Shabbat food

[magid]

For some reason, the things I was most sure of turned out not as well as usual, while the experimental stuff worked reasonably well. C'est la vie...

• Challah. I used a mix of flours (white, wheat, rye, and buckwheat), with some flax seed meal, but no multi-grain flakes; I'd forgotten to get any at Trader Joe's. Restocking staples after Pesach can be hard to remember (plus expensive, if I replace everything at once). For sweetener, I used molasses, to go with the rye flour. And it would've been perfect, if I hadn't spaced and left out the salt. I've had salt-free bread before (my mom used to make it, sometimes), and I don't care for it much. Perhaps there will be bread pudding in my future...
  
• Dandelion-kopita. In other words, sort-of spanikopita, using dandelion greens instead of spinach (I'm sure I'm mangling the Greek. Sorry about that.). I sauteed a lot of greens with a small onion or two, then added dill, scallions, black pepper, farmer cheese, some herbed sea salt (to compensate for the cheese not being feta; I didn't have time to go to Brookline), walnut pieces, and some eggs. I'd planned to make individual triangles in phyllo, but I was running out of time as it was, so I made a couple of trays of this with phyllo above and below, and it came out rather well. (Thanks to Pheromone for the links to dandelion greens recipes, and to Ruthling for the suggestion of nuts with greens.)
  
• Quiche. Sort of. I layered cheddar, dill, dried garlic slices, and chives in a pie crust, then added eggs. Unfortunately, I had no milk, nor any soy milk, so it was just eggs, which was a mistake, I think; I overbaked it a bit, and the eggs got tougher than I'd like. Not horrible, but certainly far from ideal. It did puff up impressively in the oven, however.
  
• Broccoli with garlic and ginger. I steamed broccoli, then sauteed it in oil in which I'd already browned a head of garlic and a lot of sliced ginger. I put in too much oil, but otherwise this came out well. (Thanks to Gnomi for the recipe I didn't quite follow.)
  
• Eggplant. I sauteed cubed eggplant (after salting and draining) with some onion. Once it reached the early mushy stage, I added some pinjur (a spicy eggplant and red pepper sauce), and let it meld together.
  
• Green salad. With the mixed baby salad greens, I added scallion, slices of apple, slivered almonds, and a basic balsamic vinaigrette. It's pretty much what I've been making since Pesach, except without the hearts of palm, and I'm not tired of it yet. I can't quite bring myself to put tomatoes in the same salad as apples (I don't know why), so I'll have to find another use for them.
  
• Orange cake. I tinkered with a Joy of Cooking cake recipe, not entirely successfully. In other words, what I got tasted decent, but the texture was much more... dense than is preferable with cake. Still, it tasted citrusy, from the marmalade in it, and I served it with a yogurt-marmalade sauce and fresh raspberries, which are always good.
  
• And three things I didn't cook: the wine (a "golden" wine, which really did taste rather golden brown), some olives, and Trader Joe's frozen truffle bites ("flourless chocolate cake topped with a rich ganache, enrobed in chocolate"; why don't they make that for Pesach?)

There would've been roasted potatoes, except somehow a couple of hours before Shabbat I tasted them a bit... and then a bit more... and then they were gone. Oops. No one was hungry after dinner, though, so there was enough other stuff :-)

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

Yummy food. Does one need to go to Brookline for kosher feta? Market Basket has it, I believe, and I would think some Stop & Shops would.

[magid.livejournal.com]

I haven't seen kosher feta at Market Basket, and only at some Stop&Shops (the ones on the Brookline side of the river, and not reliably there, either).

[(Anonymous)]

Try the MB in Union Square; I bought kosher feta there last year.

[magid.livejournal.com]

Huh. That's the one I go to, and though I've seen a couple of kinds of farmer cheese, I hadn't found feta. Maybe I'm not looking in the right place.

[(Anonymous)]

That's the right section. I bought farmer cheese right there the other week -- the packages are double the usual size and a good deal too. I haven't bought any feta since last year, so maybe they don't have it any longer, but I'll try to remember to look next time I'm there. But that's the right section.

[magid.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that's where I got farmer cheese, too. Thanks for letting me know if you spot feta there.

[(Anonymous)]

I went to Market Basket today. The feta was there, in the area previously discussed. It is Presidente (or maybe only President?) brand -- the first "e" has an accent over it. There were a few varieties. The hecksher is on the back of the package, which makes it easily missable, a Tablet-K (Tablet-K D, actually, of course).

Enjoy!

(I got farmer cheese and cottage cheese, myself. Less exciting, I know.)

[magid.livejournal.com]

I definitely didn't know that that brand had a hechsher. Cool. OTOH, I'm not sure about Tablet-K. Which is to say, so far, I've eaten it out (especially if people who aren't kosher have gone to the trouble of getting hechshered stuff for me), but haven't used it at home. Perhaps I should figure that out...

(Farmer cheese is pretty exciting, actually, though I find cottage cheese less so, since it's just generally less appealing to me.)

