Destination Anywhere

In many bakeries and homes in Israel, a pizza-like flatbread with toppings is made for lunch or snacking. The crust is slightly puffed, crisp on the bottom, and the toppings run from white or yellow cheeses, tomato, oil and herbs, or oil and zataar, an ancient spice blend. Zataar is made from ground thyme or marjoram, sesame seeds, sumac, salt and pepper. It has a slightly astringent, yet herbal taste.

My friend Nava taught me how to make them. Come cook along!

I staggered home from work yesterday afternoon and began to Kosher my kitchen for Passover. Cleaned out the fridge, and cleaned all chametz (leavened food) out of the kitchen pantry (pasta, breads, crackers, cereals, etc). Later that evening I did the ritual sweeping up of chametz crumbs with a feather and spoon, and burned them. I certainly don't do everything completely--I don't change over my dishes and cookware, my chametz just goes to the basement instead of being temporarily "sold" to a non-Jew during Pesach, and during the end of the week we tend to eat more Sephardic (allowing rice) than Ashkenazi.

Some of the chicken soup, after five hours simmering and straining through cheesecloth--liquid gold. I got about eight quarts, I think. After skimming off the fat, tomorrow I will finish it with thinly sliced carrots and celery, and chopped dill for serving with matzoh balls.

Next up, matzoh balls. I like "sinkers," with lots of chopped dill and parsley.

I made about 40.

Matzoh Balls, My Way
Makes about 10-12 large matzoh balls, recipe doubles or triples easily

4 eggs
3 tablespoons melted chicken fat, or melted margarine, or oil
1 teaspoon salt, ground pepper to taste
1/4 cup minced mixture of parsley and dill
1/4 cup chicken soup, plus 2 Tbs. water
1 cup matzoh meal

Beat the eggs, add the chicken fat, which should be at room temperature, and then the salt and pepper, herbs, water and soup.
Fold in the matzo meal, mix well. Batter will be loose.

Refrigerate the batter for about I hour, or until batter is thickened up. With wet hands, shape into balls a bit bigger than a golf ball. They'll enlarge as they cook.

Drop the balls carefully into 2 quarts of boiling salted water or hot soup. Cover and cook for 45 minutes. Gently remove from water with slotted spoon, and refrigerate until needed.

To serve--Add Matzoh Balls to soup.

Cook for another 10 minutes in the soup.

Whew. At 7:30, I had the soup on to finish cooking with the final garnish of carrots, celery, and dill. I made two different kinds of charoset, the red-brown mixture on the seder plate that symbolises the mortar the Jewish slaves were forced to use. I make the traditional Ashkenazi apple/walnut/cinnamon one; and also a Sephardic one with dates, figs, apricots, and pistachios.

Later, I made mashed potatoes; a salad of roasted golden beets dressed with mint, roasted broccoli with walnuts, and salmon with herb vinaigrette. Everything could be made in advance, and either wrmed while we were going through the first part of the Seder, or gets served at room temperature.

Salmon with Herb Vinaigrette

1. Make a herb vinaigrette. Whisk together a 1/2 tsp seedy dijon mustard, a finely diced shallot, 1/4 cup rice wine vinegar, a pinch of sugar to taste, and enough olive oil to make a dressing. Add generous amounts of chopped chives, parsley, dill, whatever herbs you like with salmon. You almost want a salsa verde-looking dressing. This may also be made in a food processor. Salt and pepper to taste.

3. Preheat oven to 325.

4. Cut salmon into serving-sived pieces. Place skin-down on an oiled baking sheet. Bake, checking after 10 minutes or so. The fish will be done before it flakes, so be careful to not overcook. (Mine took about 12 minutes for a thin piece. People's taste in doneness for salmon varies, so use your judgement).

5. Remove the fish. Lift the fish off the sheet,(leaving the skin behind) and arrange on a serving platter. If there is white residue, wipe it off. Spoon some of the vinaigrette over each piece, and chill. Let return to room temperature before serving, and drizzle on more vinaigrette.

One of the great benefits of living in my area is the wealth of international foods available. Within a 1/2 hour drive from my house are shops catering to people from China, Korea, Japan, India, Pakistan, Israel, Armenia, Lebanon, the Caribbean, Russia, South America, Vietnam, Italy, and probably more.

We often go to Bazaar, a Russian grocery in Brookline and their larger one in Allston. I'm always amused when everyone there tries speaking Russian to me. Yes, my hips have their roots in Vilnius. They've got racks and racks of real, crusty rye breads from Russian bakeries in Brooklyn, have aisles of pickled vegetables, preserves, strange pharmaceuticals, smoked sausages and meats, Russian candies, frozen Russian dumplings and pastries, fresh cheeses, sour cream and yogurt, and all the produce you need for borscht. There's a huge deli counter with a vast array of prepared foods, salads, spreads, smoked fishes, tubs of mysterious lumps, and a tray of home-made blini on the top. There's no showy displays or pretty presentation--just good food. I prefer the Allston store, where there's easier parking and the Deli ladies will make you taste the six eggplant salads before you decide which one to take home. If you stare in befuddlement, someone will nudge you toward their favorites. Prices are astonishingly reasonable--their grape leaves are $3.99 a pound, vs the $6.99 at other shops. You can visit their interesting website: http://www.bazaargourmet.com/

Here's yesterday's lunch, courtesy of Bazaar: Russian Rye bread, topped with mushroom salad and eggplant-tomato salad; stuffed grape leaves, Georgian style; and beet salad with walnuts.

