1,000 Jewish Recipes (234 page)
Read 1,000 Jewish Recipes Online
Authors: Faye Levy
2.
Put tomato sauce in a sauté pan, bring to boil, and remove from heat.
3.
Preheat oven to 350°F. Stack tortillas in 2 stacks in an oiled baking dish, spraying or brushing each lightly with oil as you stack them. Cover and bake 5 minutes just to warm tortillas slightly. Leave oven at 350°F.
4.
To assemble, dip a tortilla in sauce on both sides; then put on a plate. Spoon 3 to 4 tablespoons filling in a strip near one end of a tortilla and roll up in cigar shape. Arrange side by side in a shallow oiled baking dish. Brush tortillas with remaining oil.
5.
Bake blintzes about 10 minutes or until hot. Serve hot or warm, topped with salsa, if using, and garnished with cilantro sprigs and avocado. If you like, heat extra filling and extra tomato sauce and serve them on the side.
Note:
Wear rubber gloves when handling hot peppers.
This recipe is inspired by the Iraqi sandwich that I like to order at Shula and Esther, an Israeli restaurant in Los Angeles. It contains eggplant, tomato, and hard boiled egg slices and is moistened by tahini. You can enjoy the combination in a pita bread or a long crusty roll. The eggplant slices are fried but I broil mine to save on effort, time, calories, and clean-up. If you prefer it fried, follow the instructions for
Fried Eggplant with Herbed Tomatoes
.
The sandwich is best if you make your own tahini sauce, but you can purchase prepared tahini sauce as well. If you're buying the sauce to serve as is, read the label to be sure it is a ready-to-eat sauce, not the thick tahini paste or sesame butter which is designed to be diluted with water and lemon juice before you can eat it.
About
1
â
2
cup
Herbed Tahini Sauce
1 small eggplant, about
1
â
2
pound, cut into slices
1
â
4
-inch thick
2 or 3 teaspoons olive oil, or a little oil spray
Salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
4 fresh pita breads or crusty French rolls
1 or 2 ripe tomatoes, sliced
2 to 4 large hard boiled eggs, sliced
Tender lettuce leaves, such as butter lettuce, Boston lettuce, or green leaf lettuce (optional)
1.
Prepare sauce. Then, arrange eggplant on a foil-lined baking sheet or broiler pan. Brush or spray lightly with oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Broil about 8 minutes. Turn over and broil about 7 minutes or until tender. Cover and keep warm.
2.
Cut a strip from top of each pita to make a pocket; or split each pita bread in two. If using rolls, split them lengthwise. Spoon a little tahini sauce into each pita, or spread a little on each roll. Fill with slices of broiled eggplant, tomato, and hard boiled egg and sprinkle them with salt and pepper.
3.
For roll sandwiches, top with lettuce, if using, then with top half of roll; or insert a few bite-size pieces of lettuce inside pita sandwiches. Serve more of the tahini sauce separately.
Sandwiches of grilled vegetables and tahini in a pita are popular in Israel. With their meaty texture, portobello mushrooms make a scrumptious, satisfying sandwich. This is wonderful with homemade tahini sauce, but store-bought can work in a pinch.
Zehug
or bottled hot sauce
1 cup shredded romaine lettuce
1 green onion, chopped
1
â
2
small cucumber, diced
2 large ripe tomatoes, cut into small dice
4 large portobello mushrooms
2 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil
Salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
4 fresh or warmed pita breads
1.
Prepare sauce and zehug, if fresh preferred. Flavor tahini sauce to taste with zehug. Mix lettuce, onion, cucumber, and tomatoes in a bowl.
2.
Clean mushrooms with a damp towel. Heat a ridged stovetop grill pan over medium-high heat. Rub mushrooms with oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper on both sides.
3.
Set mushrooms on hot grill. Grill about 3 minutes per side or until browned and done to your taste.
4.
Cut mushrooms into thick slices. Cut a strip from top of each pita to form a pocket. Put mushroom slices inside and moisten with a spoonful of tahini sauce. Add vegetable salad and spoon a little more sauce over. Serve more zehug on the side.
