Quick & Kosher

Most cooks are stumped when it comes to menu planning for an important event. What’s the best starter? How to pair mains with sides? And yuntif is your ultimate culinary performance. The stage is set, the audience is seated at your table, the curtain rises, and the spotlight is on you.

Chill. Those folks around your table are not food critics from the New York Times; they’re just your family and friends. And you’ll be a star because we’ve done all the planning for you: every course in this elegant coordinated meal perfectly combines flavors, textures, and colors. Just serve and bow to the applause.

Salmon Cakes with Tropical Fruit Salsa

 

Croquettes are a cute and elegant for your starter course. They’re also wonderfully light and refreshing. The tropical salsa is a combination of fresh pineapple, mango, red onion, jalapeno, cilantro, and lime juice—the perfect complement to the richness of the salmon. The balance of sweet and savory flavors instantly pleases the palate. This is a starter with zing!

Carrot, Quinoa & Spinach Soup

 

 

Instead of just adapting your year-round recipes, use Pesach as an opportunity to try new things. A few years ago, quinoa burst onto the scene as both healthful and K for P (according to some) and became a year-round, here-to-stay grain. This recipe is special enough for a yuntif meal and hearty enough to serve on Chol Hamoed. If you make this for a dairy meal, try adding a ½ cup of whole milk when you stir in the spinach. It gives the dish a light, creamy flavor.

Spinach & Walnut Salad

Packed with iron and protein, this salad offers serious nutrition. Brighten it up with chopped fresh fruit or a handful of craisins. You can easily make a balsamic dressing, and it’s a terrific pairing for any fresh spinach salad. When it’s not Pesach, you can add kick to the dressing by adding 2 tablespoons of Dijon mustard.

Chicken with Olives, Tomatoes & Onions

I love, love, love olives! If you agree, jump on board because this chicken recipe featuring kalamata olives—a dark purple Greek olive—will be one of your new favorite dishes. By the way, I wouldn’t use this for the Seder because browning might give the impression of roasted meat. But it’s a great dish for other yom tov and Shabbos meals. Did I mention that I love olives?

Grilled Ribeye with Crispy Parsnips

Ribeye is one of the most popular, juiciest, expensive steaks on the market. This cut is more marbled than others, which makes the steak especially tender and flavorful. Crispy parsnips are the perfect, slightly sweet alternative to French fries. (Grilling the steak disqualifies it for the Seder menu)

Accordion Potatoes

How great looking are these? On this “potato festival” we are forced to constantly reinvent these little spuds, and it’s easy to get bored. But these babies are too fabulous for words! The secret is the red-skinned potatoes: they hold their shape well and are creamier and slightly sweeter than russet potatoes. Crisp chopped garlic, coarse flake kosher salt, freshly ground black pepper, and quality olive oil finish off this superb show-stopping side.

Chocolate Meringue Stars with Raspberry Sauce

Next to macaroons, I think meringues are probably the most inherently Pesach-friendly dessert you will find. I love when we can take a year-round favorite, and not worry about making special adjustments. Fold in some cocoa powder and serve with a dipping sauce (made from jam and lemon juice) and upgrade these to a fab closer of your holiday meal.

Enhance your Yom Tov meal without spending all day in the kitchen.

Passover is known to old-timers as a “Kitchen Yuntif,” but that doesn’t mean we must be chained to our stoves for a whole week. Slavery, my friends, is over — gone forever since the exodus! Our Festival of Freedom is no time to enslave ourselves, even if we’re scheduled to serve up 10 banquets in eight days, not to mention K for P lunches and snacks.

I’m one of those rare birds who looks forward to Pesach, and I want you to anticipate it with joy too. And I mean it. These glorious recipes will help you cook food that everyone actually will want to eat, and none of them will prevent you from getting out of the kitchen to enjoy the holiday with your family. Even if you’re known for patchke-ing in your neighborhood, you surely don’t want every meal to involve a long, fussy prep — because there’s more to Pesach than cooking.

