From www.arthurdays.blogspot.com, March 25, 2011

The Traditional Meal


I had another opportunity to cook today, not just my usual Tuesday, and even with the use of one and a half arms, as my right one is still a bit useless, I was able to get together a great meal, full of nostalgia for me.

I wanted to make a traditional Jewish meal because I miss my grandmother’s home cooking, and I like to recreate some favorites. As a matter of fact, both of these were never made by either my mother or my grandmother, but traditional they are.

When I grew up, goin g out to dinner usually meant going to a deli. We had a favorite deli nearby, on Garrison Boulevard in Baltimore, called Paul’s. On Friday evening we often would go there as a family, my parents and I, and even later on I would go with my parents and my wife and kids. One thing I loved that they had on the menu was meat blintzes with mushroom gravy, something I have been thinking about for the last 40 years or so and thought this would be a good time to make them.

Along with that I made kasha varnishkes, another traditional dish made of bowtie pasta and buckwheat.

I searched through lots of recipes and made up with this one and it was a winner.

Meat Blintzes

Filling:

1 pound lean ground beef (I used kosher beef because I was being traditional)

1 sweet onion, mostly (3/4) grated and some (1/4) chopped bits

1 carrot, grated

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

1 egg, beaten

1 teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon ground pepper

½ teaspoon ground cumin

1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

1 tablespoon flour

½ cup water

In a large frying pan cook the meat along with the onions, carrots, Worcestershire, spices, flour and the water for at least ten to fifteen minutes on medium high, until it’s cooked through. Cook covered for a few more minutes on a lower heat. Let sit covered for 20 minutes. Uncover and blend in a beaten egg to the mixture. Turn off the heat, cover and let it rest for five more minutes.

Blintze Batter (batter recipe from Jennie Grossinger’s cook book)

3 eggs

1 cup milk or water

½ teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

¾ cup flour

Butter or oil for frying

Beat the eggs, milk, salt and oil together. Stir in the flour. Heat a 6” small fry pan and add a little oil or butter. Pour about 4 tablespoons of the mixture into the hot pan, tilting the pan to coat the bottom and a bit of the sides. Use enough batter to make a thin pancake. Let the bottom brown and turn it out, bottom side (brown) up onto a paper towel. Make all the pancakes. This will make about 8-10.

Spread a heaping tablespoon or more of filling over the top of the blintz, and turn and roll up like a jelly roll, browned side on the inside.

You can pan fry them at this point or bake in a hot oven at 425 degrees F for about 10-15 minutes until brown. You can sprinkle a bit of paprika on them if you bake to insure browning.

The blintze batter is a crepe recipe and can be used for fruit and cheese blintzes as well.


Kasha Varnishkes

In 1925 Wolff Brothers of Paterson, New Jersey, published a Yiddish English cook book with recipes culled from a kasha cooking contest run in all the Jewish newspapers throughout the country. "Recipes of thousands of Jewish dishes were sent us," they wrote modestly, "but we selected only the very best among them and these are listed here." The recipes included buckwheat blintzes, vegetarian buckwheat cutlets, and "a tasteful grits soup" made from their Health Food (merely unroasted buckwheat groats), green peas, and potatoes. The varnishke recipe was basically a kreplach-type noodle stuffed with kasha, buckwheat groats, and gribenes.

Packaged bow-tie noodles,large and small, quickly replaced the flat homemade egg noodles in the American version of kasha varnishkes. The trick to a good kasha varnishke is to toast the whole-grain buckwheat groat well over a high heat for 2 to 4 minutes until you start smelling the aroma of the kasha. This will seal the groats so that there is a nutty, crunchy taste to them, a good foil to the soft taste of the noodles. You can add fresh parsley and sometimes coriander. Although traditionalists use bow-tie noodles for this, try rigatoni, shells, or any other kind of noodle you like.

Wolff Brother’s Recipe (My version)

• 1 large onion, chopped
• 2 to 3 tablespoons margarine or oil

• 1 large egg, slightly beaten

• 1 cup medium or coarse kasha

• 2 cups water or bouillon

• Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

• 3/4 pound large or small bow tie-shaped noodles

• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley

• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh coriander (optional)

1. Sauté the onions in 2 tablespoons of the margarine or oil in a heavy frying pan with a cover until golden. Remove to a plate.

