Passover Potato Latkes

Makes about 20 small latkes.

4 medium potatoes, peeled, grated on large holes
1 tablespoon lemon juice
2 large eggs
1/2 teaspoon each freshly grated nutmeg, ground ginger and sugar
1/4 teaspoon each salt and black pepper
1/3 cup minced onion
1 & 1/2 tablespoon minced garlic
1 & 1/2 tablespoon minced fresh dill or parsley
5-6 tablespoons matzoh meal
Oil for frying

Squeeze out by handfuls as much liquid from potatoes as possible. Pile them into a large bowl. Stir in lemon juice.
In  a  small bowl, beat eggs with spices, sugar, salt and pepper. Pour into potato mixture and stir to blend. Fold in onion, garlic, dill and 5 tablespoons matzoh meal. let stand 5 minutes. Add remaining matzoh meal, if necessary, to make a batter that's fairly thick and holds together.
Cook pancakes in batches over medium-high heat. Make then smaller than regular latkes. Serve hot from the skillet.

Пасхальные картофельнэ оладьи

На 20 небольших оладий

4 картофелины средней величины , почистить от кожуры и натереть на крупной терке
1 столовая ложка лимонного сока
2 больших яйца
1/2 чайной ложки мускатного ореха, молотого имбиря и сахара
1/4 чайной ложки соли и молотого черного перца
1/3 мелко натертого свежего лука
1 & 1/2 столовойложки мелко нарезанного чеснока
1 & 1/2 столовой ложки мелко нарезанного укропа или петрушки
5-6 столовых ложек matzoh meal
Подсолнечное масло для жарки.

Выжать как можно больше жидкости из натертого картофеля. Выложить в большую посудину и добавить лимонный сок.
В небольшой миске смешать.  яйца, специи, сахар и перец. Вылить эту смесь в картофель. Все перемешать. Добавить лук, чеснок, укроп и 5 столовх ложек  matzoh meal. Дать псотоять 5 минут. Если нужно, добавить еще одну столовую ложку matzoh meal. Смесь должна быть вязкой и держаться вместе.
Пожарить оладьи на среднем огне. Эти оладьи меньше по размеру, чем обыцхнэ оладьи. Подать теплыми.

Recipe comes from "Francine Prince's New Jewish Cuisine." book

Savory Hamantaschen with Dry Tomatoes Cream Cheese filling

Savory Hamantaschen with Dry tomatoes Cream Cheese filling

I used a savory dough for hamantaschen from "Modern Jewish cooking" by Leah Koenig. Dough is quite unique: it keeps shape, it stays fresh for several days, and it's good for sweet and savory filling. Moreover, I plan to bake salty cookies for wine and beer using this dough. Highly recommend! I have already tweaked the original  recipe.

Makes 30-36 hamantaschen

Dough:
2 & 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 Tablespoon water
1/4 cup vegetable oil
12 cups sugar
2 eggs

Filling ( my recipe)
6 oz dry tomatoes (not in oil)
6 tablespoons cream cheese
2 teaspoons balsamic vinegar
2 teaspoons brown sugar
6 teaspoons olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

Egg wash:
1 egg slightly beaten
Sesame seeds for sprinkling

To make filling, place everything in food processor and process until everything will come together. It takes 1-2 minutes. My filling was a little bit crumbly.
To make dough, whisk together the flour, baking powder, pepper, and salt in a medium bowl. IN a large bowl, whisk together the water, vegetable oil, sugar, and eggs until combined. Slowly stir in the flour mixture, mixing until the dough begins to come together. Turn the dough out onto a flat surface and knead a few times with your hands until it  is smooth, but not sticky (If dough is dry, add a couple teaspoons of water. if it looks wet, knead in up to 1/4 cup more flour.)

Gather the dough, then divide it in half with a knife and form 2 flat disks. Wrap each disk tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 3 hours or up to overnight.

