1,000 Jewish Recipes (109 page)
Read 1,000 Jewish Recipes Online
Authors: Faye Levy
1
1
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2
teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 cup plus 3 tablespoons sugar
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3
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4
cups all-purpose flour
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1
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2
teaspoons baking powder
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2
teaspoon baking soda
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4
cup sour cream
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4
cup plain yogurt, regular, low-fat, or nonfat
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
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2
cup unsalted butter
3 large eggs
1.
Position rack in center of oven and preheat to 350°F. Generously grease a 9
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2
à 4-inch Bundt pan, kugelhopf mold, or fluted tube pan, taking care to butter tube and each fluted section. Mix cinnamon with 3 tablespoons sugar in a small bowl. Sift flour, baking powder and baking soda into a medium bowl. In another bowl mix sour cream, yogurt, and vanilla.
2.
Cream butter in a large bowl with an electric mixer until light. Add 1 cup sugar and beat until smooth and fluffy. Beat in eggs, one by one. At low speed, stir in flour mixture alternately with sour cream mixture, each in 2 portions.
3.
Pour slightly less than
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2
the batter into prepared pan. Sprinkle with
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2
the cinnamon sugar. Gently spoon dollops of batter over mixture, using just enough to cover it. Sprinkle with remaining cinnamon sugar. Gently add remaining batter in dollops over it. Spread gently to cover mixture. Bake about 55 minutes or until a cake tester inserted in cake's center comes out clean. Cool in pan on a rack 10 minutes. Run a thin-bladed flexible knife around tube but not around sides of pan. Invert cake onto a rack and cool completely. Serve at room temperature.
Breaking The FastâSweetly
In many Jewish homes, a favorite way to break the Yom Kippur fast is with a taste of something sweet. It might be a slice of honey cake that's still around from Rosh Hashanah. (Honey cake keeps very well.) Other frequent choices are a slice of sponge cake or a piece of almond bread called mandelbrot in Yiddish.
Another popular custom is to break the fast with breakfast pastries and cakes; after all, the word "breakfast" has "break the fast" in it! Cinnamon rolls are loved, and so are coffeecakes.
When it comes to coffeecakes, there are two distinct types. My brother and I have always preferred my mother's sour cream coffeecake. Other families opt for the Old World style of coffeecakes, which rise from the action of yeast.
My mother's coffee cake belongs to the relatively modern styleâit can be made quickly and rises from the action of baking powder. It tends to be sweeter than the old-fashioned cakes like kugelhopf, a delicate, yeast-leavened cake usually studded with raisins and almonds. That probably explains why we, as children, liked the modern type of cake the best.
Besides being delicious and giving us a sense that we were pampering ourselves, the sweet indulgence custom may have a practical reason, too. Sugar is a quick source of energy, and most people definitely need a boost by the time the fast finally reaches its end.
Sukkot
Celebrated in early fall, Sukkot lasts for one week and is known as the Feast of Tabernacles. The Sukkah, or tabernacle in Hebrew, is a hut with a leafy roof that gives the holiday its name. It symbolizes the temporary shelters in which the ancient Israelites had to live during their flight from Egypt.
Spending much of the holiday in the Sukkah is the most important custom. Most people dine and receive visitors in the Sukkah, and some sleep there as well.
Sukkot is one of the harvest holidays, which include Shavuot and Rosh Hashanah, and produce plays a prominent role in its celebration. Pieces of fruit hang from the roof of the Sukkah for decoration. A prayer ceremony involves a fragrant citrus fruit called a citron (etrog in Hebrew), palm fronds, and other branches.
Building and decorating the Sukkah is a popular family activity, traditionally begun shortly after Yom Kippur. When I was growing up, we tied pears, bananas, and grape clusters to strings that my parents hung from the branches that formed the roof of our sukkah. My husband's family had a more elaborate sukkah that won awards from the city (Givatayim, Israel) for its beauty. He and the other children made artistic paper decorations and hung in their Sukkah pomegranates as well as guavas and citrus fruit from the trees in their yard.
Sukkot foods emphasize the harvest theme. Stuffed vegetables are traditional highlights of the menu, especially in Israel, where stuffed peppers, eggplant, and zucchini are special favorites. (These vegetables are plentiful during this season.) Desserts made of fruit are popular. Apple strudel appears on Ashkenazic tables and quince preserves as well as pumpkinand squash-filled phyllo pastries on Sephardic ones.
A practical consideration also influences the Sukkot menu. Dishes need to be easy to carry and serve, as the distance from the kitchen to the dinner table is farther than usual and involves going outside. Thus casseroles and stews are favorites. When I was growing up, the fruit and vegetable casserole called tzimmes was often on our Sukkot table, as in many other Ashkenazic homes, and so was a big pot of stuffed cabbage.
Immediately after Sukkot are two more holidays, Shmini Atzeret, the Eighth Day of Assembly, and Simhat Torah, the Rejoicing of the Torah. In Israel both festivals are celebrated on the same day. On Shmini Atzeret a special prayer for rain is said, as the rainy season in Israel is about to begin. On Simhat Torah the year-long cycle of weekly Torah readings ends and the next one begins.
= Pareve  
= Dairy  
= MeatSALADS AND APPETIZERS
Jews from North Africa have numerous ways of utilizing peppers, and this is a particularly good one. I first tasted it at a Shabbat dinner during Sukkot at the home of Dvora Cohen, a relative of my husband. An excellent cook, Dvora was born in Morocco and now lives in Paris.
This simple salad showcases the pure flavors of the peppers. To prepare it, you don't need to grill or peel the peppers. All you do is cook a medley of sweet and hot peppers together in oil. Dvora likes plenty of hot peppers but you can use any proportion of sweet and hot peppers you prefer. She often makes this with green peppers but you can use red also.
4 to 6 tablespoons vegetable oil or olive oil
4 large red, green, or yellow bell peppers, cut into
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-inch-wide strips
3 or 4 jalapeño or 6 to 8 serrano peppers, seeds and ribs removed, finely diced (see Note)
Salt, to taste
Heat oil in a large skillet or sauté pan. Add bell peppers and sauté over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally, about 15 minutes or until peppers are nearly tender; reduce heat if necessary so that peppers do not brown. Add jalapeño peppers and cook over low heat, stirring often, about 5 minutes or until bell peppers are completely tender. If hot peppers begin to brown, add 2 to 3 tablespoons water. Season with salt. Serve cold.
Note:
Wear rubber gloves when handling hot peppers.
For this Provençal twist on the Israeli standard chopped salad, I like to use a dressing accented with both lemon juice and a little grated lemon zest.
5 plum tomatoes (about
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2
pound), diced
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long European cucumber or 1 common cucumber, diced
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red onion, chopped
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon strained fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon fresh thyme or
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4
teaspoon dried
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teaspoon finely grated lemon zest
Salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
2 tablespoons chopped fresh Italian parsley
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cup to
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cup good-quality black olives, pitted
1 tablespoon capers
Mix tomato, cucumber, and onion in a shallow bowl. Whisk oil, lemon juice, thyme, lemon zest, salt, and pepper in a small bowl. Add to salad and mix well. Add parsley, olives, and half the capers, then adjust seasoning. Serve sprinkled with remaining capers.