1,000 Jewish Recipes (253 page)
Read 1,000 Jewish Recipes Online
Authors: Faye Levy
Whole-wheat couscous is a departure from tradition but it tastes great and is becoming popular on modern Jewish menus. It cooks as quickly as regular couscous and can be substituted for it in most recipes. Here is an easy, low-fat way to prepare it. It's good hot or cold, as an accompaniment for fish, chicken, or vegetarian entrees. You can find whole-wheat couscous at natural food stores and specialty markets.
1 to 2 tablespoons olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped
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cups chicken, beef, or vegetable stock or water
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cup dry-pack sun-dried tomatoes, cut into bite-size pieces
Salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
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teaspoon dried oregano
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cups whole-wheat couscous
2 large ripe tomatoes, diced
2 tablespoons snipped fresh chives
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
Heat oil in a medium saucepan, add chopped onion, and sauté over medium heat about 7 minutes or until tender. Add stock, sun-dried tomatoes, salt, pepper, and oregano and bring to a boil. Stir in couscous, remove from heat, and cover. Let stand 5 minutes. Fluff with a fork before serving. Lightly stir in tomatoes, chives, and parsley. Adjust seasoning. Serve hot or cold.
This dish is perfect for a casual family meal, like for autumn or winter evenings after Shabbat, but with its toasted walnuts and sautéed mushrooms, it's festive enough to serve when friends are coming for brunch or for a vegetarian lunch. I like to cook a few vegetables with the couscous, then embellish the mixture with the mushrooms and the nuts. I also use fresh peas and corn when they are available.
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cup walnuts
2 medium carrots
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cups vegetable stock or water
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cups frozen peas or corn, or
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cup of each
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cups whole-wheat couscous
Salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
2 to 3 tablespoons vegetable oil or olive oil
1 large onion, minced
4 to 6 ounces mushrooms, halved and sliced thin
1.
Preheat oven or toaster oven to 400°F. Toast walnuts in small baking pan or baking dish, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes, or until they are aromatic and slightly darker in color. Transfer to plate and reserve at room temperature.
2.
Cut carrots in half lengthwise and then into thin slices. Combine carrots with stock in a medium saucepan and bring to a boil. Cover and cook over medium-low heat for 4 minutes. Add peas and cook about 3 minutes until vegetables are just tender. Add couscous, salt, and pepper, stir, and return to a boil. Cover pan tightly, remove from heat, and let mixture stand for about 10 minutes.
3.
Meanwhile, heat oil in a large skillet. Add onion and sauté over medium heat, stirring often, for 5 minutes. Add mushrooms, salt, and pepper, and sauté, stirring, for 3 minutes or until mushrooms and onions are tender and lightly browned. Adjust seasoning.
4.
Fluff couscous with a fork. Add mushroom mixture and toss. Adjust seasoning. Serve garnished with walnuts.
HOMEMADE NOODLES AND KREPLACH
Egg noodles have long held a place of honor on the Jewish table, especially as fine noodles in the Shabbat chicken soup. Homemade fresh noodles have an incomparable flavor. It is best highlighted in simple dishes such as clear soup or simple medleys of pasta and vegetables.
Plain white flour is traditionally used for making noodles. I use a simple hand crank pasta machine to roll the dough and cut the noodles.
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cups all-purpose flour, preferably unbleached
3 large eggs
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teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
About 1 tablespoon water, if needed
1.
Combine flour, eggs, salt, and oil in a food processor. Process about 10 seconds or until ingredients are blended and dough holds together in sticky crumbs that can be easily pressed together. If crumbs are dry, sprinkle them with water, 1 teaspoon at a time, processing briefly after each addition; add enough water to make crumbs moist. Press dough together into a ball. Knead dough a few seconds on a work surface, flouring lightly if it sticks, until it is fairly smooth.
2.
Wrap dough in plastic wrap, or set it on a plate and cover it with an inverted bowl. Let stand for 30 minutes, or refrigerate up to 4 hours; if refrigerating dough, let it stand about 15 minutes at room temperature before using.
