1,000 Jewish Recipes (76 page)
Read 1,000 Jewish Recipes Online
Authors: Faye Levy
Nondairy "cheeses" are made from tofu or from rice, as is pareve ice cream.
Meat-Like Pareve Foods
There is also a large selection of pareve foods designed to look and taste like meat. They are made from soy beans, wheat, or a combination of these. There is meatless ground "meat" as well as burgers, frankfurters, and sliced deli "meats".
Some of these foods also come in dry form, either as granules or as chunks, which can be rehydrated and cooked in sauces similar to those used for meat.
Fish
As most common fish are kosher, Jewish cooks often buy the ones they are familiar with at the supermarket. Some supermarkets carry wrapped fish that are certified kosher and have been handled with kosher knives. A greater array of kosher fish can be found at kosher fish stores in some Jewish neighborhoods.
Prepared kosher fish such as lox, whitefish, herring, and gefilte fish are easy to find at the supermarket. They are popular ingredients in the Ashkenazic pantry.
Wine
It's a common misconception that Jewish wine must be sweet because sweet wine has traditionally been used for blessings. This is a matter of taste, however, not law. Now there is a variety of kosher wines made from many different grapes and styles of wine making, in the United States, Israel, and France.
Baked Goods and Baking Ingredients
Bread, Cake, and Pastry
Kosher bakeries carry a wide variety of breads, cakes, and pastries. Some specialize in pareve baking, while some have both pareve and dairy sweets. These baked goods can also be found at Jewish grocery stores and some supermarkets.
The reason for buying kosher breads, pastries, and desserts is to be sure they do not contain nonkosher fats, cheeses, or animal-based gelatin.
Crackers and Other Snack Foods
As with breads and other baked goods, Jewish cooks who keep kosher check to make sure these do not contain nonkosher fats, cheeses, or animal-based gelatin.
Other Ingredients
Kosher salt, or coarse salt, is for sprinkling on meats and poultry in the process of koshering them (page xxii). In recent years kosher salt has also become a "gourmet" ingredient. Many chefs prefer its flavor for seasoning food because it's purer and has no additives.
Kosher gelatin is vegetable-based instead of being made with meat bones. It is often made from a seaweed base called agar-agar.
Menus
Following are some holiday menus that I particularly enjoy preparing. These are flexible guidelines. Adapt them to suit your own taste, substituting other favorite dishes where you like. Prepare more or fewer dishes according to the time you wish to spend preparing the meal.
Before shopping and cooking, check the number of portions in each recipe and multiply them according to your needs.
A Passover Seder of Mediterranean Flavors
Sephardic Haroset
with Matzo
Tovah's Trout with Paprika Oil and Cilantro
Artichokes with Spicy Lemon-Herb Dressing
Moroccan Beef Stew with Cumin, Potatoes, and Peppers
Walnut Cocoa Layer Cake
,
Orange Frosting
An Old-Fashioned Passover Seder, Ashkenazic Style
Passover Chicken Soup with Matzo Balls
Shavuot Gathering, French-Jewish Style
Spinach Salad with Goat Cheese, Walnuts, and Peppers
Herb Blintzes with Duxelles Filling
Broccoli Gratin with Cheese Sauce
Israeli Rosh Hashanah Celebration
Apples and Honey
Sea Bass in Saffron-Tomato Sauce
Rosh Hashanah Sweet Potato Casserole
Make-Ahead Rosh Hashanah Dinner
Apples and Honey
Carrot Salad with Cranberries and Mint
Potato Kugel with Mushrooms and Peas
Yom Kippur Feast Before the Fast
Ashkenazic Green Bean and Carrot Salad
Roman Fish with Pine Nuts and Raisins
Light Chicken Soup with Noodles
Whole Poached Chicken with Vegetables
Sephardic Almond Honey Squares
Break-The-Fast Menu After Yom Kippur
Bagels
Israeli Salad, California Style
Sukkot Pot Luck
Apricot-Pecan Challah with Raisins
Mediterranean Chopped Salad with Capers and Olives
Italian-Jewish Halibut in Tomato Celery Sauce
Hungarian Jewish Stuffed Peppers
Basmati Rice Pilaf with Sunflower Seeds
Sukkot Harvest Celebration
Grilled Eggplant and Pepper Salad with Sun-Dried Tomatoes
Whole Stuffed Zucchini with Turkey, Raisins, and Pecans
Carrots and Potatoes with Chard
Green Beans with Tomatoes and Herbs
My Hanukkah Party Cooking Class Meal
Eggplant Salad with Garlic and Coriander
Sea Bass in Saffron-Tomato Sauce
Traditional Cinnamon-Walnut Rugelach
A Family Hanukkah Feast
Red Cabbage Slaw with Walnuts and Citrus Fruits
Brisket with Chickpeas and Zucchini
Israeli Doughnuts
(Soofganiygot)
A Purim Box of Treats
Hamantaschen
with
Pareve Poppy SeedâWalnut Filling
Friday Night Dinner From My Childhood
Chopped Liver the Way My Mother Makes It
Lukshen Kugel with Mushrooms and Onions
Shabbat Midday Menu in the Sephardic Spirit
Israeli Olive and Tomato Salad
Dvora's Bright and Easy Pepper Salad
Chicken Cholent with Wheat Berries and Chickpeas
Fresh Tomato Salsa, Yemenite Style
Springtime Shabbat Dinner
Mediterranean Chopped Salad with Capers and Olives
Red Trout and Asparagus with Lemon-Parsley Sauce
Carrots and Potatoes with Chard
Low-Fat Chocolate Applesauce Cake
Light and Summery Shabbat Lunch
Cucumber and Pepper Salad with Fresh Mint