And that’s where I come in, ’cause I was born to cook quick. I’ve designed these easy, 15-minute prep entrees and sides just for you — and they’re elegant enough to serve at a yuntif meal. Use these versatile recipes to round out your meals and keep them on hand for a quick Chol Hamoed lunch or dinner.

For your Seder, choose a main that is light and appetizing, such as my poached chicken or chicken meatball stew. Both are scrumptious and comply with the custom of not eating roasted meat at the Seder. If you want something more substantial, try my pomegranate braised brisket. Each of these recipes looks and tastes like you slaved over it all day, only you didn’t. Slavery is so yesterday.

MAINS

Stuffed Turkey Breast 

White Wine Poached Chicken with Dill 

Pomegranate Braised Brisket 

Chicken Meatball Stew 

SIDES

Caramelized Onion Mashed Potatoes 

Zucchini & Red Bell Pepper Sauté 

Vegetable Egg Crepes 

Sweet Potato and Carrot Bake 

When writing a cookbook, there are lots and lots of moving parts.  Especially when writing one with a lot of narrative.  When I write a book it’s not just about recipes for me.  I write about everything. My books are part memoir, part autobiography, part diary – entirely about my life.

My tin o' tools. I just quickly wash the usual suspects after using and throw in this tin so I can quickly grab what I need.

The recipes have to be great, no doubt.  But the special part, the part that people really respond to, is all the other writing.  So I am really taking the time to include a lot of it right alongside tons of amazing recipes.  I want it to be equally great in both respects.  I want someone to be able to curl up on their couch and read this story.  The “writing” part is the fun part for me, the easier part, it just flows.  Middle of the night and middle of the day – while brushing my teeth or brushing my kids teeth if I think of a good line, a good story or something happens I just quickly shorthand it into my iPhone.  But when it comes to cooking it’s another story entirely.  It goes a little something like this.

Wooden spoons and mixing bowls, can never have enough

I painstakingly create an outline of the recipes broken up by chapter.  Based on what I’ve been wanting to develop and the feedback I’ve received here and in person.  Then I look at it all and try to achieve a balance within the recipes.  When I am writing this outline I usually have an idea about the flavor profiles and/or twist I am going to give a recipe to make it my own.  I also call all the people, friends, family, neighbors, whoever inspired me toward a particular idea or recipe because I tasted it or they spoke about it – and I jot down their notes.

First page of my big momma binder - the style sheet. Every publishing house has one. This time around it's totally different than how I've been writing my recipes until now. More on editing next week.

After I have this master outline – inevitably it’s 50% too long.  Books have a page count so they can be priced within a normal range.  As much as I’d like to include all my recipes that would inevitably end up in a 500 page book which would cost around $50, not good for anyone.

Top secret batter, mid mix. Can you guess what this is for?

So once I whittle down my list I get into the kitchen.  That’s when the disaster begins.  No, really it’s not all bad but it’s just so intense. Based on my deadlines I am developing the recipes in a crazy short 10-12 week period.  Which means on average I am doing about 20 recipes per week and when recipes turn out great the first time around and I am checking things off my list, flying and flitting from this dish to that I think to myself “this is a cinch, I’ll be done in no time”.  When a recipe is overdone or under-seasoned or my funky flavor profile doesn’t at all work, or it’s just plain uninteresting I want to cry, and sometimes I actually do.  Case in point l I am now on my 4th top of the rib trying to make one single amazing roast recipe.  For the love of G-d this next one has got to turn out right or I will need a day to recover, and I can’t afford a day.

When my hands are chapped from washing I use the tower of tins. Not good for the environment but help my hands from looking 90.

Each week I make a crazy long shopping list and organize it according to the layout of the store: Produce, Grocery, Meat, Freezer, Fridge/Dairy and then other.  Others are things not found in the store like wine, or a piece of equipment.  Today it’s a tube pan and spring form pan, I have a bundt pan not a tube pan — and you can make this recipe in a bundt but I really want to test it in a tube and can you believe it — I have worked my entire cooking career around not needing a spring form pan, until now.

