Category: Shavuous

Orange Cardamom Noodle Kugel

Well hello there blogosphere, it’s been so long, hasn’t it?! Life has been hectic as ever, but I’ve always got my blog on the back of mind, wanting to cook, and photograph, and post and just share with y’all. Pesach (in Beijing, China!) has come and gone. I’ve since been to Ohio, and off to Antwerp tomorrow, and guess how I’m celebrating? By making kugel!

If you know me, I consider myself the Anti-Kugel. Yes, that’s right. I’m Jewish and I don’t like kugel! Why, you ask? Well I believe that instead of boiling up veggies, mashing them, and then mixing them with oil and eggs and who-knows-what-else, why don’t you skip the whole complicated process and JUST. ROAST. VEGGIES. Same goes with potatoes. And noodles? Well you can cook em and eat em JUST. LIKE THAT. But alas, kugel has stood the test of time, and you’ll find the gazillion calorie concoction in most Jewish Ashkenazi houses on Erev Shabbat (my mom included)!

So what, pray tell, is kugel doing HERE? Well in one word: Shtisel. The viral Israeli TV series that was made popular by Netflix has captured my heart, and that of many, Jews and non-Jews alike. It has me craving Israeli salad with tahini, tea, and all sorts of traditional heimish foods that I haven’t looked at in years. In short: If Shtisel has ME making kugel, and you’re not watching it, then you’ve got to GET. ON. IT. Chasdei Hashem I’m here to spread the Shtisel love!

So I’ve been sprinkled with “heimish” dust but that doesn’t mean that I’m going to made traditional kugel, because, well, I’m still ME. And because Shavuos is coming up, what do you think I did? I made dairy lokshin kugel – one that’s lightened up with the refreshing taste of orange, cardamom and vanilla bean + some ricotta for creaminess and yogurt for some tang. All in all, a perfect compliment to your Shavuot menu. B’hechlet!

Orange Cardamom Noodle Kugel

12 oz. wide egg noodles
4 tbsp butter, plus more for greasing the pan
4 eggs
15 oz. ricotta cheese
12 oz. plain Greek yogurt
Zest and juice of 1 medium orange
2 tbsp honey, or to taste
1/2 tsp cardamom
1 vanilla bean, split and scraped or 1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp kosher salt
1/2 cup pitted medjool dates, chopped (see note)

Method:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Bring a pot of salted water to a boil, add noodles and cook for 7 minutes. Drain and return to the pot. Stir with butter.

In a second bowl, lightly beat the eggs. Stir in the ricotta cheese, Greek yogurt, orange zest and juice, honey, cardamom, vanilla bean paste and salt. Stir with a spoon until the mixture is smooth. Add the buttered noodles and dates and stir to incorporate.

Grease a baking dish with butter and pour in the noodle mixture. Bake for 50-60 minutes, until the kugel is set and starting to brown around the edges.

NOTE: to make chopping easier, freeze the dates or refrigerate for a few hours.

Related Recipes:

orange cardamom malabi
shavuot menu roundup
rosewater cheesecake mousse parfaits
Bubby’s challah kugel

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Mom’s Potato Knishes

As a recipe developer, it’s not often that I make other peoples recipes, and when I do, it’s often ones that have been in my family for years. I usually find myself cooking my mom’s dishes around the High Holidays – there’s just something about the Days of Awe that makes me want to connect to my roots, and how more so than with food.

Mom’s potato knishes are a staple at every holiday meal, and it has always been my favorite, because, well… potatoes. It’s probably the only time you’ll see me using margarine – EVER – because coconut oil just doesn’t fly here and to keep the knishes pareve, I’ve got no other choice. Plus, puff pastry is basically 80% margarine anyway, so what’s a little more, amiright?

What I love about this recipe is that the filling makes enough to fill 3 whole rolls and they freeze great! And since they’re frozen unbaked, they taste like you just made them when you bake them up before serving. = a perfect recipe for long holidays like Succos coming up! If you have a custom to eat stuffed foods for the Harvest Holiday, I’ve got you covered there too!

Mom’s Potato Knishes

8 russet potatoes, peeled and diced
3 medium onions, sliced into half moons
3 tbsp olive oil
2 eggs
1/2 stick trans-fat-free margarine
salt and pepper, to taste
3 sheets puff pastry, thawed
1 egg + 1 tbsp water, for egg wash
1-2 tbsp sesame seeds

Method:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Add the potatoes to a pot and cover with salted water. Bring to a boil and simmer until the potatoes are fork tender. Drain well.

