A drama in three acts, all centered on the Fortress of Masada, a remarkable bastion perched above the Dead Sea in Israel. King Herod builds a pleasure palace, the Zealots make their last stand against Rome, and Israel returns at last. There are no heroes here, no villains, just complex people doing great and terrible deeds. Josephus, historian/traitor,  takes us through the story of the Great Jewish Revolt and the destruction of the Temple.

Masada visitor Lisa Goldberg tells us about the experience of climbing up (and down again) and exploring the ruins. And we eat traditional holiday goodies: sufganiyot and just in time for Purim, hamantaschen. Plus Israeli breakfasts.

Everyone loves grilled chicken, right?  Especially cooked on an open flat grill and served in a warm sandwich?  Yes, please.

Jerusalemites have their own version, the Jerusalem mixed grill, or me’orav Yerushalmi.   Chicken bits, sautéed with spices.  Supposedly concocted in the Mahane Yehuda market, just a bit west of the Old City, the mixed grill was based on English mixed grill, brought by the British.  It has a twist though.

While you can make it with breasts and thighs, traditionally the mixed grill is hearts and livers.  That’s often enough to deter the squeamish, but don’t let it!

This is the easiest recipe I’ll post.  Dice up the chicken into small pieces, and marinate with thin-sliced onion and spices.  Then sauté on a hot skillet.  Easy peasy.

When I tried it, I used breast, because of squeamish family members, and I loved it.  The spice mix I used had slightly different flavors than the usual shawarma blend: in addition to cumin and paprika, the mix has allspice, cinnamon, black pepper, and cardamom, which give a sweetish warmth and kick on the forefront of the tongue.  It’s just pleasant.  And in a warm pita with hummus and tahini sauce, marvelous.

Serves 4 at least

INGREDIENTS

• 1 pound chicken livers, chopped  (If you’re not into livers, try thighs)
• 1 pound chicken breast, chopped
• 1 large onion, sliced
• 1 teaspoon paprika
• 1/3 cup olive oil
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom
• 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/8 teaspoon ground allspice
• 1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg

STEPS

1. Mix the chicken livers and breast with the onions, spices and olive oil. Marinate for several hours (up to one full day).
2. Heat a skillet and add the seasoned meat mixture.
3. Cook, stirring, until meat has cooked through.

Recipe adapted from http://www.girlcooksworld.com/2011/02/jerusalem-mixed-grill.html

Photo from wikipedia because I forgot to take a picture of what I cooked, which was great.  The onions, man, the onions made it all so magnificent.

A short bonus episode.  Drew's daughter makes her first podcasting appearance as she tells you the story of the Two Bethlehems.

Bethlehem, Indiana is a popular place to mail Christmas cards, but there's more to its story than that!

Jesus Christ arrives on the scene, to the consternation of the Roman authorities and the Jewish establishment. We visit the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, site of his death and resurrection, and the holiest site in Christianity. What made Jesus so revolutionary? Garry Stevens from the History in the Bible podcast comes back to the show to talk about the historical aspects of the gospels, as we tell the story of that fateful weekend in April, nearly 2000 years ago.

Even better, Gary Arndt from everything-everywhere.com returns to describe his visit to the church during Holy Week and to Bethlehem.

And of course, there's food too, including Jerusalem mixed grill.

You’ve heard of a cronut, right?  Some New York baker took a croissant and fried and glazed it like a donut and made bajillions?  Well, feteer is a cro-izza.  It’s flaky and buttery like a croissant; in fact, some think it was the ancestor to that noble pastry.  But it’s thrown, stuffed, topped, and eaten like a pizza.

It’s fiendishly simple, which is why I haven’t tried to make it yet.  I tend to do really badly with fiendishly simple things involving dough, because fiendishly simple dishes often require an expert technique or skill to make them terrific, since they don’t have the complex flavors that come from many ingredients or a more complicated process.

In this case, it sounds too easy to be true.  Flour, water and salt in a mixer to create a very sticky dough.  Roll into four balls and let sit in a bath of melted butter.  This sounds crazy and fattening, but it will make the flour much easier to roll out, and you’re going to use the butter anyway, so why not?

Take a ball, put it on a wide flat and floured surface, and roll it as thin as you possibly can.  If you can see through it, that’s ideal.  Put your stuffing, whether sweet or savory, in the middle, fold over the sides, and then do the same with the other layers. 

Try this, then let me know how it turns out!

Serves 4 at least

INGREDIENTS

• 4 cups of white all purpose flour.
• 2 cups of water ( +/- depending on the type of flour you are using)
• A dash of salt.
• 1 cup melted butter
• Something savory to stuff inside (cheese, vegetables, meat) OR
• • Something sweet to stuff inside (chocolate, jam, custard)
• Something savory to top (cheese, olives, peppers) OR
• • Something sweet to top (powdered sugar)

STEPS

1. First, mix the flour and salt and add the first cup of water and knead very well then add the remaining bit by bit until you get a dough that is very elastic and sticky.
2. Divide the dough into 4 balls, grease a deep dish and put the balls in it.
3. Let it rest for 15 min. and turn your oven on to the highest degree possible, mine was 550 F.
4. Roll the first ball to be very thin that you can see your counter top through, brush the surface generously with melted butter.
5. Arrange your stuffing in the middle and carefully fold all 4 sides over the center.
6. Roll the next ball until very thin and brush as you’ve done with the first ball.
7. Place the already done one, folded side down, then fold the outer one and brush with more butter as you fold.
8. Repeat the process for additional layers. Brush generously with butter and add the suggested toppings if you would like to.
9. Place in a greased pizza pan - or any oven-safe pan - for 10-15 minutes until done.

Recipe adapted from https://amiraspantry.com/alexandrian-feteer-e-pizza-feteer