My sons requested lasagne for dinner, so I made my regular spinach-ricotta filling with fresh pasta and tomato sauce for them. As I was listening to my tummy gurgle at the sight of all that off-limits goodness, I remembered a recipe I'd seen for a lasagne where zucchini substituted for the pasta. Worth a try, and I had some zucchini and yellow squash in the fridge.

It turned out very well, and is low-fat, low-carb, and full of vegetables and protein. Not quite pasta, but good.

My poor neglected tomato plants have forgiven me.

This year I'm growing Sun Gold (orange cherrry tomato and very sweet), Brandywine (heirloom variety with funky shapes and deep rich flavor), Champion (an old reliable), Jet Star (a huge producer for me) Sweet Million (another cherry, red this time), Green Zebra (just because they're fun, and they taste good), and Pruden's Purple (which never do so well, but the few fruits I get are delicious).

I think I'm making gazpacho tomorrow.

When I traveled through Spain many years go, I ate a lot of gazpacho. Some thick, some thin but some crunchy with diced vegetables, some pureed with garnishes on the side. I preferred the pureed ones, with some body to it so that it didn't taste or feel like extra-soupy salsa. Sadly, most of the gazpacho I've eaten in the US falls into the soupy salsa category.

A friend whose mother was born near Cordoba served me her version, which was a thick, smoothly blended soup that seemed more than the sum of its parts. She told me her mother's version contained the usual fresh tomato, cucumber, red pepper, bread, oil, vinegar, garlic and onion--but used egg as a binder. I've made this often, and have found that the recipe in The Silver Palate Cookbook is very similar. Because of concerns over raw eggs, I gently heat the soup to slowly cook the egg, then cool and let sit overnight in the fridge. It's delicious after the flavors have blended and the vinegar mellows and brightens the tomato taste.

There's a Greek diner in my area that has one of the world's best comfort foods. Pastitzio is a homestyle Greek layered dish similar to lasagne, where the layers are a chunky meat sauce, tubular pasta, and a cheesy bechamel sauce. Gloriously fattening, so a small slice with a greek salad does the trick. I'm experimenting with a lighter version using ground turkey and a yogurt-based topping, which I'll post when I get it right.

This will feed 8-12, depending on the serving size. It needs to be made a day ahead, and is great for a party or large dinner.

Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish new year, begins at sundown next Monday. Monday night will just be seven of us, and I'll make a whole fish stuffed with almonds and dates. I usually host a big dinner on the second night, and this year there will be 20 people at the tables. Yikes.

Last weekend, I made three pots of chicken stock, which resulted in eight quarts of stock in the freezer. Next weekend I'll defrost them, and simmer with leeks, carrots, celery, parsnips, parsley, cilantro and dill to finish into soup to be served with matzoh balls. I put lots of parsley dill and cilantro into the matzoh balls as well.

This weekend, I'm making brisket to freeze. This is a great recipe, using sundried tomatoes and wine to give a deep flavor to a thick gravy and tender meat. It must be made a day in advance of serving, and freezes very well.

My menus tend to change a bit as I shop, but here's what I've been thinking. It's a mixture of Ashkenazi and Sephardic Rosh Hashanah recipes:

Monday Night:--7 people

Pita with hummos, baba ganoush, and Muhamara (a pomegranite-walnut dip)
round challah

Whole Fish stuffed with dates and almonds
Bulger Pilaf
Sauteed Green Beans

Homemade Ice Cream--coffee has been requested by my sons

Tuesday Night: --20 people

Chicken soup with Matzoh balls
round challah

Brisket with Sundried Tomatoes
Chicken and seven-vegetable Tagine with apricots and almonds, over cous cous
Roasted potatoes
Carrots with pomegranite and honey
Green Beans with pistachios

cheesecake (from my cousin)
Apple pie (from another cousin)
Some other dessert (a friend)
Homemade Ice Creams--I'm thinking Honey-Ginger and Caramel

I tried out this recipe to see if I wanted to serve it for Rosh Hashanah. Leeks and figs are customarily served in many Sephardic homes for the new year, being both in season and symbolic for the holiday. (Leeks are to "cut off your enemies." Heh.) I adapted it from an old Cooking Light recipe. Easy to put together, it was just a bit bland upon first tasting. However, it was much better the next day, when the flavors had blended. The wine's acidity tempers the sweetness of the leeks, figs and honey. A winner!

