Garlicky Crisp-Skinned Potatoes

Mar 222010

I love fresh garlic. The season is short, just three weeks, and then the purple-streaked bulbs disappear from the market. I rush to buy my yearly 10 kilos, and shlep all that fragrance home in a taxi because I’m afraid that if I get on the bus with it, I’ll have to pretend I don’t notice all the dirty looks from 20 fellow passengers. Even so, the taxi drivers usually open all the windows. Never mind. I’m the one whose whole apartment reeks for a week, until the garlic dries.

So why do I buy all that garlic, and what do I do with it? Well, have a look at the post I wrote about garlic last year. Just about everything I cook has garlic in it. I detest the expensive imported Chinese stuff that goes sprouty a few days after buying it. I like to buy locally grown garlic that lasts ten months. I buy so much because I know there will be some loss – by the seventh or eight month, some will go bad and have to be thrown out. And – fresh new garlic is so delicious.

Follow the link above for ideas on how to eat this seasonal treat. And here’s my panegyric on roasted garlic.

Fresh garlic cloves, being juicy, don’t burn and turn bitter as fast as dried garlic does when you’re frying. This evening we enjoyed simple garlicky potatoes made like this:

A handful of baby potatoes, washed, sliced in half horizontally, and steamed till just tender.

1/2 a red onion, thinly sliced

6 entire cloves of fresh garlic, peeled

Olive oil to cover the bottom of a non-stick frying pan

Salt and pepper

I fried the onion slices over medium heat till wilted, then drained the potatoes, and added them to the pan. When the potatoes began to take on a golden color, I added the whole garlic cloves. Sprinkled salt and pepper over all. Shook the pan once in a while to ensure that the potatoes and the garlic would become golden 0n all sides. The onion became crisp and stringy. When the potatoes were cooked through and had acquired a golden-brown color, the garlic cloves were also done. I served. There were none left to photograph.

On Passover, when it’s one potato, two potato, three potato at almost every meal, that easy but interesting recipe might come in handy.

Passover Recipes

Passover, What's Cooking for Shabbos and Yom Tov 8 Responses »

Mar 162010

I compiled a list: Recipes of Passovers Past. And here it is. Next week, and through the holiday, I’ll be posting more.

Enjoy!

Roast Chicken with Oyster Mushrooms and Matzah Stuffing Sumptuous stuffed and roasted chicken.

Passover meat-stuffed potato patties

Meat-Stuffed Potato Patties Especially popular with kids.

Garlic Chicken Bites I do only easy cooking on Passover. This recipe qualifies.

Now this wasn’t posted for Passover, but it’s an excellent, easy dish that work for the holiday. Curried Turkey Salad

Passover-Soup Spinach Soup with Roasted Garlic – a light, interesting soup.

Sweet Potatoes Roasted in Date Syrup – an easy vegetable dish.

Herbed Cheese Matza Brie Bubeh never had it so good.

Passover-potato gnocchi

Potato Gnocchi Can I live without gnocchi for one whole week?! No – but here’s a Passover recipe.

Kugel Crust for Quiche I was pleased to discover that quiches are possible on Passover.

Passover-broccoli-kugel

Broccoli Kugel Without Matzah Meal Get those veggies into them.

Potato-Starch Noodles Straight out of Eastern Europe ca. 1890. But still good, still good.

Passover-sorbets

Sorbets Light, refreshing, and fruity.

Fruit Soup After a big holiday meal, fruit soup goes down easy and satisfies the sweet tooth.

Passover almond-lemon macaroons

…and thanks to Mrs. S., I’m including the link to scrumptious almond-lemon macaroons.

Kosher Cooking Carnival No. 52: Mostly Passover

Passover, What's Cooking for Shabbos and Yom Tov No Responses »

Mar 162010

Lots of links to Passover recipes and Passover issues on this month’s Kosher Cooking Carnival. Check it out, you’ll get inspired.

