Sweet Potato Cornbread

I just tried a NYTimes recipe for sweet potato cornbread, which we liked a lot and is more nutritious than typical cornbread. Here is my adaptation.

Eventually it occured to me to add cranberries. It's delicious and actually quite nutritious.

When Eyal and Nadav come on Wednesdays, if I have some healthy baked goods I put them on a glass pedestal cakeplate with a clear dome on top. They head right to it for inspection. I do the same in Chestertown.
Presentation!

1 small sweet potato, boiled
2 T vegetable oil
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 ¼ c milk (use yogurt, low fat sourcream, or buttermilk for some or all of the milk, for denser texture)
¾ c flour (mix whole wheat and regular)
1 ¼ c finely ground yellow cornmeal
1 T baking powder
1 t salt
¼ cup sugar
½ t ground cinnamon
½ t ground nutmeg

optional: 1/2 c. halved cranberries

Bakes at 425 in the Breville, but no need to preheat. The 1/4 sheet pan for the Breville works perfectly!

1. Peel the boiled sweet potato and put it in a smallish bowl and mash.  Add eggs, oil and milk to bowl and stir to combine.

2. In separate larger bowl, mix flour, cornmeal, baking powder, salt, sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg. Add potato mixture and mix until just combined. Add cranberries gently. (Do not overmix.) Pour batter--which will quickly get spongy--into the 1/4 sheet pan (or another shape pan) until the cornbread is puffed and golden, about 12-14 minutes. Watch carefully - it browns surprisingly quickly.

This is very pretty - doesn't really look like cornbread at this point!

Matzah Stuffing

I have the real recipe for this somewhere, but in the meantime, you don't really need a recipe.  You can make it vegetarian, and use some for a turkey and some for a veg side dish.  You could leave out the egg and make it vegan, too.

One box matzah, crumbled into small pieces, or a box of matzah farfel.  I use whole wheat matzah

Onion/s, chopped

Celery, chopped
mushrooms, chopped

Margarine or oil

Apples, chopped (don’t need to peel them)

Walnuts, chopped
Chopped chestnuts would be an awesome addition.

Egg

Broth

Seasonings

In a large frying pan, sauté  the onions and celery in either melted margarine or oil until soft.  Add the rest of the ingredients to create a moist mixture.  I usually bake some and stuff the turkey with the rest.  If you are a stuffing regular, you can figure out the proportions and seasonings you like.  

Chopped chestnuts would be an awesome addition.

Rustic Cream of Parsnip Soup

This was just added to my pantheon of great soups.  Parsnips are one of my favorite side dish vegetables, more interesting than potatoes.  Uncle Steven came to expect them at our house.  They are good roasted, a nice addition, chopped, to motzah ball soup, and good mashed, too.

This soup is creamy without using half-and-half like most recipes do. One important thing is having a good sudoku knife - without that leverage it is really hard to slice and chop parsnips.  This recipe makes about 8 servings.

1 T olive oil (or butter)
one medium onion
2-3 stalks celery
2 cloves garlic, chopped
3-4 medium sized parsnips 
2 carrots, optional (they make it a more appealing color)
4 c. broth (vegetarian powdered is fine)
bay leaf
salt, pepper
dash of nutmeg
other optional herbs - parsley or dill for garnish

• Heat oil (or butter) in a deep pot with a lid.  
• Peel and chop the onion and add it with the garlic and saute at medium.  
• Chop the celery [or leeks] and add.  
• Peel the parsnips and dice, cutting the long way and then crosswise.  Add to the sauteing vegetables.  
• Add chopped carrots, if you like.
• Pour in 4 cups of broth, salt, pepper, the bay leaf, and a pinch of nutmeg. 
• Simmer for about 20 minutes, covered, until the vegetables are soft.  
• Using an immersion blender, process until smooth.  It's fine if some of the vegetables are still a little chunky, which gives a nice texture.

It's a fairly bland color (a good reason to add carrots), so chopped parsley helps! This gives a lot of flavor and depth for a vegan dish.

Daniel Rosen's Green Shakshouka Via Jo

We have an abundant kale crop over at the Sterns - I planted a row of kale for George when he was post-knee surgery, and now - 4 months later - these monster kale plants are super prolific.  Really, I can go pick a whole basket full and you can hardly tell any is missing.
Jo made this with me when she visited for my birthday and I made it again a few days later - very easy.  You could make it more complicated with hot pepper, tomato sauces, et al, but this worked really well.

onion, sliced
1 to 2 cloves garlic, minced
lots of  fresh kale
2 to 3 tomatoes, chopped
4 to 6 eggs
pepper, salt
optional: feta cheese to sprinkle on top when you add the eggs

Chop an onion and saute it, with minced garlic, in olive oil in a large deep fry pan over medium heat.  Make sure it has a cover, which you will need.

