Side Dishes

Vegetarian Chopped Liver

June 19, 2016

Author: Yvette Schlussel

Ingredients:

1 eggplant, sliced and salted

2 hard boiled eggs

1 onion, sliced and salted

½ cup walnuts sauteed

½ tsp salt or soy sauce to taste

Preparation:

Saute eggplant, add onions and walnuts.

Coarsely grind in food processor

Mix in 2 hardboiled eggs

Serve on toast or crackers

Chocolate Blueberry Energy

April 4, 2014

Author: Meredith Tiras

Ingredients:

1 cup fresh or soaked dried dates

1⁄4 cup almonds

1⁄4 cup blueberries

1⁄4 cup roasted carob powder (or cacao to make 100% raw)

1⁄4 cup ground flaxseed

1⁄4 cup hemp protein

1⁄4 cup unhulled sesame seeds

1 tsp fresh lemon juice

1⁄2 tsp lemon zest

Sea salt to taste

1⁄2 cup sprouted or cooked buckwheat (optional)

1⁄2 cup frozen blueberries

Makes approx (12) 13⁄4 ounce bars

Preparation:

1) In a food processor, process all ingredients except buckwheat and frozen blueberries until desired texture is reached. If you prefer a uniformly smooth bar, process longer. If you would rather a bar with more crunch and texture, blend for less time.

2) Remove mixture from processor and put on a clean surface. Knead buckwheat and frozen berries into mixture by hand.

3)There are two ways to shape the bars:

To shape into balls: Use a tablespoon or your hands to scoop the mixture (however much you like to make one ball); roll between the palms of your hands To shape as bars: Flatten the mixture on the clean surface with your hands. Place plastic wrap over top; with a rolling pin, roll mixture to desired bar thickness. Cut mixture into bars. Alternatively, form mixture into a brick; cut as though slicing bread. As the bars dry, they become easier to handle

Can be stored in freezer because they will not freeze. Great refresher for hot days or post-workout.

 

A Spinach Kugel from Grandma’s Pantry

October 20, 2011

Author: David Sax

Evelyn Davis was no balabusta. She was third generation Canadian, and though she grew up during the great depression, where she was farmed out to the houses of relatives (she had 9 siblings), she was classically reform, spoke no yiddish, and was about as kosher as Guy Fieri. At her table, you could get a glass of milk with your lamb chop.

But she remained a Jewish grandmother, one who loved to eat, and to do so at a bargain. She was famously frugal. she’d save a piece of tape and hoard plastic shopping bags long before we cared about their environmental impact. it was a legacy of the depression that never left her, regardless of the financial security she enjoyed.

At Steinberg’s on Queen Mary, the Montreal grocery store where she shopped her whole adult life, she hunted the sale counters, and clipped coupons, as if her life still depended on those pennies saved.

“Look!” she’d exclaim to my mother, “a whole box of instant creme caramels for $3.99!” Shelf life was her friend. She came from a time when people had to do things from scratch, and if the folks at Campbells or Manischewitz could do it better, cheaper, and have it stay fresher longer, she was on board. her pantry was a well stocked larder of cans, powders, mixes, and dried ingredients. when the apocalypse came (or a really bad Montreal snowstorm), she was ready for it.

it’s a style of thinking that’s fallen out of vogue lately, as slow food, and the diy kitchen movement stress a return to roots, to freshness, to grinding and stuffing your own sausage and hand rolling out pasta…or god forbid you are destroying the planet and the local farmer!

But Grandma Davis’ cooking achieved a level of flavor that’s hard to match from scratch. there’s a reason why even the best brisket recipes call for onion soup mix, or bullion, or freeze dried egg noodles. there’s a depth there; a taste of postwar affluence and ease, when not having to argue with a fishmonger and gut a carp in your bathtub were goals women like my grandmother fought for and achieved. sure, it’s cool to do now, but there’s something to be said for ease, and junky, processed comfort foods.

This Yom Kippur, we broke the fast with her spinach noodle kugel, plucked from one of her yellowed recipe cards. It was easily the most popular dish on the table; a salty, umami packed hit with everyone who ate it. sure, it could have been made with fresh noodles, fresh spinach, fresh onion soup ingredients, but then it wouldn’t have been as good. and it wouldn’t have been hers.

Ingredients

1 lb bag of fine egg noodles

2 packages frozen chopped spinach cooked and drained

6 eggs, separated beat yolks/ whites to stiff

2 packages onion soup mix

1.5 sticks of butter

1 pint coffee rich or can of evaporated milk

1 cup(s) sour cream or yogurt

Directions

Boil noodles and add butter until melted.

