Read 1,000 Jewish Recipes Online
Authors: Faye Levy
1,000 Jewish Recipes (237 page)
Flavored with orange juice, honey, and fresh ginger, this sweet casserole is great with roast chicken, brisket, or lamb. Serve it for Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur eve, Sukkot, or Shabbat.
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 cup dried pears
2
1
â
2
pounds orange-fleshed sweet potatoes (often labeled yams)
1 tablespoon minced peeled fresh ginger
Salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
1
â
2
cup raisins
1
â
4
cup honey
1 tablespoon strained fresh lemon juice
1
â
2
cup strained fresh orange juice
1
â
2
teaspoon ground cinnamon
Pinch of ground cloves
1.
Preheat oven to 375°F. Pour 1 tablespoon oil into a 10-cup casserole dish. Put pears in a bowl and pour boiling water over them. Let soak about 20 minutes or until nearly tender. Dice pears.
2.
Peel sweet potatoes and cut into
3
â
4
-inch dice. Put them in a saucepan and add water to cover. Bring to a boil. Cover and cook over low heat about 10 minutes or until nearly tender. Drain well.
3.
Add 2 tablespoons oil to pan used to cook sweet potatoes. Add ginger and sauté over medium heat, stirring, 1 minute. Add sweet potatoes and a little salt and pepper. Cook over low heat, stirring, about 2 minutes. Remove from heat.
4.
Dice pears and add to sweet potatoes. Add raisins. Transfer mixture to casserole dish.
5.
Combine honey, lemon juice, orange juice, cinnamon, and cloves in small saucepan. Bring to simmer, stirring. Pour evenly over sweet potatoes. Bake uncovered about 30 minutes or until most of honey mixture is absorbed.
6.
Serve casserole from baking dish.
MEDITERRANEAN VEGETABLES
Jews from Mediterranean lands make abundant use of artichokesâRoman Jews are famous for their deep-fried whole artichokesâand they are delicious with this rich garlic dipping sauce. If you prefer a milder garlic flavor, substitute 2 or 3
Roasted Garlic
cloves for the raw garlic.
4 medium or 8 small artichokes
2 or 3 teaspoons strained fresh lemon juice
1
â
2
cup mayonnaise, any kind
1 small very fresh clove garlic, pressed
Salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
Cayenne pepper, to taste
1.
To trim artichokes, cut off top 1 inch of large artichokes or
1
â
2
-inch of small ones. Trim spikes from tips of leaves with scissors. Put artichokes in a large saucepan of boiling salted water and cover with a lid of slightly smaller diameter than that of pan to keep them submerged. Cook over medium heat until a leaf can be easily pulled out; large artichokes will require 45 to 50 minutes and small ones 15 to 20 minutes. Using tongs, remove artichokes from water, turn them upside down, and drain thoroughly.
2.
Either cover to keep warm; or let cool and serve at room temperature or chilled.
3.
To make the sauce, gradually stir lemon juice into mayonnaise in a bowl. Stir in garlic. If sauce is too thick, beat in warm water by teaspoons until the sauce can just be poured. Season with salt, pepper, and cayenne. Refrigerate until ready to serve.
Instead of frying eggplant slices, you can broil or grill them. You use less fat, and it's quicker and easier, too. Broiled eggplant has a pleasing, slightly charred flavor and appearance that many enjoy in preparations of this vegetable. As in frying, you need to keep an eye on the eggplant so it won't burn.
Serve these eggplant slices as an appetizer, topped with roasted
peppers
,
Zehug
, or hot or cold
Fresh Tomato Sauce
, or serve
Roasted Garlic
alongside.
1 large eggplant, (about 1
1
â
2
pounds), cut into
1
â
4
-inch-thick slices
About 4 to 6 teaspoons olive oil
Salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
Arrange eggplant on a foil-lined baking sheet or broiler pan. Brush lightly with oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Broil about 8 minutes. Turn over and broil about 7 minutes or until tender. Serve hot, warm, or room temperature.
