Kosher Blog

Death by Chocolate

My wife and I went to a Sheva Brochos the other night, and as we often do, we brought dessert. Our contribution was a Death-by-Chocolate Trifle – a sinfully rich and pareve dessert, comprised of layers of chocolate cake, chocolate mousse and whipped cream. It gets rave reviews every time.

Since there is no standard size for a trifle-bowl, you may have to experiment to figure out if you need more or less of these recipes. The trifle bowl to the left is 10 inches tall and the completed recipe weighed in at 20 pounds (ok, the bowl is heavy – see the 2 Kitchenaid 5 1/2 quart bowls dwarfed behind it?) I’m sure you can handle the leftovers, if your bowl is too small. The cake or the mousse make a fine dessert all by themselves.

Enjoy.

Death By Chocolate
Chocolate Cake
3 cups flour
3/4 t salt
2 t baking powder
2 t baking soda
1 c margarine
2 c sugar
3 eggs
2 t vanilla extract
3/4 c cocoa powder
2 heaping tsp. instant coffee
2 c boiling water

Sift dry ingredients together in a large bowl. In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream the margarine and sugar. Add eggs, vanilla and cocoa and mix well. Combine the dry mixture and the wet mixture and mix well. Add the instant coffee to the boiling water and with the electric mixer on slow, add to the mix. Pour into 9×13 inch pan and bake at 350°F for 1 1/4 hours. Allow cake to cool.

Chocolate Mousse
12 oz. bag pareve, semi-sweet chocolate chips
3 sticks margarine
8 eggs separated
1 1/3 cups sugar

Beat the egg whites with half of the sugar. On a stove-top (or in the microwave), melt the margarine. Add the chocolate chips to the melted margarine and stir until melted. Put the margarine/chips mixture into the bowl of an electric mixer. With the mixer on slow, add in the rest of sugar. Add egg yolks one at a time and allow each one to mix in. Carefully fold the egg-white mixture into the chocolate mixture with a spatula. Keep mousse at room temperature for trifle assembly.

Whipped Cream
2 small cartons non-dairy whipped topping
1 tsp. Vanilla extract
1/2 cup confectioner’s sugar

In a electric mixer, whip the whipped topping with the vanilla and the sugar until stiff peaks form. Do not over whip.

To Assemble
Cut chocolate cake into serving-size pieces and press some of them down into the bottom of your trifle bowl. Pour in some of the mousse, covering the cake. Add a layer of whipped cream, covering the mousse. Repeat as needed. Garnish with piped whipped cream and chocolate shavings.

Seitan Piccata

I’m a confirmed carnivore. A Meat-for-Breakfast kind of carnivore. But, I also enjoy trying as many vegetarian meat alternatives as I can. I think that makes sense. After all, when you’re kosher you can’t have meat all the time. During the Nine Days I was looking through a new food magazine I picked up (CHOW magazine. FYI, I like the magazine a lot. It’s not as chock-full of recipes as some of the other periodicals I read, but the material was educational, entertaining, and as I later discovered – delicious). They had an article about vegetarian meat alternatives and the vege-meat industry, followed by a recipe that piqued my interest – Seitan Piccata. By the time I had a chance to make the dish, the Nine Days were over – but the dish will stay in my ‘meatless cooking repertoire’.

What is seitan, you ask? Seitan is a meat alternative made from wheat-gluten. It can be made at home, but I went to my local Whole Foods Market to pick up a package. Every available brand was Kosher, by the way. As it turns out, the package I bought was seitan-chunks, rather than cutlets – so I was making Seitan Nugget Piccata, but the taste wasn’t affected by it.

If you’re not familiar, ‘-piccata’ generally means a thin chicken or veal cutlet, dredged in flour and fried, served in a white-wine sauce containing capers and lemon juice.

The most important question when evaluating meat-alternatives has to be “How did it taste?” I’m happy to report that it tasted great. As the magazine article pointed out, meat-replacements are generally best with strong flavors & sauces. I mean, seitan and tofu and the others are basically tasteless – I wouldn’t judge them against meat until after cooking. These are raw ingredients – not like a Morningstar Farms sausage patty or burger.

When I cut into my seitan-chunks, I discovered a network of bubbles, very similar to the inside of a sponge – but it didn’t bother me. If I made the recipe with cutlets, there would have been more seitan surface-area to dredge and fry, and the inside of the cutlet would be less noticeable, if at all. Also, the next time I make this, I’ll probably use butter – which would violate the Vegan philosophy of the recipe’s author.

Enjoy.

