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I love a good party.  But easy laid back open house style entertaining.  Which I find perfect for summer.

I recently hosted (together with Nefesh B’Nefesh) my own Goodbye BBQ.  But the kicker, as I have oft complained here for the last few weeks, is that my kitchen contents are all packed up on a lift and anything that was left I gave away in haste forgetting that I had 4 weeks left to feed my family.  So with only a stockpot a HUGE serrated bread knife and oversized cutting board to my name I hosted a party for a hundred and do what I was brought up to do… made my momma proud and called the caterer.

So if I could have hosted a Sunday summer soiree and actually cooked I would have made some of my favorite party finger foods.  Things you can eat standing up while mingling and holding a baby.

I really skewer lots of things.  Yes it’s a partial patchke which is only really against my religion if it’s super hard or super duper time consuming.  But to skewer sliced beef is really not so bad.  The horseradish mustard though is a real favorite and a great burger condiment.

There are a few steps to this recipe but if you make the risotto before hand it will seriously cut down your prep time.  Cut it down even more by using whatever rice you’d like – even instant.  This is a cool way to use up leftover chicken.  It’s shredded and added to the rice mixture.  Make it pareve by omitting the chicken and using vegetable broth.

This presentation is fancy for when you are pre-plating and hosting a holiday or Shabbos meal.  At a party place a spoonful of the tartar on each crisp so people can just grab a wonton and pop it into their mouth.

Going Dairy?

I love phyllo it’s so flaky and light it almost doesn’t feel like a carb.  People get confused with how to “roll” this.  Do it just like you would a flag.  Any flag rollers in the house?

Well now this is completely carb free and a HUGE crowd favorite.  Make it Pareve by using tofutti cream cheese.

Hubby says put anything in a puff pastry and he will eat it.  So I do.  potato and cheese in puff pastry probably should be illegal.  But it isn’t yet so let’s enjoy.

What’s your favorite party food?

Giveaway***

Win a sampling of Tishbi Preserves.  Today one lucky winner will receive their new award winning flavors the Cherry Shiraz Preserves and the Onion Cabernet.  Cooked in small batches at the Tishbi Winery, these chunky fruit preserves are made using local fruit and award winning kosher wines in Israel.

Comment on this article and enter into rafflecopter.  What is your favorite party food?
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I am moving.  Have you heard?  I know it’s hard to ignore something I am shouting from every roof top but as usual I can’t help myself.  Well let me tell you as I have told anyone who will listen I have but a pot, a cutting board and a rusted bread knife plus a bunch of fancy once-a-year serving platters to my name in my NY kitchen.  So cooking has been a more difficult than usual challenge.  But surprisingly while not pretty to watch I can get a respectable slice and dice out of my overgrown serrated bread knife.  So in honor of my aliyah to the Holy Land I share my favorite Israeli Salatim (translate: salads) that I really should practice in anticipation of my arrival.  When I get there I bet my Israeli-Iraqi sis-in-law will surely tell me I am doing these all wrong, but until then they are authentic in my book.

Yup I needed a recipe for this when I first got married.  Look I wasn’t Israeli and wasn’t a cook.  Now I feel confident to use any veggies I have in the house and tear and toss in fresh parsley or cilantro or mint (for the sake of clarity either or, not altogether).  If going dairy I love to add crumbled feta.

Here you will see a video of me in the early stages of my career making this Trukish Salad.  Yup, it’s been a while.

I never met a red cabbage before I met hubby.  Now that’s of course because I always knew it to be a purple cabbage.  But the recipe editors for my first book made sure to set me straight (uh I still think it looks purple).  This is a Chanie Geller classic (yes my sis and law and I do have the same Hebrew name, difference is she actually goes by hers).  She laughed when I wanted the recipe – mayo, squeeze of lemon, salt, sometimes pepper – not brain surgery she is right but lighter and much preferred to coleslaw.

One of my favorite chummus recipes.  Loads of garlic for my Transylvanian ancestors (shout out mom and dad!).

Not Israeli per say but can certainly blend in at an Israeli salad course if you don’t feel like patchke-ing with babaganoush.

The salsa of middle eastern cuisine.  I personally like hot stuff and the fat burning benefits of spicy foods and my dad always called me paprikash which essentially means spicy in Hungarian but really refers to my hot tempered personality – could ya tell?

