Read 1,000 Jewish Recipes Online
Authors: Faye Levy
1,000 Jewish Recipes (160 page)
3.
Peel potatoes. Cut each into a few pieces, put in a bowl, and mash with a potato masher. Lightly stir in mushroom mixture. Season filling with salt and pepper; it should be seasoned generously. Beat 1 egg and stir into filling. Refrigerate in a covered container until ready to use.
4.
Sprinkle 2 baking sheets with water. Beat 1 egg with a pinch of salt.
5.
Roll out half of dough on a cool, lightly floured surface until about
1
â
8
-inch thick. Using a 3-inch round cutter, cut rounds of dough. Separate rounds from rest of dough, reserving scraps. Roll each round to elongate it slightly to an oval. Put 1 teaspoon mushroom filling in center of each oval. Brush half of oval, around a narrow end, with beaten egg. Fold oval in half to enclose filling, joining second side to egg-brushed side. Press to seal well. Set turnovers on a prepared baking sheet. Refrigerate at least 30 minutes. Shape more pastries from remaining pastry and filling. Refrigerate scraps at least 30 minutes and use them also.
6.
Preheat oven to 425°F. Brush pastries with beaten egg. Sprinkle with sesame seeds.
7.
Bake pastries about 10 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 375°F and bake about 12 minutes more or until pastries are puffed and brown. Serve warm or at room temperature.
The Jews of Yemen brought
malawah
âthis specialty of pan-fried cakes of rich, flaky pastryâto Israel. They are very popular at cafés and for making at home. You can make the dough ahead and keep it in the refrigerator or freezer.
When I was a newlywed, I often sat with my mother-in-law at the table of her home in Givatayim, a city near Tel Aviv, and watched her make these. She expertly rolled the dough very thin, folded it gently, rolled it in spirals, and flattened them with her knuckles. I thought I would never learn to make them properly but I was pleased to find out that even my clumsy first attempts turned out tasty.
These pancakes are served hot for supper, plain, or with
Brown Eggs
or sliced cheese and
Fresh Tomato Salsa, Yemenite Style
. Some people serve them sprinkled with sugar or drizzled with honey. My father-in-law liked his with an egg pan-fried together with the pancake. Because
malawah
are rich, I like to cut them into wedges and serve them as an appetizer.
3
3
â
4
cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1
1
â
2
teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon sugar (optional)
1 large egg
About 1
1
â
4
cups water
1
â
2
cup (1 stick) margarine, cut into 6 pieces, softened
About 2 tablespoons vegetable oil or margarine (for frying)
1.
Combine flour, baking powder, salt, and sugar, if using, in food processor and process to blend. Add egg and 1 cup water and process with brief pulses to mix. With motor running, gradually add remaining water, about
1
â
4
cup, adding enough so mixture comes together to a smooth, fairly stiff dough. It will be sticky.
2.
Remove dough from processor. Knead dough well by slapping it vigorously on a work surface. Divide it into 6 pieces and knead each one with a slapping motion until smooth. Roll each in your palm to a ball. Put on an oiled plate or tray, cover, and refrigerate at least 4 hours or overnight.
3.
Grease work surface and rolling pin. Roll out 1 ball of dough as thin as possible, so you can almost see through the sheet, to about a 12-inch square. If dough tears, press it together. Spread dough with one piece of the soft margarine. Roll up as for a jelly roll. Tap the resulting roll with your knuckles to flatten it. Roll it up in a spiral. Put spiral on a plate, cover, and refrigerate overnight or up to 2 days; or wrap it well and freeze it. (If freezing dough, thaw before cooking it.)
4.
Just before serving, set a ball of dough on a lightly oiled plate and flatten it with your lightly oiled hands into a round as large as the skillet. Heat 1 teaspoon oil or margarine in a heavy 9-inch skillet. Add round of dough. Cover and fry over medium-high heat 30 seconds, then over medium-low heat about 5 minutes per side or until well browned on both sides and cooked through. Cut each into 4 wedges with a sturdy knife and serve hot.
Once you've roasted the garlic, or if you have roasted garlic on hand, these fresh colorful appetizers are ready in a few moments. Use either garlic heads that you have roasted whole, or individual roasted garlic cloves. Serve these tasty hors d'oeuvre for Shavuot or Sukkot, at parties, or to begin a light Saturday night meal.
