In the joyofkosher Kitchen

Aviva Kanoff is an artiste extraordinaire. She paints, teaches a mixed media art class, and dabbles in photography. Her creative approach to life led her to artistic experimentation with food, and after years of creating her own recipes and working as a personal chef, she wrote The No-Potato Passover, an expression of her intuitive understanding of flavors, aromas, and colors.

What inspired you to write a Passover cookbook without potatoes?

Last February, I was asked to do a cooking demonstration at a fundraiser event in Miami Beach, Florida. (my hometown). Initially, it was supposed to be a Pesach food demo. While brainstorming for recipes, I thought up the “No Potato Pesach challenge”.  As it turned out, we didn’t end up doing a Pesach themed event after all, but the idea was still brewing in my mind. That night, after the event, as my sister in law, Rachelle, was driving me to the airport, she mentioned that I should write a Pesach cookbook to which I responded “no way!” ( cuz i hate to measure!) but of course started writing up a rough draft on the plane back to NYC.

What makes you an artiste extraordinaire?

That’s embarrassing. I am not a self- proclaimed artist extraordinaire, that’s for sure. I do have my hands in many artistic endeavors, though. I graduated as a studio art major from hunter college after the realization that art was indeed my passion, after many years of sitting through the wrong classes. As of today, I have had my second solo art exhibition, I teach a mixed media class , dabble in photography, and am continuing to take oil painting classes with a teacher I adore at the JCC in Manhattan.

Cajun Carrot Fries

You are a self proclaimed explorer and have gone to many other countries and cultures to learn about what they eat, how they dress and how they live.  How did those travels impact this book?

I think I would go as far as to say that the travel photography is what fueled this book and saw it through to completion. I am always drawn to the cooking magazines with travel photography included. I have intense wanderlust and curiosity about the world. I wanted to create a book that would become  the family heirloom I never had, a scrapbook of recipes and photographs that I could treasure for years to come and share with my loved ones. I figured this book would be an excellent opportunity to use the photos I loved the most from my  extensive travels.

What country have you learned the most from?

Italy has to be the most inspiring place in the world for me. I love the geography, the friendly people, the accents!, the culture, the food, the architecture. So many of the most unique and beautiful places I have ever seen are right there in that tiny little country. The food is so simple yet so fresh tasting and delicious! to me, that’s the ultimate combination.

Meatballs and Spaghetti Squash

What is your favorite cuisine?

I am most definitely a carnivore. No arguing with that. I crave turkey the way other people crave sweets. One of my favorite ways to describe the extent of my intense need for protein is in the following anecdote. My Dad and I sitting across from each other eating breakfast. He has a bowl of oatmeal, I have a bowl of meatballs. “that’s your breakfast?” he asks, rightly so, to which I reply “I’m a tiger”.

I’d love to be able to say this happened as a child but it was last year

What sparked your interest in cooking? What is your earliest memory of cooking?

As a young kid, I remember my parents telling the babysitter “make sure Aviva doesn’t cook anything” before they ever left the house ( cuz I was six and they didn’t think it appropriate for me to be using the stove. I don’t know why.)

Needless to say, every time without fail, they returned home to culinary surprise.

Finally after a few years of making carrots floating in water and salty chocolate cake, I mastered my first Shabbos meal at the age of twelve.

What is your favorite food to cook?

I am most attracted to color, above anything else, this applies to food as well. Nothing makes me more excited than seeing all the colors in the vegetable aisle.  I pretty much love anything roasted with garlic. My favorites are brussel sprouts and cauliflower.   My real favorite food is fresh pasta with salt and butter.

Rosemary Walnut Crusted Salmon

Are all the recipes in the book low carb?

Most of the recipes in this book are low carb or can be substituted as such (many times substituting ground walnuts for matzoh meal).

What about for vegetarians, would this book be good for them?

This book is definitely great for vegetarians! Even though there are many meat and chicken recipes, you can substitute a lot of them with fish. Also, there are many quinoa dishes which contain complete proteins as well.

A sampling of Aviva’s recipes are the following:

Cajun Carrot Fries

Meatballs with Spaghetti Squash

Rosemary Walnut Crusted Salmon

Now, go and buy the book.

The Dalton Winery began in 1995 when the Haruni family moved from England to settle in Israel. The winery began in makeshift premises in Moshav Kerem Ben Zimra in the Upper Galilee, but is now a state of the art winery with its own home overlooking the Hula Valley just five kilometers from Lebanon, standing in the shadow of Mount Hermon.

I had the chance to speak to Alex Haruni, owner and winemaker at Dalton Winery.

Tell us about your family’s decision to move to Israel and start a winery?

The move to Israel was one of those things that I had always thought about doing but never planned it.  I was in Israel just after the gulf war in 1991, it seemed the right fit at the time so I stayed. My parents joined a couple of years later once my youngest brother had left home.

The investment in the Winery, however, was a conscious decision to invest in the Galilee, in business connected to the land and tourism which would act as an anchor to bring visitors to the area. The winery was an option we examined at the time and seemed the best fit. Since then we have built it from a production of 30,000 per annum to 1,000,000 in 2011.

Which Dalton wine are you most proud of and why?

It is difficult to say which wine I am the proudest of, it is like asking you which of your children are you proudest of. Each wine has a story and an evolution and a reason to be proud.

My current favourite is our Shiraz Reserve. I think that Shiraz is a very underestimated wine that brings a diversity and new flavour profile to the Israeli wine scene.

