My New Book

Don’t forget to enter to win a free copy of my new book at Liz Rueven’s blog, KosherLikeMe.

Here’s the details: http://kosherlikeme.com/give-away/the-modern-kosher-kitchen-give-away

Grilled Cheese, Egg and Tomato Panini with Basil Mayo

I won. I won. I won!

I won a recipe contest sponsored by Jarlsberg cheese.

No one ever expects to win these things, but I actually won!

What a thrill! They sent me so many wonderful gifts: a big apron, tablecloth, cold pack tote bag, gorgeous ceramic cheese board, cheese plane, cutting board and thumbnail drive for my computer (with a pretty Jarslberg holder).

PLUS: a 22 pound wheel of Jarlsberg cheese. You can see it in the second photo.

That’s a lot of cheese.

Thank you Jarlsberg! 

Here’s how it all came about: I saw the contest and remembered an event from my childhood that inspired me to create a sandwich using Jarlsberg cheese. 

The event was that when I was a kid I had a friend whose Mom was very strict and forced me to eat Swiss cheese and tomato sandwich when I went there for lunch.

I hated that sandwich but I was really afraid of her, especially because she’d stand over us, watching us eat, with her arms folded in front of her and a snarl on her face.

We moved away. I never saw my friend again.

I didn’t eat Swiss cheese for years. 

Years later I discovered Jarlsberg cheese. My Dad loved it and bought it all the time. And I noticed that although it is similar to Swiss cheese in some ways, it is milder, nuttier and much more to my liking.

Would it be good in a sandwich? The kind of sandwich I once hated? I tried it. No one watching me this time.

MUCH better!

And even better when hot, grilled like a panini.

I added a couple of extra taste bits like fresh basil and mayo, plus an egg.

It was SO good I entered it into the contest.

Here’s the link to the contest: http://www.jarlsberg.com/jarlsberg-sandwich                                                                                                                 

Grilled Cheese, Egg and Tomato Panini with Basil Mayo

• 2 teaspoons butter
• 2 large eggs, beaten
• 3 tablespoons mayonnaise
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh basil
• 4 slices multi grain bread
• 4 ounces Jarlsberg cheese
• 4 tomato slices
• 1 tablespoon butter

Heat the 2 teaspoons butter in a sauté pan over medium heat. When the butter has melted and looks foamy, add the eggs to the pan. Cook without stirring for 30-45 seconds, then flip the egg over and cook another 30-45 seconds or until cooked through. Cut the cooked egg into quarters and set aside. Mix the mayonnaise and basil together. Spread equal amounts of the mayonnaise on each slice of bread. Top two of the slices with equal amounts of cheese and tomato. Place two egg quarters on top of the tomato. Cover with second piece of bread. Heat half the remaining tablespoon butter in the sauté pan over low-medium heat. When the butter has melted and looks foamy, place the sandwiches in the pan. Place another, heavier pan on top. Cook for about 2 minutes or until the bottoms are crispy-brown. Remove the heavier pan, lift the sandwiches with a spatula and place them on a dish or cutting board. Add the remaining butter to the pan. When the butter has melted, add the sandwiches on the uncooked side and weight the sandwiches down with the heavier pan. Cook for another minute or so until second side is golden brown.

Makes 2 servings

The Connecticut Post (and its allied newspapers) featured my new book on its food pages today!

Read all about it! http://digital.olivesoftware.com/Olive/ODE/TheAdvocate/LandingPage/LandingPage.aspx?href=VFNBLzIwMTQvMTAvMzA.&pageno=MTE.&entity=QXIwMTIwMg..&view=ZW50aXR5

Official publication date is November 15th but it can be pre-ordered now, here (as well as all the usual places): http://www.qbookshop.com/products/214332/9781592336357/The-Modern-Kosher-Kitchen.html

Pumpkin Spice Cake

Already thinking about what to do with the pumpkin?

Cook it, mash it and try this cake, which is tender, gently spicy and not too sweet. It also serves lots of people. It’s the kind of cake you can dress up with vanilla ice cream or poached fruit for a classy but simple dessert, or smear with cream cheese to make a sandwich, or eat plain as an afternoon snack.