Cod in Green OliveâTomato Sauce
Shabbat Menu With Autumn Flavors
Chicken Soup with Noodles, Leeks, and Winter Squash
Chicken Baked with Tzimmes and Kneidel
Jewish Apple Cake with Walnuts and Dried Cranberries
Hearty Winter Shabbat Dinner
Red Cabbage Salad with Apples and Pecans
Hamin for Shabbat, Yemenite Style
Sunday Brunch
Creamy Cucumber Salad with Lox
Avocado and Arugula Salad with Tomatoes and Cucumbers
Apple-Cinnamon Noodle Kugel with Sour Cream
Thanksgiving with A Difference
Red Cabbage Slaw with Walnuts and Citrus Fruits
Challah Stuffing
(double recipe)
Carrots and Green Beans Gremolata
Potluck Pareve Supper
My Favorite Vegetarian Chopped Liver
Grilled Eggplant and Red Pepper Salad
Couscous Salad with Tomatoes, Pine Nuts, and Mint
Cauliflower Kugel with Sautéed Onions
Stuffed Small Squashes with American Rice Pilaf
Tu Bishvat Date Bars with Macadamia Nuts
Barbecue with the Kids
Our Family's Favorite Grilled Chicken Legs
Valerie's Two-Way Shabbat Rice
Crisp Chocolate Chip Cookies with Pecans
My Family's Fish Feast
Mediterranean Marinated Peppers
Yemenite Fish with Tomatoes and Spices
Basil Cream with Diced Tomatoes
Passover
The springtime festival of Passover takes place in late March or in April and lasts for eight days. The Seder, the ceremonial holiday dinner, is prepared on the first and second nights of the holiday, except in Israel, where there is a Seder only on the first night.
Perhaps the best-known passage about the holiday is the question recited by all Jewish children as part of the Seder, "Why is this night different from all other nights?" The standard response delineated in the Haggadah, the Seder book of readings, prayers, and songs, is that Passover commemorates the liberation of the ancient Hebrews from slavery in Egypt.
A more offhand answer to this question might be, "because the food is different." The kitchen, and indeed the entire house, undergoes extensive preparation and cleaning for the holiday. Certain foods are avoided during the holiday or even completely removed from the house.
Naturally, in observant families, food for Passover must be kosher. In addition, it has to be Kosher-for-Passover. The Hebrew word for food that is not kosher for the holiday is
hametz
, or leavening, because the Torah prohibits eating leavened bread during the holiday to recall the flat bread the Hebrews ate during their flight from Egypt, when they could not wait for their bread to rise.
This flat bread was the first matzo. It has become the symbol of Passover and is served not only as bread, but is also used to make a variety of other foods, from dumplings to cakes.
Matzo is ground and made into matzo meal, which is used in cooking and baking instead of raw wheat flour, which can leaven naturally when combined with liquid and is thus not allowed during the holiday. Cake meal, a finer version of matzo meal, is used to make sponge cakes and other light cakes.
In Ashkenazic and some Sephardic communities, other types of grains and beans are avoided as well. These are grouped under the term
kitniyot
, Hebrew for legumes, which is used in a broad sense to include corn, rice, other grains, beans, peas, and sesame and sunflower seeds. Other foods derived from these are also not used, including cornstarch and corn oil.
Despite these restrictions, Passover is not at all an occasion for deprivation. The opposite is true; in the recipe repertoires of many families, the greatest number of favorite dishes and desserts are Passover ones.
When I was growing up, the number of Passover foods was limited. Now markets feature a dizzying array of foods with Kosher-for-Passover labels. This is true not only of kosher grocery stores but also supermarkets in neighborhoods with a substantial number of Jewish residents.
Old-fashioned macaroons, once known only in classic almond or coconut flavors, come in many new varieties like chocolate-mint and cinnamon-pecan. Also, now, not only macaroons are sold and served at Passover, but also biscotti and chocolate chip cookies, plus a great variety of cakes and cookies, including coffee cake, rugelach, and cinnamon rollsâ things we never used to have for the holiday. There are Passover noodles and even pizza dough mix. Passover equivalents of popular breakfast cereals are also available, instead of just farfel, the little squares of matzo we ate as cereal as children.
I still love farfel for breakfast, and I understand those friends of mine who feel that using the new foods takes away from the special taste of the holiday. I am glad to have the choice, however. There is still plenty of cooking and baking to be done for that homemade taste, and it can be convenient to keep a few prepared foods on hand in case extra treats are needed.
Passover Preparations
Before the holiday, to get the kitchen ready, the oven, burners, refrigerator, and sink need to be cleaned thoroughly. Passover sets of dishes, flatware, cooking utensils, and pots, one for meat and one for dairy foods, replace the ones used during the rest of the year. Some utensils can be
kashered
, or made suitable for Passover by being scalded with boiling water; specifics on this procedure can be obtained from a rabbi.