My Book is Done!

My book is done, done, done!

The Modern Kosher Kitchen is ready for pre-sales.

Which means you can order one now, even though you won’t get a copy until November 1st. But the deal is: it’s cheaper now. Anywhere from $17.55 (at Indigo) to $18.49 at Barnes&Noble and Amazon. Indie Bound hasn’t listed its price. The list price is $24.99.

The title? Don’t let that stop you if you aren’t kosher. This is a book stuffed with modern American recipes and, in addition, if you happen to keep kosher, you can prepare every single one of these in your kitchen.

In addition to the usual stuff, like chapters for salad and poultry, soups and desserts, I’ve included some for recipes my readers have asked for since the publication of my first kosher cookbook, Hip Kosher. These chapters include: Vegetarian, Breakfast/Brunch/SandwichesAppetizers, Budget-Minded and Passover.

Check it out.

As a bonus, if you are among the first hundred people to order, I’ll sign it for you on a personalized bookplate.

Below is one of the recipes from the book: Kamut, Corn and Tomato Salad. Perfect for summer. Healthy. Easy to cook. Colorful. Perfect for the kosher kitchen and non-kosher kitchen.

I’ve also included some of the fabulous photos of three of the other recipes you’ll find in the book: Seared Tuna Sticks with Wasabi-Sesame Dip; Black Bean Cakes with Peppers and Cheese; and Hi-Hat Lemon Yogurt Cupcakes.

To pre-order the book:

1. go to any of the sites mentioned above (or to  bookstore) and SAVE YOUR RECEIPT. 

2. SEND YOUR RECEIPT TO ME at modernkosherkitchen@gmail.com. 

3. THE FIRST 100 PEOPLE TO EMAIL ME HIS/HER PROOF OF PURCHASE WILL RECEIVE A PERSONALLY INSCRIBED BOOK PLATE to place inside the book (a label that I will sign for you).

4. Don’t forget to tell me the the address to which you want the book plate sent.

Here’s one of the recipes:

Kamut, Corn and Tomato Salad (P)

1 cup kamut

2 cups water

2 ears cooked corn (about 1-1/2 cups kernels)

1 cup cut up grape tomatoes

1 cup diced zucchini

3-4 scallions, chopped

1 tablespoon chopped fresh oregano

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 tablespoon white wine vinegar

1 tablespoon lime juice

1 teaspoon Dijon mustard

salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Place the kamut in a bowl, cover with water and soak for one hour. Drain and place the kamut in a saucepan. Add the 2 cups water. Bring to a boil over high heat. Lower the heat, cover the pan and cook for about 45 minutes or until they grains are tender, but still slightly chewy. Drain any water that has not been absorbed. Place the kamut in a bowl. Add the corn, tomatoes, zucchini, scallions, and oregano and toss the ingredients to distribute them evenly. In a small bowl, combine the olive oil, wine vinegar, lime juice, and mustard and whisk the ingredients to blend them thoroughly. Pour over the salad and toss. Let rest for at least 15 minutes before serving. Taste for seasoning and add salt and pepper to taste.

Makes 6 servings        

Tomato Salad with Spices and Herbs

I’m almost there. My first home grown tomatoes in years and years. I used to plant them, but then the deer and rabbits and other wild creatures in the neighborhood would decide to have a feast of the stuff, tomatoes, leaves, flowers and all. So I stopped planting.

I decided to give it another try. A small garden only: tomatoes, basil and mint.

This year a cute brown rabbit did get to the basil, but so far the tomatoes are intact.

I moved the basil to the top of my grill where the rabbit couldn’t get to it, and that’s a pain in the neck when I want to grill something for dinner, which is often during the summer. But the basil does seem to be coming back, although not yet thriving.

If you ever have the chance to eat a fresh-picked tomatoes, do not pass it up. The fruit is sweet, juicy, natural.

It makes you feel better about the earth. 

