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Back to Your Roots

1/11/2022

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Root vegetables are at the core of many comfort foods; dishes we crave during the long, cold winter months. Even before modern refrigeration, roots were easy to keep without extensive processing during the harvest season. Unlike late summer harvest produce such as tomatoes, beans, corn and fruits that need canning, drying or pickling, roots only need to be picked, allowed to dry and then stored in a root cellar. 

This gallery shows photos of root vegetables both in their natural state and prepared into simple dishes. Most recipes are forgiving and don't require exact measurements.

This post is a follow-up to my January 2022 column in the American Israelite.


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Roasted Root Vegetables with Roasted Garlic Aioli

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Simple Fennel Salad

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Mashed Sweet Potatoes
Whether bright orange or deep purple like these, mashed sweet potatoes are a colorful addition to any plate. Like regular potatoes, all they need is a little something mashed in - butter, mayonnaise or heavy coconut cream + salt & pepper. If you want to enhance the sweetness, add a sprinkle of cinnamon or a splash of maple syrup.

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Indian Carrot Dessert - Gajar Halwa

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Collection of organic roots (+broccoli) from the farm. Baby turnips, radishes, beets, salad onions & garlic scapes


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Baby Turnips fresh from the farm

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Israeli Pickled Vegetables

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Mashed Potatoes with Borscht

The little pan-fried meatloaf in this picture is called Kotletin (coat-let-in). It's an Eastern European dish I grew up eating - in my home this was the ultimate comfort food. 
It was always served with richly caramelized onions and mashed potatoes topped with bright pink borscht from a jar that my mom mixed with a raw egg. I don't know why.
I made my own borscht and it came out much darker. I missed the pink.

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Roasted Potato Wedges with Rosemary
Potatoes love rosemary like peanut butter loves jelly. Use Russet or Idaho potatoes.
  1. Scrub potatoes to remove any loose dirt; slice into wedges.
  2. Toss with extra virgin olive oil, salt & pepper and chopped fresh rosemary.
  3. Lay in a single layer, on their flat sides, on a parchment-lined baking sheet.
  4. Roast at 450 degrees for 12 to 18 minutes or even a little longer, turning once.

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Hasselback Potatoes

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Sweet & Sour Celeriac Carrots

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Twice Baked Potatoes

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Roasted Potato Chips

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Horseradish infused vodka for Passover - or any time you need a spicy shot
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Carrot & Radish Salad

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Beet & Horseradish-tini

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Hearty Sweet Potato Salad

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Stunning Watermelon Radish with Hawaiian Black Sea Salt

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Garlic Scapes
The curly tops from garlic bulbs are available only when garlic is freshly picked. Chop them into salads, mince them into a vinaigrette or add them to Israeli Pickled Vegetables.

PictureSimple Beet Salad



This beautiful salad can be laid out like this or cut into wedges and tossed. It can also be monochromatic - Golden Beets + oranges + white onions OR Red Beets + Blood Oranges + Red Onions OR multi-colored by mixing and matching .
Add a squeeze of fresh lime juice + a splash of really good extra virgin olive oil + coarse salt & pepper.

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Labor Day Rosh Hashana Picnic Style Menu

8/18/2021

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​This year Erev Rosh Hashana falls on Labor Day! Not only does the early date catch us by surprise, but it's going to be HOT! I don't know about you, but I don't want to work for two days in a hot kitchen preparing a heavy traditional Rosh Hashana meal of chicken soup, gefilte fish and brisket with all the trimmings. But a traditional Labor Day cook out of burgers and dogs doesn't feel right either.

I love tradition, but sometimes traditions don't fit the current situation. This is one of those times.

So I created a menu that combines the best of both traditions. It incorporates all the traditional and symbolic foods for Rosh Hashana in a make-ahead picnic style meal. 



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All Jewish food traditions developed around the foods that were available in whatever location a Jewish community found itself. So the Ashkenazi (Eastern European) tradition includes dipping apples (a fall fruit) in honey (bee honey available in Europe). Kosher meat was sometimes scarce and always expensive, so it was reserved for special occasions like holidays. And in that part of the world summer was most definitely over by Rosh Hashana, so mostly fall produce was available, like sweet potatoes and dried fruits, which became tzimmes.

Northern Africa and the Middle East (Syria, Iraq, Yemen) have more moderate climates and more diverse agriculture. So Jews in those places, Sephardi and Mizrachi, developed different food traditions. Based on the nature of a fruit or word play with its Hebrew name, these communities created a "seder" for Rosh Hashana that offers an array of foods imbued with symbolic meaning. These foods include dates, pomegranate, green beans, pumpkin or squash, beets, leeks, scallions or chives, and a fish head or head of lettuce.

This menu incorporates all these foods from Jewish traditions around the world in a mostly cold make-ahead picnic style meal.

I've included three recipes here. The recipe for the Squash Salad ran in my American Israelite article, along with an explanation of the Jewish calendar. Click here to read that.
 