Seitan Piccata
CHOW Magazine

6 seitan cutlets
whole-wheat flour for dredging
1/4 C olive oil
1/2 C diced shallots
1/2 C diced onion
1 t minced garlic
1/4 C drained capers
1 C dry white wine
1/4 C fresh lemon juice
1 C vegetable stock
4 T margarine
1 C chopped fresh parsley
1 t sea salt
1/2 t freshly ground pepper

1. Heat 2 tablespoons of the oil in a saute pan. Dredge the cutlets in flour and shake off the excess. Fry about 30 sec. per side. Set aside.
2. Heat remaining oil. Saute shallots, onions, garlic and capers until soft. about 1-2 minutes.
3. Add the wine and cook until it is reduced by 1/2. about 5 minutes.
4. Whisk in the lemon juice and cook 3-5 minutes more.
5. Add the stock and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 1 minute. Whisk in margarine, salt & pepper. Pour over the cutlets & serve at once.

Pareve Shortcakes / Biscuits

In these parts, we have a reliable supply of dairy biscuits in the nearby supermarket bakeries for enjoying as part of a breakfast sandwich or a strawberry shortcake.

But what about when that breakfast sandwich nixes the cheese and piles on the beef fry? Or when that delicious dessert comes after a meat meal?

The answer is a pareve biscuit, of course (and, in the latter case, non-dairy whipped topping). So, I cracked open my recently-purchased copy of Cook’s Illustrated’s The New Best Recipe to resequence their tried-and-true shortcake recipe. Switching butter with margarine (Earth Balance sticks, in fact) was an easy choice, but what of the half-and-half? In today’s experiment, I went with soy milk and two tablespoons of vegetable oil as my cream replacement. I don’t know if it’s related, but my dough seemed much stickier than it ought to have been, so I added more flour (than the 2 cups listed) to compensate.

Long story short, they turned out well for a first try: a bit crustier than a typical buttermilk biscuit, and not as thick (probably pressed the dough out too thin). They’re great warm, but we also enjoyed them after being refrigerated. In the future, I might try making them without sugar and instead with savory flavorings, like garlic and rosemary, as a main course accompaniment.

PAREVE SHORTCAKES / BISCUITS
Adjusted from The New Best Recipe, page 950

Makes 6 shortcakes

• 2 cups (10 oz.) all-purpose flour, plus more to dust work surface and biscuit cutter
• 5 Tbsp. (about 2 1/4 oz.) sugar
• 1 Tbsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. salt (omit if margarine is salted)
• 8 Tbsp. (one stick) cold unsalted pareve margarine, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
• 1 large egg, lightly beaten
• 1/2 cup plus 1 Tbsp. pareve soy milk
• 2 Tbsp. vegetable oil
• 1 large egg white, lightly beaten

Adjust an oven rack to the lower-middle position and heat the oven to 425 degrees. In a food processor, pulse the flour, 3 tablespoons of the sugar, the baking powder, and the salt (if required) to combine. Scatter the margarine pieces over and process until the mixture resembles coars meal, about fifteen 1-second pulses. Transfer to a medium bowl.

Mix the beaten egg with the soy milk and vegetable oil, and pour mixture into the flour mixture. Combine with a rubber spatula until large clumps form. Turn the mixture onto a floured work surface and lightly knead until it comes together.

Use your fingertips to pat the dough into a 9 by 6-inch rectangle about 3/4-inch thick, being careful not to overwork the dough. Flour a 2 3/4-inch biscuit cutter and cut out 6 dough rounds (KB note: used a 2-inch cutter and cut 12 rounds total, after combining scraps). Place the rounds 1 inch apart on a baking sheet, brush the tops with the beaten egg white, and sprinkle with the remaining 2 tablespoons sugar. (Dough rounds can be covered and refrigerated for up to 2 hours before baking).

Bake until the shortcakes are golden brown, 12 to 14 minutes. Place the baking sheet on a wire rack and let cakes cool.

Indian Shabbat, Part 2: Samosas

Allen brought the samosas (along with a cilantro/coriander chutney), which were excellent despite being fried in advanced and kept warm until dinner. They’d probably be even better freshly fried. And they’re pareve, which is convenient.

Allen’s notes: If you can’t get mango powder, substitute a squeeze of lemon juice. Feel free to peel and dice your potatoes prior to boiling them, and use three large potatoes rather than five medium if necessary. When frying the samosas, it’s handy to use a candy/frying thermometer to keep your oil to at the appropriate temperature the oil manufacturer recommends, as different oils have different smoking points.

