Going back to the January theme of becoming fit and healthy, the subject of brown rice and quinoa dishes comes to mind.  I made these two dishes last week when my 43 year old marathon running niece was visiting.  We were thinking of healthy side dishes, but both of these would make wonderful main courses for a vegetarian dinner.  We always try to eat vegetarian 1 or 2 nights a week.  It gives my digestive system a chance to recover from hard to metabolize things like red meat.  I am not a doctor, it’s just my opinion, but it’s nice to go light.  Whole grain with a dark green leafy vegetable, what could be better.

Serves 3 to 6

2 large brown onions

2 tablespoons safflower oil

1 1/ 2 cups quinoa

Or

1 1/ 2 cups brown rice (I prefer Lundberg’s brown and wild rice blend)

1/ 2 cup brown lentils

3 cups water

Salt

Pepper

2 cups wild arugula (rocket)

1/ 2 cup shelled pistachios

Peel and dice 1 onion and then set it aside in a bowl.  Peel and slice in half second onion.  After slicing in half, place onion halves cut side down on cutting board and slice in thin slices.  Heat a large saucepan on medium heat, add 1 tablespoon oil and then, add diced onions.  Heat a 12 in sauté pan on medium heat, add oil, and add sliced onions.  Cook sliced onions until golden brown and caramelized, stirring occasionally with a wood spoon.

Sauté diced onions until golden, season with salt and pepper, add rice or quinoa, and add lentils.  Stir, season with salt and pepper, and add water.  Place lid on saucepan and as soon as the rice or quinoa comes to a boil turn heat down to low and simmer until water is all absorbed.

Take rice or quinoa off the heat. Place in a bowl and stir in arugula.  Garnish with caramelized onions and pistachios.

Quinoa With Arugula is a post from: The Boreka Diary at The Jewish Global Kitchen

It is citrus season in the desert of Southern California.  The fragrance of citrus flowers wafts through the dry desert air and intense sunshine provides instant mental relaxation when you arrive and step out of the car.  The last few years I have planted 3 Pink Coachella grapefruit trees, 2 Minneola Tangelos, 1 blood orange, and several lemon trees as well as 2 lime trees at our weekend retreat.  By the way if you have never had the chance to try a Pink Coachella grapefruit, it is bar non the best, nothing in the store from Texas or Florida can beat it since they have bred the subtle balance of sweet with sour citrus out of the fruit.  Pink Coachella are juicy, tart, and intensely flavored.  They ripen and are ready to pick usually from December to March in my experience.

I really want to talk about Minneola Tangelos; they are a grapefruit tangerine cross, that taste like tangerine.  I love to use them in any recipe that calls for orange pieces, juice or rind.  This last week I made Tangelo marmalade.  First time it came out ok, then I thought about what I like in my favorite brands of orange marmalade, what makes them so tasty and what texture is the most desirable.  Second time around, I used the same recipe but changed the technique with wonderful results.  To find a recipe I went on line and browsed through many orange marmalade recipes, from the likes of Alton Brown to David Lebovitz and more, looking for technique, ingredients, and measurements.  Next, I ordered some cute canning jars on line at Amazon, purchased a 10 pound sack of sugar, and made sure my long chef’s knife was sharp as a surgeon’s blade.

To make about 5 to 6 (8 ounce) jars of Tangelo marmalade

4 to 5 medium-large Minneola Tangelos

1 tablespoon of fresh lemon zest

2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

6 cups water

3 pounds plus 12 ounces sugar or about 7 1/ 2 cups

1 square (about 12 inch) of cheesecloth

1 large stainless steel stock pot

1 candy thermometer

Wash and dry Tangelos. Place Tangelos on a large cutting board and slice off navel end with a very sharp knife.  Slice one half of Tangelo across, into very thin strips and then, slice strips in half.  Slice second half of Tangelo in thin strips and mince.  Remove seeds and place in center of cheesecloth.  Cut out any large pieces of white pith from core and place in cheesecloth.  Repeat with all Tangelos.  After cutting each one scoop up slices and minced Tangelo and place in stock pot.  Gather up any juice that leaks out and place in stock pot as well.