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Cold Borscht Shooters​
Click here to print.
Makes 2 quarts; serves 8 to 12 in bowls & makes about 30 2-ounce shooters
​
Ingredients
1 LB cooked beets
2 lg garlic cloves, crushed
4 C vegetable stock
1 tsp honey
Juice from one lemon
1 C plant-based yogurt or real sour cream
3 scallions, chopped
Salt & pepper
 
Directions
1. Grate the beets into a medium saucepan, using the largest holes on a 4-sided grater.
2. Add garlic, stock, honey & lemon juice to the pan. Bring to a boil, turn down to simmer for 10 minutes.
3. In the meantime, use the bottom of a small glass to smash the chopped scallions with some kosher salt until they’re pulpy.
4. When the borscht is cool, use an immersion blender to puree. Make as smooth or chunky as you like.
5. Add scallions to the borscht; stir in the yogurt. Season liberally with freshly ground pepper and taste for salt.
6. Serve in bowls or shooter glasses with a small dollop of yogurt and scallions for garnish.

Crab Salad (Imitation)​
Click here to print.
Serves 4 to 6, depending on the rest of the menu
​
Ingredients
For the Salad
½ LB imitation crab flakes or sticks, chopped fine
1 stalk celery, diced
1 very small onion, diced
1 TBSP capers, chopped
 
For the Dressing
1/3 C mayonnaise
1 tsp Dijon mustard
2 tsp whole seed mustard
1 tsp celery seeds
¼ tsp smoked paprika
Pinch cayenne pepper (or more)

Directions
1. In a medium bowl toss crab, celery, onion & capers together.
2. In a small bowl combine all dressing ingredients; taste for seasoning, add salt & pepper.
3. Add dressing to crab, toss to combine.
4. Serve on lettuce with cucumber & tomato as garnish.
 

Three Bean Salad​
Click here to print.
Serves 6 to 12 depending on the rest of the menu

Ingredients
For the Salad
1 bag frozen cut green beans (12 oz)
1 can chickpeas, rinsed
1 can kidney beans, rinsed
1 stalk celery, sliced
1 small onion, sliced
 
For the Dressing
¼ C apple cider vinegar
2/3 C safflower or canola oil
2 tsp Dijon mustard
1 TBSP honey or agave nectar
 
Directions
1. In a medium bowl toss beans, celery & onion together.
2. In a small bowl combine all dressing ingredients; taste for seasoning, add salt & pepper.
3. Toss dressing with salad.
 
Remove from refrigerator about ½ hour before serving.


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I'm writing a book. STOCKED!

7/16/2021

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​I was invited as a guest on a podcast -
Today's Takeaway with Florine Mark - Click here to Listen.

​As I prepared for the interview, I realized the topic is much bigger than a half hour podcast.
I started writing and 100 pages later, I have a book!

Stocked!
How to Stock Your Kitchen & Cook Quick, Easy Meals ​with Ingredients You Keep on Hand: 
 A Book of Tips & Recipes

Details about how & when it will be published are TBD. But soon.
​
Here's a taste.
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From Chapter 1: Pantry | Flavor Bombs |
Spices & Seasonings


​I struggled to narrow down the number of spices and seasonings to recommend for the well-stocked kitchen. With this selection plus the rest of the Flavor Bombs in your well-stocked pantry, you’ll be able to prepare dozens, if not hundreds, of tasty meals. 

​Salt & Pepper
When TV chefs say “season” something, they mean add salt & pepper, which are almost always used together. Please, if you don’t already, use Kosher Salt. It gets its name from its use in the meat koshering process where it’s used to pull blood out of freshly slaughtered meat. Kosher salt is not finely ground; the crystals remain bigger, but because it doesn’t have any additives to prevent caking, it has a cleaner saltier flavor than table salt.

You will still need a finely ground salt for baking; the larger pieces in kosher salt won’t distribute evenly in a dough. I use finely ground sea salt, but table salt will do. 

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You’ve probably seen all kinds of sea salt on shelves. It’s wonderful to finish a dish by sprinkling over the top. It not only adds flavor, but the flakes add crunch. But I’m not going to include it as a required ingredient in your well-stocked panty.

Black pepper should be ground as needed. If you don’t have a pepper grinder, please get one. It doesn’t have to be super expensive, although a grinder with a metal mechanism will work better and last longer than a plastic one. It’s also nice to have a grinder that allows you to adjust the grind size from finer to coarser.

Like all the ingredients I’ve described so far, fresh is always better. Freshly ground pepper tastes better — pepperier — than pre-ground. Grinding releases the oils in the pepper seed; by the time you get a container of ground pepper home, it’s dried out and lost those oils.

 


Other Spices
These are the essentials I recommend for your pantry.
  • Onion & Garlic powder — make sure you buy powder; not garlic or onion salt. Control the salt yourself.
  • Sweet & Smoked Paprika — paprika is made from ground dried peppers. The sweet variety is made from sweet red peppers; to achieve the smoked variety, the peppers are smoked first.
  • Cinnamon — although you might think about cinnamon as a “sweet” spice, by itself it actually has a sharp spiciness. Cinnamon isn’t just for dessert; many, many types of ethnic food use cinnamon in savory applications.

