Knishes!

Dear Turkey,

I was scared that this

Recipe would be too hard,

But it was not bad!

Noodle Kugel

Dear Turkey,

Veggie kugel is

Great, but sometimes you really

Want to go all out

Not Your Grandma's Kasha and Bowties

Dear Turkey,

I've made this before

But this one's even less true

To my heritage

Rugelach

Dear Turkey,

All Jews can rejoice

When they read this and see how

Fast one can make these

Halvah

Dear Turkey,

You just made falafels. You have half a jar of tahini sitting around. And a whole jar of honey that someone gave you from her bees. Time to make halvah.

I have always loved halvah. I used to buy a big block of it at Zabar's and eat the whole thing. I figured it was a magical delicacy that can only be made in a factory (like daifuku mochi, but that's another story). Thanks to the internet, I have been educated. Halvah is really easy to make. You get to use the thermometer, so that's fun, and it sets up in the fridge.

Chocolate Babka

Dear Turkey,

Chocolate Babka is important to me. I used to bring it home from Zabar's before Wegmans started carrying it. I never thought I could make a good one, or that it would be so easy. But my parents liked it, and so did your parents (hence the "reunited, sort of" label). (And, yes, I know that real Jews only eat Cinnamon Babka and Rugelah. Their loss.)

This is adapted from Smitten Kitchen, where her description of how easy it was won me over. And then I made it easier.

Easy, Delicious, Semi-Jewish, Not Healthy but Not-Too-Sugary-Either Chocolate Babka

For the dough (DO THIS 12-24 HRS BEFORE), combine:

2/3 c melted butter (yeah, that's an annoying amount, I know)
4.5 c flour
1/2 c sugar
1 T yeast
1 t orange zest
3 eggs
1/2 c warm water
1 t salt

Knead with your hands until a ball forms, and then for a few extra minutes. Chill, covered, for at least 12 hours (yes, this will make it hard to roll out, but it will prevent a sticky mess).

Before you are ready to roll it out, make the filling:

3/4 c chocolate chips + 1 stick butter (melted in microwave)
1/2 c confectioners sugar
1/3 c cocoa
generous pinch cinnamon

After that, divide the dough in half. Put one half back in the fridge (do it). Roll out the other half on wax paper (probably no flour required) until it's as thin as you can make it, which might not be that thin. Muscles required. Spread half the filling on the dough and then roll it up. Before you place it in a greased bread pan, twist the roll so it looks kind of like a twizzler. Don't stress if it's looks ugly or messy. It will be fine and nobody will care. Repeat for the other half of the dough and then cover the bread pans and let it rise for an hour or so. Bake at 375 degrees for about 30 minutes, or until a fork comes out clean and the loaves are getting golden brown.

Meanwhile, make a sugar syrup by bringing 2 parts water, 1 part white sugar, and 1 part brown sugar to a boil, stirring. Then let it cool. This keeps well but if you're only using it for this, you probably only need a tablespoon or two of each thing. When the loaves come out, immediately paint (or pour, if you're lazy) them with syrup:

Be prepared to have lots of friends,

Tofu

Happy New Year

Dear Turkey,

'Tis the season for all non-Jews to be jealous of the Gastronomical Jews who have decided that we're Jewish enough this year to take Rosh Hashanah off.

This year I put myself in charge of Rosh Hashanah:

Me: I'm going to be in charge of Rosh Hashanah
My Mom: Okay, well, your aunt usually makes a brisket, and a roast chick-
Me: Take it or leave it, Mom, and, PS, you have to watch my child

Despite these age-old archetypal holiday issues, I think everyone was impressed with my Rosh Hashanah-authority. I even printed out "those special words" (that's what my son called them), and we all said them together in what could not be called Hebrew even by animals that don't have ears or bilateral symmetry.

Here's what I made:

First, I made this really easy Challah (inspired by this Challah that I thought was really easy before I made this one). I kept the ingredients mostly the same, omitting the starter, and replacing the orange zest with a diced apple. I just let it rise in the bowl for an hour or so, and then plopped it onto my baking stone (with parchment). You don't even have to braid it for Rosh Hashanah, so I just painted it with one egg and 1 T sugar and baked it according to the directions. Remember, "if it's brown, it's cookin'; if it's black, it's done" - my grandma. 

For dinner:

Mushrooms and barley, veggie kugel, and kasha and bowties. 

