Category: Appetizer

Grilled Corn with Za’atar Garlic Butter


If you’ve been following my blog for a while, you may have noticed that I am part of a group of kosher food bloggers called the Kosher Connection. Each month, we are challenged to put our own twist on a link-up theme. Over the past year, we’ve had:

KOSHERCONNECTION July 2012: frozen desserts
August 2012: grilling
September 2012: honey
October 2012: root vegetables
November 2012: stuffing
December 2012: Chinese food
January 2013: miniatures
February 2013: home-made gifts
March 2013: Passover desserts
April 2013: The Best Thing I Ever Ate
May 2013: croutons
June 2013: cold soups

This month, we celebrate our one year anniversary as a group with a fun link-up – The Great Blog Swap. Each member of the Kosher Connection was issued a fellow KC member’s blog and challenged to create a recipe inspired by one on their site. My secret target blog is This American Bite.

This American Bite is a personal blog dedicated to whole food cooking with a passion for vegetarian and BBQ. Living in the Midwest with his wife an two children, Yosef Silver began This American Bite to share his passion for healthy kosher food. As a resident of Kansas City, Yosef brings his fresh approach to BBQ and has previously been a judge at the Annual Kosher BBQ Festival. This year, he plans to compete with his team, The Epicurean Bite. We wish him the best of luck!

Many of Yosef’s recipes are inspired by Middle Eastern cuisine, and za’atar is a spice you will find in a lot of his recipes. One such recipe is garlic, za’atar and olive oil stovetop popcorn.As an ode to Yosef’s Kansas City living, I decided to do a twist on his recipe by grilling fresh corn and smothering it in garlic & za’atar compound butter. I never imagined that the corn would come out so incredibly delicious. I have to say that it was literally one of the best things I have ever eaten! Garlic & za’atar compound butter is my new favorite combination, thanks to This American Bite!

First up, we’ve got the grilled corn. I couldn’t imagine doing a This American Bite blog swap without paying homage to his passion for barbecuing. I’m not exactly a BBQ aficionado, and on the day of my photo shoot, the weather here in Brooklyn topped off at 102 degrees. I wasn’t, shall we say, enthusiastic, about sweating over a hot grill. My reluctance turned to exuberance as soon as I took a bite out of the moist, barbecued corn. Grilling the corn in their husks keeps it deliciously moist while still imparting a smokey flavor.

Grilled Corn

Fresh corn in their husks
olive oil or compound butter

Method:

Remove the outer husks from the corn. Carefully peel back the remaining husks and remove the silk around the corn. Wrap the husks back around the corn and soak in water for 15 minutes. Remove the corn from the water and peel the husks back to grease the corn. Brush with olive oil or softened butter and close the husks up as tightly as possible.

Grease the grill with an oiled rag and set the heat to medium. Grill for approximately 30 minutes, rotating the corn every 5-10 minutes.

As I wrote in a recent post, I’m not that big on butter. Compound butter, is another story though. Who can resist a creamy flavored spread on top of warm crusty bread? Compound butter is simply butter mixed with other ingredients to create a flavorful spread. It can be sweet (strawberry butter is popularly served over pancakes) or savory (maitre D’hotel butter mixed with fresh parsley and lemon is a culinary favorite). I’ve tried quite a few flavors of compound butter in the past, and this za’atar and garlic version is by far, the best one I’ve ever had.

If you’re not familiar with za’atar, it’s a mixed herb and spice blend popular in the Middle East. Za’atar is primarily made up of sumac, thyme, oregano, sesame seeds and salt. The spice blend is widely available in supermarkets, but you can also find it on amazon.

Za’atar & Garlic Compound Butter

1/2 cup butter, softened (see note)
1 clove garlic, crushed
1 tbsp za’atar
kosher salt, to taste

Method:

Add all ingredients to a bowl and mix to combine. Place the butter in the center of a sheet of parchment paper and roll it up tightly. Twist the sides of the parchment paper to create a log of butter. Freeze or refrigerate until ready to use.

NOTE: For pareve, you may substitute with margarine. I prefer Smart Balance Light trans-fat-free butter spread.