2. Beat the egg in a small mixing bowl and stir in the kasha. Mix, making sure all the grains are coated. Put the kasha in the same frying pan, set over a high heat. Flatten, stir, and break up the egg-coated kasha with a fork or wooden spoon for 2 to 4 minutes or until the egg has dried on the kasha and the kernels brown and mostly separate.

3. Add the water or bouillon, salt, and pepper to the frying pan and bring to a boil. (I added a few sliced mushrooms just because I had them around.) Add the onions, cover tightly, and cook over low heat, steaming the kasha for 10 minutes. Remove the cover, stir, and quickly check to see if the kernels are tender and the liquid has been absorbed. If not, cover and continue steaming for 3 to 5 minutes more.

4. Meanwhile, bring a large pot of water to a boil. Cook the bow-tie noodles according to the directions on the package. Drain.

5. When the kasha is ready, combine with the noodles. Adjust the seasoning, sprinkle with the parsley and coriander. If desired, add a bit more margarine or oil.

I will admit that I used two packages of prepared brown gravy mix, two cups of water and added that to a package of sliced mushrooms that I had sautéed.

We served some veggies on the side and this made quite a feast! Definitely give this one a try!

From arthursdays.blogspot.com Wednesday, March 9, 2011

This was a really great dinner last night. I will admit that the recipe itself was adapted from Giada De Laurentiis. It was so good, although I made some changes. It was so full of flavor, and a good thing to eat while we watched “Biggest Loser”. On Tuesday nights, as usual, I get to cook, after my wife and daughter come home from yoga. It’s my chance to shine in the cooking department.

I highly recommend this dinner!

RAVIOLI WITH ARUGULA, TOMATOES AND PANCETTA

Recipe adapted from Giada De Laurentiis

Ingredients

• 1 pound frozen cheese ravioli

• ¼ pound (200 grams) pancetta, diced into little cubes

• 1 (15-ounce) can San Marzano tomatoes (she drains them, I use the liquid for a much saucier dish)

• 3 tablespoons olive oil

• 1/2 teaspoon salt, plus extra for seasoning

• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, plus extra for seasoning

• 3 cups arugula

• 1/2 cup thinly sliced fresh basil leaves, divided

• 2 tablespoons butter, at room temperature

Directions

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil over high heat. Add the ravioli and cook for 7 to 9 minutes until tender. Drain.

In a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat, add the pancetta and cook stirring frequently, until crispy, about 8 minutes. Remove to paper towels to drain. Add the tomatoes, olive oil, 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper and cook for 2 minutes until tender, roughly chopping up the tomatoes in the pan as it cooks. Add the arugula and 1/4 cup basil and cook until wilted, about 30 seconds. Stir in the butter and melt.

Add the ravioli and cooked pancetta and toss until coated. Season with salt and pepper, to taste.

Transfer the ravioli to a large serving bowl.

Garnish with the remaining basil and serve.

Another Great Dinner from www.arthursdays.blogspot.com

This was a really great dinner last night. I will admit that the idea and the recipe itself came from Chef Michael Smith, as did the advice he starts with. It was so good, although I made some changes and I will suggest some others. It’s worth doing and I will make it, with changes, sometime next week. It was so full of flavor, and a good thing to eat while we watched “Biggest Loser”. On Tuesday night I aways get to cook now, after my wife and daughter come home from yoga. It’s my chance to shine in the cooking department. I highly recommend this dinner!

A recipe is merely words on paper; a guideline, a starting point from which to improvise. It cannot pretend to replace the practiced hand and telling glance of a watchful cook. For that reason feel free to stir your own ideas into this dish. When you cook it once, it becomes yours, so personalize it a bit. Add more of an ingredient you like or less of something you don't like. Try substituting one ingredient for another. Remember words have no flavour; you have to add your own!


Michael Smith


Halibut Provencal

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons olive oil

• 4x6 ounce halibut filets, dried on paper towels (I used tilapia, which was wonderful and half the price of halibut. It is a bit thinner, so it cooks up even faster. The whole dish is very quick after you start to cook.)

