Citrus Trainwreck Cookie

December 27, 2012

Author: Flori Schutzer

This recipe can be simplified by choosing just one variety of citrus to use throughout. Make it you own. It is vital to use really good olive oil. I love the oils that I get from Pasolivo in Paso Robles. Our own local California oil- super tasty and family owned. Keep your carbon footprint small!

Ingredients:

1/3 cup poppy seeds

2 tablespoons or more to taste freshly grated lemon, orange, lime and tangerine zests

1 cup whole milk

2 eggs

1 1/3 cups sugar

2 cups flour

2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 cup each orange (or tangerine), lemon and lime oils

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Preparation:

In a bowl, combine the poppy seeds, zest and milk. Set aside to soak for at least 1 hour or refrigerated overnight. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line a 6-cup loaf pan with parchment paper. In a mixer fitted with a whisk attachment (or using a hand mixer), whip the eggs and sugar together until light and fluffy.

In a separate bowl, sift the dry ingredients together. With the mixer running, drizzle the oil and vanilla extract into the egg mixture. With the mixer still running, add alternating batches of dry ingredients and poppy seed-milk mixture to the egg mixture. The batter will be somewhat thin. Pour into the prepared pan. (there will be enough leftover batter to fill a muffin cup or two for the cook and assistant)

Bake 60 to 75 minutes until the center is raised and cracked and the whole cake is firm and dry on the top. Muffins will be cooked after about 30-45 minutes. Be sure to let the cake bake thoroughly or it will fall. Let cool in the pan for 5 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack and continue cooling before serving.

Delicious Apple Pie

December 28, 2012

Author: Lois Brenner

Ingredients:

Filling:

12 large Granny Smith or Pippin apples, peeled, sliced 1/3″

3/4 cup brown sugar 1/2 cup white sugar

1/3 cup bisquick

1 heaping tsp cinnamon, 1 tsp nutmeg (fresh grated)

1/2 tsp salt

2 Tablespoons each lemon and orange juice

1/4 cup good cognac

3-4 Tablespoons unsalted butter

Crust:

2 cups flour or Bisquick

1/2 tsp salt

3/4 cup unsalted butter

1/3 cup vegetable shortening

Preparation:

Mix apples slices with filling ingredients. Add juices and cognac last, mixing well.

Stir flour and salt together. Cut in shortening and butter. Add just enough water to make soft dough. Can use food processor, do not over mix.

Roll out crust, flute edges to seal 10″X14″X2″ pan. Sprinkle with granulated sugar, make slits in pie to allow steam to escape. FIlling should be bubbling when the pie is done!

Bake at 425 degrees for 20 minutes, then at 350 degrees for 30 minutes, till crust is brown, apples juicy. Cover with foil tent if top becomes to brown.

Serves 10

Blueberry Crumble

March 11, 2013

Author: Aviva Kanoff

This recipe comes from No-Potato Passover, now available on Amazon.com

Ingredients:

Blueberry Filling:

4 cups fresh blueberries

¼ cup white sugar

(do not add sugar if blueberries are naturally very sweet)

juice of 1 lemon

Crust and Crumb Topping:

¾ cup white sugar

¼ cup brown sugar

1 tsp. baking powder

2 cups ground almonds

2 cups matzo cake meal

¼ tsp. salt

zest of 1 lemon

¼ cup (½ stick) unsalted butter or

margarine, cold and cut into cubes

1 egg

¼ cup toasted slivered almonds

Preparation:

1. Preheat oven to 375° and grease a 9×13-inch baking pan.

2. In a mixing bowl combine the blueberry filling ingredients. Stir until mixed well and set aside.

3. In a separate bowl, mix together the white sugar, brown sugar, baking powder, ground almonds, cake meal, salt, and lemon zest until well combined. Add the butter and egg, and use a pastry cutter to blend the ingredients until well combined and you still have pea-sized chunks of butter. Mix in the slivered almonds.

4. Place half of the crust mixture into the baking dish and press it firmly into the bottom. Spoon the blueberry mixture into crust, being careful not to add too much of the liquid.