Add onion soup and spinach

Mix in egg yolk

Add sour cream/yoghurt & Coffee Rich/evap. Milk

Fold in egg whites well.

Pour into large well-greased pan (I used 11×14”).

Bake 1 hr. at 350 or until brown (it took 40 minutes in 11×14)

 

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.

 

 

Esther Levin’s Latke Recipe from the Old Country

December 13, 2011

Author: lafoodie

Esther-Lichtbenching-2-04-07-09-225x300.jpg

There are hundreds of recipes in Jewish cookbooks, American cookbooks, and on the Internet. Here’s a simple one that is a sure hit. But of course, best only when enhanced with some secrets from Rabbi Moshe Levin’s great-grandmother Rochel, passed on to her daughter, Ida, and then to his mother Esther.

Tips from Esther Levin: “Making latkes together, especially parents with their children, is a lot of fun. One of the great things about latkes is that they can be made in advance, so cooks and kids can make them together in the afternoon and serve the latkes when family and friends are ready to eat dinner, right after Hanukkah candles are lit. Latkes may be made up to 8 hours ahead. You can even refrigerate them or even freeze them if you made them earlier. But reheat them on a rack set over a baking sheet in a 350°F oven, about 5 minutes. IF they were frozen, first let them get back to room temperature.”

Esther’s cousin Mollie said that grating the potatoes, then soaking them briefly in water, and then squeezing out the liquid (as we’ve done here) keeps the batter from turning brown too quickly. However, remember what Bubbie Rochel said – not to pour out the starch, only the water. And believe it or not, Tante Beila used to add a little sour cream to the potato onion mixture before frying them so they come out golden brown, not burnt looking.

Ingredients:

1 lb potatoes Yukon Gold are best because of the high starch content

1/2 cup(s) onion finely chopped

1 large egg lightly beaten (Rochel liked it better with two regular size eggs)

2 Tablespoons Matzoh meal Tante Basya says all-purpose flour works too

1/2 teaspoon salt More will give you high blood pressure!

1/4 teaspoon pepper optional

Preparation:

Makes 10 good size latkes. (Adding a little flour will make it into a 12-16 portion batch if you want.) Double this recipe for a hungry crowd! And make sure you have enough sour cream and applesauce at the table for everyone, because they will pile it high on the dinner plate!

Preheat your oven to 250°F.

Peel the potatoes and coarsely grate by hand (Rochel didn’t have a Cuisineart), transferring the mixture to a large bowl of cold water. Soak the grated potatoes 1 to 2 minutes after the last batch is added to the water, and then drain well in a colander. Bubbie Rochel said, “Do NOT pour out the starch in the bottom of the bowl – only the water! Then use your hands to scoop out the starch and add it back into the mix.”

Spread the grated potatoes and onion on a kitchen towel and roll up jelly-roll style. Twist towel tightly to wring out as much liquid as possible. Only then should you transfer the potato mixture to a bowl and stir in the egg(s) and salt (and pepper if you wish).

Heat 1/4 cup oil in a 12-inch nonstick skillet pan over moderately high heat until hot but not smoking. Uncle Yankel has a heart condition so Tante Beila coated the pan with cooking spray instead of oil, and of course she cut down on the salt. Make batches of 4 latkes, by spooning 2 tablespoons of the potato mixture per latke into the skillet, flattening them into 3-inch round shapes with a fork. (Rochel said, “Don’t press hard! Thin latkes are too crisp so they don’t come out so good.) Reduce the heat from high to moderate and cook until the undersides are browned, about 5 minutes. Turn the latkes over and cook them until the new undersides are browned, about 4-5 minutes more.

As each batch is done, place them on paper towels to drain and season with a tiny bit more salt (unless someone in your family has high blood pressure, as Zeideh Zalman did). Add a little more oil to the skillet as needed each time you make a new batch. Keep the latkes warm on a wire rack set in a shallow baking pan in your oven until all are ready to be served.

 

 

 

 

Potato Latkes

July 12, 2012

Author: Leo Beckerman

Leo Beckerman, co-owner of the new and wildly popular Wise Sons Deli in San Francisco, recalls his favorite thing about hannukah– his mother’s latkes. It was as much an event as it was a meal (yes, latkes for dinner). After hours of hand grating potatoes on her grandmother’s latke grater, a tool used only during the festival of lights, everyone would gather in the kitchen. Round blobs of potato and onion went into the cast iron skillet and sizzled to delicious brown crispiness. From the frying pan they went right to the paper towel to remove excess oil, but they rarely made it farther than that. Once on the paper towel, a latke was fair game for eager family members willing to brave the intensely hot potato pancake. A quick dip in sour cream or applesauce and right to the tummy. These nights were celebrated standing up in the kitchen as latke after latke came out of the oil, until all had burned mouths and sated appetites.