​Spice Blends

You could fill an entire spice cabinet with amazing spice blends from major manufacturers and smaller artisan operations. As you can see in the pictures, I did.
But you don’t need them. Four basic spice blends will take you pretty far.
  • Chili Powder — yes, it’s a blend.
  • Pumpkin Pie Spice — the classic combination of cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, allspice and ginger can also be used in savory applications.
  • Italian Seasoning — most versions contain basil, oregano, thyme and rosemary. It’s a great combination that can be used in many dishes, not just Italian.
  • Curry Powder — There are literally hundreds of different types of curry; many Indian families make their own and sometimes more than one for different dishes. But a basic curry powder works well for most home cooks, including in a Curry Chicken Salad. (recipe will be included)

​Fresh Herbs
I realize it’s not possible for everyone to maintain a fresh herb garden. Fresh herbs are pricey in stores, often costing $2 for a small bunch. They are SO worth it, but very hard to keep fresh for more than a few days once you get them home.

If you have a green thumb and a sunny space somewhere in your home, select from this list of my essentials and take the plunge to grow your own. Especially in the winter, when they are less available and more expensive in stores, you will be glad you did.
 
•  Basil • Chives • Dill • Oregano • Parsley • Rosemary • Thyme • 
 
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It's Almost Fruit Crisp Time: Super Crunchy Topping

5/19/2021

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When it comes to dessert, a lot of people are all about the chocolate. And don't get me wrong; I like chocolate as much as the next guy, but given a choice I always pick something based on fruit. I love a tart or pie or strudel, but the abundance of stone fruit and berries in the summer screams out for Fruit Crisp!

This recipe adds another one of my foody passions: CRUNCH. I can write a whole post about it; I'll call it An Ode to Crunch. But when it comes to a hot Fruit Crisp, I always found that the fruit underneath cooked through long before the topping was crunchy enough for my taste.

Until I found this recipe, which I adapted. Baking the topping by itself creates Super Crunchy bits and pieces that provide a satisfying contrast to the ooey-gooey hot fruit. The topping is great on yogurt too.
​
Click here for printable recipe.
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Fruit Crisp with Super Crunchy Topping
​Bake the topping separately from the fruit for a super crunchy topping that provides a striking contrast to the soft, sweet fruit inside.
 
This type of Fruit Crisp is typically served warm, sometimes with ice cream or whipped cream, which adds another contrast of cold vs. hot. But if you use coconut oil instead of butter, it makes a naturally parve dessert that certainly doesn’t miss the ice cream.
 
The amount of sugar you need depends on the sweetness of your fruit and personal preference. It needs some amount of sugar to achieve the bubbly saucy texture, but a quarter cup is enough if your fruit is really ripe and sweet and you prefer a slightly less sweet dessert.
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Ingredients​
For the Topping
½ C brown sugar
½ C flour
½ C quick cooking oats
½ C chopped nuts, any
¼ tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla
½ C butter, melted
OR
½ C liquid coconut oil
 
For the Fruit
4-5 C fresh fruit
About 3-4 TBSP flour
¼ - ½ C sugar
¼ tsp salt
Optional:
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp cinnamon
Freshly grated nutmeg
1-2 TBSP fresh tarragon & 1 tsp crushed pink peppercorns
Directions​ 
Make the Topping
  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
  2. In a bowl, combine all topping ingredients.
  3. Spread on parchment lined baking sheet in a single layer.
  4. Bake about 10 – 12 minutes.
  5. Remove from oven, break up, redistribute & bake 10 – 12 minutes more,
  6. Check again, redistribute & bake another 4-8 minutes until golden brown.
  7. Remove from oven; topping will get crunchier as it cools. Break it up into bits and pieces.
Note: DO NOT touch the topping with your bare hands while it is hot. The hot sugar and oil will burn on contact.
 
Meanwhile, prepare the Fruit
  1. In a bowl, combine all ingredients.
  2. Pour into baking dish deep enough to hold it all without it bubbling over as it bakes.
  3. Bake 20 minutes, stir & bake 10-15 minutes more until fruit is cooked through and bubbly.
  4. To serve, spoon hot fruit into individual bowls and top with crunchy topping.
OR
Scatter topping over entire top of fruit in baking dish. Spoon out to serve.
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Kitchen Tips #1: All About Knives

4/19/2021

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​This is the first in a series of Kitchen Tips posts about equipment.
​I’ll tell you about pieces I love & use all the time and about the items that I found less useful & let go when I downsized last year.

​Good knives are the most important tool in the kitchen. A great knife makes your work easier, more accurate and faster.
Terrible knives can make it almost impossible to get anything done.
​If I have to cook at someone else’s home or in a synagogue kitchen, I always bring my own knives.

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My Favorite Knives 
I like a big knife for almost every task.
Years ago, when I was suffering with Carpal Tunnel problems, I just couldn’t wield the heavy knives with wood handles that I had for years.

At a wine festival, I met a vendor selling RADA knives. These knives are super light, the blades are super thin, and they are crazy inexpensive.

​And for me, one of the best features of their line is that all knives come with either black integrated resin handles or permanently cast aluminum handles, which means I can have two sets of the same knives that I can tell apart easily - important in a kosher kitchen. 
Even more specifically perfect for me – my dairy cookware is black and my meat cookware is stainless, so I already use the black and silver color scheme for most of my utensils.

