Shabbat Lunch - Aiming to please everyone

There's an email joke that pops up in my inbox few months..

If, according to the Jewish calendar, the year is 5764, and, according to the Chinese calendar, the year is 5724, what did the Jews eat for forty years?

I'm not sure why, but Jews stereotypically love Chinese food. And stereotypes notwithstanding, the Jews I feed on a regular basis really love Chinese food, whether authentic from a restaurant or my homemade vaguely Asian inspired recipes.

This week I only need to prepare Shabbat lunch at home, though from an earlier post youknow I'm preparing Shabbat dinner for 100 at the shul. Because I will be in the shul kitchen most of the day Friday, and Shabbat is so early, I need to prep all the food for Shabbat tonight - and I'm not in a fancy mood. As I was considering a menu this morning, the wind was howling, the sky was grey and I only wanted to think of foods that we would find comforting. Then I thought of a recipe I saw earlier this week on kosher.com - Teriyaki Meatballs - and from that start, a menu came to life.

By the way, unless I have a lot of company for lunch, I've found it's much more enjoyable to do without a first course. By putting a wide variety of foods on the table, people can help themselves, there's no bouncing up and down after kiddush and motzi, and there's also less to clean up!

Shabbat Lunch

Teriyaki Meatballs

Soy Sauce Chicken

Jasmine Rice

Sauteed Mixed Vegetables

Sesame Eggplant Salad

Edamame with Dipping Sauce

Dessert will NOT be Asian inspired, but simply what the season is screaming "Apple Pie" and, as always, some kind of chocolate cookies.

Shabbat Shalom!

Shabbat Dinner for 100

There's an old saying "If you want something done, ask a busy person" - which seems to be a saying about me. From my standpoint though, it's great that I can keep up with everything, that people know they can rely on me, and that my schedule stays busy. Relaxing is NOT my favorite activity (though with recent help, I'm learning).

To that end, in addition to chairing the high school dinner in January, co-chairing the shul dinner in March, hosting Thanksgiving (as a group effort), and taking one small trip in December and one long trip in January, I agreed to run a Friday night dinner at the shul. And being just a bit compulsive, I decided to help the shul out by preparing the appetizer, dessert and kid's meals to save money. The main course and side dishes are being delivered by Main Event (Thanks HannahLee!). So this is the menu for this Friday Night:

Appetizer:

Family Style on each table: Hummos, Pita, Pickles and Olives

Plated at each seat:

Mesclun Salad with Cranberries and Glazed Nuts with Vidalia Dressing

Served with one toast with Smoked Salmon and one toast with Bruschetta

Main Course:

Served Buffet Style

Fried chicken

Honey Orange Roasted Chicken

Yellow Rice Pilaf

Herb Roasted Potatoes

Melange of Steamed Vegetables

Dessert:

Brownies, Chocolate Chip Bars, Meringues

Kids:

Pasta with Sauce

Chicken Nuggets

French Fries

Steamed Broccoli

I hope all will enjoy - I baked the brownies and chocolate chip bars last night - great for building arm strength - I stirred and octet batch (that's 8!) of brownies, then a quadruple batch of chocolate chips. The meringues I'll bake fresh on Friday morning.

Shabbat Shalom!

Challah - Nearly got it!

With many thanks to my reader Debbie, who commented on one of my challah posts with her Challah recipe, I made challah last week that came out great, and was just as simple as anything I'd tried earlier. I tweaked her recipe just a bit and will tweak the recipe one more time and make it a bit sweeter (my personal preference), but it was just terrific! I shaped the dough into two huge challahs, and a gang of teenagers ate 1 3/4 of them Friday night in addition to Chicken Soup, Roast Beef, etc etc etc

Deb’s Challah

1 kilo bread flour

2 tablespoons dried yeast,

3/4 c. sugar

1 tablespoon salt

3 eggs

2 cups warm water

1/3 cup oil

1/4 cup honey

In mixer bowl, mix dry ingredients. Using dough hook, add eggs, water, oil and honey; blend well till smooth dough forms. Knead in mixer five minutes.

Turn dough into oiled bowl and turn over. Cover with clean dishcloth. Put in a warm spot in the kitchen and let rise four hours. Punch down, and let rise one hour. Punch down, shape into 2 large, 3 medium or 4 small challahs. Let rise one hour.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Brush challahs with egg wash, sprinkle with seeds.

Bake for 25-30 minutes till golden brown.

Chestnut Stuffing - with variations!

Oh the questions! In the turkey? Outside the turkey? Stuffing? Dressing? Eggs? Sweet? Savory? The debate goes on and on! Stuffing is a dish that can be prepared an infinite number of ways, and for every recipe there are infinite variations.

Several years ago, I came across a recipe for stuffing to be made in a crockpot - that variation was new to me - and having been planning on serving fairly early in the day, having only one oven, and not being a fan of actually stuffing the turkey, I tried it - with much success! Over the years I have varied the "add-ins". The original recipe calls for mushrooms, but I have added crumbled cooked chestnuts, dried cranberries and combinations all with great success, as the basic recipe is terrific!