As we approach the Passover holiday, Jews all over the world will gather together to celebrate the story of our Exodus from Egypt and celebrate our freedom with four cups of wine. What are some of your best Passover memories?

Pesach has been interesting in as much as it had shown for me the development of the Israeli wine industry. Over the years the wines on the seder table have moved from the sickly sweet sacramental wines and the rubbish Israeli table wines that we felt obliged to buy for our seder tables so that we could support Israel, to better and better wines from newer and better producers and world class quality. This was also reflected on the Dalton wines we had at our meals as the variety and quality grew as time progressed.

What are your plans for the future?

Well, I think we will consolidate our position in the market, develop the new varieties that we have planted over the past few years and continue to be more daring in the winemaking as we strive for excellence.

On Wednesday Alex will share with us his Passover wine recommendations.  See you then. 

Tell us about your blog and how you got started:
I fell obsessively into photography as a hobby around the time my daughter turned one. Take it from experience, it’s not a practical time to start learning and practicing with an infant turned wild toddler. She would not glance at the camera without trying to pull the lens out. So I gave in (a little) and gave her a break. A while later, I somehow found myself reading “top 100 mom blogs” on babble.com, and felt an instant connection to the food blog format. I love cooking, I love photographing, and in my imagination I’m a witty, sharp writer (clearly very far from the truth). It seemed the perfect medium for me to express my creativity. Soon thereafter The Kosher Spoon was born, connecting me to my fellow talented Jewish women and giving me the opportunity to shoot things that sit still and look pretty.

What is your earliest cooking memory?
Growing up, my mother’s kitchen was the place the family (and neighbors and friends) would congregate to eat, drink, talk, laugh. But it was exactly that, my mother’s kitchen. None of us even considered cooking or baking, the kitchen was perpetually off limits. Until one time when I was about eight years old, I convinced my mother to let me bake a chocolate cake from one of those boxed mixes. I even promised to clean up after myself. She reluctantly agreed and and with much excitement I put together the three ingredients and poured the batter into a pan. The minutes passed, and I occupied myself with other things. My mom took the cake out of the oven and as it was cooling I knew I didn’t want to be the first one to taste it. I convinced my brother to take just one bite. Poor thing, he couldn’t even swallow it. He spat it out with such an exaggerated gag that it sealed my decision to never step foot in the kitchen. That resolve held up well for 14 years (save for a few necessary stints) until I got married.

What is your favorite kitchen implement / utensil / gadget?
I think every kitchen needs a sharp set of knives. After trying out many brands (from wusthof to cutco), I seriously think that the pure komachi 2s are impressively better than the higher end brands. I reach for my pk2 santoku knife with great excitement as I chop and dice onions. Really try them, they’re only like $8!
I also really love my oxo salad spinner but you said only one thing, right? Because it really is handy when you’re koshering greens. Just saying.

What’s your favorite kosher dish to cook?
I love making (and eating) Moroccan fish. This dish bursts with my favorite flavors: garlic, paprika, and cilantro. I never get tired of making (and eating) it and I can’t go through a Shabbat without it. It’s almost like Shabbat without challah. Yes, this dish holds a significant place in my heart. And I have yet to blog about it. Stay tuned!

Who is your cooking inspiration?
My mother continues to be my cooking inspiration and resource in so many ways. She has taught me so much of what I know (long distance, nonetheless) and I love sharing ideas with her. I just have to make sure to quarter the amount of oil in her recipes. She’s a true “it’s-tasteless-unless-it’s-bathing-in-cups-of-oil” Sephardic woman.
But for a more holistic approach to food, I can’t stop reading Avivah’s blog, Oceans of Joy. I love her healthy yet down to earth approach to nutrition and education. I wish I can implement all her practices, but i’m working on it. Slowly, really slowly. She is also just a great source of inspiration.

Please share a favorite cooking tip or trick with our readers:
One of the first times I made challah, it didn’t rise. My husband’s aunt, a prolific challah baker who can make world peace with her sweet creations, suggested I place a whole garlic on top of the dough while it rises. Of course, I didn’t listen, that was absurd. Until one Friday afternoon the challah dough didn’t rise again. I had nothing to lose so I put garlic on my dough. I kid you not, it rose significantly. It’s my favorite kitchen trick!

Which recipes are you sharing with us today?
I made an Asparagus tart for the RCCS cookbook that has given me the most hits on my blog, so I had to share.

I’m also sharing my Crunchy Corn Chicken Fingers that my whole family loves, especially since they feel that they are schnitzel-deprived.

And my Red Lentil tacos that were a fun experimental project.

Sina Mizrahi is a wife and full time mommy living in California who is passionate about Torah and motherhood, and loves all things creative and beautiful. Her goal is to present simple, nourishing recipes your appetite can savor and your eyes can relish, along with some inspiration sprinkled in (somehow) on her blog The Kosher Spoon.

Feed Me Bubbe – Recipes and wisdom from America’s favorite online grandmother – published September 2011 is not just another cookbook.  This book takes you into Bubbe’s kitchen based on the online cooking show by Bubbe and Avrom Honig.  It includes a Yiddish word of the day, stories and words of encouragement to make you feel like you are with your Bubbe.  Feed Me Bubbe was voted as the Best New Kosher Cookbook in our Best of Kosher Awards.  Let’s find out more.

How did Feed Me Bubbe come to be?