When all Tangelos are sliced, tie cheesecloth bag of seeds and pith shut and place in stock pot.  Add lemon zest and juice to stock pot, then, water.  Turn on heat to medium-high, bring Tangelos to a boil.  Boil for ten minutes, stir, and continue boiling for another 40 minutes on medium-low with the lid on. Place lid on stock pot slightly ajar for steam to escape.

After 40 minutes are up,remove the cheesecloth seed bag and add sugar to marmalade (I use C & H brand).  Stir in sugar and continue to boil.  At this stage, continue to cook Tangelos and sugar until they reach 223° F or Threads stage on candy thermometer.   This is not a quick process.  At first the temperature rises rapidly and then, seems to hover forever before creeping up to 223° F.  Keep an eye on marmalade while you do other things in the kitchen.  You may stir very gently with a wood spoon occasionally.

When the correct temperature is reached, remove stock pot from heat and place on counter.  Wait a few .moments; stir and using a wide mouth funnel pour marmalade into prepared jars.  Be careful, marmalade is very hot and sugar burns.  If you want to actually can marmalade you will need to boil jars and sterilize lids, it is a special procedure.  Since this is only a small batch, I just close my jars when cool and store in the refrigerator for several months.

Marmalade is fabulous on Challah toast, English Muffins, layered into a torte, or the ultimate, with fresh scones.

Marmalade is a post from: The Boreka Diary at The Jewish Global Kitchen

A mild grilled taste mixed with the flavor of roasted corn and bite of pico de gallo, all enlivened with a splash of fresh lime juice, I love fish tacos.  Living in Southern California one becomes acquainted with fish tacos as part of the local cuisine.  My oldest son recounts his first time eating fish tacos right on the beach in Baja California on a surfing trip.  I don’t know if it is safe any longer to go to Baja to surf and sleep on the beach, but tacos have migrated off the beach into the coastal cities.  Now we can buy them right down on the corner from our home at the glatt kosher Fish Grill restaurant on the corner of Pico Boulevard and Beverwill, just a stone’s throw from Beverly Hills.  Fish Grill is packed with kosher and non-kosher diners, the fish tacos are fantastic for lunch.

Did you ever get a craving for something?  I purchased some fresh halibut the other day and instead of serving it as a plated dinner with vegetables and rice, I thought why not make my own fish tacos.  I have been trying to take off a few pounds like everyone else since the indulgences of the Holiday season and fish tacos are a wonderful healthy dinner, as long as the tortillas are not fried and you don’t use any tartar sauce or avocado cream, or anything else masking mayonnaise as a sauce.

For a fun lunch or dinner

Serves 3 to 4

1/ 2 of large cabbage

3 Roma tomatoes

1/ 2 of a large Spanish brown skinned onion

1 Jalapeño pepper

1 bunch cilantro, washed and dried

1 tablespoon fresh lime juice1 1/ 2 pounds of halibut, Mahi-Mahi, cod or other firm white fleshed fish filet (no bones)

Salt and Pepper

Oil cooking spray

8 to 10 corn tortillas (white or yellow corn)

1 to 2 avocados

3 limes

Wash and dry cabbage.  With a very sharp knife, slice cabbage into thin shreds.  Cut shreds into manageable pieces and place cabbage in a bowl.  Set cabbage aside and make Pico de Gallo next.  Dice Roma tomatoes into a small dice and place in a medium bowl.  Dice onion to a similar small size or smaller than tomatoes.  Add onions to tomatoes. Mince jalapeño pepper taking care not to touch your hands to your face with chili on them.  Mince cilantro and add it to the pico de gallo bowl.  Dress pico de gallo with lime juice and salt if you wish.

