Oznei Haman

In the US these cookies are called Hamentashen (Haman's pockets); in Israel they are Oznei Haman (Haman's Ears). Whatever you call them, these labor-intensive treats are served up at Purim, the feast celebrating God's goodness and the heroism of Esther. Typical flavors include strawberry, apricot, poppyseed and prune, however last year while in Israel we discovered a whole host of middle-eastern flavors that we prefer to the American kind. So, this year I made them with Halvah, Chocolate and the old stand-by Poppyseed. The cookie recipe is good, but it isn't my favorite. Since all my recipe books are in storage I had to make do.

I made a double recipe, which used most of 1 can poppyseed filling (available at Ralphs or any store with a nice Jewish section), almost a whole small tub of nutella, and for the halvah I mixed 1/2 C. Tehina with a little over 1/3 C. honey.

Hamantashen Recipe
By Joan Nathan (Jewish Holiday Kitchen)
Makes about 36

2/3 cup pareve margarine or butter
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla (I use more)
2 1/2-3 cups sifted unbleached all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
Dash of salt

1. Cream the shortening with sugar. Add egg and continue creaming until smooth.

2. Add the vanilla. Stir in the sifted flour, baking powder, and salt until a ball of dough is formed (a food processor is excellent for this). You may need to add a couple teaspoons of water if dough seems too crumbly.

3. Chill for 2-3 hours, or overnight.

4. Preheat oven to 375 degrees

5. Taking 1/4 of the dough at a time (leaving the rest in the fridge), roll out on a lightly floured board to a thickness of 1/8 inch. Cut circles of dough with a drinking glass or round cookie-cutter. With your finger put water around the rim of the circle. Fill with 1 teaspoon filling and fold into three-cornered cookies. (Press two sides together, and then fold the third side over and press the ends together.)

6. Bake on a well-greased cookie sheet 10-16 minutes, until the tops are golden.

FYI: the dough can get quite crumbly; if it's too hard to work with, add a bit of water, and it should behave. Also, DON'T skip the step of putting water around the edge of the circle. It's the only thing that makes them keep their shape. Enjoy!

Shabbat Shalom

Challah Bread

I started making Challah bread when Scott and I were first married and bumbled my way through until I finally came to understand yeast! I think as our family grows I will need to start making a couple of loaves of Challah because it seems like there is less an less left-over for french toast the following morning. This recipe is a little combination of methods...I am using the recipe from the CPM newsletter (from ages ago), which called for a bread machine to do all the prep. The hand-made method was learned by trial and error and the braid was taken from Nancy Silverstein, creator of La Brea Bakery. I like the natural look, so I don't do the egg-wash.

⅞ C. Water
3 egg yolks, room temperature
3 C. Bread flour
1 1/2 tsp. Salt
1/4 C. Vegetable oil
⅜ C. sugar
2 tsp. Active dry yeast
1 egg (beaten)

Heat water to 110º. Add yeast and stir to dissolve. (Hint: if your yeast is kept in the refrigerator, try taking it out an hour or so before you bake the bread to let the temperature rise a little)

Combine flour, sugar, and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer. Make a well in the middle and add the egg yolks, oil and yeast/water mixture. Break the egg yolks and combine them with the liquids. Once eggs are incorporated, combine liquids into the flour mixture. Using dough hook, mix on low until ingredients are combined.  Turn mixer to medium-speed and mix for 5 minutes.  To do this by hand you will mix ingredients until a dough is formed knead until all ingredients are well incorporated and dough is soft.

Spray large bowl with non-stick spray and place dough in bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place. This can take from 45 minutes to several hours.

Punch down dough and knead slightly. Separate into 6 equal pieces and roll into 12" ropes on floured surface. Join the ropes at one end by pinching tips together.

To begin braid: Bring the fourth rope from the left up to the top left of the other ropes. Lift the rope farthest to the left up to the top right. Bring the rope on the top left down to the center of the 4 ropes below.

For the rest of the braid: Lift the rope to the farthest right up to the top left. Bring the rope on the top right down to the center of the 4 bottom ropes. Bring the rope from the farthest left to the top right. Bring the rope from the top left down to the center of the 4 bottom ropes. When the braid is finished pinch the ends together and tuck under the braid.

Turn oven on to 250º for two minutes, then turn off. Place braided loaf in oven and allow to rise (about 30 minutes). Remove loaf from oven and turn oven on to 350º.

Paint the loaf with the beaten egg and sprinkle with poppy or sesame seeds. Bake at 350º for 25-35 minutes.  I use stoneware and it takes my loaf 40 minutes.

