The Uptown Havurah: February 2010

By popular demand, I'm finally sharing with everyone Eddie's mom's awesome vegetarian lasagna recipe:

The recipe usually takes less than 20 minutes to cook, with the majority of time going into preparation. This is a tasty treat that gives you protein, carbohydrates, veggies, and some dairy too. It really covers a lot of bases.

Ingredients:
one large box of lasagna noodles
one bunch spinach, chopped
one medium-sized container of no-fat ricotta cheese
one container of firm tofu
1 1/2cups shredded mozzarella cheese
6 1/2 cups of spaghetti sauce (yourfavorite jar or make your own)

The Nitty-Gritty:
Chop the tofu into small cubes and mix it in well with the ricotta (thisdoes a great job of hiding it from those who are not fans). In a large saucepan, boil the noodles until they are soft. Cover the bottom of a nonstick pan with a thin layer of the spaghetti sauce. Now begins the layering. Add a layer of noodles, then a layer of thericotta/tofu mix, then a layer of the chopped spinach, then a layer ofsauce, then the noodles again, and so on. Be sure to save some sauce--wewill want that to be the last layer added. Sprinkle the mozzarella cheese on top and put the lasagna in a 350-degreeoven. Watch for the cheese to melt and brown a little--that means it's done.

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Apple Kugel for all occasions (but especially for Rosh Ha'Shanah)

Ingredients:

6 egg whites 1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 cup sugar 1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup flour 5 granny smith apples, peeled and sliced
3/4 cup oil

The Nitty-Gritty:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease rectangular pan (about 8 x10 inch)
2. Mix all ingredients, except apples, together
3. Add apples
4. Sprinkle top with cinnamon sugar (1 part cinnamon to 5 parts sugar)5. Bake uncovered @350 for one hour.

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My Inferior Challah Recipe (ISO a superior challah recipe)

The following was ruthlessly stolen from an innocent elderly woman:

You will need:
a lot of luck (especially you, honey)
7 cups flour (1/3 version: slightly more than 2.3 C)
1 T salt (1/3 version:. 1/3 T)
1/2 cup sugar (or honey) (1/3 version: .05/3 C)
2 pkg yeast + 1/3 cup warm water (1/3 version: 1 yeast + 1/9 C w.w.)
1/2 cup oil (1/3 version: .05/3 C)
4 eggs (1/3 version: 2)
1 cup boiling water (1/3 version: 1/3 C)
1/2 cup cold water (1/3 version: .05/3 C)
This recipe makes the equivalent of 3 braided loaves.

Now do THIS:
Beat eggs in a small bowl.
In a large bowl mix oil, sugar and salt.
Add boiling water to large bowl and stir until all is dissolved.
Sprinkle yeast into a measuring cup with 1/3 cup warm water. Wait a few minutes, then stir.
Add cold water to mixture in large bowl. (The stuff in the bowl should now be the right temperature to add yeast. If too hot, wait a few minutes; if too cold, put the bowl in the microwave to heat it.)
Add yeast to large bowl.
Add eggs to large bowl, reserving about 1 tablespoon.
Add flour 1 cup at a time, mixing thoroughly after each addition.
Turn out dough onto floured board and knead for 5 minutes, adding more flour as needed (but not too much). Dough is ready if it springs back after being poked with a finger.
Put back into bowl, cover with dishtowel, and put in warm oven (heated to 170-200, and then turned off beforehand) until doubled - about 1 hour.
Turn out onto floured board and knead for 1-2 minutes.
Divide dough into thirds.
Take one of the thirds, and knead for another minute. Form into 8-12 small "snakes" for bulkies, or 3 large snakes for braid. Make bulkies by knotting each small snake and pinching the ends together. Place bulkies close together pinched-end down in greased pan (I use Pam). For braids, pinch ends of 3 large snakes together and begin braiding. Pinch ends together when done. Place in greased round pan or loaf pan.
Repeat for 2 other thirds. Put formed loaves/bulkies into oven (pre-heated and then turned off, as before) for about 45 minutes.
Remove from oven. Turn oven to 350.
Brush tops gently with reserved egg. Sprinkle with poppy seeds, if desired.
Bake for about 30 minutes (loaves) or 20 minutes (bulkies). Times will vary. Watch for moderate browning on top, but be careful not to allow scorching on bottom.
Remove from pans, and put on dish towels to cool.
YUM!! (her words, not mine)

Notes from Laura, who also uses this recipe, but with much greater success than the author of this post: I completely ignore all that information about the various water temperatures. I just do all the water normal bread making water temperature at the beginning (so sorta warm, I think many bread recipes have better descriptions than that) along with the yeast. Then I add the rest of the stuff as close to the order that its listed on the website. Also I only add as much flour as I need, which I don't think has been up to the full 7 cups so far.

Additionally: Deborah points out that Minnesota air is especially dry, and one should adjust moisture accordingly.
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The Most Spectacularly Rocking Hamantaschen Recipe Out There

This is Mandy's recipe, and I hereby vouch for this recipe's absolute superiority over all other hamantaschen recipes I have ever tasted. Yes. Really.