Next, cut halibut into slices easily maneuvered on the grill. Season fish with salt and pepper.  Heat indoor grill, barbecue, or grill pan on high heat.  Spray fish with natural oil non-stick spray.  Place fish slices on grill and grill until just cooked, turning only once.  While fish is grilling, slice avocados into slices or chunks and place in a medium bowl.  You could mash the avocados into guacamole if you prefer. Squeeze some lime juice on avocado and set aside.

When ready to serve, heat tortillas over an open flame, holding with tongs or you can heat tortillas on a ‘komal’ or flat grill, like a pancake pan.  To assemble, fill one tortilla with fish, shredded cabbage, sliced avocado, and pico de gallo.  Give taco a squeeze of lime and enjoy.  A regular portion is two very full tacos.

Fish Tacos is a post from: The Boreka Diary at The Jewish Global Kitchen

A previous trip to Israel about 6 years ago led us to walk the switchback streets of Haifa from Mt. Carmel on the top, through the many ethnic neighborhoods, Russian, Jewish religious, Palestinian, past the Baha’i Gardens, through an Arab section full of baklava stores, and on down to reach the German Colony near the bottom of the hill before the harbor area.

On our walk I recall stopping for an espresso and an intriguing looking cookie at a coffee shop.  The proprietor had lived in the United States for a while and now returned to Haifa to open this little shop.  The cookie was a mamoul.  Mamoul is a rich butter cookie with an intricate design on the top and inside, to my delight, a filling of orange scented date paste.  A wonderful Middle Eastern, Sephardic, classic cookie.  Many countries have a version, Lebanon, Morocco, Egypt, Israel; I have purchased glatt kosher mamoul in Brooklyn. Mamoul is a fantastic cookie to put in your Purim Platicos or Mishloach Manot for Purim.

In August I had the pleasure to meet fellow blogger and cookbook author Amy Riolo in the Washington DC area. Amy’s blog is Dining with Diplomats and is always interesting reading.  On that same trip my friend Sheilah Kaufman took me to a local Turkish grocery store owned by an Armenian man.  I spotted a basket of hand carved wood molds for making something and when I inquired, the gentleman said, they are molds for mamoul.  He gave me a quick recipe, which I copied down on a scrap of paper. So many designs to choose from; I purchased one of each.  Between Amy’s recipe in her book Arabian Delights cookbook, the grocers recipe, and a lot of online research I prepared to experiment.

I tried making mamoul with a flour and farina mix and I tried Amy’s flour mix of flour and cornmeal.  Many recipes called for a semolina mix, but since I didn’t have any, I tried farina and cornmeal.  I preferred Amy’s version with cornmeal. I don’t know what a mamoul aficionado would think, but the cookies came out delicious. The tender, buttery, slightly crisp cookie melts in your mouth to give way to the fragrant sweet filling of dates, nuts and orange zest.  Give these a try. The market is called Shiraz Market and the proprietor is Narses Khajadourian in Rockville Maryland. He is very happy to ship anything.

Yield 24

Filling:

12 ounces pitted dates (I used Medjool dates)

2 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature

1/3 cup walnuts

1 tablespoon orange zest

2 teaspoon fresh orange juice

Dough:

2 1/ 2 cups flour

1/ 2 cup corn meal

1 cup unsalted butter (2 sticks)

1 cup powdered sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 teaspoon rose water

1 teaspoon orange water

Place filling ingredients in bowl of food processor.  Pulse until it becomes a chunky paste, not perfectly smooth.  Remove filling from food processor and place in a medium bowl, then set aside while you make dough.

Measure flour and cornmeal into a medium bowl and set aside.  Slice butter into chunks and place into bowl of mixer.  Add sugar to butter and start mixer on lowest setting.  As sugar is incorporated slowly increase speed of mixer.  Thoroughly cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Next, add vanilla, rose water, and orange water, then incorporate.  Blend in flour mix and mix on medium low until all combined. Do not over mix.  Remove dough from mixer and form 24 equal balls.