The biggest RADA knife is an 8½ blade French Chef knife; the silver handled knife weighs about 6½ ounces, the black handled one weighs even less. At the low low price of $23.40, the French Chef is their most expensive knife! They do sell sets, but the other thing I love about RADA is that they sell every knife individually, so I have just what I need and no extra knives that I don’t want.

Rada knives are available through independent resellers or on their website.  I don't have a relationship with RADA, other than customer, so there is no financial incentive for me here. I just love these knives!


Storing Your Knives
​In my giant New Jersey kitchen, I kept my knives in wooden blocks on the counter. Now, in my downtown Cincinnati apartment, counter space is more limited; I keep them in separate drawers by themselves, so I don’t need any kind of rack or holder.



​My brother and son like this storage solution that uses flexible plastic rods to hold the knives without forcing them into specific slots, which works no matter what sizes you have. ​
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My sister loves her clear knife holder, which separates the knives at the top with a slotted rubber gasket. It also holds any sizes you have and lets you see which is which.
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 Which Knives do You Need?
​These are the knives I chose in addition to the large French Chef knife:
  • Cook’s Knife - my husband likes this shape
  • Cook’s Utility - a smaller version of the Cook's, which honestly, I don't use very often
  • Carver/Boner - great for removing skin from fish
  • 10-inch Bread knife - big enough for the largest loaves
  • Regular Parer - for small jobs, like removing strawberry tops

I also have 2 hand-made paring knives I bought in Toledo, Spain which is famous for its knife makers. They were a little pricey, but I love them because they remind me of that trip.
​
Although it’s not a knife, another important piece is a pair of kitchen shears which, unlike regular scissors, are designed to come apart for thorough cleaning. I sometimes use these to cut a chicken apart; but mostly I used them to snip herbs or other small items.


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Keeping Your Knives Sharp
There are two aspects to keeping your knives sharp – honing and sharpening.

Although not visible to your naked eye, the V-shaped edge of a straight knife is lined with tiny teeth. Regular use pushes them out of alignment. Using a steel to hone your knife realigns the teeth, maintaining a sharp cutting edge. You should hone your favorite knife at least once a week unless, like me, you use it for everything and frequently. I hone my knife almost every time I use it. During a busy day of lots of chopping, I may even hone it halfway through.

Eventually the tiny teeth wear away, leaving the knife dull. At this point, you need to grind an entirely new edge which actually removes some metal and re-establishes the V-shape.

​Many professional chefs with expensive knives use a sharpening stone to do this themselves. I use an electric sharpener that was a gift for my first wedding anniversary, 32 years ago. Some hardware stores also sharpen knives. In any case, how often you need to sharpen depends on how much use your knives get. I do it every 3 months or so; you may need to sharpen less frequently, but try to do it at least twice a year.


Cleaning Your Knives
I use a wet kitchen cloth to wipe off my cutting board and knife while I’m working. When it’s time to wash, don’t use an abrasive cleaner on your knife blade. Always dry it immediately and put it away. Don’t leave a knife in your dish drainer when it can get damaged, break something else, or be a cut hazard. 

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Make Your Own Condiments

4/6/2021

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​Several years ago, I started making my own Mayonnaise and Ketchup for Passover. I needed both during the week, but the special, kosher for Passover products at the store were crazy expensive and didn’t taste very good. It irked me to spend so much on a bottle of Ketchup only to throw most of it away after the holiday.

​I thought, how hard can it be?

Turns out, not hard at all. 

Click here for recipes.
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Once I tasted the richness of Mayonnaise made with a fresh farm egg and the surprising umami of freshly made Ketchup, I wondered what else I could make at home.

Tartar Sauce was a good candidate. I love it on fried fish, but I don’t make that very often, so I would open a jar and by the next time I needed it, the jar had spoiled. Much tastier and more economical just to make as much as I needed for the one meal.

In a kosher home, I don’t mix dairy and meat products at the same meal, so I usually enjoy a baked potato with a splash of olive oil instead of Sour Cream when I make it as a side to steak. I have a recipe for rich creamy parve Chocolate Mousse that uses tofu, which I was making for a particular grilled meal, so I created Parve Sour Cream with just ¼ cup of the tofu.
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Kosher for Passover Mustard is a weird chemical mixture, comprised mostly of turmeric and acetic acid because white vinegar, which is made from grain, is prohibited during the holiday. But mustard seed itself is not. This year I found locally made pure wine vinegar – without any grain – and made the most delicious Yellow Mustard I have every eaten. The whole seed Mustards I made were a mixed success; two of them were so spicy and bitter they were inedible. The third, made with red wine vinegar and a little sugar, turned out reasonably tasty, but I will have to make it a couple of more times to get it just right.
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Tehina is a new darling in the foody-verse, but my love of Israeli food made it a staple in my pantry years ago. The pure sesame seed pureé, known as tahini (ta-hee-nee) is bitter. It needs to be mixed with water and a few other things to become the Tehina sauce that is so popular. Prepared Tehina can be used alone or as an ingredient in Hummus, salad dressings, and all kinds of sauces.

