Category: Lunch

Gluten Free Butternut Squash Latkes

Latkes. We can’t seem to get enough of their crispy, fried goodness! I don’t know about you, but I can eat latkes all Chanukah long. As long as I switch up the flavors, I’m good. Butternut squash latkes has become a family favorite in our home. They’re light, mildly sweet, and lend themselves well to all sorts of seasonings. We like them best straight up – good old butternut squash, onion, egg and some simple salt seasoning, but feel free to spruce them up with curry, paprika, cumin, or your favorites.

Because I prefer to prepare these gluten free latkes with simple flavors, I spice up the garnishes instead. Ginger applesauce and curried sour cream are the perfect complements to the butternut squash. Top them off with some scallions for latke perfection on a plate.

What are some of your favorite latke varieties? I’d love to hear! Share them in the comments below!

Butternut Squash Latkes

1 2 lb. butternut squash, peeled and grated (about 6 cups)
1 medium onion, grated (about 1 cup)
3 eggs
salt and pepper, to taste
oil, for frying
ginger applesauce, for garnish (recipe below)
curried sour cream, for garnish (recipe below)
scallions, for garnish

Method:

Add grated squash, onion, eggs, salt and pepper to a bowl and mix well. Heat up oil in a frying pan and place spoonfuls of mixture into hot oil. Fry until golden and crispy on each side. Serve with applesauce and sour cream.

NOTE: If the mixture starts to get wet and soggy, use gloves to form patties and squeeze out moisture before frying.

Ginger Applesauce

8 honeycrisp apples, peeled, cored and cut into chunks
1 cup apple juice or water
juice of 1 lemon
1 2″ piece fresh ginger, peeled
2 cinnamon sticks
3-4 tbsp honey or maple syrup

Method:

Add all ingredients to a pot and bring to a boil. Cover the pot and simmer for 20 minutes. Remove ginger and serve.

NOTE: If you find the applesauce too chunky, mash it with a fork.

Curried Sour Cream

1 cup sour cream
2 tbsp honey
1 tsp lemon juice
1/2 tsp curry powder

Method:

Add all ingredients to a bowl and mix to incorporate. Serve over latkes with applesauce.

1 year ago: cheese latkes with raspberry sauce
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UnEGGSpected Egg Salad

If this week has made me realize anything, it’s that life is unexpected. When I wrote my last blog post, I never imagined that Hurricane Sandy would reach such catastrophic proportions. Even with all the warnings and precautions that were being taken, I thought they were overdoing it.

At first, the destruction and devastation didn’t sink in. I was busy with my kids, trying to keep house and home without my cleaning help and dealing with a strep-ridden toddler. Still, I couldn’t ignore the pictures, the posts and the pain all around me. The unfathomable loss and despair in the aftermath of the storm was inescapable.

As the stories of pain and loss began to emerge, I couldn’t imagine putting pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard) and writing a blog post. How could I be so trivial at such a desperate time? How could I go on blogging about recipes when people were without power, and many had lost their homes?

“Food makes people feel good,” I reasoned to myself. “It’ll take their mind off of things,” I rationalized. “I’d better dream up some real comfort food,” I challenged myself. Instead, here I am talking about eggs.

In Judaism, so much of what we do revolves around symbolism. Even the foods that we eat. On Rosh Hashanah, we dip apples in honey for a sweet new year and eat pomegranates so that our merits should be abundant like their seeds. On Chanukah we eat fried foods like donuts and latkes, reminiscent of the miracle of the oil. Purim is notorious for hamantaschen, a reminder of Haman’s 3-cornered hat. You get the idea.

What am I getting at? Well, when a Jew sits shiva, (seven days of formal mourning for the dead), it is customary to eat foods that are round like eggs, bread and lentils. They symbolize the cyclical nature of life – death and birth. On a deeper level, the circular foods are meant to impress upon the mourner that although things seem at their worst, life has it’s cycle. Just as there is loss and pain, there is also joy and happiness, and there will be again. Eggs are also eaten to symbolize that just as they are round without a “mouth”, we are also without words at a time of loss.

The unexpected horrors that occurred this week are truly beyond words. Seeing houses sink under rising flood waters, watching neighborhoods go dark without power, cars crushed under fallen trees, chaos at every gas station in town. It almost feels as if life was turned on it’s head. And yet, just like the round egg, life edges forward. We pick ourselves up, we soldier on, and we rebuild. Such is the power of the human spirit.

And so, without further adieu, I present my UnEGGSpected Egg Salad, a delicious recipe with an unEGGSpected ingredient. Make some for your family, or better yet, prepare sandwiches for a friend who is stranded without power, a relative who has lost their home, or the volunteers at your local firehouse.

If you’d like to volunteer in the relief effort for Hurricane Sandy Victims, visit the UJA site or Occupy Sandy website for opportunities. You can also donate to synagogues, Chabad houses and other organizations that are helping with the relief effort.

