Appetizer – Page 30 – Busy in Brooklyn

Of all the recipe requests I receive, it seems like salmon is that one dish that people get bored of rather quickly – me included. I’ve had my fill of honey mustard salmon, I’d rather not look at another piece of teriyaki salmon, and I’m all magic-salmoned-out. The good news is, I’ve got an endless variety of salmon ideas, so I can always pick something from under my chef’s hat (figuratively speaking, of course).

Truth be told, I’m really not the biggest fish person altogether. I won’t touch tilapia (bottom feeders freak me out), I don’t like sole, and I usually stay away from gefilte (is that even considered fish?). I tend to lean towards salmon, flounder, red snapper or seabass, when available. I’ve always wanted to try different types of fish, but they’re not readily available where I live. I’ve had whole bronzino in restaurants and halibut at my mom’s (she loves it!), but I’ve never tried grouper or mahimahi. Arctic Char is one of the best pieces of fish I’ve ever tried – I would love to find a place that carries it!

I’ve always wanted to bake my own whole fish stuffed with lemon and herbs – better yet, catch and fillet it myself. It’s just another one of those things on my bucket list – and I hope to do it one day. I’ve heard that the taste of freshly caught fish doesn’t compare to what we buy at the fishmonger. I can just imagine it smelling of the ocean istead of, well, fish. Don’t you just hate it when you open up a package and a fishy stench just hits you like a fishing rod!?

Back to the salmon – since it’s one of the few types of fish that I eat, I’m always coming up with new ways to eat it. This pesto-smothered-recipe came to me when I was on the South Beach diet and I needed to stay away from sweet sauces and sugar. For added crunch (without the panko carbs), I grind up some nuts (whichever nuts are in the pesto) and sprinkle it over the top. It adds great texture to the salmon!

Pesto Baked Salmon

salmon fillets
your favorite homemade or store-bought pesto
roughly chopped nuts (I like to use the same nuts that are in the pesto, to complement it)
grated parmesan cheese, optional
olive oil
lemon slices, for serving

Method:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Rinse the salmon and pat dry. Spread pesto over the salmon slices and sprinkle with chopped nuts and parmesan (if using). Drizzle olive oil over the fish and bake for 15-20 minutes, until salmon is opaque and flakes easily with a fork.

PAREVE VARIATION: to make this dish nondairy – use a pareve pesto and omit parmesan cheese.

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Spinach Meat Lasagna Roll-Ups

On April 30, 2014May 2, 2014

by chanie

in Appetizer, Dinner, Lunch, Meat & Poultry, Pasta, Recipes

15 Comments

It’s funny how you never quite know which of your recipes is gonna go viral. Sometimes, I get so excited about my crazy mash-up ideas, that I think the whole world will too. But I’m not always right. Like here and here. No biggie.

It’s when I least expect it that people go gaga over my food. Like here and here. You can be minding your own blogger business when before you know it, the recipe’s been repinned hundreds, or even thousands, of times. My spinach lasagna roll-ups is one such recipe, and when I noticed all the love it was getting, I decided I had to share my meat version.

You see, being kosher, I do not eat milk and meat together, so bechamel-smothered-meat-lasgana is out of the question. We kosher-keepers eat our lasagna either meat, or dairy, not both. Of course you can always make dairy lasagna with soy crumbles, or meat lasagna with vegan cheese, but I’m just not one for the fake stuff. It’s either got real meat, or real cheese, no soy for me!

So, without further adieu, I give you the meat version of my dairy lasagna roll-ups. Let me know which ones you like better!

Meat Lasagna Roll-Ups

approximately 14 lasagna sheets
1 medium onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 1/2 tbsp olive oil
2 lbs. ground beef
1 10 oz. box frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed to remove water
2 15 oz. cans tomato sauce
12 oz. tomato paste
2 tbsp sugar
1 tsp basil
1 tsp oregano
1 tsp garlic powder
salt and pepper, to taste
juice of 1/2 lemon

Method:

Cook lasagna noodles according to package directions. Drain and lay the noodles onto parchment paper or aluminum foil (so that they don’t stick together).

Saute onion and garlic in oil until translucent. Add meat and saute until no longer pink. Drain, if necessary.

Mix tomato sauce, paste, spices, spinach and lemon juice. Reserve 1 cup. Add remaining tomato mixture to the meat and cook over low heat for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Taste and adjust seasoning, if necessary.

Spread the meat mixture onto the lasagna sheets and roll up. Brush the lasagna rolls with the reserved tomato sauce.

Pour 1/4 cup of water into the bottom of the pan. Bake, covered, at 350 degrees until heated through, about 20 minutes.

Related Recipes:

dairy spinach lasagna roll-ups

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Scrambled Hard-Boiled Eggs

On April 17, 2014July 8, 2014

by chanie

in Appetizer, Breakfast, Brunch, Paleo, Passover, Recipes, Whole30

3 Comments

They say necessity is the mother of invention and I guess that’s how this recipe came to be. I mean, you can’t say you’ve really tried every type of egg dish over Passover until you’ve tried scrambled hard-boiled eggs, right?

My mother has been making these on Passover for as long as I can remember. She learned to make them from my grandmother, who learned to make them from her mother. I’m not sure if this is a traditional Hungarian dish, or if my great-grandmother invented it. I imagine there wasn’t much else to eat back in Europe besides for eggs and potatoes, with a little chicken or meat on the side, if they were lucky. So creativity with eggs and potatoes was a must. How else can you explain adding hard boiled eggs to runny scrambled ones?

