Cold Sesame Noodles

If you measure the oil first,
the other ingredients can float above it -
a little time saver.

Sauce ingredients:

8 T Chunky Peanut Butter

4 T Veggie broth (follow instructions for your veggie broth powder)

9 T Soy Sauce

6 T Sesame Oil

2 T Cider Vinegar

3 T Honey (maybe substitute agave nectar for vegans)

3 cloves minced garlic

4 T vegetable oil

Other Ingredients:

1 lb cooked cold spaghetti
3 Tbsp sesame seeds.
4-5 Scallions
1 cucumber (in strips)

Process:

1. Put the Peanut Butter, Veggie Broth, and Soy Sauce in covered bowl (leave some space for air to escape. Microwave for 30 second. Stir until the PB is no longer stuck together and the texture is consistent. You may need to put it in the microwave for another 20 seconds to get the texture consistent. this step take some elbow grease.
2. add all the sauce ingredients. stir well.
3. add the cold pasta. mix thoroughly. (I like to do it by hand. Make sure the bowl is large enough.)
4. dice the scallions and cut the cucumbers into strips.
5. add the scallions, cucumbers, and sesame seeds.
6. serve chilled if convenient.

Stir-Fried Cabbage with Cumin Seeds

This Madhur Jaffrey recipe was modified by the NYTimes and modified again by me.  I am all for using shortcuts that don't affect the quality of food.  I really hate grating or slicing cabbage, but do like preparing it, since it's such a healthy food.  Hence I love the bags of crated cabbage at the supermarket.  I like to make this as an interesting side dish.
A really big, deep non-stick frying pan is perfect for this.  I just bought one and I love it.

Recipe: Stir-Fried Cabbage With Cumin Seeds

Adapted from “Madhur Jaffrey’s Quick and Easy Indian Cooking” (Chronicle Books, 1996)
November 15, 2006)

1 bag grated cabbage or coleslaw mix (cabbage + carrots)
oil
1 tablespoon cumin or caraway seeds
2 teaspoons sesame seeds
2 onions, halved and thinly sliced crosswise
2 teaspoons salt
2 pinches cayenne
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 teaspoon garam masala (optional).

• Heat about 2 T oil in a wide skillet over high heat. When hot, add  the cumin and  sesame seeds. 
• When the sesame seeds begin to pop add the onions, and cook, stirring often, until golden, about 5 minutes.
• Add the cabbage, and cook, stirring often, until wilted and lightly browned but not cooked through, about 5 minutes more. 
• Add salt and cayenne, and cook, stirring, until cabbage is soft and sweet, about 7 minutes more. Stir in lemon juice and garam masala, and serve.

Yield: 10 servings.

Spinach Stuffed Shells: Double Recipe

Stuffed shells are much easier to make than you'd think, and better to subdivide for freezing than, say, lasagna.  This is a double recipe makes enough for a 6-8 people, x 2.  I generally do a large flat pyrex pan, + 2 or 3 8x8 pans to freeze.  These could be pie pans, they work fine. You can use chopped spinach or broccoli.

12 oz. container jumbo shells *
2 container (15 oz) ricotta cheese (or a 2 lb. container is fine) - can be whole milk, skim or lowfat
2 pkg frozen chopped broccoli or spinach, thawed or microwaved (could be fresh; chop away)
1 c (8 oz) mozzarella - half for the mixture, half for the top
2/3 c grated Parmesan cheese
2 bottles marinara sauce (or homemade - HAH!)
ground pepper
oregano
Extra marinara sauce for those who like it
Parsley for garnish

*I just counted: the shells in a 12 oz box = 39.  