5. Crumble the rest of the crust mixture over the blueberries so that it is evenly distributed. Bake for 50 minutes until the crumb topping is golden brown.

6. Let cool for at least an hour before cutting. Cut into 24 squares. This dish is best served just slightly above room temperature, but any leftovers can be stored in the refrigerator.

Fluden

March 6, 2014

Author: Shirley Bemel

Came from Russia and enjoyed through the generations. They are known as “bricks”. Great to freeze them and bring them out for any occasion. Lovely with tea/coffee.

Ingredients:

For the pastry:

¼ cup vegetable shortening

¾ cup unsalted butter

1 cup sugar

3 eggs

¼ cup milk or orange juice

1 ½ tsps pure vanilla

¼ tsp orange oil

½ tsp salt

2 ¼ tsps baking powder

3 ¼ cups all purpose flour

For the cornucopia filling:

6 cups peeled, shredded, and finely chopped apples

1 ½ cups cranberries, coarsely chopped

⅓ cup dried cherries

1 cup raisins

⅓ cup ground walnuts

⅓ cup apricot jam

¾ cup sugar

2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

½ teaspoon cinnamon

2 tablespoons flour

Preparation:

For dough, in a medium bowl, cream the shortening and butter with sugar.

Blend in eggs, milk or juice, vanilla, and orange oil. Fold in flour, salt, and baking powder and stir to make a stiff dough. Pat dough out and knead gently on a lightly floured surface.

Wrap and chill for about an hour.

For filling, in a large bowl, combine the apples, cranberries, cherries, raisins, ground nuts, and apricot jam. Toss with sugar to combine and fold in remaining ingredients: lemon juice, cinnamon, and flour. Set aside.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Generously grease a 9-inch-by-13-inch pan.

Divide the dough into 3 portions. Roll out one portion, or simply pat and trim the dough to fit the pan bottom. Spoon on half the filling. Roll or pat another portion of dough on top of the fruit.

Cover with the remaining fruit mixture, then the last portion of dough.

Bake for 20 minutes at 350 degrees, then reduce heat to 325 degrees and bake for another 30 to 40 minutes, or until the top of the pastry is lightly golden.

Cool and cut into squares to serve. Cover the pastry well to store. (This ages well.)

Makes 25 to 35 squares, depending on size.

Nana’s Carrot Mold

November 15, 2011

Author: Julie Frankel

Ingredients:

3 sticks of butter softened

1 cup(s) firmly packed graham cracker crumbs

1/3 cup(s) or as much as is needed to coat inside of mold

1 1/2 Teaspoons

3 Teaspoons

2 Tablespoons

2 Tablespoons

1 tablespoon grated

1 tablespoon grated

1/2 cup(s) 4-6 large carrots

3 1/4 Cup(s)s

1/2 teaspoon

3/4 teaspoon

3/4 teaspoon

1 cooked

Preparation:

Generously butter a large ring mold and sprinkle all over with graham cracker crumbs.

Cream 3 sticks softened butter and add:

1 cup dark brown sugar

3 eggs.

1 1/2 teas. baking soda

3 teas. baking powder

2 tablespoons lemon juice

2 tablesp. orange juice

1 tablesp. of grated rind of lemon

1 tablesp. of grated rind of orange

3 1/2cups grated carrots

3 1/4 flour

1 1/2 teas. salt

3/4 teas. cinnamon

3/4 teas. nutmeg.

Batter will be stiff. Fill mold. Bake in preheated 350 oven for one hour or until it has risen and feels dry.

Take knife around edges and turn upside down to un-mold.

Fill center with cooked, frozen peas.

This can be frozen unbaked and then brought to room temp.

Lemon Tahini Salad Dressing

March 6, 2014

Author: Rachel Newman

Ingredients:

Juice of 1 lemon

2-3 tbsp pure tahini

1 tbsp olive oil

1-2 tbsp tamari (optional)

½ tsp black pepper

1 tbsp water (optional)

Preparation:

Shake all ingredients in a jar. If not using tamari, add sea salt.