Thinking About Passover Cooking

Passover 16 Responses »

Mar 112010

I used to get into a tizzy thinking of Passover substitutes for bread. I’d get into a tizzy baking them. It seemed necessary to produce every kind of matzah-based lasagna, muffin, cake, dinner roll, pizza. Truth is, though, I don’t like those faux-chometz foods very much. (Faux-chometz, is that a word? Never mind, I just made it up.) So I avoided those recipes.

Then I’d feel as if I’d neglected my duty.

But fake breads make me shudder. Like matzah pizza. Those damp, greasy matzah layers with their blanket of tomato paste and cheese – they look sad and smell strange. And cakes based on matzah meal tend to be stodgy. No wonder so many people complain that Passover is the most indigestible holiday.

Now let me defend myself before I’m accused of hating matzah. No, I’m grateful for it. Grateful to have it and for the mitzvah of eating it. I wouldn’t want to separate myself from the spiritual, historical, and personal family associations of matzah.

Jews haven’t always had the freedom to bake matzah. I’m not talking about the far-off Spanish Inquisition – as recently as the 1960s, baking matzah was illegal in the former Soviet Union. What kind of twisted rationale makes an innocent food illegal to eat? How ridiculous would it be to make cupcakes illegal? Well, the flat, flavorless, unleavened bread, icon of freedom from oppression, naturally represents a threat to dictatorship. Yet Jews grew and watched over the wheat, grinding it in secret, secretly baking the matzahs and risking punishment or imprisonment. The bread of affliction, indeed – and the bread of national identity and freedom.

It’s not like I refuse to eat it. I love matzah balls in soup. Matzah brie. Every once in a while, matzah with a shmear of cottage cheese, pesto, guacamole (or sinful butter). This week I came across a intriguing recipe showing the affinity between matzah and eggs: matzahs stuffed with mashed potatoes, dipped into beaten eggs, then into seasoned matzah meal, then fried.

Ow – sounds heavy, but I think it would make a good appetizer if you keep the portion small. Something to make once over the holiday.

Meantime, it’s spring out there and the markets are full of seasonal vegetables. No need to go through contortions baking bread alternatives to fill the family up. Colorful, flavorful foods based on seasonal vegetables are a pleasure to cook and satisfying to eat. How about ratatouille to accompany hamburgers, grilled fish, or a cheese platter? Or consider an enormous, main-dish tossed salad. A casserole of sweet potatoes. Roast chicken stuffed with kugel. A turkey stir-fry. Matzah can always go on the side; it is a bread.

Sephardic Jews may draw on grains and pulses, which makes life easier and more varied. Ashkenazi Jews do eat a lot of potatoes. I cook a lot of potatoes on Passover. But it’s time to rejoice in the artichokes – the strawberries – the Swiss chard and eggplants and peppers and celery and tomatoes and avocados.

I don’t miss matzah pizza one bit.

Passover Cooking: Herbed Cheese Matza Brie

Passover, What's Cooking for Shabbos and Yom Tov 5 Responses »

Apr 122009

Herbed Cheese Matzah Brie

I confess: I woke up this morning thinking that if I have to cook with matza or matza meal once more today, I’ll scream. Turning to my old edition of Jewish Cookery for inspiration, I find pages of Passover recipes. Page after of page of recipes based on matza!

Never mind, I won’t scream. I’ll cook matza brie. And you know what?… I’ll enjoy it.

The traditional proportions are shown in the recipe below. My variation on this old-fashioned recipe was to add sage and cheese.

Herbed Cheese Matza Brie

serves 2-4 as main or side dish

Ingredients:

4 matzas

4 eggs

1 cup water

1 tsp. salt

pepper to taste

1/2 cup cheese of choice, shredded or sliced thinly into strips. I used the Israeli idea of Cheddar.

herb of choice – I used a small amount of sage leaves, but an entire, long sprig of scallions, a handful of parsley or cilantro, a scattering of dried thyme, or some chopped basil would be just as good.