Which brings to my question:  What food or food adjective best describes your personality?

**Giveaway***

Answer the question in the comments below and then enter our contest with Rafflecopter to win an Emile Henry Red Kabob Tray for the Grill.

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Leftover chicken can be a pain, but it doesn’t have to be.  Instead it can be another easy weeknight dinner.

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Thirty-minute dinners that let you feed your pasta craving and still step lightly on that scale.

These five one-bowl pasta dinners are quick, easy, and satisfy every pasta-lover’s craving. I love just about every version of pasta, and I’ve discovered ways to indulge even when I’m “watching” what I eat. So don’t let the “P” word scare you. If you’re careful with portion size, enhance the meal with vegetables and healthy lean proteins, and use whole wheat, brown rice, or soba noodle varieties to enjoy these fab five dinners without a care!

As delicious as it is beautiful, the creamy tangy sauce, pink salmon, and green peas are the perfect marriage of flavors.

My favorite pasta sauces are alfredo and vodka. I find it hard to choose between them. I have been known to order both at restaurants. Hey, sometimes a girl just has to help herself! This lighter version of the classic alfredo goes down just as smoothly as the original.

This Italian classic has been remade vegetarian style with ground soy meat crumbles stealing the star role.

Refreshingly light and slightly sweet with a splash of sesame over soba—this is not your grandmother’s pasta dinner.

Delish both warm and chilled, this colorful summer style pasta dinner is perfect as the weather warms up.

More on Healthy Pasta:

Wheat a Minute! Why Choose Whole Wheat Pasta

Whole Wheat Pasta Taste Test

 

 

 

This article was originally published in the Joy of Kosher Magazine May/June 2011

So as I sit here and twiddle my fingers trying to guess what I should write about, what you want to know, what may be of interest, Tali was kind enough to post a question (you go Tali!  both for the Q and your gorgeous Kachol v’ Lavan Cheesecakes!).

Question From Tali:
I’d love to hear more about the photo shoots…
Do they take place in your home?
Over how many days?
Do you have everything pre-cooked?
Are hot dishes photographed hot?
Is it your job to have extra ingredients around for styling?
Also, why is this the most expensive part — doesn’t the publisher pay for that?

Answer from Me:
Ok I am going to take this one by one and try as best I can to explain the cookbook picture process.

Do [the photo shoots] take place in your home?

Mine do not.  But EVERY cookbook is different.  There are authors who take their own pictures in which case the shoots most likely take place in their kitchens.  There are authors who are inherently great food stylists and only need a photographer.  In which case the shoots could take place in their homes to save the cost of renting a studio.  Or they bring everything to the photographer’s studio which usually although not always includes a test kitchen.  Thirdly there is an option to hire both a photographer and stylist if that’s not where your strengths lie.  In which case it usually takes place in a studio.  The last 3 photographers I worked with all had home studios which is a new trend I am seeing that helps them pass along cost savings to smaller clients.  There is a lot of flexibility here and it all depends on your strengths as a photographer and stylist, the photographer and/or team you choose to work with and your budget.

Over how many days?

With my first book Quick & Kosher Recipes From The Bride Who Knew Nothing (published in 2007 but went into production 2005) we shot 5 recipes a day.  But those really were the days, when time was a luxury, when budgets were higher and the economy was in a totally different place.  With my 2nd book Quick & Kosher Meals in Minutes (published and produced in 2010) we shot 10 recipes a day.  Which is what we do with the magazine. It’s just come to be expected that the daily production output has had to double and you know what – it’s not even overly stressful.  It’s a schedule you have to be mindful of all day and you have to keep things moving but our shoots rarely exceeded 8-9 hours and really makes you wonder what we were all doing with our “free time” on the first book shoot.  The daily production is really important because photographers and food stylists and the like have a day rate — so the goal is to squish as much as humanly possible into a 10 hour day – which is an expected norm for a production day.  So 10 shots/recipes a day times 200 images in a book equals 20 shoot days or about 3 weeks.  Most books have far fewer images so production can take anywhere from 3 days to 3 weeks (or even more or less) based on how many photos you have.  And when I say 10 shots a day that implies 10 completely different recipes/set-ups.  If you are doing step-by-step photography you can easily squeeze in loads more picts per day.  I recently heard of a fundraiser cookbook that turned out 5 times as may recipes per day.  What they did was hire an incredibly skilled photographer and while his/her day rate was high — committees of women were on hand to cook all day and about every 5 to 10 minutes there was another dish for the photog to snap.  So if you are lucky to have a skilled free support team like that then you can really max out a great photographer’s day rate.