I write my recipes first including measurements that I think will work.  Print them out and place them into my folder of in-progress recipes.  I have a big momma 3 ring binder for recipes that have been completed.  Meaning recipes that are covered in food, my chicken scratch testing notes and have been approved by my family and neighbors.  A recipe doesn’t get a 3 hole punch or go into the binder until it’s been entered into my master files on my computer.  Then I keep a copy in the binder for reference so I can see all my cross outs and notes in case I have a question about the evolution of a particular dish.  It’s like handwritten track changes.

Here's the big momma binder I was telling you about. This is just recipes. No writing!!!

This week I am playing catchup.  Before I reward myself and move onto desserts, my last(!!!) chapter, I have to go back and retest some 13, 14 recipes that just didn’t make the cut.  Some were obviously a bust and some were just eh eh but I want every recipe in this book to be amazing.  I need to be obsessed with the recipe in order for it to appear in the pages of this book.   So wish me luck as I work on a glaze for my turkey, an Asian inspired salmon, a complete protein vegetarian main, a crockpot dinner and tons more.  The piece de resistance, the bane of my existence – my grandparents’ chicken soup — I must get it right this week because I simply must, and because I am racing against the clock running toward Pesach trying to meet a deadline. I am a good 25 pounds of chicken into trying to figure this out – so pray for me.

I can’t believe it.

Really I am in total denial.  Although I did tell my 2 year old — who doesn’t listen much anyway — not to run around the house with a slice of bread in his hand.

But yes, I know it, you know it, we all know… it’s a-coming!

Pesach.

I ease my worried soul by thinking about the food, not the cleaning.  (That’s it.  I will not say another word about it this entire post.  Not a one.  After this one: AHHHH!!!!).

This major momentous occasion commemorates and celebrates our freedom from slavery and our salvation as a nation.  We are to truly believe that if not for G-d who took us out of Egypt we would all still be slaves today.  I think this awesome birth of a nation event calls for a greatest hits, top 10, best of – call it what you will – favorite recipe compilation list.

This is what I cook over and over and over again.  Year after year since I started making Pesach 5 years ago (at the young age of 20 — wink wink!).

Un-Stuffed Cabbage Soup
From my first book Quick & Kosher Recipes From the Bride Who Knew Nothing.  Not a Pesach goes by without it.  All my neighbors love it and make it too.  Well at least one of them, Sharon who tells me her parents go crazy for it and that she has shared the recipe with her married nieces.  I asked her to instead by them the book .  Love Sharon!

Fish
My favorite fish recipes include a pretty in pink gefilte and a recipe I developed for last year’s Pesach issue of the magazine that I now use year round when I want to impress the guests – Salmon Cakes with Tropical Fruit Salsa.

Potato Kugel Cups
Really year round I double it and make it in a 9×13, only when I am feeling lazy, which is most of the time.  But for the honor of Passover and Hubby- cups it is!

Accordion Potatoes
Became a tradition last year when I developed them for the first issue of the magazine.

Brisket and Brisket and More Brisket.

Roasted Apple Brisket 
Brisket in Wine Sauce 
Pomegranate Braised Brisket

Because of the custom not to eat roasted meats on seder night I double or triple the sauces so that the meat is totally submerged in liquid.

Zucchini Ribbons
Just a vision of beauty and taste.

Salads Galore

Warm Salmon Salad
Israeli Salad
Israeli Cabbage Salad
Italian Tomato Salad 
Sweet Carrot Salad 
Turkish Salad
Baby Spinach and Portobello Mushroom Salad
Spinach Walnut Salad

Dessert

And to tell you the truth, when it comes to dessert I love chocolate covered matzoh.

And meringues.

Not macaroons so much but Hubby does.

Oh and one last greatest hit — my Aunt Zahava’s Egg Noodles.
I add water to the egg crepe recipe and spend a DAY making about 100 paper thin almost see-through crepes which I then stack and cut into long luckshen.  I have to make that many because I eat half while sitting on the stool I pulled up to my stovetop during cooking.  Can you blame me?