SAMOSAS
From Madhu Gadia’s Light and Luscious Cuisine of India

Filling
• 5 medium potatoes
• 2 tsp vegetable oil
• 1/2 tsp cumin seeds
• 1 Tbsp chopped ginger
• 3/4 cup peas
• 2 tsp salt
• 1 tbsp coriander powder
• 1 green chili, chopped (optional)
• 1 tsp mango powder
• 1 Tbsp garam masala
• 1/4 cup water

Dough
• 2 cups flour
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 3 Tbsp vegetable oil
• 1/2 cup water

• Oil for frying

To prepare filling
1. Boil potatoes. To avoid potatoes from getting sticky, remove from boiling water as soon as they are done and cool completely.

2. Peel and mash boiled potatoes into small pieces (about 1/2 inch pieces), not necessary of uniform size.

3. In a large fry pan, heat oil on medium high heat. When oil is hot, add cumin seeds. Fry for a few seconds until cumin seeds are golden brown, add ginger and stir. Add mashed potatoes and peas. Stir.

4. Add salt, coriander, green chili, mango powder, and garam masala. Mix thoroughly. Add water. Cover with a lid, heat through, reduce heat to medium-low and cook for 2-3 minutes. Stir and let stand covered for 5-7 minutes.

5. Open lid and cool.

To Prepare Dough
1. In a bowl, mix flour, salt, and oil. Add water gradually as you mix.

2. Turn dough onto a floured surface and knead for 5 minutes or until dough becomes smooth and soft.

3. Divide the dough into 10 balls.

To assemble samosas
1. Roll each ball into a 5-6 inch circle. Cut in half. In a small bowl put about 1/4 cup water; set aside.

2. Take one half, dip your finger in the water and run it along the side the straight edge. Fold in half, joining the straight edges, making a cone. Seal edges tightly.

3. Fill with 2 Tbsp of filling. Dip finger in water and run along the inside of the open mouth and seal tightly.

4. Keep filled samosas between dry towels to avoid drying.

5. Heat oil in a wok or fry pan over medium-high heat. Oil is hot enough when you drop a pinch of dough into the oil and the dough floats up within seconds. (It is important to have the oil the right temperature because if the oil is too hot the samosas will not cook inside and if the oil is not hot enough the samosas might fall apart in the oil or get greasy.) Fry 3-5 samosas at a time until light golden brown, about 4-5 minutes on each side.

6. Serve hot with coriander chutney or ketchup. They can be reheated in the oven.

Queer Eye, Brandeis, and Pareve Tiramisu

KBlog afficionado Dan informs us of the May 8 episode of Queer Eye for the Straight Girl which featured fellow Brandeis ’02 alumni Lauren and Lex Friedman. The personal transformation and home improvements were great, but, as usual, this blog is most interested in the episode’s recipe — a kosher, non-dairy tiramisu. Of course, any Hebrew scholars in the audience know that the word “tiramisu” is (could be?) a linguistic corruption of the phrase “you should fear it” — and the recipe posted on Bravo’s website confirms that translation.

In fact, the show’s recipe is entirely bogus. They completely neglect to share what quantities to use of half the ingredients. I’d suggest screwing Bravo’s version and using the pareve Tiramisu recipe from Levana’s Table (e-mail the blog if you’d like it).

But Dan asks a couple poignant questions: where to find pareve lady fingers and kosher Kahlua. We’ve purchased Paskesz lady fingers from the Butcherie, but they were crispy/crunchy rather than cake-like. If you have a pastry bag around, they’re not too hard to make using Fanny Farmer’s 1918 recipe or this more recent rendition. Try asking at your local kosher market first, or cut strips of sponge cake and toast in the oven them until slightly brown as a quick substitute.

As for Kahlua, I’m told you can still get the hekshered liqueur in Mexico, but I don’t have the full scoop. There are worthy replacements, though, such as Yikvei Zion Kava Coffee Liqueur available from Queen Anne Wine or Carmel Azmara Coffee Liqueur available from Kosher.com.

Farfel Muffins/Popovers

These savory muffins are great when sliced open and slathered with saucy brisket, or served warm with butter. They are very simple to prepare, especially if you have a quality non-stick muffin tin.

FARFEL MUFFINS
makes 12 small muffins, can be doubled

Margarine or shmaltz for greasing pan
1 1/2 C matzah farfel
1 1/2 C boiling water
3 eggs
3/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp onion powder
1 1/2 Tbsp melted margarine, melted shmaltz, or vegetable oil

Preheat oven to 400 degrees and thoroughly grease your muffin tin with margarine or shmaltz. Cover farfel with boiling water and let sit for 30 minutes. Drain any liquid that hasn’t been absorbed. Beat eggs, salt, onion powder, and melted fat/oil and combine with soaked farfel. Fill muffin tins halfway with batter. Bake for 30 minutes until golden brown.

