Tag Archives: parve

Kale, Apple, Walnut and Sumac Onion Salad

6 Oct

Kale salad with apple and bulgurHere’s a very pretty and tasty fall salad recipe. The original was called “Kale, Apple, Walnut and Sumac Onion Tabbouleh.” I don’t know what the actual definition of tabbouleh is, but since it doesn’t have bulghur, parsley or mint, I thought that was a little confusing — although the ground walnuts have a somewhat bulghur-like bite.

The original also didn’t include “massaging” the kale, but ever since I started making my Massaged Kale Salad, I’ve been using this technique with all kale salads. It softens the kale and I think makes it a little less bitter.

Ingredients:

1 red onion
1 Tbs. red wine vinegar
½ tsp. ground sumac (available in Middle Eastern groceries)
½  tsp. kosher salt
2 cups (packed) shredded, stemmed kale leaves
¾ cup finely chopped walnuts
cup diced apple
¼ cup pomegranate seeds
3 Tbs. lemon juice
3 Tbs. olive oil
½ tsp. salt

Directions:

First make the sumac onions. Thinly slice the red onion,  add 1 Tbs. red wine vinegar, 1 tsp. ground sumac and ½ tsp. kosher salt and toss to combine. Set aside.

Add 1 Tbs. oil and 1 Tbs. lemon juice to the kale in a large bowl and “massage” the kale with your hands for a few minutes until the leaves soften a bit and turn glossy.

Combine a quarter-cup of the sumac onions with the rest of the ingredients and toss well to combine.

Serve immediately or within a few hours.

(Keep any remaining sumac onions in the fridge and use as an ingredient in a green tossed salad.)

Serves 4 to 6

Tags: , , , , ,

Fresh Corn Salsa

8 Sep

Corn salsaWell, you could make this with frozen or canned corn, but it’s SO much better with fresh, and that’s SO easy to get right now that there’s no excuse.

This is a very easy dish to make, especially if you have a “corn zipper” tool to remove the corn from the cob. Leftovers will last about a week in the fridge.

Double the recipe if you’re serving a lot of people or taking this dish to a potluck.

Here’s a trick for cooking the corn easily:

Put it in the microwave, husks, silks and all, and nuke for 4 minutes at high for one ear or 8 minutes for two (don’t cook more than two at a time). When it’s done, cut about an inch off each ear above any stalk on the bottom. Then, starting at the top of the ear, squeeze gently and the corn will slide right out of the husks, without any silk (or very little) attached. You will probably need a potholder to do the squeezing, because the ear will be quite hot.

Ingredients:

Cooked fresh corn from 2 – 3 cobs
2 medium ripe tomatoes, chopped into small pieces
1/2 bell pepper, any color, chopped
1 jalapeno pepper, seeds removed, chopped fine
1 small onion, preferably red, chopped fine
1 Tbs. olive oil
2 Tbs. lime juice (or lemon juice if you don’t have lime)
1/2 tsp. salt or more to taste

Directions:

Combine all ingredients in a bowl.

Allow flavors to mingle for at least 20 minutes before serving.

Serves 4

Tags: , , , ,

Avocado salad

26 May

avocado saladAvocadoes were on sale this week, so it was a good opportunity to make this yummy salad. I would say it’s very easy, but it’s kind of a pain cubing four avocados. It’s well worth the effort, though!

You can tell an avocado is ripe when the skin is very dark, almost black, and it has some “give” to it. But don’t wait till it’s too soft, or the flesh will be mushy and may even turn black.

It looks like there’s no red onion in this photo. If you don’t have red you can cheat and use a regular ol’ yellow onion. But red looks prettier.

Ingredients:

4 or 5 ripe avocados (the small “Hass” type)
1 pint grape or cherry tomatoes
1 can hearts of palm, drained
1/2 cup red onion, chopped
3 Tbs. lemon juice
2 Tbs. mayonnaise
1 tsp. salt or more to taste
black pepper to taste

Directions:

Slice each avocado lengthwise, and twist to open it. Remove the pit. (I do this by sticking a knife into the pit and pulling it out, probably not the safest method.)

Cut the avocado into cubes by slicing lengthwise and widthwise while it’s still in the skin; then use a tablespoon to scoop out the cubes into a large bowl. Scrape any avocado meat that remains into the bowl as well.

Cut each grape or cherry tomato in half, unless they are very small, and add to the bowl.

If your hearts of palm aren’t already sliced or in pieces, slice them and add to the bowl.

Add the chopped onion.

Sprinkle with lemon juice and add just enough mayonnaise to hold the ingredients together. The avocado is very moist and also full of oil, so you won’t need much mayo.

Season with salt and pepper to taste.

If you serve on individual plates (rather than letter people help themslves), it looks nice on top of a lettuce leaf.