Ingredients:

3 lbs Russet potatoes

1 large Yellow onion

2 Whole Eggs Beat the eggs

1.5 Tablespoons Matzo meal

1 teaspoon Salt

.25 teaspoon black pepper

4 Cup(s)s Vegetable Oil for Frying

Preparation:

Cut half of the potatoes into quarters, then boil in salted water until soft, about 15–20 minutes. Drain and mash until smooth. Combine the mashed potato with the matzo meal or flour and set aside.

With a box grater or food processor with a grater attachment, grate the remaining potatoes and the onion and mix to combine. Using a piece of cheesecloth or a fine strainer, squeeze out any liquid from the grated potato–onion mixture, then transfer to a large bowl.

Add the egg, salt, pepper and mashed potatoes and stir well to combine. Form the mixture into patties, each approximately 3 inches in diameter by ¼ – ½ inches. Heat ½ inch of vegetable oil in a heavy frying pan over medium–high heat. When the oil is hot, add some of the latkes, taking care not to overcrowd the pan. Cook until golden brown on one side, about 3–4 minutes (if they are browning too quickly, reduce the heat), then flip and cook until golden brown on the second side, about 2–3 minutes more.

Drain the latkes on paper towels, seasoning with salt while still hot. Repeat with remaining latkes until they’ve all been cooked. Serve with applesauce and sour cream.

 

Basic Potato Latkes

July 20, 2012

Author: Rachel Cort

 

My Dad has taught me almost everything I know about cooking, food, baseball, fishing and Judaism; which means he’s taught me quite a lot. This recipe is from some old magazine or book but it is the latke recipe that we make every year at Hanukkah. I can remember being a little kid, standing on a chair and helping my dad flip the latkes or stir the batter. He is the reason why I can cook, why I identify with Judaism and why I am me.

Ingredients:

2 Pounds Idaho potatoes well scrubbed but unpeeled

1 medium Onion

2 Eggs

1/4 cup(s) matzos meal or all purpose flour

Salt and Pepper to taste

Vegetable Oil for Frying

Preparation:

1. Grate potatoes alternately with the onion (this keeps the potatoes from darkening), either by hand or in a food processor. With a food processor, either use a fine shredding disk, or cut the potatoes in half-inch dice, and then use the steel blade with an on-off pulse motion to yield uniformly grated potatoes.

2. Drain potatoes and onions.

3. Mix in eggs, then matzo meal or flour. Season with salt and pepper

4. Pour oil into a heavy skillet, preferably cast iron, to a depth of 1/4 inch, and heat. Oil should be very hot but not smoking.

5. Using a large tablespoon, form round or oval pancakes about 3 inches across, flattening them in the frying pan with the back of the spoon. Fry until golden on both sides.

 

 

Feferman Family Kugel

November 1, 2012

Author: Rebecca Feferman

 

 

A wonderful dairy kugel from Bubbie!

Ingredients:

8 Ounces Medium or Wide Egg Noodles

4 Eggs

1 pint milk 2%

1 pint Cottage cheese lowfat

4 Tablespoons butter melted

5-6 Tablespoons Sour cream Light is fine

1/2 cup(s) Sugar scant (if adding raisins, use a little less)

1/2-3/4 cup(s) raisins

to taste Salt

Cinnamon

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease 9×13 baking dish. Boil noodles in salt water until tender (slightly al dente). Drain and place in a large mixing bowl. Add beaten eggs, melted butter, sugar, milk, cottage cheese, sour cream. Mix together, then add raisins (if clumped, try to break apart raisins before adding). Tase before putting into baking dish- add salt and adjust sour cream as needed.*Remember that raisins will add sweetness, so adjust sugar accordingly.

Pour into baking dish and even out. Sprinkle cinnamon across the top for color (go easy). Cover loosely with foil and bake for 1 hour. Remove foil and turn oven up to 375 degrees. Bake for an additional 10-20 minutes, or until kugel is sent and top noodles and slightly browned.

Remove and allow to cool 5-10 minutes before serving.