At the time, Avrom was looking for a job after interning with Al Roker Productions.  He needed a demo reel which is the same as saying a video resume.  After a conversation with his father Avrom called up Bubbe and the first episode of Feed Me Bubbe was born.  Imagine our surprise to receive emails from viewers all over the world.  What was only supposed to be one episode, all of a sudden, became many more as we received many requests.  And so we decided to honor the requests.  We found our viewers are of various ages and had little confidence in being successful making meals at home.  They needed encouragement to keep trying and make recipes that would taste good, be healthy, and nourishing according to today’s lifestyle.

We even received emails from many viewers asking if Bubbe would adopt them.  They said it was very comforting to watch the videos as it reminded them of their own grandmother.  After reading the requests from many of our viewers we found that they needed the encouragement to make home cooked meals.  They wanted holiday, traditional, modern, as well as cultural recipes without spending hours cooking using easy available ingredients of today’s lifestyle.  Before you know it Bubbe’s cooking videos became a production known all over the world by both a Jewish and non-Jewish audiences.

Why do you think you won Best of Kosher?

It just goes to show you how incredible our devoted audience is.  First of all, we didn’t even know that we were nominated until we heard from a fan about it.  Once word had gotten out we heard that our audience was having Feed Me Bubbe video viewing gatherings and at Chanukah parties where they told others about the voting and as a result word spread quickly.  In addition Avrom spent time going to various locations with the book and introduced Bubbe to an audience that had never seen the show.  After viewing an episode they couldn’t help but put in a vote.  Through the incredible effort and dedication of our viewers and fans of the Feed Me Bubbe cooking experience we received votes to win this prestigious award.

What are your plans for the coming year?

Now that we have finished writing the cookbook we need to get back to what made us great in the first place.  Our audience wants more video episodes on our website and on TV on JLTV.  They even have requested that we eventually have a DVD.  We are going to work hard to be able to make that dream a reality.  In addition we plan to continue to develop the Bubbe Feeds Hunger Campaign through Mazon so that our audience can continue to help in the fight against hunger all over the world.

For more information on Bubbe Click here. 

Last year, Amy’s debuted a new line of frozen meals under the ‘Light & Lean’ label.  Amy’s has been providing high quality and affordable organic frozen foods from spinach or pizza pockets (my kids’ personal favorites), burritos, frozen dinners and more.  All their products are organic, vegetarian, and made without the use of trans fats or GMOs.

Company co-founder and Amy’s mom, Rachel Berliner, started the company to help busy families create healthful and quick meals.    Amy’s products have always been free of meat, eggs, trans fats and corn syrup, but now they are expanding to meet the needs of a wider array of special dietary needs.  They have vegan and gluten free products and this new line of frozen meals have fewer calories and less fat for those trying to lose weight or reduce their sodium intake.

This new low calorie line contains less than 300 calories, 5 grams of fat and 590 mg of sodium.  It started with 4 varieties: Pasta & Veggies, Spinach Lasagna, Soft Taco Fiesta, and Black Bean & Cheese Enchilada and expanded  to  5 more just 6 months after launch, including a Bean & Cheese Burrito, Roasted Polenta with chard, Spaghetti Italiano, 3 Cheese Penne Marinara, and Sweet & Sour Asian Noodle.

I recently had a chance to taste the 5 new varieties and was pleasantly surprised.  To be honest, I don’t usually eat frozen dinners, but when I was going to and from work every day it is nice to know there is something nutritious in the freezer.   The polenta dish was just like something I would have made myself, this dish however was a little too light for me, at only about 150 calories, it was tasty but left me still hungry.  The Sweet & Sour Asian Noodle bowl didn’t look so promising when I opened it up, but once cooked and mixed it was surprisingly flavorful and filling – pretty close to the local Chines take-out.  Even the frozen veggies were pretty good.  The burrito is a great easy lunch.  Both pasta dishes came out better than expected, too.  The pasta retained a good texture and the flavor of the sauce was very good, it may not look like mama mia’s when it comes out of the microwave, but give it a nice mix and you will have a quick meal ready to eat.

Most Amy’s products are certified kosher by Ner Tamid K, please check the packaging to confirm.

About my Blog:

I started Kitchen Vignettes as something like a memoir. Like when Proust nibbled the famous madeleine cookie and it evoked enough memories for him to write a book. There are so many foods, so many different recipes that call up my memories, whether it is for some traditional dish that my mother or grandmother cooked or a special dish I ate in a restaurant or while traveling in a foreign country or while I was experimenting with an ingredient for an article I was writing or even some concoction I remember seeing or tasting at school when I was a kid. So, many of the blog posts on Kitchen Vignettes are just that: little reminiscences that speak to why I am choosing a particular recipe to share. I believe that when people read about food memories it also evokes their own memories. And that may make them want to cook whatever dish it is that I’m writing about. And that makes me feel terrific, as if I have accomplished something not just for me but whoever is reading the blog. And I hope it gives them some good time with their own memories.

My First Cooking Memory:

I am not sure whether I actually remember this or whether my Mom told me the story so many times that I think I remember. But my earliest cooking memory, real or imagined, is of me, a long, long time ago, age 5, standing on a chair at the kitchen sink, with a big adult-size apron around me, cleaning a chicken. We were away for the summer and my mother ordered a chicken from a local, unfamiliar butcher. The chicken wasn’t eviscerated (this was a long time ago!) and she threatened to throw it away. But I knew she had planned to make fried chicken that night and her fried chicken was so good I couldn’t imagine throwing away that wonderful chicken that was going to be that wonderful dinner. So I said that I’d rip out the insides and so she said okay, and so I did, and then she let me help dip the chicken in seasoned flour, which was great fun! Then I watched her fry her wonderful fried chicken that we all enjoyed for dinner.