UnEGGSpected Egg Salad

5 hard-boiled eggs (how to make perfect hard-boiled eggs)
2 tbsp mayo
1-2 tbsp horseradish sauce
1/2 tsp paprika
1 scallion (green parts only) or 3 chives, chopped
salt and pepper, to taste

Method:

Chop or mash eggs (depending how you like it). Add mayo, horseradish sauce, paprika and scallions. Season with salt and pepper.

Variation: If horseradish sauce is too strong for your taste, substitute with spicy or regular mustard.

1 year ago: persimmon yogurt smoothie

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Black Quinoa Salad with Garlic Scape Pesto & Dried Cherries

I don’t know if you follow my friend Melinda over at Kichen-Tested, but if you do, you’ll know why I decided to guest post this recipe on her blog. Melinda is all about being adventurous in the kitchen. She loves to pair odd ingredients (like her cinnabon onion and squash cookies or her feta shortbread cookies) and experiment with spices (like her jalapeno chocolate chip cookies or her jamaican hot pepper jelly). There is no ingredient that she won’t try at least once (beef bacon is a regular ingredient in her recipes!). But that’s not all. Not only is this talented cook and baker an amazing photographer and blogger, she also sells her gourmet pareve caramels from home. Visit kitchen-tested.com for more about Melinda and her adventures in the kitchen.

For recipe and step by step photos, visit my guest post on Kitchen-Tested.

1 year ago: peanut butter fudge ice cream pie

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Grilled Cheese with Figs & Honey

I spend all summer waiting for figs to come in season. When they finally turned up at the market, I could not resist putting some sweet, fresh figs onto my grilled cheese sandwich. The best thing about this “recipe” is that it’s not a recipe at all. You can use any bread you like, any soft or creamy cheese, and you can slice, mince, or grill up the figs before adding them to your sandwich (fig jam also works really well).

I don’t have a panini press, but if you do, feel free to grill up your sandwich to get those beautiful grill marks. Alternatively, you can just press your sandwich down over a grill pan for a toasted and crunchy bite!

For a low carb option, hold the bread and just grill up a whole wheel of brie or Camembert and top with figs and generous drizzle of honey.

This post is part of the Kosher Recipe Linkup for the month of August, featuring GRILLED recipes. Scroll down for more!

 

Grilled Fig & Cheese Sandwich

2 slices wholegrain bread or 1 baguette
2-3 tbsp creamy cheese, such as ricotta, farmer’s or goat OR a few slices of soft cheese such as brie or camembert
3 fresh figs, sliced
drizzle of honey
pinch of cinnamon
1 tbsp butter

Method:

Spread cheese on bread and top with figs. Drizzle honey over figs and sprinkle a dash of cinnamon. Heat up butter in a grill pan and grill the sandwich until browned and toasted.

1 year ago: honey roasted figs

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Linguini Lasagna

With the nine days* upon us, we’re all looking for a quick fix dairy dinner that doesn’t require oven time. At least here in Brooklyn, where the weather has been stifling hot and humid.  A nice big salad would make for the perfect meal, but I’ve got kids to feed, and salad is just not gonna cut it. My kids adore lasagna, but all that prep and cooking time is too much on these long summer days. My solution? a one-pot pasta dinner with all the lasagna components. The best part is, you can customize it to include all your favorite lasagna fillings. I knew I did well when I served this up and my daughter’s first words were “this tastes like Bubby’s lasagna!” Use store-bought marinara to save on prep time, or prepare your own original recipe.

What recipes are you serving up during the Nine Days? On my menu this week:

Monday: baked ziti and greek salad
Tuesday: crispy beer battered fish tacos from The Shiksa
Wednesday: light eggplant parmesan (no breading)
Thursday: quesadillas with assorted fillings

For more great Nine Days menu ideas, check out last years post.

*The Nine Days is a mourning period over the destruction of the Holy Temple. During this time, observant Jews abstain from eating meat and drinking wine as well as other joyous activities.

 

Linguini Lasagna

1 box linguini pasta, cooked al dente (see package instructions)
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
3 cloves garlic, minced
1-2 cups chopped spinach (if frozen, thaw and squeeze out water)
salt and pepper, to taste
1 jar marinara sauce
1/2 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp basil
1 tsp sugar, optional
1 8oz. container cottage cheese
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

Method:

Heat up oil in a skillet and add garlic. Saute until fragrant, but not browned. Add spinach and saute for a few minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Add marinara sauce, basil, oregano and sugar and bring to a boil. With tongs, toss the linguini into the sauce and stir in cottage cheese and mozzarella. Serve immediately.

Variation: For a fun twist on traditional lasagna, break a few lasagna sheets into pieces. Cook until al dente. Use in place of linguini and mix with remaining ingredients.

1 year ago: spinach stuffed mushrooms

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