Vinegar is another condiment or ingredient I use often. Sometimes when I feel like a dish is missing something – something I can’t put my finger on – it turns out that a splash of good vinegar does the trick. This year, a few weeks before Passover I participated in the amazing Kosher Food & Wine Virtual Experience, sponsored by Royal Wine Corp. The tasting kit included 25 small bottles of wine! The 2½ hour tasting program left me with a lot of opened bottles, so I currently have two jars of vinegar hanging out in a cabinet – one red and one white. Vinegar takes longer than these other condiments to develop; I will check it in three weeks. Right now I can tell you that when that cabinet opens I get a nose-full of vinegar, so I have high hopes for it.
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In the meantime, I hope you will give some of these recipes a try and let me know how you like your homemade condiments.
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Kitniyot: To Eat or Not to Eat?

3/15/2021

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​For many people Passover is a burdensome week of excessive cleaning and extra dietary restrictions. In fact, for most Ashkenazi Jews, Passover has EXTRA extra dietary restrictions. In addition to true hametz, they typically avoid kitniyot – a category of food that includes rice, legumes, and sometimes even corn. But it doesn't necessarily have to be that way.

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Jews Around the World Developed Different Traditions
Americans are most familiar with Ashkenazi Jewish traditions that developed and were brought to this country by Jews from Germany and Eastern Europe. Foodwise those traditions include what most people think of as “Jewish” food – matzo balls, gefilte fish, and kugel are some examples.
 
But Jews lived in and emigrated from many parts of the world, where they developed different traditions including many more than food choices. Sephardic Jews descended from Jews who were thrown out of Spain by the Inquisition in the late 1400s. Some fled north to the Netherlands, then to England and later to the English colonies; some fled south and across the Mediterranean and ended up in Morocco and Northern Africa. Other Jews, known as Mizrahi, were never in any part of Europe. Their diaspora formed mostly east of Israel, in the Syrian peninsula, Persia, Greece and Turkey. There were other pockets of Jews, most notably in Italy, India, and Ethiopia who don't fall into any of these categories. These non-European Jews developed their own prayers, tunes, literature, language, customs, and food traditions.


PictureFrom OnceUponaChef.com
What does that have to with Passover?
The prohibition of hametz – leavened bread – is a Biblical commandment. The story tells that the Jewish slaves fled Egypt in such a hurry that their dough did not have time to rise. Later, when they finally baked it, the result was a flat bread or cracker. God commands us to avoid risen bread and eat matzo to remember our time in Egypt as slaves and our hasty departure.
 
According to Jewish LAW only five grains, can ferment and become hametz - wheat, barley, spelt, oats, and rye. These are also the only grains that can be made into matzo and matzo is the only form in which they can be eaten. However, in the 13th century, European rabbis added additional restrictions to prohibit kitniyot – rice, dried beans, millet, and lentils. Those restrictions, developed only 800 years ago, have grown over time to include even more prohibitions including chickpeas, peanuts, soy, and other legumes.
 
Fundamentally, there is a difference between law and custom, halacha and minchag. Jewish law is derived directly from the Torah, with the details hammered out by the Rabbis of the early Common Era. For example, the prohibition of mixing meat and dairy derives from a single phrase in the Torah: “You shall not boil a kid in its mother’s milk.” (Exodus 23:13) It was THE RABBIS who determined the details of following this prohibition, that include using separate dishes.
 
However, it wasn’t until 1,200 years later that some rabbis in Europe decided that kitniyot might be confused with other, forbidden, items. These rabbis were concerned that grains of rice and grains of wheat could be mistaken for one another. So, in an abundance of caution, kitniyot were added to the list of forbidden items during Pesach. But, because the ban originated in Europe, Jews of Sephardic and Mizrahi background were not exposed to it and have always included kitniyot in their Pesach diet.


A Modern Decision
In a 2013 teshuvah (religious ruling), Rabbi David Golinkin, a Conservative authority in Israel, noted the reasoning behind the prohibition. At that time, the rabbis reasoned:
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“…if we allow kitniyot porridge, we will eat grain porridge because both are cooked in a pot.”
And
if rice or bean flour can be baked into bread, someone might mistakenly think that it is all right to eat bread on Passover made from wheat or rye flour.


However, Rabbi Golinkin revealed that “…not only is the custom contrary to the opinions in the Talmud, but more than 50 different early sages reject it outright.”
So, we learn that even when the prohibition was new, there was disagreement about it.
 
In December 2015, the Rabbinic Assembly (RA), the rabbinic authority for the Conservative movement, took a long hard look at these additional restrictions. Rigorous research to find the original reasons for the prohibition revealed that it likely began with one rabbi, who it seems did not trust his own wife to know the difference between rice and wheat. As word spread from town to town, more and more rabbis began to follow this ruling in efforts not to appear lax in their kashrut. It is the classic example of a ubiquitous game of one-upmanship.

In addition to the seemingly bogus origin of the rule, the RA considered three modern concerns: 1) nutrition, 2) finances, and 3) Jewish unity. Personally, I will add a fourth, the consideration of highly processed food.

