Category: Purim

Sausage Galette with Apple Cider Onion Jam

It’s that time of year when my inbox gets flooded with Kosherfest invites and it really got me thinking about how far the kosher industry has come. I’m so thankful because having so many amazing kosher products on the market helps me do my job and get creative in the kitchen.

When my mom was growing up, there were the basics: kosher meat, kosher milk, pasta, tomato sauce, ketchup, mayo, canned fruits and veggies… the staples. There was candy and baked goods but nothing like what we have today! We are so fortunate to have so much at our disposal, and kosher cooking is easier and tastier than ever.

I’m especially thankful for kosher imports from around the world that make specialty products accessible. Do you remember when bloggers were making their own cookie butter, and finding a package of Lotus cookies was like striking gold? They’re now readily available in most kosher supermarkets, with kosher certification from Israel.

The newest Israeli import that I’m crushing over are the rolled pie doughs that come frozen, in both sweet and savory varieties. They make galettes and tarts a breeze, and I couldn’t be happier. When Abeles & Heymann released their newest sausage flavors of Bourbon Apple, Teriyaki Ginger and Andouille, I knew just what I was going to make, and LOOK. HOW. PRETTY!!!!

I love that Abeles & Heymann is constantly upping their game and their new sausage flavors are so exciting! I’m so honored to be a brand ambassador for them, because I truly love the quality and care that they put into their products. My family cannot tolerate any other hot dog and because they are so conscious of putting out healthier products, I don’t have to feel bad about feeding them to my family, because many are free of nitrates and other additives.

So lets talk tart — In honor of the upcoming holiday of Rosh Hashanah, I whipped up an easy apple mustard using prepared apple butter and cooked down the most lip-smacking apple cider onion jam that is about to be added to EVERYTHING! Make it and you’ll see!

If you’ve got any apple cider onion jam left, feel free to add it to grilled cheese with some sliced apples (if you make it pareve), mixed some into your holiday roast, smother it over chicken, squash or mix into rice. Or, just eat it by the spoonful cuz it’s THAT good.

As for the sausages, if you’re not up for a galette, you can slice them on the diagonal, sear them off and add to a charcuterie board. Wrap ’em in puff pastry for classic franks in blanks. Roast them with potatoes or peppers and onions for an easy sheet pan meal. Or just go classic in a hot dog bun, ‘cuz you can never go wrong with that!

Wishing you an easily prep for the holidays ahead, and a super sweet and delicious year!

This post is sponsored by Abeles & Heymann.

Related Recipes:

sausage stuffed butternut squash with apples
salami tarte tatin
apple and honey galette

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Brownie Toppings & Ideas


I cannot actually believe that the summer has come and gone, I’m back in the city and school has begun! Is it just me, or does summer seem to go by faster when you get older?  It just flew right past me and here I am, at my computer, back to work.

I think I’m mostly shocked because all those projects I told myself I would tackle this summer did not happen, and as productive as I’d hoped to be, I kind of just let go! I was supposed to organize all my photos, go through my emails, file paperwork, start running again, drink more water… but I suppose that what New Years Resolutions are for, and we start early here!

Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, is just a few short weeks away, which means we are approaching a pretty busy holiday season. The Jewish New Year is followed by Yom Kippur, and then shortly after by Succot, which is a foodfest of epic proportions! There are lots of festive holiday meals, and meal planning is essential to make it through.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again – I’m not a big planner when it comes to holiday prep, but the High Holidays are an exception. I usually make a double batch of my honey challah, a few loaves of honey cake, mini pumpkin pies for a crowd and Levana’s chocolate mousse to stock the freezer. It’s really the only way because there are simply so many meals and no time to cook them all!

So I’m here with a great dessert hack that will take you little time but wow your guests nonetheless. It involves a cheat in the form of Duncan Hines brownie mix, and even though I’m not usually one to use a prepared cake mix, I have to admit that their brownies really take the cake – pun intended! Even my mom admitted to me recently that she is never making her own brownies again because they’ve really nailed the perfect brownie.

Of course adding your own toppings changes everything and makes it your own. My favorite combo are the tahini swirled brownies (above), which I serve topped with vanilla ice cream, raw tahini, silan and a sprinkle of shredded halva. My guests can never get enough of it!

My kids are partial to my smores brownies, so I usually make make two pans, but when I saw this brownie pan with dividers,on Amazon, I realized I could do a bunch of toppings at once! It was just a fun project and my kids loved trying all the different flavors.

Of course, since we have a peanut allergy at home, I kept all these toppings nut free, but feel free to experiment however you’d like. Peanut butter swirled brownies would be epic too!

Lets bring on the holiday prep!

Related Recipes:

Mexican hot chocolate brownies
black bean brownies

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Amba Bloody Harry

When I get into a new ingredient, I really get into it, and amba is my poison these days! It all started when my instafeed went viral for sabich, the Iraqi Jewish dish, on the #celebritychefbirthright trip. There it was – the fried eggplant, hardboiled egg and Israeli salad-stuffed pita sandwich dripping with amba, and I just new, although I had eaten it various times, that it was time to make amba myself.

