Sorghum “Filling” for Thanksgiving

My mother never made Thanksgiving stuffing. She called her version “filling,” which had more or less the same ingredients as basic bread stuffing, but substituted barley shaped egg noodle pasta for the bread.

That recipe is still one of my go-tos, except that I have made one important change recently. Instead of using the pasta, I make it with sorghum.

I discovered sorghum grain last summer at the Fancy Food Show. Although I was familiar with sorghum syrup, I hadn’t realized the grain itself was available and so was intrigued when I saw the Wondergrain booth where there were pots of cooked sorghum for tasting.

Of course I tasted.

I loved it and ever since have been working with sorghum grain to make all sorts of comforting cold-weather casseroles (and also some refreshing summer salads).

I will be serving Sorghum Filling for Thanksgiving because the grain has so many benefits. I will never go back to the pasta version.

Wondergrain sorghum is:

gluten free

cholesterol free

Non GMO

kosher

a good source of fiber and iron

It’s also pleasurably chewy and tasty. A fabulous pasta substitute.

Wondergrain — who did NOT pay me to write this post — sells both whole grain and pearled sorghum. Their website offers some good looking recipes plus a video on how to cook the grain. The product does not have wide distribution yet, but I hope it soon will. Meantime, if you don’t live near one of the retail shops listed in their store locator, you can order online at http://www.wondergrain.com/shop/. 

Sorghum “Filling”

• 1 cup sorghum grain, whole grain or pearled
• vegetable stock and/or water
• 5 tablespoons olive oil or vegetable oil
• 2 medium onions, sliced
• 3 stalks celery, sliced
• 10-12 ounces mushrooms, sliced
• 2 large eggs
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
• salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Cook the sorghum with stock or water according to the instructions on the package (pearled sorghum will take 35-40 minutes, whole grain sorghum will take 45-55 minutes). Set the cooked sorghum aside. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Heat 3 tablespoons of the vegetable oil in a sauté pan over medium heat. Add the onions and celery and cook, stirring occasionally, for 3-4 minutes or until slightly softened. Add the mushrooms and cook, stirring occasionally, for 3-4 minutes or until softened. Spoon the vegetables and any cooking fluids into the pan with the sorghum. Stir to distribute the ingredients evenly. Stir in the eggs, parsley, remaining 2 tablespoons vegetable oil and salt and pepper. Spoon the ingredients into a baking dish. Bake for 30-35 minutes or until the top is golden brown and crispy.

Makes 6-8 servings

Sriracha Spiced Baked Beans

It’s cold and windy, and the peak day for our gorgeous New England fall foliage passed last Saturday. 

I need warm, winter foods. My go-to avocado/tomato side dish, the quick-and-easy asparagus salads and cold soups don’t seem right now.

So I’m thinking, baked beans. 

Yes, yes, I know there are all sorts of baked beans in a can and it’s oh so easy to open a can and have baked beans with dinner. I remember the green labelled Heinz Vegetarian baked beans that were a standard item at my house when I was a kid.

But homemade? Much better. Because you can, as they say, have it your way.

My way recently, was a recipe for spicy baked beans, seasoned with a dose of Sriracha. Perfect for cold weather. A nice side dish for Thanksgiving dinner.

Sure, it takes time. Do it on the weekend when you aren’t as rushed. Baked beans are fine, stored in the fridge, for a week. How’s that for make-ahead!

Sriracha Spiced Baked Beans 

• 1 pound dried navy or Great Northern Beans
• 6 cups water
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 2/3 cup brown sugar
• 1/3 cup molasses
• 1 8-ounce can tomato sauce
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1 teaspoon Sriracha
• 1 teaspoon dry mustard
• 4 whole cloves
• 1/2 teaspoon salt or to taste
• freshly ground black pepper to taste

Place the beans and water in a saucepan, bring to a boil over high heat and boil for 2 minutes. Remove from the heat, cover the pan and let rest for one hour. Bring to a second boil over high heat, lower the heat to a simmer and cook uncovered for one hour. (Alternately cover the beans with water and let them soak overnight, or for at least 8 hours.) Drain the beans. Place the beans in a casserole. Add the onion, brown sugar, molasses, tomato sauce, olive oil, Sriracha, mustard, cloves, salt and pepper to the beans and stir to blend them in. Stir in 2-1/2 cups water. Cover the casserole. Place the casserole in a cold oven and turn the heat to 300 degrees. Cook for 4 hours, stirring occasionally and adding water if the mixture seems dry, or until the beans are tender.

Makes 8 servings

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