Serves 4 to 6

 

Tags: , , , ,

Indian Fish Curry

28 Apr

fish curryThis came from a friend, Elaine Stein, who got it from allrecipes.com and modified it slightly, using a little less cayenne pepper and adding the green beans, which is a great idea. Even with this amount of cayenne it was plenty spicy, so if you don’t like it hot, use just a dash of cayenne. I added the suggestion of using parsley for garnish if you like, instead of cilantro, which many people don’t really like.

The recipe looks complicated but it’s really not.

Ingredients:

Marinade:
2 tsp. Dijon mustard
¾ tsp. ground black pepper
¼ tsp. salt
1½ Tbs. canola oil
4 fillets firm white fish (cod works well), about 1½ lb.)

Paste:
1 onion, coarsely chopped
4 cloves garlic, coarsely shopped
1-inch piece ginger root, peeled and chopped
20 raw cashew pieces
1 Tbs. oil

Spices (mix in a small dish):
½ tsp. cayenne pepper
½ tsp. ground turmeric
1 tsp. ground coriander
½ tsp. salt
1 tsp. sugar

Sauce:
½ cups chopped tomatoes
¼ cup vegetable broth or water
½ lb green beans, cut in half
¼ cup chopped cilantro or parsley for garnish

Directions:

Mix the mustard, black pepper, salt and oil in a zip-lock bag and add the fish. Marinate in the refrigerator for about 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Mix the onions, garlic, ginger and cashews in a blender or food processor and pulse until the mixture forms a paste. Heat the 1 Tbs. oil in a skillet over medium-low heat and stir-fry the paste for1 to 3 minutes. Add the spice mixture and cook for another 5 minutes. Add the tomatoes and broth or water and heat through.

Layer the fish in a greased baking dish, top with the green beans and then sauce. Cover and bake for about 30 minutes, or until the fish flakes easily. Garnish with cilantro or parsley and serve with cooked basmati rice.

Serves 4

Tags: , , , , ,

Miracle Bars: easiest cookies ever

21 Apr

passover miracle barsWhen we make sweets for Passover, the ultimate accolade is, “This is good enough for regular!”

Well, these easy-t0-make bars really are, probably because they contain no matzoh meal or matzoh flour — not even potato starch!

I got the recipe from a collection of Passover recipes that came into my email in-box; I apologize that I can’t credit the source.

It’s one of the easiest recipes I’ve ever made, and it would be a great one to make with young children, who can dump the ingredients into a bowl and stir. And they’re gluten-free!

The recipe says you can shape them into cookies instead of bars; I haven’t tried this. My own suggestion is to consider replacing the chocolate chips with Craisins or dried cherries — or add those in addition to the chocolate chips.

The original recipe also called for a 9 x 13-inch pan. I used an 8-inch-square pan and it worked well; I think in a 9 x 13 pan the squares would be too short. I also changed the baking time and temperature slightly.

Another bit of advice: the first few bars tended to stick to the pan, even when I greased it well — after the first few came out crumbled I was able to pry out the others intact. The second time I made this recipe I put a piece of parchment paper in the pan before adding the batter — and had no broken bars!

Ingredients:

1 cups ground almonds
1 cup brown sugar
2 eggs (extra-large work best)
1 cup chocolate chips
Optional: 1 cup Craisins or dried cherries in place of or in addition to chocolate chips

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Mix all ingredients together in a large bowl. The batter will be thick; do not add water or other liquid.

Grease an 8 x 8-inch square baking pan and put parchment paper on the bottom. Or lightly grease a cookie sheet if you plan to make cookies. Spread the batter evenly in the pan or shape into cookies and place on the greased cookie sheet.

Bake square pan for 30 minutes (cookies will take less time) until the top is nicely browned and the center of the pan looks dry; do not undercook.

Cool completely in the pan, then turn out and cut into 16 squares. (If making cookies, cool for 5 minutes on the cookie sheet, then remove to a wire rack to cool completely.)

Tags: , , , , , ,

Easy Passover Brownies

24 Mar

Passover browniesGroan! If you’re like me, you’re up to your elbows in Passover cleaning and starting to think about the cooking. For everyone in the midst of this craziness, I wish you energy to complete the task and joy when everything is done!

I make these brownies every year because they’re easy and they’re good. In fact the recipe is almost exactly the same as the non-Passover brownies-from-scratch recipe I use year-round except it leaves out the baking powder (even though you can find kosher-for-Passover baking powder) and it uses a little less cake flour than all-purpose flour. If you wrap them well, they’ll keep for a few days.