Fresh garden tomatoes are best plain. But if you have enough, you can cut them into a summer salad:                                                                                                                                                                                                                             

Tomato Salad with Spices and Herbs

3 cups halved cherry tomatoes

1 tablespoon chopped chives

1 tablespoon chopped fresh basil

1 tablespoon chopped fresh mint

3 tablespoons olive oil

2 tablespoons red wine vinegar

salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Cut up the tomatoes and place them in a bowl. Add the chives, basil and mint and toss ingredients to distribute them evenly. Pour in the olive oil and wine vinegar and toss ingredients. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Toss ingredients. Let rest for about 15 minutes before serving.

Makes 4-6 servings

Poached Figs with Apricot and Cinnamon Sauce

Remember a couple of weeks ago I mentioned that I bought some fantastically delicious peaches at Costco? Well, this week I saw a boxful of fabulous-looking, velvety-skinned figs that were so picture perfect that I had to buy them.

Mostly we ate them out of hand. I cut some up for my morning yogurt. I ate one or two garnished with crumbled blue cheese.

The rest? I poached them, reduced the sauce until it was nice and thick, set the fruit up in a pretty plate, added a dab of whipped cream and a sprinkle of chopped toasted almonds and VOILA! a fancy dessert.

So easy.

Here’s the recipe:

Poached Figs with Apricot and Cinnamon Sauce

• 1 cup apricot nectar

• 1 cup water

• 1/4 cup honey

• 1 cinnamon stick, about 3-inches long

• 2 strips orange peel, each about 2-inches long

• 12 large fresh figs

• 1 cup whipped cream

• finely chopped toasted almonds

  Combine the apricot nectar, water, honey, cinnamon stick and orange peel in a saucepan over medium-high heat. Bring the liquid to a boil, reduce the heat to low and simmer for 15 minutes. Add the figs and simmer for about 8-10 minutes or until the figs are tender but not overly soft. Remove the pan from the heat. Remove the figs to a dish and let cool. Remove and discard the cinnamon stick and orange peel from the pan. Boil the liquid over high heat for about 5 minutes or until syrupy. Let cool. Spoon some of the cooled syrup onto 6 dessert plates. Cut the figs in half and place 4 halves on each of the plates. Spoon a dollop of whipped cream on top of each fig half. Scatter the nuts over the figs.

Makes 6 servings

Smoked Salmon and Egg Salad Tea Sandwiches

It’s hot, hot, hot. The new big thing. Trendy.

It was all over the Fancy Food Show last month.

What am I talking about?

Smoked food.

Smoked cheese, smoked meat, all sorts of jerky (dried smoked meat). Smoked caramel chocolates. Smoked vegetables. Even smoked sea salt.

I don’t like any of it.

Okay, maybe the smoked salt is good. And it’s true, I use a smoked turkey neck or wing when I make split pea soup.

But I really really dislike smoked mozzarella, liquid smoke-infused barbecue sauce, smoked turkey breast. Don’t give me smoked brisket or smoked pecan ice cream. Please, please NO smoked pizza. I don’t even like Lapsang Souchong Tea.

And yet —

Smoked Salmon is another whole thing. Gaspe Nova Scotia Smoked Salmon to be specific. The fancier stuff — Scottish, Irish, Norwegian and so on — is too dry and smoky for my tastes.

Give me Gaspe Nova Scotia Smoked Salmon. Soft, moist, glossy slices over a crispy potato pancake. Chopped and mixed with seasonings for Smoked Salmon Tartare. Pureed into Smoked Salmon Pate. Smeared with cream cheese and wrapped around asparagus as a quickie hors d’ouevre.

Or as a component of tea sandwiches, for some of the simplest, easiest party food nibbles there are. You can make these in minutes (okay, you will need some egg salad for starters). I don’t buy the expensive sliced salmon for these — the much cheaper “ends,” which many stores sell, is just fine.