Preheat the oven to 350 F and line a large rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper. Remove one disk from the refrigerator. Divide dough onto smaller pieces and knead each piece in your warm hands. Dough will be enough good to roll out to 1/4  inch thickness. Use 3-in round cookie cutter or glass to cut out as many circles as possible and place 1 teaspoon of filling into the center of each dough circle. Fold like hamantaschen. Pinch the seams firmly to seal.  Gather the dough scrapes, re-roll, cut out additional circles. Repeat the process with remaining dough and filling. . Brush the hamantaschen with the egg wash and sprinkle  with sesame seeds.

Bake until golden and browned, around 15-18 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cookies cool on the baking sheets for 5 minutes. Store in airtight container up to 3 days.

Honey Oatmeal Hamantaschen

About 30 hamantaschen

I found this recipe in old cooking book written by Francine Prince "New Jewish Cuisine". First of all, I wanted to try dough recipe. For a second, I did not try any recipe from this book  and selected this recipe to try first. I tweaked a little bit and my hamantaschens turned perfect. I was lazy to follow filling recipe and used  ready poppy seed filling from the can.  I'm still posting recipe with author's filling recipe. I'm sure, many people will try such good dough with a right filling.

Dough:
1/4 cup 1-minute quick oats
About 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon corn starch
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon each cinnamon, ground ginger, and ground coriander
3 tablespoons each packed light brown sugar and honey
4 tablespoons margarine blend, melted
2 tablespoon Italian olive oil
2 large eggs
3 tablespoon ice water or chilled cognac

Filling:
1/2 pound dried apricots
1 pound soft pitted prunes
2 cups unsweetened apple juice
2 tablespoons light brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
1 teaspoon minced lemon zest
2 tablespoons honey
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

For the dough, fit food processor with steel blade. Put oats in work bowl and pulverize. Stop machine. Add 2 cups flour, baking powder, salt, starch, spices. Combine in 2 on/off turns.

In measuring cup, combine sugar and honey with melted margarine and oil, beating with fork to blend. Beat eggs into mixture. With machine running, drizzle mixture through feed tube. Process 30 seconds. then drizzle in water or cognac. Process until mixture forms into 1 or 2 balls. Take out from the bowl of food process, add 1-2 tablespoons flour and knead the dough.  Fold up paper around dough and chill for 2 hours or until firm.

To prepare filling, put apricots in strainer. Rinse under cold running water, separating each piece. Transfer to medium saucepan.Add prunes, apple juice, sugar, spices and lemon zest. Bring to boil. Reduce heat and cook until liquid is reduce by half(about 8 minutes), stirring often. Remove from heat. Cover and let stand until cooled. Puree through food mill into medium bowl. Stir in honey and vanilla. (Nay be prepared a day ahead and refrigerated in tightly closed jar. Bring to room temperature before using).

Preheat oven to 350F. Divide dough into 4 equal parts. Roll out each part of dough on lightly floured board to 1/4-inch thickness. Cut into 3-inch mounds with cookie cutter. Re-roll scraps after briefly chilling. Place a teaspoonful of puree in center of each circle. Fold up edges by thirds, leaving an opening at center and punching edges together where they meet. Finished shape should be triangular. Place on cookie sheets about 1 inch apart and bake in the center section of oven until light brown (13-15 minutes)

Cool on wire rack for 20 minutes. Serve while filling is still slightly warm.
I had some extra dough and decided to spread a little bit of orange marmalade and roll in as a cigar. This dough is quite universal.

Baked Sweet and Sour Chicken

Baked Sweet and Sour Chicken

Ingredients
1 cut-up chicken
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1 1/2 cups sugar
2/3 cup apple cider vinegar
1/2 cup ketchup
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/2 tsp garlic powder
2 tsp paprika
3 Tbsp cornstarch
1 8-ounce can pineapple chunks (pineapple and juice)
1/2  onion, cubed
1/2  red bell pepper, cubed
1/2  green bell pepper, cubed

