Category: Shabbos

Sushi Salad

This is one of those recipes that is super easy, delicious, and gets finished to the last drop every time I make it. I serve it often for Shabbos lunch and my guests absolutely love it. You can prepare the rice before Shabbos, put it in a Ziploc bag, and take it out two hours before plating.

I really dislike the taste of mock-crab. I find it spongy. If you like it, definitely go ahead and add it to the salad. You can also flake some cooked salmon on top. If you’re brave, and go for raw fish, go ahead and add that. Lox is also a good idea. I once chopped up some baked fish sticks and sprinkled it on top for an added crunch (think tempura crumbs on sushi). Or, serve alongside fried flounder.

Check out my other version of sushi salad here.

Sushi Salad

2 cups sushi rice
3 cups water
1 tsp salt
2 tbsp rice vinegar
2 sheets nori
1 handful shredded carrots
1 avocado, cubed
3 Persian cucumbers, peeled and diced into tiny pieces (like you’d find inside a sushi roll)
black & white roasted sesame seeds
1/2 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup Gold’s wasabi sauce

Method:

Rinse the sushi rice until water runs clear. Soak rice in 3 cups of water for 30 minutes. Add 1 tsp salt. Bring to a boil. Stir once. Cover with lid. Reduce heat to simmer and cook 20 minutes. Remove from heat. Let stand in covered pot for 10 minutes. Pour 2 tablespoons rice vinegar over rice and mix. Put into a Ziploc bag and refrigerate, or use immediately (when it comes to room temperature).

For the nori, with tongs, hold a sheet of nori over a low flame, moving it slowly over the flame to toast it. Be careful not to hold it too close or it will burn. Tear the nori into bite size pieces.

To plate, spread the rice out on a large platter. Top with nori. Sprinkle shredded carrots, and then avocado cubes. Finally, top with cucumber bits and sprinkle with roasted sesame seeds (you can buy the Freunds or roast them in the oven yourself). Mix the wasabi and soy sauce together and pour over salad.

Believe it or not, a couple of years ago, I actually made these for Shalach Manos. I prepared everything ahead of time. Something like 10 cups of sushi rice. Bags and bags of diced cucumbers. And of course, the heaven-sent store-bought shredded carrots. I didn’t use avocado because of the browning. I bought these great black square plates (and some other asian-inspired ones) and started plating. It took hours. Maybe if I wasn’t such a perfectionist, things would have went a bit faster. It was crazy. I would never do it again. I sent chopsticks and my wasabi-soy dressing. I printed out the recipe and called it “SHUSHAN SHUSHI SALAD” (now try saying that five times in a row!). The end product was so cute and a great mishloach manos, but unless you only plan on making a few, I wouldn’t recommend it!

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Roasted Garlic Hummus with Pita Chips

My husband is not much of a sports fan. He’s more of a computer fan, if you know what I mean. So, if not for my brother, I would have no idea that tomorrow is the big day for most men out there! That, and the fact that I wanted a crunchy, healthy snack tonight, is what brought me to make this delicious and healthy recipe. Chummus is available at any grocery, in so many flavors and styles. So why go through the hastle of making it? Well sometimes, I like the chunkiness of a purely garbanzo-based spread, sans the techina. That’s when I whip out some fresh garlic, a food processor, and of course some pita bread, for homemade toasted “everything” pita chips with roasted garlic hummus.

Roasted Garlic Hummus

1 can chickpeas
1 head of roasted garlic
1/8-1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil (plus more for garnish)
juice of 1/2 lemon
1/2 tsp salt
freshly ground black pepper
parsley and paprika for garnish

Method:

Drain and rinse chickpeas. Add to food processor. Add the cloves of a small head of roasted garlic. Add the lemon, salt and pepper. Start blending in the food processor, adding the olive oil slowly. Start with 1/8 cup and add more until you reach a creamy consistency. Spoon into serving dish. Drizzle with more olive oil and garnish with paprika and parsley.

For instructions on roasting garlic, click here.

Homemade Everything Pita Chips

Regular or whole wheat pita
Olive oil
Poppy seeds
Onion powder
Garlic powder
Kosher salt

Method:

Preheat oven to 400°F. Cut pita into eight triangles. Brush with olive oil. Sprinkle with poppy seeds, onion, garlic and salt. Bake for 10 minutes until toasted and crispy.

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“Everything” London Broil

London Broil is regularly served in my house, mostly on the side of cholent on Shabbos day. Since it is relatively inexpensive, I have started serving it more often during the week. Now lets get things straight. The name London Broil is NOT a cut of meat, but rather a method of preparation. The method? broiling or grilling marinated flank steak, then cutting it across the grain into thin strips. Because the muscle fibers run the entire length of this cut of meat, it can be tough. However, if prepared correctly, the outcome is delicious. To tenderize the meat, I massage it with olive oil and a mix of seasonings. Then, I let it marinate for a few hours. Finally, I broil it until medium (anything more will cause the meat to be tough). It is very important not to score, cut, or penetrate, the meat before (or during) broiling because all the juices will run out of it. It is best served with mashed potatoes, but being as I had an entire container of leftover rattatouille, I wanted to make use of it. I mixed it in with some Mezze Penne for a delicious pasta on the side.

