The cake I baked on Friday that was gobbled up by Sunday morning
First, an explanation for those that do not speak Hebrew. Mabul in Hebrew means flood. This post ideally should have gone up last week, but the cake was not baked until Friday, and the post was not ruminated over until Shabbat, and on Sunday I did JPIX, and after that…well, here it is. I try to make marble cake for Parshat Noach, the section of the Torah about the flood. This year I took Batya’s simple cake recipe (the one I had previously used for orange cake, but no orange in this one, just vanilla for flavor) and divided it in two, one with some cocoa (about 1/4 cup) and one without. I used three cups of flour, and I mixed some chocolate chips into the batter.
The cake itself came out delicious. And no one seemed to care that my lights and darks were not very pronounced. No one except me, however. So in preparing this post I put the picture in Photoshop and made it look a little more marbly (mabully?): Darkened with brightness tool and color balance tool
Does it look more like a marble cake now? Maybe next year I’ll melt some dark chocolate and drizzle it throughout the cake batter as I put in the pan. Any suggestions?
Another fun idea for this parsha by Juggling Frogs: Rainbow Menu
My speedy blogger friends already have posts up about this week’s parsha, Lech Lecha: Go to Yourself (Ilana-Davita) Avraham Ha-Ivra/the Hebrew (Daniel Saunders)
I am fortunate that I can work at home. Sometimes, especially now that the weather is getting chillier, I set up some food cooking in my crockpot first thing in the morning, and the house smells yummy at lunchtime (and I have something new to eat). Last week I was hoping to make lentil soup one day, but I reached into my cabinet and found no lentils. I had just bought some cut up butternut squash the day before. If you have ever cut a butternut squash, you will know what a time and energy saver pre-cut squash can be. The squash even had an O-U on it, meaning it was cut with a kosher knife. I created this recipe:
Ingredients:
1 butternut squash, cut and peeled (or substitute another squash)
1 or 2 slivers of fresh ginger, peeled and cut from the root
Collard greens (or substitute a bay leaf, parsley, scallions, kale, spinach, basil, whatever greens you like)
2 or 3 fresh tomatoes (or substitute canned tomatoes or some salsa)
Cook the butternut squash and ginger in the crockpot with some water to cover (or even a little less water) for about two hours or until squash starts to get soft. Add chopped tomatoes and greens. It’s ready when the greens are slightly cooked (not long!). If there’s excess water (I had enough to fill one mug), drink that in a cup: it’s a delicious broth!
I did buy the lentils later in the day, and so I made a lentil soup in my crockpot the next day. I’ll post a lentil soup recipe another time.
Black-Eyed Bean Salad
I wanted to have all the simanim (food symbols) on the table for the first night of Rosh Hashana. I got really close. I just forgot the dates. Oooops. Only my husband missed them, as he’s the only one who likes dates.
In the past, I would say to my husband a few days before Rosh Hashana, now, what are the special foods we need to get? And he would mention maybe carrots and beets, and we would say a yehi ratzon on the carrots in the soup. When I was growing up, I don’t remember doing the yehi ratzon prayers at all. In fact, my father, who joined us for most of our Rosh Hashana meals, thought we should save the pomegranate for the new fruit, which one does on the second night of Rosh Hashana. My husband pointed out that we had eaten pomegranates within the last year, and one is really supposed to say the shehiyanu, the prayer for something new, on a fruit that one has not eaten in the past year.
So this year, because I did all this research on the simanim (thank you, readers, for your encouragement along the way as I posted various foods), I was the expert.
Back to the first night…so we have all these simanim on the table. With the help of Mimi’s Israeli Kitchen, I made the black-eyed beans (peas?) into a bean salad. She used: “seasoning it with a little chopped onion and a handful of mixed, chopped, cilantro, parsley, and celery tops. Lots of fresh lemon juice, to balance the earthy taste of the peas (which are really beans, but never mind) – salt and white pepper.”
Here’s my bean salad ingredients:
Black-eyed beans, soaked overnight and cooked in a crockpot
Chopped red onion
Chopped fresh parsley
Fresh lemon juice
Some olive oil
Salt and pepper
I was considering making a beet salad (Mimi made one: “some thinly sliced onion, salt, pepper, a little cumin, olive oil, a little sugar, and vinegar”), but as time didn’t allow (I was chaffeuring kids to play dates and art class in between cooking and doing a little of my web work), I just made steamed beets and cut them up.
What to do with leeks? Mimi posted a delicious leek tart (same post); I decided to incorporate the leeks with my chicken soup and with my roasted chicken with apples and mushrooms (I stuck one leek inside the chicken). I had more leeks than I needed, as I bought two sets; the first set of leeks didn’t look so good, and I had to go back to the supermarket on Monday morning anyway, so I bought a fresher set of leeks. The not-so-nice leeks are now resting in my compost pile which will hopefully be decomposed by next spring and will provide a new spot for growing tomatoes.