Method:

1. Chop the onion and sauté it in a little olive oil, over low heat. Do not let it brown. You want it succulent. If using dried herbs or sage, add them now.

2. While the onions are cooking, break up the matzas. The smaller the pieces, the more they will absorb liquid and the final product will be chewy rather than crunchy.

3. Beat the eggs and add the water to them. Add the salt and pepper. Mix the egg mixture into the broken matzas.

4. Allow the matzas to soak for 10 minutes.

5. When the onions are golden but still whole and juicy, scrape them into the softened matza mixture.

6. If using fresh chopped herbs, mix them in now.

7. In the same frying pan, put enough oil to cover the bottom. Pour the matzah mixture into the hot oil.

8. Cover the pan. Covering the pan is essential; the brie won’t cook through if left uncovered. Keep the flame at medium low.

9. Leave the brie alone for 10 minutes. Then, with a flexible spatula, loosen up the corners of it. Insinuate the spatula under the brie to loosen it up at the bottom. Unless you’ve used quite a lot of oil, some of it will stick anyway, but that’s just the way it is.

10. Strew the cheese over the top of the brie. Poke it into the mass.

Cover the brie again and leave it for another 5 minutes.

11. Loosen the brie again with the spatula. Turn it over onto a flat plate or pot lid. Briefly fry the reversed top side – add a drop more oil to the pan if it looks dried out.

12. Reverse the brie again onto a plate. Serve hot at the table, or cold at a picnic.

Passover Cooking: Kugel Crust for Mushroom/Leek Tart

Passover, What's Cooking for Shabbos and Yom Tov 7 Responses »

Apr 092009

I invented the tart on Rosh HaShannah. The family likes it, so I repeat it every so often, but for Passover of course I needed a flourless crust. Becky T. sent me this recipe, which is basically a potato kugel thinned out and pre-baked to hold its shape.

The tart made a filling side dish, having potatoes and vegetables in one. The crust texture is heavier than that of a conventional pastry crust; moist and chewy. It makes an interesting change from the usual quiche.

Here’s the original mushroom/leek recipe. Just substitute fine matzah meal for the flour and add a little more liquid if needed. The kugel crust was made as follows:

Kugel Tart Crust

Ingredients:

1 medium onion

1 tsp. salt

1/4 cup matza meal

750 grams potatoes – 4 medium-sized ones

Method:

1. Grate the onion. Set it to drain for 10 minutes. Press any liquid out.

2. Combine the grated onion with salt and matza meal.

3. Grate the potatoes and rinse them in a colander. Drain them very thoroughly.

4. Mix the potatoes into the onion mixture.

5. Press the dough onto the bottom and up the sides of a greased pan.

6. Turn the oven on to 105°C – 220°F. Bake the crust for 25 minutes.

7. Remove the crust from the oven, brush it with oil, and bake it another 10-15 minutes, or until the edges are slightly brown.

8. Fill with mushoom/leek mixture and bake about 1/2 hour. As in the Rosh HaShannah recipe, if the vegetables look to be browning too much, cover the surface with tin foil.

The tart looks almost the same as it did on Rosh HaShannah.

For vegetarians, I think that a dairy variation would be tasty. Make a custard of 3 eggs and 1 cup of milk or sour cream and pour the mix over the well-seasoned vegetables. Or simply substitute vegetable stock for the chicken soup.

Passover Cooking: Sorbets

1, Passover, What's Cooking for Shabbos and Yom Tov 9 Responses »

Apr 052009

Supposing the Seder menu includes fish, soup, an entree heavy in protein and fat, plus starchy side dishes and vegetables. If you think about it, often the taste from one course stays in the mouth and interferes with the flavors of the next, or makes you feel overloaded from too many taste sensations. Introduce a cold, somewhat acidic, lightly sweetened sorbet between the fish and the soup, or after the entree, and everyone will be refreshed.

