I’m off to Orlando this weekend for Pillsbury’s 44th Bake-Off. I’ll be there blogging and tweeting, courtesy of Pillsbury, with a few other bloggers. The first I’ll mention is Amy Sherman of Cooking with Amy.  We’ve never met before, but I’ll be bringing her bialys from New York, and she’ll be bringing me some Philz coffee from San Francisco. This is exactly the kind of thing that makes me love the blogging community. We’re here to share food.

While I’m gone, I also wanted to leave hubby with something yummy, something he loves, and something easy for me to put together. Sparked by my purchase of bialys, I decided on Whitefish Salad. You won’t believe how easy it is to make!

You can get Whitefish salad on a bagel at any bagel shop in New York, but you’re going to pay $9 for it. You can make your own Whitefish Salad for about $4 to $6 per bagel (depending on where you buy the smoked whitefish), and all it is mixing two ingredients together! It’s just smoked whitefish and mayonnaise.

Jewish Whitefish Salad

Buy smoked whitefish, which is sold by the pound at most bagel shops and Jewish delis.

Peel back the skin (separates very easily) and discard. Pick out the fish meat, carefully leaving behind bones. Place all the chunks of fish meat in a bowl.

Use two forks to shred the fish.

Stir in mayonnaise. The amount you use is just personal preference. I prefer about 1 tablespoon of mayonnaise per 1 cup of shredded smoked whitefish. Lon prefers about 2 tablespoons of mayonnaise per cup of shredded smoked whitefish.

Spread on a bagel or bialy.

There are as many recipes for Haroseth as there are for cherry pie, and most American Jews use an apple and nut mixture. It often contained red wine, an ingredient my mother-in-law avoids (tannins give her migraines). Though they are Ashkenazi Jews, Bonnie (my MIL) adopted a more Moroccan-style, using dried fruits. Now, she’s been using this recipe (a combination of two she read in the papers 30 years ago) for as far back as Lon can remember.

This recipe is super easy and keeps well in the fridge. It’s also extremely forgiving. A little more of this, a little less of that, is fine. You can come up with you’re own tradition. If you like dried fruits and nuts, you’ll like this. It’s like that plate you get at wine bars, tossed into a food processor, and made into a ball. Yum!

Haroseth Balls
~about 2 dozen pieces

• 12 dried apricots
• 6 large pitted dried dates
• 6 large dried black figs
• 3/4 cup finely chopped walnuts, divided
• 2 tablespoons honey
• scant 1/4 cup sweet white wine (like muscat)
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 2 teaspoons sugar

Instructions -

1. Put apricots, dates, figs, and 1/2 cup of finely chopped walnuts in the bowl of a food processor. Pulse until fine. Add the honey and process until you get a paste. Add sweet wine and cinnamon, processing until well combined.

2. Remove the paste from the food processor and form into 3/4″ balls. Combine the remaining 1/4 cup of walnuts with sugar and lay in a shallow bowl. Roll balls in the walnut/sugar mixture. Refrigerate until firm in an airtight container. Serve cold or room temperature. Stores for at least 1 week.

***Update 11/07/11***Breadbox is now terrible, cutting corners and giving stale and old food. Don’t go!

I’m so happy we’ve hit perfect walk-around weather, ideal for my first few days of neighborhood exploring. I’m disappointed by the dark and dreary C-town by me, but on another ugly block, I found Breadbox Cafe 47-11 11th Street, Long Island City, NY 11101. It was right next to a Getty gas station, an unexpected cafe, clean and new with the Grand Opening sign up. I felt a connection like I wanted to go in and high-five them, and say, “Hey, I’m new here too.” ( I didn’t of course.)

