Sasha's Kitchen: Carrot Cake (Kosher Cookbook Review)

I have been meaning to make a carrot cake for some time. So when I received a copy of Paula Shoyer's The Kosher Baker from the publisher for review on A Kitchen In Brooklyn, and saw a delicious and healthy recipe for carrot cake, I new it was time. Although I am Jewish, I don't keep strictly Kosher. But I certainly do appreciate Kosher cooking and baking. Plus, one of the best aspects of this book is also how healthy the recipes are. Because they are all intended to be parve (non-dairy), none of them us any butter, which makes for some healthier baking. I confess that my carrot cake is not fully non-dairy because I used low-fat cream cheese in the frosting (as I was unable to locate the non-dairy cream cheese that the book recommended). The recipe was so good that maybe I will try that next time using Tofutti or something.

Carrot cake is great for the fall - fresh carrots and all that cinnamon make for a lovely, fall spiced dessert. The book recommends making two cakes, trimming them, slicing them in half and making a four layer carrot cake. I confess that even though I bake extensively, I am not skilled at cake trimming. I always mean to try it out, but in the end, every time, I just make two cakes and it tastes the same anyhow. So, my adaption of the recipe from the book is for two separate carrot cakes. But if you're in the mood, feel free to trim them into a layer cake!

Paula Shoyer's Kosher Carrot Cake
Cake(s)
PAM spray
4 large egfs
1 cup sugar
1 cup dark brown sugar
1 cup canola oil
1/2 cup orange juice
2 tsps vanilla exract
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1 1/2 tsps baking powder
1 tsp salt
2 tsps ground cinnimon
3 cups peeled and thinly grated carrots

Cinnamon Honey Cream Cheese Frosting
12 oz parve cream cheese (I used regular low-fat cream cheese this time)
1 1/2 tsps vanilla extract
2 1/4 tsps ground cinnamon
3 T of hney
7 cups of confectioner's sugar (I always cut down this ingredient in frosting so I used 4 cups and it was still great!)
1 1/2 T soy milk

To make this recipe, first preheat the oven to 350. Grease 2 8 or 9 inch round pans with PAM spray. In your mixer (or in a bowl using an egg beater), beat the eggs and sugars for a few minutes until thickened. Add the oil, orange juice and vanilla and mix on low speed to combine.

In a separate bowl, combine the flours, salt, baking powder and cinnamon. Add half of the dry ingredients to the bowl with the eggs and sugar and mix on low speed gently to combine. Then, do the same with the rest of the dry ingredients. 

Grate and measure the carrots into  small threads and add to the batter, mixing well.  Divide the batter between the two prepared pans. Bake for about 40 minutes until a skewer or toothpick inserted into the cakes comes out clean. Personally, I think it is probably best to bake the cakes one at a time in the oven.

Allow the cakes to cool completely. If you are going to trim the cakes and slice in half to make a four layer cake, now would be the time! if you are not going to trim the cakes like this, you may need less frosting, so it would likely be okay to cut the frosting recipe in half (if you are making two separate cakes  like I did).

To make the frosting, beat the cream cheese, vanilla, cinnamon and honey well to combine. Add in about 4 cups of confectioner's sugar and beat until it forms a frosting (much the same was as cupcake icing). The book also makes a good point - wrap plastic wrap around the top of the mixer when you do this so you do not get sprayed in a white snowfall of confectioner's sugar! Add the soy milk and beat for 30 seconds until the frosting looks creamy. 

Last, frost the cakes accordingly - either in layers or separately. If you are trimming, you will want to trim the sides of the cake as well. I simply frosted two separate cakes using a spatula.

This cake tasted great - the cake was delicious with the cinnamon and carrots, and nice and moist! And the frosting was sweet, cinnamony and delicious! I will certainly be trying more healthy, Kosher recipes from this great cookbook soon, so stay tuned!

Sasha's Kitchen: Carrot Cake (Kosher Cookbook Review)

Sasha's Kitchen: Holiday Brisket for the Jewish New Year

This year, my husband and I hosted the traditional Rosh Hashanah dinner for the Jewish New Year in our home, inviting my in laws over for a home cooked holiday meal. A traditional Rosh Hashanah dinner includes elements of sweetness throughout the meal, to wish everyone a sweet new year. This year, we prepared several favorites that I have already shared here on A Kitchen In Brooklyn, including my mandarin orange caramelized almond salad, traditional apples and honey, my apple pie (which I make with local organic apples), and a new recipe for whoopie pies (coming soon!), among other foods.  The main course of this meal was my brisket, which I prepared using a first cut Kosher brisket of the best quality (very lean and delicious).  The different between my brisket and many other holiday briskets is that it is a loot lighter - a small amount of tomato paste is added to enhance the flavor and color, but the sauce is not heavy on cans of tomato puree like most other briskets. The result is delicious, light and enjoyable.

Sasha's Braised Holiday Brisket

31/2 to 51/2 lbs of first cut Kosher brisket
salt and pepper to taste
3 T canola oil, plus more if needed
2 large onions, diced
3 garlic cloves, diced
2 T tomato paste
1 1/2 cups good quality red table wine
4 1/2 cups low sodium chicken stock
2 bal leaves
1 lb of parsnips, chopped
25 baby carrots
1 T balsamic vinegar
4-5 sprigs of thyme
1/2 tsp rosemary

Season both sides of the brisket to taste with salt and pepper. Using a large dutch oven, heat the canola oil and sear the brisket on both sides for about 4-5 minutes on each side. Remove the brisket and set aside for now.  Add the onions and garlic to the pan (and a bit more canola oil if needed). Cook stirring on medium heat for about 5 minutes until the onion is soft.  Stir in the tomato paste and cook for another minute. Add the red wine, chicken stock, bay leaves, thyme and rosemary and bring to a boil. The add the brisket and vegetables to the dutch oven.

