Maple Corn Muffins

For me March Madness means rushing to the store or going online to buy containers of the new crop of maple syrup. I get all kinds. Grade A for pancakes. Grade B for baking. New York. Vermont. Quebec. Whatever.

There’s a delicate sweetness to maple syrup. It doesn’t pound you in the head like granulated sugar does. It doesn’t yell at you “I’M SWEET! I’M SWEET. PICK ME!”

I like subtle.

So I use maple a lot to sweeten baked goods like these corn muffins (which you can freeze and then reheat for breakfast every morning).

Maple Corn Muffins

1/3 cup butter

1 cup cornmeal

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon baking powder

3/4 teaspoon salt

3 tablespoons pure maple syrup

1 large egg

2/3 cup milk

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Lightly grease 8 muffin tins. Melt the butter and set it aside to cool. In a bowl, mix the cornmeal, flour, baking powder and salt. In another bowl mix the maple syrup, egg and milk, beating until well blended. Pour the liquid into the cornmeal mixture, pour in the cooled melted butter and stir to blend the ingredients. Spoon equal amounts into the muffin tins. Bake for about 18 minutes or until golden brown. Makes 8

Purim and The Happy Prince

Ronnie –

I really loved your “Balagan” blog entry, and took the liberty of copying and printing it out (with a tiny bit of editing and adding your next day’s entry about Jayne Cohen’s contest) for the folks who attend informal Shabbat services at the independent/assisted living center where Carl’s mom now lives.  On March 18^th, the services (which are held at 2 p.m. for those folks who can’t last through an “after sundown” service) are going to be abbreviated to accommodate a little Purim shpiel written by one of the volunteer service leaders who are sent courtesy of our Pasadena Temple.  Many of the people who attend these services are really “cultural” Jews, and attend because they’re looking for a comfortable Jewish community in this facility of more than 200 people, of whom about 60 are Jewish (anywhere from 4 to 15 regularly attend services, but many more come to the Highlands’ Chanukah celebration and Pesach seders – and even interested non-Jews attend those dinners).

Since we only have an hour in the space allotted for services, this first-ever Purim party will definitely NOT be a balagan, though all the “Esthers” will wear silver crowns and the Purim play Esther has a gold one (all are paper, and recyclable, of course!).  We will have graggers, but I think those with hearing aids (like myself, now) will use them gingerly.  Carl’s mother is already worried that people will drown her out every time her last name is mentioned (she is “Heiman” – pronounced “Haman”!)  We won’t be reading the “whole Megillah” (or any of it, come to think of it), but the Purim play should suffice.  I think your little resume of the Purim story will act as a brief for some attendees on the 18^th (Jews and non-).  Of course, we end the event with hamantaschen for all, and special little shalach mones goodie bags with more hamantaschen..

This segues nicely into my thoughts on your last Friday’s blog on The Happy Prince, which made a deep impression on me as a child.  I had both the book and the record, which I, like you, played over and  over and over.  The other day, the phrase, “swallow, little swallow…”  came to me out of the blue, prompted by our preparations for Purim and discussion about shalach mones.   I couldn’t for the life of me remember where the phrase came from, but it resonated deep in my psyche.  You can imagine how happy I was to see your blog about it a day later(!), reminding me of the story’s name and author.  It brought back such flood of memories (I think this may have been the first story that made me cry).  I remember I SO wanted the swallow to fly south and save himself just as I wanted him NOT to leave the prince.  If I remember correctly, radio programs for kids, which I listened to, featured the Orson Welles reading around Christmas.  (Did you remember that Bing Crosby was the voice of the Happy Prince? See the whole thing at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EIPaS10r-T0 and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6JApl4-mgZ0).  In any case, I began thinking about how Chanukah, a relatively minor Jewish holiday, has replaced Purim, which – says my mother-in-law who grew up on New York’s Lower East Side speaking only Yiddish till she was 5 – used to be the major gift-giving holiday of the year for Jews.  Families baked goodies, including hamantaschen, and kids and their parents delivered these gifts – shalach mones – to friends and relatives throughout Purim.  Visiting was important.  What a wonderful tradition!  Why have we lost this?  Our Temple has recently instituted shalach mones  goodie bags, which people can order and send, with a “Purim wishes” card, to friends and family (or people can pick up their bags at the Temple).  Still sending and picking up aren’t exactly in the same spirit as human contact. What next – shalach mones over the social network?  Happy Pre-Purim 