My Favorite Kitchen Gadget:

My favorite kitchen gadget, oh I actually have two. First I love my microplanes. I have several sizes for grating different ingredients. A microplane does a perfect job getting the outer peel off of an orange or lemon because it makes ultra-thin, teeny shreds or pieces that blend with other ingredients more easily and allows the peel to be more evenly distributed. (These gadgets are also ideal for grating cheese.) I also like my small citrus juicer (two parts; you put a reamer on top of a plastic pitcher, press the fruit through a strainer and pour out as much juice as is needed). I obviously use a lot of citrus in my cooking! I find it adds a fresh vitality to a variety of foods.

What is my Favorite Kosher Dish to Cook:

I don’t think I could pick a favorite kosher dish to cook. There are too too many. I can say that I make Mujadarah (called Bulgur Wheat with Lentils, Caramelized Onions and Mushrooms in my book, “Hip Kosher”) very often because it is one of my children’s, in-law children’s, grandchildren’s and husband’s (and my) favorite things to eat. But when I serve that I usually also make Spinach Pie (also in the book), which we also love and before that dinner we often have Carrot and Parsnip Soup, another well-loved, well-used recipe (from the book). Of course I hate to brag but everyone says my Challah is worth an academy award, and I make it almost every week and in fact I double the recipe because an 8-cup of flour recipe will barely last the weekend. If I had to pick a favorite kosher meat recipe I suppose it would be Chicken with Dates and Toasted Almonds (also in “Hip Kosher”) because it is bountiful in flavor, a hint of both sweet and spicy and I can make it ahead and heat it up when I need it. It’s winter now and I am feeing cold, so this dish, which is braised, is particularly warming. In the summer, when it’s hot I would probably choose Bulgogi, a Korean dish for the grill that makes you re-think what you can do with cheaper cuts of meat like flanken. As you can see, none of these dishes sounds exactly kosher, but everyone who knows me knows that I am not a traditional cook. My mission is to show the world that anyone can make modern, culturally diverse, globally-influenced food that may not be traditionally Jewish but is definitely kosher!

Who is my Cooking Inspiration:

I have two cooking inspirations. My Mom, who always let me “potchky” in the kitchen and never worried about the mess. She taught me the basics of course and was insistent on the judicious use of herbs and spices, which is probably why I like to experiment with different flavors. My other inspiration is Julia Child, the best cooking teacher there ever was, no-nonsense but fun. A woman who understood that cooking should be enjoyable and inspiring, not an intimidating chore. And some of her best recipes translate beautifully in the kosher kitchen (I bet she never knew that!).

Here’s the best tip I can give any home cook:

Always keep certain stock items in your kitchen: lemons, an orange, canned beans, packaged (or frozen) stock (vegetable, chicken and beef), sun dried tomatoes, dried mushrooms, imported olives, dry pasta, condiments such as Harissa and Hoisin sauce, spices and so on (there are 4 pages of suggestions in “Hip Kosher”) because these ingredients give you flexibility and open up a world of possibilities for your meals. I encourage everyone to experiment with new flavors, even if only to see how they fit into old, tried-and-true recipes: for example, instead of making pasta with tomato sauce, use olive oil and a can of beans, some cut up sun dried tomatoes and peas. Or add some Harissa to vegetable soup. This is how tasty new recipes get invented.

My best advice?

Don’t let the kitchen scare you. Cooking is fun. Do what you can. Enjoy what you cook. Don’t try to be Julia Child or the Iron Chef. Be you.

What recipes are you sharing with us?

Roasted Moroccan Spiced Chicken Breasts
Chicken (or Turkey) Couscous Salad with Grapes, Oranges and Cashews
Baked Goat Cheese with Dried Cranberries and Honey

Ronnie Fein has been a freelance food and lifestyle writer since 1980. She has her own food blog, called Kitchen Vignettes. Ronnie is the author of Hip Kosher and operates the Ronnie Fein School of Creative Cooking in Stamford, Connecticut, where she lives with her husband. She has two married daughters and four grandchildren.

Terra di Seta Winery of Tuscany, Italy won our Best of Kosher Winery as voted on by the JoyofKosher.com community. As part of our winner’s series, we interviewed Daniel Della Seta to find out more.

Tell us about you and/or your company:

Since 2001, Terra di Seta winery is part of a family-run organic farm conducted by me, Daniele Della Seta and my wife Maria Pellegrini. The farm is on a hill near Siena, about 1,574 feet above sea level, with a 360 view on the Tuscan countryside of the famous Chianti Classico area.

My family, the Della Setas, comes from an ancient Jewish family that has been settled in Rome for 2000 years, while the Pellegrinis are an old Tuscan family with tradition and experience in wine production.

Since the 2008 vintage, we decided to dedicate the whole grape production (around 37 acres of vineyards) to kosher wine and we built a new cellar, with advanced technologies, especially conceived to facilitate some traditional kosher procedures without compromising the high quality level of the wine, so typical of the Chianti Classico Region.

In Italian “Terra” means both soil, land and earth, and “Seta” means silk, while it is also part of the family name. This brand represents therefore the core of our philosophy ad goal, which is to obtain traditional, excellent, and refined products from this unique land property.

