Spiced Almonds

I am absolutely going to watch the Presidential debates, starting with the one on Wednesday (October 3rd). I love politics, I love voting and I consider it my patriotic duty to do so because in the United States of America we have the right to vote and in so many places in the world that’s not the case.

I also don’t understand people who don’t vote. Even one vote makes a difference, if only to the voter, for having taken some action instead of doing nothing and feeling as if his/her opinion was unnecessary or worthless.

It isn’t.

VOTE on (or before, if you can) election day.

But, back to the debates. We are having people over to watch.

That means food. 

For this first debate my company is coming after dinner. We need something crunchy, because when you get all steamed up, either because your guy is saying something great or the other guy is saying something you find hateful, it’s best to have something crunchy to bite your teeth into.

Sure, popcorn and chips.

But I am making spiced nuts. The spice will help us get our vigor up. Also, almonds are healthy. I read it in this article, among others. And they help your body metabolize carbs better.

Spiced Almonds

1 teaspoon curry powder

1/2 teaspoon ground cumin

1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

1/8 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon

pinch cayenne pepper

salt

2 cups whole almonds

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

2 tablespoons honey

1 tablespoon orange juice

Mix the curry powder, cumin, ginger, nutmeg, cinnamon, cayenne pepper and a sprinkle of salt together in a small bowl. Place the almonds in an unoiled sauté pan over medium heat and cook for about 3 minutes or until the nuts are lightly toasted. Add the spice mixture and stir it in. Pour in the vegetable oil, honey and orange juice. Cook, stirring constantly for about 3 minutes or until toasty brown. Remove from the pan and let cool. Makes 2 cups

Best Hummus Ever

Best hummus ever?

That’s what everyone told me Wednesday night at our Break-the-fast. They said it was the best hummus they ever tasted. Also the best texture; smooth but with some graininess; moist but not pasty.

Maybe they were all just hungry? And hummus is the first nibble of food they consumed in 24 hours, the initial tidbit to prepare the stomach before eating dinner?

But I kept it out even during dinner and by the end of the night it was gone, gone gone. Several people took a bit more to eat with the Mujadarah, Spinach Pie, Kugel, chopped salad and egg salad.

So, here’s the recipe. Try it yourself and let me know what you think. 

Btw, hummus stuffed cherry tomatoes is a good treat for Sukkot. 

HUMMUS WITH ZATAR

• 15 ounce can chickpeas

• 2 large cloves garlic

• 1/4 cup tahini

• 1/4 cup lemon juice

• 2 tablespoons olive oil

• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley

• 1 teaspoon paprika

• 1/2 teaspoon salt

• 1/2 teaspoon zatar

Drain the chickpeas but reserve the liquid. Place the chickpeas in a food processor. Cut the garlic into smaller chunks and add to the food processor. Add the tahini, lemon juice,   olive oil, parsley, paprika, salt and zatar. Process to combine ingredients into a rough puree. Continue to process while adding some of the reserved liquid though the feed tube until the mixture reaches the desired consistency (approximately 3-6 tablespoons).

Makes about 1-1/2 cups

Lemony Roasted Asparagus

When in need of a quick, festive side dish, think asparagus. They’re elegant looking and there’s very little you have to do to them. Only the real fat ones need peeling. Wash them off, cut off the fibrous, purplish-white ends and cook them. Either steam, poach or roast them. It takes just minutes, depending on thickness.

Here’s one of my favorites, to be served tonight with my pre-fast dinner.

Lemony Roasted Asparagus

1 pound mediun thick asparagus

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 clove garlic, finely chopped

1 teaspoon grated fresh lemon peel

salt and freshly ground black pepper

2 tablespoons lemon juice

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Trim the ends from the asparagus, wash and dry them and place on a cookie sheet. Drizzle with the olive oil and scatter the garlic and lemon peel on top. Sprinkle with salt and pepper, then roll the asparagus to coat them on all sides with the other ingredients. Roast for 10-15 minutes, depending on thickness, or until tender. Sprinkle with the lemon juice. Serve hot or at room temperature. Makes 4-6 servings

Aunt Belle’s Spicy Honey Cake

Next week I have to figure out what to do with leftover Honey Cake crumbs. I baked my usual recipe for Rosh Hashanah and overcooked it, so it came out dry and crumbly.