Balsamic Candied Pecans

This past Shabbat, we diverged from our usual romaine-strawberry-craisin salad and tried something that tied into our Tex-Mex menu a little better: Baby Spinach with Mango and Candied Pecans. The salad, though simple, was very good, and I was truly wowed by the candied pecans.

What makes these nuts special is that, in addition to the typical sugar, the coating contains a bit of balsamic vinegar. The end result is a unique sweet-sour combination that ties in perfectly with the mango and vinaigrette of the salad, and is a great snack just on their own. (I would have happily munched them all away if I didn’t need them for the salad.)

Blue Ribbon Vegan Cornbread?

I was skeptical that pareve cornbread could be moist at all, never mind an award winner. Imagine my surprise when Cook’s Illustrated reported a recipe for vegan cornbread that actually won the blue ribbon at the Iowa State Fair… and those folks know their corn.

DANA SLY’S BLUE RIBBON VEGAN CORNBREAD
Serves 9

2 Tbsp. ground flax seed
6 Tbsp. water
1 C all-purpose flour
1 C cornmeal
1/4 C sugar
4 tsp. baking powder
3/4 tsp. table salt
1 C soy milk
1/4 C canola oil

1. Adjust oven rack to middle position; heat oven to 425 degrees. Spray 8-inch-square baking dish with nonstick cooking spray.
2. Bring the water to a boil in a small saucepan. Add the ground flax seed, reduce the heat to medium-low, and simmer the ground flax seed in the water for 3 minutes or until thickened, stirring occasionally. Set aside.
3. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cornmeal, sugar, baking powder, and salt until well-combined.
4. Add the ground flax seed mixture, soy milk, and canola oil to the flour mixture. Beat just until smooth (do not overbeat.)
5. Turn into prepared baking pan. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.
6. Cool on wire rack 10 minutes; invert cornbread onto wire rack, then turn right side up and continue to cool until warm, about 10 minutes longer. Cut into pieces and serve.

UPDATE — 10-Mar-05
The “secret” to the recipe is a mysterious ingredient I’ve never worked with before: ground flaxseed, or “flaxseed meal”. When cooked briefly with hot water, it gets very thick and gummy and adds body to the cornbread that more fat or a dairy product otherwise would. Even better, a mere two tablespoons of ground flaxseed contains four grams of fiber and three grams of protein, plus other random healthful things that ward off cancer and decrease cholesterol. A wonder food, indeed, and it makes a very moist, pareve cornbread.

Chocolate Hazelnut Torte

As the week races by and Shabbat approaches, I usually don’t have time to bake anything more complicated than chocolate chip cookies, and most often relegate our Shabbat desserts to any of the fine bakeries in the area. In December, with some time off before starting my new job, I took the opportunity to flex my underworked baking muscle. I struggled to find something elegant, pareve, and not overly complicated that could be prepared in advance. I found my dessert — Chocolate Hazelnut Torte — in Lora Brody’s Growing up on the Chocolate Diet, an entertaining memoir dotted with recipes. I later discovered that her Chocolate American Style also features this recipe, but, unfortunately, not even this glossy full-color book had a picture of the finished product, so I was on my own visually.

What stands out in this flourless dessert is the centrality of toasted hazelnuts, something almost totally foreign to me, as my mother is highly allergic to tree nuts. Risking a fatal surprise visit by my parents, I embraced the aromatic ingredient which provided much of the torte’s substance.

The surprise ingredient, not evident from the title, is raspberry preserves — fabulous when paired with chocolate. Fresh raspberries accent the top and hint of the flavor within.

Following her instructions meticulously, and with enough time, I found this torte to be a lot of fun to prepare, great looking, and great tasting. (As a plus, it can be made for Passover.)

CHOCOLATE HAZELNUT TORTE
from Chocolate American Style by Lora Brody, with minor adaptations

For the cake:
• Unsalted margarine and flour for preparing the pan
• 8 oz. bittersweet/semisweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
• 6 oz. Fleischmann’s unsalted stick margarine, room temperature
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 6 extra-large eggs, room temperature, separated
• 1 1/2 cups hazelnuts, toasted, skinned, and ground
• 1/3 cup seedless raspberry jam or preserves

For the glaze:
• 3 Tbsp. light corn syrup
• 2 Tbsp. Fleischmann’s unsalted stick margarine
• 6 oz. bittersweet/semisweet chocolate, cut in small pieces
• 2 oz. unsweetened chocolate, cut in small pieces
• fresh raspberries for garnish

Equipment:
• 9×3-inch cake/springform pan
• Parchment paper
• Wax paper
• Electric mixer

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F, with the rack in the lower third of the oven, but not at the very bottom. Grease the interior of the cake pan. Line the bottom with a circle of parchment. Grease the parchment. Dust the pan with flour, knocking out the excess. [K.B. Note: Pam with Flour works well, too.]

