Kosher Blog

Artichokes Dunbar

I’ve been meaning to post this recipe for a while. When the NY Times printed the original recipe, I figured it was as good a time as any. Oysters Dunbar is a classic Creole dish, created by a restauranteur by the name of Corine Dunbar. This kosherized version doesn’t attempt to replace the oysters - the artichokes alone make for a tasty casserole.

Artichokes Dunbar
Courtesy of the Levin Family

1/4 stick margarine
2 large onions, chopped
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 large can of sliced mushrooms (16 oz)
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1 teaspoon dried parsley
2 cans artichoke hearts, drained & quartered
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1 lemon, sliced into thin circles
bread crumbs to garnish

Melt the margarine and saute the onion until transparent. Preheat oven to 350F.
Add the flour to the onions and stir until you have a smooth paste.
Drain the mushrooms, saving the liquid. Add enough water to mushrom liquid to make one cup total. Add the liquid to the pan.
Add the spices and mix well.
Add the mushrooms and quartered artichoke hearts. Mix and turn flame to low. Allow mixture to thicken.
Transfer to a lightly greased, 8″x8″ square casserole. Sprinkle bread crumbs to cover and lay lemon slices on top. (We place the lemons in a 3×3 matrix as a serving guide.)
Bake for about 40 minutes or until top is lightly browned.

Ginger Snaps

My friend and former roommate Ayelet is an avid baker and makes many delicious desserts, but my favorite by far are her ginger snaps. She baked them often when we lived together, and the whole suite would fill with the warm frangrance of ginger. I could barely wait for them to cool.

I often use Ayelet’s recipes now, but the ginger snaps have never come out quite right. Usually, the dough is too crumbly and the cookies are dry. The results were somewhat better when I monitored the temperature of the eggs and the shortening (which Ayelet never did), but they were still inferior to hers. Finally, I decided to switch to a new recipe. The one I use now comes from Lisa Yockelson of the Boston Globe (March 1, 2006). The flavors are the same, but I find the dough more workable. (Yockelson recommends preparing the dough five hours in advance to allow it time to firm up in the refrigirator, but I have not had trouble rolling the cookies while the dough is soft.) The cookies always come out well, and they are a big hit at Thanksgiving dinner.

Here is the recipe, slightly edited:

Dough
3 1/4 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 1/4 teaspoons ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons (2 sticks plus 2 tablespoons) unsalted butter or margarine, softened*
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1 egg
1 egg yolk
6 tablespoons molasses (Yockelson recommends light molasses. I use dark.)
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Combine the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, ginger, cinnamon, and cloves in a large bowl.

In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat the butter on medium speed for 3 minutes. Gradually add the sugar, beating all the while.

Add the whole egg and egg yolk. Beat only until incorporated. Blend in the molasses and vanilla.

On low speed, add the flour mixture in 3 additions, beating just until the dry ingredients are incorporated.

If the dough is too soft to roll, place it in a covered dish and refrigirate several hours or up to 2 days.

Sugar Coating
1/2 cup granulated sugar**
dash ginger

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

In a wide bowl, combine the sugar and ginger.

Take heaping tablespoons of dough into your palms and roll them into balls, then in the sugar mixture until lightly coated. Set them on the baking sheets, arranging them 3 inches apart.

Bake 8-10 minutes for soft cookies, or 12-13 minutes for crisp cookies. The cookies will rise slightly, then settle. The tops will be cracked. Let them stand on the sheets for 2 minutes, then use a wide metal spatula to transfer to wire racks. Store in an airtight container.

*If you use salted butter or margarine, omit the 1/2 teaspoon salt. (I used Earth Balance last time, and it was fine.)

** The original recipe called for 2 cups of sugar, but that was much more than necessary.

Cream of White Winter Vegetables Soup

This seasonal recipe comes to you courtesy of Levana Kirschenbaum. It’s a very hearty and comforting soup, and very popular at our Thanksgiving table. Dried chestnuts are available at International food markets.