• Salt and pepper to taste

• 1 large onion, peeled and chopped

• 8 cloves garlic, peeled and minced

• 4 ripe tomatoes, chopped or 1 can of whole tomatoes (I will use a can of Italian tomatoes the next time as they are very flavorful. The vine ripened tomatoes I used have not much taste in the winter months.)

• 24 black olives, pitted (I will chop them in quarters the next time.)

• 24 green olives, pitted (I will chop them as well.)

• 1/4 cup of capers

• 1/4 cup best quality balsamic vinegar

Directions

1. Preheat a large heavy skillet. Add enough oil to cover the bottom with a thin film. When wisps of smoke begin to appear, season the halibut with salt and pepper and add to the pan. Sear on one side until it has a crispy golden crust and releases easily from the pan. Flip and sear on the other side, remove to a plate and reserve.

2. Add the onions and garlic to the hot pan, and sauté until they smell great, a minute or two. Add the tomatoes olives, capers and balsamic and heat through. Add the halibut back to the pan and continue heating until the fish is cooked through, another five minutes or so.




Moroccan Zucchini

Ingredients

• 2 zucchinis, cut in half, lengthwise (I did 4 zucchinis, and added a bit more couscous and stock. I had way too much for 4, so I’d leave the couscous the same and add a bit more stock.)

• 2 tablespoons olive oil

• 1 large onion, chopped

• 1 cup couscous

• 1 cup chicken stock (add a bit more if needed)

• 1 small bunch basil leaves, chopped

• 4 ounces feta cheese

• Salt and pepper to taste

Directions

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

2. Place zucchini; cut side down, onto a baking dish (use parchment paper on a cookie sheet) and roast in the oven until it turns golden brown. Scoop the pulp out from the centre of the zucchini, keeping the skins intact for stuffing. Reserve pulp and skins.

3. Heat the oil in a saucepan and add the onion. Sauté until golden brown then add the zucchini pulp, couscous, chicken stock and season with salt and pepper. Bring to a simmer then turn off and rest until the couscous has absorbed all the liquid. Add the basil leaves and feta cheese and stir well. Spoon the mixture into the zucchini skins and place in an 8” by 8” baking dish. Bake until golden brown and hot.

Braised Pork Chops and Creamy Polenta.

recipe from http://www.arthursdays.blogspot.com/

On January 29 I wrote:
I haven’t done a food post in a long time and I feel the need coming on. In my non-linear thinking, why not? It seems to be I just go with what I’m thinking, and fortunately or unfortunately, much of my life had worked that way.

A dear old friend from Baltimore sent an email to me the other day and he said, after the posting about my mother’s 100th birthday:

“Wonderful remembrance. Thanks for sharing and if your Mom can read these e mails from heaven my best wishes to her for a happy birthday. Great recipes too. Ever consider publishing a cookbook of them?” Jack


We have appeared in a cookbook published in Alberta a few years ago, where we had three recipes, but nothing planned, so far. We appeared in the Calgary Herald many years ago, about ten times, cooking with the kids. We also did one family cooking event for the Hamilton Spectator. But this week, instead of Greek Meatballs, the January 29 delicacy, I am going with the next big hit around here, which was Braised Pork Chops over Creamy Polenta.

To be fair, I took the basic recipe from Chef Melissa d’Arabian’s “Ten Dollar Dinners” show on the Food Network. I had to change the Country Ribs to Pork Chops as Country Ribs tends to be a US cut, available here in Canada but basically it would have to be ordered, so I just used bone-in pork chops, pretty much a thinner version of the same thing. I used my own polenta recipe as hers was too strange for me to do and way to high in fat content.

So here’s the big hit at my house from Tuesday evening. I came home from the grocery store at five before six o’clock to say good-bye to my wife and daughter as they left for yoga. I had until eight o’clock to make my dinner, a Tuesday night recurring event. This is my one, guaranteed chance to get to cook each week and its fun! Its newly minted, so I hope to keep it up and add to my knowledge and to yours, as well as add it to my other blog, the one with my mothers cookbook plus all of my own recipes. http://renascookbook.blogspot.com/

Braised Pork Chops and Creamy Polenta.