Chag Kasher V’Sameyach!!

 

 

We like themes.

The men, have rebelled though, and won, for the past few years.

There are 4 or 5 families in the neighborhood that we get together with every Purim and we the women always wanted to do a themed menu like Mexican or Italian you know.

This year Aliza, my Boston Cream Pie friend and hostess said we finally win – we get our theme.  But she rightfully decided our men are more cowboy than south of the border and thus our menu was born.

I am making a recipe for pulled bbq beef short rib sandwiches from my new book.  Until it comes out enjoy these fab pulled party sliders.  Dirty mashed potatoes, which only means I’m keeping the skins on (but scrub ‘em  well because we don’t really want these potatoes to be dirty), topped with a Costco-sized bag of fried onions and Southwestern Steak Salad — cause it’s kinda cowboy.  We’re also doing Fried Chicken, wings and some fruit pies or cobblers for dessert.  Actual dessert baking and selection I leave to Aliza –  she is the queen when it comes to the sweet endings.  Oh and I almost forgot – CHILI!!! It wouldn’t be a party at the ranch without it.

What are you making?

Freilichin Purim and YEEEHAWWW!

The rumors are true. I am working on my 3rd book, thank G-d.

I have done many things in my life both personally and professionally. But writing a cookbook is one of the single most difficult of them all.

And even with that said I am so thankful to G-d that I have this opportunity once again.

So that explains why I have been writing a little less online these days because I really have been up to my eyeballs in recipe testing and book writing. I am writing and cooking and writing and cooking and writing some more. This is almost like a memoir — ok it most probably is a memoir. I am just waiting to deliver the first chapter to my editor and see what she says because I may be about 500 pages over count. I always joke about my first book that I wrote the book, a semi autobiography, and then was like “oh yeah, I need recipes here”. The joke, not haha funny, but ever so slightly humorous, stemmed from my lack of kitchen prowess. But now I am writing like crazy because I just have so much to say. I can’t explain it, it’s all just pouring out of me. I have written a huge chunk of this book on my iPhone in the middle of the night after not being able to fall back to sleep post feeding, pacifying, or re-situating baby.

I figured it would be fun to chronicle the making of the cookbook. What we like to call a BTS (behind the scenes) look at what goes into all of this. It ain’t easy as you will see, there are a lot of moving parts and dirty dishes and a few unwanted pounds as I taste-test my way through each chapter. I am scared to see what happens when I get to the dessert section. Seriously scared for my life, my skirt, my profile. But that’s not for another few weeks so as Hubby says, “wasted emotions” and “cross that bridge when you…” well, you know the rest.

Join me on this journey. It really helps to get some support from you all as I take this on again.

What’s the hardest thing, aside from parenting children, that you’ve ever done in your life?

My most memorable Purim is a scary scene.  Me with about 60 quarts of soup and 24 pounds of challah dough, crying like a baby at 2AM.
Let me explain.

When we moved to Monsey 5 years ago I really wanted to make a splash that first Purim.  The community had been so warm and welcoming and I really wanted to show my appreciation, by making all 60 families (or most of them) mishloach manos.  Since I didn’t grow up in a family that made mishloach manos, or much of anything in the kitchen, when I first got married I frantically attempted to pull something together, at the last minute, only after my husband reminded me Purim was tomorrow.  So I borrowed a page from my friend Anita’s book and bought every purple food I could find left on the supermarket shelf through it all in a bag and attached a card wishing everyone a “Grape Purim.”  Boy was I ever proud of myself.  No really, I was proud.

A couple years later we move to Monsey and almost every neighbor stopped by with cupcakes or invited us over for a Shabbos meal.  It was the warmest non-stop welcome wagon in the history of mankind.  Now here is where you remark “but Jamie, you haven’t spoken to all of mankind”  and here is where I say “but it really felt like that, do you have to take me oh-so-literally?!”