Not only do the taste buds feel ready to tackle something new (and after all your work, you do want people to appreciate the food) – there’s been a break in the pace of the eating, for which the stomach will be grateful.

I plan to serve a grapefruit/mint sorbet after the entree. Recipe follows below.

Notes:

Sorbets are easy to concoct, but have to be made the night before or very early in the morning, so plan ahead. They can also be made two or three nights ahead, but start losing flavor after that, even if kept in sealed containers.
Take your sorbet out of the freezer and place it in the fridge about an hour before you intend to serve (say, just before everyone sits down to start the Seder), so that it will be scoopable and not a frozen block when you need it.
For elegance, serve sorbet in goblets, if you have them. And have your goblets (or bowls) ready at hand before the meal starts, so that you spend the minimum time away from the table to serve.

Pink Grapefruit/Mint Sorbet

Makes 4 cups – enough to refresh 8-10 people

Ingredients:

1 cup sugar

1 cup water

1 cup fresh mint leaves

2 cups juice of pink grapefruit (white is also fine)

Method:

1. Make a simple syrup by combining the water, the sugar, and the mint, stirring over medium heat till the mixture boils.

2. Simmer the syrup for 5 minutes. Cover and take off the flame. Allow the syrup to infuse 10 minutes.

3. Meantime, juice the grapefruits. It took two to make me the 2 cups of juice.

4. Place a strainer over a bowl. Strain the syrup though it.

5. Strain the grapefruit juice into the bowl with the syrup in it; mix.

6. Put the mix into a flat freezer container if you have one. It will freeze more evenly that way. A bowl also works; you have to make sure it’s well covered.

Remember to take the sorbet out when it’s reached slushy stage – one to two hours after putting it in the freezer – and stir it up well to lessen crystalization.

This herby sorbet is best as a palate refresher.

*

Strawberry Sorbet

Makes 3 cups – serves 4-6 as a dessert

Ingredients:

1 cup water

1 cup sugar

3 cups fresh, cleanedstrawberries

1 Tblsp. lemon juice

Method:

1. Make a simple syrup out of the water and sugar by boiling them together for 5 minutes. Allow it cool somewhat.

2. Blend the strawberries.

3. Add the lemon juice to the strawberries; stir.

4. Mix the syrup and the blended fruit together.

5. Freeze. Stir it up when it reaches the slushy stage.

Satisfactory as a light dessert, maybe with cookies or a slice of sponge cake.

Other Sorbet Ideas:

For between-course refreshers:

Basil/Mint Sorbet: Infuse 1/2 cup of fresh basil and 1/2 cup of fresh mint leaves in the syrup. Strain and freeze.

Lemon Sorbet: Add the zest of 1 lemon and 1 cup lemon juice to the cooled syrup. Cover and freeze. Whizz in a food processor till its smooth again; freeze again.

For desserts:

Coconut Sorbet: Add 1 can of coconut milk to your simple syrup. Freeze. Serve with shavings of bittersweet chocolate scattered over each serving.

Rhubarb/Strawberry Sorbet:Cook 3 cups rhubarb with 1/4 cup water for 10 minutes. Stir in 1 cup sugar. Cover and cook 5 minutes till the rhubarb is tender. Allow to cool.

Purée the fruit and freeze till not quite firm. Purée again. Freeze again.

Very special:

Blend 1 cup of fresh berries of choice. If using forest berries with lots of seeds (raspberries, blueberries) strain the juice through a sieve. Make sure you have 1 cup of juice. Mix this with 2 cups of sparkling white wine – Champagne is best, but a Moscato is also fine. Depends on how sweet you like your wine. Freeze the mix, stirring and freezing again as in the above recipes. Caution: wine slush can get you drunk!

Passover Cooking: Broccoli Kugel Without Matzah Meal

Passover, What's Cooking for Shabbos and Yom Tov 11 Responses »

Apr 052009

Many thanks for this tasty recipe to Mrs. S. who posted it to her own blog, Our Shiputzim, and suggested it to me privately. It met with my family’s approval and I’ll be making it again over Pesach. It’s a real easy pleaser; a reliable vegetable dish that takes almost no trouble to make.