Submitted by Carol Selkin (carol_selkin@sbcglobal.net):

Carol:

So happy to be a tiny “part” of your Purim celebration! Hope it went well and that all the Esthers and Mordechais had fun and enjoyed the hamantashen and the quiet “balagan.”

I do remember that when I was a child Purim was a much more important holiday and resembled Chanuka/Christmas festivities. But in the United States we follow the corporate culture so often and that culture says it makes more sense to have everyone going to the store in the last quarter. So maybe that’s part of it.

As for The Happy Prince, I don’t remember it on radio because we listened to the record, at least once a week. I think my brothers and I had memorized the entire script and the accents of the bird, the mayor, the prince and the town councillors. It is a wonderful story; I recently have read versions of it to my grandchildren, who were all mesmerized and have asked me to read it over and over. It’s timeless and priceless. 

Koshercare Packages

Oh the glories of the Internet!

I recently blogged about the Purim hamantashen I bought from Kosher Care Packages (you can order stuff here: http://www.koshercarepackages.com/) and I mentioned that I didn’t order enough with chocolate (I bought mostly traditional apricot, prune and raspberry filled cookies). 

Well, yesterday I got a rather generous gift package of guess what!!!!! Traditional jam-filled hamantashen dipped in chocolate! Take a look at these. Doesn’t that chocolate look good?

They are!

Happy Purim everyone and THANKS, KAREN at Kosher Care Packages.

F to the R to the I-D-A-Y Reads, Aw Yeah...

fridayreads:

It’s come to this. We’re bastardizing “Fergalicious.” These are the lengths we’re willing to go to keep people talking about books.

So reblog this with a line about about you’re reading this week, and you’ll be joining more than six thousand readers across the internet (and around the world.)

You’ll also be entered to win wonderful books, including this week’s featured title The Coffins of Little Hope by Timothy Schaffert.

Reading “Dreams From My Father” by Barack Obama. It’s his memoir, written way before the Presidential campaign or even his Senate campaign. #fridayreads

Pareve Irish Soda Bread

I don’t know why I wait for St. Patrick’s Day to make and eat Irish Soda Bread. It’s a really nice treat for breakfast together with my usual yogurt. It isn’t sweet and it has a compelling, moist, dense texture that makes you feel as if you aren’t going to be hungry again in an hour but also isn’t heavy at all. 

And yet I never think to make it until now.

Silly. This is too good for once-a-year.

Here’s a pareve version, which you can use if you’re kosher and want to have some delicious bread with corned beef and cabbage (or any other meat). It tastes just like the dairy version, made with buttermilk (there’s a note on how to substitute just below the recipe).

Irish Soda Bread (pareve version)

• 3-1/2 cups all-purpose flour

• 1 tablespoon brown sugar

• 3/4 teaspoon salt

• 1 teaspoon baking soda

• 1-1/2 cups water

• 1 tablespoon cider vinegar

• 1/2 cup raisins

• 1 teaspoon caraway seeds, optional

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease a baking sheet. Combine the flour, brown sugar, salt and baking soda in a bowl. Mix the water and cider vinegar together and pour over the flour mixture. Mix the ingredients until you can form a soft dough. Work in the raisins and caraway seeds, if used. Sprinkle some flour on a work surface and knead the dough 18-20 times. Shape the dough into a ball, then flatten the ball slightly. Cut a small X on top with the tip of a sharp knife. Place the dough on the baking sheet. Bake for 40-45 minutes or until golden brown. Makes one

NOTE: For a more traditional, dairy version use 1-1/2 cups buttermilk in place of the water and cider vinegar

Crustless Spinach Pie

I have a cousin who won’t eat any green food. So he’s never tasted guacamole or creamed spinach or pea soup.