Smoked Salmon and Egg Salad Tea Sandwiches

16 slices loaf type bread (whole wheat, multigrain, white)

1 cup egg salad

1 cup finely chopped smoked salmon

3/4 cup mayonnaise

1 cup finely chopped fresh parsley or dill, or 1/2 cup each

Place 8 slices of bread on a board and spread about 2 tablespoons of egg salad on each slice, evenly covering the entire surface up to the crust. Top each egg salad layer with chopped smoked salmon, using about 2 tablespoons for each piece. Spread half the mayonnaise on the remaining 8 slices of bread. Place these slices on top of the smoked salmon, press down lightly. Trim the crusts. Cut the sandwiches in half diagonally, then cut each half in half diagonally. Use the remaining mayonnaise to spread on the cut surfaces of each triangle sandwich. Press the edges into the chopped herb to garnish the edges.

Makes 32 pieces

Here’s how I make egg salad: 3 large hard-cooked eggs — peel and grate into a bowl. Mix in 2-3 tablespoons mayonnaise, a small amount of Dijon mustard (optional) and salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste. (Makes one cup)

An InLinkz Link-up

Blueberry Yogurt Muffins

A few days ago I posted a recipe for gluten free blueberry muffins made with almond flour and oat bran.

But a gluten free diet is not for everyone, so if you’re like me and can’t resist the tons of blueberries available now and buy them by the six-pack as I do, and you also love blueberry muffins in the summer when the berries are so fat and sweet, here’s a really simple recipe for traditional blueberry muffins.

These are plain, vanilla-y flavored. You can add a teaspoon of grated fresh lemon peel or orange peel for a more citrusy taste. You can also add a half cupful of chopped nuts.

Blueberry Yogurt Muffins

4 tablespoons unsalted butter

1-3/4 cups all-purpose flour

1/4 cup sugar

1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder

3/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 cup plain yogurt

1 large egg

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup blueberries

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Lightly grease 10 muffin cups. Melt the butter and set it aside. Mix the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and baking soda together in a bowl. In a second bowl, combine the yogurt, egg and vanilla extract and blend them thoroughly. Pour the liquid ingredients into the flour mixture and stir just to bend ingredients. Fold in the blueberries. Drop into the muffin cups. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until a cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean.

Makes 10

Gluten-Free Oat and Yogurt Muffins

It’s easy to spot new trends at the Fancy Food Show. The sales pitches are so obvious that it’s almost comical.

This year at the Javits Center it was “Hey, get your gluten-free stuff here!”

There were signs and setups everywhere I looked for everything “gluten-free” — from grains to cereals to, of course, all sorts of cakes, pastries, candies, cookies and even meat products and, not to be forgotten, every kind of chip in the food world: fava bean, quinoa, falafel and so on.

Btw, it’s also easy to notice the lack of once-fashionable-now-has-beens (at least as far as marketing is concerned). This year I only saw one itty-bitty new product with kale!

Only time will tell whether the ingredients and products of the moment will show themselves to be mere fads or enduring and valuable additions to the culinary coffers of our age. I think people will continue to eat kale because it has proven its worth. But we probably won’t see dozens more kale products in the future because our manufacturers have shifted their focus onto current trends. Like gluten-free.

I believe we will see more and more gluten-free products, a boon for people who actually require gluten-free food. Life can be difficult when you have a health problem, so making it easier to mitigate that problem is a good thing. 

I tried out almond flour, which is gluten-free and very tasty, in a couple of recipes and these muffins, which include oat bran too, were among the winning recipes. They’re easy to bake and don’t require xanthan or guar gum to keep them from crumbling apart.

Gluten-Free Oat and Yogurt Muffins

1/4 cup coconut oil

3 tablespoons honey

1 cup almond flour

1 cup oat bran

2 teaspoons grated fresh orange peel

1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup plain yogurt

1 large egg

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 cup raisins

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease 10 muffin tin cups. Heat the coconut oil and honey together in a small saucepan for about one minute or until the coconut oil has melted. Remove the pan from the heat and set it aside. In a bowl, combine the almond flour, oat bran, orange peel, baking powder, baking soda and salt, mix well and set aside. Place the yogurt, egg and vanilla extract in another bowl. Add the coconut oil mixture to the yogurt mixture and blend the ingredients thoroughly. Spoon this mixture into the bowl with the dry ingredients and gently combine the ingredients into a batter. Fold in the raisins. Spoon equal amounts of the batter into the muffin tins. Bake for about 20 minutes or until golden brown and a cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean.

