Say "Cheese" for Shavuot

Shavuot is a Jewish holiday that has both agricultural and historical significance. Agriculturally, it commemorates the time when the first fruits were harvested and brought to the Temple. Historically, it celebrates the giving of the Torah at Mount Sinai. Literally known as “Weeks,” the holiday is celebrated seven weeks after Passover, as it was assumed that it took the people of Israel seven weeks to make their journey through the desert, finally reaching Mount Sinai.

As is with most Jewish holidays, there is a culinary aspect associated with Shavuot.  Many Jews eat dairy on this holiday, and there are various interpretations as to why this is done. One such explanation is that because the Israelites had not yet received the laws of kashrut (Jewish dietary laws), they had prepared foods that were not in accordance with those laws. When they received the Torah, read the new laws, and realized their meat had not been made kosher according to God’s will, they opted to eat dairy dishes only. 

While eating cheesecake and cheese blintzes is common on this holiday, we had another dairy favorite in my mom’s home. Cheese Knaidlach, called Turogomboc in Hungarian, are quenelle-type dumplings. Light and pillowy, they must be handled ever so gently while both adding them to and removing them from their pot. When rolled in sugar and cinnamon laced brown butter crumbs, they make a delicious dessert. Placing them in a pool of 

strawberry coulis will make an even more decadent treat.

Another tradition that is practiced on Shavuot is the reading of the Book of Ruth. This is a wonderful story of sacrifice and true devotion involving Ruth and her mother-in-law Naomi. The two are righteous women, but it is Ruth who is the star.  She is the daughter-in-law of all daughters-in-law, and a heroine in her own right. I like to think of this holiday as honoring all of my favorites, fruits and vegetables, dairy, and strong women everywhere.

CHEESE KNAIDLACH (Turogomboc)

1 lb. farmer’s cheese

2 eggs, separated

1/4c. farina

1/2 tsp. salt

1 Tbsp. sugar

Crumbs:

1/2c. dry bread crumbs

1 oz. butter

1/8c. canola oil

1 Tbsp. cinnamon

1 Tbsp. sugar

Make Knaidlach: With a wooden spoon, beat together the farmer’s cheese, egg yolks, sugar, salt, and farina. Whip egg whites until the soft peak stage, and gently fold them into cheese mixture.  Chill 30 minutes to one hour. Moisten hands and form mixture into 2-inch balls. Bring a large pot of salted water to a rolling boil. Reduce to a simmer and gently lower knaidlach into the pot.  Cook for 20 minutes or until they rise to the top. Drain. 

Make Crumbs: Add butter and oil to a skillet and heat until butter melts. Add crumbs to skillet and cook until they are a rich reddish brown. Add sugar and cinnamon to browned crumbs. 

Once Knaidlach have cooked, drain and gently roll them in the browned crumbs.

A MANDEL BREAD FOR ALL SEASONS

Many of the desserts that are kosher for Passover are takeoffs on everyday desserts, substituting matzoh cake meal for traditional flour. And they taste like it. And therein lies the problem. I find the key to avoid having this happen is to throw caution to the wind and prepare desserts that embrace the nutty matzoh taste rather then fight it.

The Mandel Bread (Jewish Biscotti) below does not taste like traditional Mandel Bread...but in a good way. It's a tasty cookie in its own right, and not an "okay so it's Passover and we'll deal with it" stand-in for a cookie. Not only does the recipe contain matzoh cake meal, but it also contains some potato starch which, acting a little like cornstarch, will tenderize the texture a bit. It also contains some coarse matzoh meal to give the cookies a little crunch. This is an easily adaptable recipe, and choosing add-ins such as chocolate chips, nuts, dried apricots, raisins or berries will also enhance the flavor and make it your own. The one absolute here is baking the loaves once, allowing them to cool, and then slicing and baking them a second time. This second go round in the oven   crisps up the cookies and brings the cinnamon/sugar coating to the forefront. The matzoh flavor is still there, but as a secondary flavor. 


The Mandel Bread freezes well, so you can whip up a few batches at the beginning of the holiday, and have enough to last for the rest of the eight days that follow. Because Lord knows, anything that lessens your time in front of the stove or oven during this holiday is a lifesaver.

PASSOVER MANDEL BREAD

(makes two loaves)

scant 3/4c. oil

1 Tbsp. veg. shortening or butter, softened

1 1/4c. sugar

1 egg yolk

3 whole eggs

1/2c. orange juice

2 Tbsp. orange zest

2 3/4c. matzoh cake meal

3/4c. potato starch

1/2c. matzoh meal

1/2 tsp. salt

1 tsp. cinnamon

Add-ins: 1c. dark chocolate, chopped

               1c. milk chocolate, chopped

               1c. chopped walnuts or almonds

               1c. dried cherries

               1c. dried apricots, chopped

Cinnamon/sugar, for sprinkling (1/2c. sugar + 1/4c. cinnamon)

Line a sheet pan with parchment paper and set aside. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In the blow of an electric mixer, fitted with the paddle attachment, cream oil with the softened shortening or butter. Add eggs, sugar, and orange zest and continue to mix for five minutes, until light and fluffy.

