doesn’t rise since live yeast produces carbon dioxide as a byproduct, and what’s what gives bread its air holes.

As well, fermented flour has gluten that’s been overdeveloped (gluten develops naturally when flour becomes wet), which isn’t a problem when the fermented flour is used at low amounts, but when a lot of fermented flour is used, it can’t support the dough properly, hence the ugly dimples and inability to rise.

Laurie is a Canadian transplanted to Sri Lanka. Read more at my food blog Chilli & Chocolate, my blog on life in Sri Lanka at A Canadian in King Parakramabahu’s Courtl, and my writing blog Peregrinas. Or Follow me on Twitter.

Related: Make Your Own Sourdough Starter at Home

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Converting Commercial Yeast Recipes to Sourdough

Ruth Kilner

Please welcome reader Ruth Kilner for this week’s interview.

1. Name, location, family: Ruth Kilner, originally from Scotland, currently from Jerusalem, married to James and mother of 3 adorable girlies: Esther (6), Shira (4 1/2) and Tehilla (3).
2. Tell me about your mother’s cooking style and your family meals as a child. Meals were always eaten with the whole family together at the table. There was always soup to start, plus a main course. We normally ate dairy during the week, with a lot of fish, and meat or chicken on Shabbat.
3. How is your cooking style the same or different from that of your mother? My cooking style is pretty similar— when my sister wants one of Mum’s recipes, she calls me first. However, I run a completely meat-free household.
4. How old were you when you started cooking? How did you learn? I started as a preschooler by rolling cookie dough, decorating cakes, and adding ingredients that Mum had already measured out. I also made play-dough, with flour, salt, oil and water. Not edible, but cooking nonetheless. When I was 8 or 9, I discovered we could bake play-dough and keep the models. In primary school, I was allowed to peel and chop vegetables, and by 8 or 9 I was making dishes myself. By age 10, I took it upon myself to prepare school lunches for my brother, sister and myself. By secondary school, I was preparing whole meals for the family. At 15, I turned vegetarian, and was responsible for organising a veggie alternative when there was a meat meal being served (usually only shabbat). I try to involve my kids in the food preparation too. Even the wee one asks to peel carrots. Between them, they could probably get a pot of soup organised!
5. Do you entertain, and in what circumstances? What is the biggest party or meal you have hosted to date?
   Generally, I only entertain on Shabbat and holidays.The biggest self-catered events I have thrown were our housewarming party and my husband’s 30th birthday, each of which had about 50 guests. I cooked and froze as much as I could in advance, and served buffet-style.
6. Can you share a typical daily or weekly menu?
   Breakfast:
   Cereal and milk. If the kids are good getting ready for school, I’ll treat them with some banana or raisins on their cereal. Choice of cornflakes, branflakes, yellow cheerios, and on Shabbat: Honey cheerios.
   Morning snack: Sandwiches, a fruit and a vegetable (typically cucumber and apple) at school, crackers for me and hubby at home.
   Lunch:
   A pot of soup in the winter, or a big salad in the summer, and people can choose between that or sandwiches (or a bit of both) for lunch. Sandwich fillings are usually a choice of chumus, peanut butter, and cheese.
   Afternoon snack: If needed, fruit or a biscuit.
   Supper: A proper cooked meal. Pasta and sauce, rice and chilli, home-made pizza, jacket potatoes, omelet and noodles if I’m short on time, couscous and tuna if I’m even shorter on time. I try to keep the interesting meals for Shabbat, including lasagna/pasta bake, fish, stuffed vegetables, soy shepherd’s pie, soy minceballs, and kugels (vegetable puddings).
7. How has your cooking style evolved over the years? I used to make more complicated dishes, but with small children I prefer to enjoy my family instead.
8. What is your biggest cooking challenge now? I run a vegetarian household. I try my best to make sure that I feed my family a well-balanced diet full of foods that everyone will eat, with the time I have.
9. Can you recommend any cookbooks, TV shows or websites that have inspired you? I am in love with The Book of New Israeli Food by Janna Gur, and the Covent Garden Soup book.
10. Please share a favorite recipe.
    