  1. Nutritionally speaking, without rice and beans, vegetarians and vegans find it difficult to eat a satisfying and healthy amount of protein. Adoption of meatless and plant-based diets has grown dramatically in recent years, so more and more people find it difficult to eat well during Passover without kitniyot.
  2. Kosher food is expensive. Kosher for Passover food is even more so. For many, especially during this crisis when so many are out of work, the cost of certified Passover products is truly a financial burden.
  3. The RA considered that, especially in Israel, where there is already tension between the Sephardic, Mizrahi, and Ashkenazi communities, the difference between Pesach practices is an additional, burdensome and unnecessary dividing issue.
The RA weighed all three factors in the teshuvah, or ruling, allowing all Jews to eat kitniyot during Pesach. The ruling passed with 19 rabbis in favor, one opposed and two abstaining.
 
I will add this. Most of the ersatz chametz products, like Pesach noodles, cereal, and even mustard, are highly processed products whose ingredients include a lot of stabilizers and thickeners that aren’t necessary and can be avoided if we just eat real food.

Of course, the RA, while allowing kitniyot, left the decision whether to include them up to individuals. I choose to include them, especially at the Seder.
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Celebrating the Environment: Tu b'Shvat

1/21/2021

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Tu b'Shvat begins the evening of Wednesday, January 27 this year. It's too bad more people don't know much about this lovely biblical celebration of nature.

​Technically, this date - the 15th day of the Hebrew month of Shvat - marks the beginning of the agricultural year. When the Temple stood in Jerusalem, Jewish farmers were required to tithe a portion of their crops to support the priesthood. The middle of Shvat marks the end of the rainy season in Israel; almond trees begin to blossom, so ancient farmers used this date to designate the beginning of the new crop year. 


After the Second Temple was destroyed and Jews were exiled from the Land, Tu b’Shvat took on special meaning as an expression of our connection to the Land and longing to return. But it was the Kabbalists living in northern Israel centuries later who established Tu b’Shvat as the holiday we know today. They expanded their understanding of the day, not just as a celebration of the renewal of agricultural life, but as a time to rejoice in all of God’s creation.
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These spiritual men created the first Tu b’Shvat Seder, basing its structure on the Passover Seder. In the nearly 2,000 years since, the Tu b’Shvat Seder has evolved into an expression of our joy over nature, our strong ties to the Land of Israel, and our commitment to protecting the environment.

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Sadly, today, at least in the US, Tu b'Shvat has been relegated to nursery and Hebrew school celebrations. But the seder is rich with symbolism and self-reflection that offers deep meaning for grown ups of all ages.

​Especially now, while the Corona virus pandemic keeps us home and the days run into one another, Tu b'Shvat offers an opportunity to prepare a special meal and look forward to spring. 

To embrace the spirit of the holiday, it's traditional to enjoy a vegetarian meal - a menu incorporating Israeli cuisine is especially appropriate.

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My family will join together in a seder via Zoom. Because everyone is quarantining and busy with children, school and work, I prepared seder kits. I shipped them to my out-of-town children and delivered one to my sister, here in Cincinnati. Our son is local too, so he will join us in person.

Click here for the recipes.
Curried Coconut Cocktail Nuts
Spiced Olives
Dried Fruit Biscotti
​Besamim (Spice Sachet)

If you would like a copy of my Tu b'Shvat seder, click here, fill out the contact form and leave a note. I am happy to send you a PDF for you to use with your friends and family.
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Tu b'Shvat seder kit
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Celebrating the New Year with Gratitude & Generosity

12/30/2020

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The most meaningful way we celebrate the New Year is to open a bottle of bubbly, look back at our good fortune, and make our charitable donations – tzedakah – for the year.

When I was single, New Year's Eve was a night to find a big party, get dressed up and look for love. When we became parents, we looked for kid-friendly First Night celebrations. For the last fifteen years, or so, we usually invite a few friends for an elaborate multi-course meal or an evening of snicky snacks that take us up to midnight for a toast.

This year, which has been grueling, unrelenting and tragic for so many, we count our blessings. We are back in Cincinnati, sharing the quarantine with our son and my sister. Our older children are healthy, safe and flourishing. We count ourselves blessed for Husband's job. Most of our family and friends locally and around the world also have remained healthy - we even welcomed a new baby to the Israeli contingent just last month. Our complaints are few and insignificant.
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In the Jewish tradition we don’t give charity, which has an implication of choice – one can choose to be charitable or not. The Hebrew word, tzedakah, translates more closely to righteousness – or doing what is right. Tzedakah is an obligation, not a choice. But we can choose where to donate.
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Over the years, as our own interests and awareness has changed and grown, so has the mix of organizations that we support. We have always supported a mix of Jewish and secular organizations, as well as groups that operate locally, nationally, internationally and in Israel.


Here is the list of organizations that we supported this year. Each logo is a link to the organization's home page.
Many groups could fall into more than one category, but I tried to group them by their primary mission or population served.

Hunger & Food Insecurity
There are always people among us who don't have enough to eat. The Covid pandemic has thrown previously secure people into crisis, domestically and abroad.

