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Wednesday, June 11, 2025

Naomi Klayman's Layered Fruit Salad


I often suggest to people, when they ask what to bring to a meal, to bring fruit salad. It's a lot of work to make!

Naomi brought this, and it was ingenious. The colors and contrast obviously make it beautiful, but the stripes are extra fun.

She came up with the technique of holding the bowl horizontally, and layering it that way.

If you use a flat or slightly curved bowl/platter, you can do it directly. But her technique is a lot of fun.

I like "pretty food". This presentation qualifies! 


Friday, June 6, 2025

Ricette Fresche's Potato Spinach Cheese Omelette

Stuffed Potato Cheese Thing!

For vegetarian meals, I miss the dinner entrĂ©e being a focal point. This one is beautiful. It requires many steps, but not hard ones, and is an elegant presentation. I haven't come up with the right word in English. Ricette Fresche is an Italian YouTube channel; she calls it an omelet, along the lines of a Spanish Tortilla, also made in a fry pan on the stovetop. This one doesn't have onions, but you could add them. It's pretty flexible.

She doesn't have a website with the recipes, so you need to watch her videos and follow the steps. Not very efficient, so I've narrated the process here.

2+ pounds potatoes (a kilo, basically)
1 lb fresh, washed spinach
fried onions (optional) - to be layered in with the spinach, or caramelized and added on top
clove garlic
2 eggs
1 oz parmesan, grated
4 oz grated hard cheese (I used Gouda, but can be most any kind.)
* ~1 c breadcrumbs (can be less, it's to taste - stale challah is good!) Note that you spread the  breadcrumbs at three different times, so don't put it all in the mixture at the first step
olive oil
salt, pepper, nutmeg
hot sauce for eating

Boil the potatoes very thoroughly. When they're cool, hand peel them - the peels slip off.

Meanwhile, chop the spinach. Add oil to a large frying pan, and add the spinach and garlic, stirring until it wilts. Remove the garlic and put it in a strainer and push out the excess liquid.

In a large bowl, mash the boiled potatoes. Add two eggs, pepper, salt, and nutmeg. Stir, add parmesan and and about half the breadcrumbs.

In the large fry pan that the spinach was in, place a parchment paper disk, spread it with olive oil, and sprinkle with bread crumbs. Spread half the potato mixture on it, using your hands to smooth it down. Layer the spinach on top, with the grated cheese [and fried onions]. Spread the second half of the potato mixture, evening with wet hands. Add oil on top, and the rest of the breadcrumbs.

Cover and cook on low for 15 minutes. On the induction, I used 4.

Uncover, set a plate in, and invert. This is tricky! Pull the parchment off the top, set it in the pan, and slip the omelet on it, cover, and cook for another 10 minutes.

Get a nice round tray ready! This is Shabbat dinner material.