Let us eat cake

I never tire of making Jewish Apple Cake. It was one of my Mom's specialties and I am always looking for an excuse to make one. Not sure what makes it Jewish, likely the fact that is parve and thus suitable for both dairy and meat meals. It is equally delicious the next day and I especially like eating leftovers for breakfast. Don't hesitate to be generous with the cinnamon sugar as it isn't a particularly sweet cake.

Jewish Apple Cake

1 cup canola oil
1/4 cup orange juice
4 eggs
2 cups sugar
2 1/2 tsp vanilla
3 cups flour
3 tsp baking powder
3+ peeled apples, sliced into thin wedges
Cinnamon-sugar

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Spray or oil a large bundt pan. Combine oil, orange juice, eggs, sugar and vanilla in a large mixing bowl. Use a hand mixer or whisk to beat together. Add flour and baking powder, beat until just smooth. Pour half of batter into prepared pan. Arrange half of apples on top of batter and sprinkle with cinnamon sugar. Cover apples with second half of batter. Arrange rest of apples on top and sprinkle again with cinnamon sugar.

Bake 1 1/2 hours or until tooth pick comes out clean. L'shana Tova!

Un-summer soup

I know it's June, but Chicago is still cold and I decided to make a big pot of Vegetable Barley soup this week. The soup is so easy to prepare, that posting the recipe is somewhat embarassing. That said, guests are always asking me how to make this, and I'm not one to be stingy with recipes! By the way, kids love this. I think it's the combination of noodles and corn, at least that's the case in our household.

Vegetable Barley Soup

1 large onion, chopped

3-6 cloves garlic, chopped

1 cup barley

8 cups broth

4 cups water

small can tomato paste

3/4 cup elbow macaroni

10 oz frozen mixed vegetables

(I really like the organic mix from Costco)

small bunch kale, chard or spinach, chopped (optional)

small bunch dill, minced (I use kitchen shears for this)

cayenne and/or tabasco to taste

salt/pepper to taste

1. Heat olive oil in soup pot and saute onion until translucent
2. Add barley, broth, water, tomato paste
3. Bring to boil and cook on medium-high for about 1 hour (until barley is tender)
4. Add pasta and continue to cook until pasta is tender
5. If using the optional greens, use a separate pan to saute them in olive oil and add them to the soup with the pasta
6. Add dill and seasonings

Fresh dill is what makes this recipe so delicious, but I think dried would be ok. You can also substitute split peas for some or all of the barley. The soup is very filling. If we are having it for dinner, I usually just make some cornbread and/or salad to go with it. It makes great leftovers, but the pasta does get a big mushy with time. Plan to add some extra broth or water when reheating too. Enjoy!!

Molasses cookies

Molasses is an excellent source of iron, so I like to think of these cookies as healthy. I have a batch in the oven right now, and the smell is heavenly. The recipe comes from Mollie Katzen's cookbook, Still Life With Menu Cookbook. I bet they'd make to-die-for ice cream sandwiches.

Mrs. Buerschaper's Molasses Crinkles

1/2 cup butter

1/4 cup blackstrap molasses

1 cup sugar

1 egg

1/4 tsp salt

2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp allspice

1 tsp ground ginger

2 cups unbleached white flour

1 to 2 tablespoons additional sugar

1. Preheat oven to 350 & lightly grease a cookie sheet

2. Melt butter over low heat and transfer to medium sized bowl

3. Beat in molasses and 1 cup of sugar. Beat egg by itself in a small bowl first, and then beat this into molasses mixture

4. Sift dry ingredients together (except extra sugar) and then stir them into the wet mixture

5. Use your hands to form 1 1/2 inch balls of dough. Place additional sugar on a small plate and roll each ball in the sugar before arranging on cookie sheet

6. Bake for 12-15 minutes, until firm to touch. Cool on a rack (or just eat them hot, yum).

Zucchini bread

The abundance of fabulous summer produce has inspired me to spend much of my free time in the kitchen. I've been trying all sorts of new recipes and whipping up some old favorites like this zucchini bread recipe from Auntie Syl. Since it makes two loaves, there is always enough to share with a friend (or slice up and freeze).