    Roasted Vegetable Soup:

    • Peel 1 medium butternut squash and 2 sweet potatoes. Roast together until soft with a little oil spray and salt for 1/2 to 1 hour, it depends on the size of the chunks).
    • Melt 25 grams butter
    • Saute 1 chopped onion and 2-3 cloves garlic until clear.
    • Add 3-4 roughly chopped carrots, 1-2 potatoes (depending on size) and a couple of Jerusalem artichokes (tapuach adama yerushalmi), peeled and roughly chopped.
    • I sometimes add an inch or so of finely chopped root ginger.
    • Cover, and cook for about 10 minutes.
    • Add the roasted vegetables, fill  pot with water, and add a a little artificial chicken stock powder.
    • Bring to the boil, and simmer for 1/2 hour.
    • Process in a jug blender, or use a hand blender.
11. Please share a cooking tip that work for you. I keep a small plastic box with the bottles of all the condiments I use frequently on the worktop next to the cooker: canola oil, olive oil, salt, pepper, soy sauce. It keeps them together and to hand, but to clean the surface, it is just one box to move. I also keep a jug with the utensils I use more frequently next to it. So, if I need a wooden spoon, it is to hand, but my knife sharpener is firmly away in the utensil drawer.I keep a bowl in the freezer for leftover bread, to make breadcrumbs or croutons, when I have collected enough.

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Reader Ruth and Roast Vegetable Soup

I enjoyed the visits and comments this week on Cooking Manager.Com.

On Sunday, I responded to a comment on Facebook by Aleeza about Learning to Cook, Step by Step.

On Monday I interviewed French reader Ilana-Davita, who told us about her fish-based menus.

Her mention of Norene Gilletz brought Norene herself over to comment. So on Thursday, I wrote about my mother’s appreciation of the food processor and one of Norene’s early cookbooks.

Wednesday’s recipe was for Carrot-Apple Salad, also for the food processor.

Elsewhere:

The 50th Kosher Cooking Carnival is up at me-ander.

Abbi was inspired this week by another Jewish cookbook author, Mollie Katzen.

Tu Beshevat, the Jewish New Year for trees, is celebrated tonight and tomorrow. Leah posted an unusual strudel recipe.

Looking forward to seeing you next week.

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Friday Roundup #26 and Links

When Ilana-Davita mentioned Healthy Helpings: 800 Fast and Fabulous Recipes for the Kosher (or Not) CookFacebook fan page. I wrote to Norene to let her know that I would be dedicating today’s post to her.

My mother loved gadgets. She wasn’t the first to get a microwave, but when she did she read every book and article on microwave cooking she could find.

My mother loved food processors best of all. She had three Cuisinarts: One fleishig (meaty), one pareve (neutral) and one for Passover. When she wanted to make cheesecake, she called the rabbi to approve using the pareve one. Her hand movements were so limited that chopping and mixing were painful. Food processors enabled her to continue to cook for the family. If she couldn’t make it in the food processor, she couldn’t make it at all.

One year my parents decided to spend Passover in my apartment in New York. My mother shipped me a mini-food processor along with basic new kitchen supplies. She couldn’t imagine making Passover without a food processor. (Somehow I did, because the box went back to Cincinnati. The elevator in my building was broken, and there was no one to bring the box up the stairs.) My mother also got me a copy of one of Norene’s earliest cookbooks, The Pleasures of Your Food Processor.

The Pleasures of Your Food Processor, later replaced by the Food Processor Bible, is one of the best resources out there for efficient food processor techniques. Well, I admit I haven’t read any others, but I’m sure I don’t need to. Regular readers of this blog would surely recognize Norene’s techniques.  Pleasures contains recipes for classic Jewish foods like potato kugel, pasta and kreplach, and stuffed cabbage. It has a whole section for Passover.

Many recipes  in Pleasures are too rich for my taste or include processed ingredients. I haven’t read Norene’s newer books, but they are advertised as healthy and light. Either way, you can’t beat Norene when it comes to time-saving methods. When I make honey cake I keep two cookbooks open: Jewish Cookery for its lighter oil-based recipe, and Norene’s Pleasures for its cake-mixing technique.

One clever idea of Norene’s is to make a cardboard cutout the size of the opening of your processor’s feed tube. Keep it in your purse and when you go to the store, you can choose vegetables small enough to fit without extra cutting.

My teens know Pleasures too, since they have taken over the birthday cake baking. The book covers came off long ago, and the recipe for Pareve Chocolate Cake is dusted with cocoa.

In New York I came across Norene’s Microways (no longer in print). My mother was a microwave expert by then and the recipes were similar to Pleasures, so I only mentioned it to her shortly before her death in 1990. I’ll never forget the expression on her face, wondering how I could not have shared this information with her immediately.

Norene, I owe you a debt of thanks for inspiring my mother, who in turn inspired this blog. You are an inspiration to me as well. I’m so glad you stopped by.

Note: This post includes affiliate links.

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My Mom, Food Processors, and Norene Gilletz

Wednesday is Recipe Day at CookingManager.Com.

Here’s an easy salad, is unusual enough for a pot-luck party. No additional sugar needed.