With rows and rows of plump and doughy looking bagels, I thought it was a bagel shop. But no, it’s not. They’re not the traditional type with every flavor of cream cheese and a confusing amount of smoked and cured fish. I was corrected by the women behind the counter who seemed to be apologetic yet assertive that this concept was more of a cafe. However, they do make all of their bagels, so I grabbed a 7-grain, an everything, and an intriguing French Toast. Unfortunately, a sprinkling of powdered sugar and hint of cinnamon does not make this taste like French Toast. It’s really just a good egg bagel, but for $1.50 skip it and go for the others at 80 cents. Their bagels are extra chewy, fun to pinch and pull apart, reminiscent of the ones at Hot & Crusty Bagel Cafe on 87th and Broadway (prior to 2004, then chef and/or recipe changed). The 7-grain has a wonderful honey and oat flavor.

When I got home, Lon was ready for lunch and suggested a salmon salad for the bagels. When using recipes for canned salmon, keep in mind that different brands do vary quite a bit. We seem to favor the Kirkland brand, both their Wild Alaskan Sockeye (which I used this time) and their regular Atlantic salmon. The wild is a lot leaner and crumbles more. Because of the variation in canned salmon, use this recipe as a guideline, adjusting for more or less moisture, more or less fat.

I’ve noticed that many people use tuna salad as a fall-back when there’s nothing else around or you just want to save time and money, but stay healthy. I despise canned tuna, but I guess this salmon salad is my alternative. It’s just as cost, time, and nutrition effective.

Two Minute Salmon Salad
~enough for one bagel

• 1 (6 oz) can salmon
• 1 tablespoon drained nonpareil capers
• 1 tablespoon mayonnaise
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 1/8 teaspoon dried dill
• freshly ground pepper to taste

Instruction -

1. Drain the salmon but reserve 1 teaspoon of the liquid and place it in a medium bowl with the salmon.

2. Add the rest of the ingredients, being generous with pepper, and stir together. Serve. ( I recommend serving on a bagel.)

Rugelach is the perfect thing to make this time of year. First of all, you can use it for Hannukah or Christmas because everyone loves it. You can make a huge batch and bring to both houses like us, one Jewish (sorta), one not. My Chinese family got addicted to rugelach from eating the giant boxes from Costco, which are dangerously good. Secondly, in December, fresh fruits are not very good in New York, so jams, preserves, and dried fruits are what’s in season.

Rugelach are in between pastry and cookie, a little crumbly, but also rich and a little doughy. They’re dense and combine the flavors of fruity and nutty, laced with cinnamon. Very addictive. The two-bite size is tricky cause you feel like you’re not eating that much, but they are quite caloric.

I first started making rugelach about 10 years ago, before culinary school and all, but I have no idea where I got the recipe from. The early favorite has been tweaked many times over the years, till I got my perfect version(s), which may be a tad less sweet than most, but it did get Lon’s family’s (Jewish) stamp of approval. It’s a very versatile recipe, and I like to make a batch using different flavors of jams, or alternating the nuts. You’ll see the many “or” options in the recipe.

Rugelach
~ 48 individual pastries

• 1/2 lb (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
• 6 ounces cream cheese, softened
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 5 tablespoons granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/4 cup chopped dried apricots or raisins
• 1/4 cup chopped walnuts, pecans, or almonds
• 3/4 cup jam or preserves (strawberry, raspberry, apricot, blackberry, etc.)
• 1 egg yolk
• 1 tablespoon water
• turbinado as needed

Instructions -

1. Cream butter and sugar together with the paddle attachment on a mixer. Add flour and salt and mix until well combined.

2. Divide the dough into 6 equal disks and wrap them in plastic and chill for at least 1 hour. (You can make it the day before if you want.)

3. While dough is chilling, preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. In a small bowl, toss together sugar, cinnamon, dried fruit of choice, and nut of choice. Set aside.

4. When the dough is ready, remove one piece from the fridge at a time, as you are using. Roll out disk between two pieces of plastic wrap, into an 8″ circle.

5. Spread 2 tablespoons of jam/preserves on the circle dough.

6. Sprinkle with two tablespoons of cinnamon/sugar/fruit/nut mix.

7. Cut into 8 wedges like a pizza.

8. Roll each piece from the outside edge in, as pictured. Place point side down on an un-greased cookie sheet, two inches apart.

9. Repeat steps 4 through 8 for remaining dough. You can use different flavors of jam/preserves for each circle (8 pieces) if you want.