 

The Bortman Spinach Kugel

November 3, 2012

Author: Rebecca Bortman

Grandma Bortman made several giant batches of her family-famous spinach kugel for my parents’ wedding. She made so much kugel that even though everyone loved it and had seconds and thirds, there was since 3 full kugels left over after the reception. My recently-turned Jewish mom took all three home and would not eat anything else until it is gone. That’s how good this kugel is. Sometimes kugel gets a bad rap for being weirdly sweet or heavy or soggy. That is not the case with Grandma Bortman’s savory, fluffy, and crispy Spinach Kugel! But I have encountered so many situations where people have preconceived ideas about kugel that I have made up a song that I sing to people when I hear them say that they don’t like it. Not that the lyrics alone can do it justice, but here they are: “Maybe you thought you didn’t like kugel/Then you tried the Bortman kugel/And you realized you really like kugel…Today!…With spinach!”

Ingredients:

1 package frozen chopped spinach defrosted

1 lb egg noodles

1 stick of butter<

1 envelope of onion-mushroom soup mix

3 eggs separated

Directions

1. Defrost spinach. Preheat oven to 350.

2.Boil noodles for 5-6 minutes.

3. Melt butter and add to noodles.

4. Beat egg whites in a cold metal bowl.

5. Combine all ingredients. Pour into greased 9×13 pan.

6. Bake at 350  degrees for 1 hour.

 

 

 

Tsimmes

December 10, 2012

Author: Ronna Dell Valle and Sharon Mason

 

 

Ingredients:

1 1/2 lb. carrots, peeled and slice thick or use bags of baby carrots

1 (24 oz.) pkg. of pitted prunes

2 yams or sweet potatoes, peeled and cut in large cubes or very thick slices

1/4 cup OJ

1 Tbsp. Parve Margarine

1 cup water

1 Tbsp. brown sugar

1/2 tsp. cinnamon

1/4 tsp. cloves

Preparation:

Saute carrots in margarine in covered saucepan for 15 minutes. Add everything else and bring to a boil. Place in a baking dish and bake, covered (use aluminum foil), at 350 degrees, stirring and basting with the liquid until done (carrots & yams are soft and the liquid is “syrupy” in consistency).

 

 

Gvetch

December 27, 2012

Author: Ronna Dell Valle and Sharon Mason

 

 

 

My mother-in-law, of blessed memory, came to live with Reuben and myself when we had been married a year. She was a dear, sweet woman and we got along famously. She worked, as did I, until our first daughter was born a year later. Mom graciously offered her services as babysitter and we got to go out frequently. This particular Sunday, Mom suggested that she make us Sunday dinner. She made what I later learned was Gvetch. I was very angry with her. “Mom, why did you wait until you were living with us three years before making this delicious dish? I’m angry with you for not having made it long before this day.” Mom received this recipe from a Romanian lady; but, I think it is from the Middle East.

Ingredients:

1 medium size eggplant, peeled, sliced and cut into one inch cubes

1 cup rice

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1 cup diced onions

4 ribs celery cut into one inch pieces

4 carrots, peeled and diced

1 cup water

1/2 cup frozen peas, defrosted, at room temperature

Preparation:

Place all ingredients, except peas, into a roasting pan and mix together. Bake in a 350 degree oven for one hour or until ingredients are soft. Mix every twenty minutes to prevent rice from sticking to the pan. You may need to add a bit more boiling water when stirring the dish if it seems to be too dry. Add defrosted peas before serving the dish. May be used as a main dish with a salad or used as a side dish with meat, chicken or fish. Salt and pepper to your own taste. Enjoy!!

 

Bubbe Ana’s Turkey Stuffing Supreme

December 28, 2012

Author: Ronna Dell Valle and Sharon Mason

 

 

Ingredients:

For a 12 lb. or larger bird

2 cups sliced onion (2 large onions, sliced)

1/2 ib. beef liver plus the liver from the turkey

1/4 cup vegetable oil

18 oz or larger box of Corn Flakes

3/4 cup water (you might not use it all)

1 tsp. thyme

Salt and pepper to taste

Preparation:

Saute sliced onions in oil until soft, remove from pan and set aside. Pan fry livers in same pan until liver is no longer pink when cut in the center (do not overcook). Chop liver and onions together until fine, like a pate. Crush the Corn Flakes and place in a very large bowl. Add the liver mixture to the corn flakes and slowly add water, as needed, to help blend. Add thyme and other seasonings.

Rinse turkey inside and out and wipe dry with paper towels. Rub crushed garlic on the inside of the bird. Spoon in the stuffing. Extra stuffing can be placed under the skin of the breast and back of the bird. Make a mixture of oil and mustard and rub it over the skin of the entire bird after it has been trussed. Roast the bird at 325 degrees until the thermometer reads done.

