1,000 Jewish Recipes (90 page)
Read 1,000 Jewish Recipes Online
Authors: Faye Levy
Good quality Israeli goat cheese is easy to find not only in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv but in many American markets as well. Mix goat cheese with chives as a delicious spread for these easy canapés, which make tasty hors d'oeuvres at a party. You can serve them as a first course at a Shavuot dinner, accompanied by sliced tomatoes or roasted peppers.
4 ounces creamy goat cheese, at room temperature
3 to 4 tablespoons sour cream
2 tablespoons minced fresh Italian parsley
2 tablespoons snipped fresh chives
Salt (optional) and freshly ground pepper, to taste
1
â
2
seedless cucumber, such as hothouse or Japanese
10 to 12 thin slices baguette or other good quality bread
1.
Remove any dark rind from goat cheese by scraping gently with a knife. Beat cheese with 2 tablespoons sour cream in a bowl with a wooden spoon until smooth. Stir in enough of remaining sour cream to obtain a spreadable consistency. Stir in parsley and 1 tablespoon chives. Add a pinch of pepper; taste before adding any salt.
2.
Peel cucumber if you like, and remove center with a corer. Cut cucumber into thin slices; they will be ring-shaped. Spread them on paper towels to absorb excess moisture.
3.
If bread slices are large, use a round pastry cutter of about same diameter as cucumber slices to cut bread into circles. Spread bread with goat cheese mixture and set cucumber slices on top. Sprinkle remaining tablespoon chives in center of rings.
This refreshing first course is perfect for Shavuot, when the weather is usually warm. Garlic gives the soup a subtle kick that is balanced by the fresh flavor of the herbs.
Be sure to use good-quality cucumbers; the small, thin-skinned Middle Eastern type is ideal. They are sometimes labeled Israeli, Middle Eastern, or Persian cucumbers. Japanese and hothouse cucumbers also are very good in this dish. Nonfat yogurt gives good results but you can use any yogurt you like.
1 small clove garlic, pressed or minced fine
1
â
2
teaspoon salt, or to taste
6 cups plain yogurt
Pinch of cayenne pepper
1
â
2
pound cucumbers, halved lengthwise and sliced thin
1
â
2
pound ripe tomatoes, cut into small dice, about
1
â
3
cup reserved
1 tablespoon chopped fresh dill
2 tablespoons minced fresh Italian parsley
2 tablespoons chopped fresh chives or garlic chives
1.
Mash garlic with salt in a large bowl, using the back of a spoon. Add yogurt and cayenne pepper. Stir to blend thoroughly.
2.
Add cucumbers and a larger amount of diced tomatoes. Fold vegetables gently into yogurt. Adjust seasoning. Refrigerate at least 15 minutes or up to 6 hours before serving.
3.
A short time before serving, stir in dill, parsley, and half the chives. Serve soup garnished with reserved diced tomato and remaining chives.
SAVORY BLINTZES AND PASTRIES
These blintzes with their creamy vegetable filling make a delicious Shavuot main course. You can fill them a day ahead and have them in their baking dishes, ready to heat in the oven.
12
Basic Blintzes
,
Whole-Wheat Blintzes
, or
Pareve Buckwheat Blintzes
1
â
4
cup (
1
â
2
stick) butter
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1
1
â
4
cups milk
Salt and freshly ground white pepper, to taste
Freshly grated nutmeg, to taste
1
â
3
cup heavy cream
Pinch of cayenne pepper
3 to 3
1
â
2
cups coarsely chopped cooked broccoli
1.
Prepare blintzes, stack them and cover them with a kitchen towel.
2.
Melt 2 tablespoons butter in a heavy saucepan over low heat. Add flour and cook, whisking constantly, about 2 minutes, or until foaming but not browned. Remove from heat and gradually stir in milk. Bring to boil over medium-high heat, whisking constantly. Add a small pinch of salt, white pepper, and nutmeg. Reduce heat to low and cook, whisking often, 3 minutes. Add cream and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low and cook, whisking often, about 5 minutes or until thick. Add cayenne pepper. Stir in broccoli. Adjust seasoning.
3.
Preheat oven to 400°F. Butter one large shallow baking dish or two small shallow baking dishes. Spoon 2
1
â
2
to 3 tablespoons filling onto brown side of each blintz near edge of blintz closest to you. Fold over edges of blintz to right and left of filling so that each covers about half of filling; roll up, beginning at edge with filling.
4.
