Carrots with Pomegranate Jam Glaze

There are several ingredients in my life that I cook over and over.

Salmon. I make it so often for Ed and me that we are turning into fish.

Except that I also cook a lot of turkey, so maybe instead of growing fins and swimming up river we will grow feathers and start saying "gobble gobble."

And carrots. They're my go-to vegetable because most people like them and even people who say they hate vegetables usually say carrots are okay. 

I will definitely serve carrots for Rosh Hashanah. Why?

Tradition!

Pomegranates are also traditional for the holiday, so a while ago I cooked carrots and pomegranates (in the form of pomegranate molasses) together once and the result was really delicious.

But recently I decided to rework my old recipe using pomegranate jam that I bought from Crafted Kosher. 

It's a keeper.

Also, you can make the recipe up to the point of actually roasting them, so it's one of those wonderful dishes you can make ahead during this crazily busy holiday time.

Carrots with Pomegranate Jam

• 1/4 cup pomegranate jam
• 2 tablespoons orange juice
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1 teaspoon grated fresh orange peel
• pinch cayenne pepper
• salt to taste
• 1 pound carrots
• 1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh mint

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Place the pomegranate jam, orange juice, vegetable oil, orange peel, cayenne pepper and salt in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil over high heat, stirring to blend the ingredients, and cook for one minute, making sure the jam has melted. Peel the carrots and cut them lengthwise in half or quarters, depending on thickness. Place the carrots on the parchment lined baking sheet and pour the jam mixture over them. Roast the carrots, stirring occasionally, for 18-20 minutes or until they are tender and well glazed. Sprinkle with mint and serve. 

Makes 4 servings

Salmon Spread for Easy Summer Entertaining

My mother was one of those women who always had too much food in the house. Just in case.

Just in case company came. You can't just let them sit there and not eat.

Just in case you needed a little something extra for supper. Or as a snack over the weekend.

Just in case you had some leftovers and you didn't want to throw them out.

If you ever took a look in my freezer, my fridge and my kitchen cabinets you would know, like mother, like daughter.

I have a ton of food things.

Just in case.

This past weekend when my cousins came for a sleepover, I discussed this with my cousin Leslie, whose mother was my Mom's sister. She was bemoaning her overstuffed freezer, refrig, pantry. With all the "just-in-case" stuff. 

We are who we are, products of our upbringing, including our need for just-in-case food.

But I did point out to her that with the leftover salmon I made the other day, the dill, lemons, celery and cream cheese I always have on hand, I made this spread. Which is a perfectly easy-to-make, quick-as-a-wink to make hors d'oeuvre to be served with chips or crudites. And I served it over the weekend.

Easy. 

You can do it too. And if you don't have leftover salmon, you can used canned salmon, tuna or sardines. It's also delicious with leftover cooked bluefish.

 

Salmon Spread

• 8 ounces cooked salmon, crumbled
• 2 scallions, chopped
• 1 stalk celery, chopped
• 4 ounces cream cheese
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh dill
• 2 teaspoons Dijon mustard

Place the salmon, scallions, celery, cream cheese, lemon juice, dill and Dijon mustard in the workbowl of a food processor and process until thoroughly blended. 

Makes about 1-1/2 cups

Easy Guacamole

Recently I posted a recipe for an Avocado, Egg and Tomato Sandwich with Pesto Mayonnaise, in which I mentioned that I eat a lot of avocados. In fact there are always 4-5 avocados in my house, some in the crisper bin of the fridge, others ripening on the counter top.

Besides eating avocados as a snack, I find that when I am at a loss for a vegetable side dish or when I am rushed, stressed or busy, an avocado comes in really handy (not to mention delicious and also healthy). Just peel and cut it up and serve with anything: chicken, beef, eggs, whatever. Maybe sprinkle a little lime juice on top.

But of course, as I mentioned in that previous post, there's always Guacamole! One of the tastiest, easiest, well-loved dips there ever was.

Here are some ideas for guacamole in addition to serving it with chips:

1. spread on top of toast for a sandwich (by itself or with tomato slices, chicken or turkey)

2. use instead of ketchup for burgers

3. use to replace the butter on a baked potato

4. tuck inside eggs within an omelet 

5. stuff inside hollowed tomatoes

Here's my easy recipe for guacamole. It will take you far.