From the Ovarian Cancer Research Fund:

Ovarian cancer is the leading cause of death from gynecologic cancers in the United States and is the fifth leading cause of cancer death among U.S. women; a woman’s lifetime risk of ovarian cancer is 1 in 67.
The American Cancer Society estimates that 21,650 women will be diagnosed with ovarian cancer in the U.S. in 2008 and about 15,520 women will die from the disease.
The symptoms of ovarian cancer are often vague and subtle, making it difficult to diagnose. There is no effective screening test for ovarian cancer but there are tests which can detect ovarian cancer when patients are at high risk or have early symptoms.
In spite of this patients are usually diagnosed in advanced stages and only 45% survive longer than five years. Only 19% of cases are caught before the cancer has spread beyond the ovary to the pelvic region.
When ovarian cancer is detected and treated early on, the five-year survival rate is greater than 92%.
Please donate to the Ovarian Cancer Research Fund and help spread the word!
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We're at the end of Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month--but I hope, not at the end of every woman's knowledge of her body. Every woman should be aware of the possibility that you, your sister, your friend may be sailing along comfortable in life, and then teetering on the edge of the unknown with a frightening diagnosis. Be aware, be vocal, be unafraid.

My previous post on Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month, and the "O" Foods contest, is here:
http://www.slowtrav.com/blog/amy/archives/2008/09/o_foods_for_ova.html

This one's for Gina, who taught me that Sicilian does matter. *grin*

I love green beans, cooked just past crisp and not yet mushy--that perfect stage of tender but still fresh in texture. And I love pistachios, and the precious bottles of pale green pistachio oil I insist on dragging back from visits to Paris.

This is my go-to dish for dinner parties, as it can be prepared in advance, is unusual and yet 'safe" enough to appeal to most people (obviously, not for people with nut allergies). It goes with just about any main course or cuisine. And it's really delicious. Since there are so few ingredients, make sure they're of excellent quality--fresh oil, good nuts (preferably from Sicily), farmstand beans if you can get them. If you simply cannot get your hands on pistachio oil, you can substitute a really fragrant toasted hazelnut or walnut oil, and the appropriate nut. But please, do try to find pistachio oil, and good, fresh pistachios.

Green Beans with Pistachio
Serves 6-8, can be doubled or tripled; or halved

2 lbs fresh green beans, rinsed, stems snipped off
2 Tbs. sweet butter
3 Tbs. pistachio oil
1/2 cup pistachios
salt and pepper

Generously salt a kettle of water, and add the beans. Bring to a light simmer, and cook beans until at the appropriate moment of doneness. You want them just soft to the bite, but not limp. Quickly drain and refresh under cold water, then pat dry.

While the beans are cooking, place the pistachios in a small ziploc. Smash them with a rolling pin, hammer, or whatever you have. Think of the financial crisis, your boss, your annoying but well-intentioned relative. Have fun. You want some just cracked, some finely ground, most somewhere in the middle.

In a large skillet, melt the butter, and then stir in the pistachios, letting them crisp for 2-3 minutes. Turn off heat, mix in the oil, add salt and pepper to taste.

Pour the cooked, dried beans into the skillet, and toss to coat the beans with the nuts, oil and butter. Either serve, or refrigerate until needed. Can be warmed in the microwave.

I knew right away what I would use this week's selection to wrap. My mother's mother, my Nana, made the world's best blintzes. Of course, didn't everyone's Jewish grandmother?

She could crank out enough for an army, with her secret weapon--an ancient electric crepe maker. When we were cleaning out Nana's house after her death, I was the one who dearly wanted that crepe maker we found in the back of a cabinet. It's been in my basement for far too long, and I was excited to have the chance to use it again.

It has a domed surface that you dip into a shallow dish of crepe batter. After 20 seconds or so, you lift off the perfect crepe. Well, after the first four or five imperfect ones. *grin*

This is a wonderful dish, but its crucial to use a good paprika. I have paprika that my parents brought back from Hungary, both sweet and hot. A good grocery store will have the red and white cans of Szeged paprika, which is far and away better than American brands. I've also found that fullfat sour cream is really important, as the lower fat ones will curdle. I just adjusted the recipe to use less.

I love a bowl of fish chowder on a cold night, with a garlicy crouton floating on top and a glass of crisp white wine on the side. What I dislike are those overthickened chowders you're too often served that are made from a frozen base, tasting more of undercooked flour than of the sea.

This version is a combination of fancy fish and shellfish chowder I used to eat at a long-gone restaurant called Tapas in Cambridge, and my grandmother's comforting New England-style fish soup. I've kept the diced vegetables and pancetta from Tapas, and the technique and thin but savory broth from my grandmother. This isn't quite as rich as a restaurant chowder, but its still a once-in-a-blue-moon soup because of all that cream. A small bowl makes a good serving.

The chowder can also be made without the pancetta, like my grandmother did it. What's crucial is good fish, and some fish or clam broth that's honest and briny, without additives or too much salt. A fish market may be able to sell you fish stock/broth or clam juice; you can sometimes find frozen fish broth; and the clam juice from Whole Foods is very good. If you're using bottled clam juice, don't salt the chowder as much as you would if you were using fish stock. I usually serve this several hours or the day after preparing, to let the flavors blend.