Reduce speed to low and add orange juice. Mix until combined and slowly add dry ingredients. Mix  at medium speed until all are combined. Reduce speed again and mix in add-ins of your choice. Once everything is combined, turn dough out onto an ungreased surface and knead for a few minutes. Form dough into two loaves, approximately 4 inches long. Place on prepared baking sheet, flatten them down a bit, and sprinkle tops with a few spoonfuls of cinnamon/sugar. Bake for 30 minutes, rotating pan at the halfway point.

Once the loaves are baked, remove pan from the oven and allow them to cool for ten minutes. Slice the Mandel Bread into 1/4” slices, and place the slices down flat on a cooled sheet pan. Sprinkle liberally with cinnamon/sugar a second time and bake again for 10 minutes, until slices are nicely browned.

                

PURIM'S TRI-PERFECTA

 Okay children, today’s lesson is: Hanukkah has its latkes, Passover has its macaroons, and Purim has its hamantashen. The significance of these three-cornered cookie dough pastries varies--some say they resemble the hat the villain of the story, Haman, wore. And some say they represent the three-cornered pockets of his coat. Regardless, no one can celebrate Purim without them. And the celebration, which is akin to a raucous carnival, complete with costumes, grating noisemakers, and lots of wine, is key to this Jewish holiday about good triumphing over evil--what else?

Giving to charity is a holiday custom, as is exchanging platters of baked goods, treats or fruits with friends and family. It is not a stretch to assume that hamantashen will be found on every sweets platter, and there are as many recipes for the pastry as there are platters exchanged throughout the world. I do have a favorite of my own. It is very simple, and best of all, very tasty. My way of tweaking this holiday treat is by changing up the fillings, which are most  commonly prune jam and poppy seed paste. Fruity preserves, having the texture of a tapenade (But please, do NOT substitute actual tapenade!), are best as they are sticky and thick enough not to ooze out of the sides during baking which can result in disaster. I favor using dried fruits, such as the figs in the first recipe that have been simmered in a vanilla syrup. This filling is reminiscent of the filling often found in “cuccidati,” an Italian pastry. The second filling contains cherries and cinnamon, and is studded with bits of toasted walnuts.

HAMANTASHEN

1c. vegetable oil

1 1/4c. sugar

1/4c. orange juice

1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

3 eggs

4 1/2c. all-purpose flour

2 1/2 heaping tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt

1 egg yolk + 1 Tbsp. water (for brushing the tops)

coarse sugar (optional)

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together sugar and oil. Mix in orange juice, vanilla extract, and eggs. Fold in baking powder and salt. (Dough will be sticky but firm.)

Cover dough with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least one hour.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

Roll out dough on a lightly floured surface to a thickness of about 1/8 inch. 

Cut into 3-inch circles using the top of a drinking glass.

Place a generous teaspoon of filling in the center of each circle.

Fold up three sides of each circle and bring them together to form a triangle.

Brush pastries with egg yolk/water mixture and sprinkle with a dusting of coarse sugar, if desired.

Bake until lightly golden, approximately 18-25 minutes.

Makes about 4 dozen pastries, depending upon size.

Fig Filling
(makes 2 cups)


1c. finely chopped dried figs
1 1/2c. water
1c. apple juice
1/4c. sugar
1 tsp. finely grated orange zest
1 whole vanilla bean, split and scraped of seeds


Combine all ingredients except the orange zest in a medium saucepan and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to a simmer and cook for an hour, until figs are soft. Remove vanilla bean and transfer remaining ingredients and orange zest to the work bowl of a food processor. Process until mixture is combined, but not totally smooth.


Dried Cherry Filling
(makes 2 1/2 cups)


1/4c. water
zest of one orange, finely grated
2/3c. orange juice
1Tbsp. fresh lemon juice
1/3c. brown sugar, packed
1/4 tsp. almond extract
1/2 Tbsp. cinnamon
2c. dried sour cherries
1c. golden raisins
1/2c. walnuts, lightly toasted and finely chopped

Place 1/4 cup water in a medium saucepan. Add the orange zest, orange and lemon juices, cinnamon, sugar, cherries and raisins. Cook, stirring, over low heat for 5 to 10 minutes to soften the fruit. If the fruit starts to stick to the saucepan, add a bit more water. Remove from the heat, let cool for about 5 minutes, add the almond extract,  and place in a food processor.  Process until mixture is combined, but not totally smooth. If it is too thick, add a drop of water. Stir in nuts. The mixture can be used immediately, or it can be transferred to an airtight container and refrigerated for up to two weeks or frozen for up to six months.