Braised Pork Chops

Ingredients

• 3 pounds bone-in pork chops

• salt and freshly ground black pepper

• 3 tablespoons vegetable oil

• 1 onion, chopped

• 1 carrot, chopped

• 1 stalk celery, chopped

• 4 cloves garlic, minced

• 2 tablespoons tomato paste

• 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar

• 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes

• 2 bay leaves

• 2 1/2 cups chicken stock

• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley, for garnish

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Pat the ribs dry and season with salt and pepper. Heat 2 tablespoons oil in a Dutch oven over medium-high heat and brown the ribs on all sides, working in batches if needed. Remove the ribs and set aside. Add the remaining 1 tablespoon oil to the Dutch oven and reduce the heat to medium. Add the onions, carrots, celery, salt, and pepper and cook until soft, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add the tomato paste and cook, stirring, to remove the raw flavor, about 3 minutes. Deglaze the pan with the vinegar, and then add the red pepper flakes and bay leaves.

Add the ribs back to the pan and add enough stock to reach halfway up the sides of the ribs. Bring the pan to a simmer, cover, and place in the oven. Braise until the meat is tender, about 1 1/2 hours. During the last half hour, uncover to allow the liquid to reduce and the pork to brown.

Serve the ribs over Creamy Polenta and garnishing with parsley.



Creamy Polenta

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cup whole milk

• 3 cups water

• 2 tablespoons butter

• 1 cup coarse polenta, or corn grits

• Ground salt and black pepper

• 1/2 cup grated Parmesan

• ¼ cup Pecorino Romano Cheese

Directions

In a medium saucepan boil 1 cup water and 1 cup milk. Mix polenta well into 2 cups cold water. Add this mixture to boiling liquid, lower heat and continue stirring all the time. Add butter to mixture, season with salt and pepper and continue over medium-high heat, whisking constantly to keep the mixture lump-free. Boil very lightly for 25 to 30 minutes. At the end of the cooking time, add cheeses and the rest of the milk and continue to stir for a minute or two.

Pour the mixture into a greased baking dish. Put into the oven at 300 degrees for 30 minutes or until you are ready to serve.

Enjoy!

Greek Meatballs

From: http://www.arthursdays.blogspot.com/

I haven’t done a food post in a long time and I feel the need coming on. In my non-linear thinking, why not? It seems to be I just go with what I’m thinking, and fortunately or unfortunately, much of my life had worked that way.


These were fantastic last week. I served them with a Greek salad, spinach pie (Spanakopita, small frozen ones from the supermarket), orzo and pita on the side. It was a big hit around here.


Greek Meatballs
(Adapted from 2005’s South Beach Diet Quick and Easy Cookbook)

1 pound lean ground beef

½ small onion finely chopped

2 cloves garlic finely chopped or 2 tsp. garlic from a jar

½ cup finely crumbled feta cheese (measure crumbled)

1 large egg beaten

1 T extra virgin olive oil

1 T dried oregano

4 tsp. red wine vinegar

½ tsp. salt

¼ tsp. fresh ground black pepper

1 tsp. Greek seasoning (surprisingly available in the supermarket, I never knew it was there)

Preheat oven to 400.

I micro waved the onion for 30 seconds to remove the”bite” of using raw onion.
Combine all ingredients in a large bowl with your hands.

Place parchment paper on a large cookie sheet and form approximately 24 meatballs and place on sheet.

Bake for 20 minutes and turn, bake for another 10 minutes, turn again for another 1 to 10 minutes, until they are brown and cooked through.

They will look awful during the cooking process because the cheese and the vinegar oozes out during cooking and you need to get to that beautiful browned, caramelized state.

Serve with Tzatziki Sauce, easily available at all supermarkets.

and visions of kreplach danced in their heads...

From Christmas Eve 2010 post on arthursdays.blogspot.com
This all starts with dinner the other night, as we had meat rolled in cabbage and perogis. These came from a Polish food provider housed in a suburban basement with access through a ground level window with a door (or window) bell. They offer a range of home made and frozen Polish food items. They are very good, and we all enjoy them prepared in various ways. However, I am always reminded, when we have this kind of dinner, of my grandmother, a Jewish cook of great excellence, who made fantastic meat rolled in cabbage and kreplach.