With the same strong combination of care, tradition and technology, we produce extra-virgin olive oil and kosher for Passover honey, and organize a farm holiday accommodation.

A  Jewish family from Israel, enthusiastic after their Summer visit in our kosher winery, wrote us that they nominated us for this contest and invited us to redirect their mail to other guests. This is what we did and, in a really unexpected way, we received a cascade of votes!

Our guest book is full of congratulations to the warm welcome that we gave them:  my wife and I simply try to give them what we would like to receive in the same situation. Generally, during a visit guests are guided for a walk inside the vineyard showing them plants and grape growth and maturation, and what we have to do to respect organic and local rules. In the cellar we explain all wine-making tasks adapted for kosher rules. At the end religious people pour the wine for themselves and for all. We also serve a small kosher appetizer with the organic honey and the extra virgin olive oil. When requested, it is also possible to organize a pleasant kosher picnic (from the kosher restaurant in Florence) under the big oak near the winery.

I believe that the warm atmosphere, the breathtaking view, the quality and the typicality of our products are what fascinates our guests. Their vote on your web site is the result!

On December 2011 we bottled the 2009 vintage wine, the Chianti Classico and the Chianti Classico Riserva, ready to be sold from April. With these new products we hope to expand the market in more countries and also to  increase the honey and the olive oil trade.  With the new wines it will be possible to have a vertical wine tasting, very important to understand the wine potential in the future.

Also, currently we offer accommodations through www.lemacie.it where it is possible to rent an apartment for two or more nights. Currently, it is not kosher and guests have to bring in food from Florence.  Many Jewish people that visited the winery asked for a completely kosher accommodation in our area and  we are looking for a house in the area to consider this solution.

We would like to suggest below an example of a perfect accompaniment to our red wines.

“Il BUGLIONE” (In Tuscan dialect it means “confusion”), a traditional dish from South Tuscany.

Over eighteen months in the making, the Bais Yaakov Cookbook features recipes from contributors representing over three hundred Bais Yaakovs worldwide.  It is as much a tribute to the Bais Yaakov movement as it is a cookbook.  Proceeds from the cookbook will benefit the Fund for Jewish Education, which benefits numerous charitable institutions and schools in the Unites States and Israel.

Apple Buns

The Bais Yaakov Cookbook combines over 200 recipes, gorgeous graphics and important Halacha and Hashkofoh.   The book begins with a pictoral history of Sara Schenirer and the Bais Yaakov Movement.  Bais Yaakov went from a small school in a one room apartment into the world famous Bais Yaakov Seminary of Krakow producing teachers who spread Torah education for women throughout Poland and beyond.

Shiitake Beef and Barley Soup

In 1937 Vichna Kaplan arrived in America with a dream to establish the Bais Yaakov Movement on this side of the Atlantic.  She worked tirelessly to convince American Jews that just as Jewish schools for boys were imperative to the survival of Judaism, Jewish schools for girls were equally critical.  In 1944, the first all day Bais Yaakov school opened.  Today there are hundreds of schools providing a Jewish education to thousands of girls, a true realization of a dream.

Roasted Vegetables and Pastrami Salad

The Bais Yaakov movement may have originated from Poland, but the recipes in this book are from all over the globe.  There is no cholent recipe, only three kugels and only one challah recipe at the beginning of the book that is more of a tribute to Rebbetzin Kanievsky.  The only gefilte fish is Hot Gefilte Fish with Tomato Sauce and Bell Peppers, not your Bubbe’s gefilte.  The recipes range from Grilled Beef Rolls with Scallion Dipping Sauce to Cigars, Kebabs, Potato Duo Soup and so on.  The recipes use easily found ingredients and are simple to prepare.

Cream Filed Cannoli

In addition to the 200+ recipes, there is a 25 page guideline of Halacha written by Rabbi Daniel Neustadt .  He covers most of the issues you will encounter in a contemporary kosher kitchen, from checking fruits and vegetables to how to use an oven for dairy and meat.  There is a guide for brachos and a comprehensive guide to shopping for meat, wine cookware etc.

As a Jewish woman, I am proud of the trailblazing efforts of such luminaries as Sara Schenirer  and Vichna Kaplan to fight for Torah education for girls.  It is an honor and privilege to remember their faith when preparing recipes from this delightful cookbook.

Shiitake, Beef and Barley Soup

Roasted Vegetables and Pastrami Salad

Apple buns

Crème Filled Cannoli

A few weeks ago, I discovered Zachlawi Fig Arak on Facebook.  I thought it sounded interesting and wondered what Arak was.  The next day I saw it in a friend’s house. Isn’t it weird how you discover something new and then you see it everywhere?  I sampled this sweet, strong fig Arak.  It was absolutely delicious and I had to learn more.

Arak is a Middle Eastern aniseed flavored liqueur with a long history.   It is made by fermenting grapes, dates, sugar, plums or figs with water, aniseed and sometimes more sugar.  It is usually served ice cold: 1/3 Arak to 2/3 water and ice.  As water is added, the Arak becomes milky in color which is why it is sometimes referred to as “Milk of Lions”.  It can also be mixed with fruit juice or tea.  Since fig Arak is a little sweeter than clear Arak, it can be enjoyed straight up.  It is best served alongside Mezze — middle eastern appetizers like Stuffed Grape Leaves or Hummus and Pita.