So back to the warm and fuzzy welcome wagon.  By the time Purim rolled around I felt like I had yet to repay all those lovely neighbors of mine.  Brainstorm…show them all I care with a special homemade shalach munis aka mishloach manot.  That year Purim fell out on Erev Shabbos so I went all certifiable with my theme and decided that each sweetheart of a neighbor deserved a fresh baked challah roll (kneaded that 24 pounds of dough BY HAND!) a quart of chicken soup (used ALL the pots in my kitchen) and then’ cause I didn’t want to make things too hard (really ’cause I ran out of steam) I threw in one of those cute small bottles of Kedem grape juice (I was hoping they would have a grape Purim, even if I now knew better not to write it on the card).

Well, I forgot I was supposed to hear Megillah reading, I forgot I had 3 small kids almost 3, almost 2 and 5 months, and I forgot that certain things should not be tried at home, under pressure, the night of Purim.  Hubby calmly talked me off that ledge,  I don’t believe I slept, everyone got their challah and soup and stuff but I promised myself, actually Hubby made me promise to the family…never ever again.

So now I started a new custom.  Since I don’t always get to deliver cookies or cupcakes as much as I plan to, or invite the new family over for a shabbos meal, as much as I want to, I use Purim as the opportunity to bring them something special. ”Them” of course being that new family on the block or those neighbors I haven’t had a chance to get to know as well.  I go down that list and make only 20-30 mishloach manot that can be prepped in advance,  stored in my cold garage and that don’t require all 5 of my burners.  Go pick up the latest Joy of Kosher magazine for my tri-colored hummus and pita crisp shalach manos.  Look, if I run out of time  and can’t make the crisps I can always just give them the bag of pitas and I still think I’ll make some new friends.  To print your own Purim Cards click here.

What’s your favorite or not so favorite Purim memory?  This is an equal opportunity call for comments.

Chag Sameach!

At most events I do, inevitably a woman comes up to me with a story.

She speaks of inheriting her grandmother’s gefilte fish recipe or some other such occurrence that leads her to following the directions of an old time version with the first instruction being:

“Take the fish out of the bathtub…”

So now you, like me, are wondering — what was her frozen loaf doing in the tub? If you are not like me and know that there once was a time, way back when, in a land far far away, people who actually made their own gefilte fish from scratch (ahhhh!). My grandmother did in fact make hers from scratch. But it wasn’t in fact authentic gefilte fish. We called it Falsha Fish meaning “fake fish” in Yiddish because hers was actually fleish (meat!). She made a sweet white croquette from ground chicken breast with a jellied broth and sliced carrots. Looked like gefilte, tasted like gefilte but thankfully didn’t begin with a chicken in the tub.

Gefilte is one of those things you are into or you’re not. Even though its technically pareve (unless of course you are making falsha fish) it’s kinda hard to be pareve on the subject. We are pretty die-hard in our house. Hubby likes, no let me clarify, loves the jarred version. Can you believe it? Any others like him out there? Speak now or forever hold it! It’s because, of course, he grew up eating it, even though his step-mom was a crazy good cook, that’s what she served. I’ll eat the jellied broth from the jar because it reminds me of my Ma (my Grandmother) but that’s about it. I, on the other hand, really do love the frozen loaf. Don’t you just love this. Finally hubby and I agree on food. “Yes” gefilte fish. But “No”! G-d forbid we like the same kind.

So at least he keeps it easy for me and I go creative all twisty and turny on what to do with the frozen loaf. I’ve got an awesome dress up your gefilte fish recipe that I’m hard at work on for my new book but since that won’t be out for 2 years…. I leave you with this little bit of history and then a few cool creative Jok.com gefilte recipes.

Gefilte fish, “the” Jewish food for Shabbos and holiday festivities, was invented by some ingenious Jewish women many generations ago to help diners avoid tangling with bones while they ate. The word itself means “filled” in Yiddish, referring to the original practice of filling the fish’s skin with ground fish. From the fish in your bathtub of course.

If you’ve got your own special gefilte fish recipe, homemade or even semi homemade or something super quick prep (for me!) please submit it here and help us, help you, help us build the most comprehensive gefilte fish database on the web. Now who knew there was a market for that?