To make the cake, melt the chocolate in a metal bowl set over, but not touching, a pan of simmering water, or in a microwave-safe bowl in a microwave oven. When the chocolate has melted, remove it from over the water and set aside to cool slightly. [K.B. Note: I was VERY careful, and used a low heat, to melt my chocolate in a pan directly on the burner.]

Place the margarine and sugar in a large bowl. With an electric mixer, beat them together on medium-high speed until the mixture is very light and fluffy. Beat in the egg yolks, one at time, beating well after each addition. Reduce the mixer speed to low and mix in the melted chocolate and nuts until they are just incorporated.

In a clean mixing bowl, with clean beaters, beat the egg whites until they hold soft peaks. Do not overbeat. Scoop a large spoonful of whites into the chocolate batter to lighten it, then scrape the remaining whites onto the chocolate batter and fold them in thoroughly. The batter will deflate considerably. Pour and scrape the batter into the prepared pan [it's greased and floured, right?] and level it off with a rubber spatula. Bake for 50 to 60 minutes, or until the top is buffed and crusty and feels firm when pressed in the center. It is important not to overbake this cake. [K.B. Note: Oven performance varies widely. Check after 40 minutes and keep a close eye (and nose) on the cake.]

Remove the pan from the oven and let the cake cool in the pan for 15 minutes. Turn the cake out onto a wire rack and remove the parchment, but leave the cake bottom-side up.

When you are ready to assemble the cake, place the preserves in a small saucepan and bring them to a boil over medium heat. Place the cooled cake with the flat (bottom) side up on a flat serving plate with four strips of wax paper under the cake to catch drips from the glaze. [K.B. Note: the four strips, rather than a single sheet, make it possible to slide the wax paper out from under the completed cake.] Pour the preserves over the top of the cake and smooth with an offset spatula. Use only enough to cover the top, but not the sides, of the cake. Let the preserves set while you prepare the chocolate glaze.

Place 3 tablespoons of water, the corn syrup, and the margarine in a small saucepan and bring the mixture to a boil, stirring occasionally. Remove from the heat and add the bittersweet chocolate and the unsweetened chocolate. Stir gently, then set aside to thicken slightly. When it is slightly thickened, pour the glaze over the cake and smooth over the top and sides with a cake spatula. [K.B. Note: a blunt, straight-edged meat-slicing knife is a handy substitute for a cake spatula.] Remove the protective wax paper strips. Garnish the cake with fresh berries, or serve with a bowl of unsweetened whipped cream.

Store the cake, covered, at room temperature for up to 4 days. [K.B. Note: I kept it refrigerated for several days.]

Apricot Rum Cake

Here’s an easy recipe for a delicious cake which works well in both dairy and pareve preparations — my favorite of my grandmother’s desserts. As a kid, it was always exciting to get to eat cake with alcohol in it!

Mollie Uliss’s Apricot Rum Cake

• one package yellow cake mix
• 3/4 cup vegetable oil
• 3/4 cup apricot nectar
• 4 eggs (extra large)
• 10 Tbsp. butter or margarine
• 1/2 cup top-quality dark rum
• 3/4 cup sugar

Equipment: bundt pan or tube pan, mixer

1. Grease and flour your bundt pan. Yes, go do it now. If you don’t you’ll forget and then good luck getting your cake out. Okay, now heat your oven to 350 degrees.
2. Add oil, nectar, and eggs to bowl of mixer and mix briefly to combine. Add cake mix and mix for 5 minutes on medium speed.
3. Pour batter into greased and floured pan. Bake for 40 minutes. If you don’t have a dark bundt pan (i.e. if you have a shiny metal one), bake for 10 minutes longer.
4. While the cake is baking, melt butter/margarine in a small saucepan. Add rum and sugar, stirring constantly to combine into a syrup. Set aside.
5. When cake is done, remove pan from oven and poke several holes in the cake surface with a wooden skewer or toothpick. If rum syrup has cooled, reheat it, then pour all over surface of cake. Let cake sit until all syrup is absorbed. Invert onto a cake platter and serve with freshly whipped cream.