Magical Tri Melon Soup

This soup is August in a bowl. It's a Jane Brody recipe - she credits Gourmet magazine.

Because the mixtures have different densities (apparently something you can do with other types of soups, too), they don't mix when you put them in the bowl.

I added a third and it works perfectly - watermelon chunks  puréed with mint and squeezed lemon juice.

1 cantaloupe, ripe

2 lemons

1 honey dew melon, ripe

2 T. lime juice (or a fresh lime)

1/2 seedless watermelon, cubed

lots of mint

salt and agave to taste

Peel and cube the first melon. This is labor intensive - use a large cutting board. First cut in half, and scoop out the seeds. Cut in 1/8s and then slice each along the curve of the melon, leaving the flesh. Cube and throw in a powerful blender, like the ninja. Or, buy it cubed!

Squeeze in the juice of the lemon and a little salt. Empty into a pitcher.

Repeat with the honey dew, adding mint, lime juice, and salt. You can add a little agave if you like it sweeter.

The watermelon is less dense but will still hold its shape. Same procedure. 

Chill.

To serve, use flat soup bowls. Put a scoop of honey dew to the side of the bowl. Gently pour the cantaloupe into the open space, and also the watermelon. If you're lucky, it will create a crescent shape. So pretty.

Garnish with fresh mint. Do not serve to the Rosen clan. They don't like melons!

Jane Brody Bran Pretzel Rolls

I baked these when you were little. They aren't exactly no-knead, but you knead the dough in the bowl so they're a bit easier than many yeast doughs.

They have both whole-grain cereal and whole wheat, making them very fiber rich.

Jane Brody is still, in 2021, at age 80 a NYTimes Science/Healthy columnist, so she has been a guide my whole adult life. In the 80s she had a PBS cooking show I watched occasionally, and I have two of her cookbooks. They aren't fancy, but the recipes are good and things you'd really make, with healthy ingredients.

These are prettier with an egg wash glaze and sesame seeds. I baked them during the 2020 CoronaQuarantine, when I was craving yeasty rolls.

I just baked some for Eyal and Nadav's first days at the ECP.
They are satisfying and just a little sweet - what I enjoy for breakfast.

Four addenda:

1) No need to refrigerate the dough. Today, with a room temperature of 66 or so, I rolled the pretzels out after the first rise with room temperature dough, much easier. I shaped them and left the tins out for about 3-4 hours at room temperature and they were fine. Eyal, Nadav and I egg-washed and sprinkled them.

2) If you do refrigerate the dough, let it come to room temperature before rolling out. The cold dough is very hard to work with.

Roll it into an oblong, and cut it into 24 long lengths. This saves a lot of time!

3) To make the pretzel shape, curve 12" strands and curve them, crossing each other, and attach. Take the two endsand press both end into the edge. A fancier version: twist before attaching.

The thinner and longer you roll the dough, the more defined the pretzel shape is.

4) Egg wash before the rise. Rewash and sprinkle with sesame seeds for a prettier roll.

After the 2 hour rising. 

Jane Brody's Best Bran Muffins

Jane Brody's cookbook was my favorite for many years. I make these once or twice a year. It's a double batch. Lately I have been baking half in muffin tins and the other half* in a not quite quarter-sheet that fits in the Breville. Way easier - instead of muffins, squares.

3 C shredded *bran cereal (e.g. All-Bran, 100% Bran, etc.)
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 C raisins
1 C boiling water
2 eggs, lightly beaten
2 C buttermilk
1/4 cup molasses
2 1/4 cups whole-wheat flour
4 t sugar
2 1/2 t baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt

1. In a large bowl, combine the cereal, oil, and raisins, and pour the boiling water over them. Set the mixture aside to cool slightly.

2. In a small bowl, combine the eggs, buttermilk, and molasses. Add this to the partly cooled cereal mixture. 

3. In another small bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt. Add the flour mixture to the cereal mixture, stirring just enough to moisten the dry ingredients. Cover the batter with plastic wrap, wax paper, or a damp towel, and let it stand for at least 15 minutes, preferably for 1 hour. 

4. Preheat the oven to 400. Grease *24 muffin portions, and divide the batter among them filling each cup about three-fourths full. 

Bake the muffins for 20 to 25 minutes. Remove the muffins from the oven, and, when they are slightly cooled, turn them in the tins and tip them to cool.

Jane Brody's *All Bran crust for blueberry pie uses the same ingredient.

