absolute time.

Sir Isaac Newton

Immanuel Kant

Albert Einstein

 Gottfried Leibniz  

Henri Bergson 

and

Greek and medieval philosophers

all had there own notions of

time and space.

I bet none of them ever lived in New York City.

Time seems to move differently in this

Roller coaster of a ride city.

I can’t seem to grasp the fact that spring is just around the corner.

Am not ready yet.

Given the fact that I still have ‘winter’ food recipes to share with you and that it is Saint Patrick’s Day tomorrow, I will share with you an Irish classic, well, my version of it at least.

Irish Shepherd’s pie

250g ground beef

250g ground lamb

2 diced onions

2 diced carrots

1 diced zucchini

4 minced garlic cloves

3 bay leaves

1 tsp. grounded coriander seeds

1 tbsp. crushed dried rosemary

2 tbsp. fresh oregano leaves

1 tbsp. salt

1 cup boiling water

2 tbsp. tomato paste

2 tbsp. olive tapenade

For the potato layer:

1kg peeled potatoes cut into cubes

1 tbsp. salt

In a medium size pan, sauté onions and carrots until lightly tender, add zucchini. once vegetables get a light golden color add the garlic, salt and all herbs. Mix well.

Add ground meat and continue to mix until the meat gets a crumbly texture.

In a small bowl, mix the tomato paste, tapenade with the boiling water- mix well so no lumps remain. Add to the pan, mix and let cook on low heat for 30 minutes. Make sure you don’t cook off the liquid completely, and do taste for seasoning.

Mashed potato layer; in a medium size pot, place the potatoes and cover with cold water and salt. Cook on medium heat until the potatoes are completely tender.  Drain water, and puree potatoes using a fork. Add extra salt if needed.

(If you are into butter with your potatoes, feel free to add at this stage)

Place the meat mixture in a heatproof dish and on top place the mashed potatoes.

Bake in a pre heated 180c oven.

45 minutes until golden

enjoy those last days of winter!

family jewels

Secrets.

Every family has them.

This is ours.

Well, up until now.

All recipes have a way of traveling the globe, evolving in each and every stop along the way. I guess the beauty of a GREAT recipe is just how well they have travelled and how those ‘stops’ along the way have shaped them.

57 years ago my grandmother was handed a recipe from a polish neighbor who lived across the road from her.

Her name was manya and her family used to own a catering company back in Poland, where she would serve these specialty cakes. My grandmother was lucky to be taught how to perfect this recipe; A sweet yeast dough filled with a moist honeyed poppy seed paste, then rolled to form a glorious cake recipe.

A staple in our house ever since.

As it is Purim today, a Jewish holiday where eating poppy seed filled pastries is a tradition and giving out 'mishloach manot' (gifts to friends and neighbors) is customary, it’s the perfect time to be sharing with you this special family recipe.

Enjoy it. Make it yours, and pass it on.

Manya’s poppy seed roll

Ingredients for 4 loaf

cake pans, 26 cm:

300ml milk

5 eggs

¾ cup sugar

300g soft butter

50g fresh yeast

1 kg flour

pinch salt

Filling-

2 cups milk

1.5 cups sugar

½ cup honey

500 freshly grinded poppy seed

60g butter

Lemon zest from 2 lemons

½ cup golden raisins

4 tbsps. Crushed cookies/bread crumbs

Prepare the dough a day in advance.

Using the dough hook on your stand mixer; mix the milk, eggs, sugar, yeast and flour on low speed for 3 minutes, until the dough comes together. Add the soft butter and salt and continue to mix for 2 minutes until incorporated. Increase to high speed and let the mixer work for an additional 8 minutes.

Place in a lightly floured bowl, and cover the dough with a plastic bag and a kitchen towel over night in the fridge.

For the filling- boil the milk, sugar and honey, add the poppy seed and continue to stir on low heat for 10 minutes. Turn off the heat and stir inside the butter, lemon zest, raisins and crumbs.

Let cool completely.

On a floured surface, remove the dough from the bowl and divide to 4 pieces.

Roll out each piece, to a 0.5cm thickness circle. Spread 5 tbsps. of the filling and roll. Place in a loaf pan lined with parchment paper.

Brush with a beaten egg and sprinkle poppy seed for garnish.

Let rise for 30 minutes in a warm place.

Bake for 60 minutes in a 170c pre heated oven.

Enjoy!

Happy Birthday!

Am excited.

12 months ago, was when I decided to finally put together my pictures and recipes to form ‘a grain of paradise’- my food blog.

It was a decision I made many months before, but it is always the hardest part to actually follow through with what we have in mind.

‘a grain of paradise’ owes a lot of gratitude to Najwa from delicious shots. As without her final push to make my blog a reality and help putting it all in a working form, I would still be thinking of a blog, instead of actually writing one.

Writing was never and still is not my strong point, finding the words to describe my images are still a daily challenge.

My blog is a work in process, much like myself I suppose.

I love chocolate cakes.

And truth be told, ill use any valid excuse to make my chocolate cake, and as its Valentines Day in just 2 days as well, am covered. 

  

 My Super simple, go-to chocolate cake

1 cup oil

1.5 cups sugar

3 eggs

1.5 cups flour

(Mixed with 10g baking powder)

6 tbsp. cocoa powder

1 tbsp. instant coffee

1 cup milk

Using a mixer, whisk the eggs and the sugar; add oil and mix to incorporate. Add dry ingredients and then the milk. Pour into a 26cm pan and bake for 40-50 minutes at a pre heated 180c oven.

While the cake is in the oven make the frosting by boiling 250ml heavy cream and then pouring it on 200g chopped dark chocolate. Mix until you get a smooth consistency.

When the cake comes out of the oven, pour the chocolate and serve.

Or you can let the frosting and the cake completely cool down and frost the cake when it thickens, top with your choice of berries.