Do you have everything pre-cooked?

Absolutely do not pre-cook entire recipes, with the exception of those that can be prepared in advance without compromising their appeal.  You can have building blocks prepared but most dishes should be fresh to photograph best.  It’s just like when you’re cooking, somethings look good even a day or two later and others are picture perfect really at the moment of doneness and remain so for only a short period of time.  Same rules apply for photography.  My books use very very very few if any tricks.  All the food is edible, and freshly made for the photo shoot.  Sometimes we will use oil or glycerine to give something some extra shine but that’s about it.  We use tweezers to move a single grain of rice at a time, Q tips to wipe up smudges, brushes to create smudges and drips, torches to perfectly brown and then our hands just about all over everything.  We will work on tugging, pulling and positioning a piece of skin perfectly over a piece of chicken for a minute or two so it’s just right.  Although many times Hashem is with us and it comes out perfect as is and we just throw down a nice textile and snap.  So really more often than not I would say we enjoy 80% of the food you see pictured.  I try really hard to create easy appealing dishes, things that can be recreated at home both in looks and taste so I don’t mess with any gravity defying unnatural positions for my ingredients.

Are hot dishes photographed hot?

Sometimes they are although it’s not really necessary.  It’s really just a function of wanting to work as quickly as possible both because of schedule and because the dish often looks great so we want to grab it before it flops, congeals, deflates, dries out etc…

Is it your job to have extra ingredients around for styling?

It is the job of the food stylist to have extra ingredients on hand – so if that food stylist is you, then YES!  As a rule always have extra!  You will need it.  And because time is precious whether it’s a budget thing or a deadline thing you want to get it right the first time.

Also, why is this the most expensive part — doesn’t the publisher pay for that?

The most expensive part of any cookbook is the photo shoot.  As to whether the publisher pays for it — every scenario you can think of under the sun exists.  While generally the publisher does pay you have to agree on the number and caliber of images.  That is the biggest sticking point.  That is why the production value in photography ranges so drastically from book to book as do the number of pictures.  All determined by how much the publisher decides to invest in that aspect of the book.

So did I answer well?

Once we start photography in the next few months I will try to take some behind the scenes picts for you.  Until then I edit.

Any other Qs out there for me?

Quick & Kosher 20 minute prep. There’s something for everyone at this perfect Shavuos brunch. Use “à la minute” techniques to individualize delectable breakfast cuisine.

After a night of Torah learning, a fresh breakfast hits the spot. This is the time for à la minute fare. In the culinary arts (which always sounded to me like painting with ketchup), à la minute refers to a style of cooking where an item, or particularly its accompanying sauce, is prepared to order, rather than prepped in advance.  You can make elements of this breakfast à la minute, and prep some ahead of time, so you are not at the stove while everyone else is enjoying the yuntif feast. It has some savory dishes, sweet sides, southwestern influences, and a little smoked salmon for good measure.

For an even quicker take on the guac—mash avocado and season to taste with salt and a squeeze of lemon. Instead of poaching the eggs, try over easy, sunny side up, or scrambled.

This recipe only makes one omelet because you really can’t make more than one at a time.  If you are serving several for brunch, make them all beforehand and keep them whole. Warm the prepared omelets on a greased sheet pan in the oven, warming drawer or on a hot plate.  Then, cut in half just before serving.  Lay it right over a bagel and cream cheese for the ultimate breakfast experience.

Slice and serve wedges out of this hearty pretty frittata—just divine with a dollop of sour cream and a touch of salsa.

Prep the night before and place in a warm and toasty oven in the AM
(If you don’t keep your oven on over yuntif you can bake this in advance and just reheat on a hot plate or in a warming
drawer.)

OMG, this is a richly decadent creamy twist on your everyday pancake. It’s dressed up enough for your holiday table, but will become a Sunday brunch staple.