BBQ Brisket

March 30, 2013

Author: yudicle

My mother gave me this recipe. I don’t know where she got it from, but my husband and kids love it. It’s not necessarily old world and not fancy. But it is delicious. Mom was first generation American, born in 1915 in Passaic, NJ. Bubbe came from Lithuania. Usual story – steerage with two little ones in tow to meet her husband who had come first to America. Bubbe had long gray hair by the time I knew her. Always in a long braid curled on her head. I saw her once with it down – I think it embarrassed her. 

Mom told me that one of the reasons Bubbe came here was that she disagreed with the tradition of cutting a woman’s hair and wearing a wig. Otherwise, she was strictly Orthodox in her observances. We’d visit on Saturdays at the apartment my mother grew up in, and we couldn’t turn the lights on until the sun had set. If we visited on Sunday, she’d slide a dime across the kitchen table to us, and she’d tell my mother in Yiddish that we should take it to the convenience store down the street to buy a treat. Usually some Hostess snack – it was the ’50′s. I barely ever spoke to her directly as she spoke no English. A quiet, sweet non-conformist who wouldn’t cut her hair just to please her folks. Who knew when I was growing up? I miss both of them.

Ingredients

2 onions

1 can condensed tomato soup

1 cup ketchup

2 tbl brown sugar

2 tbl lemon joice

brisket (whatever size is needed though generally a min. of 2 lbs)

Preparation

Saute 2 onions until golden.

In sauce pan, add onions to tomato soup, ketchup, brown sugar and lemon juice and stir.

Heat and set aside for the sauce.

Brown brisket on all sides in frying pan or Dutch oven large enough for meat to lay flat. Add 1/2 cup water, cover and simmer 2-2 1/2 hours.

Take out brisket, slice. In a baking dish – anything from 8×8 thru 9×12 – whatever fits.- spread some sauce in the bottom of the dish. Place sliced brisket in the dish and smother with remaining sauce.

It can be baked immediately. HOWEVER – it is best if prepared as above a day ahead and put in the refrigerator overnight. Bake (the next day) at 350 degrees, 45 minutes.

Savtah’s Famous Beef Tongue

April 9, 2013

Author: Kitchen Tested

Food memories are a huge part of my life, especially since I spend so much time thinking about food. When I think of my childhood, I think of comfort foods like tuna casserole, meatballs and rice, Wacky Mac, nachos, and homemade overnight potato kugel (thanks Mom). But those are just the memories from my own house. Sometimes I think about the Greek food I ate at my best friend Denah’s house and other times it’s the mouth-watering Thanksgiving stuffing in my Aunty Ellen’s dining room in Seattle. And one of my favorite memories is eating salmon skin sushi in Campbell River, Canada with my dad before our 10 day fishing trip! Well, this recipe post is devoted to another one of my favorite food memories.

When I think of my Saba and Savtah’s (grandfather and grandmother in Hebrew) dining room table, I think of Israeli couscous (I used to pick out the mushrooms and celery), sweet zucchini ring, cabbage borscht, homemade candy cane ice cream, pistachio’s in a bowl that my mom always told me not to eat, and beef tongue. As you can see, my Savtah was an incredible cook and I can keep going with my list of food memories from her house. She used to keep tins of sweets (meringue’s, mandelbrot cookies and hazen bluzen with powdered sugar) in a closet and I used to snack on them all the time. Okay, I need to focus! I can write about her cooking all day long, but right now, it’s about the beef tongue.

If you’ve never tried tongue before, this is the recipe you should start with! As I eat the sweet and tender meat, I wonder how anyone can dislike it and I realize it is all mental. If you can look beyond the fact that it is the tongue of a cow and that it actually looks like a tongue when it is sliced, you can join the club of people who are enjoying one of the most delectable meats out there. Go ahead…give it a shot! You won’t regret it.

Originally published in Kitchen Tested.