10. In a small bowl, mix together egg yolk and water. Brush on top of each rugelach. Sprinkle with turbinado.

11. Bake for 15 minutes on the top shelf, or until golden. Remove from oven and cool on the cookie sheet for 2 minutes. Carefully remove to a cooling rack with a spatula. Cool and serve warm or room temperature.

My mom typically bought it pre-made from the supermarket or kosher deli, but could make them from time to time. There were three ways to enjoy the dish as far as I was concerned. Fresh (always the best), microwaved (which is surprisingly delicious!), or re-fried until the kasha and varnishkes (the Yiddish term for farfalle or bow-tie pasta) were brown and crispy. When I had it the fried way, sometimes I’d add mayo and eat it as a sandwich or with some sliced turkey breast… mmmmm nom nom nom (p.s. I just got my 22 month old niece to say ‘nom nom’).

Jessica managed to pick up some dry kasha during her 9th avenue shopping tour. The smell of this grain drives me nuts, I love it! I couldn’t wait to make it. I found a few recipes, but in the end, I settled back in on my mom’s. It was a little messy, like all home recipes should be, but I’ve cleaned it up a bit for you.

Before getting started, I’ll highlight two points. First, I don’t know where this came from. My mom had it jotted down somewhere, and I’ve adapted it a bit for clarity and my personal taste. Second, my mom and I agree it’s good to have a fairly high ratio of pasta to kasha, but it’s up to you. If you want to vary the ratio just increase or decrease the amount of pasta you use.

Kasha Varnishkes
~makes enough of a side dish for about 6-8 people

Ingredients

• 6 cups Dry Large Farfalle (bow-tie pasta)
• 1.5 cups Onion, diced
• 2 tbsp. Shmaltz (a.k.a. Chicken Fat), plus some extra, or if you sadly don’t have any on hand, substitute Vegetable Oil
• 2 cups Chicken Stock
• 1 egg
• 1 cup Dry Kasha
• Pepper to Taste
• Kosher Salt

Instructions

1. Boil pasta, following box instructions for soft (not al dente). Strain pasta and reserve, also reserve cooking water.

2. Saute onion, with just cooking spray and salt. Reserve.

3. In a large sauce pot, heat chicken fat and chicken stock. In a bowl, beat egg, mix with dry kasha. Cook kasha and egg mixture in a dry pan until egg is dry and kernels are separated.

4. Add heated fat and stock mixture. Cook about 10 minutes in a high simmer.

5. Add pasta, onion, and season liberally with kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste. Toss in a little extra schmaltz and some pasta cooking water to give a nice sheen to the whole dish. Serve.

Reheat in microwave or fry in vegetable oil to have an alternative style.

On Sunday, we were invited to Carol’s for Matzoh Brei and it was such a treat, surely the best matzoh brei you’ll ever have. I guess this shouldn’t be surprising since this comes from award winning cookbook author (and my mentor), Carol Gelles. Armed with some clear instructions, we came home and replicated it, wrote it all down, so that you too can have the best Matzoh Brei ever! Carol’s version is essentially Matzoh French Toast, fluffy soft custard middle, with a crispy outside. It’s so good!

Carol’s Matzoh Brei
~makes 3 (8″) matzoh brei

• 4 sheets matzoh
• 1 1/2 cups milk
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 1/2 tablespoon butter

Instructions-
1. Crumble matzoh into a bowl. Pour milk over it and let it sit until most of the milk is absorbed. It will take about 40 minutes and you will need to stir once or twice so all the matzoh is soaked.

2. Beat the eggs in a small bowl. Mix into matzoh mixture and stir in salt.
3. Heat 1/2 tablespoon of butter in an 8″ non-stick pan, on medium flame. Spoon 1/3 of the mixture into the pan and spread into an even layer. Allow the mixture to form one solid pancake and for the bottom to crisp, about 3 minutes. Flip it over and crisp the other side for about 2 minutes. Serve immediately.