Here are some gefilte fish recipes:

I feel like Amy and I are friends. Yes, we both do share a really good friend, Judy, who turned me onto Amy in the first place. But when you read her stuff and get the warm and fuzzies from her beautiful creations I think you’ll also feel like you’re friends with Amy. Amy’s first book is now available for pre order (it’s at the top of every list B&N, Amazon etc…) and I can’t wait to get my copy.

Sweet Designs, just like her Sweet Site will inspire you to no end. She’s actually a Sweets Stylist (to the stars) — is that the coolest thing ever? Now the question is how does she stay so skinny? While the book is not kosher per se, from following Amy I know there are so many recipes that are inherently kosher (Amy does keep a kosher home) and recipes that are easily adaptable so we can go ahead and recreate these in our kitchens. The book, her site, the picts will all make you smile.

Have you guys heard of her? Lawyer turned Baker! Will you be buying the book? Let me know in the comments.

Shout out and Mazel Tov to you, Amy. I am so excited for you!

OMG I am rolling. I just made 20 pounds of challah. DID YOU READ THAT?! TWENTY!!!! POUNDS. Testing sweet and savory “challah” and “challah-esque” recipes for my new book. I am swearing off carbs for a year, or, well, at least a week, for sure until the end of today. One of my many goals in life is to see how many different things I can make out of my challah dough.

Here’s a recap of what I’ve done with it to date — plus a special PB&J challah somethin’ from Hadassah.

Recipes:

Challah Dough
Onion Pockets
Garlic Knots
Cinnamon Buns
Onion and Thyme Challah Rolls
Individual Apple Stuffed Challah
PB&J Babka Buns

Videos:

The Best Challah Dough
How to Make a Crown Shaped  Challah
How to Make a Six Braid Challah – Part One, Part Two
How to Make Onion Pockets
How to Make Garlic Knots
How to Make Cinnamon Buns

What do you do with your challah dough? I would love to pull together 101 ideas for the site. Help us get there. Leave a comment below and submit your actual recipe here. Here’s to washing and bentching!

Just feel like writing now. I know it’s been a while. Have actually been kinda stressed. There is a reason superwoman and her superman are imaginary characters – it’s all just not possible. I am stressed to the point that I am now (as I am typing) eating an entire box of mini cream-filled sponge cakes. It’s a Weight Watchers box but I am pretty sure their intention was not to eat the entire box at once, probably why they individually wrapped each one. SO frustrating now that I am trying to eat them all (while typing). I can stop at any time, you know (just as soon as I finish this box).

I should get the mother of the year award for the yummy din din I made last night (considering all the stress)- the Cranberry Walnut Salmon over Wilted Spinach from my second book Quick & Kosher Meals in Minutes*. Um.. the kiddies including my two year old who can’t even speak “asked” for seconds! Yay! Getting your kiddies to love salmon really should get me some kinda trophy don’t you think? I have two small pieces of salmon left in the fridge which I really should eat instead of struggling with this Fort Knox faux twinkie plastic wrap. But when I am stressed all I can think of is cream and cake. You do know that STRESSED is DESSERTS spelled backwards?!

What do you eat when you are stressed? Let me know in the comments below. At least let me know you also like cake. No one, not even me, likes to eat cake alone!

*please note: the salt measurement is off in the book, it should be 1/2 teaspoon salt NOT 2 tablespoons!

I have a little love affair with brisket. It’s been so good to me over the years. Save for one terrible, terrible (I mean tears kinda terrible) incident which to this day I can’t quite figure out exactly what went wrong (I’ll write about all the sordid details in my new book). That one bad episode aside (hey, even Seinfeld can have a bad episode or two and still be one of the greatest sitcoms to have ever graced the airwaves), brisket is most probably my best friend, my meat soul-mate, if you will. It’s so forgiving, it’s so tender (when sliced against the grain ), it’s so easy to work with (try searing it on the stove top first. No time? Then just throw it in the oven or even the slow cooker. Also try it shredded on a sandwich.) and lends itself to any and every possible preparation under the great big bright sun (sweet or savory, Asian or Argentinian inspired, with coffee or beer or wine and more).