Lemon Squares

The Meyer Lemon is truly one of the world's lost secrets. All the lemony tastes from my childhood are centered on the sweet and tangy fruit of the Meyer Lemon tree in my parents' front yard. Lemonade stands, pies and the unforgettable lemon bar. In my 8 years away from home I have never tasted a lemon bar or lemonade as sweet and tangy as those from Meyer lemon. They are in season and I finally satisfied my eight-year longing for Lemon Bars...the kind that reach back to the sides of your mouth and tickle your senses with their tartness.

Crust:
3/4 C. Butter
1 1/2 C. flour
1/2 C. Powdered sugar


Topping:
3 eggs slightly beaten
2 Tbsp. Flour
1 1/2 C. Sugar
Juice from 1 lg Meyer lemon (2 small)

Preheat oven to 350. Grease 9x12 baking dish.
Mix crust ingredients and press into bottom of the pan. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until crust is golden.
Meanwhile mix egg, lemon juice and sugar. Pour over hot crust and bake an additional 20 minutes or until set. Cool completely
Cut into squares and sprinkle with powdered sugar.

Oreo Truffles

While we were living in Dallas working with CARES each team was to bring treats into the leasing office once a month. Erin made a big hit when she brought these into the leasing office (that further obligated her to be truffle maker extraordinaire for the next couple of years). These little treats are, in theory, quite disgusting. But once you take a bite you forget the ingredients and give way to the chocolately goodness. Only make these if you want to impress folks and be obligated to make more.



1 lb Oreo Cookies
8 oz Cream Cheese
1/2 to 1 tsp. Extract (vanilla, almond, mint or whatever sounds good to you)
1 lb. Milk or Semi-Sweet Chocolate (after experimenting I prefer to use the Wilton baking chips)
1/2 lb. White Chocolate (see note above)
Food coloring if you would like your drizzle to be colored

Using a food processor, grind cookies to a fine powder. With a mixer, blend cookie powder, cream cheese and vanilla extract until thoroughly mixed (there should be no white traces of cream cheese).

Roll into small balls and place on wax-lined cookie sheet. Refrigerate for 45 minutes.

Line two cookie sheets with wax paper. In double-boiler, melt milk chocolate. Dip balls and coat thoroughly.With slotted spoon, lift balls out of chocolate and let excess chocolate drip off. Place on wax-paper-lined cookie sheet.

In separate double boiler, melt white chocolate and food coloring if you are using it. Using a fork, drizzle white chocolate over balls (I prefer to use a plastic squeeze bottle that you can find in the cake decorating section of Michaels). Let cool.

Store in airtight container, in refrigerator.

Garlic-Rosemary Roast Chicken with Potatoes

For most of my life I thought that I didn't like Roast Chicken. I had never tried making it until Cook's Illustrated magazine allowed me to see that it is because the typical way to roast chicken (slowly over a lower heat) results in very dry white meat. The same goes for turkey. In almost any recipe for chicken or turkey they will have you brine the meat. The exception would be if the meat is packed in a solution or even more so if it is kosher. The other trick is cooking it at a high temperature for a shorter period of time. And, finally, avoid stuffing. It truly is a matter of food safety. Besides, by the time the inner temperature of the turkey is hot enough to make your stuffing safe to eat, your meat is way too dry.

This is a recipe I found in the magazine a few years ago and to me it is quintessential comfort food. It's got a lot of garlic, which is my favorite way to cook. I vary a little in the way I make the potatoes, using fingerling (purple if you can find them) and adding rosemary.

The chicken juices drip down over the potatoes making them absolutely fabulous, but not very healthy. As a side note, I have tried this method both with sliced fennel and green beans. Both are good, but the potatoes take the cake. I suppose sweet potatoes would work nicely as well.



Brine:
1/2 C. Kosher Salt
10 unpeeled garlic cloves
3 Rosemary sprigs
1 4lb Chicken

Paste:
2 tsp. minced rosemary leaves
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/8 tsp. salt
Ground Black Pepper
1 Tbsp. Extra-Virgin Olive Oil

Potatoes:
1 1/4 Lb. New or Fingerling Potatoes
10 unpeeled garlic cloves
1 1/2 Tbsp. Olive oil
1/4 tsp. Salt
1/4 tsp. Ground Black Pepper
1 sprig rosemary, leaves removed from stem

For the Brine: Combine salt, garlic, and rosemary in zipperlock bag. Pound with meat pounder or rolling pin until garlic cloves are crushed. Trasfer misture to stockpot and stir in 2 cups hot tap water; let stand 10 minutes to release flavors. Add 1 1/2 Quarts cold tap water and stir until salt is dissolved. Submerge chicken in brine and refrigerate 1 hour.