While the potatoes are cooking, heat the olive oil in a large skillet. Add the sliced onions and saute until deeply browned and caramelized.

Using a potato masher, mash the potatoes until no lumps remain. Add margarine, onions, salt and pepper. Once the mixture is cool, add in the eggs and stir until creamy.

Unfold the puff pastry onto a sheet of parchment paper and roll it out to form a large rectangle. Spread the potato mixture over it and starting from the longer side, roll up the pastry like a jelly roll with the seam on the bottom. Lift the parchment paper and place the roll on a baking sheet. Brush with egg wash and sprinkle with sesame seeds. Cut slits into the pastry and bake until puffed and golden brown.

Repeat with remaining puff pastry and potatoes.

NOTE: This recipe can be prepared 2 days ahead. Cover and refrigerate before baking. Brush with egg wash and sprinkle with sesame seeds before baking. Alternatively, you can freeze the roll before baking, brush with egg wash and sesame seeds and bake frozen.

VARIATION: You can also try this with sauteed cabbage to make cabbage knishes or sauteed mushroom and onions.

Related Recipes:

cabbage bourekas
deli roll
spanakopita bourekas
salmon en croute with creamed leeks

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Salmon En Croute with Creamed Leeks

Salmon en croute is one of my favorite dishes to serve for the holidays. It plates up beautifully, it’s so festive and it’s a winning dish all around! I mean who doesn’t love anything wrapped in buttery, flaky dough, amiright?

I usually go with a simple mustard and brown sugar mixture over the salmon, but I decided to take things up a notch using some of the traditional symbolic foods of the holiday, like honey and leeks. I love that you can incorporate more of those foods into the plated dish as well, and I went with pomegranate seeds and chioggia beets, ‘cuz could you just look at them?

Just call this Simanim Salmon En Croute ‘cuz it’s not only tasty, but so fitting in every way. And if you need a recap on the symoblic foods of the holiday, read this. I’ve also got a handy simanim recipe roundup from a couple of years back and then of course there are my other great simanim dishes like this couscous, this angel hair pasta, this beautiful appetizer and this holiday salad.

Growing up, Rosh Hashanah was a serious holiday and we always kept things intimate with just the family and a simple, traditional holiday meal. It’s that one time of the year to really focus on self introspection and prayer and I like to follow suite without complicating my menu. I don’t go all out with a bunch of different salads and desserts – I just keep my meal well-rounded with an appetizer (round challah with honey, fish and salad), entree (meat or chicken, tzimmes and roasted vegetables, beautifully plated) and a slice of honey cake with caramelized apples to finish the meal. Then I wrap things up and open my tehillim, because there is oh so much to pray for.

I find that there’s no need to overdo your menu when you learn to serve composed dishes that complement each other. Sometimes, when you make too much food, the beauty and flavor gets lost because there is just too much to go around. When I was in culinary school, my teacher gave the example of a woman wearing a simple pearl necklace versus someone who in dripping in lots of (too much) jewelry. Which one makes a better statement? Sometimes clean and simple is the better way to go.

Salmon En Croute with Creamed Leeks

4 slices center-cut salmon fillet, skin off
2 tbsp honey
salt and pepper, to taste
1 large leek, or two medium, sliced into half rings
2 tbsp refined coconut oil*
1/4 cup coconut milk*
4 puff pastry squares, or 1 sheet cut into 4 squares
1 egg + 1 tbsp water, beaten
sesame seeds

Method:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Heat the coconut oil over medium heat and add the leeks. Saute until wilted and starting to brown and caramelize. Add the coconut milk and season, to taste, with salt and pepper. Simmer until creamy.

Season the salmon with salt and pepper and drizzle with honey. Spread leeks over the salmon and wrap in puff pastry, seam-side down. Brush the puff pastry with eggwash and sprinkle with sesame seeds. Cut a few diagonal slits in the pastry, taking care not to slice through the salmon. Bake for 20 minutes.

Serve warm over mixed greens with pomegranate seeds, shaved beets (chioggia beets pictured) and a light dressing of oil, lemon (or orange) juice, salt and pepper (or use this dressing).