Heat oven to 350° F.  Form a 2 and 1/ 2 inch circle of dough with each ball.  Place approximately 1 tablespoon of date filling in the center of each circle.  Close circle around filling and then, roll it back into a ball shape.  Place re-rolled ball in mamoul mold and press down to fill.  Tap the mold on the counter to dump out cookie.  Set cookie on a parchment lined baking sheet.  Repeat until all of the mamoul are on cookie sheet.  Bake for 18 to 20 minutes or until very pale gold.  Remove baking sheet from oven and remove cookies to a cooling rack.  Store mamoul in and airtight container.  Mamoul may be dusted with powdered sugar before serving.  Mamoul may be frozen.

Mamoul Cookies is a post from: The Boreka Diary at The Jewish Global Kitchen

My friend’s mother, Halena, is a woman to be admired.  I posted a recipe of hers some time ago, specifically a gefilte fish recipe.  This time, if you’ve read my post about the eighth night of Hanukah dinner we attended, you may recall I marveled at the Viennese dessert Halena served called Biscotten Torte.

Well today was one of many lucky days I have experienced in this life, and Halena came over, with her little leather bound notebook of treasured recipes with an embossed date of 1957 on the cover, to show me how to make the Biscotten Torte.  Halena is not from Vienna but from Poland.  The recipe came from another old Jewish family from Vienna.  The mother and daughter of that family survived the Holocaust by hiding in France.  The daughter left Paris and found her way to India, where, she met and married her husband.  The couple immigrated to the United States after the war and relocated in Los Angeles. Subsequently, Halena met and became friends with this woman and she shared this recipe.  This is part of another fascinating Holocaust related tale of survival and triumph.

Halena’s little notebook contains a lot of treasured recipes and we plan to get together to bake and cook more.

You will need a glass or crystal bowl, straight sided, flat bottomed, about 9 to 10 inches in diameter and about 5 inches deep.  This recipe contains store bought lady fingers.  Lady fingers vary a lot from brand to brand; they are wider, narrower, crisper, lighter or denser.  Be prepared to be a little flexible, buy an extra package or two of lady fingers, since you have to fit them into the bowl.  You need enough for three layers

Serves 6 to 10

2 to 4 packages lady fingers

Dipping Liquid for Ladyfingers:

2 tablespoons boiling water

2 tablespoons instant espresso powder

1 pint half and half

4 tablespoons rum or to taste

Coffee Buttercream:

2 and 1/ 2 sticks unsalted butter (1 and 1/ 4 cups)

5 tablespoons sugar

4 extra large egg yolks

Jam Layer:

5 to 6 ounces of red raspberry jam

Topping:

1 pint heavy whipping cream

2 tablespoons sugar

1 semisweet chocolate bar

Open packages of ladyfingers and place on a large plate.  Combine boiling water with espresso powder in a small cup.  Stir to make a very thick liquid-paste espresso.  Some of the espresso is used in the dipping liquid and some is to flavor the buttercream.  Place half and half in a flat bottomed medium bowl. Add rum and 1 tablespoon of espresso liquid-paste to half and half.  Taste and add more rum and or espresso if you prefer a stronger flavor. Set aside and make buttercream before starting to dip ladyfingers.

Slice sticks of room temperature butter into 1 tablespoon size chunks and place in food processor bowl.  Add sugar and 1 tablespoon espresso liquid-paste to butter.  Process until fluffy and then, add egg yolks one at a time processing after each addition.  Buttercream should be smooth with no solid butter lumps.  Taste buttercream and adjust the flavor.  Place buttercream in a medium bowl and set aside.

Using your hands, begin to dip lady fingers in dipping liquid, 3 to 5 at a time for just a moment.  Lady fingers should not be soggy.  Start to place lady fingers in the bottom of a crystal or glass bowl for serving.  See comment in the beginning to read about what kind of bowl.  Press a single layer of dipped lady fingers in bottom of bowl, covering the bottom completely, piecing where necessary. Cover first layer of lady fingers with one half of coffee buttercream, a thin layer.  Repeat dipping and layering for a second layer of lady fingers.  Cover second layer with second half of buttercream.  Top with a third layer of dipped lady fingers.

