Goodness

Things that were good this week:

• Hearing “The Electric Slide” loudly wafting up from the schoolyard across the street, I looked out the window to see all the classes, with their teachers, dancing out in the yard. Some were doing the electric slide, others the macarena, still other classes doing dances in slight formation/lines, while plenty of kids were just running all over dancing in congo lines. It was pretty great to watch at 10:15 on a weekday morning.

• Seeing Sex and the City with my good friend S. Better still, having pre-SatC cocktails, and sipping some more during the film. It was surprisingly funny and, despite the negative reviews, we both enjoyed it. I also quite enjoyed the fashionistas dressing to the nines, for a matinée screening: cocktail dresses, strapless mini dresses, gay guys in SatC pink (as if that’s its own shade now), and the “Carrie wore it in one episode so it must be okay” men’s shirt with a belt and flip-flops. As funny as the movie was, and as sophisticated as the NY audience thought we were, it should be noted that the biggest, longest, and heartiest laugh came midway through the film at a poo joke. We might as well have been watching an Adam Sandler movie.

• Also great, seeing your friend drunk by 1:30 in the afternoon. (Seriously, I love you. Thanks for going with me.)

• The sun, the blue skies, and reading up on the roof.

• A great Shabbos last weekend, and another amazing Shabbos rolling in in a few hours.

Drink: throw blueberries, fresh mint, lime wedges, and simple syrup into a pitcher. Mottle. Add ice cubes, tonic, and vodka. Stir. Enjoy. No, really, enjoy. Let’s call it… Benjamin’s Sprimmer Cocktail.

It tastes like Vancouver

Another great thing about living (and eating) in Israel? The availability of hecshered (kosher) Asian food. And for cheap! Which means I’m able to enjoy one of my favourite make-in-advance and enjoy as a snack or meal foods: sushi salad.

Super simple: prepare sushi rice with sushi-zu (a mixture of rice vinegar, sugar, and salt), then let it chill in the fridge. Also rehydrate and marinate shiitake mushrooms, julienne your oshinko, and julienne some tofu and fry it with sesame oil. In North America, I usually also have tuna or fake crab with it, and avocado too, but it’s not avocado season in Israel, and the store was out of fake crab. When it’s time to eat, put a portion of rice in a bowl, load on some toppings, garnish with some pickled ginger, et voila, sushi salad (or, sushi in a bowl). Delicious and cheap.

The oshinko costs $2CDN, the giant bag of shiitake was $2CDN as well, the huge block of tofu was $3CDN, and the rice vinegar and soy sauce were cheaper than anything kosher I could find in Montreal. Amazing. A taste of Vancouver in Israel.

Thanks to EAR for turning me on to the Asian market on Agripas, near the shuk.

When all else fails, cook and bake!

What do you do the evening of the morning that the paper which you haven’t yet started was due?

a) Write the paper so that it’ll only be a day late
b) Attend to the much needed grocery shopping
c) Make calzone

If you answered b, as a means to c… you’re right!

They’re really easy to make, and are great portable meals. (Take them to school, work, or play for a lunch or snack. They can be eaten cold, or reheated. And they freeze well.) Plus, they’re healthy, and come in an almost endless variety of flavours.

My usual “I don’t measure when I bake” rules apply, so consider yourself warned.

The dough:
On a clean, dry surface, make a small hill out of 5 cups of whole wheat flour. [Optional: add herbs to the flour.] Make a small well in the middle; make sure the flour “walls” are thick and “sturdy” as you’re going to need them to hold water in the well.

Pour 1 cup of tepid water into the well. Sprinkle 2 tbsp of yeast, 1 tbsp sugar, and 1tbsp salt into the water. Mix the water with a fork, being careful to leave the flour walls in tact.

Slowly start pulling the walls into the well, mixing with the water. You’ll get about half mixed in, then you’ll need to add more water. Add water a bit at a time, mixing as much four in as you can, until you have a nice, not-too-sticky dough. (You’ll probably have given up on using the fork, and will be using your hands to mix it.)