Ingredients:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 tsp. salt (kosher salt works fine)
1/2 tsp ginger
2 eggs
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 tsp. vanilla

Filling:
1 can peach pie filling
1 cup raspberry jam

Makes about 24

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Select a filling option, combine ingredients, and mix well. To prepare dough, mix dry ingredients and wet ingredients in separate bowls and then combine. Mixture will be crumbly and look dry; use hands to form into a lump. Knead a few times on a floured board. Roll out half the dough to about 1/8 inch thick and cut into circles with a cookie cutter. Repeat with remaining dough.

Place a spoonful of filling in the center of each circle and fold dough to form a triangle, covering as much filling as possible. If needed, use a little water to stick edges of dough together. Bake on ungreased cookie sheet for about 15 minutes, until edges begin to brown.

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Kosher Sangria: or, how to redeem Manischewitz:

~ Cups
Manischewitz Concord*
1 Manischewitz Blackberry*
0.5 ½ Lemon-½ Lime Juice
0.25 Orange Juice
0.5 Pineapple Juice
0.25 Cranberry-Pommegranate (100% Juice Mix)
0.5 Gin
0.125 Pomegranate Flavored Seltzer Water
1 Yield = ~4 people drinking ~1 cup each -- Multiply according to need

To Add to Punchbowl:
½ Orange, wedge cut/seeded
2 Blackberries, whole
Chill and Enjoy!

*Use Passover Manischewitz to avoid high fructose corn syrup. From Manischewitz' Web Page: In the case of Manischewitz wines, this means Kosher for Passover wines are produced using real cane sugar, instead of corn syrup. Manischewitz produces Kosher for Passover items beginning 4 months prior to the Passover holiday each year.

Thanks to Ken Kowalchek who shared this recipe with me at the National Havurah Institute!
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K for P (Kosher for Passover Recipes)

The first in this category is again from Eileen. It's for Pineapple Kugel:

Ingredients:
1 stick margarine
2 large cans crushed pineapple, drained
1 C Sugar
3 C. Matzo Farfel
Cinnaman to taste
8 eggs

Now make it happen:
Melt marg, add sugar. Beat in one egg at a time. Soak farfel for 3 minutesin warm water only. Drain add to mixture with pineapple. Pour into sprinkle cinnamon on top. 350 for 45-60 min until firm and knife out clean.
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INDULGE in your Vices/Weisses (hey it's pronounced the same, it IS the same) Alcohol-Chocolate Cake

You need 10 regular matzos. (This makes two cakes of 5 matzo layers each)

And then:
1. Soak the first matzo in sweet Concord Grape wine on both sides

2. Put the matza on a flat surface and spread liberally with the chocolate cream frosting (see below for recipe), then soak the next matzo in the wine and put it on top of the first one and spread it with the cream, and so on. Use 5 matzos per cake, ending with a layer of the chocolate cream frosting.

CHOCOLATE CREAM FROSTING (makes enough for 2 cakes of 5 matzos each)

1. MELT: 6 Tablespoons sugar
3 Tablespoons cocoa powder (unsweetened pure cocoa powder, like Hersheys -
this is always Kosher for Passover, even without
a special marking)
7 oz. (200 grams) bittersweet chocolate
2 sticks margarine
2 teaspoons rum flavoring

(I melt the above ingredients by putting them in a pan which I put above another
pan full of boiling water -- i.e. a kind of homemade "double-boiler").

2. Cool the melted ingredients -- (they don't have to be cold, just not hot -- kind of
body temperature is ok...)
3. Beat 3 eggs well, and blend into cooled chocolate mixture.

4. Refrigerate for 3/4 hour -- not longer, or it will get hard! (If it does, just put it back
over boiling water again and keep stirring constantly until
it re-melts..)
5. Spread onto the matzo as instructed above.

ENJOY!!

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Sweet Potato Zucchini Kugel

(this is Deborah's awesome recipe which is not only gluten-free and vegan, but also KforP. And, as all of you who attended the March gathering know, it is amazingly delicious and goes fast)

Ingredients:
1 lg sweet potato, peeled
2 sm zucchini
1 med russet potato, peeled
2 sm or 1 med yellow onion, peeled
2 eggs OR 1 1/2 Tbsp potato starch with 1/4 C water
1/3 C olive oil or canola oil
1/3-1/2 C potato starch
Salt & Pepper to taste (I recommend about 1 tsp salt)

Throw all the vegetables in a food processor to grate them, or you can do it the old-fashioned way if you have a grater (which will take more time). Put all the vegetables in a mixing bowl and add the oil and egg or egg substitute. Mix together. Slowly add in the potato starch and salt and pepper. Mix to distribute evenly.

Meanwhile, preheat oven to 365 degrees. Spray a 9x13 or equivalent sized casserole with cooking spray or grease with oil. Spread vegetable mixture evenly in the casserole and place in oven. Bake for 1 hr 15 min to 1 hr 30 min until top is golden brown and vegetables are soft. When in doubt bake for longer, but be careful not to let it burn. I also recommend turning off the oven when the kugel is done and leaving it in there to cool down. Best enjoyed with friends!
Makes about 8 servings.

Thanks again Deborah for sharing this fantastic recipe here!

The Uptown Havurah

Sunday, February 28, 2010

Where to go for kosher food and spirits

Thursday, February 11, 2010

Sites (mostly virtual) of possible interest

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