But I love Honey Cake and always look forward to this time of year to have some, so I baked another using my Aunt Belle’s famous (in our family) recipe. This cake is rich, dense and moist (unless you over cook it), and a little on the spicy side. Flavor varies depending on the kind of honey you use of course. Much darker and heartier with buckwheat honey, lighter and milder with clover, alfalfa or orange blossom honey.

As for those crumbs, maybe as a topping for apple crisp? Streusel for pie? Pudding? Ice cream mix-in?

I’ll keep you posted.

Aunt Belle’s Spicy Honey Cake

3-1/2 cups all-purpose flour

2-1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon ground ginger

1/4 teaspoon grated nutmeg

1-1/2 tablespoons grated fresh orange peel

2 teaspoons grated fresh lemon peel

2 cups honey

1 cup strong coffee

1/4 cup vegetable oil

4 large eggs

3/4 cup sugar

sliced almonds, optional

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Lightly grease two 9” x 5” loaf pans. Line the pans with parchment paper, then lightly grease the paper. Set the pans aside. Sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger and nutmeg together into a bowl. Stir in the orange peel and lemon peel and set aside. Heat the honey, coffee and vegetable oil together over low-medium heat for a minute or two, just enough to blend them together easily. Set aside to cool. In the bowl of an electric mixer set at medium speed, beat the eggs and sugar for 2-3 minutes or until well blended. Stir in the honey mixture and blend it in thoroughly. Add the flour mixture and blend it in thoroughly. Spoon the batter into the prepared pans. Scatter some sliced almonds on top. Bake for about 1-1/4 hours or until a cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool in the pans for 10 minutes then invert onto a cake rack to cool completely.

Makes 2 cakes

Brown Rice Mujadarah

I think I could make Mujadarah in my sleep. Okay, maybe I haven’t actually cooked it as often as challah or spinach pie or butter cookies, but this dish is a mainstay in the Fein household. I serve it when my kids come. Sometimes I make a small portion for just Ed and me. But mostly I serve it for buffet dinners, like when a grandchild is born and we have a welcome party.

And it has become a permanent item for my Yom Kippur Break-the-fast.

The first time I served Mujadarah at my Break-the-fast, people wondered what it was and took a little taste, then came back for more. Much more. The next year I doubled the amount I served.

Mujadarah is a Middle Eastern specialty. This version has brown rice but you could substitute bulgur wheat. I make it well ahead of time, separately store the grains and onions in the fridge, then reheat them separately too. That makes it really easy for me when I have a lot of guests over.

BROWN RICE MUJADARAH

• 1/2 cup olive oil

• 4 large yellow onions, peeled and sliced

• 1 cup brown rice

• water or stock

• 1 cup lentils

• 1 teaspoon ground cumin, optional

• 1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley

• salt to taste

Heat 4 tablespoons of the olive oil in a large sauté pan over medium heat. Add the onions and cook, stirring occasionally, for about 15 minutes or until the onions are soft and brown. Spoon the onions into a container and cover the container. Refrigerate when cool if not serving the dish immediately. Place the rice in a saucepan, cover with 2 cups water or stock, bring to a boil, stir and cover the pan. Turn the heat to low and cook for about 30 minutes or until tender. Spoon the rice into a bowl. While the rice is cooking, place the lentils in a saucepan and cover with water or stock. Bring to a boil over high heat. Lower the heat, cover the pan and cook for about 25 minutes or until tender. Drain and add to the rice. Stir in the remaining 4 tablespoons olive oil. Add the cumin, if used and the parsley. Toss the ingredients. Add salt to taste. If serving immediately, stir in the onions with any accumulated juices, mix and serve. If serving at a later time, add the onions and juices, place in an overnproof casserole and reheat, covered, in a preheated 350F degree oven (about 25 minutes).

Makes 6 servings

The Kugel to End all Kugels

This is the kugel to end all kugels.

I mean it. I am a kugel-eating expert, if only because when I grew up my grandmother and mom made salty kugel stuffed with mushrooms and onions and it was only when I was grown, married and with kids that I had my first taste of this. That taste was a transforming moment.

My friend Susan brought this dish to my annual Break-the-fast (she got the recipe from her friend Linda and I don’t know where Linda got it).

For years after that I have tasted more kugels than you could possibly imagine (including those hard, dried up things they sell in some supermarkets) always trying to surpass that moment of culinary discovery. 

I was even a judge once in a kugel contest.

