Red, White & Blue Ricotta Cake

I found this on a YouTube video, in metric measures. It incorporates much of what I like in baked goods: not too sweet, fruit added -- in this case, cranberry and blueberry, an uncommon combo -- and lemon zest. I suspected the large amount of ricotta plus the yogurt or sour cream would give it the taste of a Danish, and yum. I was right!

Bake one larger, flatter cake in a spring form, and one smaller. A bundt pan would be fine, too. The picture is the mini-cake I baked for Eyal and Nadav. When I come to take care of Noa, I make sure there's a treat for the boys when they get home from school. You can't see the blueberries, which are the lower layer.

2 eggs

1/2 c sugar

Lemon zest to taste

1/2 c natural yogurt or sour cream

1/3 c neutral oil

1 1/2 c flour (can be half whole wheat)

1/2 t. salt

Scant T baking powder - seems like a lot, but it came out fine

1//4 c. cranberries, currants, or raspberries

 

Topping: 

1 c. ricotta - 8 oz

1 t. vanilla 

1/4 c sugar 

1 egg

1 T coconut

1/2 c blueberries, dusted with flour or cornstarch

Optional- Powdered sugar when you serve it.

 

350 / 35 min.

In a large bowl, whisk the eggs, sugar, and lemon zest. 

Add and whisk the yogurt, oil, flour(s) and baking powder.

Pour it in the greased baking pans, and drop the red berries on top. No need to mix, as they sink.

Mix the topping ingredients, except the blueberries. Place dollops of the ricotta mixture on the surface. Add the blueberries across the top.

Bake about 30-40 minutes until golden brown and the ricotta topping is solid. Dust with powdered sugar when you serve it.

This is a nice breakfast cake. Not very desserty.

 

Eyal particularly loves this cake. He inhales it!

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6l8IiRxkr8Y

Claudia Roden's Yogurt Cake

A 7" cake. It puffs and settles.

Here is Claudia Roden's Yogurt Cake. It's the same idea except adding yogurt gives it more heft. Eyal and Nadav love it! They call it yogurt muffins, for mysterious reasons. Note it has flour. Probably you could sub almond flour if you wanted to do this on Pesach, or make it gluten free. It's much lighter than cheese cake, but similar.

4 large eggs, separated, at room temperature - put the yolks in the larger bowl

½ cup granulated sugar
3 T [try doubling this for a denser cake] all-purpose flour (can be whole wheat)
1 ⅔ cups whole-milk Greek yogurt, or strain regular yogurt in a coffee filter for an hour or two.
1 lemon, zested and juiced

Optional: 1/2 c blueberries
Pinch of salt (optional), cinnamon to taste

Heat oven to 350 degrees and butter an 8- or 9-inch springform pan, or two smaller (A 7" and 5" works well).

• Using an electric hand mixer, beat egg whites until they're stiff peaks
• Using the same mixer, combine yolks and sugar (no need to wash beaters after the egg white). Beat on medium-high until the mixture is very pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes. 
• Mix in flour, yogurt, lemon zest and juice, and salt until fully incorporated.
• Gently fold half of the egg whites into the yolk-yogurt mixture until only a few streaks remain. 
• Fold in the remaining whites, scraping the bottom and sides of the bowl, until the batter is evenly mixed, light and smooth.
• If you add blueberries, add a little flower to coat them. Take about 2/3 of the blueberries and mix in the batter. Save the rest for the top.
• Scrape the batter into prepared pan(s) and smooth into an even layer. Set the balance of the berries on top of the cake/s. These will not sink.
• Bake until the top is speckled with golden brown and puffed, 35 to 55 minutes. ( This burns if you don't watch it! You can cover with tin foil if it's browning too fast.
• Transfer the pan to a wire rack and let cake cool before cutting. Serve warm or cold.

Smitten Kitchen Pea Mint Feta Fritters

This is a nice dish for shavuot, based on cheese and using fresh mint from the garden. It comes together fast.

2 c. frozen peas (10 oz)
3 eggs
salt & freshly ground pepper
1/4 t. red-pepper flakes
1 medium lemon, zested
1/4 c chopped mint
1 c (4 oz) crumbled feta (break up any large pieces)
2/3 c. flour (whole wheat is fine)
Oil for frying
3/4 c. Greek yogurt, unflavored

Defrost peas in a colander.

In large bowl, beat the eggs with salt, pepper, red-pepper flakes, lemon zest, and mint. Add the drained peas and feta, and then the flour. It will be a stiff batter.

Over medium heat (6 on induction, then lower it to 5 and then down to 4), heat oil in large fry pan. Add 2 T batter per patty. Cook until golden brown and flip. It should take just a few minutes. Loose peas are fried crunchy, a little added treat. Drain on paper towels. 

Add 1/2 the juice of the zested lemon to the yogurt plus a little salt, for a tasty sauce.

serve hot, though these are also good at room temperature. They are very substantial and filling. A bit of a falafel vibe.

Lemon Cream Cheese Tarts

This recipe came from Susan Schuman, a Schechter mom wtih a son was named Eric. These are very rich, but since you make them as individual little tarts, they are perfect. Nice for Shavuot. Since COVID, people are doing more individual baked goods, and they're also just right for a tea. Be sure to allow for the hour to chill the dough.

8 oz cream cheese - softened at room temperature
2 sticks of butter - softened at room temperature
1 c. flour
2 T sugar
salt to taste
1/2 t cinnamon
optional: grated lemon zest to taste

1 can of lemon pie filling (or another flavor if you prefer)

1 pint raspberries or small strawberries (like from the Strawberry Lady of Broadneck Road!)