You want to start kneading the dough at this point, adding a bit more flour if your dough’s too sticky. Keep working the dough for 4-5 minutes until it’s nice and smooth.

Work it into a ball and put it in a bowl. Cover the bowl with saranwrap and let the dough rise for about 30 minutes, until it’s doubled in size.

Meanwhile, prepare the filling:
I like to sauté vegetables instead of putting in raw ones. For tonight’s calzones, I used one large white onion (chopped), three small zucchinis (sliced), and about 20 mushrooms (sliced). As they softened in the wok, I added seasoning (garlic, basil, paprika, fennel, oregano, lemon zest, black pepper, ginger, thyme, and a few drops of lemon juice). In my experience, calzones need a lot of flavouring, so don’t worry about over-seasoning.

You can really use any vegetable… or anything you would normally enjoy on a pizza, or in a sandwhich. I’ve also made curry calzones, breakfast calzones (crack an egg on the dough [it cooks while you bake it], add some meat or faux meat or tofu or cheese or whatever, some spinach and/or tomatoes), and many many many different varieties of toppings.

Preheat your oven to 350ºF.

Back to the dough:
Punch down the dough, and knead it a little more. Break off a small fist-sized amount of dough. On a floured surface, roll the dough out into a circle-esque shape. (You’ll want to keep the rolling pin and surface floured.)

Take the rolled dough and put it onto a baking sheet. Add your toppings, cheese, a little tomato sauce… whatever you want. But the key is to only put topping on half of the dough, and do not overfill!!!

Prepare the seal: dip your fingers in a bowl of water, and wet the edge of the dough, all the way around. Fold the dough over, and press down to “seal” it up. You’ll then want to fold-and-pinch the seal all the way around the calzone and/or fold-and-fork it. (You’re trying to make a good seal so that the toppings, sauce, or any liquids don’t escape during baking. But, as you don’t want them to explode during baking either, with a fork, make venting holes on top of your calzone.

Repeat until you’ve filled your baking sheet. You’ve made enough dough to make two baking sheet-fulls.

Bake for about 20 minutes until golden brown. If you’re freezing them, I recommend wrapping them individually in saranwrap or a ziplock bag after they’ve cooled. (Then you can take them out of the freezer the night before you’ll want them, put the bagged/wrapped calzone in your bag, and they’re thawed by lunch!)

Enjoy!

And now, to eat… and start considering the writing of the paper that was due 12.5 hours ago…

Muffins!

The best thing about making muffins is that they’re easy to make. And just as easy to make up a recipe for. The basic idea you want to work with is a 2:1 ratio of dry to wet ingredients. Aside from that, there’s plenty of room to play.

Today’s muffins shall be named Oatmeal Fruit Muffins, as they were inspired by my want to bake with the yummy dried fruit I bought at Trader Joe’s.

Preheat the over to 350ºF.

In a bowl, mix 4 cups of oat flour*, with 2 tsp baking powder, 1 tsp baking soda, 1 tsp salt, and a pinch of cinnamon. I also added 2-3 tbsp of flax seeds, plus another about 2 tbsp of ground flax seed.

Add a cup of dried blueberries, and another cup of orange flavoured cranberries. Mix into the flour mixture. (This will “dredge” the berries, so that they won’t clump together once the liquids are added to the batter.)

Make a well in the middle of your flour and fruit mixture. Beat an egg in a small bowl then pour it into the well. (I crack it directly into the well then mix it there.) Then add a cup of milk and 1 tbsp honey to the well. Mix the liquids into the flour. Don’t over mix!

Scoop the batter into a slightly greased muffin tin. Bake for 20-25 minutes.

Enjoy!

*Oat flour is easy to make, if you don’t want to buy it. Simply put oat flakes/rolled oats in a blender, and whirl it up until it’s finely ground. I like baking with oat flour as it keeps the baked goods moist.