While the onion and garlic and cooking, chop up a lot of kale.  (Spinach would work, too.)  Add it to the pan, and let it cook down.  If you have fresh tomatoes, chop and add them, as well.  Season with salt and pepper.  After about 5 to 10 minutes, they will have cooked down to a dense consistency. Crack 4 to 6 eggs, one at a time , and drop each on top of the mixture.  Cover and poach the eggs. [a sprinkle of feta cheese would be good at this point.]  This takes just a few minutes, and you can turn the heat off for most of it.

It is a great brunch dish, and or lovely for a light dinner.  We used eggs from the Rosens' coop, quite a treat.

Carrot Ring

Carrot ring makes for a very elegant presentation, especially for a vegetarian meal when nothing is quite the star. A carrot ring is only maybe an inch or two high - this picture creates an illusion of it being much larger. First ingredient is a silver tray or other serious serving dish.

This is a Midwestern dish from the post-war era.  It is essentially a carrot bread baked in a ring mold.  I have always used margarine so it's parve but you could certainly use butter for a dairy entree.  My mother liked to make it for holidays and an occasional Friday night dinner.  Molds are always a little temperamental, but fun.

First, grease a ring mold well - spray with oil, and then use the leftover margarine on the wrapper to schmear it some more.  This is what makes it cooperative when you unmold it.

Now you can probably, come to think of it, buy a non-stick ring mold!

1 stick margarine (or butter) - 8 oz
½ c. brown sugar
2 to 3 large carrots, shredded (~ 1 cup)
1 egg
1 T. lemon juice
1 T. water
1 t. vanilla
1 t. salt
½ t. baking power
½ c. whole wheat flour
¾ c. white flour
½ t. soda
Frozen peas (yes, frozen peas.  Also good for Indian dishes, and icing sore muscles!)

It is usually easiest to shred the carrots by hand.  It is not that much work and in my experience, in the food processor there are often large chunks of carrot that don't process.

In a large bowl, cream the margarine by hand or with a hand mixer.
Add sugar and egg.
Add remaining ingredients and mix well.
Place in tablespoons or spatula full clumps in the ring mold, so that it is evenly filled.

Bake at 275° or 300° for about an hour. Cook the peas in a covered sauce pan for 5 or 10 minutes.
Gently, with knife, loosen the carrot ring edges.  Place the serving tray over the mold and then invert it, tapping out the mold.  Serve with the drained peas in the center.
 Hope it worked for you!

Tsimess

I haven't made this tsimess for a long time, but it is a particularly good recipe.  I now have most of my favorites up on this blog and decided adding this one would be a good way to make sure I don't lose this recipe which was from the Teaneck Sisterhood Cookbook back in the day.  The spices are lovely - sometimes you can find them pre-mixed, called Pumpkin Pie Spices.

Basically any combination of carrots, sweet potatoes, prunes, and some OJ would make a good tsimess.  It is a very flexible dish.  I modified this one by adding a can of pumpkin, which thickens it and is extremely nutritious.

1 lb. peeled, sliced carrots or frozen serrated carrots
2 peeled, cubed sweet potatoes
1 can pumpkin
3 T. margarine (or butter, if it's dairy)
1 c. water
½ c. honey
2 T. brown sugar
½ t. ginger
½ t. nutmeg
½ t. cinnamon
1 t. ground cloves
2 T lemon juice or one fresh lemon's juice

Mix all the ingredients in a large covered ovenproof pan.  Cook at 350 for 2 hours.

Pesto & Friends

gvelling celebrants: Emily, Sam, Tricia, Anna, Nomi, Charlotte at 6622

I can share the recipe for pesto.  You do not need the recipe for friends!

Fresh basil and tomatoes from the garden

Pesto is more of a technique than a recipe.  "Pesto" is related to pestle, to grind or crush.

Fresh basil
garlic, minced
grated Parmesan cheese
nuts: pine nuts or walnuts
olive oil
water, if needed

Rinse the basil, and tear of the leaves.  Put it in a food processor with chopped garlic and add a little oil and water.  Process until  puréed .  Gradually add the nuts and grated cheese until it creates a dense paste.  Add more oil, or water, or a combination if it is too solid.

This is great over pasta, of course, but also a nice spread with crackers, or with a wonderful vegetable like red pepper slices.