Jane Brody's Lentil Paté

The trick to this easy, delicious dish is carmelizing the onions.  It makes a large quantity, enough for an appetizer for 8-10 people, plated.  (Good opportunity to use pretty salad plates.)  I like to serve it with a variety of crudites, like hearts of palm, radishes, whole mushrooms, and baby carrots.  Like carpas, but not Pesadik [though it is now that we eat kitniot].

1 c. lentils
3 c. water
1 large or two medium onions, diced
1 egg
oil (or butter)
chopped walnuts (about 5 - optional)
salt, pepper, and seasonings you like  (dill would be good)

In a 2 quart pot, boil the lentils in the water for about 35 minutes. Put an egg in for the last 20 minutes or so, to hard boil.

Fry the onions in a fry pan in the oil.  Do this at medium heat for about 15 minutes or more, stirring frequently so the onions carmelize but don't burn.  Easy to do this while the lentils are boiling.

Drain the lentils, peel the egg and mash it.  Then add the onions and mashed egg to the lentils, mashing with a potato masher.  No need to use a food processor, but pulsing with an immersion blender saves time. A masher gives it a little more texture.  It isn't the prettiest color, so -  hello, Parsley!!

You could leave out the egg and make this vegan.  

It is similar to the mushroom paté I make at Pesach, with dill.  In fact, dill would be great in this.

Jane Brody's Cranberry Apple Crisp

This has always been a favorite recipe of mine, and Abba doesn't touch the stuff.  It is a one bowl recipe, you don't need to peel the apples, it is beautiful and very nutritious.  What more could you want?  In Abba's case, "chocolate".  It is vegan, a nice benefit.*

Found this online - it has a double amount
of the oatmeal crumble topping.  You can
also add extra sugar to the basic recipe.

Try to buy a few bags of cranberries when they are in season and just throw them in the freezer.  It is fun to have them for Passover, if they are there that long.

3 cups cranberries (1 12-ounce bag)
2 large apples, unpeeled, cored and chopped thin
½ cup sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
¼ cup flour, divided
¾ cup rolled oats (regular or quick)
½ cup chopped walnuts (optional)
3 tablespoons butter or margarine, melted
2 tablespoons brown sugar

Grease a 2 quart shallow baking dish well.

In a large bowl, combine the cranberries, apples, sugar, cinnamon, and 1 tablespoon of flour. 

Transfer the mixture into the greased  baking dish. 

In the same bowl (no need to wash it), combine the remaining flour, brown sugar, oats, and nuts. 

Stir in the melted butter or margarine and mix the ingredients well (the mixture should be crumbly). Sprinkle the oat mixture over the fruit mixture. 

Bake the crisp in a preheated 375 degree oven for 40 minutes or until the crisp is lightly browned. 

*for a gluten free version, I omitted the flour and used ground oats.  It was much runnier but still tastes great.

Jane Brody's Unstuffed Cabbage

I don't know if this is in her cookbooks - I found it in a magazine.  It is perfect for sukkot, since it is a one dish meal, basically.  Add challah, salad, dessert - good to go.
I can't find any ground turkey this year so I may make it with ready-to-go veggie meatballs.  This is perfect for cooks, like moi, who don't like to spend a lot of time making stuffed cabbage.
A nice accompaniment is a bowl of boiled red bliss potatoes.  Or you could peel baking potatoes, chop them in eights or so, and cook them in the stew.

Ingredients

• 1 large onion, diced
• 2 lbs cabbage, sliced
• 1 (8 ounce) cans tomato sauce
• 1 (28 ounce) cans chopped tomatoes, with juice
• 1 cup water
• 1/4 cup honey
• 1/4 cup lemon juice

• 1 lb ground beef

• 1/2 cup white rice, raw

• 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

  
  

  or substitute 2 pkg vegetarian meatballs

• salt and pepper
• 1/2 cup raisins (optional)

Directions

1. In a large, heavy pot combine the first 7 ingredients; bring to boil.
2. Meanwhile make meatballs with beef, rice, Worcestershire sauce and add to pot; reduce heat to low and simmer for 2 hours.
3. If desired, add raisins and cook an additional 15 minutes.

Kasha Varnishkes - tweaked from Jane Brody

I've already been through the year once with this blog, so there are fewer favorites to add, but kasha varnishkes is a great dish.  I have been bringing it to the break fast at the Ferleger Friedmans for probably 15 years.  I love it, Zach loves it, Abba doesn't love it, so I don't make it for us at home much.  However, it is a great lunch  and it's easy to double the recipe and freeze a lot. This recipe makes a HUGE amount.  This is really good stick-to-the-rib food.  Buckwheat is extremely nutritious and when you cook it in egg, even more so. (not vegan.)

