Mongolian Beef + Secret Restaurant Recipes Review and Giveaway!

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mongolian beef on OvertimeCook

 Mongolian Beef is an easy and delicious restaurant style dish that you can make at home thanks to a great new cookbook, Secret Restaurant Recipes. I'm so excited to bring you an in-depth review of this amazing new book: Secret Restaurant Recipes by Leah Schapira and Victoria Dwek - and I'm giving one lucky reader a chance to win their own copy! Scroll down past the review and recipe for the giveaway.  Years ago, when Leah Schapira and I were just getting to know each other, one of our first conversations ever was about getting restaurant recipes. I told her that a local pizza shop makes a great techinah sauce - and she told me to beg for the recipe. And ever since then, I knew she has … [Read more...]

Barbecue Beef Ribs with Homemade Mole Barbecue Sauce

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bbq ribs with mole sauce

There's a secret ingredient in these barbecue beef ribs that makes them the most succulent and tasty ribs you'll ever eat! Allow me to introduce you to my family's favorite holiday dish. Dessert? Nope. It's meat. Ribs, to be precise. No jokes. Not only do I make the best ribs in the world, but my family would probably revolt if I would try not making them for a holiday. Many have you have probably tried my ribs with homemade bourbon barbecue sauce. Smart of you - those are amazing! But bourbon isn't kosher for Passover, so I decided I had to come up with a version that I could make on Pesach. Enter my secret ingredient: cocoa powder. Yes, I am totally serious. With all the Passover … [Read more...]

Passover Recipes!

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almond butter cups 2

I know I keep promising you folks some new Passover recipes. I totally didn't forget about that. In all honesty, I am having a bit of a hard time making passover food now. Partly because it's a couple of weeks to Passover and I want to eat every last bite of pasta possible. And partly because I spent weeks living and breathing passover food. A while ago. When everyone else was thinking about starting to plan for purim. It's the life of a magazine writer. Usually it's fun, but passover recipes are a humongous challenge. I am proud to say I came up with a nice variety of passover recipes for my magazine column. Here's a preview:   I made candy...   They look like peanut butter … [Read more...]

Savory Meat Pie Hamantaschen

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savory meat pie hamantaschen on overtimecook

It's 1:30 am and I am sitting at my computer thinking about hamantashen. But it isn't my fault, really. Blame it on... Oh forget it. It's totally my fault. I can't help myself. Not only do I imagine myself to have hoards of anxious fans waiting for my brilliant purim ideas yeah right but I also need to impress people at my own purim seudah (feast/party). It's hard, let me tell you. No matter how much pressure you might feel at parties, think about what it's like when you are a food writer. Exactly. Well I kinda wish I could invite each and every one of you to my purim party, because I am serving these meat pie hamantaschen as the appetizer and they are seriously delicious. But sadly I … [Read more...]

Mushroom Beef Sliders and a Review and Giveaway of CHIC Made Simple

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mushroom beef sliders

Giveaway Closed! I'm super excited to be reviewing another fabulous and hot new kosher cookbook, CHIC Made Simple. The author, Esther Deutch, actually writes for the same magazine as me, Ami Living's Whisk magazine. Oddly enough, I didn't meet her until Kosher Fest, when we practically bumped into each-other. "You're Overtime Cook?!" She exclaimed. "I am such a fan." Well. After an introduction like that, I couldn't wait to see her beautiful cookbook and try some of the recipes. At a First Glance: CHIC Made Simple is beautiful. And I am not talking simply about the pictures (which are really nice!). This book is big, hard covered, and really nice all around. Every page has a recipe … [Read more...]

Yemenite Beef Soup and a Review and Giveaway of Kosher By Design Cooking Coach

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Yemenite Beef Soup 2

Giveaway Closed! I've been getting a lot of questions lately about my thoughts on the new cookbook by Susie Fishbein, Kosher By Design Cooking Coach, and I am excited to finally share my thoughts on this fabulous cookbook with you. I should start by mentioning that if you aren't a kosher cook, don't stop reading. Susie's ideas are amazing, and you don't have to keep kosher to appreciate them! At a first glance: As is the case with all of Susie's previous books, this is a visually beautiful book. I opened it up and marveled at the absolute wealth of information. The book promises to be more than just a list of recipes, and it certainly delivered. Each chapter starts with a "game … [Read more...]

Barbecue Beef Ribs with Homemade Bourbon Barbecue Sauce

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bbq-ribs-1

I can't begin to tell you how excited I am to share this recipe with y'all. Partly because it's every bit as mouthwatering, juicy, melt-in-your-mouth, and delightfully messy as a good rib should be. And partly because I made these for my Purim Seudah (party) and they were an absolutely smashing success. There were heaps of good food at this party, courtesy of various family friends and neighbors, but somehow nobody could stop talking about -or eating- these ribs. It's a good thing, too. I stressed over these ribs for ages. Starting with the sauce. Of course, I couldn't be content buying a bottle of sauce and pouring it over these ribs. No, I had to make my own. And naturally, after reading … [Read more...]

Hamantashen Shaped Beef Wontons

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Hamantashen-beef-wantons

I know this blog has been non-stop purim treats recently. And I know that Purim is this week and most of you already have your Purim planned out, if not done. And I know that there should be some kind of witty introduction written here. Some kind of story, or a clever joke. Or maybe something to get everyone into the Purim spirit. But I must admit, I am exhausted. Too exhausted to write. Because every time I try to think of something to write by way of introduction to this post, I think about the crazy day I had at work today. I think about the million emails I didn't answer (or so it feels. In reality it was probably more like 50) and the 29 orders I haven't finished. (Not that I counted or … [Read more...]

Mini Shepherd’s Pies

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shepherds-pie-1

What a week. I don't even know where to start. I guess with Sunday, when I worked a full day to make up for the days we were closed last week. Then came Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, all of which felt like a day later than they actually were. I got home on average 7:30 each night, and got straight to work in the kitchen. I went to bed after 2 am every night. Now it's Thursday, well after 2 and I am not nearly done in the kitchen. Did I mention that my company will be closed next week, so it's about doubly busy this week? Yeah, I did drink loads of coffee. Why do you ask? Enough complaining about me. Let's talk global issues. I honestly couldn't believe how saddened I was at the … [Read more...]