Zucchini Bread

3 eggs

2 cups sugar

1 cup oil

2 cups grated zucchini

3 cups flour

{I use 2 cups regular and 1 cup whole wheat}

2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp nutmeg

1 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp baking powder

chopped nuts {optional}

Beat eggs and add in sugar, oil and zucchini. Combine dry ingredients in a separate bowl. Mix wet and dry ingredients. Pour into 2 greased pans and bake at 325 for one hour.

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Do try it, you won't be sorry. I love simple recipes, but I occasionally attempt something complicated. A few nights ago, I made a sweet and spicy seasoning paste from one of my Rick Bayless texts. The recipe called for toasting dried ancho chiles, grinding whole spices and straining the whole mixture through a fine mesh sieve. It's a bit time consuming, but it felt like an exotic adventure to me. I mixed the paste with a bit of balsamic vinegar and slathered it on piece of salmon for broiling. Served alongside some cilantro rice and roasted veggies, the food looked and tasted pretty impressive. Pretty impressive, until dessert. I sliced a mango and plunked the happy yellow pieces onto a couple saucers. That was about it. The fruit was sweet, a tiny bit tart and slightly nutty. A perfect mango. There's just no competing with mango perfection.

Another post about food

The comfort of meat and potatoes is not lost on vegetarians. That is why they are products like BBQ Riblets. I can't imagine a meat-eater confusing them for the real deal, but the barbecue sauce sure is tasty and they are a snap to make in the microwave. Even Amiel gets giddy for riblets. Last night, post-market day one, we roasted fingerling potatoes with rosemary from the patio. In keeping with the comfort food theme, I made a vegetable casserole with cheddar sauce and crushed crackers on top. The recipe is from a cooking class I took with Anna in Texas. You can use whatever vegetables you like, but the combination below really works well.

1 red bell pepper, roasted, peeled and diced
1 bunch asparagus, trimmed, blanched and cup into 1 inch pieces
2 cups frozen peas, thawed
3 cups mushrooms, sliced and sauteed in butter
salt & pepper to taste

3 tbs butter
3 tbs flour
1 1/2 cups milk (I used 2%)
1 cup cheddar cheese, grated
1 1/2 cups crushed Ritz-style crackers (Late July makes a great buttery cracker)
paprika to garnish

1. Combine veggies in bowl and season with salt & pepper
2. Make cheese sauce. Melt butter in pot over medium heat. Add flour and cook for one minute. Gradually add in milk and stir until thickened. Turn heat down and stir in cheese until melted. Sauce should be thick (mine didn't seem thick enough and so I added a bit more flour and that did the trick). Season with salt and pepper.
3. Place veggies in buttered casserole and top with cheese sauce. Top with crackers and sprinkle with paprika.
4. Bake at 350 for 20-30 minutes.

Farmer's market

The farmer's market is no place for shopping lists. I steer Elijah's big, orange stroller past the colorful stalls and buy whatever strikes my fancy. Since just about everything looks amazing, I tend to patronize vendors who seem friendliest. Those who smile admiringly at Elijah or offer free samples get special preference. Yesterday's finds included: slender spears of asparagus, ruby-hued rhubarb, knobby fingerling potatoes, magenta radishes, plump tomatoes and two new additions to our herb garden, a perky spearmint perennial and a bitty green basil plant. I couldn't resist the thorny garden roses. They don't last as long as their grocery store cousins, but the intricate petal formations are much lovelier, and they remind me of the rose bushes at my childhood home on Harrison street.

After stuffing everything into the stroller, Elijah and I picnic with friends and dance to the live music. The toddlers play in the grass, vying for toys, pulling on tree branches and nibbling from each other's lunches. By the time we get home, Elijah is ready for a nap and I am ready to start cooking. This week, I decided upon a simple three course menu. For starters, I recreated an aspargus dish the chef from 160 Blue demonstrated at the market a few weeks back. After blanching the asparagus, I drizzled it with a citrus-shallot vinegrette and sprinkled on some mint leaves and crumbled feta. I served it alongside a few choice looking radishes and the result was met with Amiel's enthusiastic approval.