When I was a grad student at HUC-JIR, it was on 68th St, so we'd occasionally eat on 72nd Street at what I think was called the Famous, a dairy kosher deli which catered to refugees who populated the area - by the 1970's, they were elderly.  They served this dish with a mushroom gravy, and it was GOOD.  Rumor had it that Isaac Bashevis Singer ate there.  (there was also a great cafe for pastry -Eclaire, very European and elegant, nearby.)

2 t. butter or oil
2 medium onions, chopped fine
½ lb. sliced mushrooms
2 eggs
1 BOX buckwheat groats, medium granulation  = 2¼ c. kasha  (Wolff's is classic, but any brand is fine.)
4½ c. boiling water + bouillon powder (1 T + 1 t)
1 lb bow-ties (large size, not the little ones for soup)
salt & pepper

In a large pot, bring water to boil (about 2 quarts) to boil and cook bowties according to the package directions.

Meanwhile, in a LARGE skillet with a cover, heat the oil and saute the mushrooms and onions until soft and translucent.

In a medium mixing bowl, pour in the box of kasha and two eggs, and mix until all the groats are wet.

Add to the skillet and cook over medium heat, stirring, until the groats are dry and separate from one another.


Add the hot broth to the skillet, add salt and pepper, cover, and simmer for 10-15 minutes until all the liquid is absorbed.  If it's an electric stove, you can turn the burner off for most of the time.

Drain the bow-ties.  In a very large serving bowl, mix the bow-ties with the cooked kasha. You will likely have enough for some freezer utensils, too.

(The advantage of this version, a huge quantity, is that it uses the whole box of kasha and the whole box of bow-ties, so you don't have odd amounts left over in your pantry, and isn't much more work than making a normal amount.)

It is good with grated cheese, and also with a gravy.  The ratio of groats to bow-ties isn't strict.  And, the reason not to use the finest granulated kasha is that it's too fine and separates from the pasta so it's hard to eat.

Jane Brody's Blueberry Pie with Bran Crust

Jane Brody has been my cooking guide for 30 years.  Being a reader of her New York Times columns made me attentive when she published her big book.  When Zach was little, she had a cooking show on NPR, which I watched and further bonded with her.  Nina Wacholder gave me her second book, but I haven't used it quite as much.  Her recipes are good, solid, unpretentiously presented.  She has already healthed them up, taken out excess fat, used whole grains, et al, so you don't need to further modify them.  And her explanations and stories are realistic.  She seems like someone you'd want to have coffee with.
At the moment, I am looking for a new guru, since her recipes are now a generation old.  Will keep you posted.  This blueberry pie is a favorite for summer shabbat.  You can see some of my modifications from over the years, including where an errant blueberry stuck to the page.

Crust:
1½ c Bran Buds (or any all-bran cereal)
 1/4 c all-purpose flour
 2 T butter or margarine, melted
 1/2 cup apple or grape juice

Filling:
 4 c fresh blueberries (2 pints), rinsed
 6 T sugar or to taste
 2 T all-purpose flour
 1 T lemon juice
 1/8 tsp nutmeg or to taste
 2 t confectioners' sugar (optional)
Optional: Limoncello Sauce

Directions:
1. Combine the crust ingredients in a medium bowl. Blend the ingredients until they are well mixed and the cereal is partially softened. Press the mixture onto the bottom and sides of a greased 9-inch pie plate or springform pan, leaving no holes. [The springform pan makes for a beautiful presentation; the blueberries hold their shape fine.]

2. Bake the crust in a preheated 375° oven for about 12 minutes or until edges of the crust begin to brown. Let the crust cool on a rack before filling it.

3. To make the filling, in a medium saucepan with a tight cover, combine 2 cups (half) of the blueberries with the sugar, flour, lemon juice, and nutmeg. Cover the pan, and cook the filling, stirring it occasionally, over moderately low heat for about 5+ is minutes, until the sugar is dissolved and the berries begin to burst. Remove the filling from the heat.

4. Stir in remaining uncooked berries, and mix the filling well. Pour the filling into the prepared crust. Let the pie cool on a rack. If desired, sprinkle the top with the confectioners' sugar just before serving.

5. If you like, serve the Limoncello Sauce on the side. It is a scrumptious combination and a great color contrast.