Spread raspberry jam carefully over top of layers up to edges.  Next, whip cream in large bowl of electric mixer and when it is almost whipped stiff, add sugar.  When whipping cream, keep an eye on it.  Whip it in a cold metal bowl and be careful not to over whip. Whipping cream goes from stiff to butter in about one second!

Spoon whipped cream on top of Biscotten Torte.  With a sturdy vegetable peeler shave some chocolate curls over  top.  Cover Biscotten Torte with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.  Serve with coffee after a fabulous meal!

There are many recipes for Biscotten Torte but Halena had the brilliant idea of adding the jam layer at the end.

Biscotten Torte is a post from: The Boreka Diary at The Jewish Global Kitchen

It is Sunday night.  After a busy fun filled weekend, including a beautiful Shabbat Dinner of, Challah,Clear Soup,Waldorf Salad,Red Potato Salad, Pico de Gallo, Roasted Carrots, Roasted Cauliflower, Steamed Asparagus, Grilled Veal Chop, Cookies, Tea, and Fruit;  a Saturday night party starting with an array of appetizers then a dinner of Roasted Chicken, potatoes, salad, and desserts; a Sunday morning with brunch followed by outdoor sports, I am exhausted, full, and need to cut my calories.  We don’t really want to get dressed up enough to go to a restaurant SO WHAT SHALL WE HAVE for dinner?

A great idea popped into my head, how about soup for dinner.  I have clear chicken stock, plenty of chicken from the making of the stock, and Tortilla soup is so satisfying.  The spicy broth, feeling rich and silky on one’s palate contains chunks of tomato making one think they have eaten something substantial without any real heaviness. So here is the recipe for Sunday night, clean out the refrigerator, tortilla soup.

Serves 3 to 4

6 cups rich clear chicken soup

1 (14 ounce) can chopped tomatoes in juice

2/ 3 cup pico de gallo (leftover)

2 teaspoons cumin

2 teaspoons New Mexico Chili powder

2 teaspoons of Annatto, Achiote paste

4 tablespoons of Masa Harina (Maseca) (Tortilla flour)

1/ 2 cup warm water

2 cups shredded chicken (use leftover chicken from making broth)

1 cup lightly crushed tortilla chips, for garnish

1/ 2 cup cilantro leaves for garnish

1/ 2 avocado sliced in chunks (optional garnish)

Combine chicken broth, tomatoes, pico de gallo and spices in 8 quart soup pan.  Add spices and bring soup to a boil.  Mix Masa Harina with water to dissolve it and make slurry.  Add slurry to the soup.  Stir to combine everything.  Let soup simmer for 20 minutes.

Place about 1/ 2 cup of shredded chicken in the bottom of each soup bowl.  Ladle soup into bowls over chicken, and garnish with cilantro, tortilla chips and avocado.  Easy? Right?

Tortilla Soup is a post from: The Boreka Diary at The Jewish Global Kitchen

Tonight I finally made it back into my kitchen.  After being away from home for two weeks, it takes a lot of effort to restock the refrigerator and pantry.  Whenever I begin to cook, it is my goal to accomplish a lot of dishes at once.  Some dishes for the freezer, some for tomorrow, and some for tonight’s dinner.

For tonight’s dinner I had in mind something healthy and lower calorie to start the New Year off right.  I served grilled chicken breast kabob with onion slices and red peppers; brown rice, oven roasted cauliflower with spray misted olive oil, pico de gallo (zero calories), guacamole, and tortillas for the guys.   On the side I served a dish of fresh pomegranate seeds, a wonderful anti oxidant that adds an extra flavor zip to any plate of food.   The pomegranates are almost gone for this year so eat your fill while there are still a few left.