Here is how to get perfectly round pancakes – use a griddle pan with circular indentations—or drop the batter into big metal cookie cutters

Prosecco is the traditional choice, but the Cava is lovely also.

For a non-alcoholic, kid-friendly version, use seltzer or Sprite instead of Champagne.  Now everyone can join in the festivities!

Potato Pancake with Guacamole and Poached Egg

Smoked Salmon Omelet

Southwestern Fritata

Individual Baked Challah French Toast

Ricotta Pancakes with Peach Syrup

Mimosa

 

It was about 5 years ago that I was talking to Ruthie, my friend in the neighborhood, and she was going on an on an on about Rhubarb.  How she loved it and makes kugels and pies and G-d only knows what else.  Well  I was flabbergasted to say the least.  I mean who eats rhubarb?  I always saw it in the freezer section but just passed it over like soup on a hot day.  So nowadays I am a lot more adventurous. That coupled with the fact that Ruthie doesn’t much seem the adventurous cooking type – gave me the courage to try this peculiar plant in my cooking.

What I once thought was a strawberry wannabe (based on nothing other than the fact that it was red and next to the strawberries and other frozen fruits in the freezer section) is actually not a berry but a stalk.  Turns out Rhubarb in it’s raw state has long crisp reddish stalks that look a lot  like celery and have a really strong and  tart taste.  When cooked with sugar or sweetener of your choice rhubarb is commonly used in pies and crumbles and kugels if you’re Jewish.  We really make anything into a kugel, don’t we?  I remember I had a recipe tester for my first book who never tasted a kugel so when she was testing everyone’s favorite brocoli kugel from my first book – she was like – “uhm I think this is good, not sure what I am supposed to be tasting here…”.

So back to rhubarb.  Here is a Rhubarb Crisp using frozen rhubarb – which is great because frozen fruits and vegetables are packed at the peak of their ripeness and then are conveniently available for us to enjoy year round.  Although rhubarb season is now: April/May until September in the Northern Hemisphere, which is where I reside I use frozen chopped because it’s so easy to work with.  So in keeping with modern Jewish tradition you can serve this Rhubarb crisp as part of the meal instead of your usual apple crisp or blueberry crisp, or peach crisp or whatever other “crisp dessert” you all serve alongside the chulent (I personally love any excuse for a meal with double dessert!).  Or you can serve it with a scoop of (pareve) ice cream for dessert.

One more favorite rhubarb recipe perfect for Shavuos Coeur La Creme with Rhubarb Compote.

What is your favorite crisp?  And when do you serve it, with the main or for dessert?

This year Yom HaAtzmaut is on Thursday, April 26, 2012.

So, probably you wanna know what I’m gonna make.  It’s not like Shavuos where I wait for an excuse to make cheesecake, I don’t really wait for Yom HaAtzmaut to make Israeli food.  Hummus and Tahina are staples in our house – we eat them with everything from chicken nuggets, to pizza and on salads.  Other middle eastern dips like Turkish salad and babaganoush are slathered in between butterflied potato borekas or smothered on spicy beef cigars weekly at our shabbos table and we eat falafel like it’s going out of style.

In the last few years boneless, skinless dark meat chicken cutlets have hit the scene and I am so thankful we here stateside have caught up with what they call pargiot in Israel.  Pargiot, aka dark meat chicken cutlets are moist, tender, juicy and perfect for an easy homemade shawarma.  My local supermarket offers them as cutlets, nuggets and fingers but you can easily cut strips from the cutlets yourself by using a sharp knife – make ‘em about 1-inch wide and the length of the cutlet.  Yes, yes, yes if you are in the know then you know traditional shawarma is shaved lamb, chicken, turkey, beef or a mixture thereof but this quick & kosher version gives you the same taste, in a fast family friendly version that will take you but minutes to make for dinner.  There are a few available shawarma spice blends available on the market — making my life all that much easier.  But if you can’t find it  make you own shawarma spice by combing: 1 tablespoon each coriander, cumin, cardamom, chili powder, steak seasoning plus 1 teaspoon smoked paprika .  Stuff your shawarma in pita pockets with “chips” an absolute must, and of course by “chips” I mean fries when I am talking Israeli food and then add in whatever you like.  We of course go for hummus and  tahina and I like lots of shredded fresh crunchy lettuce.