How to bake challah

Watch Liz school us on bakin’ challah!

If you build it…

Despite being sick (my gastrointestinal system decided to deflect to another team), I cooked up a storm Thursday night. I didn’t taste anything as I went along, so I was a little weary come Friday’s dinner to serve to my guests. But, as 9 of us sat in my sukkah, I was complimented on the food. Dinner included a spinach salad with lemon vinaigrette, apricot couscous, carrot and apple kugel, and a butternut squash soup. There were also the two lovely challahs that one_in_progress brought, and dessert: my chocolate mousse pies, rugelleh, raisins, fresh dates, pomegranates, and booze. Aside from the kugel and challah, the meal was vegan. I tried to cook things that would reflect the harvest, fall vegetables, and be hearty enough to keep us warm while we ate outside.

It was Shabbat, so we don’t shake the lulav. Except that I grew up Reform which meant one day of holidays that are celebrated for 2 days in the Diaspora. Plus a mitzvah that’s joyous doesn’t negate the prohibition to work on Shabbat… Minus a wall, plus a cold, square the mean age of kittens trying to escape from the sukkah to freedom and…. A few people shook the lulav before leaving Friday night. I shook it on Saturday morning, after dovening in the sukkah, and eating brunch in there. And it’s a good thing too: This morning I woke to find one of the walls had blown down. (It seems that the load-bearing chair wasn’t heavy enough to resist the wind.)

So I dovened to the sound of flapping, whacking, banging tarps and wood this morning, then took that wall down completely.

Also, a tip: when a newly white coated doctor-to-be declares that she’s not contagious, only sip from the same kiddush cup as her if you want to have a cold by havdallah.

Some more sukkah photos are here.

All recipes are my own. If you use them, please give me some credit. Thanks!

Apple Carrot Kugel
2 lb bag of carrots, peeled and grated
6 empire apples, grated
1 sweet potato, greated
4 eggs
salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ginger, grated
1/2 cup matzah meal (or flour)

Grease a 3L (13×9) baking pan. Preheat oven to 350F. In a bowl, combine the carrots, apples, and potato. In a separate bowl, beat the eggs; mix in the salt, cinnamon, and ginger. Add the egg mixture to the veggies, mix to make sure they’re coated well. Add the matzah meal/flour and mix well. Pour into the pan. Bake for ~50mins, until nicely browned on top, and there isn’t any liquid left inside.

Butternut Squash Soup
3 butternut squashes
2 onions, roughly chopped
1 tbsp oil
enough veggie stock to cover (about 2 litres)
2 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp ginger powder
1 tsp salt
freshly ground pepper

Prepare the squash by peeling, scooping out the seeds; cut into chunks, and arrange in a pan. Cook in the over for 1 hour, until softened, at 325F.

In a large pot, heat up oil. Add squash and onions. Cook until onions have softened. Add cinnamon, salt, pepper, and ginger; mix and cook another few minutes. Add stock. Bring to a boil then simmer, with the lid on, for a long time (I think I let mine go for 2 hours). Adjust seasoning as needed. with an immersion blender, purée the soup. (If you don’t have one, let the soup cool, then pour, in batches, into a blender. Remember: if it’s still warm, don’t put the lid on (steam needs to escape), instead hold a clean tea towel over the top to prevent the soup from escaping.)

You might want to add more stock when you’re done to get a thinner soup; I liked it really thick.

Chocolate Mousse Pie
Either buy chocolate wafer crumbs or graham cracker crumbs, or buy wafers and crush them yourself. Melt margarine. Combine with crumbs. Push moistened crumbs into a pie tin. Put in the fridge for the crust to harden/set.

