Category: Recipes

Thankgiving Turkey Roulade with 5-Minute Stuffing

When the “Kosher Connection” Team decided to feature stuffing for the November LinkUp, I was so excited to post this recipe! I also happen to be doing a Thanksgiving demo tonight, so the timing was perfect to develop this dish to perfection. I prefer to make individual turkey roulades using turkey cutlets, but you can also make one larger one using a turkey london broil (essentially a skinless, boneless turkey breast half) that’s been butterflied and pounded. The visual impact is enough to make everyone at the table ooh and ahh. And that’s before they’ve even tasted it.

Now I love a beautiful plate of food as much of the other person, but I don’t like to spend hours in the kitchen. To simplify this recipe, I decided not to sear the turkey breasts (this gives it a nice brown color all around) because that would require me to tie each one up with kitchen twine. Instead, I just rubbed them down with some paprika, garlic powder and olive oil, baked seam-side down in the pan. My 5-Minute (no-joke!) stuffing also keeps things simple, but you can easily stuff the roulades with any store-bought filling (even cold cuts, like in this recipe).

So, if you’re making thanksgiving for a small group, and a whole turkey seems too large for your crowd (or like me, you’re daunted by the thought of cooking the huge bird), give this beautiful and delicious recipe a try!

Gobble, gobble!

For more delicious Thanksgiving stuffing recipes, visit the Kosher Connection Linkup below. Happy Thanksgiving!

Turkey Roulade

1 pkg turkey cutlets
salt and pepper
5 minute stuffing (recipe below)
paprika
garlic powder
extra virgin olive oil
1/4 cup chicken stock

Method:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Place turkey cutlets between two sheets of plastic wrap and pound with a mallet or rolling pin to even thickness. Remove plastic wrap and season with salt and pepper. Place a spoonful of stuffing on the turkey breast and spread out over cutlet, leaving a 1″ border all around. Starting from the shortest side, roll the turkey breast tightly and place seam-side down in a baking dish. Repeat with remaining cutlets (use a second baking dish, if needed). Sprinkle the roulades with paprika and garlic powder and drizzle with olive oil. Lightly rub in the spices. Pour 1/4 cup chicken stock into the bottom of the pan (repeat with 2nd pan, if you are using). Cover, and bake for 15-20 minutes (more for thicker cutlets). Uncover and bake for an additional 5 minutes.

Slice each roulade and serve over cranberry sauce. My mulled wine version works wonderfully with this recipe!

VARIATION: Instead of cutlets, you can make a larger roulade using a butterflied turkey breast (or turkey london broil). Pound out the breast to even thickness and continue as above. Bake for approximately 1 hour, until thermometer reaches 160 degrees.

One taste of this fantastic stuffing and you’d never imagine it took only 5 minutes to make! There are few tricks here! Firstly, instead of sauteing up onion and garlic, I just use onion and garlic flavored croutons! Nifty, right? Then, I add just a touch of poultry seasoning (a little goes a long way!) to give it that been-stuffed-into-a-bird-for-hours quality! Using frozen spinach not only eliminates work, it also adds a beautiful touch of green – so festive and autumnesque!

5-Minute Stuffing

1 10oz. box frozen chopped spinach, thawed
2 tbsp olive oil
salt and pepper, to taste
2 cups chicken stock
1 5.25oz. bag onion & garlic flavored croutons
1/4 tsp poultry seasoning

Method:

Using gloves, squeeze out spinach to remove water. Heat up olive oil in a skillet and add spinach. Season with salt and pepper, and stir until heated through. Add chicken stock, stirring to incorporate, and heat through. Add the croutons and poultry seasoning and stir until croutons soften and soak up the chicken stock.

1 year ago: creamy pareve mashed potatoes

Post a Comment



Mulled Wine Cranberry Sauce


Some people seem to think that cranberry sauce it just for Thanksgiving, but I happen to enjoy it all cranberry season! There are so many variations to make, and so many ways to enjoy it. My favorite is mulled wine cranberry sauce.

It you’ve been following my blog for a while, you may remember this celebratory post from my one year blogoversary, featuring mulled wine. I decided to combine two of my favorite holiday foods – mulled wine and cranberries – to create this out of this world dish. I’m sure it will become your favorite too!

For the recipe, hop on over to my blogger friend Mara at KosherOnABudget. I’ve also included lots of ideas for enjoying cranberry sauce. If you love bargains and freebies, her site is jam-packed with amazing deals and discounts for all around the web!