If you love Israeli food in addition to a ready to go shawarma spice mix you should also have two more spices in your cabinet, always.  Za’atar and Sumac.  Za’atar is roughly a mix of oregano, basil, thyme, rosemary, hyssop, sesame seeds, sumac and salt and I love combining it with olive oil plus a touch more kosher or sea salt and dipping my challah into it.  Simply beyond anything else you have ever experienced when it comes to challah condiments.  Sumac a purplish red spice while often interchanged with paprika because of the look actually has an unmistakable and quite remarkable tangy lemony flavor — great on fish and meat, in salads and on hummus.

We love, love, love! Israel in our house and have a dream to move there G-d Willing sometime soon.  Until then let’s dream up our favorite Israeli foods in honor of Yom HaAtzmaut.

What are your favorites?

Leaving a comment here means you love Israel and it’s delicious food.

Show your love!

For more Israel Independence Day posts see:

Israel Independence Day – Get Your Grills Out

Israeli Recipes from Israelis

 

Editing, Editing and More Editing.

The most unglamorous and laborious part to writing a cookbook is the editing, specifically the recipe editing. There are so many styles to recipe writing, think about it like decorating, and no way is better than the other but each publishing house, or publication, or website (I am sure you are getting the point) has a style sheet. Now, much like morning sickness, which is not confined to the the AM hours, a style sheet is not really a single piece of paper but something closer in size to a small book. It details all the “house rules” for writing. And goes through the painful process of listing the mundane to obscure.

Things like:
“healthy” = person, plant, good-size amount; “healthful” = diet, lifestyle, food, drink
“garlic clove,” celery stalk,” “asparagus spears,” not the reverse (“clove garlic,” etc.)
ingredients without measurements = initial cap: Kosher salt
no “of” except with “pinch” or “dash”
fractions not decimals (5 1/2 ounces not 5.5)
halved/quartered — not cut in half/quarters
and then another 20 plus pages with more 1 line monotonous info like this.

Now there are editor types (like Sheilah and Paula, my beloved recipe editors), who love this stuff, eat it up, retain the info and mark up my files so that it looks like I’ve done almost nothing right. But for me – my eyes just glaze over and I fight to stay awake at 3am when editing.

For instance right now my entree chapter is 118 (double spaced – because those are house rules) pages long. So first I have to write up the recipes and keep referencing the style sheet in an effort to get things right the first time. And even when I think I’ve caught things, I undoubtedly revert back to my old style (VERY! different from my new publishers — I always said “cloves garlic!). Then I send off the files to Sheilah and Paula who I affectionately call “S+P”. They tag team and review because it’s almost impossible for one person to catch everything. They spend a number of days with the file and return it all marked up in red– looks like I failed a test, badly failed a test. Then I go through the days-long process of reviewing all their comments, accepting the ones that are straightforward, re-writing and revising my header notes and or directions if S+P didn’t find them clear enough or easy enough to follow. And then we go back and forth for weeks on minutia that actually matters to you — the end user.

With each book I think I spend the most time on editing — it’s more time than testing and more time than the photo shoot (which is surprisingly the shortest albeit most expensive part of making a book) and more time than writing the narrative. The months long recipe editing process that I am writing about now all takes place with my personal recipe editors BEFORE I submit the manuscript to the publisher. The publisher then has their own in-house editing team who I am sure are all excited to get their hands on the manuscript and make their own comments.

For the first time with this book my stories — my autobiographical narrative, the memoir part will also be edited. I am both nervous and excited to see what that process will be like. Unlike my recipe writing I am married to my stories. And I take great pains to tell the stories the way they actually happened. With recipe writing do you think I really care if it’s “cloves garlic” or “garlic cloves”? NO WAY Jose! But when it comes to my story I wonder what it will be like to see comments all over. Hopefully (I am dreaming here!) my editor won’t have too much to say. So far we are getting along fabulously, note we haven’t started the editing yet. But I do have really HIGH hopes.

If you all have any specific Qs that I have not addressed in the Making of a Cookbook Part 1, Part 2 or this one then just ask in the comments below. I am happy to answer or post in more detail about any behind-the-scenes cookbook aspects you are wondering about.

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 

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!!

 

 

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: