Author: chanie

Brie Marsala Pizza

It’s a funny thing about brie. I’m really not a stinky cheese kind of person. I won’t go near bleu cheese with a ten food pole. Not even if you paid me. But brie, now that sort of moldy cheese, I like!

Brie is a soft cow’s milk cheese named after the French region from which it originated. It is pale in color with a slight grayish tinge under a rind of edible white mold. The thing about the mold is – it doesn’t taste moldy. And it definitely doesn’t stink.

Inside that rind, you’ll find the creamiest pale yellow cheese that is spectacular with jam, amazing in puff pastry, and unbelievable with wine.

Since wine pairs so wonderfully with the rich and fruity notes in brie, I decided to create a pizza with a classic Marsala sauce and Natural & Kosher Cheese’s wheel of soft ripened brie. It would work equally well with their camembert.

With sweet fruity marsala, fragrant rosemary and rich brie, this pizza is a mushroom lover’s dream! Thyme or wild mushrooms make another great option!

Brie Marsala Pizza

1 lb. store-bought pizza dough (I use Trader Joe’s)
1/2 wheel brie
1 8 oz pkg button mushrooms, cleaned and sliced
1 lg shallot, minced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tbsp butter
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
salt & pepper, to taste
1 cup marsala wine
1/2 cup vegetable stock
1 sprig rosemary plus more for garnish

Method:

Heat the butter and oil in a pan and saute the shallot and garlic until fragrant. Add mushrooms and saute until the liquid evaporates. Season with salt & pepper. Deglaze the pan with Marsala wine and simmer until reduced by half. Add the stock and rosemary and continue to simmer until reduced and thickened, about 5 minutes.

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. On a lightly floured surface, roll out the pizza dough to a 12″ diameter circle and top with mushrooms, and brie. Garnish with rosemary. Bake until cheese is bubbly and the pizza dough is crisp and golden, about 15-20 minutes.


This post was sponsored by Natural & Kosher Cheese. Follow them on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, YouTube, Google+, or via their Blog
Related Recipes:
dried fruit brie bites

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Chickpea Cakes with Za’atar Cauliflower Relish

If you follow my blog, you probably already know about my passion for Israeli fare. From cumin to za’atar and roasted eggplant to chickpeas – you’ll find loads of Middle Eastern-inspired recipes here on BIB. I’ve been growing my collection of Middle Eastern cookbooks as well, with Balaboosta just recently added to books like Plenty, Jerusalem, Cook in Israel, The Book of New Israeli Food, and more.

In this delicious appetizer, I’ve created a chickpea cake, in a preparation similar to polenta, using garbanzo flour. Such cakes are popularly served in Northern Italy (where it’s called panisse) as well as the South of France (where it’s called panelle). They are often cut into sticks and fried to resemble french fries.

For the topping, I went with a delicious combination of za’atar roasted cauliflower with caramelized onions, prunes and toasted pine nuts. The result is a delicious combination of Middle Eastern flavors – the perfect recipe to guest post on Yosef Silver’s blog, This American Bite. You may remember it from The Great Blog Swap Link-Up where I created a recipe for grilled corn with za’atar garlic butter, inspired by his recipe for garlic, za’atar & olive oil stovetop popcorn.

For the recipe, head on over to This American Bite.

1 year ago: teriyaki salmon
2 years ago: stuffed roasted butternut squash
3 years ago: quick & easy chocolate rugelach

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Grape Nut Coconut Crunch Cookies

As a kid growing up in a small community, my friends and I would make our rounds early Purim morning, skipping excitedly down Kingston Avenue, our bags overflowing with shalach manos. There was always someone who delivered a bottle of chocolate milk and a danish, or better yet, some milk and cookies. Taffy and candies weren’t my thing, but cookies? Cookies were special. I’d rip open the shiny cellophane and dig right in to the perfect Purim breakfast.

Cookies have always been one of my favorite things. I love them chewy, but also crunchy, and sweet but also salty. How is that possible? Well, if you try these Grape Nut coconut crunch cookies, you’ll understand. The coconut flakes add chewiness while the Grape Nuts complement with just the right amount of crunch. They bake up into these perfect little mounds that are oh-so-pretty and perfect for a milk and cookies breakfast come Purim morning. And if you’ve got some friends down the block, I’m sure they’d appreciate a batch wrapped in cellophane, with a cold bottle of milk.

Grape Nut Coconut Crunch Cookies

1 1/2 cups white whole wheat flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup solidified coconut oil, softened
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups lightly packed sweetened flaked coconut
1/2 cup Grape Nuts Original cereal
1/3 cup mini chocolate chips

Method:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine the flour, baking soda and salt in a bowl and stir with a whisk. In a separate bowl, beat the sugars, egg, coconut oil and vanilla until creamy. Stir in flour and mix. Add remaining ingredients and stir to combine. Place tablespoons of batter (you make need to press the mixture together if it’s slightly crumbly) onto a cookie sheet and bake for 10 minutes. Cool completely before serving.

 

Other cookie recipes:

oatmeal cookies
pecan lace cookies
gingerbread cookies
s’mores cookies
chocolate crinkle cookies
classic sugar cookies
cowboy cookies

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The Hamantini

Purim has got to be every child’s favorite day of the year (and every dentists worse nightmare!). They get to dress up like princesses, go house hopping with their friends and amass an unconscionable amount of candy. It’s quite literally a kids dream come true.

But for the parents of those kids? Maybe not so much. First you got the weeks leading up to Purim where you have to wrack your brain for that perfect shalach manos gift basket. Not to mention all the kiddies, and their teachers, principals, therapists and bus drivers. It’s no wonder by the time Purim comes around, we’re meant to drink up until we don’t know the different between Haman & Mordechai.