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Now that I’ve shared my “This American Bite” inspired recipe, lets get back to where we started – The Kosher Connection Anniversary. Aside from the great roundup of recipes in the link-up below, we’re also celebrating with a spectacular giveaway! The KC is giving away 2 Emile Henry products – a Bread Cloche valued at $130 and a 4.2 qt Dutch Oven valued at $170! Use the Rafflecopter below to win- you can enter up to 23 ways! Two winners will be chosen at random.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

The contest winners will be contacted via email. They will have 48 hours to respond before other winners are chosen. This contest is open to United States residents over the age of 18


Watermelon Corn Salsa

When summer comes around, I love to take inspiration from the amazing fresh seasonal produce to create light and healthy dishes. The juicy melons and brightly flavored veggies work wonderfully to create sweet and crunchy salsas, tangy chutneys and colorful salads.

Using bright and sweet farm fresh produce requires little preparation. I usually dress my salads minimally with olive oil and citrus, allowing the fresh flavors to speak for themselves. This watermelon corn salsa is a great example. I’ve made it with both raw and cooked corn – each is equally delicious.

For the recipe, head on over to The Nosher Blog!

If you’re looking to experience the joy of picking your own farm fresh produce at a U-Pick farm, check out my review of Kelder’s Farm.

Other great farm-fresh salad recipes:

Roasted beet salsa
Snap pea, corn & red currant salad

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3 Ways with Duck Sauce Chicken

Recently, I was given the opportunity to develop some recipes for the Joy of Kosher Gold’s Pure Foods Campaign. Being a huge fan of many of Gold’s products, I was right on board. While Gold’s is mostly known for their horseradish, they actually produce a wide variety of products including their fantastic wasabi sauce, bbq sauce, and my favorite, their amazing collection of duck sauces.

Since Gold’s duck sauce plays such a huge part in my recipes, I decided to do 3 ways with 3 different types of chicken, and 3 different types of Gold’s duck sauce. Fun, right? Gold’s actually makes 4 varieties of duck sauce including sweet & sour, spicy garlic, snappy ginger and hot & spicy. My husband is not a fan of spicy foods, so I knew just which ones to choose.

In the following post, you’ll find recipes for:

>Chicken wings, using snappy ginger duck sauce
>Chicken breasts, using sweet & sour duck sauce
>Whole chicken quarters, using spicy garlic duck sauce

I hope you enjoy my 3 ways with chicken and 3 different duck sauce varieties. Check out more Gold’s recipes on Joy of Kosher.

STICKY GINGER CHICKEN WINGS

For my first recipe, I decided to do a sticky ginger chicken wing recipe. This makes use of Gold’s delicious Polynesian style ginger duck sauce and brightens up the flavors with fresh ginger, garlic and soy sauce. If you’ve never tried fine shreds of fresh ginger in a sauce, you’re in for a huge surprise. Finely julienned threads of ginger, practically melt into the sauce, giving it a bright and refreshing finish.


First, I sear the chicken wings in sesame oil with a light ginger-scented coating. I saute some finely julienne fresh ginger and minced garlic, adding snappy ginger duck sauce, chicken stock and soy sauce, to create a delicious sticky coating. I bake the chicken wings with the ginger glaze until crisped around the edges. These chicken wings make for the perfect appetizer at your next dinner party!


For the complete Sticky Ginger Chicken Wings recipe using Gold’s Polynesian-style snappy ginger duck sauce, visit this post on the Joy of Kosher website.

SWEET & SOUR PINEAPPLE CHICKEN

For my next recipe, I decided to do a take on a classic Chinese dish – sweet and sour chicken. Growing up, my mom would often fry up shnitzel for dinner, always serving it alongside a bowl of Gold’s sweet & sour duck sauce for dipping. When I got older, and started eating out, I was shocked to find that all people did not eat their shnitzel that way! As an ode to my childhood, I prepared this dish shnitzel style, instead of in little nuggets. It saves you on frying (and calories!)

I started off this recipe with classic Chinese takeout food in mind, and I couldn’t believe just how close it came to the real thing. This dish tastes like a perfect cross between sesame and sweet & sour chicken. I started off sauteing some onion, pepper and pineapple chunks until tender. I fried up the shnitzel in a crispy tempura batter, and prepared a sauce with Gold’s Cantonese-style sweet & sour duck sauce, ketchup, brown sugar and pineapple juice.