I was thinking this morning about kreplach. This is a life long fantasy, dreaming about one of my favorite things made best (of course) by my grandmother, and never duplicated.

Kreplach (from Yiddish: קרעפּלעך kreplekh, קרעפפּל krepl neut. sg.) are small dumplings filled with ground meat, mashed potatoes or another filling, usually boiled and served in chicken soup. They are similar to Italian tortellini and Chinese wontons. In many Ashkenazi homes, kreplach are served on Rosh Hashanah, at the pre-fast meal before Yom Kippur, and on Hoshana Raba. Kreplach with vegetarian or dairy fillings are also eaten on Purim because the hidden nature of the kreplach interior mimics the "hidden" nature of the Purim miracle. A variety with a sweet cheese filling is served as a starter or main dish in dairy meals, specifically on Shavuot. Stuffed pasta may have migrated from Venice to the Ashkenazi Jews in Germany during the 14th century.

The word krepl is probably derived from the Old High German kraepfo meaning grape. The Middle English word grapple is related (from a grape vine hook).

There are recipes of course for kreplach, and there are delis and caterers who prepare them but some things in life are best in memory. My first pizzas, my first fast food hamburgers (when I swear they had taste) and maybe my first kiss. But for me and many more like me, its Grandma’s cooking (or Mothers cooking for some) that wins every time.

We had Jewish food, or Eastern European food or maybe Russian/Lithuanian food but whatever mixture it was, it was wonderful.

Her rolled cabbage had raisins in a tangy sweet tomato sauce and I did love it, but today I want to focus on kreplach.

She made huge ones, and mounds of them. They went in her chicken soup and were added just before serving. Some of them (I swear just made for me or so I felt at the time) were lovingly smeared in chicken fat (schmaltz) and put on cookie sheets and baked in the oven. They were hot, salty and fantastic! You could put them in soup or eat them on a plate. I think they may have been sprinkled with a bit of paprika and some cinnamon as well. They became browned and a bit crusty and it was heaven! The recipes below suggest frying them which works as well but does not include the loving and tender schmaltz treatment!

Here are a couple of kreplach recipes I found on the net. I have not tried them but thought I’d include some anyway.

#1
Kreplach Dough

½ tsp salt

2 eggs; slightly beaten

2 cups flour; unsifted (scant)

KREPLACH PREPARATION:

Add salt to eggs, add eggs to flour. Mix with your hands until the dough leaves the sides of the bowl. It should be fairly stiff. Knead until the dough is smooth and elastic. Roll out on a lightly floured board. Roll and stretch until it is paper thin. Cut into 3” squares. Place 1 Tblsp of filling i(see below) in center of each square and fold to make a triangle. Crimp edges with a fork and cook in boiling water.

Cook until they rise to the top; about 10 or 12 minutes. DO NOT COOK IN THE SOUP.

You may warm them in the soup.

FILLING

2 cups veal; cooked and ground

1 egg

1 tablespoon onion; minced salt and pepper to taste

FILLING PREPARATION:

Put all the ingredients for the filling in the food processor leaving the eggs for last.

Recipe makes about 30.

#2
DOUGH:

2 cups flour

½ tsp salt

3 tbsp. Oil

2 egg yolks

½ cup water

1 ½ tsps. Baking powder or baking soda

FILLING:

1 onion diced

2 Tbsp. Oil

1 cup cooked ground beef or chicken

1 tsp. Salt

¼ tsp. Pepper

1 egg

1 Tbsp. Matzoh meal

DOUGH:

In a large bowl combine flour, salt and oil. In a separate bowl, beat egg yolks, water and baking powder (or soda). Add to flour mixture. Knead and roll out thin on floured board. Cut into 3-inch squares or circles.

FILLING:

Saute onion in oil. Add ground beef or chicken and brown for 5 minutes. Remove from heat and cool. Add salt, pepper, egg and matzoh meal and mix well.

On floured board roll dough out as thin as possible without tearing. Cut rolled out dough into 3-inch squares. Place a teaspoon of filling carefully in center. Bring point 1 up to point 4 and seal edges. Moisten edges with tip of finger dipped in cold water to keep seams closed.