London Broil
(measurements are approximately, I sort of just sprinkle):

(Approx. 2-2.5 lbs.) London Broil
Good Quality Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1 tbsp Minced Onion Flakes
1 tbsp Minced Garlic Flakes
1 tsp Kosher Salt
1 tsp Freshly Ground Pepper

Method:

Generously drizzle the london broil with olive oil on both sides. Sprinkle onion flakes, garlic flakes, salt and pepper. Massage the oil and spices into the London Broil, until well absorbed. Let the meat marinate for a few hours (as long as you have, I’ve broiled it within the hour and it’s still delicious). Set your broiler on high and your oven rack to be 3-4 inches from heat source. Broil for 8 minutes on each side (total 16 minutes) until medium. You can increase to 9 minutes (per side) if you want it medium-well. Do not broil more than 10 minutes (20 minutes total) or the meat will be tough. Let the meat rest for 5-10 minutes. Slice thinly, against the grain.

Red Wine Reduction (optional):

Now I wouldn’t want to lose all those yummy drippings from the bottom of the pan. To make a delicious and easy pan gravy, remove the london broil from the pan and pour some good quality red wine into it (about 1 cup). Scrape the bits that are stuck to the bottom of the pan and pour into a small pot (or put your pan directly over the fire). Simmer, uncovered, until reduced by half. You can strain out the little onion and garlic bits (some may be burnt from broiling) but personally, I like them!

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Gefilte Fish 3 Ways


Gefilte Fish comes in stiff competition with cholent as #1 on the Jewish food list. We all make it. Most of us like it. But gone are the days when we have to scale our own carp to prepare it (maybe just on Pesach!). While I do make salmon, tilapia and flounder on occasion, gefilte fish is a Shabbos staple at my house. So I like to get creative with the preparation, both in preparing, and in plating. This is my most popular way of serving, and I always get the oohs and aahs from my guests when I set it on the table. You need two different types of preparations to plate this way. I am posting three different recipes for your choosing.


Bread Crumb Recipe:
This one is our favorite! (thanks to my cousin Chana Kaplan for the recipe)

1 roll sweet Gefilte fish
2 tbsp mayo
plain or flavored bread crumbs

Method:

Remove gefilte fish from the packaging. The easiest way to remove the wax paper is to rinse it with cold water for a few seconds. This will soften the paper just enough so that you can twist, unwrap and remove the paper easily. Brush the gefilte fish with mayo and sprinkle with bread crumbs. Bake, uncovered, at 350 for 75-90 minutes (depending how you like it, the longer you bake it, the more dried out it will be).

Take Note: When you bake the fish this way (uncovered, in the oven), towards the end, the fish will start to expand. It looks like it’s blowing up! This is just about when you should take it out. The air will come out of it when you remove it from the oven. It will become slightly free-formed. Maybe not the prettiest, but my family enjoys this preparation the best!

Asian Style Recipe:

1 roll sweet gefilte fish
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp honey
Freunds mixed pack roasted sesame seeds (I used to roast them myself until I found this genius product!)

Method:

Prepare gefilte fish as above, however, brush with soy/honey mixture and sprinkle with sesame seeds instead. Bake uncovered, at 350 for 1 1/2 – 2 hours.

Another variation of this is to brush it with teriyaki sauce and sprinkle with sesame seeds.

Marinara Recipe:

1 roll sweet gefilte fish
1 jar Marinara sauce of your choice

Method:

Remove gefilte fish from packaging and wax paper, as instructed above. Pour 1/2 jar Marinara sauce over fish. Bake, covered, at 350 for 1 1/2-2 hours.

Dipping Sauces:

For dipping, I use chrein, horseradish sauce, wasabi sauce, and leftover marinara sauce from the pan. If you are not making the marinara fish, you can mix up a quick Russian dressing of mayo and ketchup.

To plate:

Slice fish evenly. Spread each type of fish on separate sides of a square serving dish. Prepare 4 mini l’chaim cups with dipping sauces and set between the fish. Place mini mousse spoons in the cups for serving.

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Poached Pears

I was watching Anne Burrell on the Food Network the other day. Now don’t get me wrong, the girl can cook, but, my G-d! she sounds like she is in a hot and heavy relationship with food! If you’ve ever watched her, you know EXACTLY what I mean (hello, darling!)! But the food looks good, I’ve got to hand it to her. I was really inspired by the beautiful poached pears she made for dessert. The ruby color, offset by the mascarpone cheese was just gorgeous. So I decided to make it for dessert for Shabbat dinner this past week, and it was a real hit. While her recipe gave me the goods I needed to learn to make poached pears, I did not follow it, and came up with my own version instead.

Poached Pears

6 Bosc pears, peeled (see note)
1 bottle dry red wine, such as Merlot
1 cup sugar
2 cinnamon sticks
3 strips of lemon zest (use big strips for easy removal)
juice of 1 lemon
Coconut sorbet
Angel Flake sweetened coconut, toasted

In a large saucepan combine the wine, sugar, cinnamon, lemon zest and juice. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for 5 minutes.

Add the pears and simmer until the pears are cooked through, about 25 to 30 minutes. Turn off the heat and let cool in the poaching liquid.

Before serving, remove the pears from their poaching liquid. Simmer the liquid until reduced by half and slightly thickened. (Discard the lemon zest and cinammon sticks).

Arrange a few pear quarters on the plate. Top it with a scoop of coconut sorbet. Spinkle with toasted coconut flakes and drizzle with reduced poaching liquid.

To toast coconut in the oven, spread shredded coconut in a thin layer on a baking sheet. Bake at 350F for about 20 minutes, stirring every 5 minutes to make sure that the coconut browns evenly.

NOTE: For a striking presentation, serve the pears whole with the stem intact. You will need to cook them in batches (so that they can be completely submerged in the wine), otherwise, you can cut them in quarters, as pictured.

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