Cream of White Winter Vegetables Soup

¼ cup olive oil
3 leeks, white parts only, chopped
1 medium onion, chopped
2 Idaho potatoes, peeled and cubed
3 small turnips, peeled and cubed
3 parsnips, peeled and cut into 2” sections
1 cup dried chestnuts
1 celery root, peeled and cubed
2 cups soy milk
a pinch of nutmeg
salt and pepper to taste
3 tablespoons chopped chives, to garnish (optional)

Heat the oil and sauté the leeks and onion until translucent. Add all the vegetables, the chestnuts and 2 quarts of water. Bring to a boil and then reduce to a simmer. Cover and cook for 1 hour. Using a hand-blender, blend until smooth. Mix in the soy milk and the spices and heat through. Don’t let the soup boil after adding the soy milk. Garnish with chopped chives.

No-Knead Bread

If you read food-blogs (and since you’re here, you probably do) or baking-blogs, you’ve probably seen the No-Knead Bread recipe by now. Originally published in Mark Bitman’s Minimalist column for New York Times, the recipe has been taking the blogosphere by storm. With no more than 20 minutes of active participation, you can have a rustic loaf as good as any I’ve ever tasted. The flavor and the inner-structure are amazing. Here’s a little food-porn for the bread bakers out there:

A beautiful exterior

And an even nicer interior

You will need to plan ahead before you start this recipe, it takes advantage of a long rising time - 12 to 18 hours in a warm spot. The bread is baked in a pre-heated, heavy pot so the steam helps the crust develop - don’t forget to take off any non-oven-safe handles! You can even watch the video how-to to get started.

No-Knead Bread

3 cups all-purpose or bread flour
¼ teaspoon instant yeast
1¼ teaspoons salt
Cornmeal or wheat bran as needed.

1. In a large bowl combine flour, yeast and salt. Add 1 1/2 cups water, and stir until blended; dough will be shaggy and sticky. Cover bowl with plastic wrap. Let dough rest at least 12 hours, preferably about 18, at warm room temperature, about 70 degrees.

2. Dough is ready when its surface is dotted with bubbles. Lightly flour a work surface and place dough on it; sprinkle it with a little more flour and fold it over on itself once or twice. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rest about 15 minutes.

3. Using just enough flour to keep dough from sticking to work surface or to your fingers, gently and quickly shape dough into a ball. Generously coat a cotton towel with flour, wheat bran or cornmeal; put dough seam side down on towel and dust with more flour, bran or cornmeal. Cover with another cotton towel and let rise for about 2 hours in a warm place. When it is ready, dough will be more than double in size.

4. At least a half-hour before dough is ready, heat oven to 450 degrees. Put a 6- to 8-quart heavy covered pot in oven as it heats. When dough is ready, carefully remove pot from oven. Slide your hand under towel and flip dough over into pot, seam side up. Cover with lid and bake 30 minutes, then remove lid and bake another 15 to 30 minutes, until loaf is nicely browned. Cool on a rack.

Grapenut Pudding: swing and a miss

Grapenut pudding, for the unfamiliar, is a popular New England dessert made of Grape-Nuts cereal, developed at some point in the early 20th century. (Grapenut ice cream is also a delicious specimen of the local repertoire.) There are two recipes that are predominant — one primarily custard, and one primarily grape-nuts.

Over the weekend, I tried, for the first time, to make grapenut pudding on my own, and I added the extra challenge of making it non-dairy. The recipe appearing on Yankee Magazine’s website, of the custard style, was my starting point. While it tasted okay, I ultimately deemed the recipe a failure because the grapenuts failed to stay dispersed within the liquid, creating two unpleasantly discrete pudding strata.

I’m going to dig up my grandmother’s recipe and start there next time.

Brown Rice Pilaf

In the same vein as my favorite culinary magazine, Alton Brown’s Good Eats takes the science of cooking seriously. His series of episodes on rice, in particular, struck a chord with me. Now-obvious bombshell number one: you gotta cook rice in the oven. There’s just no better way to keep everything at a consistent temperature. Bombshell number two: when cooked properly, brown rice actually tastes good.

