First, bake the acorn squash until tender. I bake the squash whole for about an hour in a 350° oven. You can do the baking the day before you use it, if you like.
Now prepare your stuffing. You have so many choices! Klara sent me a few of her ideas, so if the ingredient was Klara’s idea, I’ll say so. (Thank you, Klara). And thanks for some mango tips from Helen and from Alyssa.
- For carnivores, sauté some onions in a bit of olive oil. Add chopped meat (hamburger meat). When chopped meat is cooked, you have a meat ingredient.
- If you want just a bit of cheesy flavor, add some of your favorite hard cheese to the stuffing.
You could make your squash with just pareve ingredients, if you like. Or you can mix it some of these pareve ingredients with your chopped meat. Or you can mix the pareve ingredients with a bit of cheese. (As I keep kosher, I wouldn't dare think of mixing the dairy and meat in one dish).
Grain Possibilities
I like mixing in cooked whole grains in my stuffing: brown rice, wild rice, millet, couscous, bulghur wheat, barley, kasha, quinoa or oatmeal. You could also mix in some leftover bread, such as challah or a multigrain bread. Soak and drain the dried bread before using.
Herbs one could use
So many! Try parsley, cilantro, dill, basil, sage, rosemary, thyme, depending on what you like and what is available locally. Chop and add to your mixed grains.
Vegetable Ideas
Klara told me she loves stuffed squash with shitake mushrooms. Sounds delightful to me!
One could also use: tomatoes, onions, zucchini, broccoli, cauliflower, garlic or celery. You will probably want to cook one of these ingredients a bit before using, either steam or sauté.
Fruit
You can even add fruit: chopped apple, cranberries, raisins or clementines. Lemon juice or fresh orange juice can add nice flavor, too.
Helen's suggestion: mango
Alyssa's suggestion: Costco's mango salsa (brand is Santa Barbara and it has an O-U kosher certification - thanks, Helen)
Beans, Nuts
You would definitely need to use cooked beans. If you don't feel up to cooking some beans, there are many varieties that come in a can (cannellini, great northern beans, chickpeas, kidney beans, black beans, to name a few). For nuts, I would mash in the food processor first.
Soy Products
Klara suggested tofu (cubed or mashed), seitan or tempeh (best marinated and then cooked).
Spices
Salt, pepper,
turmeric, oregano, cumin, coriander are all possibilities, but I wouldn't put in too many different spices in one dish.
Combo Ideas
- Quinoa, pecans, dried cherries, and sauteed veggies like onion, celery, shitake mushrooms, and carrot seasoned with holiday spices like sage,
rosemary, thyme, and parsley in my squash. MMMMmmmmmm.. ... (A Klara acquaintance)
- Like you stuff chicken, with croutons, onions, mushrooms, celery and sage! and salt (How Klara used to do it)
For even more ideas, see Mimi in her Israeli Kitchen on Stuffed Stuff.
Mix your stuffing ingredients, cut your squash in half, stuff each half, and bake in a casserole dish for about twenty minutes before serving.
Happy creating, and happy Thanksgiving.
I added a beet to my turmeric soup, and it turned orange. OK, maybe it turned a brighter redder orange from the pale yellowy turmericky orange it had been before?
Baila’s got a whole bunch of recipes at the latest Kosher Cooking Carnival.
I’ve been playing in my crock pot again, and this time it’s called Turmeric Soup. It doesn’t look terribly different than my Farmer’s Market Soup.
Ingredients:
- 1 onion, chopped
- 1 Tbsp. olive oil
- 1 or 2 cloves of garlic
- Turmeric, about 1 tsp.
- Pepper, about 1/2 tsp. and salt to taste
- 1 sweet potato or yam
- 1 can of beans (I used cannellini, but chickpeas or northern beans will work, too)
- 3 leaves of kale
Saute the onions in olive oil until translucent. Sprinkle generously with turmeric, pepper and salt. Put chopped sweet potato in crockpot. Put in the can of beans. Put in the sauteed onions and garlic. If you feel up to waiting just before it’s almost ready, you can add the kale right before everything is tender. But if you are lazy like me, just add it at the same time as the other ingredients.
I let it cook for about 4 hours, and it tasted delicious.
For Mrs. S., mazel tov on the upcoming bar-mitzvah!
Mandel Bread, Mandelbroit, Biscotti
When I need a dessert for company or for my family, I often make these little cookies called mandelbread. In Yiddish, mandel means almonds, so traditionally these cookies had almonds in them. I’ll give you two recipes, one with almonds and one without, so you can choose.
Mandelbread with Crushed Almonds
Ingredients:
- 3 eggs
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1 tsp. cinnamon
- 1 tsp. vanilla
- 2 tsp. baking powder
- dab of salt
- 1/4 – 1/2 cup of crushed raw almonds
- 2 cups of flour
- Canola oil, enough to wet the dough
Crush the almonds in the food processor. Mix ingredients in order shown, except for the oil. Drizzle in oil until the dough is wet enough to shape into loaves. Shape into 2 long loaves, 2 inches long. Place on parchment paper on baking sheet. Bake at 350° for about 20-30 minutes. Cut into 1/2 inches slices and place on their sides. Continue baking for about 4 minutes.
Mandelbread, plain
- 2 eggs
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1/4 cup canola oil
- 1 tsp. vanilla
- 2 tsp. baking powder
- dab of salt
- 2 cups of flour
Mix ingredients in order shown. Shape into 2 long loaves, 2 inches long. Place on parchment paper on baking sheet. Bake at 350° for about 20-30 minutes. Cut into 1/2 inches slices and place on their sides. Continue baking for about 4 minutes.
With either recipe, you can dot the top of your pre-baked mandelbread with chocolate chips, points facing down, for the choc-oholics in your family.
I have been making lentils in various forms this fall. The lentils in the bowl above were made overnight in my crockpot.
Lentil Soup with Curry
Ingredients:
- 1/2 lb. lentils
- 3 cups of water
- 1 garlic clove
- 1 slice of ginger root
- Salt, turmeric, cumin to taste
Put all the ingredients except the spices in the crockpot. Cook on low overnight. In the morning, add the salt, turmeric and cumin.
Lentil Salad with Lemon Juice
Ingredients:
- 1/2 lb. lentils
- 1 1/2 cups of water
- lemon juice, preferably from fresh lemons
- salt to taste
- optional: parsley
The key to making lentil salad as opposed to lentil soup is use less water. Cook the lentils with the water for about two hours (this is how long it takes in my crockpot). When the lentils are tender, add the lemon juice and salt. Garnish with parsley. Can be served hot or room temperature.
Lentil Soup with Tomatoes
Ingredients:
- 1/2 lb. lentils
- 3 cups of water
- 1 garlic clove
- 1 slice of ginger root
- Handful of baby carrots
- 2 sliced zucchini
- 1 can whole tomatoes
- Salt to taste
- Optional: jalapeno pepper, chopped
Cook the lentils, ginger, garlic and carrots in water until the lentils are tender (two hours in my crockpot). Add zucchini and salt (add jalapeno pepper, if using one). When zucchini are almost tender, add the canned tomatoes.
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 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.
