Duck Tagine
Ingredients
- 1 large yellow onion, chopped into a medium dice
- 5 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 tablespoon chopped fresh ginger
- ½ cup prunes, chopped into ¼” pieces
- ½ cup dried apricots, chopped into ¼” pieces
- ¼ cup golden raisins, coarsely chopped
- 1 tablespoon ground coriander
- 2 teaspoons ground cumin
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon cayenne
- Juice and zest of 1 lemon
- Juice and zest of 1 orange
- 3 medium carrots, cut in half lengthwise and cut across into ½” half-moons
- 4 duck legs
- Kosher salt
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 5 cups chicken stock
- 1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley
- 1 tablespoon chopped fresh mint
- 1 pack couscous, for serving
Roasted Cauliflower With Dijon and Capers
Ingredients
- 1 head cauliflower
- 1 ¼ cups plus 2 tablespoons olive oil
- Kosher salt
- ¼ cup capers
- ¼ cup packed fresh parsley leaves
- ¼ cup fresh lemon juice
- 3 garlic cloves
- 1 egg yolk
- 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
- 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
- ¼ cup grated Parmesan cheese
- Cracked black pepper
Fried Zucchini Chips
Ingredients
For the zucchini chips
- 3 medium green zucchini
- 1 cup flour
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt, plus more as needed
- 1 ¼ cups seltzer water
- 2 cups panko bread crumbs
- 2 cups vegetable oil
For the Smoked Paprika Aioli
- 1 cup mayonnaise
- 2 teaspoons smoked paprika
- Zest of ½ lemon
Spiced Beet Dip
Ingredients
- 1 ½ lbs beets (3 medium beets), peeled and cut into quarters
- 8 garlic cloves, unpeeled
- ¼ cup plus 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- ¼ cup tahini
- Juice of ½ lemon
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 tablespoon zaatar
- 2 tablespoons crumbled feta
- Pita, for serving
Kohlrabi and Carrot Salad
Ingredients
- 1 large kohlrabi, peeled and cut into quarters and sliced thinly
- 1 large carrot, peeled and cut into thin diagonal slices
- Juice from 1 lemon
- ¼ cup water
Duck Tagine
Ingredients
- 1 large yellow onion, chopped into a medium dice
- 5 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 tablespoon chopped fresh ginger
- ½ cup prunes, chopped into ¼” pieces
- ½ cup dried apricots, chopped into ¼” pieces
- ¼ cup golden raisins, coarsely chopped
- 1 tablespoon ground coriander
- 2 teaspoons ground cumin
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon cayenne
- Juice and zest of 1 lemon
- Juice and zest of 1 orange
- 3 medium carrots, cut in half lengthwise and cut across into ½” half-moons
- 4 duck legs
- Kosher salt
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 5 cups chicken stock
- 1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley
- 1 tablespoon chopped fresh mint
- 1 pack couscous, for serving
Roasted Cauliflower With Dijon and Capers
Ingredients
- 1 head cauliflower
- 1 ¼ cups plus 2 tablespoons olive oil
- Kosher salt
- ¼ cup capers
- ¼ cup packed fresh parsley leaves
- ¼ cup fresh lemon juice
- 3 garlic cloves
- 1 egg yolk
- 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
- 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
- ¼ cup grated Parmesan cheese
- Cracked black pepper
Fried Zucchini Chips
Ingredients
For the zucchini chips
- 3 medium green zucchini
- 1 cup flour
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt, plus more as needed
- 1 ¼ cups seltzer water
- 2 cups panko bread crumbs
- 2 cups vegetable oil
For the Smoked Paprika Aioli
- 1 cup mayonnaise
- 2 teaspoons smoked paprika
- Zest of ½ lemon
Spiced Beet Dip
Ingredients
- 1 ½ lbs beets (3 medium beets), peeled and cut into quarters
- 8 garlic cloves, unpeeled
- ¼ cup plus 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- ¼ cup tahini
- Juice of ½ lemon
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 tablespoon zaatar
- 2 tablespoons crumbled feta
- Pita, for serving
Kohlrabi and Carrot Salad
Ingredients
- 1 large kohlrabi, peeled and cut into quarters and sliced thinly
- 1 large carrot, peeled and cut into thin diagonal slices
- Juice from 1 lemon
- ¼ cup water
When Maya Ginach was eight years old, her parents moved the family from the East Coast of the United States to Israel. “The culture shock to young Maya was as alluring as it was disorienting,” explains Sarah Tihany in the Jack’s Wife Freda cookbook, which shares recipes from a restaurant Maya now owns with her husband. She didn’t speak Hebrew yet or understand the bustle of Israeli culture. “The language, the tradition, and the culture,” it was all a shock, Maya explains.
Saturdays in her new homeland were taken over with visits to see Rapael and Buba, her maternal grandparents, in Ramat Gan near Tel Aviv. With their nine children and 26 grandchildren, family gatherings were busy affairs. Maya remembers she and her cousins would play in the backyard or cards and get into trouble — and there was always lots to eat.
Safta Buba, as they called her grandmother, who moved to Palestine from Libya in the 1940s, would cook recipes from her hometown of Tripoli for the Shabbat feasts. There was chraime, or fish cooked in a piquant tomato sauce, bastilla, or a casserole of ground meat, vegetables and mashed potatoes, and fresh, hand-rolled couscous to go with tagine, a slow-cooked North African dish made with chicken or beef by safta Buba.
And there were the mezze, numerous dips and salads dotted each meal. Buba was known for beets with labneh, za’atar and olive oil, a carrot salad, a chopped tomato and cucumber salad, pickles, olives, and pickled kohlrabi. The family lunches continued often until Maya was a teenager and her grandparents passed away.
The recipes, fortunately, were preserved. Maya’s mother and aunts have faithfully tended to safta Buba’s recipes.
“All of my mom’s sisters cook exactly the same food and one of them ended up in Amsterdam many years ago… She’s doing the same exact table over there,” Maya explains.
In 2012, when Maya and her husband Dean Jankelowitz, a South African Jew, opened their restaurant Jack’s Wife Freda in Manhattan’s Soho neighborhood, the menu honored their roots and their families. Recipes from safta Buba, like her fried zucchini and eggplant have been updated, but the roots are clear. “Our salt and pepper eggplant, zucchini chips, beet dip and roasted cauliflower are all takes and revised memories from what I used to eat at safta’s house,” Maya adds.
The tagine has remained close to its origins. Though there’s one update: the simpler chicken or beef that safta Buba used is sometimes replaced with a more decadent duck or lamb. And the dish has been a special at the restaurant since it opened. “We have a lot of regulars that just wait for it,” Maya says.
Safta Buba’s recipe is a perfect fit for the end of the year, when the daylight hours are short and the air chilly. If you’re feeling ambitious, channel Buba, and invite your entire family (or group of friends) over for this dinner spread.