Pumpkin Spice Cake

• 3-1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
• 2 cups granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1/2 cup coconut oil, melted
• 4 large eggs
• 2 cups mashed, cooked pumpkin or 15-ounce can pumpkin purée (not pie filling)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease a 10-cup Bundt pan, sprinkle with flour and tap out any excess. Place the flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves, ginger, nutmeg and allspice in a large bowl and whisk to blend them completely; set aside. Place the sugar, vegetable oil and coconut oil in the bowl of an electric mixer and beat on medium speed for about one minute to blend ingredients thoroughly. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Stir in the mashed pumpkin and blend thoroughly. Add the reserved flour mixture and beat the mixture at medium speed for 1-2 minutes or until the batter is smooth and even. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for about 60-70 minutes or until a cake tester inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Remove the pan to a cake rack to cool for 15 minutes. Invert the cake onto the rack and cool completely. Makes one cake serving 16-18

Chicken Salad with Apples and Almonds

Ed and I have been married long enough for us to have discussed a zillion topics from public school vs. private to what color to paint the living room to which is the best mouthwash.

We never run out of conversation. But I sure was surprised last week when we found ourselves talking about whether chicken salad tastes best when you make it with soup-cooked, poached chicken or leftover roasted/rotisserie chicken. 

How had we missed this important matter in all this time?

It seems as if he finally felt compelled to let me know that my way — like my mom’s, using the chicken from the pot of chicken soup I had cooked — was not as good as the way he remembered his mom’s way (made with leftover roasted/rotisserie chicken). He added that all these years he had been eating my softer, more tender chicken salad, and enjoying it, but missed that extra “chew” you get from the meat of a roasted bird.

What do you know about that?!

Well, in any event, we both remembered that despite the difference in the way the chicken was cooked, both mothers diced the meat, added some chopped celery, mixed it with mayo and called it a day. Whereas, I never make chicken salad that way and, in fact, rarely make it the same way twice.

So folks, whatever you prefer — poached or roasted, barbecued, rotisseried or whatever, the following salad makes for a tasty sandwich filler. Feel free to change the meat to turkey, the almonds to hazelnuts, the apple to pear, the dill to tarragon, if you get my drift ….

Chicken Salad with Apples and Almonds

• 2 cups diced cooked chicken
• 1 medium apple, peeled, cored and diced
• 1/2 cup chopped roasted almonds
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh dill
• 4-5 tablespoons mayonnaise
• salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Place the chicken, apple, almonds and dill in a bowl and toss to distribute the ingredients evenly. Add the mayonnaise, sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste, mix.

Makes 2 servings

Potato Latkes

We’ve all played the old party game where someone asks “what one food would you pick if you were stranded on a desert island?” 

ONE dish. Do you pick your favorite? Something nourishing that will keep you healthy until the next cruise ship comes along? Something plain or fancy? Hot or cold?

I made the rounds recently. 

Some of the answers I got were predictable. It didn’t surprise me, for example, that a friend’s husband, one of those shoot-first-aim-later type, had an immediate answer. Of course. (He wanted Memphis Dry Rubbed Ribs). And another man I know, who always second-guesses his decisions, decided on a Meatball Hero, but only after agonizing about it.

Then there was the long-married couple who do everything together and have even begun to look alike. Neither could pick just one dish. She asked for Sushi plus Bagels with Cream Cheese and Smoked Salmon. He assumed that the “ONE” food meant an entire meal (Minestrone Soup, grilled steak, baked potato, salad and apple pie).

Lots of people asked questions before they could answer.

Questions about time: “How long am I on this island?” from Robbie, a personal trainer who knows all about nutrition so he chose meatball pizza (“it has protein, carbs, fat and vegetables”).

About health (“does cholesterol count?”) from a friend who said he could be happy with old fashioned chopped liver (made with schmaltz) on rye. 

About practical matters such as “do I have to cook?” from a friend who wanted Chinese Chicken with Cashews and Hoisin Sauce if it could be served to her as if by magic but picked peanut butter and jelly if she had to prepare the meals herself.

My very practical friend Jack said: “I’ll catch fish and have sushi.” His wife, my friend Val, who is always on one kind of diet or another, said she’d have grilled fish and salad because she’d probably still be on a diet.

For some reason that I can’t explain, everyone assumes that the island will be some tropical paradise. Someone wanted ice cream but said it would melt in the hot sun, so she picked French bread with cheese because that’s even better when it’s warm and runny.

I guess I could tell them the desert is Deception Bay in Antarctica, but why stress them out?

Most people also think they will be all alone, like Tom Hanks in Castaway, except for the few who think they’ll be someplace like Gilligan’s Island and wonder if they can share everyone else’s food.

One thing I find fascinating is that no one ever asks me what my choice would be.

Well, now that you ask ….. I’ve spent so many years posing this question to others that I am at a loss to answer it myself. Hmm. Is it hot there? (a whole grain salad). Or cold? (Bean Soup). Is there an oven? (baked potato). Can I switch on my birthday? (fried chicken). Do I get dessert with it? (Fried chicken and apple pie). Is it a whole meal? (Add corn fritters to that fried chicken and apple pie). Is Ed there and if so, can we share? (Chinese egg rolls and fried rice).

