Our Hearts are Breaking

Our Hearts are Breaking.

Boruch Dayan HaEmes.

May their neshamas have an aliyah.

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Gone for Passover!

Gone for Passover!

I will be away for the week of Passover.

 

This year, Passover starts Monday evening April 14.

I will return Wednesday April 23.

Have a happy Passover!

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Greek Style Oven Roasted Lemon Butter Parmesan Potatoes

Ingredients:
3 lbs potatoes
1 cup chicken-flavoured broth (pareve)
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
¼ cup butter, melted
1 teaspoon oregano (or to taste)
1 tablespoon fresh minced garlic (optional or to taste)
salt and pepper
½ – ¾ cup grated parmesan cheese (or to taste)
chopped fresh parsley

Directions:

1. Set oven to 375 degrees.
2. Butter a shallow baking dish large enough to hold the potatoes.
3. Peel and cut the potatoes into large wedges and place into the prepared baking dish.
4. In a bowl combine the broth, lemon juice, butter, oregano, salt, pepper and minced garlic (if using); mix well to combine.
5. Pour over potatoes in the dish and stir to coat well.
6. Cover the dish tightly with foil.
7. Bake for about 40 minutes.
8. Uncover and turn potatoes.
9. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese, and return to oven (uncovered).
10. Bake for another 20-30 minutes, or until potatoes are done to desired tenderness.
11. Sprinkle with chopped fresh parsley and serve.

*NOTE* the Parmesan may be sprinkled on just after baking if desired.

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Seriously Good Salmon Curry

Great recipe from Fashion Food and Flirts!

Seriously Good Salmon Curry

A One-Pot Wonder. That is the best way to describe this heartwarming curry. Miraculously rich in flavour, magically packed full of spices and wizardly soothing with heavenly salmon and potatoes.

Ingredients (serves 4)

• 4 salmon fillets, cut into large chunks
• 400 gr potatoes (preferably those cute small ones), blanched
• 1 yellow pepper, roughly chopped
• 1 red pepper, roughly chopped
• 200 gr butternut, cut into 1 cm chunks
• 400 gr/ 1 can of tomatoes
• 250 gr Greek yogurt
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 1 onion,
• 3 cm piece of ginger
• 2 tbsp tandoori powder
• 1 tbsp garam masala
• 1 tbsp turmeric
• Fresh coriander

Method:

1. Mix together the ginger, onion and garlic in a food processor until you get a smooth paste. Stir this paste into the yoghurt, together with the tandoori powder.
2. Put the salmon chunks into a large bowl and cover with the tandoori-spiced yoghurt. Put in the fridge and marinade for at least half an hour.
3. Cut your cute potatoes in half. Heat a tablespoon of vegetable oil in a large pot and add the potatoes, butternut and peppers. Fry for a couple of minutes. Add the can of tomatoes, turmeric and garam masala. Let it simmer on a low heat until the vegetables are just tender. Season with salt and pepper.
4. Add the salmon chunks to your curry together with the yummy yoghurt marinade. Stir carefully and let it simmer for another 5 to 10 minutes until your salmon is cooked.
5. Finish with a generous sprinkling of fresh coriander.

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From FASHIONFOODANDFLIRTS.

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Cheesey Mushroom Pull Apart Bread

Thanks to the amazing Tamar [1] for bringing this BeanTownBaker.com recipe to my attention!

Mushrooms and cheese make this pull apart bread so delicious you won’t be able to stop picking at it!

Perfect for Super Bowl!

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I’m just going to come out and say this bread is AMAZING. Seriously. If you are looking for ideas for the Superbowl, MAKE THIS BREAD. Actually, you should make it this weekend to test it out and play with what flavors you want to use as a practice run. Then make it again next weekend to share with your friends at the Superbowl.

But be warned, it’s quite addictive. In fact, maybe you should plan to bring two to your Superbowl party. It’s seriously so gooey from the melted cheese. The butter, green onion, and poppy seed sauce on top really takes this bread to the next level.

When I saw this recipe, I was instantly thinking of other flavors you could stuff into the bread. Anything that works on pizza would be great here. I went with provolone and mushroom this time.

[TREYF ALERT!] I’m sure it would be great with pepperoni and mozzarella, bacon and cheddar, or just plain old cheese. If you guys make this, you have to come back and let me know what flavors you made. (For all you gentiles out there!) 

Yield: serves 6-8

Ingredients:

For the Mushrooms
12 oz sliced mushrooms
1 Tbsp butter
1 Tbsp chopped fresh thyme

For the Bread
1 unsliced loaf sourdough bread
12 ounces Provolone cheese, thinly sliced
1/2 cup butter, melted
1/2 cup finely diced green onion
2 teaspoons poppy seeds

Directions:

For the Mushrooms
Heat a medium skillet on medium. Add the butter.  Once the butter is melted, add the mushrooms. Cook 4-5 minutes until they start to sweat. Add the thyme and continue to cook another 2-3 minutes.

Set mushrooms aside and allow to cool.

For the Bread
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Cut the bread lengthwise and widthwise without cutting through the bottom crust. This can be a little tricky going the second way but the bread is very forgiving.

Place loaf on a foil-lined baking sheet.

Insert cheese slices between cuts. Pour the mushrooms between the cuts. Use your fingers to push the mushrooms down into the loaf.
Combine butter, onion, and poppy seeds. Drizzle over bread. Wrap in foil; place on a baking sheet.

Bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes.

Unwrap the bread and bake 10 more minutes, or until cheese is melted.

Recipe adapted from The Girl Who Ate Everything.

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[1] My lovely friend Tamar! One of the most amazing young ladies ever. See more of this remarkable woman at the Vampyre Fangs blog article, Tichel, Tichel, Tichel!