And then you got Purim day where you’re up at an ungodly hour to dress all the kids in their Purim costumes, barely make it for Megillah reading, and run about town taking each of your kids to their list of friends, not to mention your family and friends. By the time you sit down for the Purim meal, you need a stiff drink! Enter: THE HAMANTINI, a riff on the classic Purim cookie – hamantaschen.

The 3-cornered hamantasch is customarily eaten on Purim because it resembles Haman’s hat. For more on that story, read this holiday guide. Hamantaschen are traditionally made with raspberry or apricot jam – both of which I have incorporated into my Hamantini cocktails.

For my Raspberry Hamantini, I went straight for my favorite drink of all time – Raspberry Snapple. A shot of vodka and some raspberry jam simple syrup offer a serious raspberry experience with just the right amount of buzz. Of course, the rim of the glass is dipped in raspberry jam syrup and raspberry hamantasch cookie crumbs – making The Raspberry Hamantini a most befitting name!

The Raspberry Hamantini

2 oz. raspberry Snapple
1 1/2 oz. vodka
2 tbsp raspberry jam simple syrup (recipe follows)
raspberry hamantasch cookie crumbs, for garnish

Method:

Add all ingredients to a cocktail shaker and shake (ice, optional). Dip the rim of your cocktail glass in raspberry jam simple syrup and raspberry hamantasch cookie crumbs. Pour the drink into your cocktail glass.

Raspberry Jam Simple Syrup

3 tbsp raspberry jam
3 tbsp water

Add ingredients to a small pot and bring to a boil, whisking to break up the jam. Simmer until slightly thickened. Set aside to cool.

If raspberry is not your flavor, give The Apricot Hamantini a try. With apricot nectar, dark rum and apricot jam simple syrup, you’ll be in apricot heaven! Of course the rim of this cocktail glass is also dipped in apricot jam simple syrup and finished in apricot hamantasch cookie crumbs for a festive finish. Apricot euphoria in a glass, if I may.

While I’m no mixologist, I had so much fun creating these festive cocktails! I found some great stuff hiding in my liquor cabinet, and I can’t wait to whip out my shot glasses come Purim. I make quite a fun drunk, I must say. So if you see me around and I’m a wee bit tipsy, you’ll can blame it all on Haman and his three-cornered hat.

So as the day dwindles down, and the kiddies collapse all shmeared in makeup and chocolate, whip out your martini glasses and let the real fun begin!


Pick the flavor that suits your fancy – Raspberry or Apricot (or both!)- and drink up and be merry! Happy Purim!

The Apricot Hamantini

2 oz. unsweetened apricot nectar (I use Ceres)
1 oz. dark rum
1 tbsp apricot jam simple syrup (recipe follows)
apricot hamantasch cookie crumbs, for garnish

Method:

Add all ingredients to a cocktail shaker and shake (ice, optional). Dip the rim of your cocktail glass in apricot jam simple syrup and apricot hamantasch cookie crumbs. Pour the drink into your cocktail glass.

Apricot Jam Simple Syrup

2 tbsp apricot jam
2 tbsp water

Add ingredients to a small pot and bring to a boil, whisking to break up the jam. Simmer until slightly thickened. Set aside to cool.

Other Cocktail Recipes:

whiskey cider
3 layer chocolate cake martini

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In honor of Purim, the Kosher Connection is having a cocktail linkup party! Read on for more great cocktail recipes and ideas!


Chicken Shawarma

I was never much of a shawarma person. In fact, in my entire year of living in Israel, I don’t think I even ordered it once. I’m more of a falafel girl. Fully loaded in a freshly baked laffa – pure heaven.

But something interesting happens when you have kids. Picky kids. Kids who don’t like the BBQ marks on their grilled chicken, or the crumbs on their shnitzel. Kids who won’t eat fish. Or most types of meat. When you have such kids, you start to make foods that you never imagined you’d be cooking – like shawarma.

When said kid tasted a bite of my husbands shawarma and liked it (how he got her to do that is beyond me), I knew I had to learn to make my own. And that’s exactly what I did. The first couple of times, said kid was licking her plate. Now she has decided she no longer likes it. And I have decided, I do. How’s that for irony?

Chicken Shawarma

1.5-2 lbs. dark meat chicken
1 medium onion, finely diced
1/4 c + 1 tbsp olive oil, divided
2 tbsp shawarma spice (use a spice blend or recipe below)
salt, to taste

Method:

Dice the chicken into small pieces and place in a bowl with 1/4 cup of olive oil and shawarma spice. Set aside to marinate while you cook the onions.

Saute the onions in 1 tbsp of olive oil until caramelized. Add marinated chicken and saute until the chicken is no longer pink.

Serve with hummus, techina, Israeli salad, red cabbage salad (recipe follows)

TIP: Dice the chicken when it’s partially frozen to make chopping easier.

Shawarma Spice

1 tbsp ground cumin
1 tbsp ground coriander
2 tsp paprika
1 tsp turmeric
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp allspice
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp black pepper
salt, to taste

Method:

Add all ingredients to a bowl and mix to combine.

Israeli-Style Red Cabbage Salad

shredded cabbage
olive oil
fresh-squeezed lemon juice
garlic powder
kosher salt

Method:

Add all ingredients to a bowl and mix until combined. Marinate until cabbage is slightly wilted.

Other Israel-Inspired Recipes:

roasted eggplants with Israeli salad
malawach cheese pastries with zaatar
chestnut hummus with pita chips
sachlav rose water pudding
banana, date, milk & honey smoothie

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