Why the sudden proclivity toward brown rice? I’ve been doing my darndest to eliminate processed flours and sugars from my diet, so simple, reproduceable dishes made of whole grains are now at the top of my recipe file.

Alton’s base recipe for brown rice (quoted below) is very straightforward. Note that medium- or short-grain varieties are critical. Long grain simply will not work. (In these parts, Whole Foods has the best selection of smaller-grained rices, but Shaw’s at least carries short-grain Nishiki-brand brown rice in the Asian food section.)

• 1 1/2 cups brown rice, medium or short grain
• 2 1/2 cups water
• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

Place the rice into an 8-inch square glass baking dish.

Bring the water, butter, and salt just to a boil in a kettle or covered saucepan. Once the water boils, pour it over the rice, stir to combine, and cover the dish tightly with heavy-duty aluminum foil. Bake on the middle rack of the oven for 1 hour.

After 1 hour, remove cover and fluff the rice with a fork. Serve immediately.

His recipe is surprisingly resilient. I’ve successfully used olive oil instead of butter, used chicken broth in place of the water, butter, and salt, and doubled the recipe for larger gatherings. I’ve successfully left the freshly prepared rice on the warming tray until Shabbat dinner, and frozen leftover rice for reheating later in the week.

His recipe also cries out for embellishment. One simple option: add the zest of a lime and a dried chile or two to the cooking liquid, and serve with Mexican fare. What follows is something a bit more complex, but worth the effort. The cranberries and sage make it a healthful replacement for stuffing alongside that yom tov or Thanksgiving turkey.

BROWN RICE PILAF
• 1 1/2 cups brown rice, medium or short grain
• 2 1/2 cups chicken or vegetable broth
• 1/2 cup dried, sweetened cranberries
• zest of half an orange
• 2 Tbsp. olive oil
• 1 medium onion, finely diced
• 2 stalks celery, finely diced
• 8 oz. sliced mushrooms
• kosher salt
• 4 fresh sage leaves, thinly sliced

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

Place the rice, zest, and cranberries into an 8-inch square glass baking dish, or a 1.5 qt. ceramic dish.

Bring the broth just to a boil in a kettle or covered saucepan. Once the broth boils, pour it over the rice, stir to combine, and cover the dish tightly with heavy-duty aluminum foil. Bake on the middle rack of the oven for 1 hour.

While the rice is cooking, heat the olive oil in a large skillet on a medium flame. Add the diced onion, celery, and a heavy pinch of kosher salt, then saute until soft and golden, about 15 minutes. Empty pan into a large bowl, then add sliced mushrooms with another heavy pinch of kosher salt. Saute until mushrooms release their juices and then cook off, about 10 minutes. Add mushrooms to bowl.

Remove rice from oven. (At this point, I let the rice sit, covered, for 1 hour, because I’m unsure of Alton’s intent in repeating “after one hour.”) Remove cover, pour cooked vegetables and sliced sage over rice, and toss everything together. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Serve immediately, or keep warm until ready to eat, or freeze pre-portioned quantities and reheat in the microwave.

Berry Meringue Torte

The upcoming edition of Sugar High Friday will take place at A Veggie Venture (of all places). The theme is “surprise inside.” I can’t guarantee that all the recipes will be kosher, but dessert recipes are usually at least very easily adaptable. If you have any applicable recipes, submit them by September 22nd (Erev Rosh Hashanah — easy to remember). Either way, be sure to tune in the following week and indulge your sweet tooth!

My submission is a fluffy, cream-covered torte:

Here’s the “surprise” inside:

Of course, it won’t be a surprise if you tell your guests that it’s called “berry meringue torte.” There’s also no surprise as far as taste is concerned. If you like meringue, berries, and whipped cream, this dessert is for you.

Here’s the recipe:

3 egg whites
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup + 3 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups berries (any combination)
2 cups whipped cream* (or a nondairy substitute, if necessary)

Preheat oven to 275 degrees Farenheit. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.