The recipe calls for an entire 32-oz. bag of frozen broccoli. I knew that would be too much for us, so I halved it. But multiply it at will. I also had to fool around with it a little… something I do with most recipes.

Simple Broccoli Kugel (no gebrochts)

Serves 4

Ingredients:

1 large onion, chopped

1/4 cup olive oil

3 Tblsp. potato starch

1 lb. – 450 grams frozen broccoli – about 1/2 bag

1 tsp. salt

pepper to taste

2 garlic cloves

a pinch of thyme

3 eggs, beaten

Method:

1. Sauté the chopped onion in the olive oil.

2. When the onions are golden, add the potato starch. Mix.

3. Add the broccoli and heat through.

4. Remove from the fire. Mix remaining ingredients in.

5. Grease a pan, or line it with baking paper, and bake at 350°F – 180°C for 45 minutes. Test for tenderness: if the broccoli is still underdone, bake a further 15 minutes.

Passover Cooking: Meat-Stuffed Potato Patties

Passover, What's Cooking for Shabbos and Yom Tov 6 Responses »

Apr 042009

I served these delicate, flavorful, crisp-skinned patties as appetizers on Shabbat. They were a hit. The few remaining ones also reheated well. Thanks to Becky T. for the idea.

Stuffed Potato Patties

about 10 patties

Ingredients:

250 grams ground beef or turkey

2 eggs

2 cloves of garlic

1/4 cup cilantro or parsley, leaves only

1 stalk of scallions

1 tsp. salt

pepper

1/2 tsp. cumin

2 Tblsp. red wine or stock or soup

3 medium potatoes – about 600 grams raw

1/2 tsp. paprika

1 cup matzah meal

olive oil for frying

Method:

1. Blend together the garlic, cilantro, scallions, salt, pepper, cumin and red wine. I did this with my stick blender.

2. Mix this seasoning into the meat.

3. Break one egg and put it over the meat: mix it in well.

4. Put the meat aside in the fridge for half an hour.

5. Meantime, peel and slice the potatoes. Cook them in boiling water till they are soft.

6. Mash them. Add the second egg to them, and a little soup or some of the cooking water – a few tablespoons – if they look dry. Add the paprika.

7. Take the meat out of the fridge and start heating up the oil in a skillet.

8. Sauté the meat till it’s entirely cooked through. Remove it to a clean bowl.

9. Wipe the skillet clean and put more oil in it. Start heating the oil gently.

10. Take about a tablespoon of the mashed potato and put it into the cup of your hand. Spread it out slightly.

11. Now take about 2 tsp. of the meat, more or less, and pat it down into the mashed potato.

12. Take another Tblsp. of the potato and put it on top. Fashion a ball of potatoes and meat. Don’t worry if it isn’t uniform: just keep it together in a ball.

13. Roll the balls in matzah meal. Flatten them slightly. Let them sit and dry some for 10 minutes, if you have the time: they’ll fry easier that way.

14. This is the only tricky part. You must fry the patties in hot oil, but only turn them over once because they do tend to fall apart. This is also why they mustn’t be very big: the soft mass of potato won’t keep its shape if you make large balls. You can see that mistake in the next photo.

To tell if a patty is ready to be turned over, slide a wooden or Teflon spatula under it and move it a little. If it feels heavy and slides around easily, it’s probably brown and crisp enough on the bottom to turn over.

Serve the patties either as appetizers or as a side dish. I don’t recommend them as a main dish because there isn’t enough meat in them to justify it. But everyone asked me to make them again.

Passover Cooking: Potato Gnocchi

Passover, What's Cooking for Shabbos and Yom Tov 22 Responses »

Mar 282009

Passover-potato gnocchi

The recipe for these Passover gnocchi has been sitting in my hard drive since last year. No mention of the source – so if anyone recognizes it, please let me know, and I’ll happily acknowledge.