Place the covered dutch oven in the oven, preheated to 325 degrees. Cool until the brisket is done and falls apart with a fork - this took us about 2 hours for a 3 1/2 lb brisket, but could take up to three hours if you use a larger cut of meat.

Remove the brisket and the vegetables (you can discard the parsnips at this point, as they are only to add flavor). Let the remaining sauce stand in a pan for 10 minutes. The skim off the fat and reduce the sauce by half on medium high heat, for about 20 minutes. Add the balsamic vinegar to the sauce. Slice the meat with an electric knife (my husband does this part), slicing against the grain.  Serve immediately with the remaining vegetables and the sauce.

Sasha's Kitchen: Holiday Brisket for the Jewish New Year

Sasha's Kitchen: Cinnamon Chocolate Chip Dessert Challah

I love baking Challah; certainly it is my favorite Jewish recipe to prepare.  There's something both relaxing and spiritual about making Challah that always leave me in a good mood.  This recipe, like any Challah recipe, does not require a breadmaker - I always use my KitchenAid Artisan mixer to prepare fresh, light homebaked Challah, and it works like a charm.  Challah is one of my signature recipes - one of the feats in the kitchen that I am the most proud of.  My favorite part of Challah making is checking the Challah after the dough rises.  I love waiting for the dough to rise and braiding the bread.  I love the polished, professional and glossy look it has when it comes out the the oven.  And finally, I love the warm, fresh taste of a beautiful soft Challah straight out of the oven.  Few things are more gratifying! My all-time favorite meal consists of Challah, homemade caesar salad, Asian Sake marinated chilean sea bass with papaya salsa and my husband's green apple risotto.

I have already made regular plain Challah and cinnamon raisin Challah for this blog.  So I decided that the next direction to go with this egg-based bread would be to prepare a dessert Challah.  I decided that chocolate and cinnamon would be a natural combination for the perfect dessert bread.  There's certainly other possibilities - I have a pumpkin variation up my sleeve for a rainy day.


Sasha's Cinnamon Chocolate Chip Challah (makes one medium sized Challah)
2 1/4 cup King Arthur Bread Flour
2 small packets dry active yeast
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon sugar
1/2 cup warm water
1/8 cup sugar
1/4 cup canola oil
4 egg yolks plus 1 egg yolk for the glaze
2/3 cup mini chocolate chips

This dessert recipe is very loosely adapted from Martha Stewart's recipe for plain Challah from her Baking Handbook.  Basically, I looked at that recipe, not for direction, but to make sure I got some of the basic proportions right.

  

To prepare this recipe, first activate the yeast by placing the dry active yeast in warm water and waiting about 10 minutes for the yeast to activate into a frothy, bubbly form.  Then, combine the water, flour, salt, sugar, canola oil, four egg yolks, cinnamon sugar and chocolate chips in your breadmaker or artisan mixer and combine into a dough.  You can add an additional couple of tablespoons of water if you need to (I did this time, no big deal).

Place the challah in a well oiled bowl covered with a damp cloth and allow it to rise in a warm place for an hour.  My trick is allowing the oven to heat to about 150 degrees and then turn it off before placing the bowl inside the slightly warm oven.  I found that this allows the dough to rise faster and more completely.  Braid the Challah and put on a baking sheet sprayed with PAM.  Cover with an oiled piece of plastic wrap and allow to rise for another hour.  At this point, preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

Before you bake the Challah, glaze with an egg yolk using a pastry brush.  This will give the Challah a nice, shiny egg washed color when baked.  Bake the bread for about 20-30 minutes and enjoy!  Mine was sweet, soft and delicious.

Sasha's Kitchen: Cinnamon Chocolate Chip Dessert Challah

Emily's Kitchen in Seattle: Simply Amazing (Raw Vegan) Coconut Macaroons

Before you skip this post because it has "raw vegan" in the title, hear me out. Raw and vegan they are, yes, but only second to Simply Amazing. I generated this recipe over Passover, when Jews are not permitted to consume leavened products (thus two of my favorite food groups, homemade pizza and vegan baked goods, are taboo). I was also feeling a little bloated on bread and sugar in the days leading up to the holiday (I wonder why), and so I began searching for alternatives to the nutrient-free Passover cake meal and recipes that call for, like, 12 eggs. Passover tends to raise Jewish cholesterol levels with its own newfangled Angel of Death. Plus, being the gastronomic anarchist that I am, I try to avoid brands and products that we all think we need, especially the kosher-for-Passover products that are usually unhealthy, if not strange. See my gefilte fish post for more on this. With all the fruits and nuts available to Passover-observers, it's a wonder how underrepresented they are in Passover cooking.

And we can make most of these products ourselves, which is how I passed Passover without eating one macaroon out of a jar (incredible! I know!). The recipe is based on a macaroon tartlet crust in Ani Phyo's Ani's Raw Food Desserts. I highly recommend this book - the recipes are easy and it's not one of those "out there" raw food cookbooks. I did make the crust and fill it with homemade mixed berry vegan "ice cream" and on another occasion mango "ice cream." But just mushed into little balls, the crust recipe makes killer cookies, rich and buttery with the healthy fats and goodness of coconut and nuts. They don't leave you with that "I shouldn't have eaten that" feeling and they are satisfying. In case you're still worried about the raw vegan thing, know that I could hardly churn them out fast enough for the carnivore enthusiasts in my life. And another perk: you can eat them for breakfast without feeling guilty. At least I do.