We had some with raspberry preserves, some with cinnamon sugar, and Carol has hers with maple syrup.

I acknowledge that there are different preferences. Some people like their knaidelach extremely fluffy, while others prefer stones. My ideal matzoh ball is the way my mom does it: fluffy outside, denser inside. To be honest, I’m not totally sure what causes this variation, but some add baking powder to achieve fluff, while others think ice water does it. This recipe uses neither and they come out wonderful every time. My mom says that using schmaltz will not only make this unhealthier but will also make the balls heavier, so we opt for vegetable oil here (crazy, huh?).

Matzoh Balls
Adapted from my mom, you may scale this recipe up or down as necessary.
~makes 8 balls

Ingredients

• 2 sheets Matzoh
• 2 Eggs
• 2 tbsp. + 2 tsp. Vegetable Oil or Schmaltz
• 1/2 tsp. Table Salt (do not use kosher)

Instructions

1. Break up matzoh by hand into food processor, pulse until pieces are about the size of rice grains. Reserve. Note you should have about 1/2 a cup.

2. In a medium bowl, beat eggs. Add remaining ingredients and combine well. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 45 minutes, longer is okay if necessary.

3. In your widest pot, boil plenty of water. When water is at a high boil, remove mixture from fridge. Wet hands with cold water to keep mixture from sticking. Roll 1.5-inch diameter balls and drop into the boiling water. The balls will expand as they cook, so make sure there is plenty of room in the pot. If necessary, cook in batches. When pot is full, cover and cook at a medium heat for 40 minutes.

4. When done remove directly into soup broth. Or you can cool and refrigerate for later use. If not stored in soup, then store in boiling liquid. Otherwise the matzoh ball will harden and be inedible.

If you’re looking for alternative methods for eating these treats, I’ll share my two, non-soup methods. First, you can slice the balls into 3/4-inch slices and fry in schmaltz or vegetable oil. Eat on matzoh or by itself. Second, you can prepare a thick sauce of chicken bouillon, corn starch and hot water. The consistency should be very thick, something like Chinese lobster sauce. Heat the matzoh ball in water, drain thoroughly, and coat heavily with the sauce. Yum!

First things first. One of the key ingredients in Jewish cooking is rendered chicken fat, also known by its Yiddish term, Schmaltz. So before cooking, I had to get my hands on some. But where? Well we just made it… it’s not hard.

While butchering a chicken, trim off as much fat and skin as you can and dice into pieces no larger than about 1.5″ squares. Place skin and fat in a small, non-stick sauce pot and heat on low, covered, for about 10 minutes, then remove the cover. Continue simmering it until the skin is thoroughly gray and very shriveled. Then remove from heat. Strain out the skin and reserve it.

What you have now is schmaltz. Note it’s golden glow. Seriously, the stuff glows. If you’ve ever wondered why Jewish men are so hairy, it’s because of this stuff, it’ll grow hair on anyone! Plus, it’s a natural preservative due to its extremely long shelf life.

Now, you know homely food, we waste nothing. So it’s time to make Grieven (also known as Gribenes)… this is the Yiddish word for “scraps”. Basically, these are the Jewish version of pork rinds, but in my opinion, infinitely better.

Those gray shreds of skin are about to be turned into heaven. Return them to the same pot that you used to render the schmaltz. Or, if you want to do it another day, you can start with a clean, non-stick pot. You don’t need to add any fat, trust me, there’s plenty remaining in that skin. Heat over low, and add diced onion and kosher salt. You can also add some whole cloves of garlic if you like. Don’t worry about over-crowding the pot at this point.

Cook on low until the onion has turned very dark brown, about 15 minutes. At this point, it’s time to crisp the skin. To do so, you must ensure the pot is not over-crowded. Remove enough so there is less than one layer full. Cook on medium-low another 5 minutes until it’s crisp, you should be able to feel this with a fork. Remove contents to a paper-towel lined bowl. Add back reserved skin and fry that, repeat as necessary.

Generally, the onions are burnt and discarded, but sometimes I eat them. This stuff is insanely good. Eat it as a snack, or use it on a salad instead of bacon, or add it to your favorite pasta dish. Trust me, it’s amazing.