Add the butter and cream cheese to a large mixing bowl. Mix with a pastry blender (a hand tool.) Slowly add flour, sugar, salt, cinnamon and optional lemon zest. Knead til smooth, by hand. Refrigerate for one hour.

Heat oven to 375 degrees.

Pinch 1" balls of dough and place in silicon muffin cups. Press into place making saucer shapes, with dough creating sides.Fill each with a spoonfullof pie filling.

Bake for 35-45 minutes until browned, checking they aren't burning.

Cool in the pans. Eventually pop them out and cool on racks. Refrigerate before serving. Add rasperries or strawberries for decoration. A few blueberries each would be pretty too.

Makes about 30.

Blintzes for Shavuot, or Anytime! + Strawberry Rhubarb Compote

We had a pre-Erev Shavuot dinner together at 412, and Nomi even dropped a blintz by for Rilka who was just out of surgery. (During COVID.)

I hadn't made these since I made them with my mom when I was about 17 - so, fifty years ago. They aren't hard but a lot of it is defined by the size pan. Go with an 8" or 9" non-stick. The rim of the pan shapes them; if you use a griddle, they don't have anything shaping them.

Best is a lb of farmer cheese, if you can source it. It is much drier than ricotta.

If not, you can use ricotta. Measure out the ricotta the night before and put it in a coffee filter to strain out the liquid. This method worked perfectly - a good 2 T. of liquid was there in the AM. No need to use cheesecloth.

The technique is easy to follow on this video, but I modified his recipe. Mine is below.

Makes about a dozen+ blintzes. 

For the batter:
4 large eggs
1 ⅓ c milk (a portion can be buttermilk, like up to 25%)

⅓ c cold water (if you're short of milk, you can add more water to make up the difference)
1 ⅓ c all-purpose flour
4 t white sugar
½ tsp salt
2 T + 2 t vegetable oil
⅓ t vanilla

cinammon to taste

Mix all the  ingredients in a blender until flour is well-integrated. Scrape sides as needed. Let batter sit at room temperature about a half hour. Meanwhile, make the filling. (The advantage of a blender is you can pour batter into the skillet.)

For the filling:

1 lb. farmer cheese (they have many different brands at NetCost)
zest from one lemon
pinch salt
2 T  sugar, or more to taste
1 large egg

Heat an 8" frying pan to medium, melting some butter in it. Pour a scant 1/2 c batter, just enough to cover the bottom. Swirl as needed. When the top dries, flip onto a clean dish towel and repeat, adding butter as needed. The blintz should not brown. That comes from frying them when it's rolled up. 

Check the first one or two to make sure they're pliable for folding. If they're not very flexible. Nomi had a job making crepes when she was a teen, so channel her. 

This makes about 12-14. 

Our Zwilling ceramic pan, purchased in Chestertown, is perfect and really doesn't need added butter.

You can start on the filling while you're frying the blintz discs. 

If your blintzes are browning on the bottom (which is the case with the induction at 3 or 4), fold the blintz with the browned side up.

Eventually you can choreograph it so you can fill and roll a blintz while cooking one.

Put one generous T of filling toward the bottom of the disc and flatten a little. Fold the sides in and roll up. (If they come out as trapezoids, the batter is too thick.) Depending on the diameter, they may come out more square shaped. It doesn't matter, really.

Repeat.

Fry in butter until beautifully browned. 

Shavuot is rhubarb season - I made a rhubarb/strawberry compote, Yum!!

Water - not too much, as the fruits shed water when cooked. But put the water in first or the pan burns.

Equal amounts hulled strawberries and chopped rhubarb (they are local at the same time.)

Sugar to taste

A squeeze of lemon, a little vanilla

Mint - for garnish

Bring to a boil and cook for about 25 minutes. Serve warm or cold.

If you want it thicker, add a tablespoon of cornstarch to enough water to dissolve. Add it to the boiling mixture and cook for a minute, until is thickens. Same technique as Blueberry/Peach soup.

Ricotta and Almond Flan

This cake is great chilled. It is drier than a cheescake, and not as cloyingly rich. Plus, it's gluten free. It is theoretically Kosher for Passover but you'd need substitutions for quite a few of the ingredients, so focus on Shavuot.
The only hard task is the citrus zest. Otherwise, easy.

1 c. almond flour
1/3 c. ground almonds (to give the cake more texture)
6 eggs
1 15. oz container part-skim ricotta
¾ c. sugar
¼ c. dark rum
1 t. vanilla
Grated zest of 2 oranges or lemons ( or one of each) - microplanes are perfect to do this
½ t. grated nutmeg (nice if it's freshly grated but I've never done that.)

Fruit for accompanying it - your choice.  Raspberries are nice, but really, anything. Great when local strawberries are in~

Preheat oven to 325°

Spray or butter a 9" springform pan or two smaller pans.

In large mixing bowl, mix all the ingredients. A hand mixer is good for this.

Spoon in the batter and bake until lightly browned on the edges and set in the center, about 40-45 minutes.

Remove the rim of the pan and set this on a lovely footed cake plate :-).  This would be a nice addition to a tea.  

- Just googled it and found out it is from The New York Times Jewish Cookbook, and the recipe is Regina Schambling's.  The original  says toast 1⅓ c slivered almonds for 3-5 minutes until just browned, at 300, and then grind them in a blender or food processor.

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!