Ingredients:

1 beef tongue

1 onion

1 bay leaf

1 Tbsp pickling spice

pressure cooker

Topping Ingredients

2/3 cup brown sugar

2 diced onions

2 Tbsp lemon juice

15 oz can tomato sauce

1/2 cup water

white raisins

dried apricots

dried prunes

Preparation:

A raw beef tongue may not be pretty to look at, but it’s delicious! The first thing I did was set up my pressure cooker since I just got it in the mail. What a special moment for me to finally own my own pressure cooker. I remember my mom’s on the stove top, usually cooking chicken soup for Shabbos. Anyways, I placed the tongue on the rack in the pressure cooker with an onion, bay leaf and pickling spices. I filled the cooker halfway with water. I then spent the next 10 minutes trying to figure out how to close the top. I know it is so simple but I was trying to follow the directions and they were very confusing. When I finally figured out how to close the darn thing, I placed the temperature on medium-high and waiting until the jiggler (rotating) valve began to shake and hiss loudly, around 20 minutes. I then lowered the temperature to low so the pressure cooker wouldn’t explode. Yes, that can happen! At that point, the valve let out a light hiss. I set a timer for 40 minutes and let the meat do it’s thing.

40 minutes later, I turned off the heat and kept the cooker closed until the pressure subsided. If you don’t have the patience to wait, you can push the valve and the pressure will leave the pot faster. Just be careful of the steam. When I opened the top, a beautiful piece of cooked tongue was revealed!

I let the tongue cool until I could handle it with my hands, then I took it out of the pressure cooker and peeled it. I know that sounds a little gross, but it didn’t take long at all. I refrigerated the tongue over night, but you only need it to cool for a few hours. I also saved the onion to use in the sauce. I suggest you do the same.

The following evening, I took the tongue out of the fridge and sliced it (not too thin). I then layered the tongue in a pan and made the sauce.

I boiled the brown sugar, 1 onion from the pressure cooker and 1 raw diced onion, lemon juice, tomato sauce and water and poured it over the tongue. Tip: You can also use this sauce for meatballs. That’s what my Savtah used to do.

I added the white raisins, apricots and prunes over the sauce. There is no right or wrong way to do this. Use as much or as little as you like.

I covered the pan and placed it in the oven at 350 degrees for 1 hour. I then uncovered it and the tongue continued to cook for another 30 minutes. This gave the sauce and dried fruit a chance to caramelize before I served it. And that’s it! Nothing to it, right?!? For a side dish, I just roasted some green beans and mushrooms with olive oil, salt and pepper and chowed down! Just like my Savta used to make it.

This post was submitted by Kitchen Tested.

Tags: apricots, bay leaf, Beef, Beef Tongue, brown sugar, dried apricots, dried prunes, Kitchen Tested, lemon juice, onion, onions, pickling spice, pressure cooker, prunes, raisins, tomato sauce, tongue, water,white raisins

Salmon Alaloo

March 6, 2014

Author: Lu Zana

I am my own Bubbie. I make my own comfort food.

Ingredients:

Salmon

Onion

Garlic

Asparagus

Lemon juice

Hot pepper

Preparation:

Saute onion, garlic, asparagus and hot pepper. Squeeze in lots of lemon. Cook salmon on skillet to taste.

Grandma Sylvia Abraham’s Holupchus (Sweet and Sour Stuffed Cabbage)

October 26, 2012

Author: Chadley

Grandma Sylvia always advised me, “If you can read, you can cook.” Her mother died when she was very young and she was raised by her father, so when she married Grandpa Alex, she’d never learned to so much as boil an egg. After her wedding, she came home and cracked open her newly purchased Joy of Cooking, and the rest was history. Over fifty years of marriage, and even to the end of his life when cancer curbed his appetite, my grandfather refused to leave even a morsel of Grandma’s cooking — from anyone’s plate — uneaten. Although the reason may have been Grandpa’s Depression era mentality, I prefer to think it was because the cooking was so delicious.

In the kitchen of their Bethesda, Maryland house which I visited every Friday throughout my childhood, the dishwasher was Grandpa’s domain as he had a highly complex loading strategy which we all tried and failed to grasp. Everything else in that narrow, formica-covered space with the mushroom-patterned wallpaper, however, was Grandma’s turf. One of her specialties which I have searched for ever since, to no avail, was a big heaping dish of little fried, salty, whole fish called smelts. How she managed to get a 5-year-old to gobble down plates of whole fish, with the dead eyes staring out at you, is even more of a mystery to me now that I’m a parent of two picky eaters.