So how did it become classic Jewish food? If I had to venture a guess (since I am too busy (read lazy) to look this up right now it’s most probably because it can be prepped ahead and lends itself perfectly to reheating (in fact is better when prepped ahead and reheated) which all coincide nicely with the prohibitions associated with cooking and rewarming foods on Shabbos and prepping in advance for a ton of company for 2 and 3-day holidays. If you are a bulk cooker and freezer, brisket is your friend too! Here go a few of my live-by-these-for-perfect-brisket rules.

1. Choose a 1st or 2nd cut kosher brisket (2nd cut has more marbling, is less expensive and preferred by most chefs in the know) with nice marbling distributed throughout as opposed to just in one area.
2. Ideally you should slow cook your kosher brisket for optimum flavor and tenderness. Slow cooking brisket will also ensure the least amount of shrinkage.
3. After following your recipe of choice allow your brisket to cool at least 15 minutes before thinly slicing against the grain. If it’s not sliced against the grain it will be tough instead of tender.
4. Brisket is best prepared in advance. Ideally make it at least one day before serving for the best taste. After cooling and slicing against the grain submerge in gravy/sauce and refrigerate overnight or freeze for up to one month. Remove from the fridge (or thaw completely if frozen) and bring to room temperature before rewarming and serving.

Here are some of my favorite brisket recipes and other highlights from our kosher community recipe inventory:

Beer Braised Brisket
Garlic Honey Brisket
Mexican Brisket
Brisket in Wine Sauce
Pomegranate Braised Brisket

Click for more Brisket Recipes!

Do you have any tried and true kosher brisket tips, tricks or favorite prep ideas? Please leave them in the comments below.

Have a great brisket recipe? Submit it here.

My grandparents, both sets, made the best chicken soup. Same like yours, I imagine. My father’s side of the family made a deep dark richly flavored broth with spaghetti noodles. My mother’s parents a light bright broth with square luckshen (noodles) and alphabets for us kids in the later years.

Yes, it’s Jewish penicilin.

Yes, it’s been known to heal a broken heart or two.

Yes, it’s pretty much one of the best foods on this planet.

There is something intuitive and all too personal about making a chicken soup. Like cholent, no two are alike. Quite like a fingerprint each chef whether following a recipe with exacting accuracy or adding a little of this and a little of that still imparts their chicken soup with something special. That something is called “love”. I am not some over the top touchy-feely mood effects your food type – but chicken soup is one of those add a little love recipes and it becomes your own. Something your kids will beg you for, something your husband will request every Friday night, something you end up making 30 quarts of at a time because it’s that popular. OK that last part is probably just me — I get crazy with bulk cooking sometimes, I can’t help it.

I am using my chicken soup recipe and a few variations on the comfort classic to kick off our month of traditional Jewish foods. We all try to be such inventive creative kosher cooks that sometimes we forget about the building blocks of our culinary heritage. Let’s go old school, heimishe, back to the basics or whatever you call it, and pull out those family recipes that can only be salvaged if we salvage them. I missed getting my grandparents’ recipes but please join us this month in our effort to claim the classics and save them here on JoK.com. I’ll love you for it. You can submit your own recipes here.

Enjoy these chicken soup recipes:

Classic Chicken Soup
Chicken Gumbo Soup
Spiced Chicken and Lentil Soup
Curried Chicken and Rice Soup
Chicken and White Bean Soup
Thai Coconut Chicken Soup

Kimpeturin. When I first heard that Yiddish word, I was totally confused. First of all, it sounds like a plural, but it actually refers to a woman (in the singular) recovering from childbirth. And it’s a term just loaded with compassionate implications: you take pains not to stress out this woman; she’s not expected to shlepp the laundry; and you cut her some slack when it comes to emotional triggers. Point being that new mommies can use a little (ok, a lot) of help from their friends, neighbors, in-laws, anybody! Doesn’t matter if the new baby is your first or if you have a house full of kids, getting it all together ain’t easy.

