And now a post mortem on the goat’s milk muenster I attempted a couple weeks ago. After pressing, the curds formed a smooth and cohesive mass:

Per the author’s instructions, I left this on my counter for about a week with a plate on top, flipping and salting it each day. I tossed those bamboo sushi mats after day one, as they were absorbing the exuded moisture and getting smelly. I replaced them with simple metal cooling racks which are much easier to keep clean. (I did miss that natural bamboo pattern developing on the cheese, though.)

After five days, it had begun to form a firm rind and started to feel less slimy and more cheesy. After seven days, I wiped it off and popped in the fridge. At nine days, I finally tasted.

I was proud to have made it through the entire cheesemaking cycle, but I wasn’t so impressed with the cheese. It was much drier and more brittle than I had expected, and tasted more like a mild goat cheddar than muenster.

Temple Beth Abraham of Canton, MA is offering for sale “gourmet kosher dinners” and various a la carte items this week to folks in the South Shore area, prepared fresh in their new synagogue kitchen. It might be too late to get in on the action this week, but they hope to make it a monthly event. Call Rick Gomolka, president of TBA Brotherhood, for details — 617-594-9447 — there may still be time to make an order!

Download flier (PDF)

The culinary landscape is rife with divine mashed potato recipes, all full of heavy cream, butter, and cheese. But here I was, stuck in neutral with my dairy-free mashed potatoes, never able to find the right combination of margarine or chicken fat or soy milk to compete with mainstream concoctions.

Then it hit me. Why mess around with hydrogenated fats and freak-of-nature soy substances when the classic combination of eggs and oil could satisfy all my desires… Mayonnaise! I balked at store-bought mayo, due to its excessive flavorings and reformulations for shelf-stability, so I got out my food processor. The recipe’s not scientifically tuned yet, but it did go over pretty well on Thanksgiving. Here’s the jist of it:

• Five pounds of Yukon Gold potatoes (they retain more moisture than Idahos when boiled, and they’re sweeter)
• Four best-quality large eggs
• One cup light/pure olive oil (not extra-virgin)
• Chicken broth
• Two heads garlic, roasted
• Salt
• Pepper

Peel the potatoes, cut in half, and simmer about thirty minutes until tender.

In the meantime, coddle your eggs — boil them gently for one minute to raise their temperature a bit and help kill nasty bacteria. Crack into your food processor, get the blade going full speed, and gradually pour in the oil. You’ll end up with a thin mayo that should be relatively flavorless. Keep it at ready.

Press each cooked potato half through a potato ricer into a large bowl — more consistent, smoother, and easier than hand-mashing. Add mayo, mixing thoroughly to combine. Add chicken broth until you attain the right creamy consistency (could be between 1-2 cups … it’s a lot of potatoes). Squeeze garlic out of roasted husks and blend thoroughly with potatoes. Salt and pepper to taste, maybe some margarine if you like.

Surprisingly, these potatoes still taste great as leftovers, reheated or cold.

Any other mashed potato strategies out there?

Here’s my take on a restaurant standard, streamlined for easy preparation in a kosher home. It’s one of life’s simple pleasures when each element — chicken breasts, broccoli florets, and penne — is cooked just right, and then enveloped in a smooth, silky sauce.

CHICKEN, BROCCOLI, AND PENNE
Makes two healthy portions (feel free to double the recipe)

3 cups fresh broccoli florets
1 lb. chicken breast, cut into 1″ x 3″ pieces of uniform thickness
1/4 cup flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
2 Tbsp. olive oil
1/2 lb. penne, ziti, etc.

3 Tbsp. unsalted pareve margarine
4 cloves garlic, crushed
1/8 tsp. red pepper flakes
1/4 tsp. dried thyme
3 Tbsp. flour
1 1/2 cups chicken broth
1/2 cup dry white wine
freshly ground black pepper to taste

Bring large pot of water to boil. Season water with 1 tsp. salt and add broccoli. Cook for exactly 90 seconds and drain. Set aside.

Bring water back to boil and cook penne per package instructions.

Mix flour with salt and pepper and dredge chicken pieces to coat. Heat oil in a large skillet on medium-high heat for three to four minutes. Add chicken pieces, spread evenly, and cook approximately 2 minutes per side, until lightly browned. Set aside.

In same skillet, melt margarine and add garlic, red pepper flakes, and thyme. Stir until fragrant (about 30 seconds), then stir in flour to form a paste. Cook paste on medium-low heat until slightly golden in color, about five minutes.

Rigorously stir in white wine and chicken broth, raise heat to medium, and simmer briefly until just thickened.

Add chicken, penne, and broccoli, cover, and heat for 1 minute or until all elements are rewarmed. Season to taste with black pepper.

Serve promptly, on warmed plates if possible.

Whereas most every other kosher product is readily available here, it has become clear to me that liqueurs are in fact hard to come by in metropolitan Boston. Thankfully, a quick e-mail to the Wine Gallery (at the corner of Cypress and Boylston Streets) requesting kosher coffee liqueur brought it to their shelves within a week — in plenty of time for my upcoming “Big Lebowski” party. The Carmel Azmara Coffee Liqueur was $13.99, a few dollars more expensive that what Kosher.com charges — but with shipping and handling, it’s actually more expensive online.