[(Anonymous)]

I'm ignorant as to what might be uncertain about the Tablet-K hecksher. Can you enlighten me?

I do think farmer cheese is exciting! A very Jewish cheese! When I used to live in Brooklyn, there was this store that sold all sorts of farmer cheese; it was like a candy store or a bakery or a deli of all farmer cheese! There were probably other foods sold, but I only remember the shelves of long loaves of farmer cheese on display behind the glass deli/bakery style of glass. I used to be so excited when my mother would get me a slice of chocolate-chip farmer cheese!

Maybe I meant less exotic than feta. You are right that something familiar can still be exciting.

In recent years, I haven't had farmer cheese much, or only at Pesach. So, I was so happy to notice it at Market Basket at such a great price. It's still expensive for me, though.

I ate some of the cottage cheese tonight. I was oddly disappointed by it. I've adored Breakstone's cottage cheese all my life, but I think I became accustomed in the past few weeks to having farmer cheese and mostly only yogurt the past coupla months, so the cottage cheese tasted bland.

[magid.livejournal.com]

I admit that I don't know details about the Tablet-K, other than a number of people locally don't use it, which makes it more uncomfortable for me to use it and have them over.

A store full of farmer cheese! That's amazing! I'd never thought of there being more than the couple of different brands I've seen, much less different specialty kinds. The idea of it makes me think of the All of a Kind Family :-). Chocolate-chip farmer cheese... it sounds perfect for a chocolate cheesecake or danish-y thing.

Someone (I don't remember who, just now) inspired me to try the non-Friendship brand farmer cheese (the one in the teardrop shape), and it's a completely different thing, much more interesting partly just because of its unfamiliarity (I grew up using Friendship farmer cheese, the rare times we got farmer cheese).

I've never liked eating cottage cheese plain, as cheese. My mom would put it mixed with ricotta in lasagna, and I'd have it on toasted English muffins, but those were the only ways I really liked it. (And definitely not any of the fruit-mixed-in kinds for me! Nor vegetable.) I'm not sure why, since I like most other cheeses. Well, except cream cheese.

Wow, you're up late.

[(Anonymous)]

Thanks for explaining about Tablet-K. I guess from community and family is how we learn minhag, and minhag is often simply minhag without knowing why. I did a Google search on Tablet-K -- do one on Tablet-K and cheese together if you want to avoid a slew of unintended matches -- and found that maybe it's simply less strict supervision by the rabbi? Seems sometimes, however, some doubt about something gets started and rumor spreads like wildfire, and everyone goes OU only.

It was an amazing store! I wish I could recall what kind of a store it really was, what else was sold, but to me, it was the farmer cheese store. It wasn't different brands -- as far as brands go I myself can only think of Friendship -- but rather these long loaves of farmer cheese (that I assume were made on the premises) in the glass case off of which the worker would then slice what we wanted, and wrap in waxed paper, similar to the long cakes in the Jewish bakery off of which however many inches would be sliced and placed in a bakery box. I don't recall thinking that thought this was not how farmer cheese was normally procured.

All of a Kind Family! My favorite! Yes, the store was very Jewish, very Jewish New York, and indeed, reminiscent of All of a Kind Family. Those were my favorite books! I think the first one -- the only one before I learned later there were more -- was the first "grown up" (i.e., thick paperback book with no -- well, few -- pictures) I read, when I was around maybe 6? So many memories you've brought up for me. Somehow I ended up with an extra copy, so I gave it to my good friend my teenage babysitter so she could learn more about Judaism. When I finished reading the fourth one (for the first time) -- we were in a hotel, I recall -- I cried because it meant the end, but then my mother smiled and told me there was a fifth one that she had at home with which to surprise me, and I was overjoyed. I re-read those books for years! I was sad that the author had died and hadn't continued the series.

I don't like cottage cheese much in lasagna. Is ricotta so bad anyway? I don't get it. On an English muffin, isn't it pretty much plain, just sitting atop the bread? I've eaten cottage cheese since I was a baby. I've always liked it thoroughly mixed with apple sauce. But no, none of the kinds that come packaged with fruit or vegetable mixed in. I also like cottage cheese in sweet kugel; sometimes I'll "taste" the mixture too much before mixing it with noodles and baking it. I also like it savory, as with noodles, butter, salt, and pepper. I don't partake much of such dishes these days, though. Last night I had it only sprinkled with cantaloupe and prunes and flax meal, for dessert, so maybe that was close enough to plain and that's why I didn't like it. Then again, I've liked it plain, so who knows. My father used to scoop out the center of a cantaloupe, put in cottage cheese, sprinkle wheat germ, and eat that. I do remember doing that a few years ago and feeling the cheese tasted naked. So, maybe I need salt or sweetness added, really mixed in. But again, I know I've liked it plain.

To not like cream cheese! That surprises me. What is it you dislike about it?

Look at me, I've taken over your journal. I should cease rambling. But this is fun!

Was I up late? Probably. Sigh.