I made stuffed squash for the k’ra, the siman that can be a gourd, squash or pumpkin. I used Mimi’s stuffed artichoke post for inspiration on the stuffing. Hers had more ingredients; I had chopped meat, onion and spices in mine. I added chopped fresh ginger, too.
For the carrots, I went for simple. I liked the idea of cutting the carrots like coin-shapes.
Do you think I put a fish or lamb’s head on the table? I did the same thing I did last year, which was cut a piece of gefilte fish into the shape of a fish head and use a bit of cooked carrot for the eye.
Finally, I did one “joke” of a siman, which was to steam a “head” of broccoli.
The problem was, it was late, we were all tired, and my eldest son only liked the pomegranate. So after doing the apple dipped in honey (my daughter had us doing this one at every meal), we ate the pomegranate. It wasn’t nearly as juicy as ones I have eaten in the past. I bet the ones in ALN’s backyard taste better.
Next we ate the gefilte fish. Or five out of seven of us ate it. It turns out there is a special yehi ratzon for fish, separate from the “head and not the tail” one — “she’nif’reh v’nir’beh ki’dagim” (that we be fruitful and multiply like fish).
At this point, we just started eating the rest of the meal. Did we say any more of the yehi ratzons? I don’t know, but everything got eaten, at any rate. I enjoyed the meal, and it didn’t last nearly as long as a Pesach seder.
My Friday night guests (and my regular family attendees=husband, father, sons, daughter) all seem to love my chicken soup. I own a large 8 quart pot, and I purposely try to make leftovers. Soup freezes well. Key to flavor is to use enough chicken; don’t do what I did when first learning and just use necks.
Ingredients:
3 chicken backs (with some chicken meat still on it) or 1 small chicken or 3 parts of chicken
celery (2-3 stalks, cut in half)
1 onion, chopped in quarters
carrots: handful of already peeled baby carrots (easiest) or 2-3 carrots, peeled and sliced
fresh dill or fresh parsley
salt and pepper to taste
optional: parsnip, turnip, leftover kale, collards or cabbage
optional: pieces of flanken (I tried using chopped steak one week, but it wasn’t nearly as tasty as flanken)
optional: matzo balls (follow matzo meal box directions; this could be a whole post itself, how to make a good, light, tasty matzo ball)
Put your chicken or chicken parts in a large pot. Cover the chicken with water (or more than cover). Cook for about one half hour. Your house will already begin to have aroma of chicken soup. Add carrots, onions and any other root vegetables. Parsnip will add a sweet, yummy taste to your soup. If you are making matzo balls, now is a good time to prepare the matzo ball mixture and refrigerate. Add celery. Add salt, pepper. Cook for at least another hour. With a fork, remove the already cooked chicken. At this point I often give the soup chicken as a snack to my kids. Add matzo balls to the hot soup. Add pieces of flanken if you have. Add any bits of cabbage, collards or kale. If you like, sprinkle a bit more salt and/or pepper. Put in parsley and/or dill towards the end.
Friday night/Shabbat trick: you are allowed to unwrap food on Shabbat, but not to wrap food (called “hatmana“). I wrap my soup in two blankets on Friday afternoon right before Shabbat to keep it warm. This way I don’t have to keep the stove going in the summer. I then unwrap the soup right before serving.
Skim the fat: if you store the soup in the refrigerator for a day, you can then skim the fat off the top.
Soup is delicious, nutritious and a nice option for a whole meal (with challah and grape juice) if one is planning ahead for the many holiday meals in a row we will soon celebrate. Learn to make matzo balls, too. And then enjoy more soup recipes.
An elegant way to serve a tomato that I learned from my mother, z”l:
Slice the tomato. Put sweet or red onion in between each slice. Dribble with olive oil. Sprinkle with fresh basil or dried oregano (or any other favorite herb). Add salt and pepper to taste.
My easy kettle method for a simple sauce: Cut slits in the skins of the tomatoes. Place in a bowl. Pour boiling water, enough to cover. Wait 15 seconds. Peel tomatoes and place in a 2nd bowl. Drink up the remaining water; I’m sure it has some nutrients in it. Chop tomatoes; add fresh basil and/or sweet onions, maybe garlic or olive oil or scallions or parsley. You can serve this on pasta, rice or fish. I ate mine with some feta cheese.
As the last Kosher Cooking Carnival came out at the beginning of the Three Weeks, I think it appropriate that I dedicate this one to Tu B’Av and women dressed in white who would go into the fields to dance. In days of old, women were said to dress up in white clothes and dance in the fields:
The Mishnah Taanit (4:8) relates that Tu be-Av was a day for making shiduchim (matches), albeit without the intermediary services of the shadchen (matchmaker):
Rabban Shimon ben Gamaliel used to say that there there were no days more joyous than Tu be-Av and Yom Kippur.