Simply Amazing (Raw Vegan) Coconut Macaroons
Prep time: 10 minutes
Can make about a dozen macaroons

2 cups shredded unsweetened coconut
1/2 cup cashews or almonds
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 cup agave nectar or raw honey

Process the nuts in a food processor until powdery. Add the other ingredients and process for about 30 seconds, or until the ingredients are thoroughly blended. Make balls by scooping out a tablespoon of the mixture and rolling it between your palms. If desired, roll them in a little dried coconut to garnish. They are best served room temperature but can be stored in the refrigerator - if you happen to have any leftover!

Emily's Kitchen in Seattle: Simply Amazing (Raw Vegan) Coconut Macaroons

Emily's Kitchen in Seattle: Adventures in Gefilte Fish

Gefilte fish. Does anyone know what those gray lumps suspended in gelatinous brine even are? They hit the "kosher for Passover" shelves each spring, along with other strange Jewish foods - syrupy wine, dry matzah, potato starch - I cringe to walk around the supermarket with these embarrassing older relatives of mine. And yet, I love them. They are the key to my existence.

The funny thing is that all these old-world foods, which were probably fashioned out of few resources and convenience, are now dehydrated, salted, preserved and boxed to make our lives "easy." This is more than a story about how to make gefilte fish. It is a story about getting back to roots.

I got this idea into my head that I would make gefilte fish from scratch. My wonderful fiancé caved to my persistence and begrudgingly drove me in a rainstorm, 30 minutes before close, to the local fishmonger. The fishmongers are all Asian, so I didn't know how to broach the subject of gefilte. My attendant returned my skeptical gaze with a knowing smile: "I grew up in LA and was bussed to a mostly Jewish school. I spent the first few years of my life thinking I was Jewish," he confessed.

I asked for carp, pike and whitefish, but they were out of pike and ground whitefish was $18 per pound - and my recipe called for 7 pounds! My fiance shook his head at me and questioned my sense of adventure. I told him that at least this is adventurous as I get - making traditional Jewish fish balls at all costs.

In the end, my fishmonger, my kindred gefilte fish spirit, geared me toward some alternatives and even threw in some of the whitefish for free. Here is the recipe I ended up creating based on a recipe from the Atlantic and My Jewish Learning. After all was said and done, I reduced the recipe down to 4 pounds of fish, substituted snapper for pike, and paid a reasonable $40 (including $2 per pound to grind the fish). And it made at least two dozen fish balls - more than enough for our little seder.

You will need:
approx. 2 lb snapper
approx. 2 lb carp
approx .5 lb whitefish
2.5 medium sized onions
3 medium sized carrots
3 tsp. salt (or to taste)
2 tbs. sugar (or to taste)
2 eggs
1/3 c. matzah meal
1/4 c. cold water
pepper (to taste)
dill, fresh or dried (optional)

Any assortment of mild, white fish (carp, pike, white, even snapper or halibut) equaling about 4 pounds after grinding will do. Ask the fish people for advice and don't fear innovation. You will need at least a couple of whole fish, but it's cheaper to buy some fillets because they get priced by meat alone (I never considered that the poundage would drop once the fish was dismembered!). Ask the fishmonger to grind the fish and to reserve the heads, fins, tails and bones, or to let you take home whatever he's got lying around.

-If you have the time, add a couple teaspoons of salt the ground fish and let it stand refrigerated overnight to release water.

-To prepare broth, place fish heads, etc. into a large pot and add water to cover. A less-mess way to do this is to wrap up the fish carcasses in cheesecloth. Add 2 tsp. salt and the sugar and bring to a boil, scooping off foam.
-Slice one onion into rounds and add it to the stock.
-Peel two carrots and add them (whole) as well, along with the dill.
-Let the stock simmer for about an hour - the longer it simmers the more flavorful it will be.

-Meanwhile, pulverize the remaining 1.5 onions and 1 carrot in the food processor, or grate by hand.
-Add onion and carrot to the ground fish and mix.
-Add eggs and mix.
-Add 1 tsp. salt, pepper, matzah meal and water and mix.

-Remove the fish remains and the vegetables from the stock - reserve them.
-Make a small ball with a pinch of the ground fish mixture and drop it into the simmering stock. Once it turns white and floats to the surface, remove it and taste it. Adjust seasonings. If it's not sweet enough, add a tad more sugar to the broth.
-Once satisfied with the sample, wet hands and mold the ground fish mixture into lumps about three inches long and two inches wide. You are, of course, free to make them bigger or smaller according to your own desire.
-In order to avoid sticking, wait a moment after placing each fish lump in the simmering broth before adding another. Stack them in layers until the mixture is gone. You can do this in batches if they don't fit the first time around.
-Let the gefilte fish simmer for about 20 minutes. Check one to make sure it is cooked through before removing. Gently remove each "fish" with a slotted spoon and place on a plate. Slice the carrots that simmered in the stock and place a disc on each fish like a little orange halo. If you have the stomach for it, place a fish head in the center of the plate.
-Serve cold with horseradish.