Mama’s Spinach Kugel

December 28, 2012

Author: Ronna Dell Valle and Sharon Mason

 

 

Our father, of blessed memory, loved this Kugel. It was his favorite as he was not a big fan of the more traditional sweet noodle kugels.

Ingredients:

8 oz. wide noodles

2 (10 oz.) pkgs. Frozen chopped spinach that has been thawed and squeezed dry

1/2 cup butter or margarine (use some to grease the pan)

1 onion, chopped

3 eggs, lightly beaten

1 cup of sour cream

Preparation:

Cook noodles according to package directions until almost done (very al dente). Mix noodles with spinach. Saute onions until slightly brown in the butter or margarine remaining after you have greased an 8 by 10 or 7 by 11 inch or 2 qt. baking dish. Mix onions with noodles and spinach. Mix eggs and sour cream together and fold into noodle, spinach and onion mixture. Pour into greased pan and bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes.

If Mom had other cooked vegetables (leftovers), like carrots and broccoli, she would chop them and make a mixed vegetable kugel.

 

Roasted Brussel Sprouts and Cranberries with Barley

December 28, 2012

Author: Maur Rodman

 

 

Ingredients:

1 pound brussel sprouts, tips cut off, discolored leaves removed and sliced in half

(smaller sprouts are better than large)

1 tablespoon olive oil

Salt

2/3 cup fresh cranberries (or 1/3 cup dried cranberries)

1/3 cup crumbled gorgonzola or goat cheese

1/3 cup freshly toasted pecans

1 1/2 cups cooked barley, reheated

1 tablespoon maple syrup, or more to taste

1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar, or more to taste

Preparation:

1. Preheat your broiler.

2. Set a 12-inch cast iron skillet over medium-high heat on the stove. Let it heat up for 2 to 2 minutes. It should be so hot that a few drops of water sizzle and quickly disappear after contact.

3. In a medium sized bowl, toss the prepared brussel sprouts with olive oil and salt. Toss well, so that the sprouts are evenly coated in a thin layer of oil.

4. Once the pan is hot, dump the sprouts into the pan and quickly rearrange them so the flat sides are faced down. Let them cook for two minutes.

5. Toss the fresh cranberries into the pan and transfer the pan to the broiler. The pan will be heavy and hot so use oven mitts and be careful! Let the brussels sprouts broil for about 3 minutes. Check the sprouts for doneness- their tops should be a little browned and the bottoms caramelized. How long you should leave them in there depends on your preferences and your oven. The cranberries should have started popping by now; set the hot pan on your stovetop for a couple of minutes while you reheat the barley.

6. Toss the warm barley, sprouts, cranberries, cheese and pecans in a bowl and drizzle with balsamic vinegar and maple syrup. Season with salt, divide into smaller bowls, and enjoy!

 

Granny’s Country Greens

February 6, 2013

Author: Carla Hall

No Southern meal is complete without greens. Traditionally, they’re simmered long and slow until melty and soft. I love ’em that way, but actually prefer a little bite to them—both in their mustardy flavor and hearty leafy texture. Growing up in the South, I learned that the greens were sometimes besides the point. The pot likker—the leftover cooking broth—is what really matters, at least as much as the greens themselves. Traditionally, salt pork simmers alongside the greens to flavor the likker. I use smoked turkey wings to get a broth that’s just as tasty but has even more complex gamey, savory flavors. Be sure to serve this with Skillet Cornbread for sopping. And save any leftover likker to make soup. From “Cooking with Love.”

Ingredients:

2 pounds smoked turkey wings

1 teaspoon minced garlic

1 teaspoon crushed red chile flakes

2 quarts water

2 pounds collard greens, rinsed and dried

2 pounds kale, rinsed

dried Kosher salt and

freshly ground black pepper

Preparation:

1. In a large pot, combine the turkey, garlic, chile flakes, and water. Bring to a boil over high heat, then reduce the heat to simmer for 30 minutes.

2. Meanwhile, prepare the greens: Working in batches, hold the stems of the collards with one hand and the leaves with the other, folding up the leaves together like the wings on a butterfly. Pull the leaves down, leaving the stem clean. If the leaves are really large, cut them down the center. Stack a few leaves, then roll them like a cigar. Slice the roll into thin shreds. Repeat with the remaining collard leaves, then with the kale.

3. Add the sliced greens to the pot and simmer until tender, about 20 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

4. Remove the wings and let cool until you can handle them. Pull the meat from the wings, discard the bones, and return the meat to the pot. Serve hot.