Ingredients:

2 eggs
1 cup sugar
⅓ cup matzo cake meal
¼ tsp. salt
6 Tbs. cocoa
1 stick butter or margarine, melted (tip: if you melt it in the baking pan, the pan will be nicely greased!)
½ cup chopped nuts or chocolate chips (optional)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Beat eggs. Add sugar gradually and beat until light and fluffy. Add the salt, matzo cake meal and cocoa powder and mix well. Add the melted margarine and mix well.

Stir in the nuts or chocolate chips.

Bake in a greased 8-inch square pan for 30 minutes. Cool completely before cutting into squares. Wrap leftovers carefully so they don’t dry out.

Makes 16 brownies

Tags: , , , , ,

Pasta Puttanesca

17 Mar

pasta puttanesca

Full disclosure: I occasionally participate in something called a Bzz campaign. I get a free sample of a product with the understanding that I’ll create “buzz” about it by telling my friends.

A week or so ago I got a free sample of a new brand of pasta called HemisFares, available at the Kroger family of stores. There are many varieties; I got fusilli bucati lunghi, which is great, because my pantry had spaghetti, fettucini, rotini, rigatoni, jumbo shells, lasagne and elbow mac — but no fusilli!

The HemisFares pastas are imported from specific regions of Italy.

I did like the HemisFares sample. The long strands of corkscrew pasta had a homemade look. When cooked, it had a nice, firm texture, and the corkscrew shape held the sauce well. Of course, as my husband said, “It tastes like pasta.”

But if you shop at Kroger, give it a try!

I made it with two sauces, puttanesca and wild mushroom; I’ll give you the recipe for the second one another time.

This flavorful and somewhat spicy puttanesca sauce recipe is slightly altered from one by Annabel Cohen that appeared in the Detroit Jewish News. The olives, capers and red pepper flakes give it a nice kick.

The name of the dish can be translated as “pasta in the style of a whore.” No one is sure why. Maybe ladies of the evening in Italy cooked it to entice people into their establishments. Maybe they cooked it for themselves because it’s fast and easy to make. In any event, it’s delicious!

Ingredients:

¼ cup olive oil
1 tsp. red pepper flakes
1½ cup chopped onion
3 cloves garlic
3 14-oz. cans diced tomatoes with juice
1 14-oz. can crushed tomatoes
1 2-oz. can anchovy fillets with oil
3 Tbs. capers
1 tsp. kosher salt
½ tsp. ground black pepper
¼ cup chopped green or Kalamata olives (or a mixture)
1 cup chopped parsley

Directions:

Heat the oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add the pepper flakes and cook, stirring occasionally, for 1 minute.

Add the onions and garlic and saute for 2 minutes.

Add the remaining ingredients and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to a simmer and cook for 30 minutes.

If you like, you can blend slightly with an immersion blender, but the sauce should still be chunky.

You can add grated Parmesan cheese before serving if you like.chee

Leftovers can be kept in the refrigerator for up to a week.

Serves 12

Tags: , , , , , , ,

Citrus Coconut Bundt Cake

27 Jan

coconut citrus cake

Here’s a very nice cake recipe from Annabel Cohen that was recently printed in the Detroit Jewish News. I was hosting a brunch and had some aging coconut in my pantry, so this seemed an ideal choice.

The cake has a lot of flavor but is not-too-coconutty and not-too-citrusy. It has a fairly dense and moist texture. I made it without the glaze and it wasn’t too sweet. It would be very nice for brunch or dessert. There’s no milk or butter involved so if you’re kosher you can serve it with a meat meal.

Ingredients:

2½ cups flour
1½ cups sugar
1 cup finely shredded sweetened coconut
1 tsp. baking powder
2 tsp. baking soda
½ tsp. salt
1 cup coconut milk
½ cup vegetable oil
2 eggs
1 tsp. lemon extract
1 cup orange juice
2 tsp. grated orange zest
2 tsp. graded lemon zest

Orange Glaze:

2 cups confectioner’s sugar
¼ cup fresh orange juice

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a large tube of bundt pan with nonstick cooking spray.

Combine flour, sugar, coconut, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a bowl and whisk well. Set aside.

In a separate bowl, combine coconut milk, oil, eggs, lemon extract, orange juice and zests, and mix well with an electric mixer.

Add the flour mixture to the bowl and mix until incorporated. Transfer the batter to the prepared pan.

Bake 40 to 50 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let cool completely before removing from pan.

Make glace by whisking together confectioner’s sugar and orange juice. Pour over cooled cake.

Tags: , , , , ,

Butternut Squash and Three-Bean Chili

7 Jan

Vegetarian Chili w butternut squashThis is a perfect recipe for these frigid days. You’ll know what I mean if you live anywhere in the top half of North America. If you’re one of the lucky ones who is not freezing your tushie off this week, you might want to save this one for colder days.