Gefilte fish is labor intensive, but it is a labor of love. Don't let anyone nay say your efforts or try to convince you it's not worth it. It is. You'll never go back to the jar again. Even someone like me, who gets squeamish around fish heads, found a peaceful reverence for the cycle of life by making this "mystery meat" from scratch. Once I tasted that first cooked fish ball, I knew I had reached a new level in my cooking. It was transcendent.

For a complete meal, serve gefilte fish as a first course before matzo ball soup. Better yet, simmer your matzo balls in the leftover fish broth! Add a little of the fish stock and the matzo balls to a new veggie broth for super flavor. Stay tuned for some amazing Passover (and all-year-round) desserts - that happen to be vegan, raw, and incomprehensibly delicious.

Emily's Kitchen in Seattle: Adventures in Gefilte Fish

Emily's Kitchen in Seattle: The Fluffiest Matzo Balls West of the Mississippi

Everyone knows that not all matzo balls are created equal. I started experimenting with matzo balls in Jerusalem, and even though I use the exact same recipe, they are different in the US. In Jerusalem they were a little more dense and took a lot longer to lighten up, whereas they practically hit the water fluffy here. Maybe that is a metaphor for something.

On the other hand, one should not be intimidated by the matzo ball. I link the myth of the matzo ball to the myth of gardening and writer's block: Everyone can have a green thumb, and everyone can write, and likewise everyone can make a matzo ball. It may take a few tries, but plunging a spoon into that perfect, moist, melt-in-your-mouth matzo ball is worth the effort.

As part of the Matzo Ball Soup Off here in a Kitchen in Brooklyn, check out these matzo ball masters: Sasha's Matzo Ball Soup and Eric's Matzo Ball Soup.

Here is the recipe I use. I got it off of recipezaar.com and I have never looked back. I, as usual, have changed a few things. Perhaps I should keep them secret like a good old crafty Jewish cook. But for you, I tell the truth.

4 eggs
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 cup matzo meal
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
pinches, up to 1/2 tsp., of the following:
black pepper, cumin (optional - my addition), dill (optional - my addition), garlic powder

I know, you're thinking cumin AND dill? I am one of those people who puts cumin in everything. Just a little.

Mix up the dry and wet ingredients separately. Add the wet to the dry and combine - without over mixing! Over mixing is death to matzo balls.

Refrigerate the mixture for an hour.

This is a good time to get a broth going. I do not make a traditional chicken broth because I'm a vegetarian. You, however, may choose to make one, chicken neck and all. Alternatively, I like to make a vegetable broth with fresh vegetables, lots of salt, pepper and cumin (yes). I brew the stock veggies for a while, then strain them out and start adding spices until it tastes a little like chicken soup. I swear, people who eat my soup can't always tell it's vegetarian (salt is key).

Another option is to buy a soup mix - either a packaged broth or a "chicken flavored" powder mix, like the one by the brand Osem, which can be found in the kosher aisle. It is kind of toxic stuff, but it tastes, well, like chicken. Add chopped celery and carrot to your broth for the total experience.

What I do is once my balls are in the fridge for about half an hour, I get my broth ready to receive them. Bring the broth to a rolling boil. Add the chopped carrots and celery about now.

Remove your mixture from the refrigerator, and with the broth at a high simmer, form small balls (about 1 inch in diameter) and drop them into the broth.

Side note: I have a moment of panic right about now. The gates of heaven are open and my balls are undergoing judgment: who shall sink and who shall float. If you have faith, treat the balls with love and respect, and follow the recipe, they will float. I'm not joking.

The balls will, at first, hit the bottom of the pot, but in a few moments they will spring up to the surface and bob there, absorbing broth and getting bigger. Let them hang out there in the simmering broth for about 20 minutes.

If you have a few hours before dinner, I suggest boiling the balls in a separate pot of salted water so that they don't absorb all the broth first. It is sort of embarrassing to run out of broth when you have dinner guests, and these suckers will just keep on growing off the life force of broth like Audrey II. As my mother has been known to say, "this matzo ball is the size of a head of a small child!" On the other hand, letting the balls sit in the broth for a long time is a pretty good cure for dense sinker-types.

Matzo ball soup is somewhat labor and emotionally intensive, but once you have the hang of it it's very easy. I make it just about every other week for my shabbat table, and it's always a crowd-pleaser. It is warm, hearty, salty, a tribute to the old days and it just makes people feel good.

Emily's Kitchen in Seattle: The Fluffiest Matzo Balls West of the Mississippi

Sasha's Kitchen: Matzo Ball Soup

We're having a little Matzo Ball Soup-Off here on A Kitchen In Brooklyn.  I love my mother's Matzo (also Spelled Matzoh) Ball Soup.  In my opinion, her soup is a panacea for healing everything from colds to grumpy moods.  I like my Matzo Ball Soup and chicken stock prepared a very specific way, but it seems like everyone like's their mom's version the best.   We have not one, but three Matzo Ball Soup recipes that we will share with you here on A Kitchen In Brooklyn.  Eric's Matzo Ball Soup Recipe can be found here on this site.  In addition, another contributor to this site in Seattle, Emily, will be sharing her Matzo Ball Soup Recipe in a future post.  So, with Passover (and Spring!) around the corner, it's time for a friendly "Soup Off."