I must say that the texture of these gnocchi is somewhat mealier than the usual, but that didn’t bother my family, who liked them very much indeed. The Little One couldn’t get enough, as a matter of fact. I’m definitely planning to serve them again during the holiday.

Gnocchi are usually served with pesto, marinara sauce, or just plenty of butter and grated cheese. I love all of those, but as the dish accompanied a meat dinner for Shabbat, I had to improvise something else. There were mushrooms, herbs, a few slow-roasted tomatoes, and chicken soup on hand. The sauce that resulted was pretty good. Recipe follows after the gnocchi.

Passover Gnocchi

serves 6

Ingredients:

3 medium potatoes

1/3 cup matzah cake meal

1/2 cup potato starch

1 egg

1 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. pepper or about 5 twists of the pepper grinder

5 tsp. olive oil

Method:

1. Wash the potatoes and pare away anything you don’t like, but don’t peel them.

2. Boil, whole, or cut in half, till they’re tender.

3. Drain the potatoes and, keeping them in their cooking pot, shake them over a low flame till they are very dry.

4. Allow them to cool slightly, and peel them as soon as you can handle them. The hotter they are at this stage, the better. I put on latex gloves to pick them up and peel.

5. Mash the potatoes. Make a well in the center and add the rest of the ingredients.

Get in there with your hands, mixing and kneading till you have a cohesive dough. You shouldn’t need to add any more matzah meal or starch; just keep working at it and in a few minutes the dough will solidify.

6. Cover the dough and let it mature for at least half an hour, in the fridge. I left mine out about an hour at room temperature, and it appeared to have fermented slightly – not surprising, given that potato and flour together ferment like crazy. I’m noting this because it’s probably a Pesach no-no, similar to sourdough. So keep your dough in the fridge and go on to the next step.

7. Cut the dough into four pieces.

8. On a flat surface well dusted with potato starch, roll each piece out into a snake about 3/4 of an inch thick.

9. Start plenty of salted water boiling in a large pot.

10. Cut out pieces about 1/2 inch long. I used a dessert fork to do this, and imprinted each piece with the tines as I cut along. The reason gnocchi have these impressions is to allow the accompanying sauce to cling to them all the better. It takes only a few minutes to get the hang of it; then the work goes quickly.

11. Boil the gnocchi, giving them one more minute after all have risen to the water’s surface. The whole thing takes only 2-3 minutes.

12. Drain the gnocchi, and if not dressing them with sauce right away, drizzle them with olive oil (or melted butter, for a dairy meal) and push them around gently with a wooden spoon to get coated with it.

*

I confess: my favorite dressing is plain butter and lots of grated Parmesan cheese. But as I said, I needed a meat-based sauce for Shabbat, so this is what I did.

Herb and Mushroom Sauce for Passover Gnocchi (Meat)

Ingredients:

Olive oil for frying

3 large shallots, diced

3 or 4 halves of fresh, ripe tomatoes or the same of slow-roasted

2 peeled and minced garlic cloves

1 small basketful of champignon mushrooms, clean and sliced in thirds

1/2 Tblsp. chopped fresh sage

1 tsp. salt

freshly ground pepper to taste

1 Tblsp. matzah cake meal

1 cup chicken soup

A few tablespoons white wine (or more soup)

Method:

In a large skillet, sautee the shallots and tomatoes.

When the vegetables are soft, add the sliced mushrooms and the garlic.

Stir-fry for a few minutes, till the mushrooms are tender.

Add the sage and the salt & pepper; stir and allow to heat through.

Clear a space in the middle of the skillet. Pour the matzah meal into it. Stir to heat through.

Add the soup. Stir diligently to distribute everything. Once the sauce is formed, add the wine and taste for seasoning again. If it seems to be drying out, add more soup.

Pour over the gnocchi and serve right away.