 

Rachel Falkove's Fruit Soup

In summer start to crave this cool, frothy soup.  It is way easy.  Abba and I once had a similar breakfast soup at Grossingers, a classic borscht belt hotel.  Grandma Fritzie and Grandpa Sam stayed there once and talked about it for years.  It was famous for its quantity of food, and you could keep ordering things to try from the menu and the waiters kept bringing anything you wanted without having to pay anything additional.  Now it seems wasteful, but that was a generation who had been through the Depression and World War II and it felt like Olam Haba.

This is a half recipe of Rachel's version, to fit in a blender.  You can use the measurement on the blender and save a measuring cup.

2 c. orange/pineapple juice (or plain OJ)
1½ c. buttermilk (lowfat is fine)
½ c. sour cream or yogurt
1½ c. fresh fruit - berries or any chopped fruit you like (blueberries, raspberries, peaches ...)
½ t. agave or honey
Mint for flavor
Mint for garnish

1. Blend all ingredients EXCEPT FRUIT.  A blender works best, but you could do it with a whisk in a soup tureen.
2. Chop fruit into small pieces.  You can add when you prepare, or when you serve.
3. Chill.
4. Garnish with mint.

Buttermilk Kugel

This is an easy, dense, nutritious relatively low-fat/nutritious kugel.  Most kugels call for sour cream and/or cream cheese.
The recipe comes from both Beryl Levine, Susan's mom, and Bev Osnowitz, Debi's mom. Beryl didn't cook much, what with five kids and commuting 90 miles to law school.  She was the talk of the town. My mom's generation, about 10-20 years older, just couldn't understand why a well-to-do doctor's wife with 5 children could have high-powered career ambitions.  Once she was a practicing lawyer and appointed to the North Dakota state supreme court, they warmed up to the idea, though.

12 oz egg noodles
3 eggs
½ c. sugar - less if you don't want it as sweet
3 c. buttermilk (lowfat by nature, but I think you can also opt for a lower fat variety)
butter - generous pat
optional: small can crushed pineapple. (Don't need to drain.)

Streusel topping:

¼ c. brown sugar mixed with ¼ c. cornflake crumbs and about a teaspoon of melted butter

1. Boil noodles, following package directions.


2. Preheat oven to 350°.  Put the pat of butter in the pan, cut it into small pieces, into a large oven-proof pan (lasagna size).  Place in the oven to melt the butter.


3. In a large bowl, mix all the non-streusel ingredients.  With a HOT PAD, take out the pan, swirl the melted butter to coat the whole pan bottom.  Pour in the noodle mixture, which will be very loose.


4. Bake for 35 minutes.  Take out the kugel and spread the streusel on top, pushing any baked/hardened noodles down underneath the surface.
    
5. Bake another 25 minutes.

I like this with cut fresh fruit.  If it's for shavuot, you might hit local strawberries!

Greek Salad with Grilled Pita

Greek salads are often too drenched in oil for my taste, but this version is lighter, with the ingredients more finely chopped.  The grilled pita idea came from a Greek coffee shop in Ocean City.  It is just the right addition to make the meal more solidified.

Salad greens, your choice (classic is iceberg, not very nutritious)
1 tomato, chopped
1 green pepper, chopped
1 or 2 hard-boiled eggs, sliced
about a dozen olives, pitted if possible, and halved
a few oz. crumbled feta cheese
your choice: chunked cucumbers, anchovies, artichoke hearts
any Italian salad dressing

This serves 2 as a main dish.  It is really attractive served in a low flat bowl.

For the grilled pita: take 2 whole wheat pitas or naans, cut into halves or quarters, and fry in a little olive oil till browned.  So simple, really good.

This is a nice summer dinner.  Also nice for shalosh seudah guests.

Gefilte Fish for Seder

Now you know what food stylists do - they make food look good for photography.  But this is what it really looks like.  Thanks, Jo, for the picture!
I just follow the directions on the package, which is a frozen 1 lb block of gefilte fish.
Boil it in water to cover, in the parchment wrapping, for about 90 minutes, adding onion for flavor and sliced carrots.  You can just put in baby carrots and slice them afterwards.  Add about 1 T. sugar.  (Consult the package, but I think that's it!)
Each loaf makes about 10 slices.  Lay them out on romaine lettuce leaves, spoon horseradish on, and garnish with carrot slices.
People all have lots of opinions on gefilte fish.  This is as good as any I've had.  Seems like one of those foods that has limited upside, so go with what is easy and attractive.  (I can barely look at the stuff in the bottles.)