HANUKKAH, THE BIG HOLIDAY THAT ISN'T

Hanukkah is a Jewish holiday that suffers from being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Yes, it’s a tale of heroism (the Maccabees) and miracles (the oil lasted for eight, not one night), and it’s subtitle is “The Festival of Lights” (nice touch). But it is not one of the major Jewish holidays such as  Passover, or Rosh Hashannah, or Yom Kippur. It is a lesser holiday whose “street cred” has been amped up by Jewish parents and retailers because of its proximity to that big mamajama, Christmas. Many Jews (and retailers) wanted a compatible substitute for Christmas and poor Hanukkah was it. The, excuse my French, Christianization, of the holiday is blatant, and unfortunately the Maccabees and menorahs often become overshadowed by the fact that everyone is clamoring for eight days of gift-giving and receiving. 


When I was a child, my parents usually gave out Hanukkah “gelt” (money), and not eights nights of it. The gifts were ancillary to the dreidel playing, menorah lighting, and latke gorging--although I do remember a lovely pleated magenta skirt that came one year, and a set of children’s cookware (thank you Lola) that came another year. When I became a parent, I shamefully gave in to the Hanukkah hype and my children generally enjoyed eight nights of gifts. But there were usually one or two big gifts and the rest of the nights were themed nights, such as “sock night,” “pajama night,” and so on. Many of these gifts were things my children were going to get regardless.  I tried to be creative--one night's gifts were usually donated to a charity, and I vaguely remember a night where we dragged our kids to the Theme Restaurant at the Los Angeles Airport and eventually wound up at a nearby diner because Theme didn’t serve hamburgers--well, I tried.

If Hanukkah were celebrated in June or July, perhaps the message of the holiday would be better served. And even though it does arrive when it does, harassment still abounds. Based on the Jewish, not the Gregorian calendar, Hanukkah’s  arrival is not always close enough to Christmas for some. It falls out in the beginning of December, or heaven forbid at the end of November (as it did in 2010), the holiday is berated for being “too early!” And if it falls out after Christmas, it is “too late!” This poor holiday just can’t win.

One of the positives of Hanukkah is that it is yet another opportunity for families to get together and celebrate. Food is always a guest at those celebrations, and fried foods are king on Hanukkah (because of the oil, get it?). Since there are as many latke recipes on the Internet as there are gifts under some of the“Hannukah bushes”  out there, I won’t bore you with yet another one. Noodle kugel, or “koogel” as some West Coasters call it, is something I like to serve on Hanukkah. It is pure Jewish comfort food--a casserole that is both dense and creamy, with a vanilla custard hiding amongst the nooks and crannies of the egg noodles. The version below is one  I found in “The Gefilte Variations” by Jayne Cohen. I found the addition of pears adds a nice seasonal touch, and the gingery crumb topping lends a pleasant crunch. I sometimes omit the topping as I enjoy the burnt noodle tips that often peek out from above the custard. During other times of the year I also substitute fruits such as apples, peaches, and even dried blueberries.

PEAR NOODLE KUGEL

(adapted from a recipe by Jayne Cohen)

12 oz. wide egg noodles

8 oz. cream cheese, at room temp.

8 oz. sour cream

1lb. cottage cheese

5 eggs, beaten

4 tbsp. unsalted butter,melted,  plus additional 4 tbsp., softened, for topping

2/3c. brown sugar, firmly packed

2 tsp. cinnamon

1 tsp. vanilla

1 tsp. salt

3 large, ripe Bartlett or Bosc pears, peeled and sliced about 1/4 inch thick

About 2 cups gingersnaps, crumbled

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. 

Cook the noodles according to the instructions on the package. Drain.

Swirl the 4 tbsp. melted butter around the bottom of a 9 x 13-inch glass baking dish. Sprinkle the butter with 1/3c. of the brown sugar and arrange the pears evenly on top.

In the container of a blender, mix the cream cheese, sour cream, and half of the cottage cheese until smooth. Pour into a large bowl, and add the remaining cottage cheese and brown sugar, eggs, cinnamon, vanilla extract, and salt. Add drained noodles. Combine everything well. Pour the contents of the bowl over the pears in the prepared pan. Combine the gingersnap crumbs and remaining 4 tbsp. butter and sprinkle over the top of the kugel.

Bake the kugel for about 1 to 1 1/4 hours. (It should be slightly firm.) Let cool until set. Cut into squares and serve warm or slightly chilled (not icy cold).