Filling: Put a banana and a pack of silken tofu (or, dessert tofu) in a blender. Give it a whirl until it’s smooth. In a double boiler, melt some bitter-sweet chocolate. Add melted chocolate to the blender. Whirl. Add more chocolate if you find the taste of the tofu too noticeable. Pour the blender contents into the pie crust. Put back in the fridge for the mousse to set. Yum!

Optional: Put berries (I find raspberries are quite nice) into the mousse (don’t blend though!) or spread them out on top. Quite yummy.

Strawberry Salad

I made a salad for Shabbat dinner that went over swimmingly. The key, I think, was the strawberry dressing.

Dressing:
6 strawberries
1/2 cup olive oil
2 tbsp balsamic vinegar (or more, to taste)
1 teasp honey
salt, pepper to taste

Combine all ingredients in a blender, and give a whirl. Chill until needed.

Salad: spinach; oranges (peeled and chunked); strawberries (halved); mango (chunked); asparagus (steamed, halved, and cooled); avocado (chunked).

Toss with dressing, serve. Yum!

Sangria and/or Mingling Manischewitz Mixtures

I spent Friday evening, pre-Shabbat, sitting on a terrasse, in the drizzling rain, drinking sangria with visiting friends (in town from NY for their wedding anniversary).

Shabbat dinner was lovely, with great people and great food. (I am so making rosemary challah!)

Today was spent playing tour guide to the visiting friends, drinking more pichets de sangria or terrasses.

Then, Manischewitz magic. Last night, at Shabbat dinner, as I was introduced to my new “sweet and bubbly” kosher wine, plans were hatched for a Manischewtitz party. And tonight, we executed those plans. I made Mingling Manischewitz Mixtures. So tasty, you should make some right now!

• In a blender, pour in Manischewitz wine. (If this were “Hebrew Hammer,” I’d tell you to use the “black label” stuff, but what we used was the blackberry wine.)
• Add frozen berries (blueberries, raspberries, and strawberries.)
• Blend.
• Taste.
• Realise that it is *really* sweet.
• Add Cointreau to counter the sweet.
• Blend.
• Pour into wine glasses, for that extra touch of class.
• Drink!

(Variations: add Wilde’s strawberry passionfruit juice.)
Please note: This is best done in batches, using up 1.5 bottles of Manischewitz.

Along with the drinks, we felt that drinking Mingling Manischewitz Mixtures called for a couple episodes of Sex and The City. (The one where Harry and Charlotte get back together, and then their wedding episode, because, really, who doesn’t love hora puns?) And then they wanted something else, and no one had seen the Hebrew Hammer, and the sugar from the Mingling Manischewitz Madness was racing through our bloodstreams, so we watched, and laughed, and laughed some more. Excellent.

Tomorrow? Free museum day, playing tour guide some more, and hopefully more sangria.

Vegan and/or Vegetarian Recipes

I’ve been really bad at posting recipes, hence the whack of ‘em going up at once. Enjoy!

Black Forest Mushroom Soup

4 cups dried Black Forest mushrooms	In a medium bowl, cover mushrooms with boiling water. Allow to sit about 2 hours or until mushrooms have softened. Remove ends of mushroom stems and slice. Reserve liquid. In a large, heavy, soup pot, heat butter over medium-high heat until butter melts and begins to turn a nutty brown colour. Add onion, leek, and pepper; sweat 3-4 minutes or until softened. Add garlic and mushrooms and sauté for 3-4 minutes. Add tarragon, wine, stock, and mushroom liquid. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to medium, and simmer for 10 minutes or until mushrooms have softened. In a medium sized bowl, whisk buerre-manié until smooth. Slowly whisk in 1 cup of the soup mixture until buerre-manié resembles a smooth paste. Add to the soup 1 spoonful at a time, whisking constantly. Simmer until thickened slightly. Stir in cream and season with Worcestershire sauce,nutmeg, salt and pepper. Bring back to a boil and serve.
4 cups boiling water
¼ cup butter
2 cups Spanish onion, diced
1 cup leek, diced
1 cup green pepper, finely diced
1½ teasp garlic, minced
1 teasp dried tarragon
½ cup red wine
8 cups stock
5 tbsp buerre-manié
1 cup whipping cream
1 teasp Braggs
½ teasp nutmeg
salt
pepper