1 year ago: hassleback sweet potatoes

Post a Comment

Passion for Persimmon: Salad & Sorbet

I’ve blogged about persimmon before, but I couldn’t help exploring the overlooked fruit again since I just. can’t. get. enough. I first fell in love with persimmon when I went to seminary in Israel, where they can be found in abundance.

The most important thing to know about persimmon is this: there are 2 different types, fuyu and hachiya. They can both be enjoyed during the fall months, you just need to know how to eat them.

Don’t worry, I’ve pretty much got it all down pat. Read on and you’ll soon be on your way to persimmon heaven.

Fuyu persimmon have a squatted flat shape, almost like a tomato. They can be eaten when firm, but are best when they are just the slightest bit soft and orange in color.

My favorite way to enjoy fuju persimmon is in a salad. Use it as you would mango or papaya.

Fuyu persimmon also benefit from roasting with warm spices like cinnamon and allspice with a drizzle of honey.

Kale Salad with Persimmon & Pomegranate

1 bunch kale leaves, center ribs and stems removed
2 fuyu persimmon, hulled, peeled and chopped
1 pomegranate, deseeded (how to deseed a pomegranate)
1 avocado, cubed
1 small red onion, sliced thinly into half rings

Dressing:
1/4 cup extra light olive oil
2 tbsp pomegranate molasses
2 tsp balsamic vinegar
1 tbsp honey
salt & pepper, to taste

Method:

Tear kale into pieces and place in a large bowl, Add persimmon and pomegranate and mix to combine.

Add dressing ingredients to a bowl and whisk to emulsify. Pour over salad before serving.

VARIATION: If persimmon are not in season, you may substitute with mango or peaches.

TIP: I have read that massaging the kale helps to get rid of it’s bitter aftertaste.

 

Hachiya persimmon are oval-shaped and cannot be eaten unless they are incredibly ripe – almost to the point of looking rotten. Unripe hachiya persimmon will leave a dry, pithy substance in your mouth that will make you want to scream :)

My favorite way to enjoy hachiya persimmon (short of eating the silky smooth pulp with a spoon) is freezing them for a few hours until the liquid turns into a creamy sorbet. One taste and you’d never imagine it was that easy!

The silky pump of hachiya persimmons can also be mixed into baked goods like cakes and pies as well as puddings and smoothies.

 

Hachiya Persimmon Sorbet

1 very ripe hachiya persimmon

Method:

Wash the persimmon and place in the freezer for 2-4 hours, until slushy, but not frozen solid. Turn upside down and slice off the tip. Scoop out the creamy flesh and enjoy.

1 year ago: apple celery veggie dip

Post a Comment

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

Post a Comment

Banana Oat Muffins

There’s something about the stormy weather that just makes you want to stay inside and bake. So while my kids cozied up to warm mugs of hot cocoa, I decided to make use of my overripe bananas. It seems like every time I buy a bunch, they always seem to ripen faster than we can eat them. Usually, I just put them in the freezer to use for smoothies, but with Hurricane Sandy about to make an entrance, I just feel like nesting. And just in case any of my Brooklyn neighbors decide to brave the Frankenstorm for Halloween treats, I’ll have something to give them (although they’d probably rather some kit kats!)

Talking about storms, I have to be honest with you all. Lately, I’ve been cooking up some storms of my own. With the busy month of holidays behind us, I took a little break, but now I’m back to hosting big Shabbat meals again. I’ve been making lots of new delicious recipes, but I haven’t been able to find the time to photograph anything! Especially with Fridays getting shorter, and my menu’s growing more adventurous, it’s been difficult to document my foodie experiments. I still make an effort to post my weekly menu’s on my facebook page, and I’m happy to share recipes whenever I get a request. So if you don’t already follow BIB on facebook, feel free to join in on the fun.

In the meantime, stay safe and bake up a batch of these delicious muffins before your electricity goes out! The oats add a wonderful texture to the muffins and unlike most banana bread recipes, these are not too sweet, so they are perfect drizzled with some honey, alongside a cup of steaming hot coffee.

Banana Oat Muffins
adapted from allrecipes.com

1 1/2 cups white whole wheat flour
1 cup rolled oats
1/4 cup white sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 egg
3/4 cup milk
1/3 cup canola oil
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 ripe bananas, mashed

Method:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In a medium bowl, combine flour, oats, sugar, baking powder, soda, cinnamon and salt. In a separate bowl, lightly beat (or whisk) the egg. Stir in the milk, oil, and vanilla. Add the mashed banana, whisking to combine. Slowly add the flour mixture into the banana mixture and stir to combine. Pour the batter into muffin tins and bake for 18 to 20 minutes, until toothpick inserted comes out clean.


1 year ago: roasted eggplants with Israeli salad

Post a Comment