Remove chicken from brine and pat dry with paper towels. Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position and heat over to 450 degrees. Set V-rack in small roasting pan and lightly spray rack with nonstick cooking spray.

For the paste: Stir together rosemary, garlic, salt, 1/4 tsp. pepper and 1 Tbsp oil in small bowl. Rub about 1 1/2 tsp of paste in cavity of chicken. Carefully loosen skin over breast and thigh on each side; slip half of remaining paste under skin, then, using fingers, distribute paste over outside of chicken. Tie ends of drumsticks together with twine and tuck wings behind back. Spray chicken with oil and season with salt and pepper. Set chicken breast-side down on prepared V-rack and roast 15 minutes.

Meanwhile quarter potatoes (do not quarter if you are using fingerling) and toss with garlic, olive oil, salt, pepper, and rosemary. Remove chicken from oven and scatter potatoes and garlic in bottom of roasting pan. Roast for 15 minutes. Stir the Potatoes and roast for another 15 minutes.

Remove raosting pan from oven; decrease oven temp to 375. Rotate chicken breast-side up; spray with oil. Stir potatoes.

Return chicken to oven and roast until chicken is medium golden brown and thickest part of breast is 160. Transfer chicken to large plate

Allow the chicken to rest. Carve and serve with potatoes and garlic. Garlic is good spread over bread.

Eggplant Salad

One of the sayings in Israel is that if a woman doesn't know how to make eggplant 80 different ways she will not make a good wife (or something like that). I, personally, love eggplant and have done some experimenting with a salad/dip. It's very similar to Bhabaghanoush, but since I don't know what's in Bhabaghanoush, I won't call it that.

1 lg. Eggplant
1 lg. Red Bell Pepper
2 cl. Garlic
About 1/4 C. Tehina
1 - 2 tsp. Lemon Juice
Salt
Pepper
1/2 - 1 tsp. cumin
Water, if needed.

Fire up the grill (the best way) or your broiler. Wash the pepper and eggplant. Poke holes in the skin of the eggplant all the way around (this will keep it from exploding). Roast on the grill or the broiler until the vegetables are very soft (eggplant) and the skin is charred (pepper).

Meanwhile place the garlic clove, tehina, Lemon juice, salt, pepper and cumin in a food processor bowl.

When the vegetables are done remove them from the grill and place the red pepper in a covered dish for about 10 minutes. Cut the eggplant in half, scoop out the middle, and place it in the food processor bowl. Peel the skin off of the pepper (should just rub off) and remove the core and seeds. Place the pepper in the food processor bowl.

Process on pulse until the vegetables are chopped and all the ingredients are combined well. Adjust seasonings as necessary and add water if the dip seems too thick.

Serve with Pita.

Shakshukah

Shakshukah is a very common egg/tomato dish here in Israel. Just about every restaurant has it on their menu. I believe it is traditionally Yemin, but may be from another Sephardic origin. It is a common Shabbat breakfast because you can let the sauce simmer on low heat overnight and develop a rich flavor. I've experimented with it a few times and believe I have finally found my masterpiece.

1 Onion, sliced
3 cl. Garlic, finely chopped
1 Sm. Red Bell Pepper, sliced
1 Tbsp. Olive Oil
Salt and Pepper to taste
Pinch of crushed red peppers
1/2 Tbsp (or more) Cumin
About 12 oz. Tomato Paste
Water
1 Med. Carrot, coarsely grated
1 Small Zucchini, , coarsely grated
5-6 eggs

Heat the oil in a heavy skillet (cast iron works great, but you have to be sure to cook other foods in the skillet between shakshukah because the tomato will ruin the "seasoning" on the cast iron). Add onion, garlic, red pepper, salt, pepper, and cumin. Saute until the vegetables are soft.

Add tomato paste and stir in water until the tomato is quite runny. Let the tomato mixture simmer on low, stirring occasionally for about an hour or more, adding water, if necessary. The tomato mixture should be a dark red color and the sauce should have thickened.

Add more water to loosen the sauce and stir in the carrot and zucchini. Make a divet in the mixture with a spoon and crack an egg into the space. Continue until you've added all your eggs (or there is no more space in your skillet). Allow the eggs to cook to your desired consistency. Typically the eggs are hard cooked here, but we found that we like the yolk a little runny.

Serve with bread or pita for dipping/scooping the vegetable mixture. Feel free to experiment with the vegetables you add as well. There is debate in Israel whether chopped tomatoes should be added. I, personally, like it better without.