My Matzo Ball Soup is prepared just the way my mother makes it, with plenty of Jewish momma's love and a homemade chicken stock prepared from a whole Kosher chicken.  I like a hearty Matzo Ball Soup all winter long, rather than appetizer style.  To prepare the soup as an appetizer, you would want to discard the chicken after preparing the chicken stock.  However, I never do that.  I always prepare the soup as a main course and shred quite a bit of the chicken and put it back into the soup.  I just can't let a good chicken go to waste, and in my opinion, the chicken pieces help complete the soup.

Sasha's Matzo Ball Chicken Soup (with thanks to my mom)
Water (enough to cover the chicken in the pot)
One 3-4 lb whole chicken
1 parsnip
small handful of parsley
1 onion, quartered
a couple of large handfuls of baby carrots
3 stalks of celery
2 bay leaves
salt and pepper to taste
1 cup matzo meal
4 eggs
1/4 cup canola oil
1/4 cup water (for the Matzo Balls)

The first step is to prepare the chicken stock.  Break up the chicken into a couple of pieces.  I used a whole Empire Chicken,  In my opinion, to make the perfect chicken stock, it's best to use a Kosher chicken for this recipe.  My mom actually lives around the block from a Kosher butcher in Rochester, New York that sells perfect small chickens just for making soup.

Cover the chicken with water in a large pot with the water an inch or two higher than the chicken.  Bring it to a boil.  Then simmer for 30 minutes, while skimming off the top every couple of minutes.  After a half an hour, add the parsley, parsnip, onion (does't have to be diced because it will be discarded from the stock later), carrots, celery and bay leaves to the pot.  Add a couple of pinches of salt.  Simmer (on low) for about two hours with the lid of the pot half on.  After about two hours, the stock should be yellowish in color and have the flavor of the chicken stock, plus all those vegetables and bay leaves that you added.  The salt is important here too, so make sure to add a couple good size pinches.

Use a strainer to strain the broth into another large pot.  Then, add the celery and carrots back in, but discard the onion, parsnip, bay leaves and parsley.  At this point, you can also remove the chicken when you strain, and discard the skin, and shred some of the chicken off the bones.  Add this shredded chicken back into the soup.

To prepare the Matzo Balls, combine one cup Matzo Meal with four eggs, 1/4 cup of water and 1/4 cup of Canola Oil.  Mix well and refrigerate covered for about half an hour.  Form into 11 or 12 Matzo Balls, just a bit larger than golf balls.  Don't make them too small, or they will be hard.  However, don't make them too large, because they will expand when added to the pot.  Bring the chicken soup to a boil and add the Matzo Balls.  Then reduce to a simmer for about 20 -30 minutes.  Serve, and season with salt and pepper to taste.

This soup makes enough to serve 4 to 5 people as main courses, which means plenty of leftovers!

Sasha's Kitchen: Matzo Ball Soup

Sasha's Kitchen: Purim Hamantaschen

The Jewish holiday of Purim begins in about a week, on February 28th.  I made hamantaschen (which can also be spelled hamentaschen), the traditional Purim cookie over the weekend.  Purim is one of the most festive and joyous Jewish holidays, celebrating an occasion when Jews living in Persia were saved from certain death by Haman, the Purim villain who wanted to destroy the Jewish community.  The holiday is traditionally celebrated by the reading of the Megillah, dressing in elaborate, carnival-like costumes, drinking and eating hamantaschen.  Basically, Purim is the Jewish Mardi Gras.  I usually enjoy this holiday simply by eating hamantaschen, but this year decided to make my own.

Hamantaschen are tri-corned cookies that are usually filled with a flavorful fruit jelly or jam.  The name "hamantaschen" is a reference to the villian of the Purim story, Haman, while the cookies are triangular shaped to look like his hat.  The shape is achieved by folding a piece of dough into a triangular shape by placing a filling in the center.  You can fill hamentaschen with almost any flavor of filling.  The most traditional are poppyseed, prune and apricot.  My favorite fillings are apricot, raspberry, peach and blueberry.  This year I made the latter two.  I loved eating hamentaschen growing up, and some things never change.  This recipe is a family recipe, that has been passed along amongst my in-laws for generations.

Hamantaschen Dough

1 1/2 sticks of butter

1 cup sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

2 1/2 cups flour

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

Hamantaschen Filling (or substitute store-bought filling of your choice)

1/2 cup pureed fruit (blueberries, papaya, apricot, peaches and raspberries are my favorites)

1/4 cup sugar

To prepare the dough, beat the butter and sugar in the basin of a stand mixer, then add the egg and the vanilla.  Finally, beat in the dry ingredients.  Refrigerate the dough for at least ten hours, or overnight, so the dough is firm and not as sticky.

Roll out the dough, and cut into cookies using either a circular shaped cookie cutter or the rim of a glass. For the filling, you can use either pureed store-bought pie filling, or you can puree half a cup of fruit with a quarter cup of sugar and heat, stirring, over medium heat, until the filling has a jam-like consistency.

To prepare the hamantaschen, place a teaspoon of filling into each circle and fold each of the three sides inward to form a triangle.

Bake the cookies at 400 F for about 6-8 minutes.  Once they start browning, the bottoms will be burnt, so be sure not to let them back for too long.  Delicious!  The recipe made about 30 hamantaschen, all of which disappeared very quickly!

I'm excited to report that I now have an inexpensive (but suitable) pizza stone and will be experimenting with some different pizzas over the next couple weeks, so stay tuned.