Beat egg whites, cream of tartar, and salt with an electric mixer on high speed until foamy. Gradually add 3/4 cup sugar while continuing to beat. When egg whites form soft peaks, add vanilla. Continue beating until stiff peaks form.

Spoon the egg white mixture onto the cookie sheet in a circle, flattening out the center and building up the sides. Bake 1 1/2 hours. Turn off oven and leave in with door closed 1 additional hour. Remove from oven.

Combine berries and 3 tablespoons sugar. Place berries in hollow of meringue. Use a rubber spatula to spread whipped cream over the top. Refrigirate up to 24 hours.

*From one cup heavy cream and 2 tablespoons sugar

Mock Shrimp Experiment

I’m a serious carnivore. Meat for dinner at least 4 times a week (gasp!). Lost 60 pounds on a low-carb diet, eating eggs and beef-fry for breakfast at least once a week. Meat, meat, meat. So the Nine Days present somewhat of a culinary challenge. Generally I use the time to be creative. Yesterday I decided to conduct a little experiment with DynaSea’s mock shrimp.

I have used DynaSea’s mock-crab sticks before (in a great mock-crab-salad recipe) and of course had them in sushi-rolls, but I had never had the shrimp. I took a recipe for Spicy Grilled Shrimp from the new Grilling cookbook from the Culinary Institute of America (I’m working on a review) and substituted the mock-shrimp. A quick Asian Cucumber Salad on the side, and this was the result:

(Yes, the grilled scallions were just for effect. Turns out that they’re pretty good grilled.)

I think it looks pretty appetizing - don’t you? Unfortunately, it didn’t meet my taste-expectations. It wasn’t bad or anything - just blah. What went wrong? Firstly, mock-shrimp are not absorbent at all. They are sold as a fully-cooked product and soaked up none of the marinade. So I drizzled some leftover marinade over the finished product, improving them slightly. The larger problem was the consistency/taste of the shrimp. If I had to describe them in one word, I would say doughy. Are real shrimp like this? I imagine not. I kept thinking of gnocchi (or shliskes, if you’re in touch with your inner-Hungarian). Dense and doughy, they really didn’t convey a sense of seafood. They were more like a starchy side-dish then a main course. I’ve seen them given the cornklake-crumb/deep-fry treatment and served with cocktail sauce as a Kosher Shrimp Cocktail - I imagine they function more as a novel way to eat cocktail sauce than as a dish of their own. So much for that experiment.

Eight Meatless Weeknight Suppers (Part 4)

(Here are parts 1, 2, and 3)

Meatless Supper #7: Pasta With Chunky Tomato Sauce
DH started making his own pasta sauce when he lived in downtown Montreal, where hekhshered sauce isn’t readily available (or wasn’t five years ago). You can use any kind of pasta, of course, but I think rotinni is best for catching all the chunks. We usually eat this with cheddar or jack cheese, since good kosher parmesean is difficult to come by. (It’s an unconventional combination, but a good one.)
Serves about 4 (8 according to the nutrition labels)

1 1-lb box pasta, plus water, oil, and salt, for cooking

1 28-0z can crushed tomatoes in tomato puree*
4-5 mushrooms, chopped
2-3 scallions, sliced
1 tablespoon minced garlic
italian seasoning (basil, oregano, thyme, etc.), to taste
freshly ground black pepper, to taste
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
3 tablespoons dry wine (preferably red), or 1 tablespoon vodka
1 teaspoon sugar
hot sauce, to taste
a few leaves of fresh basil, shredded (entirely optional)
shredded or grated cheese, to serve

Fill a large stock pot with water and set over a high flame.

Combine remaining ingredients (except cheese) in 1-quart saucepan and mix well. Bring to a light boil over medium heat, then reduce heat to low and simmer uncovered.

When the water reaches a rolling boil, add the pasta and cook according to package directions. When the pasta is ready, the sauce is ready, too. Top each plate of pasta with cheese and then with sauce. (The hot sauce will melt the cheese nicely.)