Place in boiling water. Cook approximately 20 minutes until kreplach float to top. When ready, remove from pot and serve in soup.

NOTE: This can also be served as a side dish. For crisp kreplach, fry boiled kreplach in heated oil in 10-inch skillet over medium flame until golden brown on both sides.

Yields: 18 kreplach

#3
DOUGH:

1 ¾ flour

2 eggs

½ tsp. Salt

3 Tbsp. Oil

FILLING

1 cup ground cooked beef or chicken

1 small onion, grated

1 tsp. salt

DOUGH: in a large bowl combine dough ingredients together. Knead and roll out thin on floured board. Cut into 3-inch squares or circles.

FILLING: in a small bowl mix filling ingredients well. See Kreplach illustrated for filling and folding. Kreplach can now be either boiled and served in soup or sauted in oil.

TO BOIL: Place in boiling salted water. Cook approximately 20 minutes until kreplach float to top.

TO SAUTE: Heat oil over medium flame in 10-inch skillet. Saute boiled kreplach until golden brown on both sides.

NOTE: Dough will roll out more easily after being wrapped in a damp cloth for one hour.

YIELDS: 18 Kreplach

The Pie Crust from arthursdays.blogspot.com

My wife seldom or never reads this stuff, and usually my daughters don’t either. They hate my writing it, and wish I didn’t speak or write, unless spoken to. This is my lot in life and while I don’t understand it, I live with it. As a communicator by nature, I could really care less, because I will continue. However, there are a few stories I start to tell my wife which she immediately tells me I can’t say, usually because she feels it would embarrass someone somewhere. I generally don’t care about it, and enjoy the challenge.



This is one of those I guess, but I can’t imagine this embarrassing anyone, it’s just sort of funny. I will leave out all names and references, and the person I’m writing about will recognize herself immediately and find it funny.

I had a call on the weekend asking if either my wife or daughter were home. The caller, when asked, needed baking advice and wanted to speak to the bakers. I explained that they both were out and asked if I could help. I was baking and cooking before my wife was born, but this seems to be lost on most people. I do know how to do stuff, even though I’m seldom called upon to do it.

She was baking a pie shell and wanted to know if she should prebake and if it was OK to use rice as she had no dry beans. I thought she could, although I’d never done that myself and she thanked me. I made many assumptions, as did she.

She assumed I knew nothing!

I assumed she knew something!

In this there is a world of difference.

She made the pie crust with rice as a weight but failed to realize that one must put something on the wet pie crust first before you put in the weights, or you will bake the weights into the pie! She poured the rice onto the wet pie shell and baked! She made a “hard rice pie”.

Prebaking a pie or tart crust is done so that you partially or completely bake before it is filled. This is done to help keep the crust from becoming soggy from a wet fruit filling, or so that you have a cooked crust if you are filling the pie with something already cooked, such as custard.

To prebake a crust, you roll it out and put it in the pan. To keep the bottom from puffing and the sides from falling, you should line the crust with parchment paper or aluminum foil, with holes poked in it. Fill it with beans or rice. There are also special pie weights on the market.

Make sure to gently push the beans or rice up against the sides of the parchment or foil to keep the sides of the crust from collapsing in the heat of the oven. Place the crust in a hot oven (say, 425°F; 220°C), which will help set the flour in the sides before the fat starts to soften, and bake for 20 minutes. Carefully remove the weights and liner from the crust, prick the bottom with the tines of a fork to allow steam to escape, and return the crust to the oven.

If you are prebaking the crust, it may only need another 5 minutes in the oven, until it is a very light brown. If you want to fully bake the crust, it may need 10 to 20 minutes more baking until it is done. You may also have to prick the bottom again.

Now, having done all this prebaking, you also must take care if you're subsequently going to add a filling and bake some more, that you don't overcook the edges of the crust that you so magnificently crimped or fluted or otherwise decorated. You can buy a pie crust shield, or if you're a master of aluminum-foil origami, you can make your own.

Remove the beans, rice, aluminum foil, parchment paper, metal weights and anything else before you put in the pie filling!