Cranberry Brie Pull Apart Loaf

We don't have parties very often, but I just made this for a winter tea. It's appropriate anytime, but lovely for the Thanksgiving to New Years holiday stretch. It is beautiful and delicious. A bit of a technical challenge, but not much in the way of complexity. Quantities are flexible.

1 round or oval boule or sour dough loaf
1/3 c whole cranberry sauce (could be apple slices for RH) [I just made a small amount with equal parts water, sugar, and cranberries]
5 T butter

1-2 T honey
8-10 oz Brie (it's easy to find kosher brands now, for whatever reason) - sliced thin.
a few sprigs of rosemary, chopped, plus a few sprigs for garnish

Thyme - chopped or ground, maybe a teaspoon.

Preheat oven to 350.

Cut the loaf in a criss-cross grid, leaving the bottom intact. Make sure the knife is sharp - if the bread is dense, this is hard. One recipe said to do is diagonally, which might be easier.

Melt the butter with honey, rosemary, and thyme.

Setting the sliced loaf on a tin foil base, on your baking tin - pour about half of the melted butter in the crevices and over the top so it soaks in.

Poke the brie slices in the cuts, in both directions. It's going to melt, so don't worry about it being perfect.

Pour, or by hand, stuff cooked cranberries in the slots. Pour the rest of the cranberry sauce and the butter over the top.

Bake until the brie melts, about 15 minutes. Don't overbake or it's really hard to cut the bottom. 

It's nice on a pedestal cake server. Garnish with rosemary sprigs.

Use a serrated spatula and pull!

This is gorgeous! And delicious!

There was a lot leftover and I served it room temperature at a kiddush, and people enjoyed it that way, too. But hot and gooey is the goal.

Oven-Baked Latkes

These were decent latkes, and had some unique features.

The first is they were made with potatoes that Micah dug up, literally, from his garden here.

Second, you don't need to peel the potatoes. That's a great hack.

These are oven baked, and tasty, but much lighter than pan-fried. A plus or a minus, depending on your tastes.

And, the parchment paper is brilliant. There is a similar version up at King Arthur. It preheats the oil on the baking sheet, with no parchment paper. Worth trying heating the oiled parchment paper, I think. I doubt it would burn.

Heat oven to 350.

3 large potatoes (you could make one a sweet potato)
1 onion
3 T. flour
1 t. baking powder
1 t. salt
1 egg

Line a large sheet pan with parchment paper. Pour some olive oil on it, and spread with a brush.

Wash but don't peel the potatoes. Grate with a box grater, into a strainer colander. Do the same with the onion. Squeeze as much liquid as possible, pushing it through the mesh. (You can do this in a regular bowl, but the mesh is much easier!)

In a large bowl, mix flour, baking powder, and salt. Drop the potato mixture in with an egg, and stir till well mixed.

Drop by flattened large spoonfuls onto the baking sheet. This made 12. Bake at 350 for fifteen minutes. Turn up to 425. Flip and bake another 15 minutes. They do brown and crisp.

They definitely smell like latkes!

Sweet Potato Spinach Feta Latkes

These combine two superfoods, spinach and sweet potatoes. And if you're making them for Hanukkah, the Greek cheese celebrates that long after the fact, we are eating their food and they are gone!

No exact measures.

2 peeled, grated sweet potatoes
1/2 small onion, minced
8 oz of chopped spinach, microwaved with the moisture squeezed out
2 eggs
a few oz. grated Feta
1-2 T flour
salt, pepper

oil, butter for frying

Mix the ingredients well. Heat the oil and butter to medium high. When the butter is browning, add the batter by spoonfuls.  Fry until browned, and flip. Be patient - these need to brown. The cheese will melt and emit some liquid.

Makes about a dozen.

Spanish Potato Omelette - Tortilla Espanola

I read about this dish, a classic tapas in Spain, and gave it a try. There are many versions with various add-ins, but this is the basic. You can increase the quantity. This made 4 portions. The tricky part is flipping the pancake so the eggs set and it's browned on both sides.

2 large russet/baking potatoes
1 large onion
generous amount of olive oil
4 eggs

Peel the potatoes and slice in fine chunks.
Heat olive oil at medium heat in a large fry pan, and add the sliced potatoes.
Chop the onion and add to the frying pan. 

Stir occasionally until the potatoes start to brown and the onions become transparent and start to brown. The potato slices stick together so break them up when you stir.  This takes about 10-12 minutes.

Crack 4 eggs into a large bowl and beat.
Mix in the cooked potatoes and onion.

Heat more olive oil in the frying pan, or in a smaller frying pan that will hold the mixture. Pour in the egg/potato/onion mixture at medium heat until the bottom browns and the eggs start to set. Don't leave it for too long (like, for example, to go light Hanukkah candles 

😊) cuz it can burn.

Now for the trick.  Flip it onto a flat surface with the cooked part face up, keeping it intact.
Then slip it back into the frying pan to brown the bottom. There are other methods of doing this, but this one worked well. Invert to serve. It's very filling, and attractive. 

Serve warm or at room temperature.  This is a very solid, hearty, tasty dish.

And very aesthetically appealing. And kosher for passover!

Potato Scallion Fritterra - From Bert Greene

This recipe is from Bert Greene's Greene on Greens.  Funny how you can have a whole cookbook and basically keep it for one recipe.
 Fritterra doesn't seem to mean anything, but I guess the idea is it's between a pancake and a fritter. I prefer these to latkes - they are a good winter side dish or make a light meal if you serve soup + salad.  He relates that he learned the recipe from an Israeli cab driver.  Sounds plausible~


1 bunch scallions, trimmed and chopped into 2" sections

2 Yukon gold potatoes (or russet), large but not huge, boiled.  

2 eggs

1/4 t nutmeg

salt, pepper

1/4 c. bread crumbs (or matzah meal + seasonings)

oil for frying
* you could also add chopped spinach, grated carrot, or any other fresh vegetables that appeal.

1. Boil the potatoes.  It's best do this ahead, so they're easy to peel later.  The skin will just pull off.

2. In a medium microwave-safe bowl, add a little water to the chopped scallions and microwave ~ 2 minutes.

3. Add the potatoes, pulling of the peel, to the scallions.  Use a potato masher, and add the two eggs, seasonings, and breadcrumbs. 

4. Heat oil in a large non-stick frying pan.  Drop by large spoonfuls.  Once they've browned, flip them over and flatten them with a spatula.