Refugee & Immigrant Assistance
Unless you are Native American, we all come from immigrant families - some of us are just a little closer to that experience than others. After he survived the Holocaust, my father was reunited with long lost family in Ohio by HIAS. Both he and I could never have imagined that we would see horrific refugee camps & detention centers in this country.​

People with Disabilities | Mental Health
The most vulnerable among us are those who can't speak or represent for themselves. We are judged by how we treat them. 

Online Jewish Learning
These organizations have been a blessing to me during this pandemic. I studied & participated in groups and use their materials at home with my family to enhance our own holiday celebrations.

Cancer Research & Treatment | Health Care
​Maybe the only thing everyone, everywhere can agree on - Cancer Sucks. This one is personal - Husband is a cancer survivor thanks to Sloan Kettering. And Planned Parenthood provides accessible, affordable health care for girls & women. Period.

Social Action & Cultural Bridges
We chose these organizations because they seem to have more direct, personal impact than some advocacy groups. Again, our dollars are limited, so we had to make choices. The Sisterhood of Salaam Shalom is personal for me; this group has been a calm, kind harbor during this tumultuous year. 

Zionism
Just like our American patriotism, our Zionism and support for Israel does not depend on our 100% agreement with all its policies or actions. Young Judaea is personal for Husband and JNF does so much more than plant trees.

LGBTQ Rights & Inclusion | Anti-Bullying
Who you love or how you identify shouldn't be anybody's business but your own. In our terribly broken world, we have real, serious, crippling problems to solve. Individual families, love lives, and gender aren't a problem. But LGBTQ youth & adults continue to experience unrelenting bullying, discrimination & violence. That's a problem.

Media
Accurate, timely information is the foundation of a fair & just society. Fake news isn't news. Alternate facts aren't facts.  They are lies, plain and simple.

Synagogues
We belonged to two of these congregations in New Jersey & have a relationship with Park Avenue Synagogue through family and Zoom. We support the Chabad at University of Delaware, which was the target of an anti-Semetic arson attack last summer.

Technology & Education for Underserved Students
Right after the war, my father & a friend attended an ORT school in Germany where they studied auto mechanics. His friend eventually owned a fleet of taxis in Baltimore, that started with one cab which he could repair himself. My dad was a mechanic in the US Army, deployed in Korea during that conflict. He attended college on the GI bill. Thank You, ORT.

Arts & Culture
Once upon a time, an acquaintance mentioned the Snowfarm summer arts camp. Our oldest went there; the experience changed the trajectory of their life. Later, we paid it forward - encouraging another family to allow their budding artist to embrace his passion. His trajectory changed too.
Most years, we support more Arts & Culture programs. Even though they are suffering too, during this pandemic, but we had to make difficult choices about our tzedakah dollars this year and we chose more Food Relief. As soon as we can gather safely, we will Arts and Culture ourselves silly and lend as much support as we can.

Anti-Semitism - We're Against It
We live in dangerous times. Unfortunately, the rise in blatant anti-Semitic rhetoric and violence is not surprising. We are well aware that it always runs just below the surface, but in today's environment haters feel emboldened to voice their feelings in public. Not gonna lie - we are afraid.

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Using up Produce: My Cooking Process

12/23/2020

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​Last week, I posted this photo on Facebook with the caption - 

Busy and productive day in the kitchen! Had so much produce to use up, so I pulled it all out of the fridge and started chopping. Challah for tonight and some for the freezer. Vegetable stock. Chunky Vegetable Soup. Hamutzim - Israeli Pickles. Apple Sauce. Fresh squeezed Mandarin Orange juice. Banana Bread. Broccoli Kugel / Casserole for tomorrow. Now to make a simple dinner - Picante Cod. Pan Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Chestnuts. Roasted (or maybe mashed) Purple Sweet Potatoes. Shabbat Shalom.

​So I decided to write about what I found in the fridge and my process. Overall, I spent about four hours doing all of this.



I did a curbside grocery pick-up earlier in the week and ended up with three huge broccoli crowns. So my motivation was to use up as much of that broccoli as possible and a fridge full of produce, most in good to great shape, but also including some past its prime.


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I love Debbie Meyer Green Bags and Boxes. I started using them years ago, when I had a CSA farm share. I was getting so much produce every week, that I couldn’t go through it all quickly enough.

I don’t know the science behind them, but they really work. In the fridge, I had some things that I bought before Thanksgiving that were still fresh in their boxes!


What I had to work with
Mandarin oranges, 1 lime & 1 lemon that were kind of shriveled | Apples, also shriveled | A bowl of pears that were pretty fresh, but a couple were starting to get soft | Two giant broccoli crowns | Two parsnips | About 10 small carrots (not the baby ones, just small) | One zucchini | One shriveled yellow bell pepper, half of another one & a couple of whole peppers in good shape | Half a head of cabbage | About half a pound of Brussels Sprouts | Celery | About half a pound of baby turnips | One Jalapeno | Two little bags of peeled garlic – one open and a little funky, one still sealed | On the counter, two very brown bananas and 2 dried up red hot peppers | In the freezer,  one bag of vegetable scraps saved for stock and a cup of pomegranate seeds | Plus, a bag of onions and a bag of potatoes

Step 1
Put on some good cooking music. I definitely believe the food tastes better when I cook with music. For Jewish holidays, I have specific playlists, but today I put on my go to - Classic Rock. 