Guacamole

• 2 medium avocados
• 1 large tomato
• 1 small serrano chili pepper, deseeded and chopped
• 1 medium clove garlic, finely chopped
• 2 teaspoons chopped fresh cilantro, optional
• 3 tablespoons lemon or lime juice
• salt to taste
• chips

Peel the avocado and scoop the flesh into a food processor (or bowl or molcajete). Chop the tomato and add the tomato pieces, chili pepper, garlic, cilantro, if used, juice and salt to taste to the food processor. Process to desired texture using pulse feature (or mash with a fork or tejolete). 

Serve with corn chips.

Makes about 2 cups

The Vegetable that Looks Like a Creature from Outer Space

Have you seen this vegetable with its big bottom bulb and leafy-topped stalks sticking up like the antennae of a creature from outer space? It's not very popular and not very familiar, but should be, because it tastes so good and has such a terrific crunch when eaten raw.

I think people may avoid it because they don't know what it is or what to do with it. 

Basically it's this, a cabbage variant. The name means "cabbage turnip." You can eat the bulb and the leaves. (Cook the leaves like any green leafy vegetable.)

The bulb takes some work. You have to peel them as you would broccoli stems. Underneath the thick skin you might also find some fibrous strings, which you should also remove. Then you're left with the crispy, juicy, tender flesh, which you can eat raw (good for crudites), or make into cole slaw or as a substitute for cucumber in tea sandwiches and salad. 

On the other hand, kohlrabi can be cooked too, and, like all cabbage is especially perfect with potatoes. Mashed potatoes are lighter, sweeter and amazingly interesting when you mix them with mashed kohlrabi. For this recipe I've also included parsnips and apples. It's a terrific side dish for fish, poultry, meat or as part of a vegetarian dinner.

Kohlrabi, Parsnip, Potato Mash

• 1-½ to 2 pounds kohlrabi bulbs, peeled, chopped into ½-inch cubes
• 2 pounds parsnips, peeled and sliced ½-inch thick
• 1 pound Yukon Gold or all-purpose potatoes, peeled and chopped into ½-inch cubes
• 1 large tart apple, peeled, cored and chopped into 1-inch cubes
• 2 tablespoons butter, margarine or olive oil
• salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley

Place the kohlrabi in a saucepan, cover with water and bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce the heat to a simmer and cook for 2-3 minutes. Add the parsnips and potatoes and cook for 10 minutes. Add the apple and cook for 5-6 minutes or until all the ingredients are tender. Drain and place the ingredients in a large bowl. Add the butter and mash until smooth and thoroughly blended. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Serve topped with chopped parsley.

Makes 8 servings

Celebrate! with Sun-dried Tomato Dip

A colleague of mine, Elizabeth Kurtz, who blogs at GourmetKosherCooking, has written a beautiful cookbook.

"Celebrate" celebrates not only good food and the beauty of Shabbat, but also benefits an organization called Emunah, a social service agency that helps families in physical or emotional distress -- at-risk teens, lonely seniors, young children who may have been neglected or abandoned. And much more. 

The book is filled with interesting recipes. Like the Everything Bagel Chicken, which I made for dinner last weekend. You know that bagel topping that has poppy seeds and sesame seeds and garlic and all? That's a really good coating for boneless chicken breasts!

I also loved the Butternut Squash Soup with Curry and Sweet Apples, a comforting dish on cold winter days.

There's lots to love here, including the luscious photos.

But my cooking mind is turning to Superbowl this week, so I looked for a recipe that I could bring to my brother and sister-in-law's annual party. I picked the Sun-Dried Tomato Dip -- it's easy to make, you can cook it a couple of days ahead, serve it with crudites or crackers. Elizabeth says it's also wonderful as a spread for challah (I liked it with warm pita) and even as a topping for chicken or salmon (I think it would be terrific, mixed with some mayo, on a burger). I made this for my New Year's Eve get-together and everyone gave it a thumbs up! (I used vegetable stock, not pareve chicken broth).