While I was preparing dinner, I also prepared a very large pot of chicken stock with lots of vegetables and two whole chickens. A French roast that had been in the freezer for two months was in need of cooking, and I prepared it using the French Roast with Prunes recipe from my blog.  Lastly there remained frozen 8 pounded veal cutlets purchased on that same ambitious afternoon at the butcher as the French Roast.  Nothing beats schnitzel for satisfying the appetites of my sons. Wiener Schnitzel sounded so good.  I will serve the Wiener Schnitzel some evening when I leave dinner behind for the crew and go out with the girls.  No schnitzel for me until I fulfill my New Year’s resolution to shrink a little.

Serves 4 to 8

4 extra large eggs

2 cups all purpose flour

1 (8 ounce) box Panko bread crumbs

2 teaspoons salt

8 large pounded veal cutlets, about 1/6 inch thick

1 quart bottle of safflower oil for frying

Lemon slices for garnish

Crack  eggs and place them in a large shallow flat bottomed bowl.  Beat eggs until well blended. Prepare two large shallow plates, one with Panko and one with flour.  Add one teaspoon salt to each and mix salt with flour and mix salt with crumbs.  Prepare a large clean surface covered in wax paper or aluminum foil.

To bread schnitzel; first pat cutlet lightly on both sides in flour mix, second dip in beaten egg, and third pat in Panko crumbs on both sides.  Place breaded schnitzels on a large piece of wax paper.  Preheat a large skillet on medium high heat.  Add oil to a depth of one quarter inch.  Test oil with a bit of bread crumb and egg.  If it sizzles it is ready.  Slip two schnitzel at a time into oil and fry to golden on one side, then turn over and fry to golden on second side.  Remove fried schnitzel carefully using tongs, and place them on paper towel lined plates for draining. Repeat until all schnitzel is fried.  You may add more oil to the pan as necessary by pouring more down the side of the pan into the hot oil in between batches.

When all of the schnitzel is fried you may serve it hot with your favorite side dishes or freeze them for another dinner.  I freeze two in a pack in heavy duty aluminum foil.

Many years ago when my oldest son rowed for the crew team in high school and college the preferred dinner the night before a race was a huge plate of pasta with beef Bolognese sauce and schnitzel.  The boys wanted to load up for strength the next day!

Wiener Schnitzel is a post from: The Boreka Diary at The Jewish Global Kitchen

Jewish Geography, Miracles, and Hanukkah; what could these three topics have in common?   As it turns out, quite a bit actually.  Hanukkah is essentially a celebration of miracles, a belief that the impossible could be accomplished.  Jewish geography is what Jewish people talk about when they get together for dinners and discuss who their family is and where they came from in the hope of ferreting out unknown connections and lost family members.

The Jewish world is just big enough that families have and do become separated and small enough that there are miracles of reunion from time to time.  Through cataclysmic events like the Holocaust and the nation hopping and changing of citizenship brought on by the general effects of the Diaspora, families have lost members over the years

Last year my younger sister was visiting and I invited some dear friends over for a Shabbat Dinner.  On a lark, or call it clairvoyant event if you wish, my sister asked my girlfriend’s mother what her maiden name was.  Well wouldn’t you know it?  The name was the same as my sister’s married name before it was changed.  The family surname was changed when my sister’s in laws arrived in the United States after surviving the Holocaust. The family was a large extended family of vintners in Poland before the Second World War.  The name, an unusual one, was changed to different new names by various brothers as they left Europe after the Holocaust.  This created an impossible maze for cousins to track and my friends were under the impression that they were the sole surviving branch of the family.

Sad, that their entire family had perished in the Holocaust, imagine their delight as they discovered this piece of information by some serendipitous miracle.

This year on the eighth night of Hanukkah my sister was visiting again and my friends had us all over for the eighth night of Hanukkah.  We celebrated the miracles with this lovely dinner:

Crackers

Hummus

Dried Apricots

Roasted Nuts

Dinner Rolls

Baby Lettuce Salad

Baked Salmon

Halena’s Tartar Sauce

Curry Cous Cous with Dried Cranberries

Roasted Brussels Sprouts

Roasted Baby Carrots

Wine, Water

Biscotten Torten

Homemade Shortbread

Coffee or Tea

Halena has promised to give me the recipes for the Biscotten Torten, tartar sauce, and cous cous this week.  I will keep you updated.