Thai-Spiced Watermelon Soup

5 cups seeded watermelon, coarsely chopped	This light, spicy soup is delicious hot or chilled. The sautéed aromatics turn the broth a rich red-orange, more reminiscent of tomato than watermelon. See if your guests can guess the main ingredient. Active time: 1 hr Start to finish: 1 hr (3 hr if serving chilled) Purée watermelon in a blender until smooth and transfer to a bowl. (Don’t wash blender.) Discard 1 or 2 outer leaves of lemongrass and trim root end. Thinly slice lower 5 to 6 inches of stalk and then mince, discarding remainder. Cook lemongrass, shallot, ginger, and garlic in oil in a 2-quart heavy saucepan over moderately low heat, stirring, until aromatics are pale golden, about 5 minutes. Add about one third of watermelon purée and simmer over moderate heat, stirring, 5 minutes. Remove watermelon mixture from heat, then transfer to blender along with chile, lime juice, and salt and blend until smooth (use caution when blending hot liquids). Add remaining watermelon purée and blend briefly. Season soup with more chile, lime juice, and salt if desired, blending if necessary. Pour soup through a sieve into a bowl, pressing on and then discarding any solids. Chill soup, uncovered, about 2 hours if serving cold, or reheat in cleaned saucepan. Makes 4 first-course servings. Idea: marinate tofu (or fake crab!) in cilantro, oil, and salt. sautée lightly, add to soup.
1 lemongrass stalk
3 tbsp shallot, chopped
1.5 tbsp ginger, chopped
1 tbsp garlic, chopped
1.5 tbsp olive oil
1 small hot green chilli (Thai or serrano), finely chopped (including seeds)
2 tbsp lime juice
0.75 tsp salt
lime wedges

Mock Chopped Liver

3 tbsp oil	Sauté the mushrooms and onions for 8-10 minutes. Pour into blender/food processor, adding walnuts and seasoning and water. Blend until smooth.
1/2 lb mushrooms, chopped
1 small onion, chopped
1 cup walnuts, chopped
salt, pepper
1 tbsp water

Desserts

This was a huge success at tonight’s BBQ burritos and salad on the terrasse, and folks wanted the recipe. So here it is.

I devised this recipe after being challenged last May to make a chocolate banana vegan mousse that was as tasty as the one as Aux Vivres.

crust:
1.5 cups Graham Cracker crumbs (made by putting GC in a bag and *thwacking* it repeatedly)
2 tbsp sugar
1/4 cup margarine, melted

filling:
1 pack of silken tofu
1 ripe bananas
1.5 cups semi-sweet chocolate
1 tsp vanilla extract

Making your own crust is really simple. (Though, you could just buy one at the store.) Preheat the oven to 375°F. Mix all ingredients until well blended. Press the mixture firmly onto the bottom and up the sides of 9-inch pie plate. Bake for 8 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool completely.

Filling! Put the tofu, bananas and vanilla in a blender. Blend. Put aside for a moment. On the stove, melt the chocolate in a double boiler. If you don’t have one, you can replicate it by bringing a small saucepan of water to a boil, then putting a metal bowl over the top of the pot and putting the chocolate in the bowl. Stir the chocolate to help it melt… Once it’s melted, add to the blender, and blend away. You’ll probably need to use a spatula to scrape the chocolate from the sides.

Pour the filling into the pie crust. Put it in the fridge to cool. (The cooled chocolate will harden, holding the pie filling firmly together.)

ta da!

This recipe is also really good with berries mixed in instead of (or in addition to) bananas. Also, I’ve tried it with a bit of liqueur (I’ve tried cointreau and Bailey’s) and both are super tasty.