It's really easy to make kasha and bowties and mushrooms and barley at the same time, since they are basically the same thing. Just double the onion and mushroom saute. Then soak 1 c kasha (buckwheat groats) in 1 egg and add it to the designated half of the saute. Cook until the egg is mostly gone, about 5 mins. Then add 4 c of hot veggie broth (the dark kind), and cook until the broth is mostly gone (a pattern). Meanwhile, cook 8 oz of bowtie pasta and toss with butter. Then combine everything with more Jewish spices and parsley if you want. 

For the veggie kugel: chop 1 sweet potato, 1 zucchini, 1 carrot, and 1 onion in the food processor (it's worth it). Then combine that with 1 c flour, 1 t baking powder, a few T salt, some pepper, and 4 eggs. Grease a baking dish like it's your job and bake it at 400 degrees for 45 minutes, finishing under the broiler. Serve with hot sauce.

This meal is great because you can make everything earlier in the day and warm it all up in the oven right before you eat. 

For dessert:

Apple and honey pie bars. I used my usual recipe for the crust, adding 1 t lemon zest. Then I put half of the crust in the pan and then spread a big jar of apple butter (without added sugar) on that. Then I added the rest of the crust and drizzled honey on top. 

Enjoy (no more than 18 minutes before sundown),

Tofu

Sourdough Challah and Other Stuff

Dear Turkey,

As the resident Gastronomical Jew on this blog, I feel compelled to share my latest Challah adventure with you. As usual, I took a perfectly nice challah and lazy-ified-it.

Challah So Easy You Could Make It On The Sabbath (just kidding, real Jews):

In a bowl, combine (this is a trope in my recipes, have you noticed?):

1/3 c sourdough starter (optional)

2 1/4 t yeast

1/3 c canola oil

1/3 c honey

2/3 c warm water

3 eggs

2 t salt

4.5 c flour

1 T orange zest

Knead until a ball forms. If you like your Challah chewy, knead it for a few more minutes. Cover and rise until doubled, about an hour. Then put the dough on a lightly-oiled piece of parchment paper and braid it however you like to braid (or not). Drizzle with a little more oil and honey:

Let it rise for another hour or so and bake at 375 degrees for 40 minutes:

Here's the rest of your dinner:

This is a salad that we make all the time -- whole wheat couscous, a cuke, chives, mint, raisins, and poppyseed dressing (I used Brianna's). 

And grilled corn -- take the husks off (I just got the news flash that if you want your corn to get nice and brown before your bedtime, remove the husks):

Yeah, baby,

Tofu

Jew Food Extravaganza

Dear Turkey,

Wow! That was one amazing gingerbread project. Good thing your boyfriend is a masterbaker.

Ahem.
In honor of Hanukkah (or however you spell it), my husband put on his honorary gastronomical-Jew yarmulke and helped me make some of our favorite Jewish dishes. Rather, he did most of the work and I read him the directions from our cookbook while I played with our baby.

Actually, I finished making two of the things yesterday, which was a very special day for me: it was the first day since I became a mom that I had eight hours ALL TO MYSELF. That's right: no work, baby at daycare. It was a productive day, and I was glad to have it, but I was already grateful to have a job by about hour six. I could go on, but I'm sure your half of our audience doesn't want me turning this into a mommy blog.

Normally, I would make a different post for each of these dishes. But today I'm just going to get it all out of my system a la you.

First, matzo ball soup.
We usually do something like this: cut up an onion and some celery and sautee it, then add two boxes of broth, some carrots, a sweet potato, a zucchini, and whatever else. Cook it until it's just done, then puree it. Then throw in some spinach and tomatoes.
For the matzo balls, I use the recipe on the back of the matzo meal container, or, if I can't find that, the matzo meal mix (they pretty much the same). As per my family tradition, I cook the matzo balls separately  not in the soup (this is so that at Passover, vegetarians can add the balls to their soup without them being contaminated with meat).

delicious soup; so many things I could say about cooking the balls:

Second, mushrooms and barley. On that subject, let me share three fundamental rules of Jewish cooking:
1) Barley is actually pasta
2) "If it's brown it's cooking; if it's black it's done"
3) Use lard. If you can't, use butter. I break this rule and use olive oil all the time and my Jew food is delicious. Sorry, Grandma.
So, you sautee some onions and mushrooms in some oil, salt, pepper, garlic powder, and paprika (fundamental Jewish spices). Then you add a box of broth and one bag of "barley" -- and boil it until the barley is done (aka black -- just kidding). Then I put it in a baking dish and put some more Jew spices on top and bake it for a few minutes.

Finally, I tried something new:

the dough

the filling

before

after

And one more thing:

if you put a hot baking stone on your cutting board you can  find out that there is a design on the bottom

I moss you,
Tofu