Me? I eat almost anything, but as I mentioned the other day, I don’t like fake green food. Which is what a lot of people eat on St. Patrick’s Day.

I say, if you want to eat green tomorrow, why not make it real? Like Spinach Pie.

This is a dish I make all the time. My kids love it. Even their kids love it. Most of the time I put a crust on top. Either the typical Greek way, using buttered phyllo dough sheets, or as I do if I’m in a hurry — topped with thawed out frozen puff pastry.

On Passover I make Spinach Pie with soaked matzo on top.

That’s how versatile this dish is. If you have my book, Hip Kosher, you’ll find it there. But here it is for everyone else:

Spinach Pie

2 10-ounce packages frozen whole leaf spinach, thawed

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 medium onion, chopped

3 large eggs

8 ounces feta cheese, crumbled

6 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese

1 tablespoon minced fresh dill

freshly ground black pepper to taste

4 sheets phyllo dough

2 tablespoons butter, melted

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Squeeze as much water out of the spinach as possible and set aside. Heat the olive oil in a saute pan over medium heat. Add the onion and cook for 2-3 minutes. Stir in the spinach and mix well. Remove the pan from the heat. Add the eggs, feta cheese, Parmesan cheese, dill and pepper. Mix well and place in a baking dish. Top with 4 layers of phyllo dough each brushed with melted butter (or leave off the phyllo dough top). Bake for about 20 minutes or until golden brown. Makes 4-8 servings (as main course or side dish)

Vanilla Ice Cream

Anyone who thinks vanilla is boring, should read this column that appeared in the Guardian (U.K.) last week (I heard about this article from Sprinklefingers). 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/wordofmouth/2011/mar/01/consider-vanilla

The author, Oliver Thring rightly concludes that if you say that vanilla is boring, you probably haven’t tasted the real thing.

The real thing is a long, slender, pliable brown pod filled with teeny seeds. It has a bright, distinctive taste, but it never tramples your taste buds. Split the pod and plop it, or part of it, into custard and taste how it transforms the flavor into something sweet and floral but subtle. Use it for ice cream or to flavor a canister full of sugar. Use real vanilla in cake batter. Or to infuse vinegar, rum or vodka. 

I could go on and on. I’ve always loved vanilla, even back in the old days when my cousin Leslie told me that the little specks in the ice cream I was eating were dirt.

She always chose chocolate.

But as any vanilla aficionado knows, anything made with chocolate is nowhere unless it contains some vanilla to give it a boost. Hot chocolate, for example — make it without a bit of vanilla and you’ll notice it’s missing. Ditto brownies and chocolate cake.

For those who know the truth — and those who want to understand what the vanilla thing is all about — try this recipe for Vanilla Ice Cream.

Vanilla Ice Cream

• 2 cups whole milk

• 2 cups heavy or whipping cream

• one vanilla bean, split open

• 2 1-inch strips lemon peel

• 3 large eggs

• 3 large egg yolks

• 2/3 cup sugar

Place the milk, cream, vanilla bean and lemon peel in a small saucepan and cook over medium heat until the liquid is hot and bubbles have formed around the sides of the pan. Set aside to cool. Beat the eggs, egg yolks and sugar together with an electric mixer set at medium speed until the mixture is thick and pale (4-5 minutes). Gradually add the milk mixture to the egg mixture, stirring to blend ingredients to a uniform color. Remove the vanilla bean (you can wipe it off and use it to flavor sugar, vinegar, rum or vodka). Heat the mixture, stirring frequently, until it has thickened, but do not let the mixture come to a boil. Let the mixture cool, then freeze in an ice cream maker according to manufacturer’s instructions. Makes 1-quart+