I can’t decide right now. But I’m leaning towards potato latkes because it combines two of my most favorite food things: fried (anything) plus potato. 

If I can have more than one item I’d like some smoked salmon to drape over those latkes and also a dollop of real, full-fat dairy sour cream because I’m not worried about the cholesterol on this island. If money’s no object I’d like a blob of caviar on top too. Maybe a scattering of chopped chives. Sprinkle of lemon juice.

Perfect.

Mmmmm. Nice for brunch, don’t you think? Hanukkah. Whenever. Why wait to be stranded on a desert island!?

Potato Latkes

• 4 large peeled baking (Idaho, russet) potatoes
• 1 large onion
• 3 tablespoons matzo meal, breadcrumbs or potato starch
• 2 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon salt or to taste
• freshly ground black pepper to taste
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• vegetable oil for frying

Grate the potatoes and onion into a bowl or, if using a food processor, shred the potatoes and onion together, then replace the shredding disk with the S-blade and process the vegetables to a fine consistency. Either squeeze the vegetables in a kitchen towel over a bowl or place the mixture in a rigid strainer set over a bowl and press out as much liquid as possible. Place the vegetables in a large bowl. Add the matzoh meal or breadcrumbs or use the solid potato starch that remains at the bottom of the bowl containing the squeezed liquid. Stir in the eggs, salt, pepper and baking powder. Heat about 1/4” vegetable oil in a cast iron or other heavy heat retaining skillet over medium-high heat. Drop some of the potato mixture into the pan, using equal amounts to make each pancake. Fry for 2-3 minutes per side or until the pancakes are golden brown and crispy. Drain on paper towels.

Makes about 12

Reheat: preheated 450 degree oven on a baking sheet (single layer)

An InLinkz Link-up

Baked Pound Sweet Apples

I discovered a new apple. New for me anyway. It’s called Pound Sweet (a/k/a Pumpkin Sweet) and it’s actually a very old heritage apple first known in Connecticut in the early 1800s.

I’d never heard of this one, but at Clarkdale Fruit Farm in Deerfield, Massachusetts, where I drove recently to buy my yearly supply of Rhode Island Greening apples for pies (my Connecticut source didn’t have any this year) they pointed them out and so I bought a bagful.

Turns out (as they told me at the farm) that Pound Sweet are not the best eating-out-of-hand apple — they’re mild tasting and not especially tart/acidic — but they are terrific for baking.

So I baked some. They certainly hold their shape very well and don’t become as mushy as some apple varieties. I found that baking them also took slightly longer than the more usual Romes and Cortlands do.

But the result was really good. If you can find a bunch of Pound Sweets, wonderful, but of course this recipe will be fine when made with any baking apple (if you use other varieties, do not cover and bake for the 10 minutes suggested).

Baked Pound Sweet Apples

4 large Pound Sweet baking apples (or use any baking apple)

half a lemon

1/3 cup raisins

1/3 cup dried cranberries

3 tablespoons cinnamon sugar

2 teaspoons coconut oil

1 cup mango juice 

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Wash the apples and remove the core with an apple corer or small knife, leaving about 1/2” of the core on the bottom. Peel the apples halfway down from the top and rub the peeled surfaces with the cut side of the lemon. Put the apples in a baking dish.  Mix the raisins and cranberries and stuff them into the apple hollows. Sprinkle the apples with the cinnamon sugar. Place 1/2 teaspoon coconut oil on each apple top. Cover the pan with foil and bake for 10 minutes. Remove the cover and bake for another 15 minutes. Pour the juice over the apples. Bake for another 40-45 minutes, basting occasionally with the pan juices, or until the apples are tender. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Makes 4 servings

Plum Crumble with Coconut and Bread Crumb Crust

I saw the most beautiful Empress plums at Fairway supermarket and couldn’t resist them. Empress are the ones that look like giant Italian prune plums and they’re sometimes called President plums. In my opinion they are the best variety for pies and crisps.

I bought several pounds because they have a short season and frankly I was surprised there were any left. 