Eggs on eggs might sound kind of weird. Ok, it does sound really weird, but trust me when I tell you that these scrambled hard-boiled eggs are incredibly delicous. Adding hard-boiled eggs to the scrambled ones make this dish substantial enough to serve for lunch, with a side of salad or matza and cheese.

Scrambled hard-boiled eggs is just one of the interesting recipes my family whips up with eggs over Pesach. There’s also our sweet nut omelette that we’d whip up for breakfast and the mock chopped liver that begins with some deeply caramelized onions.

Aside from eggs and potatoes, sauteed onions are the other quintessential Passover ingredient. Since we don’t use spices or processed ingredients over the holiday, sauteed onions are a crucial base for adding flavor to every dish. These scrambled hard-boiled eggs are no exception.

Scrambled Hard-Boiled Eggs

2 tbsp oil or shmaltz
1 small onion, thinly sliced into half rings
3 hard-boiled eggs, peeled and mashed
4 raw eggs
salt and pepper, to taste

Method:

Saute the onions in oil until deeply golden and caramelized. Add the mashed eggs and saute for 1-2 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. whisk the raw eggs and season with salt and pepper, Pour over the cooked eggs mixture and stir until scrambled but still slightly wet (but not runny). Serve immediately.

Yield: 4 -5 servings

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Sugared Almonds

On April 10, 2014April 10, 2014

by chanie

in Appetizer, Dessert, Passover, Recipes, Snacks

10 Comments

Growing up, one of our family’s Passover customs was to use liquid sugar, or simple syrup, in place of regular sugar in our recipes. It was a stringency brought back from Europe by our great-grandparents, and we continue to keep it, year after year.

The night before Passover, my mother boils up a vat of water and sugar until thickened and pours it through layers of cheesecloth into mason jars. Not being able to use regular sugar on Pesach has it’s challenges. Like when you want to bake cookies, or cake. But it sure has it’s advantages too. Like when we want to make easy sorbet, quick lemonade, or a mix up a pitcher of sangria. These classic sugared almonds are another advantage.

Sugared nuts are different from candied or glazed nuts, which are oftened tossed with egg white and butter for a sticky coating. Simple 2-ingrediented sugar coated nuts are cooked down until the sugar crystallizes and forms a crunchy crust on the nuts. You may have seen (or smelled) them on the streets of New York, in those Nuts 4 Nuts street carts.

The great part about making sugared nuts is that they’re a blank canvas for all flavors and combos. You can toss in some cinnamon (my favorite!) add a hint of sea salt (‘cuz I love sweet and salty!) or throw in a pinch of cayenne for a little kick.

My favorite part about this kosher for Passover recipe is the great feeling I get from making them entirely from scratch. Cracking the nuts brings me back to the days of old, imagining what Pesach was like for my ancestors, as they prepared simple foods made from scratch, a custom we we have carried on for generations.

Sugared Almonds

2 cups raw almonds (or nuts of choice)
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup water
optional add-ins: vanilla, cinnamon, cocoa, sea salt or cayenne

Method:

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.

Combine the sugar and water in a pan and bring to a boil over medium-high heat until sugar is fully dissolved. Add the almonds and continue to cook, stirring constantly as the sugar thickens. After about 4 minutes, the water will evaporate and the sugar with crystalize on the nuts. Continue to stir until the sugar begins to turn light brown and caramelize. Watch the nuts carefully because they can quickly start to burn at this point. Pour onto the parchment-lined baking sheet and stir in any spices of your choice. Bake for approximately 10 minutes until toasted and fragrant. (You can skip this step but I find that when starting with raw nuts, they need that extra bit of roasting for added crunch). Set the nuts aside, they will get crunchier as they cool.

VARIATION: Try adding almond, coconut or vanilla extract to the sugar syrup or toss with the spices of your choice.

NOTE: If you want even more of a sugar coating, double the sugar syrup recipe and continue as above (the evaporation process will take longer).

Other Passover recipes:

chicken pot pie Passover croquettes
rainbow pommes anna
mock chopped liver

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Passover Stuffed Cabbage

On April 7, 2014October 18, 2014

by chanie

in Appetizer, Dinner, Meat & Poultry, Passover, Recipes

15 Comments

Stuffed cabbage is just one of those foods that is synonymous with tradition. The smell and taste of the meaty cabbage rolls in a sweet tomato broth evoke a feeling of nostalgia and memories of Bubby’s kitchen. Well, at least my Bubby’s kitchen.

Bubby always made the best stuffed cabbage, and still does. When I want a taste of bubby’s holipches, I whip up a batch of her cabbage soup with flanken. It’s got all the flavor of stuffed cabbage, without the stuffing.

Although if you want to go ahead with the stuffing, I’ve got you covered. Once you’ve stuffed your cabbage rolls with meaty filling, you’ve got to simmer it in a sweet tomato sauce with a few of Bubby’s secret ingredients. Don’t worry, I’ll fill you in later.

Now when people think of Kosher for Passover stuffed cabbage, they assume it’s a dish eaten by Sephardim because it contains rice. No Siree! I’ve adapted my grandmother’s recipe so that Ashkenazim everywhere can enjoy the sweet taste of stuffed cabbage without the rice!

The secret to my Kosher for Passover stuffed cabbage is mashed potatoes. We always have leftover mashed potatoes in the fridge over Pesach, and what better way to use them than to bind and soften the meat mixture for the stuffed cabbage filling!

Truth be told, my favorite part of holipches is the cabbage. In fact, when my mom’s stuffed cabbage rolls would fall apart in the pot (don’ t worry, I’ll teach you how to avoid that!), I’d fish out all the cabbage and leave the meatballs for everyone else!