1,000 Jewish Recipes (289 page)
Read 1,000 Jewish Recipes Online
Authors: Faye Levy
This luscious vanilla bean sauce turns even a simple dessert into a fancy finale like those served at the finest restaurants. It is perfect with challah bread pudding, sweet noodle kugels, and cakes that are not frosted. If you want to make it pareve, you can substitute a nondairy rice milk, soy milk, or multigrain drink. You can discard the vanilla bean after using itâor you can rinse, dry, and reuse it.
1
1
â
2
cups milk or nondairy milk
1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise
5 large egg yolks
1
â
4
cup sugar
1.
Bring milk and vanilla bean to a boil in a medium, heavy saucepan. Remove from heat. Cover and let stand 15 minutes. Reheat to a boil. Remove the vanilla bean.
2.
Whisk egg yolks lightly in a large bowl. Add sugar; whisk until smooth. Gradually whisk in hot milk. Return mixture to saucepan, whisking. Cook over medium-low heat, stirring mixture and scraping bottom of pan constantly with a wooden spoon, about 5 minutes or until mixture thickens slightly and reaches 170°F to 175°F on an instant-read or candy thermometer. To check whether sauce is thick enough without a thermometer, remove pan from heat. Dip a metal spoon in sauce and draw your finger across back of spoon. Your finger should leave a clear path in mixture that clings to spoon. If it does not, cook 30 seconds more and check again. Do not overcook sauce or it will curdle.
3.
Immediately strain sauce into a bowl. Stir about 30 seconds to cool; cool completely. Refrigerate at least 30 minutes before serving, or up to 2 days.
 or
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Cakes and pastries topped with rich, sweet crumbs known as streusel are a favorite in Jewish bakeries. Hungarian desserts are especially well known for this topping. Streusel is also well loved by Polish Jewish cooks, who use it to top even yeast cakes, such as some versions of babka. You can also try this sprinkled on
Plum Cake
or baked fruit desserts before putting them in the oven.
1
â
3
cup brown sugar
1
â
3
cup granulated sugar
2
â
3
cup all-purpose flour
3
â
4
teaspoon ground cinnamon
1
â
4
cup (
1
â
2
stick) unsalted butter or margarine, chilled and cut into bits
Mix brown sugar, white sugar, flour, and cinnamon in a small bowl. With 2 knives, cut butter into sugar mixture until coarse crumbs form. If not ready to use, refrigerate, covered, up to 2 days; or freeze for longer.
Bakers use this traditional European glaze more than any other jam or jelly glaze because its flavor and color are perfect with so many desserts. Use this for brushing on
Baba Cupcakes
or fruit tarts. It makes them shiny and adds good flavor as well.
1 cup apricot preserves
2 tablespoons water
Heat preserves and water over low heat in medium saucepan, stirring, until preserves are completely melted. Strain into another saucepan, pressing on pieces.
1
â
3
cup
Brushing a flavorful syrup like this on sponge cakes or other light cakes before filling or frosting them helps keep them moist. You can vary the flavor with other spirits or juices such as orange liqueur, orange juice, or any that you like.
1
â
4
cup sugar
1
â
4
cup water
2 tablespoons clear raspberry brandy
Heat sugar and water in a small, heavy saucepan over low heat, stirring very gently, until sugar dissolves. Increase heat to medium-high and stop stirring. Bring to a boil. Pour into a bowl; cool completely. Stir in raspberry brandy.
Serve these delightful treats with chocolate cakes or orange cakes or for a luscious garnish for fruit salads, orange sorbet, or vanilla ice cream. You can dip tangerines the same way. Try to choose citrus fruit that is seedless. It's best to serve chocolate-dipped orange segments within an hour or two of making them but you can keep them uncovered up to 4 hours in the refrigerator.
2 small oranges
4 ounces fine-quality bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, chopped
1.
Line a rack with paper towels. Cut a thin slice from top and bottom of each orange. Score orange with a knife and remove peel. Using a small serrated knife, cut off all bitter white pith from orange. Cut orange into segments. Put them on lined rack. Let dry about 30 minutes, patting them often with paper towels. (A small amount of moisture can make the melted chocolate solidify and make it impossible to use in dipping.)
2.
Line a tray with waxed paper. Melt chocolate in a medium bowl set over a pan of simmering water. Stir until smooth. Remove bowl from pan; cool to 88°F to 90°F, or until it feels neither warm nor cold to the touch.
3.
Dip
1
â
2
of one orange segment in chocolate. Let excess chocolate drip into bowl. Transfer orange section to wax paper. Dip remaining sections, setting on wax paper with chocolate-half of all oranges pointing in same direction. Refrigerate about 30 minutes or until chocolate sets. Remove from refrigerator about 10 minutes before serving.
This is a quick version of candied orange peel, a very popular sweet in Israel. Unlike commercially candied peel, it needs to be refrigerated and keeps only about a week, but it tastes good and adds a festive touch to desserts. Use these candied peel strips (peel is the same as rind) to garnish fruit salads, such as
Citrus Salad with Home-Candied Orange Peel
, chocolate cakes, and ice creams. Use organically grown oranges for the freshest flavor and to avoid pesticides in the rind.
2 large oranges
1
â
2
cup sugar
2 cups water
1.
Rinse oranges and pat completely dry. Using a sharp vegetable peeler with a flexible blade, pare colored part of orange rind into long strips, without including any white pith. With a large sharp, sturdy knife, cut the rind into very thin strips, about
1
â
8
-inch wide.
2.
Put the strips of rind in a small saucepan and cover with water. Bring to a boil and boil 3 minutes. Drain, rinse with cold water, and drain well again.
3.
Combine sugar and 2 cups water in a medium, heavy saucepan. Heat mixture over low heat, gently stirring from time to time, until sugar dissolves. Increase heat to high and bring to a boil. Add strips of rind to syrup. Shake pan very gently to submerge the strips. Cook uncovered over medium heat, without stirring, 10 minutes. Reduce heat to low and cook 5 to 10 more minutes or until orange rind is very tender and syrup thickens. Cool rind completely in syrup. You can keep candied orange peels in their syrup in a covered container up to 1 week in the refrigerator.
4.
To use candied orange peel, remove strips from syrup with a fork and drain briefly on paper towels. Use them as long strands or cut them into smaller pieces, to garnish desserts.
Note:
Don't use this candied orange for dipping in chocolate. It is too moist for this purpose.
Basics
This chapter is composed of basic recipes that are served with many foods or that are used as ingredients in a variety of other recipes.
Homemade stocks and sauces make the difference between a dish that tastes good and one that is really memorable. Making them at home is a tradition in Jewish cooking because making your own ensures that they are kosher.
Although meat stocks have a long cooking time, they are easy to put together and can simmer virtually unattended.