Step 2
Put challah ingredients in bread machine. The recipe is adapted from a Susie Fishbein recipe. My machine takes an hour and a half to make the dough.
For the full recipe, click here.
 


Step 4
The shriveled mandarins were rolling around the counter too. So, squeeze them + the lime and lemon that didn’t look so hot. Pour into a bottle to be used for cocktails.

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Step 6
Get the stock going. Dump the bag of frozen scraps into a large pot; cover with water. Throw in the pomegranate seeds, which I discovered freeze well, but get mushy when they defrost - they will give the stock good color. Toss in the peeled garlic cloves from the open bag. Put lid on at an angle to leave it open at the top; turn heat to high to get it boiling.


Step 8
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Stock is boiling, so turn the heat down to low. I’ll add more scraps as I work through the pickles, soup, and kugel. Turn off soup and remove from burner; leave in pot to cool. 

​Make the pickles. I don't have cauliflower, so I substitute some of the broccoli. I know I want to use the cabbage for the soup, so I use the Brussels Sprouts here. And added some celery. Also stuffed a shriveled red hot pepper into each jar. Followed the rest of the recipe exactly, except made only half as much liquid as called for. It just seemed like it would be too much and I was right; I still had some left over.

Thanks to The Kosher Cowboy for sending me this recipe by email, which gave me the idea. Click here for the recipe.

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Step 10
Braid the challah. My recipe uses more than five cups of flour, so it makes two large loaves. I'm not having company, so I divide the dough in half; from each half I make one small challah and eight little rolls. They all go on two parchment-lined baking pans. I cover one pan with a tea towel and set it on the counter to rise. The second pan goes into the freezer, uncovered. Later I will move the frozen challah to a freezer bag for a week when I don't have time to make fresh.

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Step 3
Apples are rolling all over the place, so get the applesauce going. Peel and chop all the shriveled apples + a couple of slightly too soft pears. In a small pot, I put in a cinnamon stick, 2 star anise and the dust from the bottom of a bag of whole cloves. Throw in a splash of apple cider (left from Thanksgiving). Set heat to low, but leave uncovered so I can hear when it starts to bubble.


Step 5
Check the apple sauce, which was bubbling. Move to smaller burner, turn heat way down and cover.

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Step 7
This is what the counter looks like after about an hour.

​Make the banana bread. Start by preheating the oven and lining my loaf pan with parchment paper. Recipe calls for 3 to 4 bananas; I only have 2, so I open a can of pumpkin puree and throw in about ¼ C. I use oil instead of butter, to save the melting step. I use about 1/3 C of sugar and another 1/3 C of Truvia baking blend, to reduce the sugar. Add the last bits from a bag of chocolate chips and a bag of chopped walnuts from the freezer. Mix, pour, into the oven. Set time for 50 minutes.


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Step 9
Make the soup. I follow the recipe pretty closely. But because I used the turnips for the pickles, I substitute one of my parsnips. Although Jacques recommends using a food processor, I didn’t want to wash it, so I chopped everything by hand. Everything goes into the pot; bring to a boil, move to smaller burner and turn down to low.

My husband got me Jacques Pepin's new book, Quick & Simple, for Hanukkah. It's a lovely little book that is true to its title - the recipes use simple, easy-to-find ingredients and don't take a lot of work or time. 


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Step 11
Now to make kugel and use up that broccoli. I chop it very small, so it would cook without having to be blanched first. Same with the carrots. I shred the parsnip for the same reason. Sautee the onions with some garlic; toss them in. I had the five egg whites left over from the challah, to which I added 6 whole eggs and about 2 cups of soy milk that was also in the fridge. I remember that my noodle kugel recipe calls for oil, so I add about 1/3 C of canola. Season with salt & pepper + throw in a few good shakes of Tabasco to bump up the flavor. Mix it all together; put it into a glass baking dish with a lid and put it in the fridge to bake the next day for dinner.

I'm not gonna share the recipe now because I didn't measure the ingredients and it came out a little wetter than I wanted. I'll retool the recipe and post another time.


Step 12
Finish up. Turn off stock and remove from burner; leave in pot to cool. Remove cinnamon stick and star anise from apple sauce. Use immersion blender to break it all up; put it into a jar. Preheat oven again to 325; bake challah for 20 minutes; pull rolls out to a cooling rack and bake loaf for about 4 minutes more. Remove banana bread from pan; peel off parchment and place on a glass plate. Cover with a tea towel; this will live on the counter until it’s gone. Wash all the dishes that I didn’t wash already; set table for Shabbat, including putting challah on its tray. Move frozen challah to a silicone bag for freezer storage. When pickles, apple sauce and soup are cool, put in fridge. Strain vegetable stock; also wait to cool and put in freezer. Clean up; wipe counters.

Open bottle of wine and start dinner. But that’s another post.​
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    Kugel Chronicles
    Gayle Levine Schindler

    Sharing foody things that matter.

    I cook. I eat. I write. It's what I do.


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