For our main course, I used a simple pasta recipe from Nigella Lawson's Forever Summer cookbook, Spaghettini al Sugo Crudo. She provides a lengthy explanation, but here is my abridged version. Place 2 pounds of fresh tomatoes in a bowl, cover with boiling water and let them sit for a few minutes. Drain them, peel them and scoop out the seeds (I didn't bother scooping seeds and it was just fine). Core and chop the tomatoes before brutally (her words) crushing them with a small clove of garlic, juice from 1/2 a lemon, 1 tsp sugar, sea salt, pepper and 1/2 a cup olive oil. Let the whole thing sit, covered and out of the refrigerator, for a couple hours. Toss in a bit of lemon zest and fresh basil. Mix with hot pasta. This was so delicious that Amiel and I dumped the leftover sauce into our bowls and slurped it up like soup.

Our dessert was a variant of Lawson's Rhubarb Fool. Coarsely chop a big bunch of rhubarb, mix it up with 1/2 cup of sugar and place it in a glass baking dish. Cover with foil and bake at 375 for 45-60 minutes, until the fruit is completely soft. Since I made this early in the day, I reheated it slightly before serving it up with Vanilla Haagen Dazs icecream. Pure heaven.

Chocolate covered matzo

This is easy. Take 3 plain matzos and break them in half. Line a large baking sheet with wax paper and place the matzos on top. Melt 16 oz of chocolate chips in a double boiler, and use a heat safe spatula to generously smother each matzo in chocolate. Now comes the fun part. You can top the matzot with just about anything. Sprinkles are cute and easy. If you are feeling fancy, try chopped nuts and dried fruit drizzled in white chocolate. Other options include: shredded coconut, sesame seeds, sweet or savory spices, mini M&Ms, colored sugar, mini marshmallows. You get the idea. Place the decorated matzot in the refrigerator for 10 minutes. After the chocolate hardens, you can use a sharp knife to break the matzos in half.

A few tips. The toppings stick best when the chocolate is warm so I usually add the toppings to one piece before smothering the next one with chocolate. If need be, you can reheat the chocolate for subsequent pieces. Also, if you are using larger pieces of dried fruit, you can cut them up with kitchen shears.

Baking challah

Yesterday Deborah, Marina and Max came over to bake challah. My Aunt Sandy shared the following recipe with me, and I don't even know how one could improve upon it. The bread comes out beautifully every time. I must admit that I love to make it for company and enjoy the heaps of praise it elicits. It does take a while to make, but the results are well worth the wait.
If that is not reason enough to try this recipe, just think how amazing your house will smell with homemade bread baking in the oven.

1/2 cup warm water
1 tsp sugar
1 pkg active dry yeast
½ cup warm water
¼ cup sugar
2 tsp salt
½ cup oil
2 eggs
4 cups flour
1 beaten egg
Sesame or poppy seeds

1) Rinse a big mixing bowl with warm water.
2) Dissolve sugar in ½ cup warm water and sprinkle yeast on top
3) Let rest for 10 minutes, the yeast should get nice and bubbly
4) Stir thoroughly while adding ½ cup water, sugar, salt, eggs, oil and ½ flour
5) Beat well
6) Stir in remaining flour, dough should be sticky
7) Let rest for 10 minutes
8) Knead on floured surface for 10 minutes
9) Form dough into a ball and place in lightly oiled bowl
10) Cover with damp cloth, place in warm place and let rise 45 minutes
11) Divide dough into three parts and gently roll each into a strand
12) Braid loosely and tuck ends under (so the bread doesn’t unravel during baking)
13) Place onto greased baking sheet, cover and with damp cloth and let rise 30 minutes
14) Brush beaten egg onto bread and sprinkle with seeds
15) Bake at 400 for about 25 minutes, the top and bottom should be golden brown