So I turned to the most trusted source – Mike Solomonov’s new cookbook, Israeli Soul, for the recipe, and I. was. hooked. Sweet, spicy, tangy, earthy – everything you’d want in a condiment. I smothered it over sabich stuffed eggplant, marinated pargiot in all of it’s glory and made amba london broil. And truth be told – I’ve got some in the fridge right now that’s going to be drizzled over my eggs for lunch. But I wanted to take it a step further and deconstruct it, and with Purim pending any day now, a cocktail was born. I took inspiration from the traditional Bloody Mary – subbing mango juice for tomato, harissa paste for Tabasco sauce, fennel for celery and Israeli pickles for olives. I added a touch of the other prominent amba spices and what I can say? It honestly tastes like amba, but you still want to drink it, and it just works! And let me tell you, I’m no mixologist – a testament to the true deliciousness of this unique ingredient.

L’chaim!

Related Recipes:

The Hamantini
Strawberry Limonana
Cherry Basil Limonana
Tahini Frappuccino

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Arayes: Kofta Pita Pockets


I love how today’s food trends have made Middle Eastern food so popular. Otherwise, I probably never would have heard of sabich, or hawaij, or arayes.

So what are they? Arayes are native to Lebanon, where they stuff kofta, a spiced beef or lamb mixture, into pita pockets and grill them. Yes, it’s as good as it’s sounds.

What I love even more than traditional arayes, is that chef’s have been creating their own adaptation of the classic for a fun twist. A local restaurant had fish arayes on the menu last week, and I’ve been seeing lots of other variations of the traditional filling as well.

While I’m usually one for turning tradition on it’s head, I loved my classic recipe so much that I went with it. But I did spare you the annoying blogger habit of calling anything with 3 corners hamantaschen, because frankly, they are not. Although in the festive Purim spirit, they are triangular, and they really do make the perfect Purim party appetizer.

Speaking of Purim party appetizers, I love to put out of bunch of finger food for my Purim feast every year because everyone is so busy coming and going, there’s hyper kids all over the place and probably a bunch of adult drunks too – so no one really wants a formal meal. Finger food makes the perfect spread and arayes are just the thing.

Some other great party appetizers that I’ve done in the past include:

drunken hasselback salami
pulled beef tacos
hummus bassar
breaded honey drumsticks
hot dog eggrolls
potato borekas
franks in blanks
chicken wings
charcuterie board
roasted sweet potatoes with gooey pecans (recipe in Millennial Kosher)
lachmagine pizza (recipe  in Millennial Kosher)

Enjoy!

Related Recipes:

Jerusalem hummus in jars
mechshie
herbed pita chips
grilled chicken fattoush

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Salami Tarte Tatin

OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG!!!!
S-A-L-A-M-I  T-A-R-T-E  T-A-T-I-N!!!!!!!

OK I can’t remember the last time I’ve been so excited about a recipe!!! Salami time AKA Purim, AKA the Busy In Brooklyn yearly salami tradition is here and YAYYYYYY!!


I love that the young girl who used to throw her weekly salami sandwiches down the incinerator chute is now known for her salami trash-ups! My friend recently said to me, “You know Chanie, no one is every going to look at salami without thinking of you”, and I’m OK with it. In fact I’m all over it. Because becoming known for a particular ingredient means I’m doing a good job as a blogger and that my friends, is my jam (also job, but yes, jam!).

So… why in the world am I so excited? Well I’ll tell you. If you’re not well versed in French pastry, you might not be familiar with the classic dessert, TARTE TATIN, an upside-down pastry in which fruit is caramelized in butter and sugar as it bakes under a blanket of puff pastry. Fancy pastry chef’s make their own, but most recipes call for the store-bought variety which means only one thing – QUICK & EASY.

But still, WHY am I so excited??? Well traditional tarte tatin uses fruit as it’s base, and you even might find some unique recipes for vegetable-based tarts, but you have never found a SALAMI tarte tatin and I, my friends, think it’s pretty genius. And I’m a pretty hard sell.

Whats more than the salami is the bourbon caramel that the salami bathes in as it cooks down. Yes, you got that right. Bourbon. Caramel. And although I abhor margarine, there was no winning here because coconut oil + salami is a no go, so I caved. And I’m ok with it. I mean the puff pastry is virtually all margarine anyway, so whats another few tablespoons, amiright?

It’s hard to keep up with myself with this salami thing and I was worried about how I’d one-up my previous recipes. The now infamous drunken hasselback salami is sold at virtually every kosher deli stand, and salami babka has made it around the world, so coming up with something new was quite daunting. But I’d said I hashtag #nailedit on this one.

I’m also crushing on the photos of this recipe, which is why I’m doing a lot of salami rambling aka filler content :) But in case you’re still scratching your head on this whole salami thing – it’s a BUSY IN BROOKLYN Purim tradition that I started a couple of years ago on the blog, after reading about a custom to eat salami on Purim, since it’s hung, like HAMAN. Cute, right??

I hope you love this recipe as much as I do!  Happy almost-Purim!

This post is sponsored by Abeles & Heymann.

Other Salami Recipes:

last year: salami potato latkes
two years ago: salami babka
three years ago: salami quiche
four years ago: beer battered salami chips with beer mustard
five years ago: drunken hasselback salami
six years ago: salami chips

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