Makes 10

Chicken and Peach Salad

The last place I would expect to find a great-tasting peach would be a warehouse club like Costco. But there I was the other day to stock up on paper towels and detergent and as I drifted through the food aisles, lo and behold! I saw this box of huge, gorgeous-looking fresh peaches.

The fruit was photo-beautiful and the peaches had that “give” at the stem end to mark them ripe. They had a floral fragrance too, so I bought the 5-pound box (about $10).

I have no idea whether these were “local.” They were not organic.

But they were unbelievably tasty and juicy.

I am going back for another box.

These were definitely eating-out-of-hand fruit, not to be spoiled in a fussy recipe.

But I did have some leftover chicken, so I actually sacrificed half a peach to use in enough chicken salad for one person. A bit of scallion, fresh herbs, some olive oil and lime juice and lunch that day was divine.

Thanks Costco!

Chicken and Peach Salad

2 to 2-1/2 cups diced cooked chicken

3 scallions, chopped

1 large peach, skinned and chopped

1 tablespoon chopped fresh mint

1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves

2 tablespoons olive oil

3 tablespoons lime juice

2 tablespoons white wine vinegar

freshly ground black pepper to taste

Combine the chicken, scallions, peach, mint and thyme in a bowl and toss the ingredients. In another bowl, whisk together the olive oil, lime juice and white wine vinegar. Pour over the salad and toss to coat the ingredients with the dressing. Sprinkle with black pepper to taste. Let rest for at least 10 minutes before serving.

Makes 2-4 servings

How to Make Whipped Cream

I wait all year for these: local, organic summer strawberries. Their fragrance is so like cotton candy it reminds me what it feels like to be a kid at an amusement park.

These, the small, richly-red, juicy strawberries of summer always make me wonder why I ever buy any other kind, because I know what strawberries are supposed to be and taste like. They are NOT supposed to be some colossal science fiction-fruit, pale-orange/red with white tips, without much taste and dry as pillow stuffing: the kind you find most often in the supermarket.

If you’ve never tasted a real strawberry, locally grown, do yourself a favor and find some. Make sure you buy extra because, if you’re anything like me you’ll eat a carton of them on the way home. Look for the 100% organic so you know it’s non-GMO and hasn’t been sprayed with pesticide. 

You don’t need anything else to make strawberries the perfect dessert or snack. They are amazingly, naturally sweet.

If you insist, maybe a squirt of orange juice or orange brandy.

Or homemade whipped cream. Homemade. Because store-bought whipped cream is loaded, unnecessarily, with sugar.                          

Here’s my recipe:                                                                                                                                                                                                               

Whipped Cream

1 cup heavy whipping cream

1 teaspoon sugar

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract, optional

Refrigerate a large bowl (or the bowl of an electric mixer) and beaters for about 30 minutes or until chilled. When ready, pour the cream into the bowl and beat at low speed, then gradually increasing the speed to high for 1-2 minutes or until the cream is slightly thickened. Add the sugar and optional vanilla and continue beating until the cream is thick.

Makes about 2 cups

Chicken Freekeh Salad with Mango, Dates and Pistachios

I’ve always loved the Fancy Food Show, not just because the eating is swell, but because I enjoy seeing what’s current in the food world and what manufacturers have come up with in the last year.

Trying out something new is always an exciting prospect as far as I am concerned.

And yet, for me, two of the show favorites this year were old timers that have become staples of my kitchen: freekeh and dried dates.