*Different brands of crushed tomato have different consistencies, and this can have a major impact on the consistency of the sauce. We’ve found Contadina to be too liquidy and Shaw’s brand too chunky. Red Pack is our current favorite.

Meatless Supper #8: Mengedarrah With Brown Rice and Moroccan Seasoning
Mungedarrah (or mujadarrah) is a pan-Middle Eastern dish of lentils and rice. Two years ago, I wrote about its connection to the Nine Days and provided a recipe. This is a whole grain version with a more interesing seasoning combination. I like to serve it as a side dish when we have vegetarian guests for a meat meal, but it is also a satisfying meal in itself and a good choice for the se`udah mafseket before Tisha B’Av, which traditionally consists of no more than one cooked dish. (The simpler salt-and-pepper version may be more appropriate for that occasion, though.)

1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 large onion (about 2 cups), chopped
4 cloves garlic, crushed
1-2 teaspoons salt (to taste)
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
2 teaspoons ground cumin
2 teaspoons ground coriander
freshly ground pepper, to taste
1 cup long-grain brown rice
1 cup brown or green lentils
4 3/4 cups water
yogurt to serve (optional)

Heat oil in a 2-quart saucepan over medium heat. Add onion, garlic, and seasoning and sautee until onions are fairly soft, 10-15 minutes. Add rice and cook about 1 minute, stirring.

Add the lentils and water. Bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat to low, and simmer until all the water is absorbed, about 40-45 minutes, checking occasionally to make sure that it isn’t sticking. (If it is, add a bit more water.) Serve with yogurt, if desired.

Eight Meatless Weeknight Suppers (Part 3)

(Here are parts 1 and 2)

Meatless Supper #5: Hot and Sour Tofu Stir-Fry
This is another very flexible recipe. The vegetables listed below are only one option. In my opinion, stir-frys are only slightly better with oil, so feel free to omit the grease.
serves about 3

1 cup (dry) brown rice, plus water, oil, and salt for cooking

peanut or canola oil (optional)
1 tablespoon minced garlic
2-3 scallions, thinly sliced (whites and greens)
1 Italian eggplant,* diced (peeling is optional)
1 lb extra-firm tofu, cubed
1 small head broccoli in small florettes
1/2 lb snow peas
1 6-0z can water chestnuts
1 14-oz can baby corn
1-inch piece ginger, minced (optional)
1/2 cup lightly salted cashews (optional)

Hot and Sour Sauce
1/2 cup reduced sodium soy sauce
1 tablespoon cornstarch (optional)
1/2 cup dry white wine, parve broth, or a combination
3 tablespoons ketchup
2 tablespoons rice vinegar
1 teaspoon sugar
hot sauce to taste

Cook the rice. (Brown rice takes about 45 minutes to cook, which is about 20 minutes longer than this stir-fry takes, including cutting the vegetables. Eat your salad in the meantime :))

Prepare the vegetables and set aside. Prepare the sauce: Combine a small amount of soy sauce with the corn starch (if using) and mix well to remove lumps. Add remaining ingredients and mix well.

Heat a few tablespoons of oil or 1/4 cup sauce in a 9-inch skillet over a medium flame. Add the garlic, scallions, and eggplant and stir-fry until the garlic begins to brown (if using oil) and the scallions and eggplant soften. Add tofu, remaining vegetables, ginger, and nuts and stir fry for about 1 minute. Add remaining sauce, bring to a light boil, and simmer until the broccoli and snow peas are just tender. Serve over rice.

*Some cooks salt and drain eggplant before cooking in order to remove any bitter juices and prevent it from getting soggy. We do not salt our eggplant and have not encountered a bitter one since we began using the small Italian variety and choosing eggplant with smooth, glossy skin. However, the eggplant in this recipe does become quite soft.

Note: I’ve found that it takes a generous quantity of hot sauce to season this much stir-fry. It is a good idea to taste the sauce to make sure that it is as hot as you’d like it.

Meatless Supper #6: Tempeh and Vegetables in Peanut-Yogurt Sauce Continue reading Eight Meatless Weeknight Suppers (Part 3) »