In our wonderful Jewish communities, aid comes in all forms – gifts of baby essentials, babysitting so the new mommy can nap, or help with din-din. I’ve also heard of a lady who comes over just to sort the laundry. What a G-dsend!

Whether or not you normally love to cook, it’s nice to be off for a while. So, quite often, the community steps up to the plate (literally). A kind-hearted soul organizes the volunteer services of other kind-hearted souls to bring you and your family supper. Every night, the doorbell rings and it’s a fun surprise to see what’s cookin’. This happens wherever Jewish women live: from Boro Park to Beit Shemesh, to Teaneck, LA, Toronto, London, Brussels, Sao Paolo, Johannesburg, Hong Kong. It’s what we do.

If, for some reason, such a “program” is not in place where you live, now’s the time for you to start one. If people feel a little overwhelmed – “What should I cook? What foods do they like?” – I say, stress-nisht.

It’s simple if you follow a few rules. Here are mine:

1. It’s All About the Kids
Unless it’s the couple’s first baby, the biggest help you can give is something the kids will actually eat. This is not the time to impress the couple with your culinary prowess. It’s not a help if after opening up 3 tins of miso-glazed sea bass, Mommy has to make noodles with ketchup for the kids. And make sure you find out if there are any foods you should avoid due to allergies or any other, “I won’t eat this!” biases. When I had my daughter, my neighbor, Beth, sent over pizza: she used the store-bought dough (I hope!) and just topped it with sauce and shredded cheese. And you know what – there wasn’t a crumb left! I often send over a creamy baked ziti with corn on the cob or other kid-friendly sides. My go-to chicken is Duck Sauce Chicken or my Honey Mustard Chicken (from my new book Quick & Kosher Meals in Minutes). Fresh baked chicken that’s finger-lickin’ sweet wins the kiddies any day. Happy kiddies means happy new mommy.

2. Don’t Experiment
If you know the family appreciates experimentation, fine. (People who know me feel free to send things like Moroccan chickpea and spinach soup, baked herb and peppercorn gefilte fish, and glazed carrot soup, and I loved every bit of it.) But when I send to others, I stick to the basics like classic gefilte fish, chicken soup and herb roasted potatoes.

3. Don’t Dress the Salad
You have no clue when the family will sit down to eat. If it’s hours after you send the food, the dressed vegetables will be a soggy mess. Always send the dressing in a separate container. I even go so far as to pack all the veggies separately, so they can toss and dress to order and keep any leftovers for later use.

4. Cut Fruit for Dessert is Deeply Appreciated
The new mom is likely to be super-sensitive about losing her baby weight and loves to see her brood eating healthy desserts, so nix the brownies, cookies and cakes. I love sending over fresh cut or sliced fruit. It keeps nicely and Mom can always pack it for school snacks the next day.

5. Announce Yourself in Writing
Nothing too elaborate, just a note to let the family know who provided the meal. Often a housekeeper or visiting relative will accept the food at the door and the new mother will be clueless about who to call if she has any questions (Is this pareve? Did you know about Yossi’s peanut allergy? etc.) I usually write a little “Mazal tov from the Gellers” on the tins or bag I deliver.

Remember, when you do this mitzvah, it’s not just good for the new mom – it’s good for you. And it’s great for your kids to see you to giving back to the community, too. I usually involve my children in helping to cook or deliver the meals. It’s never too early to start training children in this easy, yet important, chessed.

We have some really great news for you – Jamie Geller’s Quick & Kosher online cooking show is now on television! JLTV is showing Jamie Geller’s Quick and Kosher show on Monday nights at 9pm ET & PT!

In tonight’s episode Jamie shows you how to:

-Cut a Melon
-Cut an Avocado
-Cut a Mango
-Make a Baby Carriage
-Make Guacamole

For viewing info in your area please click here.

We hope you tune in!!