Their everyday selection of kosher spirits is nothing to sneeze at, but if something’s absent, just speak up — they seem enthusiastic to fulfill special requests.

This just in — thanks, Marsha!

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Secaucus, NJ - (November, 2005) Manischewitz, the leader in Kosher foods, announced today that the company will introduce a new line of Pareve (non-dairy) cake mixes. The announcement follows the recent news that Duncan Hines has discontinued its popular Pareve cake mix line. The new line of Manischewitz Pareve cake mixes will be introduced at Kosherfest on November 15th and 16th at the Jacob Javits Center in New York City. Initially the line will consist of Extra Moist Yellow and Chocolate Pareve cake mixes, with other flavors to be added over the next few years. Manischewitz, already well-known for their line of cake mixes used for the Passover season, understands that Kosher families enjoy being able to serve delicious cakes at Shabbos, holidays and other meals in which meat may be eaten. “Manischewitz is constantly looking for ways to meet the needs of today’s consumer,” says Jeremy J. Fingerman, President and CEO of R.A.B. Food Group, LLC owners of the Manischewitz brand. “We decided to introduce a new line of Pareve cake mixes when we realized that the Kosher consumer needed a simple and delicious solution for their everyday Pareve needs. These products will also appeal to consumers that are lactose intolerant.”

Manischewitz Extra Moist Yellow and Chocolate Cake mixes will be available in early May 2006 in 18.25 oz. boxes and will retail for approximately $2.49. The R.A.B. Food Group, LLC is a specialty food company that includes the Manischewitz, Season, Guiltless Gourmet, Horowitz Margareten and Goodman’s brands. The company offers a diversified line of premium food products that cover approximately 60 different categories.

After a long hiatus, I’ve made another stab at producing cheese at home. This time, it’s a muenster recipe from Barbara Ciletti’s book that calls for goat’s milk. I’ve completed most of the active steps of the recipe so far; here’s a photo recap:

Most of my cheesemaking utensils set out on the counter. For this cheese, I purchased a tomme mold and follower for 1-lb. cheeses, some cheesecloth for draining firm-curd cheese, two sushi — uh, “cheese” — mats, and some cheese salt (which has a finer grain for mixing into the curds and rubbing on the cheese). Also pictured are my handy thermometers (analog and digital), my icing spatula/curd knife, mesh colander, slotted spoon, and Pyrex cup.

The maiden voyage of my double-boiler. This thing is marked as an 8-quart double-boiler, but that’s truly a misnomer as the inner pot holds exactly one gallon of liquid. I found it difficult to control the temperature of water on my gas stove, so the milk came to 88 degrees in half the time the recipe called for.

Liquid kosher rennet diluted in tepid water. Used spring water to avoid any contaminants from the public water supply. The vegetarian rennet from New England Cheesemaking Supply company is now double-strength, so I used 1/8 teaspoon rather than the 1/4 teaspoon indicated in the recipe. Upon mixing the diluted rennet in my warm goat’s milk, I removed the inner pot from the hot water and let it sit undisturbed for an hour, covered. Afterwards, I realized this was incorrect: the entire double-boiler apparatus was meant to be removed from the flame. My milk required an extra 30 minutes of warmer coagulating before it made what I assumed was a “clean break.”

Curds cut into approximately 1″ pieces. The curds gave up their whey quite readily upon cutting, but they did seem a bit soft and didn’t quite keep their cubic appearance as the cheese books illustrated.

Curds draining in a cheesecloth-lined collander. The recipe said to bunch up the curds into a ball and put in the collander, but that didn’t seem too plausible. I just poured it all in.

Loading my drained curds into the tomme mold. The curds drained twenty minutes, then I ladled them into the mold. Due to the snug fit of the follower, I realized that the cheesecloth should only be one layer thick, not doubled over.

Cheese press loaded and ready. With the sliding top lowered into place, I piled on forty pounds of weight. I’ve sinced placed a small level on the top of the weight to assure evenly distributed pressure (and avoid a slanted cheese).

With any luck, there will be more photos to show tomorrow!

Joan Nathan, author of Jewish Cooking in America, The Jewish Holiday Kitchen, The Children’s Jewish Holiday Kitchen, The Jewish Holiday Baker, and The Foods of Israel Today, recently came out her first non-kosher cookbook, entitled The New American Cooking. It seems to be getting pretty good reviews.

In an unfortunate turn of events, Trader Joe’s dairy cases (across the east coast, at least) will permanently be bereft of OU-certified Cappiello cheeses. After weeks of promises that they were simply in contract negotiations with the Schenectady, NY-based cheese producer, an update today from staff at the Brookline, MA location indicates that the kosher 1-lb. mozzarella blocks are actually being replaced with “North Beach” brand cheeses (made by Pacific Cheese of Hayward, CA).

I hope to hear from a Cappiello representative soon about where else their non-braided mozzarellas are available.

Should you wish to share with Trader Joe’s your opinions on the availability of kosher cheeses with reliable certification, contact them directly at (781) 433-0234.

Kosherfest, the annual east-coast kosher food trade show, is scheduled for Tuesday and Wednesday, November 15-16, at the Javits Center in New York. I’ll be making my way down from Boston on the 15th to spend the day in Manhattan, and it would be great to meet up with other aficionados who are attending the event, even perhaps get a group together for a swanky post-show dinner. Anyone interested?