One more thing I was thinking about, since today is already the second day of the New Year, I would like to invite you all to greet the New Year with optimism, a new sense of purpose, and a promise to ourselves to cook tasty, healthy food for our families.

I will renew my efforts to meet with good cooks of all Jewish ethnicities to write down, test, and post recipes for ‘our’ food.

Happy New Year to all.

The Eighth Night of Hanukkah is a post from: The Boreka Diary at The Jewish Global Kitchen

So many fabulous colored potatoes at the Santa Monica farm market makes the choice difficult.  My eye is naturally drawn to vivid color, whether it is carrots, paintings, hair color, or clothing.  Then I had an idea.  The colored potatoes would make a spectacular plate of latkes for a Hanukah dinner.  So Friday’s Hanukah dinner was:

Starter:

Challah

Baby Romaine Salad with toasted cashews, Bartlet pears and Mineola Tangelos

Fried Pastelitos with Guacamole and Pico de Gallo

Main Course:

Confetti Potato Latkes

Homemade Pink Lady Apple Sauce

Brisket with Dried Porcini, Tamarind, Chopped Tomatoes, Prunes, and Merlot

Desert Roast Chicken with Mixed Citrus

Oven Roasted Multi Colored Carrots

Oven Roasted Brussels Sprouts

Oven Roasted Cauliflower

Steamed Haricortverts

Dessert:

Hanukah Sugar Cookies

Various Sorbets

Gluten Free Chocolate Chunk Cookies

Lemon Meringue Pie

Wine, Water, Coffee, Tea

I wish you all a Happy Hanukah, Merry Christmas, and Happy New Years Eve

Confetti Potato Latkes

Serves 5 to 10

4 pounds of mixed colored potatoes, such as French fingerlings, Yukon Gold, Purple and Red fleshed or any kind of heirloom potato variety.

1 medium onion

4 extra large eggs

1/3 cup flour

2 teaspoons salt

1 quart safflower oil for frying

Peel all of the potatoes and set in a bowl of cold water until you are ready to grate them.  Once you start grating you have to work fast so that potatoes will not oxidize and turn brown.

Prepare a large cookie sheet covered in paper towel for draining fried latkes. Begin heating a 12 inch frying pan or skillet on medium heat.  Next, grate half of the potatoes and half of the onion into a medium bowl. It is better to make latkes in two batches so that they come out without any gray.

Squeeze out as much liquid as you can from grated potatoes and onion and place them in another large bowl.  Add one half of the flour, about 3 tablespoons, 2 eggs and 1 teaspoon salt.  Now turn frying pan up to medium high and add oil to about 1/ 4 inch deep.  Mix latke mixture with your hands and lightly form a pancake about 2 to 3 inches in diameter and drop it into hot oil.

Pancakes will seem like they barely hold together but after they fry for a moment they solidify and you will be able to flip them when they appear to be golden on bottom side.  Flip latkes with a spatula and wait for the other side to appear to be golden.  Remove latkes one by one and place them on prepared sheet to drain in a single layer.  Line another cookie sheet if you run out of space.  Continue until all latkes are fried.

Take pan off heat and change out oil.  Prepare second batch and repeat as above.  If you make them a couple of hours in advance, latkes may be reheated in a low 250° F oven for a few minutes.  I found confetti latkes to be incredibly light, lacy, crispy and almost creamy in the very center.  They were so yummy with the apples sauce made from Pink Lady Apples.  The brisket was melt in your mouth with a rich, earthy, slightly sweet flavor.  We all ate to much as one should on a holiday!