I have made some wonderful kugels since then. But this is still my favorite. I always ask Susan to make an extra one so there will be leftovers. I pack pieces of it in my freezer so I can have a little treat whenever.

Don’t even think about the calories. Just enjoy.

Susan/Linda’s Sweet Noodle Kugel

      1 12-ounce package egg noodles

      1 8-ounce package cream cheese at room temperature

      1/4 pound unsalted butter at room temperature

      1 cup sugar

      2 cups dairy sour cream

      6 large eggs

      1 teaspoon cinnamon

      1 cup raisins, optional

      2 cups crushed frosted flakes or corn flakes

      4 tablespoons melted butter

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Cook the noodles in slightly salted water until al dente (not soft). Drain and set aside. In an electric mixer, beat the cream cheese and butter until thoroughly blended and softened. Beat in the sugar until well blended. Add the sour cream and blend thoroughly. Add the eggs one at a time, beating after each addition. Stir in the cinnamon and raisins, if used. Pour the mixture into the noodles and toss to coat them completely. Place in a baking dish. Combine the frosted flakes and melted butter and sprinkle on top of the noodles. Bake for about 40 minutes or until the top is crispy. 

Makes 8 servings  

Gillian’s Snack Balls

Looking for a healthy snack your kids will actually eat?

Try this one, invented by my daughter Gillian. They look good too, don’t they? Maybe even good enough to greet hungry guests if you’re having a Break-the-fast for Yom Kippur and someone wants a quick nibble before the real dinner.

Gillian invented these because she wants to send healthy snacks to school, but also send something her daughter Lila will like. She remembers the days when she was a kid and I was the one sending the lunch and snack. I also wanted to send something healthy, not a Snickers bar or M&Ms. But I also didn’t want to be the carrot-and-raisin Mom who never sent a chip and whose kids always traded those carrots-and-raisins for a sample of whatever the other children happen to bring that day (sometimes Snickers bar or M&Ms).

These snack balls are sweet, but there’s only one tablespoon of honey in 4 dozen balls. The rest is all natural fruit sweetener from the figs, prunes and dates.

Grownups like these too. Take my word for that.

Gillian’s Snack Balls

8-10 large dried figs, coarsely chopped

1 cup pitted prunes, halved

3/4 cup dried cranberries

6 large Medjool dates, coarsely chopped

1 cup quick cooking oats

1/3 cup unsweetened applesauce

1-1/2 to 2 teaspoons grated fresh orange peel

1 tablespoon honey

1/2 cup unsweetened shredded coconut

Place the figs, prunes, cranberries, dates, oats, applesauce, orange peel and honey in a food processor and process for about one minute or until the ingredients are well combined and form a soft pasty ball. Use a spoon to take enough paste to form one-inch balls. Roll the balls in coconut. Makes about 4 dozen

Plum Pie

I am the human equivalent of a squirrel. Every late-summer-early-autumn I gather up ingredients to make into food that I can store for the cold, hard winter that’s coming.

Surely, those of you who have been reading this blog know I’ve been knee deep - no, actually shoulder deep or thank-goodness-I-have-an-old-fridge-in-the-basement deep in prune plums. I saw them early in the season and couldn’t stop myself from buying pounds and pounds of them.

Well, I’ve poached some, tucked some under a crispy cover, baked some into torte and made a cake or two. And finally, I’m up to pie. Because my brother Jeff loves pie and cousin Neil likes plum desserts and when the pies are done the plum bin will finally be empty. And I will have a freezer full of desserts to keep us as happy as squirrels all winter long, but for the one pie I will serve at my annual Yom Kippur Break-the-fast next week.

Plum Pie

Dough for half crust pie

2-1/2 pounds Italian prune plums

2/3 cup sugar

2 tablespoons minute tapioca

1 tablespoon lemon juice

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

Streusel:

3/4 all-purpose flour

1/3 cup sugar

6 tablespoons butter, cut into chunks

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Roll the dough to fit a 9-inch pie pan. Crimp the outside to form a decorative edge. Wash and halve the plums and remove the pits. Cut the plums into slices and place in a large bowl. Add the sugar, tapioca, lemon juice and cinnamon and mix well. Place the fruit mixture inside the crust. Make the streusel: mix the flour and sugar. Add the butter and mix with your fingers until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs (or pulse in a food processor). Sprinkle the mixture over the fruit. Bake for 40-45 minutes or until the crust is crispy and golden brown. Makes one pie