Sasha's Kitchen: Purim Hamantaschen

Sasha's Kitchen: Cinnamon Raisin Shabbat Challah

In the Jewish tradition, Shabbat dinner marks the beginning of the Jewish Shabbat, or day of rest.  Shabbat is marked by two things in my family - lighting of candles, Challah and a family dinner.  I often make my Challah at other points during the weekend as well, but tonight we had a Shabbat dinner consisting of Veal Marsala (which will be the subject of a future post).  When we lit the candles, we did so using my home baked Challah. 

Usually, I simply prepare a regular Challah, according to Martha Stewart's recipe in her Baking Handbook.  I already wrote about how I prepare Challah in an earlier post when I first started this blog.   Tonight, I decided to rework the original recipe to make a Cinnamon Raison Challah for Shabbat, which is consistent with the sweetness that Jews have always associated with this weekly day of rest.

Here's what you need to prepare Sasha's Cinnamon Raisin Challah:

4 1/2 cups King Arthur Bread Flour
1 tsp salt
2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 cup raisins
1 cup warm water
3 small packets dry active yeast
1/4 cup sugar
3 T honey
8 egg yolks, plus 1 egg yolk for glaze
1/4 cup of oil

First, preheat the oven to 200 degrees.  When the oven is heated, turn it off.  Heating the oven a bit and then turning it off will provide a warm place for the dough to rise.  I used to dismiss doing it this way, but the Challah rises faster and better if this advice is heeded. 

In a small bowl, mix the dry active yeast, cup of warm water and sugar.  Allow to sit for 10-15 minutes for the yeast to activate.  It should become foamy and frothy.  If it does not, then it did not activate and you must start again, or your dough will not rise.  Mix the flour, salt, cinnamon and raisins in a large mixing bowl.  Put these ingredients in the basin of an artisan mixer, and add the 8 egg yolks, carefully separating the yolks from the whites.  Add the honey, activated yeast/sugar mixture and oil.  Mix until it forms a dough in the mixer.

Place in a well-oiled bowl (grease with Pam or Canola Oil).  Then place the bowl, covered with a towel, in a warm place, as discussed above.  Allow to rise for about 1 hour, until it doubles in size.  Then divide into two balls.  Divide each ball into three strands, and pinch at one end.  Braid into a Challah.  Don't worry that the Challot each look small - they will be rising for an hour, at which point each Challah will be quite sizeable.  But if you don't trust me on this one, feel free to make one Challah - a ginormous Challah, indeed.

Put the two braided Challot on baking sheets, and cover with plastic wrap and allow to rise for another hour in a warm place.  They will get significantly larger during this period, as they continue to rise.  Then glaze each with an egg wash, and bake in an oven preheated to 375 degrees F for about 30 minutes, until golden brown.  Monitor this step carefully - depending on the size of your Challah the baking time may vary a bit.

Sweet cinnamon raison Challah is the perfect way to close out the week, and prepare for a sweeter week ahead.  The end result here was my softest, lightest Challah to date - perhaps my best yet (although I say that every time).  We ate it while it was warm, fresh out of the oven, after lighting candles.  This is the way Challah is meant to be served.

Challah

Sasha's Kitchen: Cinnamon Raisin Shabbat Challah

Sasha's Kitchen: Date Spread With Humboldt Fog Goat Cheese

This recipe is a favorite spread or hors d'oeuvre in my house, even though it was never intended as such.  In fact, this started out as a Passover recipe for my Seder plate and evolved into something that I enjoy year-round.

I was raised in the Ashkanazi (of Eastern European descent) Jewish tradition, where Charoset, a traditional Passover food, is always made with apples, walnuts and wine.  I always enjoyed eating Charoset this way and never thought of making it any other way until I met my husband Brad, who has some Sephardic Jewish relatives on both sides of his family (Sephardic Jews include those from various Middle Eastern countries, as well as Greece, Spain and Morocco).  I learned that making Charoset with dates is actually a pretty common Sephardic tradition.

It happens to also be a delicious recipe.  After making it for my family this past spring when we hosted a Passover seder, I decided to make the recipe again (after Passover had ended) and served it on crackers with Humboldt Fog goat cheese, that we purchased at nearby Bierkraft.  This wound up being my husband's favorite snack!  The combination of the Humboldt Fog with the dates is a dynamic duo.  Another note here: if you like goat cheese, you must try Humboldt Fog - it is absolutely my favorite cheese, and is a thousand times better than any ordinary goat cheese. 

Here's the recipe for the spread, which is quite simple, thanks to my mother-in-law, Lynne.

1 lb pitted dates, chopped finely
1/2 cup raisins
1 1/2 cups warm water
6 to 8 T sweet wine (depending on how you like it, so make to taste)
1 tsp cinnamon

Soak the dates and raisins in the water for about half of an hour.  Bring to a boil over medium high heat in a saucepan.  Simmer for 30-60 minutes, stirring often.  Keep simmering until this gets to the consistency of a chutney.  When it is done, allow it to cool to room temperature.  Then add the wine and cinnamon and puree in a food processor.

Serve with Humboldt fog, on a water cracker.  The leftovers store well in tupperware.

Note:  All photos are my original photographs, except for the photo of the cheese from the public domain, available at http://www.pdphoto.org/.  Unfortunately, I forgot to take a photo of the spread served with the cheese and crackers, but below is a photo of it on my Seder Plate.

