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There is no time in the Jewish calendar that proves the unity of the Jewish people more than Passover. There is no time in the Jewish calendar that proves the unity of the Jewish people more than Passover. Every household undergoes a spring cleaning. Everyone has the opportunity to attend a seder, be they in…

this week, we share Sharon’s special recipe for chuck roast with a homemade Silan barbecue sauce.  As a Jew of Babylonian descent, for me Pesach is synonymous with Silan, a deliciously dark brown glistening date honey. This caramelized syrup is combined with crushed walnuts to use as charoset. (Charoset represents the mortar the Jews used…

Maman’s Moroccan Fish recipe steams the fish in a rich, hearty, spicy, tomatoey stew. My memories of Casablanca come in snapshots. Bright blue skies, tall palm trees, the boulevard outside the balcony of our apartment. My cousins and my brothers blaring pop music. My Maman and her sister, my aunt Clara, with their perfect bouffant…

If you grew up in a Moroccan household, you know that Shabbat lunch is dafina. Moroccan tradition dictates that the first daughter is named after her paternal grandmother. So when I was born in Casablanca, my name was no surprise. I was named Raquel after my father’s mother. In a sad twist of fate, my grandmother…

More than any other food, I feel that baba ta’mar are a tangible reminder of my Babylonian roots In 1942, my dashingly handsome grandfather Aba Naji arrived in Al Azair, a village in the south of Iraq, not far from Basra.  Located on the shores of the west bank of the sweeping Tigris River and…

This delicious Bak’lawa Cake is a perfect marriage of Middle East meets American pound cake.  My quintessential memory of my grandmother Nana Aziza is of sharing a cup of tea with her. Tea was a ritual for her and she always brewed a perfect cup. Of course, she called it “chai,” the Arabic word for…

T’bit is the Iraqi/Babylonian version of cholent, a wonderful slow cooked chicken and rice dish. There is nothing quite like watching a romance blossom. Last February, our friend Esther flew to Argentina with her daughter Miriam for the wedding of Miriam’s best friend, Raquel. Over the weeklong festivities, the groom’s close friend Oren spotted sweet Miriam…

The acidic pop of the cherry tomatoes contrasts deliciously with the herby umami of the almond basil pesto. Last Thursday morning, at Trader Joe’s on La Cienega, I was being my usual ridiculous self. I had two carts — one for Shabbat food for my home and one for a grazing table for the Sephardic…

My childhood memories are filled with cookies. Even more than they love cakes, Moroccans love their cookies. Ask an American child “What is your favorite cookie?” It’s most likely that they will answer, a chocolate chip cookie. But for me, the question of my favorite cookie is more complex. My childhood memories are filled with…

This week, Sharon and I share a a skillet chicken recipe that tastes like home. I am in possession of three passports. I was born in Petach Tikva, Israel. I grew up in Sydney, Australia. My family moved to Los Angeles when I was in high school. That’s a lot of moving around. And we…

The crown jewel of the Babylonian Jewish kitchen, kubbah are shells made from semolina stuffed with a mixture of ground beef, Italian parsley and onion. When Rachel and I started publicizing our latest Kubbah class, I was pleasantly surprised to hear from so many of my Ashkenazi friends that kubbah is one of their favorite…

A couple of Sundays ago, my family and I were blessed to celebrate the centennial birthday of my mother-in-law, Becky. A couple of Sundays ago, my family and I were blessed to celebrate the centennial birthday of my mother-in-law, Becky. Of course, turning 100 deserves a huge celebration. But over the last six months, she…

All of the seven species play a popular part in the cuisine of Sephardic Jews. But this week, Sharon and I wanted to highlight two particular ingredients — olives and nuts. When I met Alan 24 years ago, I told him that when my father takes him to his garden and shows him his plants…

A nutritional powerhouse, farro contains protein, minerals, vitamins and antioxidants. Some people are born with a silver spoon in their mouth. I was definitely born with a piece of marzipan in mine!  Traditional Moroccan sweets and desserts are delectable and oh so tempting. I start with one. I find it really hard to stop eating…

The wonderful thing about soups is that they are so nourishing and so comforting. Prepping the vegetables does take a little time, but once you throw everything in the pot, soup requires zero effort. As a young schoolgirl, many of my afternoons were spent at my grandparents home in Rose Bay. After school, my brother…

For Sephardic Jews, meatballs are rarely eaten with pasta. More often meatballs co-star with vegetables like potatoes, peas, zucchini, butternut squash, green beans and okra. For the extended Yaakovy family, Friday, October 6th was a joyful celebration of the festival of Simchat Torah at Kibbutz K’far Azza. At the end of the dinner, mother Sigal…

My memories of Hanukkah in Morocco revolve around the joy of family gathering together. My memories of Hanukkah in Morocco revolve around the joy of family gathering together. We lit one beautiful menorah presented to my parents by my mother’s father on the occasion of their wedding. My parents met and married in Larache, an…

One of the first, most harrowing images of the Hamas attacks of October 7th is of a wide-eyed and terrified Noa Argamani on an ATV surrounded by terrorists. It is heartbreaking to watch her cry out in fear, pleading ““Don’t kill me!” She reaches out her arms to her handsome, bearded boyfriend Avinatan Or. But…

My family and I celebrated our first Thanksgiving in Palm Springs in 1973. We had arrived in Los Angeles from Casablanca, Morocco, just after the Yom Kippur war. My family and I celebrated our first Thanksgiving in Palm Springs in 1973. We had arrived in Los Angeles from Casablanca, Morocco, just after the Yom Kippur…

Sharon and I decided we would make a batch of these very typical Israeli rolled-up cookies. When my cousin Dorit asked if her 15-year-old son Itay could fly from Israel to stay with us for the Summer of 2008, my answer was “Sure!” The more the merrier.  Over the years, during our visits to Israel,…