Whether it's a day of rest, a day together with friends and football, a birthday or anything else, it's always good to celebrate with good food. Like this:

Sun-Dried Tomato Dip (from "Celebrate" by Elizabeth Kurtz)

• 1 (8-ounce) jar sun-dried tomatoes, packed in oil, drained and chopped, 1 tablespoon oil reserved
• 1/2 yellow onion, thinly sliced
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1 cup water
• 1/2 cup pareve chicken broth
• 1/4 cup red wine vinegar
• 1/4 cup dry red wine
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

Heat reserved sun-dried tomato oil in a large skillet over medium. Add tomatoes, onion, and garlic; cook 5 to 7 minutes, stirring frequently until onion is soft and beginning to brown at the edges.

Add water, broth, vinegar, wine, sugar, thyme, salt, and pepper to skillet; bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce to a simmer, cover, and cook 30 minutes. Uncover and continue simmering another 5 to 10 minutes, or until most of the liquid has evaporated and mixture is the consistency of jam.

 With an immersion blender or food processor, puree until blended but still a little chunky.

Serve warm or at room temperature with pita chips or vegetable crudite. Store refrigerated in a clean glass jar (the one from the sun-dried tomatoes works great!) if not using immediately. It will keep 2 weeks.

Makes 1-1/2 cups

Mushroom Barley Soup

The weather fooled me for a while. It was actually in the 60s last weekend. Now it's back to the usual for a January in Connecticut. 19 degrees when I woke up.

That's cold.

That's soup weather. Hearty, nourishing Mushroom Barley soup weather.

My mother-in-law, Pearl Fein, made fabulous Mushroom Barley soup, but I never got her recipe.

Alas.

Then I saw my friend Liz Rueven's recipe. Liz blogs at www.kosherlikeme.com, but she created her recipe for Mushroom Barley soup for The Nosher, where it was voted one of the Top Ten recipes on the site for 2015. 

It inspired me, but I was sans crockpot (mine is somewhere in my basement and I didn't feel like looking for it).

So I thought about what I remember loving in my mother-in-law's soup and what appealed to me about Liz's recipe and I came up with my very own version.

It was awesome. VERY similar to my mother-in-law's, except hers was made with chicken stock, mine with beef stock and water.

Either way, this is going into the "repeat" file.

Mushroom Barley Soup

• 8 dried shiitake mushrooms
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1 pound chuck, cut into small chunks (or use flanken)
• 2 medium onions, chopped
• 3 carrots, sliced 1/2-inch thick
• 3 stalks celery, sliced 1/2-inch thick
• 1/2 cup chopped fresh dill
• 3/4 cup pearled barley
• 4 cups beef or chicken stock
• 4 cups water, approximately
• salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Place the mushrooms in a bowl, cover with hot water and soak for 8-10 minutes or until the caps are soft. Remove and discard the hard, inedible stems, if any, chop the caps and set aside. Heat the vegetable oil in a soup pot over medium heat. Add the meat and cook, turning the pieces occasionally, for 6-8 minutes or until lightly crispy. Add the onions and cook, stirring occasionally, for about 3 minutes, or until softened. Add the carrots, celery, reserved mushrooms, dill and barley and stir briefly. Pour in the stock and water, add salt and pepper to taste. Bring the soup to a simmer. Cook for about 45 minutes. Add more water if you prefer a thinner soup (or if you refrigerate the soup: the barley will absorb the liquid and soup will be very thick).

Make 8 servings

Warm Winter Soup

I guess the warm weather couldn't last. It was December, after all, and I do live in Connecticut.

I did appreciate it though, the unseasonal temperature in the 60s. And I suppose if I wanted that sort of thing all year round I could move to California or Arizona or Florida. 

But I never will. I am a Connecticut woman with a penchant for spending lots of time in New York City.

So I'll get used to the cold and, in addition to the silk undergarments I just bought to wear for when I'm outside and it's freezing, I'll make myself some soup to help keep me warm.

This is the kind of soup I make all the time. The ingredients depend on what I have in the house, but there's always a package or two of dried soup mix, plus onions and carrots and a few ingredients such as dried split peas and barley.

You can add lots to this recipe: parsnips, other whole grains, dried lima beans or red kidney beans. You can also add fresh vegetables at the end of the process (give them time to soften): peas, broccoli, cut up green beans. 

But this is one for cold winter weather, for sure. And look how easy it is to prepare!