Hip Kosher Feedback

Hello Ronnie Fein!  I bought Hip Kosher last week.  Looking for new ways to cook. Three recipes in…and I’m hooked.  Last nite was Rice Sald with Raisins and Cashews.  In case you were not yet told, and for the next printing, there is an error on the third ingriedient.  It reads “1 cut” insteadof “1 cup of coarsely chopped cashews”.  Either way it was delish.  Eating it with the Sauteed Chicken Breasts w/Tomoates & Honey right now.  Thank you for this cooking adventure.

submitted by:

erappoport@hotmail.com

Thanks so much for the note! Glad you are enjoying the book. Try the Peppers and Eggs — one of my faves!

Buttermilk Pie

In case you didn’t know, today is Pi Day.

Yeah, that’s right. This is a special holiday that celebrates the mathematical constant pi that we all learned about once in grade school but that, at least when I was a youngster, girls were not actually required or expected to remember.

Pi is 3.1415926 blah blah blah and so on. The other day my grandson took pi out to about 16 numbers, which I found very impressive, until I read that in 2004, Daniel Tammet, a high-functioning autistic savant recited 22,514 numbers by memory.

I never particularly liked math and sort of feared it the way a proper suburban girl was supposed to back in the day. I regret that now. But, as the poet Robert Frost says, “knowing how way leads on to way” I followed a different path, and left pi aside for pie.

Which, come to think of it, I do like better anyway.

For those in the know, the official food of Pi Day is, of course, PIE. Here’s a recipe for one that I once hesitated to make at first because of the name but did because I had to write an article about unusual pies. It’s a Buttermilk Pie. It was so good I included the recipe in my book The Complete Idiot’s Guide to American Cooking.

You can’t tell a pie by its name.

This one tastes rich and creamy, as if there is heavy cream within, but it is also light and subtle — the perfect dessert to welcome spring — and it is also just right as far as sweetness goes, nothing cloying or overpowering. The top has a delicate, faintly brittle crust that melts immediately, gratifyingly, on your tongue.

Buttermilk Pie

6 tablespoons butter

4 large eggs

1-1/2 cups sugar

2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup buttermilk

unbaked 9-inch pie crust

1/3 cup sliced almonds or 1/2 cup currants

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Melt the butter and set it aside to cool. In a bowl, combine the eggs, sugar, flour, vanilla extract, salt and melted, cooled butter and beat the ingredients with a whisk or an electric mixer set at medium speed, for about 2-3 minutes or until the mixture is smooth and uniform. Stir in the buttermilk and blend in thoroughly. Pour the mixture into the pie crust. Sprinkle the nuts or currants over the filling. Bake for about 45 minutes or until the surface is golden brown and the center is set.

Makes one pie

JWI Hamantashen Contest

Yesterday I told you about my big mistake ordering only two chocolate hamantashen for Purim. I blame it on being old fashioned in a way. Although I am constantly experimenting and making up new recipes and cook modern food and am the author of the cookbook Hip Kosher, which features contemporary, not-necessarily-traditional-Jewish but kosher recipes, when it comes to hamantashen I want prune. Okay, maybe also apricot. Because those are what I always ate as a kid and all through my life (never liked the even more traditional poppy seed). 

But my family likes the chocolate filling.

And, come to think of it, you could use any kind of filling you like. I mean, why do we have to stick with prune and apricot? Let’s see, maybe lemon hamantashen? Strawberry-rhubarb? Candied kumquat? Spiced pumpkin?

Which is exactly what Jayne Cohen, cookbook author and blogger for Jewish Woman Magazine thought. So the magazine has decided to hold a recipe contest for — guess what? Hamantashen filling.

Here’s where to go: http://www.jwi.org/Page.aspx?pid=2730 Invent away! I think any filling would work with hamantashen dough (there’s a recipe for the dough on the site). And you could win Jayne’s book, Jewish Holiday Cooking, if yours is the winning filling!