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Sticky Chicken Drumsticks

From the folks at Grandmother’s Kitchen!

Finger lickin’ and crowd pleasin’…

Ingredients

8 chicken drumsticks

Directions

1. Using a sharp knife, make a couple of cuts into the thickest part of each drumstick.
2. Arrange drumsticks in a single layer in a glass or ceramic dish.
3. Combine soy sauce, sweet chilli sauce and garlic in a bowl and then rub over chicken.
4. Place chicken in the fridge for 30 minutes to marinate.
5. Grease and preheat grill to medium.
6. Sprinkle chicken with sesame seeds and grill on direct heat for 10-15 minutes to get frill marks, then transfer to indirect heat for another 15-20 minutes until cooked.

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Molasses Raisin Cookies

Ingredients

1 cup butter
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 cup molasses mixed with 1 tsp baking soda
2 cups flour
2 cups oats
1 tsp ginger
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp cloves, optional
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup sour milk mixed with 1 tsp baking soda
2 cup raisins, rolled in flour

Directions

Preheat oven to 375° F. Grease cookie sheet.

Cream together butter and sugar until fluffy; add eggs and molasses-soda mixture.

Sift together flour, and spices, if not using cloves up the cinnamon to 2 teaspoons; add alternately with sour milk-soda mixture. Mix in oats and raisins.

Drop by teaspoon onto prepared cookie sheet. Bake 10 to 12 minutes.
Makes 6 dozen

Variations:
Use heavy cream in place of sour milk
Use 2 tsp cinnamon if not using any cloves
Use 4 cups of flour and omit the oats

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From Granny’s Favorites Cookbooks

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La Brochette Steakhouse and Sushi Bar

Reblog of The Kosher Scene’s restaurant review

La Brochette Steakhouse and Sushi Bar

Sounds wonderful. Well done!

The Kosher Scene

Last evening, SYR and I attended La Brochette‘s (340 Lexington Ave; New York, NY 10016; Tel: 212.972.2200) Grand Opening Event. It is located on the premises of the late La Carne Grill. Under the direction of its owners Avi and Reuven Cohen, it acquired a more sedate and contemporary look to give it the distinctive atmosphere that would do full justice to its fare.

Chef Angel Rodriguez cooked up a memorable menu for the occasion. We started out with the Petit Omakase, a selection of sushi rolls…

For a meat appetizer we had the La Brochette Sampler; it soon became very obvious we were about to be treated to a virtuoso performance of food and heavenly aromas…

SYR followed with La Brochette Salad, which came with Boston lettuce, baby corn, haricot vert, Kalamata olives and Ranch-Lemon dressing and she liked it!…

View original post 275 more words

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Sweet Potato Latkes (with French Onion Dip)

The combination of sweet potatoes and white potatoes are a great variation on the traditional latke. I usually make both types and alternate them on a platter around a bowl of French onion sour cream dip. Use chilled applesauce for a pareve dipping option.

LATKES

3 sweet potatoes, peeled
3 Yukon potatoes (or Russet), peeled
6 eggs
1 scallion or green onion, finely chopped
1 tbsp kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper
Oil for frying

• Grate potatoes finely and mix with remaining ingredients in a large bowl.
• Preheat a large frying pan with about a half an inch of oil.
• Drop batter by tablespoonful into the frying pan.
• Fry 3 to 4 minutes on each side, until brown and crispy.
• Remove from oil and drain on paper towels to absorb extra oil.

Yield: 12 latkes

FRENCH ONION DIP

2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 extra large Vidalia onion or two regular sweet onions, sliced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tbsp onion soup mix (without MSG) dissolved in ½ cup hot water
¼  tsp freshly ground black pepper
8 oz whipped cream cheese
2 cups sour cream (light works just as well)

• Heat olive oil in a large pot. Add onions and garlic. Let cook on medium heat for 10 minutes until soft and slightly browned. Add dissolved onion soup mix and black pepper and let cook for 5 more minutes or until water has evaporated. Remove from heat and cool slightly.
• Meanwhile, mix cream cheese and sour cream together in a large bowl. Add cooked onion mixture and combine very well. (I like to smooth out the texture with a few pulses from an immersion blender.) Refrigerate up to 3 days.

Enjoy!

Chag sameach!

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I actually found the above recipe in Toronto Family Magazine, Vol. 2, Issue 12.

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Deb’s Banana Bread Recipe

My dear friend Deb and I have closed down many a restaurant over the years. Purely unintentionally, mind you.

I don’t know which of us noticed it first but we began to detect a disturbing pattern. It seemed like every establishment at which we dined closed within a month or so of our visit. Out of business. Shut down. Closed for various health violations. Condemned. Engulfed in flames.

ANYWAY… I received a Facebook message from her the other day. She’s up in Iqaluit up on Baffin Island [1] bless her, and feels the need for human contact more keenly than those of us down here in sub-tropical southern Ontario.

“You’ve GOT to try this banana bread recipe! It uses honey and applesauce instead of sugar and oil!”

So, here it is!

Ingredients

2 cups whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
3/4 cup honey
2 eggs, beaten
3 mashed overripe bananas

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease a 9×5 inch loaf pan. In a large bowl, combine flour, baking soda and salt. In a separate bowl, mix together applesauce and honey. Stir in eggs and mashed bananas until well blended. Stir banana mixture into flour mixture; stir just to moisten. Pour batter into prepared loaf pan.

Bake in preheated oven for 60 to 65 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into center of the loaf comes out clean. Let bread cool in pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack.

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It should be noted that I have a real penchant for anything with a banana flavour. Banana popsicles, banana bread, banana muffins, banana pudding, banana-flavoured penicillin, etc. You name it. If you give it a banana flavour, I’ll want to eat it.

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[1] Long story. Not for the squeamish.

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