2 or 3 heads
Roasted Garlic
or 30 roasted garlic cloves
16 thin slices French or sourdough baguette or other slim crusty bread
2 or 3 teaspoons olive oil
Salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
2 ripe small plum tomatoes
16 small fresh basil leaves
1.
Prepare garlic. Then, preheat oven to 425°F. Arrange bread on a lightly oiled baking sheet and brush it lightly with olive oil. Toast bread lightly on both sides, 3 to 4 minutes per side.
2.
If using garlic heads, cut them in half crosswise and squeeze out the pulp. If using individual roasted cloves, simply squeeze them or crush each clove with a fork to remove the pulp from the skin. Spread the garlic pulp on the toasted bread. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.
3.
Cut tomatoes in half lengthwise. Cut into thin slices. Arrange slices on garlic toasts. Garnish each with a small basil leaf. Serve at room temperature.
I first tasted this appetizer years ago at my brother's wedding in Jerusalem. For the wedding the pastries were formed into little swans. I laughed when I saw them because I had just learned to prepare such swan-shaped pastries at cooking school in Paris, where they are always filled with sweet whipped cream! But as soon as I tried them, I had to admit that they were delicious.
I shape the choux pastry puffs in mounds rather than swans, so they are easy to make. You can also buy the unfilled puffs at some Jewish bakeries. For good flavor, it is important that they be fresh. You can keep them for a day in an airtight container or you can freeze them, but they really do taste best on the day they are made.
Don't fill them too generously, so they won't be too substantial. After all, these are appetizers.
As a variation, you could fill these with
My Favorite Vegetarian Chopped Liver
or
Easy Mock Chopped Liver
.
1
â
2
cup water
1
â
4
teaspoon salt
1
â
4
cup (
1
â
2
stick) margarine, cut into pieces
1
â
2
cup plus 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour, sifted
3 large eggs
Pinch of salt
Chopped Liver the Way My Mother Makes It
Fresh parsley sprigs (for garnish)
1.
Position rack in lower third of oven and preheat to 400°F. Lightly grease 2 baking sheets. Combine water, salt, and margarine in a small, heavy saucepan. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly, until margarine melts. Bring to a boil; remove from heat. Immediately add flour all at once; stir quickly with a wooden spoon until mixture is smooth. Set pan over low heat; beat mixture about 30 seconds.
2.
Remove from heat; cool about 3 minutes. Add 1 egg; beat thoroughly into mixture. Add second egg; beat mixture until smooth. Beat third egg in a small bowl. Gradually beat 1 or 2 tablespoons of this egg into dough, adding enough so dough becomes very shiny and is soft enough so it just falls from the wooden spoon. Add a pinch of salt to remaining egg; beat until blended. Reserve as glaze.
3.
Using a pastry bag and medium plain tip, or 2 teaspoons, shape mounds of dough about 1
1
â
4
inches in diameter, spacing them about 2 inches apart on baking sheets. Brush them with remaining beaten egg, gently pushing down any points.
4.
Bake 28 minutes or until dough is puffed and browned. With a serrated knife, carefully cut off top half of each puff; set aside as a "hat." Cool puffs on a rack.
5.
Just before serving, spoon a little chopped liver into each puff, then top with "hat." Garnish with parsley sprigs.
 or
Â
In areas where Russian Jews live, whether in Russia, Israel, or in Brooklyn, New York, you see small filled turnovers called
piroshki
everywhere. Some are fried and some are baked. Yeast dough is most common, although some people make their
piroshki
with a pastry resembling pie dough. If you don't have time to make your own dough, you can use prepared bread dough or pie dough. Favorite fillings are meat, chicken, buckwheat, and cabbage. I like to enhance my cabbage filling with some dried mushrooms. (Look for "Polish mushrooms" in kosher grocery stores; other names are porcini or cèpes.) Polish Jews prepare
piroshki
also; they are made of noodle dough and resemble kreplach (tortellini).
Serve
piroshki
as an appetizer or a festive partner for hearty vegetable or meat soups. If serving with meat meals, omit the sour cream and use vegetable oil rather than butter. For dairy meals, use vegetable broth. They are best when freshly baked and served warm. You can bake them a day ahead, refrigerate in a container, and reheat; or you can freeze them.