Cheese

Sasha's Kitchen: Date Spread With Humboldt Fog Goat Cheese

Eric's Kitchen in Jersey City: Matzoh Ball Soup

While I might not be Jewish, I quickly realized the healing power of good, homemade Matzoh Ball soup while I was in college in Philly. Whenever I was sick, I'd order in from this Jewish Deli, Izzy & Zoe's on 40th street and get this nice big container of soup made with extra TLC and I'd always seem to feel a little bit better. It always had lots of spices and bits of deliciousness floating around which is what I strive for in my own version. My girlfriend Jenn moved in at the end of the summer and this flu season she got both the swine flu and the regular flu so I ended up making a couple of pots of matzoh ball soup to make her feel better and I feel like I'm honing in on a pretty solid recipe.

I make mine with:
1 Whole roasting chicken with the skin and giblets
1 bag of baby carrots (sliced)
1 Large vidalia onion, chopped
1 bunch of fresh parsley, chopped
1 bunch of leeks, chopped (or you can substitute celery which I don't like)
- salt, pepper and various other spices you have lying around
3-4 bay leaves
1 box of matzoh ball mix (you need a couple of eggs and oil for this which the box will tell you)
- extra chicken stock. I use either chicken broth or 'better than bouillon'
- a large soup pot filled with maybe a gallon of water? (I eyeball most things, apologies to people who measure things out precisely)

I personally think the key to any good soup is the stock and I like mine to taste homemade but I don't have the patience to sit around for the 4-6 hours that most recipes say it takes to make a stock. My shortcut involves chopping the chicken with a cleaver to split the bones and create small, manageable pieces (roughly half the size of a clenched fist). This is important as a lot of the flavor comes from the marrow of the bones. You season the meat and sauté it with a little olive oil for 5 minutes or so until it's slightly browned. You don't need it to be fully cooked as the next step is adding it to boiling water with all your veggies and spices. My girlfriend's mom taught me that fresh parsley has healing powers and is an important factor of the matzoh ball soup equation. I also add the giblets and the bay leaves which I remove later.

I let it cook for a couple of hours as it still does take a while and I taste the stock and add broth or bouillon until it tastes good. While that is cooking, start a second pot of boiling water to cook your matzoh balls. Matzoh balls are pretty simple to make and you can follow the recipe on the box for these. You just combine the mix with some oil and eggs and then let them cool in the fridge for 15 minutes or so. Then you lay out some foil or wax paper and roll them up. My girlfriend taught me that the most important thing to keep in mind is to not roll them too tightly! They are going to expand as well so they only need to be about the size of a chestnut (roughly 1-1.5 inches in diameter). Another thing to keep in mind is that you do not need to salt the water if you are adding them to your homemade chicken broth as they will be very salty... I've made this mistake before!

Keep them separate and add them when you heat up a bowl or small portion. When the chicken has cooked for a couple of hours and you've added enough bouillon or more chicken broth to make it delicious, you remove the meat and giblets. Let them cool for a few minutes and pull the meat off the bone and cut it or pull it into bite size pieces. Discard the bones, skin and giblets and add the pulled meat back to your soup. This should help you cope with any ailment or just keep you warm when it's chilly.

Eric's Kitchen in Jersey City: Matzoh Ball Soup

Adi's Kitchen in Montreal: Chanukah Baking

Good evening fellow foodies,

Insofar as this is my first post, proper introductions are in order! Hailing from the frozen Northlands of Canadia (montreal), my contribution to this eminent blog will be to the highest form of culinary arts: Dessert.

Pastries, Baked goods, and especially Pies and I have always had a special relationship. I loved them, they loved me, I reveled in their various shapes, sizes and colors and everything was dandy. However, recently I've noticed a disturbing trend in the sweet industry. There has been an exponential increase in the sugar content of everything! Corn syrup this, white sugar that. If you'll excuse the joke but it's enough to give Aunt Jemima diabetes!

Therefore, I donned the chef hat and "Kiss the cook" apron not for altruistic reason but out of frustration. You made me do it, now suffer the consequences of your actions!

This week happens to be the Jewish holiday of Chanukah and as is tradition in our home, my mother makes Suvganiot. For those of you who are curious, they happen to the Jewish version of donuts. Deep fried dough traditionally served plain but as my my prior rant stated we've sugarised everything so now they come filled with this cheap fakey jam and are dropped in a vat of powder sugar. Lucky me, my mother happens to be a traditional baker and so we eat them in their original incarnation. Now don't get me wrong, condiments make the world go round. In this case, a selection of maple syrup, powder sugar, strawberry and my personal favorite black currant jam have been scattered around the table.

Now one might think I'm living the good life but you see, I decided to contribute something to the mix and throw a little variety in. Just the other day I was given quite the interesting recipe by an Armenian friend of mine. A dessert that takes all of 10 minutes to make and will survive a nuclear apocalypse, similar to the Twinkie.

As I snuck into the kitchen, careful not to rouse the sleeping beast (An Israeli mother in cooking mode), I unfortunately misjudged her trajectory and a full on collision occurred. I'm holding in my hands the ingredients:

1 cup of dried Cranberries
1 cup of dried Apricots
1 cup of Pecans
1 cup of Dates (pitted)
1 cup of prunes (pitted)
1 cup of unsweetened coconut flakes
and 1/3 of a cup of Cointreau (Orange liquor)

As sealed packages went sailing through the air the only thought going on in my head was "Precious lifeblood! Save the booze!" Fortunately gravity has nothing on my Kung Fu grip and disaster was averted, though the next five minutes of yelling was a bit rough on the ears.

The rest is easy really. Toss EVERYTHING into a food processor, in no particular order and blend. Stop every now and again to test the consistency. You'll know it's ready when you can roll it into a golf ball and it won't fall apart.

