Read 1,000 Jewish Recipes Online
Authors: Faye Levy
1,000 Jewish Recipes (180 page)
4.
With a rubber spatula, carefully slide matzo balls into simmering water. Cover and simmer over low heat about 30 minutes or until they are firm. Cover and keep them warm in their cooking liquid until ready to serve; or refrigerate them in their liquid and reheat them before serving. When serving, use a slotted spoon to carefully remove them and add them to each soup bowl, with their almond halves showing.
 or
Â
This is the classic way to make croutons. They are rich and crunchy and are delicious with vegetable soups, bean soups, and creamy soups. You can make them up to 2 hours ahead.
4 slices white bread, crusts removed
About 6 tablespoons vegetable oil or 4 tablespoons oil and 2 tablespoons butter
1.
Cut bread slices into
1
â
2
-inch squares. Heat 4 tablespoons oil in a large, heavy skillet. Test oil by adding a bread square; when oil is hot enough, it should bubble vigorously around bread. Remove bread piece with slotted spoon.
2.
Add enough bread squares to hot oil to make one layer in frying pan. Sauté them, tossing often or turning them over with a slotted spatula so they will brown evenly. Fry them until they are golden brown.
3.
Transfer croutons to a strainer and drain them. Drain further on paper towels. If pan is dry, add another 2 tablespoons oil and heat thoroughly before frying more croutons. Serve warm or at room temperature.
These flavorful croutons are great with creamy soups.
4 slices white bread
2 tablespoons butter, soft
Salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
1.
Preheat oven to 400°F. Butter a baking sheet. Cut crusts from bread. Spread bread with butter and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Cut each slice into about
1
â
2
-inch squares and transfer to baking sheet.
2.
Bake about 7 minutes or until bread becomes crisp. Serve hot.
These easy croutons are good with
Sorrel Soup
or with
Persian Split Pea Soup with Turkey and Rice
or
Split Pea Soup with Egg White Matzo Balls
. Croutons are classically made with white bread with its crust removed, but I like whole-wheat bread also, and I often leave the crust on.
4 slices bread, with or without crusts
1 to 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
Salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
1.
Preheat oven to 400°F. Cut bread into about
1
â
2
-inch squares. Put them in a bowl, add oil, salt, and pepper and toss until thoroughly coated. Put them in 1 layer on a baking sheet with a rim.
2.
Bake, stirring a few times, about 10 minutes or until browned on all sides.
This toasted alternative to baked croutons is fat-free, if you use bread that contains no fat. When I'm preparing a small amount of croutons, I often use a toaster oven and bake them on its tray.
Another way to prepare crisp croutons is to simply cut bread into cubes and let them dry. This works best with country-style white or whole-wheat bread, not with soft, rich bread. You can also use thin slices of baguette or of crisp rolls in this way.
4 slices bread, with or without crusts, or 12 thin slices of baguette or of thin crisp rolls
A little oil spray
Salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
1.
Preheat oven to 375°F. Cut bread into about
1
â
2
-inch squares; leave baguette or rolls in thin slices. Spray a little oil spray on a baking sheet with a rim. Put bread on baking sheet in 1 layer. Spray bread lightly with oil spray and sprinkle with salt and pepper.
2.
Bake croutons, turning a few times, about 10 minutes or until browned on all sides.
Dairy Specialties, Blintzes, and Eggs
Both dairy foods and eggs are important in Jewish customs and menus. This may be one reason that blintzes have become so popular, as they usually combine both of these foods.
Eggs are very useful in kosher menus because they are neutral and can be served with either dairy or meat foods. They are served at the Passover Seder because they symbolize fertility, an important theme of this springtime festival. Besides, they have been an important food during this season since ancient timesâeggs weren't available year-round until modern days. In many Sephardic homes,
Brown Eggs
appear on the Shabbat breakfast table or are part of the Shabbat meal-in-one-pot casserole known as
hamin
.
Although dairy foods and eggs tend to be associated with casual meals, they are also featured prominently on many festive occasions. Dairy foods are central to Shavuot holiday menus and, in many families, for the meal that breaks the Yom Kippur fast.
Dairy foods and eggs gain special importance during the Nine Daysâa period of sadness in July or August leading up to the Fast of Tisha B'av, which falls on the Ninth of Av on the Jewish calendar. Observant Jews consume no meat or wine for eight days and fast on the ninth day. The days of mourning and the fast are observed to remember the destruction of the Holy Temple in Jerusalem, first in 586 BC and again in 70 AD, which led to the exile of the Jews from the land of Israel.
As a child, these were days I enjoyed, however, because our dinner entrees were my favorite foods: homemade macaroni and cheese, scrambled eggs, or noodle kugels flavored with sour cream.
Specialties such as blintzes, kugels, cheese knishes, and bagels with cream cheese spreads often are served to celebrate a bar or bat mitzvah or a brit milah reception (circumcision of a newborn son). Israel produces excellent cheeses, sour cream, and other dairy foods. There, dairy dinners and buffets are such favorites for entertaining that I was asked to write a cookbook in Hebrew on the subject. It was published in Israel as
Aruhot Halaviot
(Dairy Meals).
Blintzes are the quintessential brunch treat. They resemble French crepes in that they are thin and usu- ally enclose a filling. Many Americans are familiar with sweet cheese, blueberry, and cherry blintzes from deli menus, but in fact there is a great variety of other blintzes. The filling might be sweet or savory and may include tangy or mild cheeses, meats, vegetables, or fruit. Blintzes are of Ashkenazic origin but Sephardic Jews also have blintz-like pancakes of different names.
The batter for making blintzes resembles that of crepes, except that for meat blintzes, water replaces the milk in the batter. Unlike crepes, blintzes are sautéed on only one side before they are filled. Generally they are rolled in the shape of a fat cigar with the ends closed. The filled blintzes are sautéed or baked with their uncooked side facing outward, so they brown lightly when they are baked or fried.
Of course, both eggs and
milchig
(dairy) foods are the basis for light meals and for the entrees of the main meal in everyday cooking. Many dairy and egg dishes are quick and easy to prepare and are popular among adults and children alike. Cream cheese and sour cream flavor such terrific Jewish desserts as cheesecake and cinnamon coffeecake, and these are allowed on the menu only if no meat has been eaten.
Scrambled and poached eggs were frequently on our menus when I was growing up in the United States. Israelis most often prepare eggs as flat omelets sautéed in oil, and serve them as a supper or breakfast dish with Israeli salad and fresh pita bread.
= Pareve  = Dairy  
= Meat