Seder Carpas a la Teutsch

Jo photographed the trays as we were putting them together - before we added the boiled potatoes.
We borrowed this idea from Sharon and Michael Strassfeld when we had a seder at their house maybe  circa 1982?

The two vegetables to prep in advance are fingerling potatoes, boiled for about 20 minutes, and asparagus.  I generally prepare 2 bunches, trimming ~ 2" off the ends. I spread them out on a flat pan with a small rim and spray them with olive oil and season them with salt and pepper.  If I was able to find Kosher for Passover seasoned salt, I use that.  Then I broil them at high for about 7 minutes until they start to brown a bit.  That's it!

In 2018, I bought a big container of organic baby spinach and carpeted the tray with it. If you use lettuce, you wind up tossing it afterwards, but the spinach came through fine and can then be consumed. It's really pretty. A carpas carpet.

It is virtually the only time of year I buy endive, about 4 heads.  They are a tradition for Passover, and very pretty.  The rest of the vegies are more pedestrian - baby carrots, red peppers, cucumbers.  This year you suggested fresh peapods.  Radishes are pretty.

For dip #1 I use mayonnaise + a lot of fresh dill + seasonings.  You could use some vegie broth powder, too.
Becca likes: mayo, lemon, and dill

For dip #2: mayonnaise, grated beet horseradish, some ketchup, and some chopped dill.

Dip #3: avocado with lime and salt/pepper.

You can now find baba ghanouj ready made, another lovely dip.

Some people like plain balsamic vinegar.

Tea Party!

Any community organizer worth her salt hosts tea parties.  It's a lovely way to build relationships, enjoy each other's company, and generally just be civilized.  Teas draw people out, and the traditional British tea table is just so pretty.  I grew up with pretty china around, but teas were not a thing.  I am not sure quite when I got into the whole convention, but our house on Cliveden Street certainly lent itself to teas, and I guess when I inherited the silver tea service, it was asking to be used.  My mother used it on very special occasions.  I am the reverse, I like to create an occasion and make it special by using it! [I have since donated the silver service but the same rule applies - use your beautiful things.]

Teas can be simple.  I use them as an excuse to bake things I never would have in the house, because they are loaded with butter and sugar, take a lot of time to prepare, and are generally treats.  The staple is dressed up Dorrie Greenspan scones, iced with simple confectioners sugar glaze.  Put about 1/2 c. confectioners sugar in a bowl and add water DROP by DROP until it's just smooth enough to spoon on the baked scones.  Easiest is to dip each scone in the bowl of icing.

Sugared grapes on a glass platter

Another fun treat, a new experiment, is sugared grapes.  They are so simple it is ridiculous. Cut a bunch of grapes into clusers of 4-5 grapes.  Dip them in sugared, honeyed, or agaved (?) water and then into a container of sugar.  Or you could put the sugar in a container with a top and shake them.  Then set them down and the sugar hardens.  You can freeze them and eat them frozen or just eat them room temperature.  They are prettier in clusters than individually.

It's nice to have a pretty cake at a tea, and little tea cakes.  The ricotta cookies make good tea cakes.  Quickbreads do too, like a banana bread. The blueberry or cranberry crumbles, baked in silicon muffin tins, would be ideal for a tea - individual portions, and colorful.

Tea sandwiches are a fun British tradition.  Basically you need a loaf of fairly soft sliced bread.  Any filling is fine, and a thinly sliced cucumber is a good addition.  You need soft butter.  Take one bread slice, but a thin filling of, say, egg salad, add a cucumber slice, put the top on, and carefully slice off the crusts.  Then slice in four diagonals, for pretty little sandwiches.  Salmon works well, cream cheese, some add watercress for crunch.  Don't know why these are so appealing, but they are!

Stove-Top Roast Potatoes

Small new potatoes are wonderful.  If you spray them with oil, season to taste, and roast them in the oven at 425 for a half hour or so, they are scrumptious.  Turn them over once, so they brown but don't burn.
If you don't want to heat up the oven, here's an alternative:

2-3 T olive oil
[optional but yummy - diced onion]
2 to 3 lbs small Red Bliss or Fingerling potatoes (they come bagged) - each sliced in half
herbs - tarragon or rosemary are nice
salt/pepper

Put oil in a medium, heavy fry pan with a lid, heat, and add diced onions until they soften. Add sliced potatoes, stir and heat for a few minutes.
Cover. Cook over low flame for 10-15 minutes or so.  Uncover, season with salt and crushed herbs (fresh are the best), shaking to cover all the surfaces.  Cover and turn off burner.

The onions carmelize and are super delicious.

They are also great cold, say for a summer shabbat lunch.