Arrange blintzes in one layer in baking dish. Cut remaining butter into small pieces and put 2 pieces on each blintz. Bake about 20 minutes or until hot and lightly browned. Serve immediately.
Traditionally blintzes are filled with a mixture of cheeses: usually firm, dry farmer cheese for body and pot cheese, a rich type of cottage cheese, for moistness. Some cooks also add cream cheese to make the filling even richer. You can fill them 1 day ahead and keep them in the refrigerator.
My mother always bakes her blintzes and so do I. Some people prefer their blintzes fried. If you wish to fry them, see the note at the end of the recipe.
Serve these for brunch, lunch, or supper. The filling is delicately sweet and does not contain as much sugar as dessert blintzes.
12
Basic Blintzes
, 8 inches in diameter
2 cups farmer cheese (about 15 ounces)
1
â
3
cup pot cheese or whole-milk cottage cheese
2 large egg yolks
3 tablespoons sugar, or to taste
1
â
4
teaspoon ground cinnamon, or to taste
Pinch of salt
2 to 3 tablespoons butter, cut into small pieces
Sour cream or yogurt
1.
Prepare blintzes, stack them and cover with a kitchen towel.
2.
Mash farmer cheese with pot cheese in a large bowl. With a wooden spoon, beat in egg yolks, sugar, cinnamon, and salt until mixture is well blended.
3.
Preheat oven to 400°F. Spoon 2
1
â
2
to 3 tablespoons filling onto brown side of each blintz near edge of blintz closest to you. Fold over edges of blintz to right and left of filling so that each covers about half of filling; roll up, beginning at edge with filling.
4.
Arrange blintzes in one layer in a shallow buttered baking dish. Dot each with 2 small pieces of butter. Bake about 20 minutes or until heated through and lightly browned. Serve blintzes hot, with sour cream or yogurt.
Note:
To fry blintzes, heat 1 tablespoon vegetable oil and 2 to 3 tablespoons butter in a heavy skillet. Add blintzes seam side down. Fry over low heat 3 to 5 minutes on each side or until golden; do not let them burn.
These savory pastries, Sephardic favorites for Shavuot, come in several shapesâtriangular, half-moon shaped, and even ring-shaped. Some people make them with a dough resembling pie dough, others use puff pastry. But the most popular is phyllo dough. (For this recipe, I often have handy more than the 15 sheets I need, in case the phyllo tears or becomes brittle.) Feta is a traditional Sephardic choice to flavor the filling. Often it's mixed with other cheeses for a milder flavor.
1 pound phyllo dough (about 20 sheets)
1
â
4
cup farmer cheese or ricotta
3
â
4
cup finely crumbled feta cheese (about 4 ounces)
2 large eggs, beaten lightly
1 cup grated Swiss cheese (about 3 ounces)
Salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
1
â
2
to
3
â
4
cup (1 to 1
1
â
2
sticks) butter or margarine, melted
2 teaspoons sesame seeds
1.
If phyllo dough is frozen, thaw it in refrigerator 8 hours or overnight. Remove dough from refrigerator 2 hours before using; leave it in its package.
2.
For cheese filling: Mash farmer cheese with feta in a bowl to blend well. Add eggs and Swiss cheese and mix until smooth. Add salt and pepper.
3.
Remove phyllo sheets from package and unroll them on a dry towel. With a sharp knife, cut stack in half lengthwise, to form two stacks of sheets 16 · 7 inches. Cover sheets immediately with wax paper, then with a damp towel. Work with only one sheet at a time and always keep remaining sheets covered with paper and towel, so they don't dry out.
4.
Remove a phyllo sheet from pile. Brush it lightly with melted butter and fold it in half lengthwise, so its dimensions are about 16 · 3
1
â
2
inches. Dab it lightly with butter. Place about 2 teaspoons cheese filling at one end of strip. Fold end of strip diagonally over filling to form a triangle, and dab it lightly with butter. Continue folding it over and over, keeping it in a triangular shape after each fold, until you reach end of strip. Set triangular pastry on a buttered baking sheet. Brush it lightly with butter. Shape more pastries with reserved phyllo sheets and filling. (Pastries can be shaped 1 day ahead and refrigerated on baking sheets or on plates. Cover them tightly with plastic wrap.)
5.
Preheat oven to 350°F. Just before putting pastries in the oven, brush them again lightly with melted butter and sprinkle with sesame seeds. Bake 20 to 25 minutes or until golden brown. Serve warm (not hot) or at room temperature.