Like so many Bubbes, Grandma single-handedly prepared Passover dinners for a dozen hungry mouths with barely so much as a sit-down. But I don’t believe any other Bubbe in the world ended a Seder with her particular party trick. Once the plates were cleared and put into the dishwasher according to Grandpa’s incomprehensible mathematical algorithm, my grandmother would finally collapse at the table, pull off her apron, and roll back her sleeve. From there I can only describe what she did from the perspective of the child I was — My grandmother became a female, Jewish Popeye. With her palm placed lightly on her forehead, her bicep flexed, she then proceeded to pop and bounce her exceedingly large arm muscle in a staccato rhythm so that it danced like a Mexican jumping bean. This was a crowd pleaser for the whole family, and the grandchildren were left to wonder what made their Grandma so well-endowed in the bicep area. Maybe it was her cooking.

Ingredients:

1 lb Lean, raw beef chopped (i.e. hamburger meat), salted and peppered

2 Large Onions 1 chopped fine, 2nd onion chopped medium

2 Cup(s)s Rice cooked (1 cup cooked rice to put in stuffing, prepare 2nd cup cooked rice to accompany servings of holupchus)

1 tablespoon Water

1 Eggs slightly beaten

1 whole Cabbage (one head)

2 Cup(s)s Tomatoes canned, broken up a bit so that tomatoes aren’t whole

1 tablespoon Matzah meal optional

1/2 cup(s) Golden raisins or to taste

4-6 Tablespoons Dried mint or to taste

Pinon nuts optional; to taste

1 tablespoon Honey or more; to taste

Several pinch Ginger

2 Tablespoons Brown sugar or more; to taste

1 Lemon (juice of 1 lemon)

Preparation:

Boil enough water in a large pot to cover about 2/3 of the cabbage head, the goal being to steam it and soften the leaves. Put cabbage in and cover pot. Pull off outer leaves as they soften. This will probably have to be repeated several times as you work towards the middle. All leaves should be soft enough to fold but not overcooked. This is best to do a little ahead so that the cabbage cools enough to work with.

Mix together the raw beef, 1 onion chopped fine (save the other onion for later), 1 cup cooked rice (prepare and save the 2nd cup rice to serve with the holupchus), the tablespoon of water, the egg, and the optional matzah meal. Roll up the meat mixture into small balls for filling little cabbage leaf packages that should be folded up like envelopes, open side down.

When all cabbage rolls have been put into a large pot, put in on top the tomatoes, the second onion (chopped into medium sized chunks), the honey, the ginger, the brown sugar, and the juice of one lemon.

Cover and simmer on low heat 1 hour – 1 1/2 hours approximately, tasting as you go.

Serve the holupchus with the cup of cooked rice. You can prepare more rice to accompany this if you want to serve the holupchus as a main course rather than as an appetizer.

Enjoy the sweet and sour goodness!

Gefilte Fish Cakes with Horseradish Sauce

March 12, 2013

Author: Manischewitz

Recipe Courtesy of Quick & Kosher: Meals in Minutes by Jamie Geller (Feldheim 2010).

Ingredients:

1 jar Manischewitz® Mediterranean Gefilte Fish

½ cup diced red bell pepper

1 small red onion, diced

2 celery stalks, diced

1½ cup mayonnaise, divided

4 tablespoons chopped dill

½ teaspoon kosher salt

¼ teaspoon Freshly ground black pepper

1 egg

1 cup coarsely crushed Manischewitz® Mediterranean Matzos

1 cup canola oil

1 lemon, juiced

4 tablespoons prepared horseradish

Preparation:

Prep time: 10

Cook time: 20+ 30 minutes chill time

Ready time: 30 min

1. In a large bowl combine Manischewitz® Mediterranean Gefilte Fish, peppers, onions, celery, ½ cup mayonnaise, dill, salt, pepper, egg and Manischewitz ® Mediterranean Matzos and stir well to combine.