[magid.livejournal.com]

In re: minhag: I think it's particularly confusing in the Harvard Hillel community, because so many people are from other places and onlly temporarily here, plus the rabbi of the orthodox minyan is not the same as the body that certifies the kashrut of the building's kitchen, so there's a lot of not-clearness on whose standards are appropriate.

I used to love going to the bakery where I grew up, near Worcester. My mom wouldn't get cake much (either sliced off or whole ones), but I remember getting Russian raisin bread by the pound; a whole loaf was far too huge for one family (not having an event, that is). It was wonderful, with a shiny chewy crust, lots of raisins, and a texture not at all like pumpernickel.

I loved the All of a Kind Family books, though I didn't know about all of them until later. I didn't reread them as much as some others, though, partly because of how embarrassed I'd get on their behalf (eating all the Shiner's corned beef!)(and no, I couldn't skip any). But I loved some of the other stories. And what surprises me now is how much they're immigrant books (Lower East Side), in the sense that the Jewishness isn't quite as pervasive as having little money and living in a warm, friendly neighborhood. Or maybe it's just taken for granted so much, in a way I haven't known outside of Israel; they had an insular world, in a lot of ways, and there are a lot of advantages to that.

It's not that ricotta is so bad; my mom would use half of each to cut down on fat (this was many years ago, before it became the rage to be so concerned with fat content in food). It is plain, atop the English muffin, but for some reason, it appealed that way, not others. Not on other kinds of toast, not on plain bread, or plain, or with crackers. I have no idea why, either. Perhaps my mom fed it to me as a baby or something.

Oh, but in kugel, or some other way that's pretty much disguised, doesn't trigger my cottage cheese unfondness. (Not that I hate it, just given options, I'll almost never choose it. If that's a reasonable distinction.)

I used to like cream cheese, but now it has too rich a mouth feel, too much of a coating, somehow. Other full-fat cheeses don't trigger this in me; I think it's a combination of taste and texture that does it. In frosting on carrot cake, however, it's very nice :-)
(I tend to use goat cheese instead of cream cheese when eating with lox, and I like that better.)

Ramble as much as you wish! (Though I admit, sometime I'd like to figure out who you are :-)

[(Anonymous)]

Thank you for inviting me to ramble as much as I wish! I think I shall. (I don't know who you are either, actually.)

Interesting insight about the Harvard Hillel situation. I wouldn't've thought of all that.

I dislike raisins, but otherwise the bread sounds very intriguing.

Good insights regarding All of a Kind Family. Though, growing up, in two different places, I felt part of a small, connected, perhaps insular community, if not neighborhood. I miss it.

The Breakstone's cottage cheese is 2% (though I've also indulged and had the 4%). Is ricotta more fatty? Is there non-fat cottage cheese? I thought ricotta was basically low fat.

I don't think of cottage cheese in kugel as disguised. I mean, it's there, the texture, and the taste. It's the main ingredient after the noodles! But if you mean as an ingredient in a baked dish of many ingredients, then I understand.

Yes, your distinction is reasonable; at least, I get it.

I've always adored cream cheese. Now I don't eat it much, though I did on Pesach. (I eat limited dairy these days.) Cream cheese frosting is indeed delicious. I was never a lox eater, but I do like goat cheese. I used to be fond of one that came from Israel.

[ichur72.livejournal.com]

>> Dandelion-kopita. In other words, sort-of spanikopita, using dandelion greens instead of spinach (I'm sure I'm mangling the Greek. Sorry about that.).

I'd suggest hortakopita. Wild greens are usually referred to as horta in Greek -- well, at least the modern Greek I know. (The literal meaning is "grass".) I don't know if there is a specific word for dandelion greens, but I have had wild greens in pita before. Quite good if done well.

As long as I'm being pedantic about the Greek, I'll mention that pita made with spinach and cheese (usually feta) is spanakotyropita (emphasis on the second syllable) -- spanakia (spinach) + tyri (cheese) + pita (pie). Strictly speaking, spanakopita has spinach but no cheese.

[magid.livejournal.com]

Hortakopita... thank you. Is that the same word root that gives us "horticulture"?

And thanks for the clarification cheese/no cheese. (It was hard for me to parse for a moment, since "pita" is always the pocket bread first, which didn't quite fit here...)

[ichur72.livejournal.com]

>> Is that the same word root that gives us "horticulture"?

Yep, so far as I know ...

>> (It was hard for me to parse for a moment, since "pita" is always the pocket bread first, which didn't quite fit here...)

I see what you mean. I tend to take Greek etymology for granted after having learned the language -- there's a clear mental separation in my head between pita (bread) and pita (pie), but that's where context comes in, I guess.

[magid.livejournal.com]

Even with the typing, I guess I was having a hard time 'hearing' the ital...

PS

[magid.livejournal.com]

On further thought, wouldn't the cheese in what I made change it to something like hortatyropita</>?

Re: PS

[ichur72.livejournal.com]

Yes, actually -- hortakotyropita. The ko- turns horta into a compound/quasi-adjective form. (Yay! I get to start my day by being a language nerd.)

Re: PS

[magid.livejournal.com]

Hee!