While freekeh is familiar at our house, I do realize that it isn’t exactly as well-known as most other grains. If you haven’t heard of it or haven’t tried it, I heartily recommend it. Freekeh is a whole grain that fills in for well-known starches such as white rice, noodles and potatoes, but is much lower on the glycemic index than those ingredients. It also has lots of fiber and protein and is a good source of calcium and iron.

It’s a variety of wheat, so it is NOT gluten-free.

There are several brands available in supermarkets and online; I tried some from Freekehlicious, which sells both whole and cracked freekeh. They sent me home with a sample of their soon-to-come freekeh pasta. (Haven’t tried it yet.)

Freekeh is nutty and toasty tasting. I love it plain and hot with a squirt of olive oil, and also cool, for salad, like the chicken salad recipe below (that includes freekeh, mango, nuts and a citrusy vinaigrette).

Dried dates are like candy— sweet, chewy and indulgent. I frequently snack on them late in the afternoon though sometimes I cut them up into my breakfast yogurt.

I have always bought Medjool dates, but at the Fancy Food Show I tried several other varieties, including safawi, saggae and sukkary at the Sahara Date Company booth. I’m convinced. If I see these in my supermarket, I’m going to be a buyer.

Because dates are so naturally sweet, they’re a good fit with tangy, citrusy and acidic ingredients. So they work harmoniously in this chicken salad too.          

Chicken Freekeh Salad with Mango, Dates and Pistachios  

• 1 cup wholegrain freekeh (or use some other whole grain)

• 1-3/4 cups water

• 2 cups diced, cooked chicken

• 1 cup chopped dates

• 3/4 cup shelled pistachio nuts

• 1/2 cup golden raisins

• 1 ripe mango, peeled and diced

• 4 chopped scallions

• 1/4 cup minced fresh parsley, preferably flat leaf

• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh mint

• 6 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

• 3 tablespoons white wine vinegar

• 3 tablespoon mango juice or orange juice   

• 2 tablespoons lemon juice

• Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Place the freekeh and water in a saucepan over high heat. Bring the liquid to a boil, stir, cover the pan and lower the heat to a simmer. Cook for about 30-35 minutes or until the grains are tender but still somewhat firm and all the liquid has been absorbed. Remove from the heat and set aside to cool. Place the cooked freekeh in a bowl. Add the chicken, dates, pistachio nuts, raisins, mango, scallions, parsley and mint. Toss ingredients gently to distribute them evenly. Combine the olive oil, white wine vinegar, mango/orange juice and lemon juice and whisk vigorously. Pour the dressing over the salad. Toss the salad and season to taste with salt and pepper. Let rest for about 10-15 minutes before serving.

Makes 6 servings.

Chef’s Salad

Need a dish to eat while you’re watching the U.S. play Belgium at the World Cup today?

Or a dish that’s useful for a Fourth of July get-together?

Or one that refreshes any old summer day?

One in which you can use leftovers so you don’t have to cook?

One that’s light, but filling and easily assembled?

Here it is: Chef’s Salad. A dish that that fulfills a multitude of needs.                                                                                                                               

Chef’s Salad

8 cups torn lettuce leaves (such as leaf lettuce, Bibb, Romaine)

2 tomatoes, chopped

1-2 leftover cooked sausages, chopped

1 cup chopped cooked beef

1 cup chopped cooked chicken or turkey

2-3 hard cooked eggs, quartered

1 large avocado, cut into bite size pieces

optional:

radicchio leaves

1 red bell pepper, deseeded and chopped

2 carrots, sliced

4-6 radishes, cut into bite size pieces

1 cucumber, peeled and cut into bite size pieces

croutons

1 cup chick peas or cooked beans

1/2 cup pitted olives

1/2 cup vinaigrette dressing, approximately

Place the lettuce, tomatoes, sausage, beef, chicken, eggs and avocado in a salad bowl. Add optional ingredients as desired. Pour some of the vinaigrette dressing on the ingredients and toss to coat. Add more dressing as desired. 

Makes 4 servings