2. Using slightly wet hands, scoop ¼ cup and form into patties.

3. Place on a sheet pan and refrigerate for 30 minutes before frying.

4. Heat oil in a large sauté pan over medium high heat.

5. Fry patties in batches for 3 to 4 minutes per side or until golden brown. (Can be kept warm in the oven at 250° F.)

6. In a small bowl, combine remaining 1 cup mayonnaise, lemon juice and horseradish and stir.

7. To serve, plate 2 cakes on a small plate and garnish with a tablespoon of horseradish sauce.

Moroccan Fish from Israel

March 12, 2013

Author: JDCEntwine

Recipe courtesy of Rachel Tachvilian from Beit Shemesh, Israel. Read more about the JDC and Israel.

Ingredients:

• 4 slices tuna or Nile perch (if available)

• 2-3 ripe tomatoes

• Salt (for marinating fish and for sauce)

• Lemon juice

• 1⁄4 teaspoon turmeric

• 1⁄2 teaspoon chicken-flavored

(meatless/”pareve”) soup mix

• 2-3 cups boiling water, plus more

boiling water if using tuna

• Handful of fresh chopped cilantro

• 1 red pepper, chopped

• 1 long chili pepper, preferably dry, cut

into wide strips

• 1 clove fresh garlic, peeled and

chopped

• About 1⁄4 cup vegetable oil

• 1 tablespoon sweet red paprika

Preparation:

Sprinkle salt and lemon juice over fish and let marinate for 30 minutes. In the meantime, prepare sauce by peeling the tomatoes and placing them into a wide pot. Add salt, turmeric, and soup mix and bring to a boil. Mash cooked tomato mixture (can use a potato masher), then add 2-3 cups boiling water to the pot. Bring sauce to a simmer.

Rinse fish: if using tuna, rinse it first with boiling water and then with tap water; if using Nile perch, rinse it

with tap water. Place slices of fish on top of sauce in the wide pot. Lay chopped cilantro, pepper strips, and chopped garlic on top of fish. Bring mixture to a boil. In the meantime, thoroughly combine the oil and sweet paprika in a separate dish and add to the fish mixture. After the fish has boiled for 10 minutes, reduce heat to a simmer. Simmer fish for about 30 minutes more. Serve fish with sauce, hot or at room temperature.

Serves 4 people

Katherine Moss’s Plum Good Beef Brisket

May 5, 2014

Authors: Alix Wall and Suzie Rose

Ingredients:

3 lbs. organic, grass-fed brisket

Salt and pepper

3 Tbs. neutral oil such as grapeseed or canola

1 medium red onion, peeled, halved and thinly sliced

1⁄4 cup tamari sauce (if making for Passover and you want to avoid soy, substitute balsamic vinegar)

2 16-oz. cans purple plums

2 Tbs. honey

2 Tbs. lemon juice

3 Tbs. freshly squeezed orange juice

1⁄2 tsp. Worcestershire sauce

1⁄4 tsp. orange zest

1⁄4 tsp. cinnamon

Chopped parsley

Preparation:

Lightly salt and pepper both sides of the brisket. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least an hour. Then, pour some oil in a Dutch oven or large skillet and brown brisket on each side for at least three minutes per side. Remove brisket to plate. In a separate skillet, add a bit more oil and heat. Sauté onions with a pinch of salt for about 10 minutes, until translucent. Add tamari sauce (or balsamic vinegar) and cook another minute or two.

Place meat fat-side-up in Dutch oven or large skillet. Pour onion mixture on top. Drain plums over a bowl (important!) reserving 1⁄4 cup syrup. Pour rest of the syrup over the meat. Cover and bake at 350 degrees at least 31⁄2 hours until meat is done (very tender). Meanwhile, remove skins and pits from plums. Mush them up with your hands into a small saucepan. Add reserved syrup, honey, lemon juice, orange juice, Worcestershire, orange zest and cinnamon. Heat to boiling, then reduce heat and simmer 10 minutes.

When meat is done, tent with foil and let it rest for at least an hour. Trim off the fat and slice against the grain. Pour sauce into meat pan to let plum sauce combine with the meat drippings. Let simmer another 20 minutes, to reduce. Place sliced meat on a platter and top with sauce. Finish with chopped parsley. More sauce can be passed tableside. Makes about 6 servings. If brisket is made the day before, refrigerate it overnight, then skim the fat off the sauce as well.