[Photograph: Max Falkowitz] Nothing says Jewish cooking to me more than a large hunk of braised meat. And for Passover, lamb is all but required. Lamb shanks, beyond their ritualistic significance, are webbed with the connective tissue that makes an... More

Scallion Scrambled Eggs with Cumin, an Iranian-inspired meal from Faye Levy's Feast from the Middle East comes together in about 15 minutes, chopping included, and is a nice twist on standard scrambled eggs. Health-wise, it's far from a low-fat dish, but that's okay. Healthy food need not be low-fat food, especially when it's packed with protein and produce like this. More

Think of these little pastries as drier, neater versions of baklava that you can hold in your hands without the services of a wet-nap. And since they call for puff pastry instead of phyllo dough, they come together in a fraction of the time without all the hassle of painting melted butter on tissue-thin sheets of pastry. More

Tired of the usual homemade dips in your rotation? Add Muhammara to the mix. I was recently introduced to this Middle Eastern puree of roasted red peppers, walnuts, and pomegranate molasses. If you're extra ambitious, roast the red peppers instead of using the jarred kind. More

Labne is a Lebanese cow's milk cream cheese made from yogurt. It's less tart than American cream cheeses but it's ridiculously unctuous. While delicious with sumac all on its own, I wanted to add some texture and nutty sweetness with... More

Carrots may sound like an odd dessert ingredient, but they're certainly not just health food. They're starchy and sweet, and when cooked down slowly with milk, practically become candy on their own. Consider them an alternative sweetener, like honey, but with an even more complex sweetness. In a dessert, carrots can build a mild but flavorful base for more intense ingredients to play. Our result is something of a hybrid between Indian and Middle Eastern halvah. More

Note: Michael Natkin of the vegetarian blog Herbivoracious drops by every Wednesday to share a delicious recipe to expand our vegetarian repertoire. [Photograph: Michael Natkin] If you just looked at the picture and didn't read the title, you probably just... More

[Photograph: Joshua Bousel] There's nothing I miss more from my time in Israel than shawarma. I'm not exaggerating—I had shawarma in a pita or laffa almost everyday during my six months there. Like my previous experience making tacos al pastor,... More

The cake's virtue is its simplicity: it's sort of like cornbread, only made with semolina. What really makes it shine, though, is that it's topped while still hot with a sweet glaze which oozes into every little nook and cranny of the porous cake. Finished off with a sprinkling of almonds on top, it makes the perfect complement to a strong Turkish coffee. More