NOTES:
* if you are sensitive to the flavor of coconut, you may use olive oil or trans fat free margarine in place of the oil and almond milk (or nondairy milk of your choice) in place of the coconut milk. Alternatively, you may leave out the milk for a less creamy texture.

** Feel free to add carrots, apples or any other simanim of your choice to the salad.

Related Recipes:

smashed potatoes with leeks
simanim fritto misto
honey fig roasted salmon
honey mustard salmon

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Unicorn Cheesecake Mousse

CAN’T STOP, WON’T STOP. That’s my motto this holiday season! When the internet went gaga over Starbuck’s unicorn frappuccino recently, I knew I had to get in on the unicorn fun – and here. it. is. Feast your eyes on this strawberry cheesecake mousse with a swirl of sour icing – so much yassssss!

To be honest, I haven’t actually tried the unicorn frap, but I watched as my fellow foodies and blogger friends scrambled to get to their nearest Starbucks for a taste. Most of them found the drink underwhelming – but the general consensus was that the elements of sweet and sour were a cool combo for a shake. And I couldn’t agree more!

Figuring out what to use for the sour element in these was the biggest challenge. At first, I wanted to keep things natural, so I tried fresh blueberries and sour cream – too watery and not sour enough. Plus the blueberries were purple and not blue. Then I headed to Target for some freeze dried blueberries, but that worked out purple too. I finally decided to nix the healthy aspect, since this is an indulgent cheesecake mousse after all (and a little blue food coloring won’t kill anyone either) and went the route of white chocolate (a la the original Starbucks version, which was a white chocolate mocha sauce). But that was a mess. G-d was that a mess.

So, many tries later, I finally hit the nail on the head using my friend Shushy’s suggestion  (check her out @cookinginheelss!) of a thick icing made with powdered sugar. It was the perfect consistency for my sour swirl – made using citric acid, aka sour salt, that gives the icing that special pucker.

I’m super proud of these cuties and I think you will be too if you choose to serve them for dessert this Shavuos holiday! Just hush hush on the secret sour sauce and let your guests be surprised when they take their first bite. Serve with a side of fresh berries for a light and healthy(er than cheesecake) dessert!

Unicorn Cheesecake Mousse

for the mousse:

1 cup heavy cream
8oz. whipped cream cheese
3/4 cup powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup chopped strawberries

for the sour swirl:

1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
3-4 tbsp water
2 tsp sour salt (citric acid), or, to taste
blue food coloring

for topping:

whipped cream
blue and pink colored sugar* or sprinkles

Method:

For the mousse, whip the heavy cream until stiff and set aside. In a separate bowl, beat the cream cheese, powdered sugar and vanilla until fluffy.

Puree the strawberries in a food processor or blender, leaving it slightly chunky if you want large bits of fruit or strain if you want a smooth puree. Gently fold the strawberries into the cream cheese mixture and then fold that mixture into the whipped cream. Taste and adjust sweetness by adding more powdered sugar, if needed. Place the cheesecake mousse into a piping bag.

In a small bowl, combine the powdered sugar, water, food coloring and sour salt. Place the sour icing into a piping bag and pipe a swirl around the mousse cups.

Pipe the cheesecake mousse into the cups and top with whipped cream and colored sugar.

*if desired, mix some sour salt into the colored sugar for a sweet and sour topping.

YIELD: approximately six 4oz. servings or twelve 2oz. servings (mini mousse cups).

Related Recipes:

rosewater cheesecake mousse parfaits
easy no-bake cheesecake
Torah cannoli

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Lasagna Roll-Up Blintzes

I don’t know about you, but the only thing that keeps me from making blintzes on Shavuot is the crepe-making. The rest of the process is fairly easy, and I don’t even mind the light frying. But those crepes, man they are hard to nail down.

My mom so hates the crepe-making process that she’s been ordering her crepes ready-made from a caterer for years. Instead, she puts her attention on delicious homemade fillings – creamy potato with deeply caramelized onions and sweet cheese with an apricot sauce for dipping. I’m getting hungry just thinking about it!