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Arrange the chicken skin-side up in a 9x13 baking dish and sprinkle with salt and pepper.
Distribute pineapple chunks, onion, and bell pepper around the chicken.
To make the sweet and sour sauce: In a medium bowl, stir together sugar, apple cider vinegar, ketchup, soy sauce, garlic powder, paprika, and the juice from the canned pineapple until combined.To add the cornstarch without creating lumps, pour about 1 cup of the sauce mixture into a separate small bowl.  Add the cornstarch, and stir until a smooth paste forms.
Add the cornstarch paste back into the sauce mixture and stir until combined.
Cook the sauce in a medium saucepan over medium heat until it boils. Reduce heat to a simmer and continue cooking for 7-10 minutes or until thickened, stirring frequently.
Pour about half of the sauce over the chicken, making sure to cover the chicken with sauce.
Cook in the oven for about 1 hour, or until the chicken juices run clear and the sauce has slightly caramelized on the chicken.  Baste with the sauce after 45 minutes.
Serve over rice with the rest of the reserved sweet and sour sauce.

Recipe comes from http://www.myjewishlearning.com/the-nosher/baked-sweet-and-sour-chicken-recipe/

Quick Moist Parsnip Bread

I bought a package (4) of parsnips. Two of them I used for Mediterranean chunky bean & vegetable soup and left with 2 large parsnips. So I decided to find a recipe to make something tasty from parsnips. I found a recipe, tweaked a little bit and ended up with quite healthy quick bread.

Quick Moist Parsnip Bread

2  cups all-purpose flour
1 cup sugar
1 tablespoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon cinnamon
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon allspice
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cloves
3 eggs
1/2 cup oil
1/2 cup milk or half and half
2 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups packed peeled and shredded fresh parsnips, 2-3 large (I used food processor to grate parsnips)
1/2 cup chopped nuts, optional plus extra for topping, optional
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 9-by-5-by-3-inch (2-quart) loaf pan; set aside. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, salt, and all spices; set aside. In smaller bowl combine eggs, oil, milk and vanilla and mix well. Stir egg mixture into flour mixture until smooth. Stir in parsnips and nuts, if adding. Spoon batter into the prepared pan. Bake for 45-50 minutes – or until toothpick inserted into a bread comes out clean.  Let cool 10 minutes in pan, then turn out of pan and let cool completely on a wire rack.

Быстрый кекс с корнем пастернака

2 чашки муки
1 стакан сахара
1 цтоловся ложка молотого имбиря
1 чайная ложка корицы
2 чайные ложки разрыхлителя
1 чайной ложки мускатного ореха
1 чайная ложка душистого перца
1 чайная ложка соли
1/2 чайной ложки гвоздики
3 яйца
1/2 стакана растительного масла
1/2 стакана молока или сливок
2 чайной ложки ванильного экстракта
2 чашки мелко натернотого корня пастернака  (Я использовала кухонный комбайн)
1/2 чашки измельченных орехов  (по желанию)

Разогреть духовку до 350 Ф. Подготовить  9- 5 - 3 -дюймовый ( 2 - кварт) формочку для быпечки хлеба  Взбить муку, разрыхлитель , соль и все специи. В меньшей миске смешать яйца, масло, молоко и ваниль и хорошо перемешать . Перемешать яичную смесь с мучной до получения однородной массы . Добавить пастернак и орехи. Выложить тесто в подготовленную дорму для выпечки. Выпекать в течение 45-50 минут. Дайте остыть 10 минут в кастрюле , затем вынуть и дать полностью остыть на решетке .

Smoked Salmon Triangles

Makes 24 triangles

4 tablespoons butter, divided
4 medium flour tortillas
1 package (8 ounces) cream cheese, softened
1/2 pound thinly slices smoked salmon
2 medium tomatoes, thinly sliced
1 medium purple onion, thinly sliced

Melt 1 tablespoon butter in a frying pan over low heat, cook 1 tortilla until light golden brown and crisp on one side only. Remove and cool. Repeat with remaining tortillas.
Divide cream cheese into four equal parts and spread over each tortilla on the non-crisp side. Then equally divide and add salmon, tomatoes and onion.
Cut each tortilla into 6 triangle wedges. Chill before serving. Garnish with freshly chopped parsley.

Recipe comes from complimentary culinary magazine "Lunds & Byerlys"