Pretty much, all Jews just love matzoh brei. Here’s a great line from Neil Kramer’s blog about the brei:

I love matzoh brei. If, for example, a beautiful woman invited me up to her apartment this week, and we made passionate love all night in her bedroom, I would wake up early the next morning to make her some Passover matzoh brei for breakfast, and after taking one bite, she would no doubt be praising the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

That pretty much sums it up.

What is matzoh brei? At it’s simplest, it is beaten eggs combined with softened matzoh, fried together. But like anything the tribe does, there must be various schools of thought, otherwise there can not be arguments (a mainstay of the Jewish tradition).

I found a fun interview between Jews: Mark Bittman and famed architect, Frank Gehry where they discuss matzoh brei. It’s worth a watch. Especially because they highlight the fact that there are at least two divisions of thought on brei. The first division is how wet the matzoh should be. I.e., should it be absolute mush or should it just be softened enough to crumble? I am absolutely in the latter camp. A second division, is whether the brei should be savory (salt & pepper) or sweet (sugar or jam). I am okay for either, but 95% of the time prepare it savory.

What they don’t discuss is a third division, which is most important to me: whether it should be cooked as a pancake or scrambled. By a wide margin, most people prepare it as a pancake-like dish. However, I always cook it scrambled. I think it comes out much better and really lets you get the flavors and texture.

Before we hit the recipe, I’ll mention fat. The absolutely traditional way to cook brei is in schmaltz (rendered chicken fat). My mother usually used butter, the more common approach these days. That way you can live long enough to have seconds. Because I don’t keep a Kosher for Passover (Kasher shel Pesach) home, I use cooking spray.

So, for a savory, scrambled matzoh brei, this is just about as easy as it gets!

Savory, Scrambled Matzoh Brei
~makes one serving. Scales easily: two eggs per two matzoh per person

Ingredients

• 2 Eggs
• 2 pieces Matzoh (not egg Matzoh)
• Kosher Salt & Black Pepper

Instructions

1. Scramble eggs in a large bowl.

2. Under warm, running tap water, rub fingers over one pieces of matzoh until the top layer becomes loose, that means it’s ready to break. Apply slight pressure until matzoh folds on itself. Fold until smaller pieces. Remove from water and let excess water run off, add to egg. Repeat for each piece of matzoh.

3. Fold egg and matzoh together while heating a non-stick frying pan with cooking spray. Add egg and matzoh to pan while stirring. Every few seconds fold matzoh around in pan, to keep it scrambled. To form a pancake, simply don’t move the matzoh, and press it to the shape of the pan.

4. When mostly dry (but not completely), remove to plate and season generously with kosher salt and lots of freshly ground black pepper.

Every year at Passover, I can’t wait till we get to dessert, mostly because of Bonnie’s (Lon’s mom) Chocolate Chip Pecan Mandelbrot. If you haven’t had Mandelbrot, it’s a cross between biscotti and scones. I love it!

Bonnie’s made this recipe countless times and has tried many variations. You can use different nuts for nice alternatives but her secret is Parkay Margarine. She says all other butters and margarines won’t give you the same shape and texture. Thanks for the recipe Bonnie!

Chocolate Chip Pecan Mandelbrot

• 2 cups sugar
• ½ lb Parkay margarine
• 6 eggs
• 2 ¾ cups matzoh cake meal
• ¾ cup potato starch
• ½ tsp salt
• 1 cup chocolate chips
• 1 cup pecans + a few extra to decorate
  
• 1 tsp. cinnamon mixed with 2 tsps. sugar

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease 2 cookie sheets.

Cream sugar with margarine until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time beating after each addition. In a separate bowl, sift together cake meal, starch, and salt. Mix into creamed mixture. Finely chop the pecans and stir in with the chocolate chips. Mix well. Form into 2 loaves each about 2” wide. Sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar, trim with nuts.

Place on greased cookie sheets and bake for 45 minutes. Remove and cool completely.