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Shabbat food
Jul. 17th, 2005 09:46 amI got home later than I'd planned Friday afternoon, after the monthly work birthday celebration and getting groceries. So there was a bit of a time crunch to get everything done. Which I didn't manage, quite, but enough was done for a decent meal.
First up was the salmon, since it takes little prep time, just pour chutney on and roast. Except that I discovered I have run out of chutney, except for one jar with nuts, which I couldn't use this week (a nut allergy). I kept rechecking my jars of canned stuff, surprised I didn't have any other than this one jar. Then I figured out a work-around, using the mango-hot pepper jam Queue had made (kosher; I so appreciate that) to spread on top, then put it into the very pre-heated hot oven. Note to self: it's time to make chutney, whether mango or cranberry or something else entirely (zucchini? That would be convenient.).
Next up, preparing trays of vegetables to roast. I diced onions, summer squash, and zucchini for the first tray, seasoned with herbed salt and pepper, and onions and three colors of baby potatoes for the other (with salt and pepper only). The potatoes were so small that I could leave some of them whole. The squash went in immediately; the potatoes when the salmon came out.
Now that the oven was full, I had a moment to start the bread dough. I added more yeast than usual, knowing I didn't have time for the long rise I prefer. There was enough time, though, to do more than a very basic pizza dough recipe (my fallback when time is really short), so I added barley, rye, whole wheat, and buckwheat flours to the white, as well as some flaxseed meal and multi-grain flakes.
On to the slaw. I finely sliced the small cabbage from the farm share (most of the veggies were farm share ones, in fact), put it in a colander, salted it, and left it for 45 minutes (having forgotten whether the original recipe called for half an hour or a whole hour. Based on the results, next time leave it for an hour). I rinsed and drained it, the mixed the cabbage with a dressing of grated carrot, rice vinegar, sugar, cayenne (I don't seem to have hot pepper flakes), ground ginger (the only real stuff I have is busy producing leaves, else I'd've grated some fresh), and a bit of black pepper. Once mixed, that went into the fridge to chill.
I formed the dough into braided loaves, and gave them a bit of a second rise as the vegetables got darker in the oven, then turned the oven down for baking. In went the bread, then I made another batch of the zucchini bread (cake), this time untripled. I used less sugar than last time, and substituted pear-applesauce for the oil; in the chutney quest I'd realized I have lots of applesauce it would be good to use sometime. That went into the oven next to the bread.
Not long ago I finally noticed that at least one of the brands of pre-made polenta logs is kosher, and for some reason I very much wanted to make some this week. I've never had polenta before, but a recipe kept wanting to be made, so I did. I sliced a basil-garlic polenta cylinder, fried the slices (the oven was too full to have another dish in, especially not one that would be dairy, but I might try it next time), then topped each one with some mozzarella (that melted in the heat of the polenta slice) and some of the roasted zukes and squish. Learned: when frying polenta, leave it longer than you'd think if you want to keep the brown crust with the rest of the slice, rather than on the bottom of the pan.
There were also dill pickles from Worcester, and frozen organic strawberries (picked two weeks ago).
What I didn't get done: chocolate-chip banana bread (I have two aging bananas from last week's Boston Organics delivery. Plus, another way to use applesauce, perhaps one of the funkier kinds, like with rhubarb in it.), cranberry relish (I have one orange left, too.).
This meal was a combination of what I had, what was needed for a shared Shabbat lunch, and foods that called my name. I can't quite imagine how I'd cook by making a list at the beginning of the week with menus for each day, then cooking whatever was on the schedule.
First up was the salmon, since it takes little prep time, just pour chutney on and roast. Except that I discovered I have run out of chutney, except for one jar with nuts, which I couldn't use this week (a nut allergy). I kept rechecking my jars of canned stuff, surprised I didn't have any other than this one jar. Then I figured out a work-around, using the mango-hot pepper jam Queue had made (kosher; I so appreciate that) to spread on top, then put it into the very pre-heated hot oven. Note to self: it's time to make chutney, whether mango or cranberry or something else entirely (zucchini? That would be convenient.).
Next up, preparing trays of vegetables to roast. I diced onions, summer squash, and zucchini for the first tray, seasoned with herbed salt and pepper, and onions and three colors of baby potatoes for the other (with salt and pepper only). The potatoes were so small that I could leave some of them whole. The squash went in immediately; the potatoes when the salmon came out.
Now that the oven was full, I had a moment to start the bread dough. I added more yeast than usual, knowing I didn't have time for the long rise I prefer. There was enough time, though, to do more than a very basic pizza dough recipe (my fallback when time is really short), so I added barley, rye, whole wheat, and buckwheat flours to the white, as well as some flaxseed meal and multi-grain flakes.
On to the slaw. I finely sliced the small cabbage from the farm share (most of the veggies were farm share ones, in fact), put it in a colander, salted it, and left it for 45 minutes (having forgotten whether the original recipe called for half an hour or a whole hour. Based on the results, next time leave it for an hour). I rinsed and drained it, the mixed the cabbage with a dressing of grated carrot, rice vinegar, sugar, cayenne (I don't seem to have hot pepper flakes), ground ginger (the only real stuff I have is busy producing leaves, else I'd've grated some fresh), and a bit of black pepper. Once mixed, that went into the fridge to chill.
I formed the dough into braided loaves, and gave them a bit of a second rise as the vegetables got darker in the oven, then turned the oven down for baking. In went the bread, then I made another batch of the zucchini bread (cake), this time untripled. I used less sugar than last time, and substituted pear-applesauce for the oil; in the chutney quest I'd realized I have lots of applesauce it would be good to use sometime. That went into the oven next to the bread.
Not long ago I finally noticed that at least one of the brands of pre-made polenta logs is kosher, and for some reason I very much wanted to make some this week. I've never had polenta before, but a recipe kept wanting to be made, so I did. I sliced a basil-garlic polenta cylinder, fried the slices (the oven was too full to have another dish in, especially not one that would be dairy, but I might try it next time), then topped each one with some mozzarella (that melted in the heat of the polenta slice) and some of the roasted zukes and squish. Learned: when frying polenta, leave it longer than you'd think if you want to keep the brown crust with the rest of the slice, rather than on the bottom of the pan.
There were also dill pickles from Worcester, and frozen organic strawberries (picked two weeks ago).
What I didn't get done: chocolate-chip banana bread (I have two aging bananas from last week's Boston Organics delivery. Plus, another way to use applesauce, perhaps one of the funkier kinds, like with rhubarb in it.), cranberry relish (I have one orange left, too.).
This meal was a combination of what I had, what was needed for a shared Shabbat lunch, and foods that called my name. I can't quite imagine how I'd cook by making a list at the beginning of the week with menus for each day, then cooking whatever was on the schedule.