For this warm pareve sandwich, sautéed vegetables are flavored with sesame seeds. I often enhance the sesame taste by using a little sesame oil as well; or, if I have tahini sauce on hand, I follow the Israeli taste and spoon a little into each pita. The sandwich is especially enticing if you use good-quality pita bread from a bakery or an Israeli or Middle Eastern market. You can prepare the vegetable mixture ahead and reheat it before serving.
1 small eggplant (about
3
â
4
pound)
4 tablespoons vegetable or olive oil
Salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
1 medium onion, halved and cut into thin slices
1 large red bell pepper, cut into thin strips
1 small zucchini, cut into thin strips
1 tablespoon sesame oil or additional olive oil
4 large cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon sesame seeds
3 tablespoons chopped fresh oregano or 1 tablespoon dried
2 tablespoons chopped fresh Italian parsley
4 fresh or warmed plain or whole-wheat pita breads
1.
Cut eggplant into strips of about 2 Ã
1
â
2
Ã
1
â
4
-inch. Heat 2 tablespoons vegetable or olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add eggplant, salt, and pepper. Sauté, tossing constantly, about 7 minutes or until just tender. Transfer to a bowl.
2.
Add 2 tablespoons vegetable or olive oil to skillet. Add onion and pepper and sauté over medium heat, stirring often, about 7 minutes or until nearly tender. Add zucchini and return eggplant to pan. Sauté about 3 minutes, tossing often, until zucchini is crisp-tender. Transfer vegetables to a large bowl and keep warm. Wipe skillet clean and reserve.
3.
Add sesame oil to skillet and warm over low heat. Add garlic and sesame seeds and cook about 30 seconds. Add oregano and parsley and heat 2 to 3 seconds. Pour mixture over vegetables and toss well. Adjust seasoning.
4.
Serve vegetables spooned inside pita breads; or serve them in a bowl, with pita breads on a plate.
Making pizza pareve is useful for many occasions, such as Saturday night suppers when people are often in the mood for casual food. If an Orthodox Jew has eaten a rather late Shabbat lunch that included meat or poultry, it's not always convenient to wait the six hours that would be required before cheese is allowed. A pareve pizza is a perfect solution.
Of course, a pizza made without cheese is also lighter. You can spread any vegetable topping you like on the pizza. This one has a flavorful, easy-to-make topping of mushrooms, tomatoes, and olives. If you prefer a cheese-like topping, you can scatter thin slivers of soy cheese over the top before baking.
3
â
4
pound ripe tomatoes, peeled, seeded, and coarsely chopped, or one 14
1
â
2
-ounce can tomatoes, drained and chopped
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 teaspoon dried thyme
Salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
1
â
4
teaspoon hot red pepper flakes, or to taste
1
â
2
pound mushrooms, sliced thin
1
â
3
to
1
â
2
cup pitted black olives, halved
2 or 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1.
Make dough and let rise. Then, put chopped fresh or canned tomatoes in a colander or strainer to drain.
2.
Lightly oil 2 baking sheets or spray them with oil spray. Knead dough briefly, divide into 2 pieces and put each on a baking sheet. With oiled hands, pat each portion of dough into a 10-inch circle, with rims slightly higher than centers.
3.
Mix tomatoes with garlic, thyme, salt, pepper, and pepper flakes. Spread tomato mixture over dough. Arrange mushroom slices on top and sprinkle them lightly with pepper. Garnish with olive halves. Drizzle olive oil evenly over topping, making sure that rim of dough is moistened with oil as well.
4.
Preheat oven to 425°F. Let pizzas rise about 15 minutes. Bake pizzas about 18 minutes or until dough is golden brown and firm. Serve hot.
SAUCES
Israelis of Middle Eastern origin often prefer the taste of tahini sauce to mayonnaise and use it in the same waysâin salads, sandwiches, and with grilled vegetables and fish.
To make tahini sauce, buy tahini paste. It's easy to find in well-stocked supermarkets, as well as in Israeli, Middle Eastern, and natural foods stores. Tahini paste is sometimes called sesame butter and when you buy a jar, you'll see why; the oil often rises to the top, as in jars of natural peanut butter. Stir the tahini until well blended before measuring it; hold it away from you, as the oil splashes. Making the sauce in the blender is a favorite technique in Israel and is the easiest way. You can also stir the ingredients together in a heavy bowl.