1,000 Jewish Recipes (178 page)
Read 1,000 Jewish Recipes Online
Authors: Faye Levy
Borscht is made in many versions, some meatless, like this one, and some with beef broth. You can easily find it in bottles in the kosher products aisle of the market, but it's much fresher tasting if you make your own. My mother often made it when I was growing up, and she suggested adding the red stems of the beet leaves to give the soup more flavor.
This is a light rendition of borscht, made without the egg-yolk thickening typical of old-fashioned recipes. It's usually served cold with potatoes and sour cream, but you can also serve it hot with those same accompaniments. With cold borscht, you can also provide bowls of diced hard boiled eggs and diced cucumbers for sprinkling into each bowl of soup. Instead of sour cream, some serve borscht with meat-filled blintzes.
2 pounds beets, with leafy tops
1 large onion, diced
7 cups water
6 small boiling potatoes
Salt to taste
1 to 2 tablespoons brown or white sugar
2 to 3 tablespoons strained fresh lemon juice
2 teaspoons chopped fresh dill (optional)
Sour cream (optional)
1.
Scrub beets completely clean with a stiff brush. Cut off leafy tops and reserve red stems for borscht. (Save green leaves for other dishes.) Rinse stems well and slice them. Leave beets whole.
2.
Combine whole beets, onion, and water in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil. Add beet stems. Cover and simmer over low heat about 1 hour or until beets are tender.
3.
Put potatoes in another saucepan, cover with water, and add a pinch of salt. Bring to a simmer. Cover and simmer 30 minutes or until tender. Drain most of water. Cover to keep warm.
4.
When beets are tender, remove from soup and slip off their skins under cool running water. Grate beets coarsely in food processor or with grater. Return to soup. Add salt and sugar. Cook 2 minutes, stirring, over low heat. Remove from heat and add lemon juice and dill, if using. Adjust seasoning; soup should be sweet and sour.
5.
Serve cold or hot, with warm potatoes. Spoon a dollop of sour cream, if using, into each bowl.
Cucumber yogurt soup seasoned with fresh garlic and mint is a summer favorite among Sephardic Jews. When an Israeli friend served it to me with avocado, I found its subtle flavor made it a perfect addition. Serve this soup for a light after-Shabbat supper when the weather is hot.
If you're preparing the soup ahead, you can mash all of the avocado and combine it with the soup; the yogurt will help keep the avocado from darkening. Otherwise you can mash half the avocado and use the rest as garnish.
1 large clove garlic, minced
1 teaspoon salt
1
â
4
cup chopped fresh mint
1 very ripe avocado (preferably Haas)
5 cups plain yogurt, regular, low-fat, or nonfat
1 long (hothouse) cucumber (about 1 pound)
Cayenne pepper, to taste
Strained fresh lemon juice, to taste (optional)
Small fresh mint sprigs
1.
Mash garlic with salt and mint in a large bowl, using back of a spoon. Halve avocado and remove pit. Scoop all or half the avocado into the bowl and mash it. Add yogurt and mix thoroughly to blend with mixture.
2.
Peel cucumber and quarter it lengthwise. Cut it into thin slices and add to yogurt mixture. Fold in gently. Add cayenne. Taste for seasoning and add lemon juice, if using. Refrigerate soup at least 15 minutes or up to 4 hours. If you have used only half the avocado, wrap the other half tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerate it.
3.
If you have reserved half the avocado, slice or dice it and use it to garnish the soup. Serve soup cold, sprinkled lightly with cayenne, and garnished with small sprigs of mint.
When I lived in Israel, a friend gave me the recipe for this popular Polish fruit soup. It's served hot or cold as a first course but I also like it as dessert. Adding the prunes is a trick I learned from my mother to give the soup good color. If you like, use low-fat or nonfat sour cream, or omit it to make the soup pareve.
1 large apple
1 large pear
1 quart plus
1
â
4
cup water
2 pitted prunes, diced
2 to 4 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1
â
4
teaspoon ground cinnamon, or to taste
Strained fresh lemon juice, to taste (optional)
3 to 4 tablespoons sour cream
1.
Peel, halve, and core apple and pear, reserving peelings and cores in a medium saucepan. Add 1 quart water to saucepan and bring to a boil. Cover and simmer 20 minutes. Remove peels and cores with a slotted spoon.
2.
Dice apple and pear and add to liquid. Add prunes and 2 tablespoons sugar and stir to blend. Bring to a simmer, stirring occasionally. Cover and cook over low heat about 10 minutes or until tender.
3.
Mix cornstarch with
1
â
4
cup water in a small cup until blended. Slowly stir mixture into simmering soup. Return to a simmer, stirring. Combine cinnamon with
1
â
2
cup of the soup liquid in a small cup. Return to remaining hot soup, stirring. Remove from heat and add lemon juice, if using. Add more sugar if needed.
4.
Spoon sour cream into a small bowl. Slowly stir in about
1
â
3
cup soup. If serving soup hot, bring it to a simmer at serving time. Remove from heat. Stir sour cream mixture into soup. Serve hot or cold.
Traditional fruit soup as made in Ashkenazic homes is usually cooked and thickened with flour or cornstarch, and that is how I learned to make it when I lived in Israel. This fast version needs no cooking or thickening. Vary the fruit according to the season, and serve the soup either as a first course or as dessert. Depending on the sweetness of the orange juice and the wine, you may want to add a little more sugar if you're serving the soup as dessert.
1 cup orange juice
1 cup dry red wine, such as Cabernet Sauvignon
1
â
4
cup water
1
â
3
cup sugar
3 ripe large peaches or nectarines
4 ripe apricots, sliced, or 2 kiwis, peeled, halved, and sliced (optional)
1 cup raspberries, blackberries, halved small strawberries, or halved baby kiwis
1 large orange
1.
Mix orange juice, wine, water, and sugar in a medium glass bowl until sugar dissolves. Slice peaches or nectarines into wedges and add them to bowl. Add apricots, if using, and berries.
2.
Peel orange, removing as much as possible of white pith. Cut into segments and cut segments in half. Add to bowl. Refrigerate 10 minutes or until ready to serve. Serve cold.
MATZO BALLS AND CROUTONS
 or
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These kneidelach are light and easy to prepare. The secret to having them light, tender, and fluffy is to keep the batter soft by adding enough liquid. If the batter is easy to shape into neat balls, the matzo balls will be too firm.
If making them ahead, you can refrigerate them for 2 days in the soup, or in their cooking liquid in a covered container in the refrigerator. Reheat them gently in cooking liquid or in soup.
2 large eggs
2
â
3
cup matzo meal
Pinch of salt
Pinch of freshly ground pepper
1
â
4
teaspoon baking powder
1 to 2 tablespoons chicken soup or water
About 2 quarts salted water
1.
Lightly beat eggs in a small bowl. Add matzo meal, salt, pepper, and baking powder and stir with a fork until smooth. Stir in chicken soup, adding enough so mixture is just firm enough to hold together in rough-shaped balls.
2.
Bring salted water to barely a simmer in a large saucepan. With wet hands, take about 1 rounded teaspoon of matzo ball mixture and roll it between your palms into a ball; mixture will be very soft. Gently drop matzo ball into simmering water. Continue making balls, wetting hands before shaping each one. Cover and simmer over low heat for 30 minutes or until firm. Cover and keep them warm in their cooking liquid until ready to serve, or refrigerate them in their liquid and reheat before serving. When serving, remove them with a slotted spoon, add them to soup bowls, and ladle hot soup over them.