I’m all for finding the easier way around dishes and this lasagna roll-up blintz hack is no exception! I love me some savory lasagna roll-ups, filled with spinach-flecked creamy ricotta and oozing with cheesy mozzarella, so why not go sweet, amIright? Dredging the sweet-filled pasta sheets in Corn Flake crumbs and frying them really takes it over the top, and I’m one happy crepe-free Momma.

What I really love about these decadent Shavuot treats is that they truly resemble blintzes, and if you want to stay away from the fryer, just go ahead and serve them up without the breading. You can add some chopped nuts for texture, and of course the requisite sour cream and strawberry sauce. Cuz blintzes without sour cream are a sad, sad thing.

Those of you that have been following my diet journey over on Instagram know that I’ve been staying away from delicious carby treats like these for the past couple of weeks, so I had to send them straight out of the house as soon as I was done making them. I don’t have the willpower to say no to a piping hot plate of sweet, crunchy, cheesy pasta rolls, do you? If your answer is yes, please tell me your secret ‘cuz I’m gonna need it come the cheesecake holiday.

We’re pretty low key when it comes to dairy in my house – I only serve it once a week, and it’s usually pizza, mac ‘n cheese or baked ziti. But Shavuot? Shavuot is the time for cheesy French onion soup, 4-cheese lasagna, a cheese board of your dreams, and of course plenty of cheesecake and blintzes. And lets not forget the dairy ice cream either. G-d help me survive this decadent holiday!

I’m thinking I’ll have to have some healthy options at the table too. Like these cheesy stuffed mini peppers, this three-cheese rollatini rose pie, the most amazing kid-friendly broccoli poppers, plus these cutesy roasted eggplant parmesan starters.

Now if we’re talking the decadent part of the meal, obv we have these insane roll-ups, which will be an amazing side to my caramelized peach and gouda quesadillas and 3-cheese broccoli pull-apart buns for the kids.  I’m thinking goat cheese ice cream for dessert, and definitely my Torah cannoli, ‘cuz that’s what the holiday is all about – stuffing our face with cheese and the giving of the Torah.

I’m pretty stoked to be hosting my mom for the first time this year – she’s usually the one who hosts, so I better get my menu planned. Stay tuned, I’ll share it with you soon. In the meantime, have a look at the Index for some inspiration!

Lets get rollin’!

Lasagna Roll-Up Blintzes

1 package lasagna noodles
16oz. ricotta cheese
8 oz. cream cheese, softened
1 egg yolk
1/3 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp lemon juice
pinch of salt
3 eggs
3 tbsp heavy cream or whole milk
3 cup Corn Flake crumbs
canola oil, for frying
powder sugar, for dusting

Method:

Cook the lasagna noodles according to the package directions. Drain and spread the noodles on a light greased surface. In a large bowl, mix the ricotta cheese, cream cheese, egg yolk, sugar, vanilla, lemon juice and salt.

Spread a heaping spoonful of the cheese mixture over each lasagna noodle and roll the noodles up. Place seam side down on a baking sheet and freeze for 30 minutes.

In a shallow bowl, beat the eggs and heavy cream. In a second shallow bowl, add the Corn Flake crumbs and season with a pinch of salt.

Remove the roll-ups from the freezer and dip each roll in eggs and then cornflake crumbs, shaking off the excess each time. Work with a few at a time so that the rolls don’t start to defrost and lose their shape. Return the rolls to the freezer until you are ready to fry.

Heat a few inches of oil in a skillet and fry the rollups, turning so that all the sides are browned. Drain on paper towels.

Dust the rolls generously with powdered sugar and serve with strawberry sauce.

VARIATIONS:

– If you desire a smooth cheese filling, blend the cheese mixture in a food processor or blender (you may not need all the lasagna noodles as the volume of the cheese will decrease).
– Use equal parts graham cracker crumbs and Corn Flake crumbs for a sweeter breading.
– Serve with your favorite warmed jam or pie filling.

Strawberry Sauce

16oz frozen strawberries
2 tbsp sugar, or, to taste
1 tsp lemon juice

Add the ingredients to a small saucepan and cook until the strawberries are soft. Mash the berries with a fork to break them up and cook over low heat until thickened. If desired, blend with an immersion blender or serve chunky. Adjust sweetness according to your taste and the sweetness of the fruit.

Related Recipes:

spinach lasagna roll-ups
how to build a crepe bar
parmesan lasagna chips with pizza hummus
quick and easy lasagna

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