After that, my friend recommended I dip them in Cane sugar but the recipe made about 40 balls so I ended up splitting them into four piles: One for Cane Sugar, White Sugar, Powder Sugar and Brown Sugar.

Given the heavy concentration of natural sugar from the dried fruit, I strongly recommend you pair them with a good cup of tea.

Enjoy!

Adi's Kitchen in Montreal: Chanukah Baking

Sasha's Kitchen: Hanukkah Sweet Potato-Chipotle Latkes With Lingonberries

Here's my take on the traditional Hanukkah food - the potato latke. These were a big hit in my house tonight. I don't often make them because I absolutely hate grating potatoes, but tonight's batch was definitely worth the elbow grease.

Sasha's Sweet Potato-Chipotle Latkes With Lingonberries

4 grated medium sweet potatoes
1/4 cup all purpose flour
5 eggs (adjust so the recipe is not runny, depending on the size of the potatoes - you could use anywhere from 3 to 6 eggs)
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 grated onion
3 teaspoons chipotle puree
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
salt and pepper to taste

Top with lingonberry preserve

Mix ingredients well and fry in hot oil. I prepared the mix and Brad fried them. The kicker here - and the reason that this recipe is a winner is the lingonberries, a type of Swedish berry or preserve. They are a bit hard to find (you can buy them online, at Wegmans or Whole Foods, or apparently also at Ikea according to the receptionist at Aquavit who I spoke with this morning). I went to Whole Foods, although I love the idea of newly minted college graduates picking up some lingonberries with their ready to assemble desks, with only Swedish assembly instructions. Lingonberries are, in fact, a Scandinavian delicacy and the combination tartness/sweetness of the lingonberries is perfect with the sweet potato and chipotle. It is a stellar combination of flavors. Do not substitute any other preserve, as if will not be the same.

Happy Hanukkah!!!

Sasha's Kitchen: Hanukkah Sweet Potato-Chipotle Latkes With Lingonberries

Sasha's Kitchen: Baking Challah . . . and Challah French Toast

About 6 months ago, I decided to try making Challah in my artisan stand mixer. I was pretty confident at the time that I could do this, as long as I carefully followed a recipe. I had never made bread before, but this was shortly after the rainbow cookie success, so I was up for a challenge.

I decided to use the recipe in a Kosher cookbook that my Dad and Kim had given to Brad and I as a housewarming gift. It seemed logical to use a kosher cookbook for this recipe, since it was Challah, after all. I had all the ingredients except for dry active yeast. I followed the recipe to the letter. When I used the dry active yeast, I followed instructions suggesting that I add a teaspoon of sugar to the yeast, activated in warm water, and then put it in a bowl in the oven on warm for 10 minutes. Although I didn't realize it at the time, the yeast did not activate and the dough did not rise. My husband, not realizing that something had gone terribly wrong, insisted that he would eat it anyhow if I braided and baked it. So I did. In the oven it went. When it came out, it was heavy as a boulder. The bread, according to Brad, who tasted it true to his word, was dense and heavy.

I decided to try again with a new recipe that same evening, frustrated. I had enough eggs, and bought some more dry active yeast, and began again using Martha Stewart's Challah recipe from her "Baking Handbook." I highly recommend this book as a baker's bible to anyone interested in teaching themselves how to bake, as long as they have an artisan stand mixer.

This time, I activated the yeast in warm water, with a teaspoon of sugar and let it sit on the counter top for 10 minutes. The yeasty water became frothy and foamy, a sign that it truly had activated. I added the yeasty-water with the rest of the ingredients (flour, egg yolks etc . . .) as specified to the mixer. The I let the dough rise in a covered bowl for one hour. Sure enough, this time it doubled in size. Then I braided the Challah and let it rise for another hour. Then I painted the Challah with a brush using a mixture of egg yolk and heavy cream (which gives it its beautiful glow when baked) and baked it in the oven as recipe required until it was golden brown. Beautiful. I should add that this Challah makes wonderful french toast that will completely wow your brunch guests.




I should add that I've made a couple other kinds of bread as well - pumpkin bread, brioche, and beer bread (see my earlier blog entry).

The brioche was another interesting story. This time I used a King Arthur recipe for chocolate cherry brioche, a dessert bread. King Arthur Flour is the best bread flour to use in any bread-making adventure. This particular recipe called for instant yeast. I followed the instructions, which were not clear about what to do with the yeast. My husband was not especially enthusiasic about the cherries in this recipe - Brad refuses to eat cherries because they remind him of an unpleasant scene from a movie called "The Witches of Eastwick." This is why I generally do not make cherry pie. But this time, the cherries were in. I figured the instant yeast did not need to be activated because that was the definition of the word instant, right? Well, this brioche did not rise. A few weeks later I made brioche again using a different recipe (no chocolate or cherries and using regular dry active yeast in water) and it worked perfectly. I still have not figured out how to use instant yeast. However, next time I have a recipe that calls for instant yeast, I plan on substituting dry active yeast in warm water. We'll see if that works.

I was thinking of making ice cream again - this time rocky road. However, I'm kind of tired and recovering from a cold right now - my husband is helping prepare our dinner tonight (southwestern chicken with a spinach-cilantro sauce). I'll get to it when I feel better. Nothing like ice cream to deal with life's normal frusterations, right?

Sasha's Kitchen: Baking Challah . . . and Challah French Toast