[On these days] the maidens of Jerusalem would go out bedecked in borrowed white clothing (in order not to embarrass those who did not own any) . . . And the maidens of Jerusalem went out and danced in the vineyards. And what did they say? “Young man, check us out and decide whom you like.” [*]
Let’s pretend your sister or third cousin once removed has just finished dancing in the field; now it’s time to eat.
Too lazy to cook? Try some restaurants in Monsey. Too bad some of Frum Satire's commentators don't think so highly of his recommendations.
On the other hand if you really want to live it up and make this meal extra-special, check out the wine selections at http://www.kosherwinereview.com/. Personally, I like Merlot or Cabernet Sauvignon. Anything by the Galil Mountain Winery is going to be delicious; we tasted their wine our recent trip to Israel.
Finally, if you want to organize your recipes, Frumhouse has some nice suggestions. Here’s the cover of her Pesach recipes binder:
Thank you to Batya for founding and managing the Kosher Cooking Carnivals. Thank you to Ilana-Davita for reading the top of this post and giving feedback (or should that be foodback?). Thanks to Lion of Zion for his great Tu Be'Ab Primer. Thanks to Whistler for being a great painter. Thanks to Juggling Frogs for submitting suggestions.
Just came back from my weekly trip to the Farmer’s Market (is it Farmers’ Market? or perhaps Farmers Market?). Above is a beautiful soup I made from some of my purchases last week.
Ingredients:
2 onions
2 tsp. olive oil
1 bunch of kale
3 yellow-orange squash
4 leaves of fresh basil
2 peeled cloves of garlic, chopped or pressed
3 small tomatoes, chopped
1 Tbsp. tomato sauce
salt and pepper to taste
Saute the onions in olive oil until translucent. Add squash and water. Cook for ten minutes. Add remaining ingredients. Cook until squash is tender. Enjoy. If you like, sprinkle with parmesan cheese.
Update: you might want to add some lemon. I can’t remember if I did or didn’t. I definitely didn’t buy lemon at the Farmer’s Market. New Jersey isn’t that warm (yet).
I make salmon a fair amount throughout the year. My basic recipe is quite simple: I use an oval ceramic dish, and I poach the salmon in the oven with some water and lemon juice.
Ingredients:
Salmon, uncooked, fresh
Lemon juice (about one half lemon)
Dill or celery or parsley or sage or basil
Optional: onion, sliced tomato, sliced potato
Preheat oven to 350°. Place fish in ceramic baking dish with water and lemon juice, enough to cover the fish. Place something green and flavorful along side the fish, such as dill or celery. Optionally, you can put sliced tomato and onion under the fish, or sliced potato and onion. Bake for 30-45 minutes. Use a fork to test the middle to see if the fish is thoroughly cooked.
Pink sauce for fish:
Take some red beet horseradish and mix it with either plain yogurt or sour cream. Serve on top or beside the fish.
During the nine days before Tisha B’Av, the ninth day of the Jewish month of Av, observant Jews do not eat meat (except on Shabbat). Fish is a possible option that one can serve during the Nine Days.
I used to make noodle kugel with a stick of margarine. A WHOLE STICK. After I learned about the evils of margarine, for a long time I did not make noodle kugel. At some point recently, after craving a good noodle kugel, I put together this easy recipe. At the end I include options that might make the kugel more interesting, tasty or healthy. However, the “plain” version is the one my kids eat. And it tastes good to me, too.
Ingredients:
8 oz. thin egg noodles
4 eggs
Salt and pepper to taste
Enough canola oil to grease the bottom of the pan
Boil water and prepare the noodles. Preheat oven to 350°. Strain the noodles, and mix with the eggs. Add salt and pepper to taste. Grease the bottom of the pan with oil (I use pyrex; sometimes I make two pans of kugels, one for Friday night and one for Shabbat lunch). Preheat the pan(s) so the kugel will be a little crispier. Add the kugel mixture, and bake for about 30 minutes or until the kugel starts to get crispy.
Options: chopped spinach (frozen is easiest), chopped onion, bits of hamburger meat (I’ve never made it this way, just tasted others, but it’s delicious)
Do you like garlic? mustard? Here’s an easy, no cooking necessary salad for those of us that like strong flavors.
Ingredients:
1 savoy cabbage or napa cabbage
olive oil to coat
brown mustard to coat
2 or 3 crushed garlic cloves
salt, pepper to taste
juice of 1/2 fresh orange or lemon
for color: bits of shredded purple cabbage and/or carrot (optional)
Chop the cabbage into bite size pieces (that’s the most complicated part of this recipe). Add the shredded carrots and/or purple cabbage. Put in a large bowl. Coat the cabbage with olive oil. Then coat it with mustard. Crush in your garlic cloves, and mix. Sprinkle with salt and/or pepper to taste. Squeeze on lemon or orange juice, and mix well.
Tip on shredded carrots: you can use your food processor, or you can peel off little piece of carrot with your carrot peeler.
Go to Yourself (Ilana-Davita)