For the complete Sweet & Sour Pineapple Shnitzel recipe using Gold’s Cantonese-style sweet & sour duck sauce, visit this post on the Joy of Kosher website.

SPICY GARLIC CHICKEN

Finally, for our last recipe, I’m bringing up a not-so-old recipe for spicy garlic chicken using Gold’s Oriental-style spicy garlic duck sauce. This recipe went viral on Pinterest (4500+ repins), when a famous Pinterest user repinned the recipe here. It has become my blog’s most popular recipe, and you’ll see why when you revisit the recipe here.

What is your favorite recipe using Gold’s duck sauce? Share it with me in the comments below!

Summer Tomato Feta Salad

Believe it or not, I’m not the biggest tomato person. I’ll happily leave them out of my burger, and I never put them in my tuna sandwiches. My husband, on the other hand, is tomato-obsessed. Ask him what he would take to a desert island, and I know without a doubt, that it would be a boat-load of tomatoes. So when it comes to salad-making, you can imagine that we are not always in agreement.

Summer, though, is the exception. There’s just something about summer tomatoes that is so deliciously sweet. Instead of arguing about adding tomatoes to the salad, we end up making tomato-only salads. Using an assortment of tomatoes like red and yellow tomatoes on the vine, or colorful heirloom tomatoes, makes for a beautiful presentation. With summer tomatoes being so juicy and delicious, you really don’t need much to make them sing. A simple drizzle of good quality olive oil and balsamic vinegar is enough to dress them up. Feta adds protein, color, and saltiness, to balance out the tomatoes sweet flavor.

Needless to say, my husband is in LOVE with this salad. I hope you will be too.

Summer Tomato Feta Salad

Red & yellow tomatoes on the vine (or heirloom tomatoes)
Feta cheese
Good quality olive oil
Balsamic vinegar
Kosher salt
Black pepper, optional
Chopped parsley, for garnish

Method: Slice the tomatoes, about 1/4″ thick. Lay the tomatoes on a platter, alternating between red and yellow. Sprinkle the feta cheese over the tomatoes. Drizzle with olive oil and balsamic vinegar and season with kosher salt. Garnish with parsley.

1 year ago: picture perfect teacher’s gift
2 years ago: Asian bigger bowl soup

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3-Cheese Broccoli Pull-Apart Buns

I’m on a serious broccoli-cheddar kick right now, and every time I go to the pizza store, I find myself ordering a broccoli calzone. Or, at the very least, a broccoli pizza. There’s just something about broccoli and cheese that go together like cookies and cream, peanut butter and jelly or spaghetti and meatballs.

Now, I’m no baker, so the thought of making individual calzones is just too much for me. But after I made these amazing cinnamon buns (from scratch!) recently, I felt inspired to try a savory version. Using store-bought pizza dough made it all-the-more simple (thanks, Trader Joes!).

Making broccoli calzones into pull-apart buns, not only saves you on calories (if you can stick to eating just one!), it’s also cheesier, gooier and especially, prettier. Serve this up at a lunch with friends for some serious wow-factor!

If you’re not a broccoli person (what’s wrong with you?) then serve these up with the vegetables of your choice. Think olives, roasted veggies, caramelized onions, or whatever pizza toppings you wish! You can go also go crazy with the cheese varieties, using feta (feta and olives sounds great!), brie (how about some brie and figs!), or goat cheese (with pesto and sundried tomatoes, mmm…) Oh, the possibilities!

3-Cheese Broccoli Calzone Buns

1 lb. store-bought pizza dough (I use Trader Joe’s)
1 10oz. package frozen chopped broccoli, cooked and drained
1 cup ricotta cheese
1-2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
1-2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
parmesan or garlic powder, for topping (optional)
marinara sauce, for dipping

Method:

On a lightly floured surface, roll out pizza dough into a large rectangle. Spread ricotta cheese over dough. Top with chopped broccolli, shredded cheddar and mozzarella cheeses. Starting from the shorter side, roll the dough up tightly. Cut the roll into 7 slices and place in a lightly greased 9″ round pan. Sprinkle the buns with parmesan cheese or garlic powder (optional) and bake at 350 degrees until dough is puffed and cheese is bubbly and starting to brown.

1 year ago: DIY teacher’s gift
2 years ago: fast food, lightened up

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