Deb's Crockpot Stuffing

1/4 cup oil

2 medium onions, diced

1 cup diced celery

12 ounces mushrooms, sliced

2/3 cup chopped parsley

2 teaspoons dried sage

1 teaspoon poultry seasoning

1 teaspoon dried thyme

2 teaspoons salt

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper

1 package chestnuts, crumbled

1 1/4 cups broth

2 large egg

1 challah, torn in pieces, left out overnight to dry

Saute onions and celery in oil over medium heat until translucent, and just starting to caramelize, about 10 minutes. If using, add mushrooms and cook until all liquid evaporates. Lower heat and add parsley, sage, poultry seasoning, thyme, salt, pepper and chestnuts.

Put challah into crockpot. Stir in vegetable mixture. Whisk together broth and eggs and pour over challah/vegetable mixture and stir well.

Cook on high 1 hour then reduce heat to low for at least 4 hours - though it can stay in without drying out for up to 6 hours.

Corn Squash Muffins

Last Shabbat, I tried out several new recipes - among them was Corn Squash Muffins. I accidentally bought the wrong ingredient, played with the recipe to compensate and came out with phenomenal results. Not only were the muffins moist, and not too heavy, when reheated for shabbat lunch, they got crisp and crunch on the outside and stayed moist and creamy on the inside -

There muffins will definitely be on my Thanksgiving table - and will be a frequent shabbat addition as well.

Corn Squash Muffins

1 cup cornmeal

1 1/4 cups flour

1 1/4 cups sugar

1 1/2 tablespoons baking powder

1 12 ounce packages Southland prepared butternut squash (o-u pareve)

2 eggs

1 cup soy or almond milk (I love the Almond Breeze original unsweetened)

1/2 cup vegetable oil

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease (vegetable oil spray works) 18 medium or 12 large muffin cups. Stir together cornmeal, flour, sugar and baking powder in large bowl. Stir together squash, eggs, soy milk and oil until well blended. Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and mix until just combined. Put batter into prepared muffins cups - bake 1/2 hour.

If baking ahead and you like them moist, leave in muffin cups to reheat. If you crisper sides and edges, allow to cool briefly in muffin cups, then pop out, and put on baking sheet to reheat.

Enjoy!!!!

New Recipes - Beating Boredom

There are some weeks that I crave new recipes; the old beloved standbys get tossed aside and I scour through cookbooks, epicurious, and the pages and pages of printed out recipes for 'someday'. Well, this week is someday. Don't get me wrong - my family and guests will not have to suffer through a meal of all new recipes, but I found a few that seemed good (which are bolded below). It may seem like too much food, but when I get into that "something new" mood, I fill in with simple easy things that I know will be eaten even if the experiments are not!

This shabbat's dinner will be:

Chicken soup with noodles and potato kneidlach

Teriyaki Silver Tip Roast

Apricot Roast Chicken

Jerusalem Kugel (I know, it's traditional for lunch, but....)

Corn Squash Muffins (trying them out for Thanksgiving potential)

Soy Sauce Green Beans

Tossed Salad

Basmati Rice

Hasselback Potatoes

Cocoa Chiffon Cake

Coconut Cupcakes with Chocolate Frosting

Rocky Road Bars

Shabbat lunch will be leftovers..... yummy roast beef sandwiches, etc etc etc

Successful new recipes will be posted next week!

Thanksgiving Prep Begins

As much as each of the Jewish holiday has its own traditions, rituals and foods which I hold dear, the holiday which has the sweetest memories, traditions and rituals for me is Thanksgiving.

Growing up, my extended family plus many, many invited guests would start Thanksgiving morning at my paternal grandparents apartment on Central Park West, where we would be treated to a breakfast of Cracker Jack, giant gumdrops, cashews and chocolate turkeys. From the deep window seats which enclosed the radiators and toasted our legs, we would watch from our sixth floor view as the parade went by - the giant balloons seeming close enough to reach out and touch.

Other than my mother, my love of planning parties and meals and hostessing was inspired by my father's mother. From a very young age, my mother would put me on the train to Grand Central on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, my father would collect me at the platform and deliver me to my grandmother, were I would help her set up for the huge party the next day. Though I'm sure in the first few years of that special treat I was not very much help, I would watch and learn. Fifty or so people stayed after the parade for Thanksgiving Dinner, so most of the meal of was catered, though my grandmother's Thanksgiving specialty was Sweet and Sour Tongue. I'm not sure what it had to do with Thanksgiving, but it was delicious - for those of us sufficiently adventurous to try it - and it remains a family tradition.

Since my grandmother's passing, our parade watching is now on TV, but breakfast remains the treasured sweets and treats - though I'll likely make fresh biscuits early in the morning before the turkey goes in the oven.

Over the next two weeks, I'll post the menu as it evolves (a joint effort between my mother, my sister, my niece and myself), with hints, ideas and suggestions.

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