In 2005, Marty Kairey, a New Jersey resident with a Syrian-Sephardi background, decided to commercially distill his own Arak in an artisanal Jersey shore distillery under the brand name Zachlawi.

I asked Marty, what drove him to make Arak and he told me “When I was first married my wife and I lived in Flatbush, Brooklyn.  My landlord was an old sage from Aleppo, Syria.  Mr. Srour would buy cases of raisins and ferment them.  He would then cook the mash with Aniseed in a stove top ‘Kirke’ or pot still.  I remember Mr. Srour controlling the flames that would shoot out from the gas burners with a couple of bricks. Thinking back, it was a wonder it never exploded.”

“Anyway,” Kairey continued, “my desire to reach back to my heritage sparked my curiosity and I picked up the ancient craft of making Arak.  My education went from moonshining to industry training and finally when I opened my own distillery, I hired Roy Emerson of Seagram’s Canada to work with me and train me in my apprenticeship as a master distiller.”

Most commercially available Arak is distilled with molasses, as a less expensive alternative for mass production.  Marty decided quality was the most important thing and he makes his product with fresh natural ingredients.  He makes a traditional Arak, a Fig Arak and a very small production of single cask Arak.  All Zachlawi products are certified Kosher for Passover by the OU.

At 80-proof, Arak is not for the light hearted, but the fruit does shine through and it is the perfect complement to any Purim seudah.

Jack’s Gourmet Jamaican Style Jerk Sausages was voted as the best new kosher product for 2011.  As part of our winner’s series we want to find out more about Jack’s and share it with you.  We have an in depth interview with Jack Silberstein, co-founder of Jack’s Gourmet and we learned a bit about Alan’s hobbies in Baking Bread.  Today we are going to talk to Jack and Alan about their win and their future.

Tell us about you and/or your company:

Jack’s Gourmet was founded by Jack Silberstein and Alan Broner, who launched their products to the public at Kosherfest 2010. Jack’s Gourmet was founded, to fill a niche in the kosher food industry, namely authentic hand crafted deli meats and sausages. The need was there to provide the kosher consumer with products that met or superseded the non kosher equivalents. Often, ingredients in recipes were either hard to find or nonexistent for kosher cooks. Now these sausages and deli meats are readily available across the nation, with robust flavors and only the highest quality ingredients.

Why do you think you won Best of Kosher?

The key is in the tasting. Jack’s Gourmet products evoke an immediate “wow” response, elicited by the full authentic flavors. Jack’s Gourmet offers unique sausage unavailable even in the non kosher market. Our Jamaican Jerk Chicken sausage garnered a “Best” in the huge category of Meat/Seafood/Poultry at Kosherfest 2011, not only because of its delicious flavor, but because of it’s innovation.

What are your plans for the coming year?
At Jack’s Gourmet, research and development of new products is an ongoing project. Our plans for the coming year, is to continue to provide the highest quality products available to the kosher consumer, and to introduce new items in a timely manner. In the coming months, two new flavors that are Kosher for Passover will be introduced. Kielbasa and a Spicy Southwestern sausage will be available for this Passover.

Yay!  Sausage for passover!!!  Find out more about Jack’s Gourmet on their website.

Here is a tip from Jack’s for using this new product winner at home – Jamaican Style Jerk Chicken : sautee sliced sausage and serve atop a healthy portion of rice and beans. Add sliced sausage to your favorite coconut chicken and potato stew. Grill sausage and serve on a soft onion roll with corn salsa.
Photos courtesy of Jack’s Gourmet.

What is your earliest cooking memory?
My earliest cooking memory is probably about my mother preparing our family meals. I used to sit on the kitchen floor, obviously getting in her way, and stare at her while she was cooking until she would let me join her. My fondest memory is snapping fresh and plump peas out of their shells: that was fun!

What is your favorite kitchen gadget?
I’m very fond of my Kitchen Aid stand mixer, mainly because it allows me to save time and energy when kneading homemade bread, which is something I love. There’s nothing better than a crunchy bread made from scratch fresh out of the oven.

What’s your favorite kosher dish to cook?
I am an Italian Jew of sephardic descent: my favourite kosher dishes, therefore, have middle Eastern or North-african flavours. My signature Shabbat dinner recipe is “lubia bel kemun”, a spicy stew with cumin that is simply perfect accompanied by cous cous.

Who is your cooking inspiration?
Being very young – I’m only 22 – I must say that my inspiration comes first of all from my family: to me, my mum and grandmother are simply the best cooks in the world. On the other hand, I’m also inspired by celebrity chefs who still keep their food simple and homely, such as Jamie Oliver and Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall.

Please share a favorite cooking tip or trick with our readers.
I once wrote a whole post with my cooking tricks. Shoud I name just one, very special trick, here it is: add a slice of apple in the oil when you’re frying, and a pinch of coarse salt. The first will save you and your kitchen from the horrible frying smell, the latter will prevent oil spatters on the stove. I know it sounds weird, but it really works: give it a try!

Which recipes are you sharing with us today?
Being, as I said, of both Italian and North-African origin, I’d love to share two recipes, one Italian – Homemade Pasta,  and one Libyan – Pumpkin Tershi, plus the one I’ve mentioned before, Lubia Bel Kemun.

 
Jasmine lives in Milan, Italy, and writes about Italian and Jewish food on Labna. You can find her on Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest as well.