Confetti Potato Latkes is a post from: The Boreka Diary at The Jewish Global Kitchen

In a word fried food is intoxicating.  When you pair the seductive flavor of fried with a little sweet it becomes irresistible.  Sufganiyot or Israeli doughnuts are light fried pillows of dough, injected with jam, chocolate crème, vanilla crème or something else and dusted with powdered sugar.  My wonderful friend Nina, who I have cooked with before many times for this blog, came over to my home again to actually show me how to make sufganiyot.  There is no better way to learn than hands on. Nina and I made them dairy with non fat lactaid milk and melted butter.  I tried making them with almond milk and melted margarine the next day.  Dairy-free works just great.

This Hanukah indulge you fried fantasies and try these Sufganiyot, they are simple to make if you have a little extra time.

Other wonderful fried things to eat are fried fish, fried cauliflower, fried potato latkes, sweet potato mix latkes, celery root latkes, and beet or zucchini latkes.  Remember the oil and the miracle it performed.  Happy Hanukah

Serves 10 to 14

2 1/ 2 cups unbleached flour

1 teaspoons salt

1 tablespoon orange or lemon zest

3 packages of yeast (21 grams)

1/ 2 cup warm milk or almond milk

2 1/ 2 tablespoons sugar

3 1/ 2 tablespoons unsalted butter or margarine

1 extra large egg

1 extra large egg yolk

1 tablespoon fresh orange juice

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 quarts sunflower oil or safflower oil for frying

1 (10 ounce) jar of seedless jam

Powdered sugar for dusting

Place flour, salt, and orange zest into a medium bowl.  In a glass pitcher or small bowl combine yeast, warm milk, and sugar; stir and set aside to proof.  Melt butter in another pitcher or small bowl.  Place egg and egg yolk in a third small bowl and beat with a whisk.  Add orange juice and vanilla to eggs.

Make a well in the middle of flour.  Mix melted butter into the eggs and then, add liquid into well of flour.  Next, pour in proofed yeast with milk.  Using a wooden spoon gradually move around the flour well, scooping flour into liquid, similar to the technique for making pasta by hand.  Gradually moisten all of the flour.  Begin to gather up the ball of dough with your hands until it is smooth and elastic but not overmixed.  This dough is very soft and a little sticky.  Roll dough into a ball and flatten out into a disc in the bottom of the bowl.  Cover dough and set it aside to rise in a nice warm corner.

While dough is rising, prepare a pan to deep fry Sufganiyot.  Pour oil into the pan or deep fryer to a depth of about 3 to 4 inches.  When dough is doubled in volume (about 1 hour), pre-heat oil to 355° to 360° F.  Prepare a cookie sheet lined in paper towel to drain sufganiyot after frying.

To fill Sufganiyot you will need a pastry bag (I buy deposable plastic bags) and a pastry tip with a medium size hole.  While I was preparing the recipe, I used a narrow tip for filling and very quickly the hole became plugged with raspberry jam seeds.  Be sure to use seedless jam.

Next, sprinkle a bit of flour on work surface (I place a large silpat on my granite counter).   Use a rolling pin to roll out a rectangle about 1/ 2 inch thick.  Use a biscuit cutter  to cut out uniform circles 2 to 3 inches in diameter.  I discovered, that the smaller the circle the better they fry.  Gather scraps of dough and re-roll until all dough is used.  Let doughnuts rest for about 15-20 minutes to rise again.  When oil is the correct temperature add one sufganiyot to test the oil.  With a large spoon, scoop hot oil over the top side of sufganiyot while the bottom fries.  This causes the sufganiyot to poof up.  Flip sufganiyot over when the underside is golden.  Remove sufganiyot from oil when both sides are golden and puffed and place on lined cookie sheet to drain.  Continue to fry until they are all cooked.  Sufganiyot fry very quickly, turn down the oil temperature if they are cooking too rapidly.

After cooling for a few minutes, sufganiyot may be filled.  Place jam in a plastic disposable pastry bag fitted with a medium tip.  Lightly hold the sufganiyot with one hand and poke tip into side; squeeze bag, withdraw tip.  After they are all filled and cool dust with powdered sugar and serve.

Sufganiyot by Nina is a post from: The Boreka Diary at The Jewish Global Kitchen