Got my freezer packed with a plum pie and a plum cake plus a couple of plum crumble/crisps, including this one:

Plum Crumble with Coconut and Bread Crumb Crust

Filling:

2-1/2 pounds Empress plums or Italian prune plums

1/3 cup sugar

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1 tablespoon lemon juice

2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

Topping:

6 tablespoons unsalted butter

2 cups fresh bread crumbs

1/2 cup grated coconut

1/3 cup brown sugar

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg

pinch of salt

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Wash and halve the plums and remove the pits. Cut the plums into pieces. Combine the plums with the sugar, 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon and lemon juice and mix well. Stir in the flour and place the fruit mixture into a baking dish. Set aside. Make the topping: Melt the butter and set it aside in a bowl. Place the bread crumbs in a bowl. Add the coconut, brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt and toss ingredients to distribute them evenly. Pour in the melted butter. Mix to coat the crumbs. Sprinkle over the plums. Bake for 45-50 minutes or until the top is golden brown and crusty. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Makes 8 servings

Turkish Stuffed Peppers

It’s been a long long time since I ate stuffed peppers and a long time since I cooked them. Bell peppers and my tummy don’t always get along.

But I decided to give them another try.

My grandmother made a dish something like this one, only she used rice as the base. I switched to freekeh instead because I love this particular grain. It worked beautifully.

Looks good, tastes good, perfect for when you need a make-ahead dish to pop in the oven for dinner.

Perfect for Sukkot, when stuffed foods are traditional.

Easily transportable too.

Turkish Stuffed Peppers

8 bell peppers

1 cup cracked freekeh (or use rice)

2 tablespoons currants (or raisins)

5 tablespoons olive oil

2 medium onions, chopped

2 tablespoons pine nuts, optional

salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

1 large tomato, chopped

2 teaspoons sugar

1 teaspoon ground allspice

1-3/4 cups vegetable stock

2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley

2 tablespoons chopped fresh dill

1 tablespoon chopped fresh mint

2 tablespoons lemon juice

Place the peppers in a deep bowl and pour boiling water over them. Weight them down to keep them under the water. Let rest for 5 minutes. Drain and repeat the process with cold water. Cut a lid from the top of the peppers, but reserve the lids. Scoop out and discard the seeds and membranes. Set the peppers aside. Place the freekeh and currants in a bowl and pour boiling water over them. Let rest for 30 minutes. Drain. Heat the olive oil in a sauté pan over medium heat. Add the onions and pignoli nuts, if used, and cook, stirring occasionally, for 4-5 minutes or until the onion has softened and is slightly golden. Add the freekeh and currants and some salt and pepper to taste. Cook for another 1-2 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the tomato, sugar and allspice and cook for another minute, stirring occasionally. Add the stock, bring to a boil, cover the pan and lower the heat. Cook for about 40 minutes or until the freekeh is soft and all the liquid has been absorbed. Remove the pan from the heat. Stir in the parsley, dill, mint and lemon juice. Let cool. Use to fill the peppers. Place lids on top. (You may prepare to this point and cook later). Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Place the peppers in a baking dish. Add 2 cups of water to the dish. Bake the peppers for 40 minutes. Let cool slightly before serving (warm or at room temperature).

Makes 8 servings

Zimtsterne Cookies

When you see the first twinkle of stars in the night sky, the Yom Kippur fast is over.

You take your fist sips of that long awaited coffee, and with it …. Zimtsterne.

German star cookies. To remind you that we celebrate a new year, new beginnings, being with loved ones. Sweet. Lovely. Gluten-free too.

Zimtsterne

• 3 large egg whites

• 1-1/4 cups sugar

• 1/2 teaspoon salt

• one pound finely chopped almonds or hazelnuts, approximately

• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

• 2 teaspoons grated fresh lemon peel

• confectioners sugar**

Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. Preheat the oven to 275 degrees.

Beat the egg whites until they stand in soft peaks. Continue to beat the whites, gradually increasing the speed and gradually adding all the sugar and salt, for 6-8 minutes or until they whites stand in glossy, stiff peaks. Remove about 3/4 to one cup of this mixture to a small bowl and set it aside.**

In another bowl, combine the nuts, cinnamon and lemon peel. Fold the nut mixture into the egg white mixture in the bowl until it is uniform in color. Spoon the mixture onto parchment paper and flatten the “dough” sightly. Let stand for about 15 minutes. Place another piece of parchment paper on top. Roll the dough about 1/2-inch thick. Remove the top piece of parchment paper. One at a time, cut out star shapes from the dough (the dough is sticky and difficult to work with). Place each star on the parchment paper on the cookie sheet.

When all the stars are cut, use the reserved sugar mixture and spread on top of each star.  Let rest for 60 minutes.

Bake for about 25-30 minutes.

Makes about 42

**you can skip this meringue coat and bake the cookies uncoated (in this case, do not set aside the 3/4 cup meringue. You might need about 1/2 cup more ground nuts to make the dough less sticky). When they are baked and cooled, mix about 1/2 cup confectioners sugar with enough water to make a paste and use a small spoon to cover the cookies with the sugar paste. Let dry and serve.