PassoverResorts.com at Hyatt Regency Valencia was voted as the JoyofKosher.com Best of Kosher Passover Resort for 2011.  As part of our winner’s series we met with Jeann Litvin to learn more about her Passover program.

Jeann shares the following with us:

We just didn’t ‘get up from the table’ & start running Passover Programs.  Both my husband & I worked for a Passover Program for 5 years before we started to run our own.  He worked as the Supervising Rabbi (Rav HaMachshir), led the Seders & gave several talks & I was a Chef & at that time the only woman mashgiach (Rabbinic Supervisor) working on a Passsover Program. I also owned a day camp, ran federal food lunch programs & was a caterer.

In 1989 after hosting Rosh Hoshana, Succos, Chanukah & Shavuos programs for 2 years, we hosted our first Passover Program in Santa Barbara, California. We went on to host 2 – 6 programs every season usually some on the East Coast & others in the West including several Ritz-Carlton Programs (Palm Beach, Laguna Niguel, Rancho Mirage & Orlando), the first 2 years at Loews South Beach & the first 2 years at the new Diplomat. There were ski Passover programs in Beaver Creek, Telluride & at the Olympic venues in Park City, Utah & 3 Hawaii Passover Programs & too many more to list here.

We are different than most programs in that we treat all guests equally when it comes to price.  Whether you come to us with 1 room or 20 rooms, there’s no difference in the rate.   You’re not going to have your Passover vacation ruined by sitting next to someone at a tea room only to find out they ‘hondled’ better than you did.  So we announce our lowest price & we stick to it.  When those rooms are sold, you’ll be paying a higher price for the next level room or view.  So people have learned to reserve early.

We believe that we were chosen Best of Passover Resorts not because of the hotels we select but because we’re very much into personal service.  We walk the dining room assisting guests throughout every meal.  We’re at every tea room, entertainment or activity in case anyone needs our assistance. Single seniors don’t walk to their room alone & we’re meticulous about making sure that the dietary restrictions & allergies of the guests are taken care of they way they would be in their own home.

This year, we are returning to our 4^th year at the family friendly HYATT REGENCY VALENCIA just 30 minutes from Los Angeles.  Our 1^st year at this location was the first year of the recession.  We decided that instead of doing multiple programs, we would do one reasonably priced program at a well-run hotel that had a relaxing atmosphere with lots of walking opportunities & nearby reasonably priced attractions along with theme parks.

As for the food, Jeann creates new recipes all year round for the Passover Program.   Recipes run the gamut from traditional to eclectic.  She creates vegetarian entrees so that the vegetarians can feel like they’re having an exciting entrée not just a double portion of the sides that the other guests get with their meat, chicken or fish.  For more about the Passover program click here.

For more on the Best of Kosher contest click here.

It’s has been a pretty mild winter, so when the folks over at Jolly Llama offered to share their new ice pops, I thought why not.  After all, they are made from real whole fruit just like my own popsicles.  They come in six different flavors: Raspberry, Mango, Blueberry, Strawberry, Peach, and Banana Coconut. Instead of the dripping mess my popsicles leave behind, these squeeze up pops only dirty my kids faces.  I can handle that.

Jolly Llama starts with the belief that frozen treats should be made with only the healthiest, highest quality ingredients.  The founder, Scott Jacobson is a French Culinary Institute trained chef who created a different fruit sorbet flavor every day at his restaurant, more than 400 flavors.  He wanted to bring those creations outside of his restaurant and Jolly Llama was born.  And if you are wondering about the name, Scott heard on the news that the Dalai Lama was in town and it reminded him of the gentle farm llamas he’d watched as a child.  He was struck by the play on words:  Jolly Llama, the Peaceful Treat.

These pops are good, they are not too sweet and really taste like real fruit.  My kids loved them at least as much as I did and when I asked them if they would choose one of those blue ice pops they get at camp or one of these natural pops they all chose Jolly Llama.  If I only I could get the camp to make the change.

These pops are similar to The Power of Fruit frozen fruit bars I discovered last year, both use real fruit and little to no sugar.   The main difference is these are sorbet pops and the consistency is smoother.  Both are excellent choices for taste and health.

 Jolly Llama – The Peaceful Treat Real Fruit Sorbet Squeezeups are Dairy Free, Fat Free, Gluten Free, average of 80 calories each, 50% of Vitamin A & C.  They are certified kosher by the Orthodox Union (OU) and are available in many health food stores.

Tell us about your blog and how you got started: A dear friend, fan of my demos, suggested I change my website to a more interactive format, and proceeded to not only do the whole format conversion, but to give me a whole tutorial about how to use the blog. It was as if I was learning Chinese. To think I finally got it!

What is your earliest cooking memory? Definitely, cooking with chestnuts. My first encounter with raw chestnuts was brutal. In fact, it was the reason it took me a few months instead of just a few days to establish myself as a talented cook with my new entourage. At seventeen, I was fresh out of my childhood home and living in a dorm on the university campus in Strasbourg, France. Looking out of my window one Sunday morning, I admired a chestnut tree growing right on the campus grounds. Until then, I had always enjoyed chestnuts roasted from the street stands. I had a sudden urge for the delicious nuts and decided to go down and get some. “How hard could it be to roast them?” I wondered. I put them in a pot, covered the pot and put it on the stove of the dorm kitchen. I decided they would be ready in about half an hour, ample time for a bath.