Many traditional Sephardic dishes call for fried eggplant slices as one step in their preparation, as in
Fried Eggplant with Herbed Tomatoes
. I often bake the eggplant instead. Baking requires less attentionâand less oil. If you have a large amount of eggplant to cook, baking is also more convenient than broiling because you can bake more eggplant slices at a time than you can broil. (During baking the slices brown slightly.)
You can use the baked eggplant slices in casseroles or mix them with cooked rice or with pasta and tomato sauce. If you'd like to serve them as a quick appetizer or accompaniment, top them with
Onion Marmalade
or with your favorite salsa.
1 medium eggplant (1 to 1
1
â
4
pounds), unpeeled and cut into 3/8-inch-thick slices
1
1
â
2
tablespoons vegetable oil
Salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
Preheat oven to 450°F. Put eggplant slices on a large, lightly oiled baking sheet in 1 layer. Drizzle with oil, then sprinkle lightly with salt and pepper. Bake 10 minutes; turn slices over, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and bake about 10 more minutes or until tender. Serve hot or use in recipes.
Israelis love eggplant and prepare it in numerous ways. This is one of the easiest eggplant dishes to prepare. The eggplant cooks quickly in a savory tomato sauce that can simmer pretty much unattended. It keeps well, reheats beautifully, and you can serve it hot or cold. Serve it with roast lamb, chicken, or turkey, or at a vegetarian meal with rice or bulgur wheat.
If your eggplant is fresh and has a smooth, glossy peel, you can leave the peel on.
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
6 large cloves garlic, chopped
1
1
â
2
pounds eggplants, unpeeled and cut into
1
â
4
-inch dice
Salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
1
â
4
cup chopped fresh Italian parsley or cilantro
One 28-ounce can diced tomatoes
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1 bay leaf
1
â
4
teaspoon dried hot pepper flakes, or to taste
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1.
Heat oil in a heavy stew pan or Dutch oven. Add onion and sauté over medium heat 5 minutes or until it turns golden. Stir in garlic, followed by eggplant, salt, pepper, and half the parsley. Stir over low heat 2 to 3 minutes or until eggplant is coated with onion mixture.
2.
Add tomatoes with their juice, tomato paste, bay leaf, hot pepper flakes, and oregano. Cook over high heat, stirring, until bubbling. Cover and simmer over medium-low heat, stirring often, about 25 minutes or until eggplant is tender. Discard bay leaf. Adjust seasoning. Serve hot or cold, sprinkled with remaining parsley.
Jews from Middle Eastern countries use this festive stuffing for pareve meals. Besides eggplants, it's used to make stuffed grape leaves, zucchini, and peppers.
2
1
â
2
to 3 pounds small or medium eggplants
6 tablespoons olive oil
3 medium onions, finely chopped
3
â
4
cup long-grain white rice
1
â
4
cup pine nuts
2 tablespoons raisins
2 teaspoons dried mint
1
â
4
teaspoon ground allspice
1
â
2
teaspoon sugar
Salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
1
1
â
4
cups water
2 plum tomatoes, chopped
2 tablespoons tomato paste
4 cloves garlic, halved
1.
Cut stem ends from eggplants. Halve eggplants lengthwise. Peel if desired; if eggplant is fresh, there is no need to peel it. Use a spoon to scoop out centers, leaving boat-shaped shells. Sprinkle eggplant shells with salt. Put them in a colander upside down and leave to drain while making stuffing. Preheat oven to 425°F.
2.
Heat 3 tablespoons oil in a sauté pan, add onions, and sauté over medium heat 10 minutes. Add rice and pine nuts and stir 5 minutes over low heat. Add raisins, mint, allspice, sugar, salt, and pepper; cook 2 minutes. Add water and bring to a boil. Cover and cook over low heat about 12 minutes or until liquid is absorbed; rice will not be cooked yet. Add tomatoes.