• Fill a 6 qt pot about 2/3 full with water and bring to a boil.  Drop the jumbo shells in a few at a time until the water returns to a boil.  They take about 10 minutes.
• Heat oven to 400°.
• If the broccoli or spinach is still frozen, microwave in a large bowl.  Drain any excess liquid.
• Combine the vegetables, ricotta, half of the mozzarella, parmesan, and seasonings.  (if you forget and dump in all the mozzarella, no big deal, but it is nice to have it melted on top.)
• Drain the pasta in a large colander, or just in the pot.  Let it cool a few  minute, and dislodge any shells stuck to each other.
• In 2 large rectangular pans, or two to 3 smaller pans, distribute one jar of marinara.
• Using a soup spoon, fill each shell fairly full, and place open side down in the pan.  It's tricky to manage to get the filling to be just right, and doesn't matter - the usual problem is leftover filling.  If you have extra filling, just freeze it.  You can use it with other recipes - it's great with sliced, fried eggplant.
• Pour the rest of the marinara sauce on top and sprinkle with the remaining mozzarella. 
• Bake for about 25 minutes until browned.
• Like all Italian food, it looks nice with chopped parsley and extra grated Parmesan.

Nomi's version with vodka sauce and fresh basil -  yummmmm.

Barbara Lissy's minhag is to make stuffed shells and deliver to whomever needs food - potluck, new baby, shiva, illness. It was nice to bring her a tray of them when Ruthie's grandma died.

Matzah Crack Toffee

These are pretty much the best Passover treats I've ever made. A good way to use up matzah, and hey - this version is even vegan.  Becca calls is Matza Crack, which gets to their addictive quality.  [ As far as the Passover variety, check out Smitten Kitchen who references David Liebowitz who references Marcy Goldman - very Talmudic.]   
There are many versions of this, including one with saltines.  You can use butter, brown sugar, add salt on top, all kinds of interesting nuts (pistachios are pretty), but here is the basic, basic version.  Double it for a jelly roll size pan.







2 to 3 matzahs (whole wheat is fine, believe it or not!)
1 stick margarine (if you want it to be parve) or butter
1/2 c. sugar (brown sugar if you can find it)
1 c. chocolate chips
a few ounces grated nuts


Heat oven to 375°.

Lay sheets of matzah in a flat pan, breaking them so the fit.

In a small sauce pan, melt one stick of margarine and stir in the sugar.  It starts out as a paste and quickly becomes a syrup; stir continually, making sure the sugar has completely dissolved.  Bring to a boil and boil 3 minutes without stirring.
Pour the syrup over the matzahs.  Use a spatula to make sure that all the surfaces are coated.  Don't worry about it flowing under the cracks.

Bake for 10 minutes.  Watch to make sure it doesn't burn; if so, lower the temperature. When you take it out, the syrup will be bubbling. Pour the chocolate chips over the surfaces.
After about 5 minutes, take a few handfuls of grated nuts and sprinkle over the surface, as well.  Use a flat spatula or the back of a spoon to spread the melted chocolate chips to cover, integrating the chopped nuts.  Sprinkle more grated nuts on the top.
Let it sit.  Some people put it in the refrige or freezer til the chocolate hardens.
When the chocolate it set, just pry up the pieces and break them off, and voila!  The best Passover dessert ever!  If some of the chocolate breaks off (which it will if it's cold), the matzah pieces themselves are really good, so don't worry.

Cranberry Relish, from Sharon Strassfeld + Plain Old Cranberry Sauce

This is a recipe I've long loved, passed along by Sharon when I enjoyed it at her house on 101st street when we were neighbors.  I think of it as cranberry charoset.
It's not so much a recipe as a series of steps.

1 bag fresh cranberries
1 orange
walnuts (1/2 c?  I've never measured)
1/2 c. sugar or more, for less tartness

Slice the orange into small pieces and put half of it, along with about half the cranberries and walnuts into a food processor.  If you have a full size food processor, you can put it all in at once, until it's ground.

That's it!

You can freeze the cranberries - this year I threw a bag in and when I hadn't used it by March, I saved it for Passover, when we usually serve turkey.  It's such a gorgeous color.


Plain old cranberry sauce is so easy, no need to buy the canned. Though you need to make it ahead of time.
1 bag cranberries = 2 cups
1 c. water (you can do part OJ)
1 c. sugar
optional: ginger, cinammon, orange rind

Put everything in a 2 quart sauce pan (or 1.5 if you have one) and boil. Lower the heat and cook about 10 minutes until the berries have popped.

Cool. As it cools, it thickens.