Warm Winter Soup

• 1 6-ounce package dried soup mix (I used Manischewitz Lima Bean and Barley mix)
• 3 pounds marrow bones
• 3 carrots, chopped
• 2 onions, chopped
• 1/2 cup dried green split peas
• 1/2 cup pearled barley
• salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Place the soup mix, bones, carrots, onions, split peas, barley and salt and pepper to taste in a soup pot. Pour in enough water to cover the ingredients by at least one inch. Bring to a boil over high heat. Lower the heat to a simmer and cook for at least 2 hours, or until the soup is thick. 

Makes about 6 servings

Soup for When you are Sick

Everyone knows you're supposed to have chicken soup when you're sick. 

However, recently, when I had a cold that lingered and lingered and really needed soup I didn't feel like going out to buy a chicken. Or peel carrots. Or rinse the fresh dill.

I didn't feel like doing much of anything frankly, but I did want homemade soup.

So I made some from what I had in the house.

It was an amazing dish. Hearty, tasty, nourishing. Also EASY. 

I did feel much better the next day.

The recipe is extremely forgiving, so here it is with a bunch of ways you can vary the recipe depending on what you have in your house.

Freeze some for the next time you don't feel great and need some soup. Or want some wonderful, thick and filling dish for dinner.

Soup for When you are Sick

• 3-4 meaty marrow bones
• water
• one package of bean soup mix or vegetable soup mix (I used Manischewitz but any is fine)
• one large onion, chopped or sliced
• one cup of split peas (green or yellow)
• 3/4 cup lentils
• 1/2 cup any whole grain (such as farro, barley, wheatberries, kamut)
• salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Place the bones in a pot, cover with water (about 8-10 cups) and bring to a boil. Lower the heat to a simmer and skim the stuff that comes to the top for about 10 minutes. Add the whole package of soup mix, the onion, split peas, lentils and whole grain, plus salt and pepper to taste. Partially cover the pan and simmer for hours, stirring occasionally, until the dried vegetables are very soft. I sometimes add more water if the soup is too thick.

Additions:

• 3 carrots, sliced
• 3 stalks celery, sliced
• 4-6 soaked and chopped dried shiitake mushrooms, coarsely cut
• Frozen corn kernels and/or lima beans (add about 1/2 hour before soup is done)
• Whatever else you like (I sometimes add chicken bones in addition to meat bones)

Makes about 6 servings of soup (you have to fight over the bones or make it with 6 bones)

No Easier Cranberry Sauce than this one

Sometimes all you have to do is change one ingredient in a recipe and the entire dish tastes different. Like this one. I've made cranberries the same way for years -- bake them with sugar, let them cool, then add brandy.

This year I added some freshly grated orange peel. Huge difference! If you like the orange-cranberry duo, this recipe is for you. Plus -- this recipe is the next easiest thing after opening a can.

Baked Orange Scented Cranberries

• 12 ounces fresh cranberries (3 cups)
• 1-1/2 cups sugar
• 2 teaspoons grated fresh orange peel
• 3 tablespoons orange juice (or use brandy or rum)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Wash and drain the berries and place them in a single layer in a baking dish. Add the sugar and orange peel and toss to coat all the berries. Cover the dish tightly with a lid or aluminum foil. Bake for 45-50 minutes. Remove the cover and stir thoroughly. Let the berries cool. Stir in the juice. Chill thoroughly.

Makes 6-8 servings

The Brisket

Yesterday I wrote about the un-brisket. You know, why I usually don't make brisket for the holidays.

But I do make brisket on occasion and I realize it is THE specialty for Rosh Hashanah.

And I also know that no matter how many recipes there are out there for brisket, there are always thousands of people wanting more. Not just recipes, but information on how to make brisket so that your family wants it again and remembers your brisket as the ultimate dinner.

So here's what you might want to do: not only learn a good recipe, but also get instruction from the world's premiere kosher cookbook author: Jamie Geller.

Here's how: Jamie is giving video courses called HOME in which she and other culinary experts will teach you the best methods and tips for making the best brisket.

There are other courses too. Challah and Do-it-Yourself Rosh Hashanah (with recipes PLUS crafts).

You can get one or get them all. The price is $19.99/course.

But take a look yourself, watch the trailer and get the skills, the tools, the encouragement and confidence you need to cook it right.

Here's where: HOME by Jamie Geller.