After about fifteen minutes, I heard what sounded like a mob pounding at my door. Seized with panic, I managed to get dressed at lightning speed and opened the door with great trepidation. The mob was led by the custodian of the dorm, who appraised me with a scornful look. The chestnuts, I was told, had burst out of their shells and out of the pot. The whole dorm had heard the “explosions”. “For crying out loud,” the custodian said haughtily. “Don’t you know you have to make a slit in the chestnuts before you cook them?” How would I know? No one had ever told me, at that tender age, about boiling chestnuts, and a slew of other valuable things in life. Now I know!

What is your favorite kitchen implement / utensil / gadget? Without hesitation, I would say the food processor. I simply couldn’t live without it!

What’s your favorite kosher dish to cook? As you know I develop all my recipes, for my cookbooks and my demos, so they are all my babies: Do I need to choose between them? OY! Let me just give you a hint: I absolutely love to cook all those dishes, of which I speak abundantly in my latest cookbook, that take minutes, costs pennies, and taste like a million bucks: My chapter on grain soups, and my chapter on Chicken One, Two and Turmeric, with all fish adaptations, and all meat adaptations, bear out my point in full!

Who is your cooking inspiration? My mother is my first and most enduring inspiration. She is the artisan I admire the most, for her streamlined, inexpensive and super healthy cooking, as well as for all the other crafts she is so extraordinarily talented at.

Please share a favorite cooking tip or trick with our readers: It sounds ridiculously simple, maybe even frankly a little reckless, but I would be happy to be challenged about it anytime: Cooking from scratch wins the race!

Which recipes are you sharing with us today?

Caesar’s Salad
Soba Noodles with Roasted Roots
Moroccan Chraimi Fish 

About Lévana: Lévana Kirschenbaum was co-owner of Levana Restaurant on Manhattan’s Upper West Side (alas, recently closed after thirty two years), and the pioneer in Kosher upscale dining. She is a cooking teacher and cookbook author, and gets countless devoted fans for her fearless, practical and nutritious approach to cooking. She gives weekly cooking demos, and gets cooking demo engagements around the country. She has published “Lévana’s Table: Kosher Cooking for Everyone”, “Levana Cooks Dairy-Free!”, and a book-dvd set based on her demo series called “In Short Order”. She is launching a line of all-natural spelt desserts, called, what else, Lévana. Her weekly cooking demos take place at her apartment on Manhattan’s Upper West Side: Get ready for dinner and a show! Go onto her website to find out more about her demos, cookbooks, desserts, and entertaining stories at www.levanacooks.com

Click to Pre Order Lévana’s newest cookbook ” THE WHOLE FOODS KOSHER KITCHEN: Glorious Meals Pure and Simple”, coming out March 15th 2012.

As a kosher observant Jew, the doors to the best restaurants in the world remain a fantasy, however I love to discover recipes and menu ideas from the world’s top chefs that I can try and recreate at home.  You can only imagine my excitement when I learned Ferran Adria was publishing a cookbook devoted to home cooking.  Ferran Adria was the chef and creative genius behind the number one restaurant in the world, El Bulli.

In 1984, at the age of 22, Adria joined the kitchen staff of El Bulli and only 18 months later he became Head Chef.  Shortly afterward, he began a culinary exploration that put him and the restaurant at the top of the culinary world.  El Bulli had 3 Michelin stars and won the title of World’s Best Restaurant five times. Ferran Adria’s legendary talent, creativity and gastronomic innovations have inspired chefs and food-lovers for years.   El Bulli closed its doors on July 30, 2011, and will re-open in 2014 as the El Bulli Foundation, a creative center and think tank for creative cuisine and gastronomy.

While Adria is known for innovative and “modernist” cuisine, the recipes in The Family Meal are easy to prepare and meant for family dining.  Adria wrote this book based on the dishes eaten every day by the staff of El Bulli.  The book features nearly 100 recipes and menus that anyone can prepare.  It was also created to ensure that the dishes are affordable and that most of the ingredients are widely available at local supermarkets.

The Family Meal is organized into three-course menus, with an appetizer, a main and a dessert, so you can prepare a well-balanced meal at home – without fuss.  It is like no other cookbook in the way it presents each recipe.  The instructions are shown with numerous step-by-step full color photographs and include conversions to prepare the meal for 2, 6, 20 or up to 75 people.

Over the past few years at El Bulli, Adria reinvented the staff meal.  Most restaurants don’t put much thought into their staff’s food, but Adria wanted his staff to eat well.   He needed these meals to be nutritious and affordable for the 75 plus staff at the restaurant and he wanted a three course meal that could be prepared in less than an hour.  The result of his effort not only fed his staff, but can feed you and your family.  This cookbook showcases 31 kitchen-tested menus.

When I picked up this book I loved the idea of menus that could be prepared in less than hour.  Adria gives recipes for the basics.  All you have to do is stock your fridge with several basic sauces and your meals will come together tastefully in a snap.  He gives a recipe for picada, tomato sauce, sofrito, romesco, pesto, barbecue sauce, teriyaki, chimichurri, and more.  Some of these you can buy in a store, but they are not hard to make from scratch and will stay well in the freezer.

Out of 31 menus only 5 are kosher as is, but many of the recipes can be interchanged and many recipes can be slightly modified to make them work.

I am excited to share meal number 29 form The Family Meal, which includes Soffrito and Picada sauces that you can use in so many other dishes the rest of the week or freeze for another time.   Start with this simple Roasted Vegetables with Olive Oil, onto Salmon Stewed with Lentils, and end with this White Chocolate Cream.