Ingredients:

• 4 carrots, peeled
• 1-2 apples with or without peel, cored and cut into quarters.
• 2 tablespoons fresh lemon or orange juice, or mayonnaise.
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg (optional)

Instructions:

1. Using the grating disk, run the carrots and apples through the food processor.
2. Empty apple and carrot into a mixing bowl.
3. Add juice and spices.
4. Mix gently. The citrus juice helps prevent the apple from getting brown.

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Carrot-Apple Salad

Ilana's New Kitchen

Welcome Ilana-Davita from France for this week’s reader interview at Cooking Manager.

1. Name, location, family: Ilana-Davita, France, me and my partner whose grown-up kids have left the house.
2. What do you remember about family meals when you were growing up? What was your mother’s cooking style? (If she did the cooking of course.)
   My mother loved cooking, she still does, and she was an example to me. Even now whenever she goes to the hairdresser’s she looks at the magazines and copies recipes that she will adapt. She never follows a recipe to the letter. I also love browsing recipes and reading cookery books but am not quite as adventurous. As a child I made cakes. My mother didn’t like baking as much as she enjoyed cooking.
3. How is your cooking style different from that of your mother?
   I don’t spend as much time in the kitchen; my mom didn’t work. My meals tend to be less elaborate, and my cooking reflects my trips abroad.
4. How old were you when you started cooking? How did you learn?
   I started by making cakes with a cookery book the next door neighbor had given me. Then when I left home to go to college I gradually started to cook by myself and for guests.
5. Do you entertain, and in what circumstances? What is the biggest party or meal you have hosted to date?
   I love cooking for Shabbat dinners when I am not too exhausted after a week’s work. However cooking for a crowd scares me and I usually ask for help from other people.
6. Can you share a typical daily menu? Weekly menu?
   I enjoy curries, maybe because I lived spent one year in England and one in Scotland as a student. Therefore I often make chicken curry for Shabbat. I love salmon in any form. I often make omelets too.
7. How has your cooking style evolved over the years?
   Since I started keeping kosher I have cut down on meat as it is not very easy to get here. I either order frozen meat or drive to Paris to get fresh meat which I then freeze. With an awkward schedule I have found it difficult to go to Paris for the past two years. I now cook fish more often than I used to and also try to make more homemade soup and cook vegetables more often.
8. What is your biggest cooking challenge now?
   Right now it is to decide whether I should get an induction cooktop. Otherwise I like to vary what I cook but sometimes I feel stuck with old recipes.
9. Can you recommend any cookbooks, TV shows or websites that have inspired you? (Besides CM, of course!)
   Claudia Roden’s The Book of Jewish Food: An Odyssey from Samarkand to New YorkHealthy Helpings by Norene Gilletz. I love Mimi’s blog, Israeli Kitchen.
10. What posts on CM have you enjoyed? Do you have suggestions for future posts?
    My favorite recipe is on your other blog: Chicken with Black Olives and Tomatoes.
11. Please share a favorite recipe and cooking tip.
    I found this recipe on a blog that is now extinct. It is lovely if you prepare it well in advance and leave the fish to marinate for several hours: Asian Salmon

Ilana-Davita, thank you for sharing and for being part of this site from the beginning.

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Reader Interview: Ilana-Davita

When I wrote Make Your Own Sourdough Starter at Home, I also started a discussion on the Facebook fan page to walk readers through it.

Here’s what Aleeza had to say:

Guess what I don’t get is why recipes can’t be simple. I need directions with numbers like step 1, 2, 3, 4. And it can’t include things like put starter in warm water, but not too hot and leave there for 8 hours and if….blah blah blah! I need SIMPLE things like substitute 1 cup of starter for every 1 tsp of yeast, Or whatever the % is. got any tips like that. I would like to use it for my challah recipe. I would like to just sub starter for yeast and add extra flour to compensate for the extra h2o.

First of all, Aleeza’s comment is a good reminder for all of us who write about cooking and food.  While a large part of your audience may be experienced enough to manage with an outline, there are always beginners out there, who get frustrated when writers make assumptions.

I’m on the other side of this equation when it comes to other subjects, like website coding. People who like to talk about certain topics develop a shorthand, which can be off-putting to beginners.

The problem is that when making sourdough, or anything involving fermentation, temperature and humidity matter. Like with all cooking, it takes practice. You can’t learn everything from cookbooks and websites. Sometimes you just have to jump in and take a risk. (I think that might work for coding too.)

I don’t have enough experience to convert conventional yeast recipes into sourdough recipes. Can any readers help Aleeza convert her challah recipe?

And if you ever have questions about my recipes or instructions, be sure and let me know.

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Learning to Cook, Step by Step