3.
Prepare a pasta rack; or generously flour 2 or 3 baking sheets for placing finished noodles. Cut dough into 6 pieces; leave 5 pieces wrapped.
4.
Turn smooth rollers of a pasta machine to widest setting. Flatten 1 piece of dough to a 4-inch square and lightly flour it. Run it through machine. Fold dough in thirds so ends just meet in center, press seams together, and flatten slightly. Run dough through machine again. Fold and roll dough, lightly flouring if it feels sticky, about 7 more times or until smooth.
5.
Turn dial of pasta machine 1 notch to next narrower setting. Without folding piece of dough, run it through machine. Turning dial 1 notch lower each time, repeat feeding dough without folding, flouring as necessary. Cut dough in half crosswise if it gets too long to handle. Stop when dough is 1/16-inch thick; usually this is on next to narrowest setting.
6.
Hang dough sheet to dry on pasta rack or on back of a towel-lined chair. Roll remaining dough. Dry dough sheets about 10 minutes or until they are firmer and have a leathery texture; do not leave until brittle, or they will fall apart when cut.
7.
To cut medium noodles: Move handle of pasta machine to wider noodle setting. Put 1 sheet of pasta through machine, holding it with 1 hand and catch- ing noodles with other hand. If strands stick together, dough is too wet; dry remaining dough sheets a bit longer before cutting them. Separate strands. To cut fine noodles, move handle of machine to narrow noodle setting.
8.
Let noodles dry on pasta rack or on floured baking sheet. Dry pasta at least 10 minutes to use immediately, or up to several hours. If noodles are on baking sheet, toss them occasionally to prevent sticking. Noodles can be refrigerated, covered loosely, on tray, or in large plastic bags up to 5 days; they can also be frozen.
These noodles are richer and more yellow than most. Jewish cooks in the French region of Alsace make them into fine noodles for serving in chicken soup, or into medium or wide ones for tossing with vegetables or accompanying stewed chicken.
2 large eggs
2 large egg yolks
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teaspoon salt
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cups plus 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
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Combine eggs, egg yolks, salt, and 1
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cups flour in a food processor. Process about 10 seconds or until dough begins to form a ball. Add remaining flour 1 tablespoon at a time, processing briefly after each addition. Process 30 seconds or until dough forms ball. If not very smooth, knead dough a few seconds on a work surface, flouring lightly if it sticks, until it is fairly smooth.
2.
Wrap dough in plastic wrap; or set it on a plate and cover it with an inverted bowl. Let stand for 30 minutes, or refrigerate up to 4 hours; if refrigerating dough, let it stand about 15 minutes at room temperature before using.
3.
Prepare a pasta rack; or generously flour 2 or 3 baking sheets for placing finished noodles. Cut dough into 3 pieces; leave 2 pieces wrapped.
4.
Continue from step 4 of
Homemade Egg Noodles
.
The dough for these noodles does contain some white flour, as it is much easier to handle than one made entirely of whole-wheat. (When using the pasta machine with this dough, cut these into medium rather than fine noodles; it's much easier.) I like these noodles in vegetable soups, kugels, dairy dishes, with herbed tomato sauce, and in noodle and vegetable medleys.
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cups whole-wheat flour, preferably unbleached
1 cup all-purpose flour
3 large eggs
1 to 2 tablespoons water
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teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon vegetable oil (optional)
1.
Combine whole-wheat flour, white flour, eggs, 1 tablespoon water, salt, and oil, if using, in food processor. Process about 10 seconds or until ingredients are blended and dough holds together in sticky crumbs that can be easily pressed together. If crumbs are dry, sprinkle them with water, 1 teaspoon at a time, processing briefly after each addition; add enough water to make crumbs moist. Press dough together into a ball. Knead dough a few seconds on a work surface, flouring lightly if it sticks, until it is a fairly smooth ball.
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Continue from Step 4 of
Homemade Egg Noodles
.