Fritzie's Matzah Kugel

Being a Jewish homemaker in the 50's & 60's in Fargo meant buying from a small selection of Passover food when it came in special order at the Red Owl, 

the neighborhood supermarket.  (Supermarkets were an innovation in my childhood - before then, we shopped at the neighborhood store, The Economy Grocery, which was a half block from our house.  I was permitted to walk there myself and buy a Popsicle for 5¢, very exciting back in the day.)

Passover food was limited to five-pound packages of matzah (5 individual pounds packed together), bottled gefilte fish, matzah and cake meal, potato starch, Barton's almond kisses and canned macaroons. Maybe we had egg matzah.  Such staples as whole wheat matzah, quinoa, and pasta sauce had not yet made it forth, at least not to Fargo.  Of course we weren't all that strict about Passover, but we did substitute matzah for any bread products and had two seders, with lots of traditional Ashkenazic foods.  Bringing matzah to school was always embarrassing.  Mom baked a lot during Passover.  Passover Brownies were one of her specialties.  I just realized she didn't bake brownies during the rest of the year, so that made them special. And airy sponge cakes, with attendant drama. "Don't slam the door or the cake will fall!" We didn't routinely slam doors, but this really got our attention.
I've had this recipe of my mother's for 37 years, but this is the first year I made it - wow, it's wonderful! If dairy, really good with butter. She made it during the rest of the year, too, for Friday night dinner.  We didn't call it shabbat dinner, but we lit the candles and made kiddush, so that's what it was, of course.  (No challah that I recall).  This kugel is good enough to make when it's not Passover, a high compliment indeed!  The timing is tricky, since it's puffiest right when you take it out of the oven. However, it's still good when it's settled and flattened a bit. Really doesn't taste like matzah...

oil for spray
3 whole wheat matzot (or regular)
6 eggs
1/2 c. sugar
Grated rind of one orange or clementine (Easy: instead of grating it, chop the peels through a food processor)
1 t. lemon juice
1 t. cinnamon

1 t salt
1/2 c. raisins 
1 large apple, peeled, seeded, and chopped (or try a small can of crushed pineapple, or apple sauce)
1/4 c. butter (or parve margarine or vegetable oil)
cinnamon & sugar for top

Heat oven to 350°.
Spray a large (2 quart) casserole which has a lid (or devise one from your Passover collection of pots et al)
Crumple matzot and soak in water to cover.
In large bowl, beat eggs and sugar with a hand mixer until THICK, about 3-4 minutes on high.

[I skipped this step the last time I made it, and just beat the eggs by hand - seemed like it came out fine, just not as light.]
Drain the matzot and add them along with raisins, cinnamon, chopped apple, lemon juice & grated orange peel.  Pour into greased casserole.
Dot with the butter, cutting it into smaller pieces. Sprinkle with a little extra cinnamon and sugar.
Bake for 1- 1½ hours. It will puff up, with a delicious crunchy topping.

Serves 6-8, depending on how much else is served.

Note from 2023: it's good cold.

From Nadav Lev Teutsch: "Gwandma, what do you call that apple and waisin thingy?"

Gwandma: "You mean matzah kugel?"

Nadav: "Ya! I want you make it every night during Passover, Gwandma!"

Mushroom Walnut Dill Paté

This is just plain good, and happens to be kosher for passover - an excellent recipe for using any dill and parsley you just ***might*** have in your refrigerator crisper drawer.  Ditto with the hardboiled egg.  It's a very forgiving recipe.

1 hard-boiled egg
1 to 2 onions, chopped fine
12 oz or so of walnuts
1/2 lb (or more) sliced mushrooms
olive oil (or vegetable oil)
dill, parsley - the amount is flexible.
salt/pepper to taste

Saute the mushroom and onion over medium heat in oil in a large frying pan until soft and browned.  Put the browned onion & mushroom in a food processor with the walnuts, dill, parsley, and egg (cut into a few pieces).  (If you have a small food processor like I do, you need to do this in two batches.) Process until smooth.  Season to taste.

Some call this mock chopped liver.  Since actual chopped liver is not on my list, this doesn't feel like mock anything, it feels like really wonderful walnut mushroom paté.

It's a nice appetizer, served on lettuce with some crudites and crackers.  Or a great dip for hors d'oeuvres.