The recipe came from my friend Greta Zalman, who adapted it from a recipe in Cooking Light magazine from 2010. It’s very flavorful and – be forewarned – quite spicy.

Our synagogue recently hosted a group of homeless people for a week – Christmas week to be exact. Greta multiplied this recipe by four and served it for Saturday night’s dinner, where it was scarfed up by our guests.

Here a few comments and tips. It’s a lot easier to buy peeled-and-cubed butternut squash from Costco, Whole Foods or Trader Joe than to peel and cube your own, even though it’s quite a bit pricier. Ditto for roasted peppers; buy a jar of them from Trader Joe and save yourself a lot of hassle.

I like to roast the butternut squash before adding it to the pot, but if you’re pressed for time you don’t have to.

If you don’t have the three kinds of beans, use three cans of any kind of beans.

Ingredients:

2 red bell peppers (or use a jar of Trader Joe roasted peppers and skip the broiling)
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 cup chopped onion
2 tsp. ground cumin
1 tsp.crushed red pepper (use less if you like less heat)
1 tsp.paprika
1/4 tsp. salt
4 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
2 cups vegetable broth
1 1/2 cups peeled butternut squash cut in 1/2-inch cubes
1 (28-ounce) can diced tomatoes, undrained
1 (15-ounce) can pinto beans, rinsed and drained
1 (15-ounce) can cannellini beans, rinsed and drained
1 (15-ounce) can red kidney beans, rinsed and drained
½ cup thinly sliced green onions
Shredded cheddar cheese and/or broken tortilla chips for topping, optional

Directions:

If you want to roast the squash, preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Spread the squash cubes in a single layer on a lightly oiled  baking sheet and roast for about 20 minutes, stirring once or twice, until the squash starts to caramelize and brown. Set aside.

Do the next five steps if you don’t have a jar of roasted peppers.

Preheat broiler.

Cut bell peppers in half lengthwise. Remove and discard seeds and membranes.

Place pepper halves, skin sides up, on a foil-lined baking sheet. Broil 15 minutes, until blackened.

Place pepper halves in a zip-top plastic bag; seal. Let stand 15 minutes.

Remove the charred skin and chop the peppers.

Heat a Dutch oven over medium-low heat. Add oil to pan; swirl to coat. Add onion and cook 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Stir in cumin, red pepper, paprike, salt and garlic; cook 2 minutes, stirring frequently.

Add bell peppers, broth, squash, and tomatoes; bring to a simmer. Cook 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Add beans; simmer 25 minutes or until slightly thick, stirring occasionally.

Sprinkle with green onions and, if desired, shredded cheese and tortilla chips.

Serves 6 to 8

Tags: , , , , ,

Brown Sugar, Pecan and Kahlua Biscotti

23 Dec

BiscottiThis is another great recipe I clipped from some newspaper long ago. We make it fairly often because it’s not difficult, there’s no fat, it’s very tasty, and the biscotti remain good to eat even when you keep them for a long time.  They’re great dunked into a cup of coffee.

My Jewish friends often mistakenly call these tidbits mandelbrot, which are similar but I think, on the whole, softer.

The key to making good biscotti is to bake them twice so they’re nice and hard. You’ll want to chop the nuts fairly fine so that you can cut clean slices after the first baking.

If you don’t use liqueur, you can substitute strong coffee or orange juice, and you can easily substitute walnuts for the pecans.

Ingredients:

2 cups flour
1 cup brown sugar
1 tsp. baking powder
¼ tsp. salt
3 eggs
3 Tbs. Kahlua or another liqueur  (Grand Marnier and Sabra are also good)
1½ cups chopped pecans
¼ cup white sugar

Directions:

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or spray lightly with cooking spray. Combine dry ingredients in a bowl and set aside.

Combine eggs and liqueur in a large bowl and mix well with an electric mixer. Mix in the flour mixture until just combined. Stir in the pecans until just incorporated.

Use a large spatula to remove half the dough to the prepared baking sheet and shape into a large, flattened log. Do the same with the other half. You may have to wet your hands to do this easily. Leave at least 3 inches of space between the logs.

Bake for about 45 minutes, until the tops of the loaves are firm to the touch and they begin to crack slightly. Be careful not to over-bake.

Allow the loaves to cool for about 30 minutes, then cut them with a sharp, serrated knife into slices about ½-inch wide. Lay the slices flat on the baking sheet and sprinkle lightly with white sugar. Bake for about 8 minutes, then turn the slices over and sprinkle the other side with sugar. Bake another 8 minutes. They should be lightly browned; keep an eye on them so they don’t over-brown.

Cool completely on wire racks before storing in an airtight container.

Makes 2 to 3 dozen biscotti

Tags: , , , , , ,

← Older Entries
Newer Entries →